Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Khat (Catha edulis) extract increases oxidative stress parameters and impairs renal and hepatic functions in rats

Result: There was statistically significant increase in the activities of hepatic enzymes in treated rats compared to the control group. In addition, serum urea, bilirubin and phosphorous concentrations were significantly increased compared to a decreased serum total protein and albumin concentrations. Oral administration of the extract induced lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in hepatic and renal tissues as shown by significant increases in lipid peroxidation biomarkers thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and significant decreases in levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH). Histological examination of Catha edulis treated rats revealed marked hepato-renal pathological changes compared to the control group.
Immunite humorale contre la varicelle déficiente chez les enfants infectes par le VIH: des taux d'anticorps spécifiques bas et de basse avidité

Introduction : La varicelle induit generalement une immunite a vie. Chez les immunosupprimes, des presentations severes ou recurrentes sont decrites. Objectif : Definir si les enfants HIV+ ont des anticorps anti-VZV plus bas que les adultes HIV+ et les enfants sains et le cas echeant, quelle en est la cause. Methode : Dosage des anticorps anti-VZV annuellement chez 78 adultes et 97 enfants HIV+ sur 10 ans, ainsi que 97 enfants sains matches par âge. Resultats : Les anticorps anti-VZV sont plus bas chez les enfants HIV+ que les adultes HIV+ et enfants sains tout au long de l’etude mais ne diminuent pas avec le temps. L’avidite des anticorps est egalement plus basse. Conclusion : Les enfants HIV+ ont une reponse humorale au VZV plus faible que les adultes HIV+ et les enfants sains. Le declin des anticorps chez ces enfants ne resulte pas d’une perte acceleree d’anticorps ni d’une faible reponse primaire mais d’une reponse memoire defectueuse.
Relationship between grain yield and agronomic traits in winter barley

Summary: Grain yield is one of the most important and complex traits in cereal breeding and depends upon a combination of different plant traits. Therefore, an effective breeding program requires a proper understanding of the relationships between grain yield and agronomic traits. The objectives of this study were the evaluation of tworowed winter malting barley genotypes and the perceiving of relationships among grain yield and their agronomic and quality traits. The trials with 19 two-rowed winter malting barley genotypes were conducted during three years. The relationships among plant lodging, height, thousand kernel weight, hectolitre mass, grain protein content and grain yield, were studied by PCA biplot analysis. The results showed that the influence of year, genotype and genotype by year interaction on barley grain yield were significant. Further, results indicate that two-rowed winter malting barley grain yield can be improved by selecting plants of average plant height with thousand kernel weight above 41.0 g and grain protein content of about 11.0 g 100-1g dm.
Polymorphism of microsatellite loci in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and related species

This study analysed polymorphism of 15 microsatellite loci in the collection comprising of 40 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 32 genotypes belonging to other species within Triticum genus and 3 genotypes from Aegilops genus. The results showed significant differences in the variability of the tested loci in bread wheat and related species. In the collection of bread wheat genotypes, 119 alleles were detected with the average number of 7.9 alleles per locus. In wild and cultivated related species 157 alleles were identified, with the average of 10.5 alleles per locus. All analysed parameters of microsatellite loci variability (PIC value, gene diversity, heterozygosity, etc.) indicated higher level of polymorphism in wild relatives than in the cultivated bread wheat. Analyses of individual genomes indicated that in the bread wheat genetic diversity of the B and D genomes was significantly reduced in relation to the A genome, while the differences in polymorphism between genomes in the wild relatives were significantly lower. The results showed that wild related species can be used as sources for new variability in wheat breeding.
High-resolution ice-thickness mapping in South Greenland

