Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empirical modelling of river water temperature in water scarce European basins

GLOBAQUA is a European Union (EU)-funded project aiming to identify the prevalence of, and interaction between, stressors under water scarcity in order to improve water management practices and policies. River water temperature (RWT) plays a pivotal role in aquatic freshwater ecosystems, impacting the distribution of aquatic species and water quality. In this study, we aimed at assessing RWT in three data-poor, water scarce basin of the European Mediterranean region to enable projections of RWT as one of the multiple stressors that aquatic habitats face currently and likely more in the future. Given that water thermal inertia regulates RWT response to Ta, stream discharge (Q) should be considered in predicting RWT in water scarce basins. To be pragmatic, we opted for applying a published empirical regression of RWT as a function of Ta and Q for application in three European basins, namely the Adige (Italy, 28 stations), the Ebro (Spain, 39 stations), and the Sava (Western Balkans, 10 stations). Time series comprised data observed from 1967 to 2014; observed RWT ranged from -5 to 34 °C, Ta ranged from -50 to 39 °C and stream discharge ranged from 0 to 5000 m3/s. For each basin, the regression coefficients were estimated with Bayesian inference using a calibration dataset that comprised about 75% of basin stations. Initial collinearity analysis showed that correlation between regression coefficients reduced identifiability of all empirical parameters, thence the asymptotic minimum RWT was set at zero while the asymptotic maximum was set according to the distribution of the highest 4% of recorded RWT. MCMC runs converged to acceptable solutions in all basins. The root mean square error (RMSE) in the calibration and in the validation datasets varied from 2 to 3.15 °C, which was deemed acceptable for application at basin scale. However, while statistic results were acceptable, the projected impact of stream discharge on RWT resulted to be either negligible (in the Sava basin) or unrealistic, e.g. in the Adige basin. Furthermore, the empirical equation seemed conceptually flaw at low temperatures, where low discharge would increase rather than decrease RWT. Repeating the analysis after dropping the stream discharge variable allowed reaching the same estimation errors, i.e. neglecting the hypothesized discharge impact did not degrade the empirical RWT estimation. In view of data limitations, the logistic regression of RWT as a function of Ta was considered sufficient to assess RWT changes in foreseeable future in the three studied basins. We further conclude that despite statistical convergence and acceptable goodness of fit, the hypothesized empirical relationship of RWT and Q should be revised. Alternatively, in data richer environments, stream discharge could be used in regionalization schemes to extend regression parameters in between observation stations.
A COMMON FIXED POINT OF MULTI-VALUED MAPS IN B-METRIC SPACE

The study of fixed point theory in metric spaces has several applications in mathematics, especially in solving differential equations. In [4] Bakhtin introduced a new class of generalized metric space called b-metric space which has been studied by many authors. For example, see [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 21]. This new notion of spaces has been used to obtain several results in fixed point theory. For example : in [18] the authors have generalized Banach fixed point theorem in b-metric space, see Theorem 1.3 and in [19], [20], [22], [23]. The authors have used an other form of contraction to obtain the fixed point theorem of uni-valued mappings in b-metric spaces. In our work, using the Hausdorff-Pompeiu metric, we are dealing with the common fixed point of two multi-valued mappings verifying a certain relation in b-metric space. As a consequence of our work we obtain some results known in the case of uni-valued mappings that we will point out in the following paragraph. Definition 1.1 ([9]). Let Xbe a nonempty set and s ≥ 1 be a given real number. A function d : X ×X −→ IR is said to be a b-metric on X if the following conditions hold: (i) d(x, y) = 0 if and only if x = y; (ii) d(x, y) = d(y, x) for all x, y ∈ X; (iii) d(x, y) ≤ s[d(x, z) + d(z, y)] for all x, y, z ∈ X. Note that every metric space is a b−metric space with s = 1. But the converse need not be true as is shown in the following example. Example 1.1 ([22]). Let X = {−1, 0, 1}. Define d : X ×X −→ IR by : d(x, y) = d(y, x) for all x, y ∈ X, d(x, x) = 0, d(−1, 0) = 3 and d(−1, 1) = d(0, 1) = 1. Then (X, d) is a b−metric space with s = 32 but it is not a metric space since the triangle inequality is not satisfied. Indeed, we have d(−1, 1) + d(1, 0) = 1 + 1 = 2 < 3 = d(−1, 0). 1 Department of Mathematical Sciences, Mohammed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco e-mail: makranmakran83@gmail.com 2 Department of Mathematical Sciences, Mohammed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco, e-mail: abdelhak.elhaddouchi@gmail.com 3 Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Mohammed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco, e-mail: marzoukib@yahoo.fr
Administration of Vitamin D3 Improves Hemoglobin Level by Regulating TNF-a and IL-6 in DSS-induced Colitis Mice

