Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strict lockdown versus flexible social distance strategy for COVID-19 disease: a cost-effectiveness analysis

Objectives To balance the costs and effects comparing a strict lockdown versus a flexible social distancing strategy for societies affected by Coronavirus-19 Disease (COVID-19). Design Cost-effectiveness analysis. Participants We used societal data and COVID-19 mortality rates from the public domain. Interventions The intervention was a strict lockdown strategy that has been followed by Denmark. Reference strategy was flexible social distancing policy as was applied by Sweden. We derived mortality rates from COVID-19 national statistics, assumed the expected life years lost from each COVID-19 death to be 11 years and calculated lost life years until 31st August 2020. Expected economic costs were derived from gross domestic productivity (GDP) statistics from each country's official statistics bureau and forecasted GDP. The incremental financial costs of the strict lockdown were calculated by comparing Sweden with Denmark using externally available market information. Calculations were projected per one million inhabitants. In sensitivity analyses we varied the total cost of the lockdown (range -50% to +100%). Main outcome measure Financial costs per life years saved. Results In Sweden, the number of people who died with COVID-19 was 577 per million inhabitants, resulting in an estimated 6,350 life years lost per million inhabitants. In Denmark, where a strict lockdown strategy was installed for months, the number of people dying with COVID-19 was on average 111 per million, resulting in an estimated 1,216 life years per million inhabitants lost. The incremental costs of strict lockdown to save one life year was US$ 137,285, and higher in most of the sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Comparisons of public health interventions for COVID-19 should take into account life years saved and not only lost lives. Strict lockdown costs more than US$ 130,000 per life year saved. As our all our assumptions were in favour of strict lockdown, a flexible social distancing policy in response to COVID19 is defendable.
The Effect of Supply Chain Management on the Competitiveness of the Telecommunications Industry in Zimbabwe

The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of supply chain management (SCM) on the competitiveness of the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe. Key objectives of the study were to figure out the extent to which SCM contributes to organisational competitive advantage in the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe, to determine the level of bargaining power when making local and off shore purchases, the extent of risk exposure due to global transactions and finally, to ascertain the strategies used on supplier ratings. Interviews and questionnaires were used as the main instruments for data collection. Questionnaires were distributed to 50 respondents with 36 responding, representing a 72 percent response rate. Data were analysed using SPSS and the resulted presented in graphs and tables. Interviews were carried out using a structured interview guide for uniformity of questions being asked. Three interviews were carried out with procurement managers from all the organisations represented namely, Econet, TelOne and NetOne. The results showed that SCM is a strong contributor to organisational competitiveness. If organisations in the telecommunications sector prudently apply SCM policies, strategies and practices, the performance in terms of profitability realised and competitive advantage will increase. Recommendations are that quality of products; better supplier management and competitive pricing may be realised if firms can adopt SCM principles and practices.
Relative performance of neem coated urea (NCU) on nutrient content, uptake and nitrogen use efficiency of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif season of 2016 at Crop Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (U.P.) to evaluate the nitrogen release pattern and use efficiency of neem coated urea under different application schedule in rice (Oryza sativa L). The soil of the experimental field was well drained, sandy loam in texture, alkaline in reaction (pH 8.03), low in available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and available potassium with an electrical conductivity of 0.21dS m. Eleven treatments comprising control (No N), 50:25:25 N, 33:33:33 N, 25:25:50 N, 25:50:25 N, 00:50:50 N, 00:75:25 N, 00:25:75 N, 50:50:00 N, 50:00:50 N through neem coated urea as basal, at maximum tillering and panicle initiation stage and LCC based (≤ 4 critical value) replicated thrice estimated in a randomized block design. The results obtained in this study showed that the (T5) 25:50:25 N through neem coated urea as basal, at maximum tillering and panicle initiation stage performed significantly better than the other treatments in nutrient uptake (128.68 kg ha1N, 19.58 kg ha-1 P, 131.59 kg ha-1K), agronomic use efficiency (13.08 kg ha) and apparent recovery efficiency (54.75 %) of rice.
System productivity of groundnut-maize cropping system as affected by biofertilizers and crop residue incorporation MMV

