Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ASSESSMENT OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY ALONG CROSS SECTION OF PRAVARA RIVER AND ITS IMPACT ON SOIL FROM SANGAMNER AREA, AHMEDNAGAR, MAHARASTRA, INDIA

Construction of several dams and weirs on Pravara river, drains Sangamner area located in the northern part of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India, results into rapid development of agro-industries. Effect of large agro-industrial development leads to overuse of irrigation, resulted into deterioration of quality of groundwater and soil of the study area. In the present study, attempt was made to assess the groundwater quality by analyzing 84 groundwater samples collected along the recharge to discharge zone of Pravara river basin. All the samples were analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl - , HCO 3 - , SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , PO 4 3- , SiO 2 and Boron. Chemical characteristics of groundwater was dominated by Ca+Mg > Na+K-HCO 3 +CO 3 hydro-chemical types followed by Na+K-HCO3+CO3 and Na+K-SO4+Cl+NO3, indicating dominance of cation and anion exchange process on both spatial as well as temporal scales. Diverse hydro-chemical characteristics were studied by plotting Piper’s diagram, showed faster chemical evolution of ground water in the recharge zone. As against this, in the discharge zone less hydro-chemical diversity reflected slow process of chemical evolution of groundwater. The majority of the groundwater samples belong to medium conductive class I in discharge zone, medium conductive class II and high conductive class III in recharge zone reveals the impact of excess irrigation. Geo chemical changes taking place during the chemical pollution of groundwater were assessed by calculating the ionic ratios of different chemical constituents viz. Na/Ca, Ca/Mg and SI. On the basis of TDS, saline groundwater is confined to discharge zone, predominates irrigated agriculture. Hydrochemical diversity, salinization of groundwater, nitrate pollution and boron toxicity are the impacts of excess irrigation and over use of chemical fertilizers degrades soils. Geology, hydro-geology, geomorphology, mineralogy and anthropogenic activities have been played cumulative role in the development of soil salinity in the study area. Educating the farmers and creating awareness to adopt better farm management practices has been suggested to reduce the problem of soil degradation.
WORKING PAPER MACROPRUDENTIAL POLICY AND BANK SYSTEMIC RISK

This paper investigates the eﬀectiveness of macroprudential policy to contain the systemic risk of European banks between 2000 and 2017. We use a new database (MaPPED) collected by experts at the ECB and national central banks with narrative information on a broad range of instruments which are tracked over their life cycle. Using a dynamic panel framework at a monthly frequency enables us to assess the impact of macroprudential tools and their design on the banks’ systemic risk both in the short and the long run. We furthermore decompose the systemic risk measure in an individual bank risk component and a systemic linkage component. This is of particular interest because microprudential policy focuses on the tail risk of an individual bank while macroprudential policy targets systemic risk by addressing the interlinkages and common exposures across banks. On average, all banks bene-ﬁt from macroprudential tools in terms of their individual risk. We ﬁnd that credit growth tools and exposure limits exhibit the most pronounced downward eﬀect on the individual risk component. However, we ﬁnd evidence for a risk-shifting eﬀect which is more pronounced for retail-oriented banks. The eﬀects are heterogeneous across banks with respect to the systemic linkage component. Liquidity tools and measures aimed at increasing the resilience of banks decrease the systemic linkage of banks. However, these tools appear to be most eﬀective for distressed banks. Our results have implications for the optimal design of macroprudential instruments.
UVicSPACE: Research & Learning Repository

An asynchronous time difference of arrival (ATDOA) positioning system requires no time synchronization among all the anchor and target nodes, which makes it highly practical and can be easily deployed. This paper first presents an ATDOA localization model, and then primarily focuses on two new localization algorithms for the system. The first algorithm is a two-step positioning algorithm that combines semidefinite programming (SDP) with a Taylor series method to achieve global convergence as well as superior estimation accuracy, and the second algorithm is a constrained least-squares method that has the advantage of low complexity and fast convergence while maintaining good performance. In addition, a novel receiver re-selection method is presented to significantly improve estimation accuracy. In this paper, we also derive the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the ATDOA positioning system using a distance-dependent noise variance model, which describes a realistic indoor propagation channel.
Long‐term variation of surface phytoplankton chlorophyll a in the Southern Ocean during 1965–2002

