Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of uncertainty in soil properties on simulated hydrological states and fluxes at different spatio-temporal scales

Abstract. Soil properties show high heterogeneity at different spatial scales and their correct characterization remains a crucial challenge over large areas. The aim of the study is to quantify the impact of different types of uncertainties that arise from the unresolved soil spatial variability on simulated hydrological states and fluxes. Three perturbation methods are presented for the characterization of uncertainties in soil properties. The methods are applied on the soil map of the upper Neckar catchment (Germany), as an example. The uncertainties are propagated through the distributed mesoscale hydrological model (mHM) to assess the impact on the simulated states and fluxes. The model outputs are analysed by aggregating the results at different spatial and temporal scales. These results show that the impact of the different uncertainties introduced in the original soil map is equivalent when the simulated model outputs are analysed at the model grid resolution (i.e. 500 m). However, several differences are identified by aggregating states and fluxes at different spatial scales (by subcatchments of different sizes or coarsening the grid resolution). Streamflow is only sensitive to the perturbation of long spatial structures while distributed states and fluxes (e.g. soil moisture and groundwater recharge) are only sensitive to the local noise introduced to the original soil properties. A clear identification of the temporal and spatial scale for which finer-resolution soil information is (or is not) relevant is unlikely to be universal. However, the comparison of the impacts on the different hydrological components can be used to prioritize the model improvements in specific applications, either by collecting new measurements or by calibration and data assimilation approaches. In conclusion, the study underlines the importance of a correct characterization of uncertainty in soil properties. With that, soil maps with additional information regarding the unresolved soil spatial variability would provide strong support to hydrological modelling applications.
EVIDENCE FOR USE OF CHROMIUM IN TREATMENT OF PRE-DIABETES

Chromium supplements are widely used for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Recent conflicting reports on its varying effects across different patient demographics calls for a review of the evidence to clarify the role of chromium supplementation in the prevention and management of elevated fasting glucose levels. A search of the literature performed with the terms chromium, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes continues to yield conflicting results due to small sample sizes, heterogeneous subjects and different forms and doses of chromium supplementation used. There is still scientific evidence that in specific patient populations, chromium supplementation is clinically relevant. Until further clinical trials provide a definitive answer, the risk-benefit ratio is in favor of
Assessment of Anxiety Levels of Infertile Women and Couples Presenting for Invitro Fertilization Procedure in Africa

Background: In-vitro fertilization treatment can be a stressful experience to infertile women and couples. Objective: To evaluate anxiety levels of infertile women who consulted for In-vitro fertilization. Spousal support is discussed. Method: Participants were 172 infertile women, accompanied by spouses or not and either debutant or repeating In-vitro fertilization procedure. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was adopted and modified to measure individual woman’s and couple’s level of anxiety during the session. Responses were recorded on Likert’s scale of 0 (no anxiety) to 3 (severe anxiety). Result: The means (±sd) of age (years), body mass index (kg/m2), duration of marriage (years) and duration of infertility (years) of the patients were 38.0 (6.0), 27.8 (5.4), 8.0 (5.3) and 1.9 (0.9) respectively. The mean ages of first-timers (36.6 years) and of those repeating the procedure (38.4) were significantly different (P-value =0.04). Most participants were married (168, 97.7%) and were professionals (60, 34.9%). Infertile women were 1.59 times more likely to consult alone when the cause of infertility is female factor (χ²=1.91, p-value=0.17, OR=1.59, 95% CI=0.82, 3.09), 1.72 times more likely to consult with spouse when the cause of infertility is male factor (χ²=1.23, pvalue= 0.27, OR=1.72, 95% CI=0.65, 4.53) and 3.48 times more likely to repeat IVF attempt when the cause of infertility is female factor (χ²=8.21, P-value=0.004, OR=3.48, 95% CI=1.43, 8.47). First-timers were about 1½ times more likely to express severe form of anxiety than those repeating IVF (χ²=1.04, P-value=0.31, OR=1.46, 95% CI=0.71, 3.02). First-timers consulting unescorted by spouse were over 2½ times more likely to exhibit severe form of anxiety than those accompanied (χ²=1.64, P-value=0.20, OR=2.69, 95% CI=0.58, 12.60). Expectation of positive outcome was the main source of anxiety among many (38, 22.1%) participants. Conclusion: Results from this study support the implementation of counseling intervention for all In-vitro fertilization individual women and couples.
Research article, J Sport Sci Med