A field experiment was conducted on “Integrated Nutrient Management in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)Maize (Zea mays L.) Cropping System” during two consecutive years (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) at the Agricultural Research Station, Vizianagaram of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), in the North Coastal Agro-Climatic Zone of Andhra Pradesh, to study the effect of integrated nitrogen management practices involving biofertilizer inoculations on growth and yield of kharif groundnut and succeeding rabi maize. Among all the RDF along with bio-fertilizers application, maximum values for vegetative parameters were recorded with the application of 150% RDF + FYM 5 t ha and the higher pod yield and yield attributes were recorded with 125% RDF + FYM 5 t ha which was, however, comparable with with100% RDF + FYM 5 t ha. The research results of succeeding maize revealed that, growth parameters, yield attributes, yield and economic returns were significantly influenced by the treatments given to preceding groundnut crop in the sequence. Among all the treatments, the plant height, drymatter production, yield attributes and the yield maximum recorded with the treatment combination of 100%RDF+ Azospirillum+ PSB+ VAM+ with groundnut crop residue incorporation which was, however, comparable to combinations RDF125+FYM5t+ Rhizobium inoculation +PSB+VAM and RDF100+FYM5t+ Rhizobium inoculation +PSB+VAM.
Water saving technologies in rice-a review

Gains or losses in grain yield and water-use efficiency of aerobic direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) must be considered before promoting this technology in areas where this is not common. In the northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of South Asia, irrigation water for rice production is becoming scarce because of depleting surface and groundwater resources. Assessing the scope for gains in water productivity requires an understanding of basic biological and hydrological crop-water relations. How much more water will be needed for agriculture in the future is governed, to a large extent, by links between water, food and changes in die. The amount of water required for field crops and its relation to yield dominates the equation on the need for additional water for food. Exploring ways to produce more rice with less water is essential for food security. Water-saving rice production systems, such as aerobic rice culture, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), raised beds and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), can drastically cut down the unproductive water outflows and increase Water-Use Efficiency (WUE). The water crisis is threatening the sustainability of the irrigated rice system and food security in Asia. Our challenge is to develop novel technologies and production systems that allow rice production to be maintained or increased in the face of declining water availability.
Effect of nutrients application on maize: Potato cropping sequence

A field experiment was conducted during 2017-18 and 2018-19 at ICARCPRI-RS, Gwalior M.P. during kharif and rabi to judge the effect of nutrients application on maize – potato cropping sequence. The experiment consisted of 8 treatments with four replications. The results revealed that application of residue based compost + Biofertilizers (Azotobactor and PSB) + VC @ 7.5 t/ha gave higher fresh root weight/plant (16.50 and 16.00 g/plant during 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively) over remaining treatments at 30 DAS. However, application of 100% RDF NPK + FYM @ 25 t/ha gave higher fresh root weight at 60 DAS and maturity stage i.e. 48.25 and 41.75 g/plant, respectively during 2017. Application of 75% RDF NPK + 25% N through FYM and 75% RDF NPK + FYM @ 25 t/ha gave higher fresh root weight/plant at 60 DAS and maturity stage, respectively during 2018-19. Application of 100% RDF NPK + FYM @ 25 t/ha gave higher value of fresh plant weight at 30 DAS (174.50 and 178.75 g/plant), 60 DAS (472.75 and 460.25 g/plant) and maturity stage (539.25 and 541.50 g/plant) during 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively. Application of residue based compost + Biofertilizers (Azotobactor and PSB) + VC @ 7.5 t/ha and residue based compost gave higher root: shoot ratio i.e. 0.068 and 0.69 during 201718 and 2018-19, respectively at 30 DAS. Residue based compost + Biofertilizers (Azotobactor and PSB) + VC @ 7.5 t/ha gave higher root: shoot ratio (0.073) during 2018-19 as compare to other treatments at maturity stage. Application of 75% RDF NPK + 25% N through FYM gave significantly higher use efficiencies viz. ANE, ENUE during both the years over 100% RDF NPK. Whereas, application of 100% RDF NPK gave higher PNE during 2018-19 compare to other treatments. Application of 100% RDF NPK + FYM @ 25 t/ha recorded higher cob (11.21 and 11.07 kg/14.4 m, stover (7.82 and 8.03 kg/14.4 m), grain (7.61 and 7.91 kg/14.4 m) and biological yield (14.70 and 15.80 kg/14.4 m) of maize during 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively compare to other treatments. Whereas, 100% RDF NPK recorded higher stover weight viz.7.82 and 8.03 kg/14.4 m during 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively compare to other. Whereas, application of 100% RDF NPK + FYM @ 25 t/ha gave higher haulm (18.48 and 24.66 kg/14.4 m), tuber yield (46.47 and 51.24 kg/14.4 m), biological yield (64.95 and 75.90 kg/14.4 m) of potato and MEY of potato (19.57 and 18.08kg/14.4 m) as well as system (27.38 and 26.18 kg/14.4 m) during both the years. Maize fresh plant and root/plant weight was highly positive correlated with maize grain during both the years at all the stages of crop growth except at 30 DAS for root fresh weight/plant during both the years.
Effect of salicylic acid and nitric oxide on postharvest quality and senescence of cut gerbera flowers