The variation in the phytoplankton biomass over a decadal time scale, and its relationship with the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave (ACW) and climate change, has been poorly interpreted because of the limited satellite chlorophyll a (chl a) data compared with the physical parameters from satellite. We analyzed a long‐term chl a data set along the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) cruise tracks since 1965 to investigate inter‐annual variation of phytoplankton biomass. In the Southern Ocean, increasing trends of chl a and the spreading of higher chl a area to the north with 3–7 year cycles were found. Although relationships between the decadal change in chl a and climate change such as variation of sea ice extent and the El Niño are still obscure, large variation of primary production in proportion to the chl a is implied.
The responses of ectohydric and endohydric mosses under ambient and enhanced ultraviolet radiation

Previous reports on the effects of enhanced UV-B radiation on bryophytes have been equivocal. This study shows that mosses not only respond to enhanced UV-B, but they are affected by changes in ambient radiation. The studies were conducted with two model species common in northern environments; red-stemmed feather moss (Pleurozium schreberi) and juniper haircap moss (Polytrichum juniperinum). Both species showed high concentrations of methanol-extractable UV-absorbing compounds (UACs) with high spring-time and early-summer UV, whereas in P. juniperinum, the concentration was affected by early-summer drought. The UACs of P. juniperinum increased again towards autumn suggesting a role in winter hardening. The (spring-time) cell wall-bound UV screen was important to both species. The fundamental adaptation of P. juniperinum to open and exposed environments was reflected in relatively higher concentrations of total UACs compared to P. schreberi. The enhanced UV-B experiments in situ were conducted over two years in Oulu and six years at the FUVIRC site in Sodankyla. Some of the effects of UV-B were seen within the first years of the experiments, or even within hours, while others were observed after several years. Five or six years of enhanced UV-B treatment increased the methanol-extractable UACs of P. schreberi and decreased the green shoot growth of P. juniperinum. The immediate light environment was proposed to have an impact on the varying UAC concentrations. Some mitigating effects of UVA were observed as well. Off-site measured, reconstructed and modelled UV radiation data was used for comparisons of light environment in situ, or when performing a reconstructive research with historical samples. The environmental sample banks can provide a useful tool to study past environmental conditions, and even reconstruct past radiation levels. It was shown in this study that UACs in P. schreberi and P. juniperinum have fundamental roles as UV-B screens in the cell walls, but there is also a variable response with the soluble fraction that reacts and adapts to the changes in UV radiation. The responses to increasing UV-B radiation vary in magnitude and in time. As P. schreberi and P. juniperinum possess circumboreal and cosmopolitan distributions, the effects of UV-B on these species and consequently on ecosystems has a broad application.
Potential misinterpretations caused by collapsing upper categories of comorbidity indices: An illustration from a cohort of older breast cancer survivors

Background: Comorbidity indices summarize complex medical histories into concise ordinal scales, facilitating stratification and regression in epidemiologic analyses. Low subject prevalence in the highest strata of a comorbidity index often prompts combination of upper categories into a single stratum (‘collapsing’). Objective: We use data from a breast cancer cohort to illustrate potential inferential errors resulting from collapsing a comorbidity index. Methods: Starting from a full index (0, 1, 2, 3, and  4 comorbidities), we sequentially collapsed upper categories to yield three collapsed categorizations. The full and collapsed categorizations were applied to analyses of (1) the association between comorbidity and all-cause mortality, wherein comorbidity was the exposure; (2) the association between older age and all-cause mortality, wherein comorbidity was a candidate confounder or effect modifier. Results: Collapsing the index attenuated the association between comorbidity and mortality (risk ratio, full versus dichotomized categorization: 4.6 vs 2.1), reduced the apparent magnitude of confounding by comorbidity of the age/mortality association (relative risk due to confounding, full versus dichotomized categorization: 1.14 vs 1.09), and obscured modification of the association between age and mortality on both the absolute and relative scales. Conclusions: Collapsing categories of a comorbidity index can alter inferences concerning comorbidity as an exposure, confounder and effect modifier.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Age-related changes in the neural networks supporting semantic cognition