BACKGROUND: Anemia is frequently found in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and assumed to be related to inflammatory process. Vitamin D3 (VD) is known to have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. It also has the potential to be an alternative treatment of the inflammatory process that occurs at UC, however its mechanism has not been clearly established. This study aimed to assess the effect of VD on histopathology and hemoglobin levels in UC through its regulation in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6. METHODS: Total samples of 24 mice were divided equally into Sham group, UC group, UC+VD group (given 3% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) followed by VD), and VD+UC group (given VD followed by 3% DSS). Mouse Colitis Histology Index (MCHI) was used to measure histopathological changes. Immunohistochemical staining was used to observe expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in colon. Evaluation of anemia was determined by hemoglobin levels. RESULTS: Based on MCHI scores, significant epithelial damage was found in colon sample of UC group (8.25±3.05) compared to Sham (0.33±0.26), UC+VD (2.33±1.07), and VD+UC group (2.83±0.75) ( p <0.05). Significant lower numbers of TNF-α were found in Sham (27.33±3.42), UC+VD (36.33±1.86), and VD+UC group (36.68±1.86) compared with UC group (44.66±4.87) ( p <0.05). Significant less IL-6 expression was found in Sham (18.05±2.96), UC+VD (24.78±0.79), and VD+UC group (25.09±2.79) compared to UC group (38.85±3.51) ( p <0.05). Differences in hemoglobin levels were significantly lower in UC group (11.85±0.97) compared to Sham (14.25±0.47), UC+VD (13.68±0.68), VD+UC group (13.52±1.07) ( p <0.05). CONCLUSION: VD significantly reduced proinflammatory cytokines, increased mucosal repair, and improved hemoglobin levels. KEYWORDS: colitis, ulcerative, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha
Antioxidant constituents and antioxidant activity of some red wine and red table grape varieties, cultivated in diff erent regions of Bulgaria

Tzanova, M. , Atanasov, V. , Ivanov, M. , Iliev, A. , Atanassova, S. & Peeva, P., Grozeva, N. , Gerdzhikova, M. & Dinev, T. (2019). Antioxidant constituents and antioxidant activity of some red wine and red table grape varieties, cultivated in diff erent regions of Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 25 (Suppl. 3), 3–12 Foods that have a positive eff ect on human health are becoming more and more popular nowadays. Such foods are the grapes rich in phenolic compounds, which are known as very potent bio-antioxidants. This paper presented a research made for the fi rst timetwelve red wine varieties (Rubin, Kaylashki Rubin, Storgozia, Mavrud, Nikopolski Mavrud, Melnik 55, Bouquet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Mourvedre and Malbec) and eight red table varieties (Velika, Dunav, Siyana, Hybrid V5-1, Muskat Hamburg, Moldova, Palieri and Black Pearl), cultivated in diff erent regions of Bulgaria were tested for their antioxidant activity (AA) and contents of total phenols (TPC), trans-resveratrol (t-RVT) and quercetin (QU). In the grape skins the parameters ranged: t-RVTfrom 2.05 ± 0.21 to 14.34 ± 1.35 and from 1.44 ± 0.17 to 23.71 ± 2.53 mg/kg FW; QUfrom 0.27 ± 0.03 to 1.98 ± 0.18 and from 0.63 ± 0.07 to 2.12 ± 0.20 mg/kg FW; TPC – from 17 ± 2 to 371 ± 33 and from 21 ± 2 to 444 ± 43 mmol GAE/kg dm and AA – from 23.2 ± 1.9 to 59.9 ± 5.5 and from 32.4 ± 2.8 to 66.4 ± 6.3 mmol TE/kg dm for wine and table grapes, respectively. The table grape varieties had higher mean values of the parameters examined than the wine grape varieties. South Bulgaria have grape varieties with higher values of the antioxidant parameters with comparison to North Bulgaria. But, Danubian region, North Bulgaria, have wine and table grape varieties with very good antioxidant parameters and can‘t be ignored. The reason for this is the agrometeorological conditions. The correlations between the determined values were positive with very high correlation coeffi cients.
Human Resource Development Practices and Faculty Development: A Review in the Context of Pakistani Universities