Gerbera flowers have a short vase life after harvest characterized by stem bending and flower withering. In the present study, the efficacy of salicylic acid (1 mM and 2 mM) and sodium nitroprusside (0.5 mM and 1 mM) along with sucrose (2%) was tested to delay its senescence and extend its display life during storage at ambient condition. The control flowers were kept in distilled water with only 2% sucrose. Results showed that addition of 2 mM salicylic acid in vase solution was found highly effective in minimizing fresh weight loss, stem bending, flower withering and loss of anthocyanin pigments. This treatment showed extended vase life of the flowers by reducing membrane lipid peroxidation and higher uptake of treatment solutions. However, flowers treated with sodium nitroprusside (a nitric oxide donor) were not found effective in preserving postharvest quality and extending vase life of flowers. Findings of the study revealed that dipping of cut gerbera flowers in vase solution containing 2 mM salicylic acid is beneficial in extending its vase life.
Response of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) genotypes to four phosphorus levels in Gajapati district of Southern Odisha

The performance of three cowpea genotypes (SB-2, Rawati, Baramasi) with four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5/ha) was studied at Bagusala farm of M.S.Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Gajapati, Odisha. The treatments were laid using Factorial Randomized Block Design and replicated thrice with the individual plot size of 12m2. The result obtained from the analysis data indicated that cowpea genotypes are significantly different. Plant growth parameters study included such as plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant and days to first flowering. Yield parameters such as number of pods/plot and 100-seed weight (g) and both of green pod yield (kg/plot) and seed yield (kg/plot) were recorded. Results showed significant response to the application of phosphorus which equally influenced the growth and yield components as well as yield of cowpea. Baramasi genotype gave early flowering followed by SB-2 and Rawati. The effect of genotypes and phosphorus levels showed that the genotype Baramasi gave the maximum (5.22 kg) pod yield/plot in terms of pod yield/ha (4355 kg). Further, Baramasi genotype produced highest seed yield/plot (1.15 kg/plot) in terms of hectare (965 kg) and minimum was noted with the genotype Rawati (0.97 kg/plot). In case of 100-seed weight, Baramasi registered the highest response with the application of 60 kg P2O5/ha. Thus based on these findings, application of 60 kg P2O5/ha can be recommended for better cowpea growth and yield. Similarly, genotype Baramasi can be recommended for better yield for Gajapati district of south Odisha. The performance of three cowpea genotypes (SB-2, Rawati, Baramasi) with four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5/ha) was studied at Bagusala farm of M.S. Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Gajapati, Odisha.
Memory, Visual Discrimination Performance, and the Human Hippocampus

We evaluated recent proposals that the hippocampus supports certain kinds of visual discrimination performance, for example, when spatial processing is required and the stimuli have a high degree of feature overlap. Patients with circumscribed hippocampal lesions tried to discriminate between images of similar faces or images of similar scenes. In one condition, elements of the stimulus display repeated from trial to trial, and in another condition every trial was unique. In the repeated condition for both faces and scenes, controls gradually improved their performance across testing. In the trial-unique condition, no improvement occurred. The patients were impaired for both faces and scenes in the repeated condition where controls could benefit from learning. However, the patients were fully intact in the trial-unique condition. The results suggest that previous reports of impaired discrimination performance after medial temporal lobe damage may reflect impaired learning rather than impaired visual perception. The findings support the fundamental idea that memory is a distinct cerebral function separable from other perceptual and cognitive abilities.
Cosmology dependence of halo masses and concentrations in hydrodynamic simulations

We employ a set of Magneticum cosmological hydrodynamic simulations that span over 15 different cosmologies, and extract masses and concentrations of all well-resolved haloes between z = 0 and 1 for critical overdensities $\Delta _\textrm {vir}, \Delta _{200c}, \Delta _{500c}, \Delta _{2500c}$ and mean overdensity Δ200m. We provide the first mass–concentration (Mc) relation and sparsity relation (i.e. MΔ1 − MΔ2 mass conversion) of hydrodynamic simulations that is modelled by mass, redshift, and cosmological parameters Ωm, Ωb, σ8, h0 as a tool for observational studies. We also quantify the impact that the Mc relation scatter and the assumption of Navarro–Frank–White (NFW) density profiles have on the uncertainty of the sparsity relation. We find that converting masses with the aid of an Mc relation carries an additional fractional scatter ($\approx 4{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) originated from deviations from the assumed NFW density profile. For this reason, we provide a direct mass–mass conversion relation fit that depends on redshift and cosmological parameters. We release the package hydro_mc, a python tool that perform all kind of conversions presented in this paper.
Identification of most promising genotypes for varietal development in fieldpea (Pisum sativum L. var. arvense)