Semantic cognition is central to understanding of language and the world and, unlike many cognitive domains, is thought to show little age-related decline. We investigated age-related di ﬀ erences in the neural basis of this critical cognitive domain by performing an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies comparing young and older people. On average, young people outperformed their older counterparts during semantic tasks. Overall, both age groups activated similar left-lateralised regions. However, older adults displayed less activation than young people in some elements of the typical left-hemisphere semantic network, including inferior prefrontal, posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortex. They also showed greater activation in right frontal and parietal regions, particularly those held to be involved in domain-general controlled processing, and principally when they performed more poorly than the young. Thus, semantic processing in later life is associated with a shift from semantic-speci ﬁ c to domain-general neural resources, consistent with the theory of neural dedi ﬀ erentiation, and a performance-related reduction in prefrontal later-alisation, which may re ﬂ ect a response to increased task demands.
Growth Response and Flower yield of Sunflower to Phosphorus Fertilization in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

Sunflower is a crop with high cut flower potential that needs to be developed in Nigeria for its socio- economic values. Field studies were conducted in 2007 and 2008 cropping season at the experimental field of the Floriculture Programme, National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, derived savanna ecology of Nigeria, to evaluate the effect of phosphorus (P) fertilizer application on flower yield of sunflower. Results indicated that growth and flower yield of sunflower was significantly influenced by P application. Highest plant heights (157 cm), stem girth (3.42 cm) were obtained with the application of 90 kg P ha -1 . Leaf area of 100.48 cm 2 was obtained with 60kgha-1application, while the highest number of leaves of 33.5 was recorded with 60 kg P ha -1 application in 2007 and 35.11 with 30 kg P ha -1 in 2008 respectively. However, flower diameter was highest with 60 kg P ha -1 , seed weight (406 g) and 100 seed weight (6.3 g) per plant were obtained with 30 kg ha -1 . (Report and Opinion 2010;2(4):29-33). (ISSN:1553-9873).
Edinburgh Research Explorer The impact of a systemic tax on bank capital holdings, optimal capital requirements and social welfare

Existing studies suggest levying a systemic risk tax on systemically important banks to cover the costs of governmental interventions in (bailing out) these banks in the case of their bankruptcies. We develop a static model to investigate how this tax would affect the banks’ equilibrium capital holdings and its impacts on banks’ optimal capital regulations in terms of social welfare. We find that this tax would not only result in a safer banking system but would also help to mitigate the pro-cyclical effects of banking capital requirements. However, these merits would come at the cost of an increase in loan rate. Moreover, the improvements of the tax are less pronounced when the capital requirements are relatively strict as, for example, in Basel III. Regarding welfare, Basel II is closer to the optimal level. Although Basel III results in a safer banking system, this improvement compromises social welfare. Our findings also suggest that regulators should set higher capital requirements for systemically important banks, which is similar to the rules in Basel III.
VEGETATION COMPOSITION AND PLANT BIODIVERSITY IN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS OF SIWALIKS IN NORTHERN HARYANA