This study reports the effects of Q10, coenzyme Q10 or ubiquinone, a component of the electron transport chain in mitochondria, on nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB), inhibitors of kappa B (IκB), nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and hemeoxygenase 1 (HO1) in rats after chronic exercise training for 6 weeks. 8-week old male Wistar rats were assigned randomly to one of four treatments planned in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of two condition (sedentary vs. exercise training), and two coenzyme Q10 levels (0 and 300 mg/kg per day for 6 weeks). The expression levels of the target proteins were determined in the heart, liver and muscle, and biochemical parameters including creatinine, urea, glucose and lipid profile were investigated in plasma. When compared with sedentary group, significant decreases in heart, liver and muscle NFκB levels by 45%, 26% and 44% were observed in Q10 supplemented rats after exercise training, respectively, while the inhibitory protein IκB increased by 179%, 111% and 127% in heart, liver and muscle tissues. Q10 supplementation caused an increase in Nrf2 (167%, 165% and 90%) and HO-1 (107%, 156% and 114%) after exercise training in heart, liver and muscle tissues (p < 0.05). No significant change was observed in any of the parameters associated with protein, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, except that exercise caused a decrease in plasma triglyceride, which was further decreased by Q10. In conclusion, these results suggest that Q10 modulates the expression of NFκB, IκB, Nrf2 and HO-1 in exercise training, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect of Q10 and emphasizes its role in antioxidant defense.
Comparison of Robust Optimization and Info-Gap Methods for Water Resource Management under Deep Uncertainty

This paper evaluates two established decision-making methods and analyzes their performance and suitability within a water resources management (WRM) problem. The methods under assessment are info-gap (IG) decision theory and robust optimization (RO). The methods have been selected primarily to investigate a contrasting local versus global method of assessing water system robustness to deep uncertainty, but also to compare a robustness model approach (IG) with a robustness algorithm approach (RO), whereby the former selects and analyzes a set of prespecified strategies and the latter uses optimization algorithms to automatically generate and evaluate solutions. The study presents a novel area-based method for IG robustness modeling and assesses the applicability of utilizing the future flows climate change projections in scenario generation for water resource adaptation planning. The methods were applied to a case study resembling the Sussex North Water Resource Zone in England, assessing their applicability at improving a risk-based WRM problem and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each method at selecting suitable adaptation strategies under climate change and future demand uncertainties. Pareto sets of robustness to cost are produced for both methods and highlight RO as producing the lower cost strategies for the full range of varying target robustness levels. IG produced the more expensive Pareto strategies due to its more selective and stringent robustness analysis, resulting from the more complex scenario ordering process.
Vitamin D Affects Neuronal Peptides in Neurodegenerative Disease: Differences of V-D2 and V-D3 for Affinity to Amyloid-β and Scrapie Prion Protein In Vitro

The misfolding of neuronal peptides such as Aβ40/42 in Alzheimer’s disease and cellular prion protein in scrapie induce abnormal aggregation of the peptides in the brain. The seeding of peptides’ oligomers from monomers is the initial step to form molten-globule states before abnormal aggregation. Therefore, compounds targeting the step are useful to clarify the mechanisms underlying aggregation of the proteins and Vitamin D derivatives, which can interact with both Aβ40 and cellular prion protein; however they show different effects in the oligomerization step of the proteins. We discuss the different effects of Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3 in the interaction with these peptides in brain.
Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies for the Biosorption of Cd (II) in Aqueous Solution onto Almond Gum

Batch adsorption process was carried out for the removal of cadmium (II) from aqueous solution using almond gum. The material was characterized using standard physio-chemical methods, SEM and FTIR studies. The adsorption isotherm was evaluated by means of Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin Radushkevich (D-R) and Temkin isotherm models. A maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of 40.0 mg/g at 32°C was obtained for initial concentration of 10 mg/L, 20 mg/L, 30 mg/L and 40 mg/L. The order of the kinetics was also determined and adsorption of cadmium (II) followed second order kinetics which shows that physisorption may be involved in the process. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS°) showed that the reaction to be endothermic, spontaneous and increasing randomness of the solid solution interface. The cost of almond gum is economically effective compared to commercial activated carbon.
Working Paper Series Governance in Water Supply

This paper reviews the institutional framework that governs the supply of water services, with a specific focus on developing countries. It first highlights the main mismatches that plague the water sector, namely those between the nature of resources, functions, jurisdiction and objectives of the different agents involved. It then goes on to address three main issues: the public vs. private provision debate, the design of the regulatory framework, and affordability and the design of subsidies, and concludes by drawing some policy implications and recommendations for case studies.
Dermatoglyphics in Patients with Oligo/Azospermia

