Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
APPLICATION OF A HEMODYNAMIC MODEL TO EPILEPTIC SPIKES

Despite the interest in simultaneous EEG-fMRI studies of epileptic spikes, the link between epileptic discharges and their corresponding hemodynamic responses is poorly understood. We applied two biophysical models in order to investigate the mechanisms underlying the neurovascular coupling in epilepsy: a metabolic hemodynamic model, and a neural mass model that simulates epileptic discharges. Analyzing the effect of epileptic neuronal activity on the BOLD response we focussed on the issues of linearity and on the origin of negative BOLD signals. In our BOLD simulation results both sub- and supra-linearity occur one after another. The size of these effects depends on the spike frequency, as well as on the amplitude of the excitatory part of the neural input. For the hemodynamic model used in this study, we found that the sign of the BOLD response is mainly determined by the area under the curve describing the excitatory neural activity. Therefore, a strong deactivation following the initial peak of the excitatory time course of an epileptic spike is necessary to obtain a negative BOLD.
An econometric approach to determine economic and non-economic drivers of agricultural and forest land-use change in the EU-15

We investigate econometric models to identify and assess economic and environmental drivers of land-use change in agricultural and forestry lands in Europe. We specified a set of discrete choice econometric models using different number of land-use alternatives. First, we specified models with the three agroforestry land-use alternatives: crop, pasture and forest. Further, we specified models with up to seven land-use alternatives, which derived from the previous three uses: herbaceous, fruit tree, olive tree, vineyard, pasture, hardwood, and conifer. We observe individual land use decisions using the Corine Land Cover database in a sample of 90,000 random points, and we use as explanatory variables net returns, subsidies, protection, slope, distance to urban centers, rainfall and temperature associated to each observation. The results confirmed that biophysical and climate drivers are significant and necessary to explain land-use decisions. We also found that models using more specific alternatives provided additional information to explain transitions within alternatives included in three main alternatives. For instance, protection figures influenced the decisions on hardwood more than the ones in conifer forests.
Diagnostic Investigation of Vulture Mortality: the Anti-Inflammatory Drug Diclofenac is associated with Visceral Gout

Since 2000, high mortality rates in adult White-Backed Vultures (Gyps bengalensis) in the Punjab Province of Pakistan have led to significant population declines of these birds (Gilbert et al. 2002). The majority of these deaths 85%) have been associated with the clinical syndrome of visceral gout (Gilbert et al. 2002, Gilbert unpublished data). Histopathologic investigation has shown that visceral gout is due to acute kidney failure. The renal lesions were primarily characterized as severe, acutfe tubular necrosis, with minimal inflammatory infiltrates. These lesions are most compatible with an acute toxic etiology. Toxicologic investigations ruled out toxic levels of heavy metals known to be associated with renal failure in birds, including cadmium, lead and mercury (Furness 1996, Pain 1996, Thompson 1996). Although not classically recognized as nephrotoxic, toxic or deficient levels of other heavy metals, including arsenic, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc also were not detected. Similarly, there was no evidence of acute intoxication by organophosphate, carbamate, or organochlorine pesticides. Virus isolation results were negative. A novel mycoplasma bacterium was isolated and characterized (Oaks unpublished data). This organism had an overall prevalence of about 30% in both the renal failure and non-renal failure cases, and thus was not associated with kidney failure. Molecular biology (PCR) studies for avian influenza and infectious bronchitis virus, two viruses
In silico and in vitro cytotoxicity profile of hydroalcoholic extract/ fraction(s) of Pachygone ovata

Medicinal plants have been used in the past for the treatment of diseases and continue to be an important reservoir for the development of new drugs. With the increasing burden of cancer globally, there is a need to find newer anticancer agents. The process of identification and evaluation of cytotoxic molecules from plants can be achieved conveniently by using simple yet reliable screening models and combining with in silico techniques. Pachygone ovata, least explored plant from Menispermaceae family, is known to be rich in alkaloids. This study aimed to identify the cytotoxic constituents from Pachygone ovata through bioactivity-guided fractionation using Brine shrimp lethality bioassay as a screening model. The active fraction in this assay was evaluated for its in vitro cytotoxic activity on human tumor cell lines. Some reported alkaloids were studied for their binding affinities with topoisomerase II by molecular docking. The study revealed the cytotoxic constituents from P. ovata. The study also revealed alkaloids with higher binding affinity with topoisomerase II, and the scope for further use leads to the development of new drugs.
PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE SOURCES OF WITHIN‐INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN SEED MASS IN PRUNELLA VULGARIS (LAMIACEAE)