Abstract Airborne radar sounding is difficult in South Greenland because of the presence of englacial water, which prevents the signal from reaching the bed. Data coverage remains suboptimal for traditional methods of ice-thickness and bed mapping that rely on geostatistical techniques, such as kriging, because important features are missing. Here we apply two alternative approaches of high-resolution (~300m) ice-thickness mapping, that are based on the conservation of mass, to two regions of South Greenland: (1) Qooqqup Sermia and Kiattuut Sermiat, and (2) Ikertivaq. These two algorithms solve optimization problems, for which the conservation of mass is either enforced as a hard constraint, or as a soft constraint. For the first region, very few measurements are available but there is no gap in ice motion data, whereas for Ikertivaq, more ice-thickness measurements are available, but there are gaps in ice motion data. We show that mass-conservation algorithms can be used as validation tools for radar sounding. We also show that it is preferable to apply mass conservation as a hard constraint, rather than a soft constraint, as it better preserves elongated features, such as glacial valleys and ridges.
Impact of different doses of phosphorus application on various attributes and Seed yield of Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

This investigation was undertaken with prime objective to find out the effect of various doses of phosphorus application on seed yield of three varieties i.e Rachna, Aparna and Pant Pea-5 of Pea during rabi season 2015-16. Phosphorus fertilizer doses 0, 30, 60, and 90 kg/ha was used. The field experiments were carried out, wherein the influence of the different fertilizer doses was also determined on the plant morphological and growth characters and their ultimate impact on the seed yield. It was found that seed yield is dependent significantly and positively on number of seeds per pod and harvest index in all the three varieties i.e. Rachna, Aparna and Pant Pea-5. Seed yield was also dependent positively and weakly on biological yield (4100 kg/ha). As phosphorus doses have been found to be effective in increasing seed yield (2250 kg/ha) and hence, these fertilizer doses which are cheaper and easily available could be used to achieve better seed yield in Pea.
Subantarctic cyclones identified by 14 tracking methods, and their role for moisture transports into the continent

Abstract Extra-tropical cyclones in the subantarctic play a central role in the poleward transport of heat and moisture into Antarctica, with the latter being a key component of the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. As the climate in this region undergoes substantial changes, it is anticipated that the character of these synoptic features will change. There are a number of different methods used to identify and track cyclones, which can potentially lead to different conclusions as to cyclone variability and trends, and mechanisms which drive these features. Given this, it is timely to assess the level of consensus among 14 state-of-the-art cyclone identification and tracking methods. We undertake this comparison with the ERA-Interim data-set for the period 1979–2008 and find large differences in the number of tracks identified by different methods, but the spatial patterns of the system density broadly agree. Links between large-scale modes of variability, such as the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and subantarctic cyclones as suggested in the literature are confirmed by our analysis. Trends in the number of cyclone tracks show a more diverse picture. Robust trends are identified by almost all methods for austral summer over the region south to 60°S, mainly due to the strong relation to SAM, whereas in austral winter the methods disagree in the statistical significance of the trends. The agreement among the methods is greater when the comparison is confined to the stronger cyclones. This is confirmed by a moisture flux analysis associated with these strong synoptic systems. Our results indicate that multiple cyclone identification and tracking methods should be used to obtain robust conclusions for trends in cyclone characteristics as well as their relation to the large-scale circulation in the subantarctic region.
Educational computer games focused on self-regulation as a procedure to predict and improve preschoolers' ineffective learning behavior

The main research question is whether a computer game can function as an unobtrusive procedure to assess toddlersř learning behavior, by means of their mouse performances. Unresponsive (N=8), impulsive (N=8) and reflective (N=12) children were randomly assigned to an instruction-condition (computer-assisted instruction (CAI), adult-assistedinstruction (AAI), both or no instruction). After that, the children played a Dutch computer game focused on improving learning behavior (see: www.samenslim.nl). The preliminary results show that their learning typology corresponds to their mouse behavior. Reflective children show the best learning outcomes, followed by respectively unresponsive and impulsive children. However, no significant improvement was observed in repeats and reaction times during the sessions, although unresponsive children show a slight decrease in reaction times. CAI + AAI is the most effective instruction-condition for reflective children. However, AAI has a more positive effect on learning outcomes of ineffective learners.
OSCILLATION OF FIRST ORDER NON-LINEAR NEUTRAL DIFFERENCE EQUATIONS OF RETARDED AND ADVANCED TYPE