The study of patterns of fingerprints is important in anthropology and medical genetics, chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness. In the present work, we studied the frequencies of various types of skin ridges of the first phalanx in patients with sever oligospermia or azospermia. In a double-blind case-control study, we determined the frequencies of fingerprints in 880 first phalanxes belonging to 48 men with sever oligospermia and 40 men with azospermia. We determined the types of fingerprints based on Galton classification. Also their FRC, TFRC and AFRC were calculated. Then the results were compared with each other and general population as control group. The most frequent type of fingerprint in both case groups was "Loop". Frequencies of different types among two groups of cases were statistically different (P<0.005). Also they were statistically different with general population (P<0.005). The largest mean of FRC in men with oligospermia was belonging to the left ring fingers (23.1) and the second to the right thumbs (21.91). The largest mean of FRC in men with azospermia was belonging to the right thumbs (23.6) and the second to the right ring fingers (22.6). The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11, respectively; their differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that qualitative feathers of the fingerprints of men with oligospermia and azospermia were different with each other and with general population. And quantitative feathers of the fingerprints in those two case groups were statistically different as well.
Capacidades físicas en jugadores de fútbol formativo de un club profesional

Las caracteristicas fisicas del futbol son muy diversas, aunque se reconocen como muy importantes la capacidad de realizar esfuerzos de alta intensidad y la de retrasar la fatiga en la mayor medida posible en esfuerzos intermitentes. Son diversos los trabajos que analizan dichas caracteristicas en el futbol profesional, aunque son menores los que analizan las categorias de formacion. En el presente estudio se analiza la evolucion por categorias de pruebas de salto, velocidad, agilidad y resistencia aerobica especifica, en jugadores de futbol jovenes de la cantera de un club profesional de la liga espanola. Se produjo un incremento de las marcas con la edad, aunque no se observaron diferencias significativas en grupos de edad cercanos, produciendose una meseta en el rendimiento en la fuerza explosiva y velocidad de aceleracion a partir de los 17 anos y en la velocidad de desplazamiento y agilidad a los 15 anos. PALABRAS CLAVE: Futbol, Jugadores Jovenes, Velocidad, Salto, Agilidad. ABSTRACT Physical characteristics of football are very different, but are recognized as very important the ability to perform high-intensity efforts and to delay fatigue as much as possible in intermittent efforts. There are several studies that analyze these characteristics in professional football but are less those who analyze the categories of training. In the present study analyzes the evolution of categories of jumping, speed, agility and specific endurance in young soccer players from a professional club of the Spanish league. There was an increase of the marks with age, although no significant differences in age groups encircle. Producing a plateau in performance in explosive strength and acceleration speed from 17 years and in speed and agility at age of 15. KEYWORDS: Football, Youth Players, Speed, Jump, Agility.
Hysteresis and the natural rate of unemployment in Ireland

Conventional Keynesian or Classical macroeconomic theories must be considered inadequate to explain unemployment experiences such as the Irish one. Rigidities that one might associate with fixed contracts, or even adjustment costs in relation to prices or quantities, can hardly account for 17 years of rising unemployment. Indeed, surely such an upturn in conjunction with the apparent breakdown of the unemployment-inflation relationship serves to challenge the existence in Ireland of a stable "natural" rate of unemployment towards which the economy would gravitate and at which the level of inflation would remain constant.
The Risk of Growing Fast: Does fast growth have a negative impact on the survival rates of firms?

Fast-growing firms are considered as the central drivers of job creation in the economy. There is an abundance of literature on the separate subjects of firm growth and firm survival. However, the relationship between survival and growth is neglected. Using the Dutch Longitudinal Enterprise Database 1993-1999, we investigate whether high employment growth rates in the recent past have a negative impact on firm survival. Our results do not find support for this relationship for the population of enterprises with a stable or growing employment development. Thus, we find no evidence that policies stimulating fast-growing firms may result in more firm deaths.
A Grey Theory Based Approach to Big Data Risk Management Using FMEA

Big data is the term used to denote enormous sets of data that differ from other classic databases in four main ways: (huge) volume, (high) velocity, (much greater) variety, and (big) value. In general, data are stored in a distributed fashion and on computing nodes as a result of which big data may be more susceptible to attacks by hackers. This paper presents a risk model for big data, which comprises Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Grey Theory, more precisely grey relational analysis. This approach has several advantages: it provides a structured approach in order to incorporate the impact of big data risk factors; it facilitates the assessment of risk by breaking down the overall risk to big data; and finally its efficient evaluation criteria can help enterprises reduce the risks associated with big data. In order to illustrate the applicability of our proposal in practice, a numerical example, with realistic data based on expert knowledge, was developed. The numerical example analyzes four dimensions, that is, managing identification and access, registering the device and application, managing the infrastructure, and data governance, and 20 failure modes concerning the vulnerabilities of big data. The results show that the most important aspect of risk to big data relates to data governance.
The status and challenges of Ethiopian higher education system and its contribution to development