Substantial variation in seed mass within individual seed parents is at odds with predictions of models for the evolution of optimum offspring size and with empirical observations of directional selection on seed mass. To elucidate the ultimate causes of this variation, I examined several proximal sources of within-individual variation in seed mass in the perennial herb Prunella vulgaris. Position of inflorescence, position of flower within an inflorescence, date of anthesis, and number of seeds produced per flower all explained some within-individual variation in seed mass. Hand pollination in the field failed to reveal any effect of pollen source (self pollen or outcross pollen) on seed mass. My results, in conjunction with those from studies of selection on seed mass in P. vulgaris, do not support hypotheses that within-individual variation in seed mass is favored by the pattern of natural selection on seed mass. Rather, the results suggest that seed parents are not capable of producing a uniform seed crop in the face of changes in resource availability in the course of a season. The inability to produce a uniform seed crop may persist because of selection for variability in traits correlated with seed mass or because of a true constraint on the evolution of uniform offspring size.
Diel chl a and phaeopigment cycles in a shallow tidal estuary: potential role of microzooplankton grazing

A persistent diel cycle in chl a biomass was observed In the Newport Fbver estuary, North Carolina, USA dunng summer Chl a concentratlons were highest in the late afternoon (mean 22 pg I-') and least around dawn (mean 12 pg 1-l) The day to night change In chl a was paralleled by a commensurate decllne In volumetnc cell count Thls change In cell number was not correlated with wind resuspension, tldal dilution, or species composition differences, but rather is attributed to grazing A diel cycle in NH,' concentrat~on was also observed, due to temporal vanations in uptake relative to water column remlneralization Ammonium concentrations reached a maxlmum (> 2 uiv several hours after dawn, then decllned to a minimum ( < 0 5 p m by early afternoon as light-dependent uptake exceeded remlnerahzabon By late afternoon remineralization again exceeded uptake and NH,+ concentrahon increased continually throughout the rught In vltro ennchments demonstrated that the dayhme chl a increase was dependent on the early morrung uptake of nitrogen, whether In the form of NH4+, NO3or urea Phaeopigment concentrahons also followed a diel pattern with an early afternoon minimum and a near-dawn maximum, mlrronng changes in chl a This pattern was due to photodestruction of phaeopigment dunng the day and accumulation at night Phaeopigment production was attributed to microzooplankton grazing When converted to chl a equivalents phaeopigment appearance accounted for 50 % of the chl a loss
The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment, Vacancies, and Wages: Evidence and Theory∗

In the United States, the unemployment rate is strongly countercyclical, vacancies are strongly procyclical, and wages are very mildly procyclical. This paper argues that these facts cannot be reconciled with standard models of search unemployment. Using both an analytical solution to a deterministic model and simulations of a stochastic model, the paper shows that search models predict a strong positive correlation between wages and the vacancy-unemployment ratio. Productivity shocks generate strongly procyclical vacancies and hence strongly procyclical wages; job destruction shocks generate weakly procyclical wages because vacancies are strongly countercyclical. Implicit contracts do not resolve this shortcoming. The paper discusses alternative means of wage determination that may be more capable of matching the business cycle facts. ∗This is a major revision of a paper previously entitled ‘Equilibrium Unemployment Fluctuations’. I thank seminar participants at the Minneapolis Fed, NBER Summer Institute, Princeton, St. Louis Fed, Universidad Di Tella, Wharton, and the CEP Macroeconomics of the Labour Market conference for comments on that paper, and especially Daron Acemoglu, Olivier Blanchard, V. V. Chari, Joao Gomes, Dale Mortensen, Christopher Pissarides, and Richard Rogerson. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0079345. I am grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for financial support, to the Minneapolis Fed for its hospitality while I revised a previous version of this paper, and to Sebastian Ludmer for excellent research assistance.
Gender Dimension of Minimum Wage Non-Compliance

Minimum wage regulations have a potential to decrease the inequality and reduce earnings gaps among the low-wage employees. If such effects of minimum wage increases were to materialise, a decrease in gender wage gaps at the bottom of the distribution could be expected. Blau and Kahn (2003) identified minimum wages as one of the institutional factors that are associated with a lower gender pay gap. Ganguli and Terrell (2005) analysed the gender pay gap along the wage distribution over the period 1986 to 2003 in Ukraine, and found that setting the minimum wage at a relatively high level contributed to reduction in the gender pay gap at the bottom of the distribution. However, those effects depend strongly on the enforcement of minimum wage laws. The recent literature that focuses on the relation between minimum wages and the gender wage gap points out the importance of the compliance. As minimum wage policies usually lead to a decrease in wage inequality, and women are disproportionately concentrated in low paid work, they should benefit more from those policies. However, the existing studies suggest that such effect may be largely limited by non-compliance, in particular when firms that employ relatively more women more often violate minimum wage laws, or if non-compliance within firms more often affects female workers. Bargain et al. (2016) exploit the introduction of minimum wage policies in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and they find a reduction in the gender wage gap at the bottom of the distribution in Ireland. However, the authors do not find a reduced gender gap at the bottom of the distribution in the United Kingdom, and they suggest that this is due to non-compliance with the minimum wage legislation. Menon and Rodgers (2016) examine the effects of minimum wage policies on employment and wages among men and women in India. They find that minimum wages have a small impact on earnings in urban areas, but a positive impact on earnings in rural areas (and no employment effect). However, because this effect is observed predominantly for men, the residual gender wage gap increases. This can be explained by weaker compliance among firms that employ female workers. Hallward-Driemeier et al. (2015) document that minimum wage increases in Indonesia reduce the gender pay gap among production workers, but this effect is heterogeneous between persons with different levels of education. They find that women who are less educated are not benefiting, or are even loosing from these policies in their position relative to men. The above-mentioned literature suggests that increases in minimum wages might not lead to a reduction in gender pay gap at the bottom of the wage distribution, because of higher non-compliance towards female workers. The topic of the minimum wage regulations continues to be discussed by academics and policy-makers in both developed and developing countries. Moreover, the Great Recession triggered a renewed interest ∗Corresponding author †Usual disclaimers apply. All errors are ours.
Local and international determinants of coffee berry prices in Costa Rica? The role of environmental attributes