Human resource has been the pivotal factor for sustainable development of any organization. The study aims at finding the effects of institutional activities of human resource development currently in place in the public and private universities in Pakistan and to develop an appropriate faculty development framework/model to improve current level of performance. The research was limited to the Punjab province. The sample of the study included executive and administrative heads, HR mangers and faculty members of social sciences department of ten randomly selected universities of Punjab. Data from was gathered through a self-developed and piloted questionnaire HRDAS and analyzed using statistical software (AMOS) version 21 and a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework/model. The results reflect that the formation and recruitment process for human capital, training and development, compensation and profit and mentoring, contribute significantly to the growth of faculties and organizations. The suggested model will improve faculty and institutional performance.
Remeasuring Sectoral Herding in the Financial Markets

Herding behavior was concluded to exist in some sectors and under some market conditions in the Jordanian stock market when measured using the cross-sectional absolute deviation. The purpose of this study was to retest the existence of the sectoral herding using the cross-sectional dispersion of betas and compare the results with those reached using the measure of the cross-sectional absolute deviation. Behavioral finance theory represents the main base on which this study was built. In this study, the researcher tried to answer questions related to whether herding behavior exists in the Jordanian market and its sectors if measured using cross-sectional dispersion of betas and whether results will be different from those reached using other measures. In this quantitative study, data from Amman stock exchange were used and the period covered was from 2000 to 2018. These data were used to calculate the cross-sectional dispersion of betas which was tested using t-test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. Results indicated that herding behavior existed in market and in each sector at the same level which was not affected by the financial crisis. Furthermore, the study revealed that herding level was the same when the market (sector) was rising and when it was falling and this similarity has not been changed by the occurrence of the global financial crisis. Finally, results indicated that herding was at its lowest level in the entire market and in the industrial sector during the time of financial crisis. These results are different from those of the study conducted in Jordan using cross-sectional absolute deviation which implies that using different herding measures yields different results.
Investigations on population dynamics of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella Linn. and natural enemies on cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata Linn

The study on population dynamics of diamondback moth larvae on cabbage variety, Golden Acre revealed the commencement of pest in 50th SMW and maximum larval population on 1st SMW. The larval population showed highly significant negative correlation with maximum, minimum and average temperature. Wind speed had significant positive correlation with the larval population. Coccinellid predators viz., Coccinella transversalis Fabricius and Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius) were noticed in cabbage ecosystem. The initial occurrence of coccinellids were noted during 50th SMW and the population increased gradually in successive weekly counts and reached a peak in 3rd SMW. The minimum and average temperature and the evening relative humidity had significant negative effect on the population of coccinellid beetles. Wind speed had highly significant positive influence on coccinellid population. Regression studies revealed 76.90 and 80.70 per cent association of P. xylostella larval population and coccinellids with significant weather parameters, respectively.
Effectiveness of a mobile phone text messaging intervention on dietary behaviour in patients with type 2 diabetes: a post-hoc analysis of a randomised controlled trial.