In this paper, we establish sufficient conditions for the oscillations for the all solutions of the first order non-linear neutral difference equations of retarded and advanced type. Our approach is to reduce the oscillation of neutral difference equations to the nonexistence of eventually positive solutions of non-neutral difference inequalities. Our results extend and improve several known results in the literature.
The Effects of Education and Health on Wages and Productivity

Human capital theory supports the view that people with higher levels of education and lower incidences of chronic illness should have higher labour productivity. This paper examines the Australian evidence. Hourly wages can be used as an indicator of labour productivity. While wages are likely to be a reasonable indicator of the effects of education on labour productivity, statistical issues and the way that labour markets function in practice mean that using wages as an indicator could lead to results that under- or overstate the negative effects of ill health on labour productivity. In this paper, higher levels of education are estimated to be associated with significantly higher wages. Compared to a person with a year 11 education or less, on average: • a man with a year 12 education earns around 13 per cent more, and a woman earns around 10 per cent more • a man with a diploma or certificate earns around 14 per cent more, and a woman earns around 11 per cent more •a university education adds around 40 per cent to men's and women's earnings. People in the workforce who suffer from chronic illnesses are estimated to earn slightly less than their healthy counterparts (between 1.0 per cent and 5.4 per cent less for a range of conditions). It is possible that these results understate the impact of ill health on productivity, because of the impact that one person's illness can have on other employees. It is also possible that 'endogeneity bias' and unobserved heterogeneity in the data lead to results that overstate the positive effects of education and good health on labour productivity. A second objective of this paper is to estimate the potential productivity of people who are not employed or not in the labour force. These people tend to have characteristics that are systematically different to people who are employed. For example, they tend to have less education and work experience, and also to be in worse health. Because of this, they are more likely to be targeted by government programs. Comparison of the characteristics of people in employment with those not in employment found that, depending on their age, gender and whether they receive the Disability Support Pension, the average potential wage of people who are not employed or not in the labour force is between 65 and 75 per cent of the wage of people who are employed. Image: Thomas Hawk / flickr
The Dynamical Influence of Orography on the Large-Scale Motion of the Atmosphere.

Abstract In an attempt to understand the dynamical influence of the earth's orography upon the large-scale motion of the atmosphere, the system of “shallow water” equations on the rotating earth is integrated numerically. The model consists of an incompressible, homogeneous, hydrostatic and inviscid fluid. The “beta-plane” approximation is used to simplify the model. The fluid is confined in a channel bounded on the north and south by two parallel “walls” extending in the cast-west direction. Periodicity is the boundary condition applied at the east and west boundaries to simulate the cyclic continuity of the zone with longitude. A circular obstacle of parabolic shape is placed at the bottom in the middle of the channel. The steady-state solutions in the absence of the obstacle are used as the initial conditions of the problem. Five different cases are investigated in detail. All computations were performed for an interval of 20 days (some cases were run longer) with a time step of 6 minutes. The followin.
Flow in Knowledge Work: High Performance Experience in the Design of National Security Technology

Knowledge work, which consists of goal-oriented activities that require high levels of competency to complete, comprises a large and increasing amount of work in modern organizations. Because knowledge work seldom has single correct results or methods for completion, externally specified, quantified measures of performance may not always be the most appropriate means for managing the performance of knowledge workers. Two competing models of flow, a type of subjective performance, are proposed and tested in a sample of work experiences from engineers, scientists, managers, and technicians who study and design national defense technologies at Sandia National Laboratories. Results support the definition and model that conceives of flow as the experience of merging situation awareness with the automatic application of activity-relevant knowledge and skills. Ways in which this definition and model of flow can be incorporated into theories of knowledge, performance, and social networks are explored.
Muscular Complaints and Headache are Common Painful Physical Symptoms in Patients With Depression