In this work, we investigate the determinants that affect coffee berry prices in Costa Rica. Using a panel data set of coffee berries purchases between 2008 to 2016 we found that the international coffee price is the main reference of domestic prices. Likewise, there are some intrinsic characteristics of berries that are positively related with their average prices: mainly, the use of an organic coffee production system, the altitude of the region where the coffee is harvested, and the yield of the berries. Our estimations also show that multinational coffee companies tend to pay lower average prices than other firms. Finally, the coffee mills certified as Fair-Trade Producers do not necessary pay higher prices to the growers. Actually, we obtain a somewhat surprising result that it is the other way around: certified mills tend to pay, on average, a lower price than non-certified ones. JEL classifications: C23, Q02, Q11, Q13
Transient Stability of Squirrel Cage Induction Generator in a Wind Farm using Static Synchronous Compensator and Supercapacitor

STATCOM is a static synchronous compensator operated as shunt connected static VAR compensator whose inductive or capacitive output current can be controlled independent of AC system voltage. It can rapidly supply dynamic VARs required during system disturbances and faults for voltage support. However, because of less energy density of DC link capacitor used in STATCOM, there is a large voltage dip in DC link voltage which limits the reactive power capability of STATCOM. Recent developments in the field of super capacitors have led to the achievement of high specific energy and high specific power devices which are suitable for energy storage in high power electronic applications. Super capacitor is very fast charging and discharging compared to traditional capacitors which is needed to restore the system quickly after the fault has been cleared so as to maintain system stability and to avoid tripping of SCIG coupled to wind turbine in wind farm. This chapter examines the use of STATCOM with Super Capacitor Energy Storage System to improve power quality of SCIG in the event of any unbalanced or balanced fault in the grid under different fault conditions. Analysis is done for different load conditions also.
The production of recombinant proteins in plants

For recombinant proteins that are required in large quantities, plant agriculture probably represents the most cost-effective means of production. However, the absence of efficient methods for the processing of harvested plant materials and for the cost-effective purification of extracted proteins has so far limited the exploitation of plant expression systems. This problem, which is particularly acute for recombinant proteins required at high purity, is now being addressed. Thus, the application of oleosins as carrier proteins may provide a facile means of separating recombinant proteins from bulk seed proteins. Transgenic plants are being assessed for the production of a number of recombinant industrial enzymes. Significantly, the seeds from transgenic plants expressing genes encoding either phytase or α-amylase can be more or less directly employed as enzyme formulations for poultry feed modification and for starch liquefaction, respectively. Furthermore, transgenic seeds provide a simple means of storing and transporting recombinant enzymes. The plant-synthesised phytase and α-amylase enzyme are active despite displaying non-native patterns of glycosylation. Transgenic plants have been shown to be capable of synthesising a wide range of recombinant antibodies and antibody fragments that are typical of those used in industrial processes and in therapy. Plants may be particularly suited to the production of complex, multimeric immunoglobulins since genes encoding the different components of these complex molecules can be combined by simple sexual crossing of individual transgenic plants.
Biological effects in Tilapia nilotica fish as indicators of pollution by cadmium and mercury

Fish samples of Tilapia nilotica obtained from Lake Maryout were used to investigate the relationship between heavy metals and biological effects due to the industrial contaminations in the lake. Samples were examined for the activities of acetylcholinesterase, alkaline phosphatase and glutathione S-transferase. Meanwhile, levels of cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) were determined in both fish and water. Also, the electrophoretic patterns of proteins were presented as well as the amino acid composition of fish proteins. Results obtained revealed that the activities of all studied enzymes were markedly inhibited. Maryout samples contained higher concentrations of Hg and Cd than Nozha samples. Marked differences in electrophoretic patterns of proteins prepared from Maryout and Nozha fish samples were found. The nutritional quality of Maryout fish proteins was lower than that of Nozha samples due to the lower content of essential amino acids. Results obtained from field and laboratory exposures can give a usefu.
Effect of Insecticide Dichlorvos on Ovaries of Mosquito Fish Gambusia affinis (Baird and Girard)