Background Evidence suggests that mobile phone health (mHealth) programs may improve healthy behaviours and clinical outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, data on mHealth dietary behaviour is scarce in low-and-middle-income countries. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of a text messaging program on dietary habits in patients with T2DM. Methods We performed a post-hoc analysis of a randomised controlled trial of text messaging intervention in 236 patients with T2DM recruited from a tertiary hospital. Data were collected on socio-demographics, mobile phone use, family and medical history, self-reported diseases, medication use, health-seeking behaviour, diet and physical activity. Dietary behaviour was assessed using a modified version of WHO STEPS and the Indian Migration Study Food Frequency Questionnaire. Intervention participants received one message/day over six months focusing on lifestyle modification. Dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, sugar beverages and teaspoons of sugar in tea/coffee were determined in serves-per-week and were analysed using Chi-square tests. Poisson regression models, adjusted for age, sex and baseline values following an intention-to-treat approach were performed and expressed as an estimate of effect size. Results At 6 months, the adjusted difference in vegetable consumption was -0.02 serves/week [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.11-0.06, P>0.05] and fruit intake was 0.02 serves/week (95% CI: -0.15-0.21, P>0.05). Consumption of sugar beverages reduced in both groups at 6 months with an adjusted difference of -0.34 serves/week (95% CI: -1.10-0.42, P>0.05). Teaspoons of sugar in tea reduced to 0.1±0.3 teaspoons/week in the control group, however, remained the same at 0.2±0.6 teaspoons/week in the intervention group with an adjusted difference of 0.94 teaspoons/week (95% CI: 0.04-1.84, P<0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that a text messaging program did not significantly improve dietary behaviour in patients with T2DM. Further studies are warranted to explore the effectiveness of text messaging on dietary behaviour in adults with T2DM. Trial Registration German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00005188, http://www.drks. de.
Intracranial recordings and computational modelling of music reveal the time-course of prediction error signaling in frontal and temporal cortices.

Prediction is held to be a fundamental process underpinning perception, action and cognition. To examine the time-course of prediction error signaling, we recorded intracranial EEG activity from 9 pre-surgical epileptic patients while they listened to melodies whose information-theoretic predictability had been characterized using a computational model. We examined oscillatory activity in the superior temporal gyrus (STG), the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and the pars orbitalis of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), lateral cortical areas previously implicated in auditory predictive processing. We also examined activity in anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), the insula and amygdala, to determine whether signatures of prediction error signaling may also be observable in these subcortical areas. Our results demonstrate that the information content (a measure of unexpectedness) of musical notes modulates the amplitude of low-frequency oscillatory activity (theta to beta power) in bilateral STG and right MTG from within 100 and 200ms of note-onset respectively. Our results also show this cortical activity to be accompanied by low-frequency oscillatory modulation in ACG and insula - areas previously associated with mediating physiological arousal. Finally, we showed that modulation of low-frequency activity is followed by that of high-frequency (gamma) power from approximately 200ms in the STG, between 300ms and 400ms in the left insula and between 400 and 500ms in the ACG. We discuss these results with respect to models of neural processing that emphasize gamma activity as an index of prediction error signaling, and highlight the usefulness of musical stimuli in revealing the wide-reaching neural consequences of predictive processing.
PRELIMIARY VERSION-PLEASE DO NOT CITE Duration dependence, lagged duration dependence, and Occurrence dependence in individual employment histories: Evidence from German register data