Background: Although common, painful physical symptoms are not listed as symptoms of depression in the leading (psychiatric) classifications ICD-10 and DSM-IV. Method: In this observational study, general practitioners and internists consecutively documented outpatients requiring an antidepressant. At baseline, after 6 weeks, 4 and 6 months of treatment with fluoxetine were recorded: Clinical global impression (CGI) using the CGI scale; depressed mood, anxiety, suicidality, lack of energy, sleep disturbances, restlessness, cardiovascular symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, diffuse physical symptoms, muscular complaints, and headache using a four-point Likert scale. For comparisons between males/females the Chi-Square-test was performed. This report is limited to pre-treatment baseline findings. Results: 927 of 1008 patients (92.0%) assigned to treatment with fluoxetine had the primary diagnosis of a depressive disorder. At baseline, in 94.3% of the 927 depressed patients (100%) severity of illness was at least moderate. 91.3% had at least one painful physical symptom (muscular complaints, headache, or both), in 58.9%, at least one symptom was moderate to severe. 65.8% suffered from both muscular complaints and headache simultaneously, in 27.0% both symptoms were at least moderately severe. Women showed painful physical symptoms significantly more often (p<0.01). Conclusion: The findings indicate that painful physical symptoms are common in depressed patients (German J Psychiatry 2005; 9: 101-106).
Design of Parallel Architectures of Classifiers Suitable for Intensive Data Processing

Processing of visual data, such as object recognition and image segmentation, is based on data classification. In this paper architectures of ensembles of classifiers are discussed which show superior accuracy in respect to a single classifier. To achieve comparable response time the parallel computer architectures need to be considered, however. In the paper we present a parallel implementation on a graphic card of an ensemble of one-class support vector machines for image segmentation. We show that the parallel architecture of the ensemble of classifiers allows both, the high accuracy and speed up factor of two orders of magnitude compared with the serial software implementation. Keywords-ensemble of classifiers; OC-SVM; data processing; GPU implementation; image segmentation
SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES): Faint-end Counts at 450 μm

The SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES) is a three-year JCMT Large Program aiming to reach the 450 μm confusion limit in the COSMOS-CANDELS region to study a representative sample of the high-redshift far-infrared galaxy population that gives rise to the bulk of the far-infrared background. We present the first-year data from STUDIES. We reached a 450 μm noise level of 0.91 mJy for point sources at the map center, covered an area of 151 arcmin2, and detected 98 and 141 sources at 4. 0σ and 3.5σ, respectively. Our derived counts are best constrained in the 3.5–25 mJy regime using directly detected sources. Below the detection limits, our fluctuation analysis further constrains the slope of the counts down to 1 mJy. The resulting counts at 1–25 mJy are consistent with a power law having a slope of −2.59 (±0.10 for 3.5–25 mJy, and − 0.7 + 0.4 for 1–3.5 mJy). There is no evidence of a faint-end termination or turnover of the counts in this flux density range. Our counts are also consistent with previous SCUBA-2 blank-field and lensing-cluster surveys. The integrated surface brightness from our counts down to 1 mJy is 90.0 ± 17.2 Jy deg−2, which can account for up to 83 − 16 + 15 % of the COBE 450 μm background. We show that Herschel counts at 350 and 500 μm are significantly higher than our 450 μm counts, likely caused by its large beam and source clustering. High angular resolution instruments like SCUBA-2 at 450 μm are therefore highly beneficial for measuring the luminosity and spatial density of high-redshift dusty galaxies.
IMPACT OF DEREGULATION OF THE JAMAICA MOBILE PHONE MARKET ON CALLING RATES