The toxicity of insecticide dichlorvos (90%) was tested in ovaries of mosquito fish using three sublethal concentrations (0.3, 0.6, 0.8 μg/L) and studied their effects on the means of body and ovary weights, gonadosomatic index, ovum size and ova number. Results showed that there was a significant (P<0.05) decrease in body and ovary weights, ovum size and ova count. However, there was no significant (P<0.05) difference in gonadosomatic index in treated groups with the three concentrations of dichlorvos compared with the control group. This study was added evidence on the ovular toxicity of dichlorvos concerning its effect on fish production as well as reduction in the means of productive offspring and their survival.
Role of Visual Cortex in Interocular Transfer in the Cat

The role of the visual cortex (areas 17, 18, and 19), with its preponderance of binocular cells, was investigated as a locus important for interocular transfer. Fourteen cats were tested for interocular transfer of a series of brightness and pattern discriminations in a two-choice, positive reinforcement paradigm. Three were controls. Eleven underwent manipulations designed to reduce the number of binocular cells in their visual cortices. The manipulations were: rearing with external strabismus induced by neonatal transection of one or both medial rectus muscles and/or surgery in adulthood to cut midbrain and forebrain commissures (but not the optic chiasm) ; and ablation of areas of visual cortex. Measurements of immediate transfer and relearning scores evaluated interocular transfer. Controls showed complete transfer of every discrimination, which contrasts to transfer failures of some tests seen with every experimental cat; three cats reared with strabismus and no adult surgery and three normally reared cats with adult brain lesions showed transfer deficits. These results suggest a role in interocular transfer for the binocular cells of the visual cortex. Two different methods to reduce their number resulted in transfer deficits. This implies that few binocular cells in the visual cortex can subserve good interocular transfer, or the geniculocortical regions outside of areas 17, 18, or 19 can subserve interocular transfer.
The importance of meiofauna to lotic ecosystem functioning

Summary 1 Although meiofauna occur in large numbers in many streams, almost nothing is known about their functional role. 2 In other systems, meiofauna influence microbial and organic matter dynamics through consumption and bioturbation. Given that these are important processes in streams, meiofauna have the potential to influence lotic function by changing the quality and availability of organic matter as well as the number and biotic activity of benthic microbes. Selective feeding by meiofauna has the potential to alter the availability of nutrients and organic carbon. 3 Meiofauna generally contribute only a small amount to metazoan production and biomass in streams, although exceptions occur. Within a stream, the relative importance of meiofauna may reflect whether the temporary or permanent meiofauna dominate the meiobenthos as well as the season when samples are collected. 4 We suggest stream conditions (small sediment grain size, restricted interstitial flow) under which meiofauna have the greatest likelihood of influencing stream ecosystem function. 5 Important areas for future research include addressing whether meiofauna feed selectively, whether meiofauna are links or sinks for carbon in streams, and whether bioturbation by meiofauna influences stream ecosystem processes in a predictable manner.
Effect of Green Marketing Instruments and Behavior Processes of Consumers on Purchase and Use of E-books

The present study aims to investigate the effect of green marketing instruments and to understand the behavior of consumers in the purchase and use of e-books. The environmental label is one of the tools of green marketing that can be used in the primary pages of e-books to show being an environmentalist. This applied study is a survey-descriptive one in terms of collecting data. The population of the current study consists of 65 postgraduate students of the Department of Knowledge and Information Science of the University of Tehran in 2019, which 55 of them were selected by simple random sampling method using the Cochran's sample size formula with the confidence level of 0.05. A researcher-made questionnaire including 34 questions has been used to collect data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyze and describe the data. The results showed that among the six measured parameters (i.e., 1. users' awareness of the environment; 2. users' environmental advocacy; 3. environmental advertising; 4. users' attitudes toward the environment; 5. users' purchase intention; and 6. environmental label), there is a meaningful and positive relationship between the four first above-mentioned parameters respectively and there is no meaningful relationship between fifth and sixth parameters. Based on the results of the present study, libraries, publishers and distributors of e-books are recommended to promote the environmental advocacy and green marketing to achieve their purpose in increasing the digital reading level of the country and to encourage users to choose the digital reading at a low cost, and also, help protect the environment and stop cutting down trees. Based on the results of the present research, we suggest to librarians and publishers of e-books to pay attention to users' awareness of the environment, users' environmental advocacy, environmental advertising, and users' attitudes toward the environment respectively.