The importance of educating people to ensure a country’s continuous competitiveness and sustainable development is unquestionable. Expanding and reforming higher education and research in Ethiopia will contribute to significantly alleviating problems of suffering from relatively slow social and political progress, and becoming increasingly marginalized in the world economy. It will put the country in a sustainable path to development and improvement of the livelihood of the population. Higher education is no longer a luxury but essential for survival in the global knowledge–based era. Several studies and reports from many parts of the world show that there exists a positive correlation between increasing higher education access and economic growth, as expressed by increasing per capita income and/or human development index (HDI). Investment in human resource development improves technology-driven productivity gains, thereby having a contribution to improving the currently low HDI which stands around 0.359 in 2004. Ethiopian higher education is relatively young. With its gross enrolment ratio of about 1.5% and student population of 125-150 per 100,000 inhabitants, its contribution to the development and competitiveness of the country is limited. It needs to (re)focus on four central missions in order to be relevant and be active participant in the country’s socio-economic development efforts. Expansion and reform to meet the demand of the growing economy is stipulated in the several policies and strategies of the country and the higher education capacity building program of the country. This provides an opportunity and increasingly requires higher education institutions to sustain and further the emerging responsive and proactive stance towards addressing the needs of the country and the people by producing competent graduates and undertaking relevant research and studies.
Temporal Variation in Diet and Nutrition of Preincubating Greater Sage-Grouse

Abstract Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat management involves vegetation manipulations to increase or decrease specific habitat components. For sage-grouse habitat management to be most effective, an understanding of the functional response of sage-grouse to changes in resource availability is critical. We investigated temporal variation in diet composition and nutrient content (crude protein, calcium, and phosphorus) of foods consumed by preincubating female sage-grouse relative to food supply and age of hen. We collected 86 preincubating female greater sage-grouse at foraging areas during early (18–31 March) and late (1–12 April) preincubation periods during 2002–2003. Females consumed 22 food types including low sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula Nutt.), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.), 15 forb species, 2 insect taxa, sagebrush galls, moss, and a trace amount of unidentified grasses. Low sagebrush was the most common food item, but forbs were found in 89% of the crops and composed 30.1% aggregate dry mass (ADM) of the diet. ADM and species composition of female diets were highly variable between collection periods and years, and coincided with temporal variation in forb availability. Adult females consumed more forbs and less low sagebrush compared to yearling females. Because of higher levels of crude protein, calcium, and phosphorus, forbs were important diet components in comparison with low sagebrush, which had the lowest nutrient content of all foods consumed. Our results indicate that increased forb abundance in areas used by female sage-grouse prior to nesting would increase their forb consumption and nutritional status for reproduction. We recommend that managers should emphasize delineation of habitats used by preincubating sage-grouse and evaluate the need for enhancing forb abundance and diversity.
Behavioural and neuroanatomical evidence in episodic memory in the rat

In an attempt to test the hypothesis that rat's can perform very similar behaviours to episodic memory in humans, we here develop a novel Paviovian conditioning procedure demonstrating integrated whatwhere-when representations. Rats explored two distinctive contexts, one in the morning and the other in the evening. Subsequently, either in the morning or the evening, they received a foot shock immediately upon entry into a third context that equally resembled the two explored contexts. When conditioned freezing was measured at an intermediate time of day, rats showed significantly more fear of the context congruent with the time of day of the foot shock. Thus, rats automatically form an integrated time-place memory that can be flexibly updated by future events, essential characteristics of episodic memory. Furthermore, it is shown that these memories rely upon some of the same neuroanatomical structures, including the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, as are specifically required for episodic memory in humans.
Candidate hypervelocity stars of spectral type G and K revisited

Hypervelocity stars (HVS) move so fast that they are unbound to the Galaxy. When they were first discovered in 2005, dynamical ejection from the supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the Galactic Centre (GC) was suggested as their origin. The two dozen HVSs known today are young massive B stars, mostly of 3-4 solar masses. Recently, 20 HVS candidates of low mass were discovered in the Segue G and K dwarf sample, but none of them originates from the GC. We embarked on a kinematic analysis of the Segue HVS candidate sample using the full 6D phase space information based on new proper motion measurements. Their orbital properties can then be derived by tracing back their trajectories in different mass models of our Galaxy. We present the results for 14 candidate HVSs, for which proper motion measurements were possible. Significantly lower proper motions than found in the previous study were derived. Considering three different Galactic mass models we find that all stars are bound to the Galaxy. We confirm that the stars do not originate from the GC. The distribution of their proper motions and radial velocities is consistent with predictions for runaway stars ejected from the Galactic disk by the binary supernova mechanism. However, their kinematics are also consistent with old disk membership. Moreover, most stars have rather low metallicities and strong $\alpha$-element enrichment as typical for thick disk and halo stars, whereas the metallicity of the three most metal-rich stars could possibly indicate that they are runaway stars from the thin disk. One star shows halo kinematics.