The present investigation was carried out with one hundred twenty diverse genotypes with four check varieties viz., Ambika, Rachna, HUDP 15, HFP 8909 to identify most promising genotypes of fieldpea. To achieve this, data on various quantitative characters were recorded and on the basis of these data genetic variability, character association, path coefficient, mean performance of the genotypes and genetic divergence analysis were done in Augmented block design. Analysis of genetic variance revealed moderate to high level of genetic variability among all the genotypes in majority of the characters except number of primary branches per plant. Higher GCV were recorded for number of seeds per pod (30.414), seed yield per plant (28.874 g), for these characters PCV were 30.460 and 28.906, respectively, indicated very less influence of environment on the expression of these characters. Correlation and Path analysis indicated that harvest index, biological yield per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod length and 100-seed weight, had true relationship with seed yield. On the basis of non-hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis, all the genotypes were grouped into twelve distinct nonoverlapping clusters in which cluster XI was found largest having twenty genotypes while cluster VI had lowest number of genotypes e.g., FP 14-81, FP 11-72, EC-507770. The highest intra cluster distance was observed within cluster VII (16.392) followed by cluster IX (10.544). The maximum (58.308) inter cluster distance was recorded between cluster IV and XII and between cluster VI and cluster XI (54.180), indicating the possibility of high heterotic effect, if the individuals from these clusters are cross bred. On the basis of mean performance, correlation and path analysis, genotypes FP 14-81, FP 11-72, FP 2009-4, FP 11-108, FP 10-108 and FP 14-30 were found as the elite genotypes which can be utilized in breeding programme for development of high yielding varieties.
JNK pathway promotes hepatocyte apoptosis by inhibiting Bcl-2 and upregulating expressions of Bim, caspase-3 and caspase-9 after cardiopulmonary bypass

Purpose: To study the effect of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway on hepatocyte apoptosis in vivo and in vitro, and to elucidate the mechanism of action. Methods: TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) method was used to determine apoptosis in control and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) groups at 0, 3 and 6 hours after rat surgery. The expressions of JNK and p-c-Jun in liver tissues at 0, 3 and 6 h after surgery, and the levels of p-c-Jun, Bcl-2 and Bim following overexpression of JNK, were determined using Western blot assay. Human liver cell line HL-7702 was cultured and transfected with over-expressed JNK plasmid and empty plasmid. Proliferation of HL-7702 cells after JNK over-expression was assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), while quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was employed to evaluate mRNA expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 mRNA after JNK over-expression. Apoptosis of the cells was determined by flow cytometry (FC) after JNK over-expression. Results: FC results showed that the number of apoptotic hepatocytes increased after JNK overexpression in hepatocytes while TUNEL assay results demonstrated that hepatocyte apoptosis increased in CPB group, when compared to control group; furthermore, the number of apoptotic cells gradually increased within 6 h after surgery. The expressions of JNK and p-c-Jun were higher in CPB group than in control group, and increased gradually in both groups within 6 h after surgery. Overexpression of JNK decreased the proliferation of hepatocytes, and also lowered protein expression levels of p-c-Jun and Bim; on the other hand, the protein expression levels of Bcl-2 fell, while mRNA expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 mRNA increased. Conclusion: JNK pathway promotes hepatocyte apoptosis after cardiopulmonary bypass by inhibiting Bcl-2 pathway and promoting the expressions of Bim caspase-3 and caspase-9. Keywords: Cardiopulmonary bypass, Apoptosis, JNK pathway, Bim, caspase-3 and caspase-9
THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME IMPORTANT TROPANE ALKALOIDS IN CHINESE SOLANACEOUS PLANTS

Hyoscyamine, scopolamine, anisodamine, anisodine are important tropane alkaloids because of their therapeutic value and pharmacological actions. In recent years, the latter two new tropane alkaloids have also been proved to affect the central or peri- pheral nerve system. This discovery has prompted further investigation into solana- ceous plants with the hope of finding additional sources with higher content of these alkaloids. The present paper studied the general pattern of distribution in the Chinese solanaceous plants, of the above mentioned four tropane alkaloids and a non-tropane alkaloid, bellaradine, which may be biogenetically related to the tropane alkaloids. The variation of these alkaloids within a certain population belonging to Scopolia tangutica was studied as well.