This paper analyzes vegetation composition, patterns of plant diversity and biodiversity conservation in Kalesar Reserved forest, Yamunanagar forest division (30°22'14.80" to 30°22'24.00"N, 77°33'47.00" to 77°33'57.00"E; 396m above mean sea level) in the foothills of Haryana Siwaliks, northern India. The dry plains Shorea robusta forest (undisturbed), Shorea robusta forest (disturbed), and Haplophragma adenophyllum plantation forest were selected for the study; density of trees was 543.75 to737.5 trees ha -1 , and basal area 22.48 to35.56 m 2 ha -1 . A total of 81 species was recorded in the three forests indicating moderately high diversity of the various functional groups of plants (trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and climbers). Most of the individuals (66 to 80%) of tree species were present in lower girth classes (i.e., C and D) ranging from 31 to 90cm cbh; 0.24 to19.74% of trees in the intermediate girth classes (E, F, and G) ranging from 91 to 180cm cbh. The dominance diversity curves of trees, shrubs, and the herbaceous plants in the three forests showed a lognormal distribution. The Shannon index of diversity for trees in the three forests was 1.49 to 2.31. The Pielou’s index of equitability for trees and shrubs varied from 0.66 to 0.91. The concentration of dominance was greatest in the plantation forest (0.345) as compared to the natural forests (0.16-0.23). The long term conservation of the biodiversity in this region of unstable Siwaliks can be ensured by creating public awareness about the value of biodiversity and allocating a greater share of benefits to the village poor from biodiversity conservation.
UK Renal Registry 13th Annual Report (December 2010): Chapter 6: survival and causes of death of UK adult patients on renal replacement therapy in 2009: national and centre-specific analyses.

INTRODUCTION These analyses examine (a) survival from the start of renal replacement therapy (RRT), based on the total incident UK RRT population reported to the UK Renal Registry, including the 18% who started on PD and the 6% who received a pre-emptive transplant and (b) survival of prevalent patients. Changes in survival between 1997 and 2008 are also reported. METHODS Survival was calculated for both incident and prevalent patients on RRT and compared between the UK countries after adjustment for age. Survival of incident patients (starting RRT during 2008) was calculated both from the start of RRT and amongst the cohort who survived at least 90 days after RRT, both with and without censoring at transplantation. Both Kaplan-Meier and Cox adjusted models were used to calculate survival. Causes of death were analysed for both groups. Relative risk of death was calculated compared with the general UK population. RESULTS The 2008 unadjusted 1 year after 90 day survival for patients starting RRT was 87.3%. In incident patients aged 18-64, the unadjusted 1 year survival had risen from 85.9% in 1997 to 91.9% in 2008 and for those aged ≥ 65 it had risen from 64.2% to 75.8%. The age-adjusted one year survival (adjusted to age 60) of prevalent dialysis patients rose from 85% in 2000 to 89% in 2009. Diabetic prevalent patient one year survival rose from 76.6% in 2000 to 83.6% in 2009. The age-standardised mortality ratio for prevalent RRT patients compared with the general population was 19 at age 30 years and 2.4 at age 85 years. In the prevalent RRT dialysis population, cardiovascular disease accounted for 24% of deaths, infection 19% and treatment withdrawal 14%; 22% were recorded as uncertain. Treatment withdrawal was a more frequent cause of death in patients aged ≥ 65 at start of RRT than in younger patients. The median life years remaining for a 25-29 year old on RRT was 20 years and 4 years for a 75+ year old. CONCLUSIONS Survival of patients starting RRT, has improved in the 2008 incident cohort. The relative risk of death on RRT compared with the general population has fallen since 2001. Death rates on dialysis in the UK remained lower than when compared with a similar aged population on dialysis in the USA.
Chinese Herbal Medicine: Modern Applications of Traditional Formulas