Deregulation of the telecommunications industry has led to a phenomenal growth in mobile phone service subscription in Jamaica with penetration rate reaching more than 100% within a decade of the start of deregulation. Consumers have benefited with significant cuts in rates for mobile phone service following the entry of new service providers. This study models the competition among old and new service providers as a game of entry deterrence in which the entrant is of two types, a low-cost or a high-cost entrant. The entrant knows its type but the incumbent does not. However, the incumbent knows the probability that nature assigns to a particular type of entrant. Four scenarios are examined as candidates for equilibrium. In the first scenario, our model shows that the incumbent can ensure that a new entrant stays out by setting price too low. In scenario two, regardless of the action of the incumbent, the low-cost entrant will always enter the market and the incumbent will cooperate. For scenario three, the incumbent’s action to fight an entrant will only make the high-cost entrant to stay out if price is set too low or cost is too high. In the final scenario, the entrant will always enter regardless of its type and the incumbent will have no other choice than to cooperate. In the case of the Jamaica mobile phone market, our model suggests that the only Bayesian Nash equilibrium is a separating equilibrium in which the incumbent fights entry and the low-cost entrant enters the market. In equilibrium, the price war between old and new companies will persist until all economic profits have been eroded, potentially setting the stage for a return to monopoly. However, even under a monopoly, the low rates for service will persist as the incumbent has a strong incentive to keep prices low to deter any potential new entrants. Based on our model results, we conclude that incumbent mobile phone service providers in Jamaica will continue to institute a price war and a new provider will enter the market only if it has superior technology or a strong financial base.
TRIP GENERATION: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

A CRITICAL EVALUATION IS PRESENTED OF THE CONSEQUENCE ASSOCIATED WITH ALTERNATE APPROACHES TO THE TRIP-GENERATION PROCESS. THE FIRST PART OF THE RESEARCH EXAMINES THE PERFORMANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON AGGREGATE TOTALS (SUCH AS TRIPS PER ZONE) AS OPPOSED TO THE USE OF AGGREGATE RATES (SUCH AS TRIPS PER HOUSEHOLD PER ZONE). THE SECOND PART CONCENTRATES ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF USING DISAGGREGATED DATA (DATA NOT COMBINED AND AVERAGED ACCORDING TO PREDEFINED AREAL UNITS). BOTH ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED ON THE SAME DATA BASE AND EMPLOYED THE SAME SET OF VARIABLES. THE ANALYSES TOOL OF MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION WAS APPLIED TO BOTH PHASES OF THE RESEARCH UTLIZING TWO INDEPENDENT SETS OF DATA, ONE FOR CALIBRATING OR FITTING THE DATA AND THE OTHER FOR TESTING THE RESULTS. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT IN STATISTICAL TESTS TO MEASURE AND EVALUATE ON A COMMON BASIS THE DISAGGREGATE TRIP-GENERATION PROCEDURES THE AGGREGATE PROCEDURES PRODUCED SLIGHTLY BETTER RESULTS AND ARE THE RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE. /AUTHOR/
Use of synthetic clay for Removal of Diclofenac Anti-inflammatory

The removal of diclofenac by sorption on a synthetic hydrotalcite and on its calcined product was investigated. The solid [Mg-Al-CO 3 ], prepared by cooprecipitation at constant pH, its calcined mixed oxide was obtained; both solid were characterized by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The interaction of these materials with diclofenac shows that the kinetics of sorption was fast and followed the second order model. The effects on the diclofenac concentration, sorbent concentration and temperature were studied. The sorption capacity of the calcined hydrotalcite was close to 1.9 mmole g -1 , which represents only 66% of the AEC, but at the concentrations measured that amount represents up 95% of the diclofenac present in solution in the case of HT-C. This suggests that, particularly HT-C could to constitute interesting adsorbent for the removal of diclofenac. Recycling by restitution and calcination-rebuilding should support the recovery of this pollutant.
Unit roots in periodic autoregressions

textabstractAbstract. This paper analyzes the presence and consequences of a unit root in periodic autoregressive models for univariate quarterly time series. First, we consider various representations of such models, including a new parametrization which facilitates imposing a unit root restriction. Next, we propose a class of likelihood ratio tests for a unit root, and we derive their asymptotic null distributions. Likelihood ratio tests for periodic parameter variation are also proposed. Finally, we analyze the impact on unit root inference of misspecifying a periodic process by a constant-parameter model.