This paper analyzes the extent and type of state dependence in labor market outcomes using a sample of German males aged 30 to 50, which was extracted from the German Integrated Biographies Sample (IEBS). I differentiate between three labor market states: employment, unemployment, and out of labor force. The three labor market states have to be identified using the information in the data set, which, due to its administrative nature, requires some case-by-case analysis. Event-history methods are used, which allow for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. The empirical results indicate that all forms of state dependence, i.e. duration dependence, occurrence dependence and lagged duration dependence, can be found for the six transitions. The existence of many short unemployment and employment spells significantly increases the risk of entering the state of unemployment when employed, but also to find employment, when unemployed. By contrast, long unemployment spells in the past increase the risk to become unemployed, but also to remain unemployed. I discuss the implications of my results for labor market policy. JEL-Classification: C33, C41, J64
A study of the TEX86 paleothermometer in the water column and sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin, California

[1] Particulate organic matter collected during a 2-year period, as part of an ongoing sediment trap study, and a high-resolution sediment record from 1850 to 1987 A.D. from the Santa Barbara Basin were analyzed for TEX86, a temperature proxy based on marine crenarchaeotal membrane lipids. Highest fluxes of crenarchaeotal lipids in the water column were found in May–June 1996 and from October 1996 to January 1997 and, in general, showed a good correlation with mass fluxes. TEX86 reconstructed temperatures from the sediment trap series ranged from 8 to 11°C and were usually substantially lower than sea surface temperatures (SST), indicating that unlike in previous studies, the TEX86 corresponds to subsurface temperatures, likely between 100 and 150 m. TEX86 temperature variations observed in trap samples were not coupled to changes in SST or deep-water temperatures and only to some degree with crenarchaeotal lipid fluxes. This suggests that a complex combination of different depth origins and seasonal growth periods of Crenarchaeota contributed to the variations in TEX86 signal during the annual cycle. TEX86 temperatures in the two sediment cores studied (8–13°C) were also substantially lower than those of instrumental SST records (14–17.5°C) confirming that TEX86 records a subsurface temperature signal in the Santa Barbara Basin. This result highlights the importance of performing calibration studies using sediment traps and core tops before applying the TEX86 temperature proxy in a given study area.
Joint Computation Offloading and Multiuser Scheduling Using Approximate Dynamic Programming in NB-IoT Edge Computing System

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects a huge number of resource-constraint IoT devices to the Internet, which generate massive amount of data that can be offloaded to the cloud for computation. As some of the applications may require very low latency, the emerging mobile edge computing (MEC) architecture offers cloud services by deploying MEC servers at the mobile base stations (BSs). The IoT devices can transmit the offloaded data to the BS for computation at the MEC server. Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) is a new cellular technology for the transmission of IoT data to the BS. In this paper, we propose a joint computation offloading and multiuser scheduling algorithm in NB-IoT edge computing system that minimizes the long-term average weighted sum of delay and power consumption under stochastic traffic arrival. We formulate the dynamic optimization problem into an infinite-horizon average-reward continuous-time Markov decision process (CTMDP) model. In order to deal with the curse-of-dimensionality problem, we use the approximate dynamic programming techniques, i.e., the linear value-function approximation and temporal-difference learning with post-decision state and semi-gradient descent method, to derive a simple algorithm for the solution of the CTMDP model. The proposed algorithm is semi-distributed, where the offloading algorithm is performed locally at the IoT devices, while the scheduling algorithm is auction-based where the IoT devices submit bids to the BS to make the scheduling decision centrally. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides significant performance improvement over the two baseline algorithms and the MUMTO algorithm which is designed based on the deterministic task model.
Banking Market Structure and Cost of Credit in the WAEMU

This paper provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between the structure of the banking market and the cost of credit in the WAEMU. The analysis focuses on WAEMU countries except for Guinea-Bissau due to the lack of sufficiently long series. The study covers the period from 1996 to 2017. Using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method, we show that the banking market concentration ratio has a double effect on the cost of credit. First, the concentration ratio increases the cost of credit, and second, it decreases the cost of credit after reaching a threshold of 70 percent. Moreover, the results highlight the positive impact of the money market interest rate on the cost of credit. On the other hand, the inflation rate unexpectedly lowers the cost of credit in the WAEMU.