FORMULAS ACCORDING TO TCM ZANG-FU SYNDROME DIFFERENTIATION Lung Syndromes Lung and Heart or Spleen Syndromes Spleen and Stomach Syndromes Spleen, Stomach and Heart, Liver or Gallbladder Syndromes Liver Syndromes Liver and Lung or Kidney Syndromes Heart Syndromes Heart and Kidney Syndromes Kidney Syndromes Kidney and Lung or Spleen Syndromes FORMULAS ACCORDING TO ALLOPATHIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS Blood Related Disorders Cancer Disorders Cardiovascular Disorders Dermatological Disorders Endocrine Disorders Eyes, Ears, Nose, Throat Disorders Gastrointestinal Disorders Genitourinary Disorders Gynecological Disorders Immune System Disorders Infectious Disorders Miscellaneous Disorders Musculoskeletal Disorders Neurological Disorders Pediatric Disorders Psychological Disorders Respiratory Disorders SINGLE HERBS CLASSIFICATION ***Table of Abbreviations ***List of Eighteen Incompatibilities ***List of Nineteen Antagonisms ***List of Toxic Herbs/Contraindicated Herbs Release Exterior Herbs Clear Heat Herbs Downward Draining Herbs Drain Damp Herbs Dispel Wind-Damp Herbs Transform Phlegm and Stop Cough Herbs Aromatic Herbs that Transform Damp Relieve Food Stagnation Herbs Regulate Qi Herbs Regulate Blood Herbs Warm Interior and Expel Cold Herbs Tonic Herbs Stabilize and Binding Herbs Calms Spirit Herbs Aromatic Herbs that Opens Orifice Extinguishes Wind and Stops Tremor Herbs Expels Parasite Herbs Anesthetic Pain Relieving Herbs Anti-Tumor Herbs External Application Herbs APPENDICES Standard Syndrome Differentiation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Glossary for Traditional Chinese Medicine Terminology Classical Text List Cross-Reference Pinyin-English Herbs Cross-Reference English-Pinyin Herbs Cross-Reference Botanical Latin-Pinyin Herbs Cross-Reference Pinyin-Botanical Latin Herbs Cross-Reference Englidh-Botanical Latin Herbs Cross-Reference Botanical Latin-English Herbs Cross-Reference Pinyin-English Herbal Formulas Cross-Reference English-Pinyin Herbal Formulas
er si on 1-2 2 Ja n 20 08 On some difficulties with a posterior probability approximation technique

In Scott (2002) and Congdon (2006, 2007), a new method is advanced to compute posterior probabilities of models under consideration. It is based solely on MCMC outputs restricted to single models, i.e., it is bypassing reversible jump and other model exploration techniques. While it is indeed possible to approximate posterior probabilities based solely on MCMC outputs from single models, as demonstrated by Gelfand and Dey (1994) and Bartolucci et al. (2006), we show that the proposals of Scott (2002) and Congdon (2006, 2007) are biased and advance several arguments towards this thesis, the primary one being the confusion between model-based posteriors and joint pseudo-posteriors.
DISTRIBUTION OF METALS & ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS IN MUSSELS

The levels and the distribution of metals, hydrocarbons and organochlorine compounds were studied in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and surface sediments collected from Thermaikos gulf in March 1999. Hydrocarbon values were indicative of moderate pollution, whereas in some cases clear evidence for the presence of petroleum residues was found. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, DDTs, PCBs and metal concentrations were low, but clearly higher than those measured in the same area during the previous years. Different spatial distribution patterns were observed between organic and inorganic contaminants bioaccumulated in mussels and between sediment and mussel values. In all cases the contaminant concentrations in mussels were well below the permissible limits for consuming seafood.
Changes in post-marital residence precede changes In descent systems in Austronesian societies

Descent systems express how a society organises kinship relationships. Inheritance of resources as well as rights and obligations can be traced patrilineally, matrilineally, a combination of both, or in a cognatic/bilateral fashion. Post-marital residence rules describing the kin group with whom a couple lives after marriage are often, but not always, correlated with the descent system. Murdock (1949) hypothesised that changes in the residence system would cause changes in descent, not the other way around. Here we present a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 67 Austronesian societies from the Pacific. These comparative methods take into account uncertainty about the phylogeny as well as uncertainty about the evolution of the cultural traits. Ancestral state reconstruction shows that unilineal residence and non-unilineal descent are the ancestral states for this group of societies. Descent changes lag behind residence changes over a 1000-year time period. Environmental or cultural change (both frequent in Austronesian prehistory) may be facultatively adjusted to via the residence system in the short term, and thus this trait may change more often.