Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictive value of Serum CCL21 and CCL19 levels in heart failure patients: A prospective study

Background: Chemokine C-C motif ligand (CCL)21 and CCL19 are well-recognized to associate with adverse events of cardiovascular disease, especially long-term prognosis. However, few studies have reported its correlation with heart failure. Purpose: To investigate and compare the predictive value of CCL21 and CCL19 serum levels in patients with heart failure. Methods: In this prospective, observational, single-center study, 221 patients with heart failure and 55 healthy controls were included. ROC curves were generated to analyze and compare the serum levels of CCL21 and CCL19 in predicting all-cause mortality and composite events. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were performed to identify independent risk factors for prognosis. Pearson correlation was used to measure the correlation between creatinine and CCL21 / CCL19 levels. Results: The study observed 108 events (30 deaths and 78 occurred composite endpoints) over a median follow-up of 494.5(231.5,950.0) days. CCL21 showed strong predictive value for both all-cause mortality (P=0.001) and composite endpoints (P <0.001). while the combination of CCL21 and NT-proBNP further improved the predictive power, respectively (both P<0.001). K-M survival analysis revealed that patients with increased CCL21 and CCL19 exhibited higher all-cause mortality (both P<0.05). Meanwhile, higher incidence of composite endpoint events was also observed in patients with elevated CCL21 (P<0.05). Importantly, multivariate COX regression analysis demonstrated that smoking, higher level of CCL21 and ischemic heart disease were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality (P<0.001). Furthermore, diabetes and elevation of CCL21 were associated with an increased risk of composite endpoints (P<0.001). On the other hand, changes in CCL19 levels showed a graded association with worse renal function, resulting in a slight increasing trend in G3 and G4/5, (overall interaction P<0.05), with higher concentrations in G3 and G4/5(overall interaction P<0.05). Conclusions: Serum concentrations of CCL21 and CCL19 were significantly elevated in heart failure patients. High level of CCL21 is an independent risk factor for the adverse events in heart failure and may complement the prediction of those events which are less affected by renal function.
Farmer innovation in Africa : a source of inspiration for agricultural development

Part 1: Introducing the Farmer Innovation Approach and Some Remarkable Innovators - Entering Research and Development in Land Husbandry through Farmer Innovation * The Career and Influence of Barthelemy Kameni Djambou in Cameroon * Ayelech Fikre: an Outstanding Woman Farmer in Amhara Region, Ethiopia * Pits for Trees: How Farmers in Semi-arid Burkina Faso Increase and Diversify Plant Biomass * Part 2: Building Partnerships for Innovation in Land Husbandry - Forging Partnerships Between Farmers, Extension and Research in Tanzania * Joining Forces to Discover and Celebrate Local innovation in Land Husbandry in Tigray, Ethiopia * Part 3: Farmer Innovation: Process, Evidence and Analysis - An Initial Analysis of Farmer Innovators and their Innovations * Why do Farmers Innovate and why don't they Innovate More? Insights from a Study in East Africa * Chain of Innovations by Farmers in Cameroon * Women and Innovation: Experiences from Promoting Farmer Innovation in East Africa * Innovators in Land Husbandry in Arid Areas of Tunisia * Women's Innovations in Rural Livelihood Systems in Arid Areas of Tunisia * Namwaya Sawadogo: the Ecologist of Touroum, Burkina Faso * Outwitters of Water: Outstanding Irob Innovation in Northern Ethiopia * A Challenge and an Opportunity: Innovation by Women Farmers in Tigray * Part 4: Farmers' Evaluation and Extension of Local Innovations - Community Assessment of Local Innovators in Northern Ethiopia * Stimulating Creativity Among East Africa Farmers: from Isolated Individuals to Interactive Groups * Facilitating Farmer-to-farmer Communication about Innovation in Tigray * Innovation and Impact: a Preliminary Assessment in Kabale, Uganda * Part 5: Stimulating and Supporting Joint Experimentation - Participatory Technology Development on Soil Fertility Improvement in Cameroon * Farmer-led Experimentation in the Dryland of Central Tigray * Farmer Innovation and Plant Breeding the Case of Maize K525 Created by Emmanuek Kamgoue of Bandjous, West Cameroon * Joint Analysis of the Sustainability of a Local SWC Technique in Burkina Faso * Sowing Maize in Pits: Farmer Innovation in Southern Tanzania * Part 6: Raising Awareness, Policy Lobbying and Mainstream - Understanding and Influencing Policy Progress For SWC. * A Bridge Between Local Innovation, Development and Research: the Regional Radio of Gafsa * Mainstream Participatory Approaches to SWC in Zimbabwe * Liberating Local Creativity: Building on the 'Best Farming Practices' Extension Approach from Tigray's Struggle for Liberation * Impact of the Farmer Innovation Approach on the Attitude of Stakeholders in Agriculture Development in Tunisia * An Encouraging Beginning * Index
AN APPROACH TO EVALUATING POTENTIAL OF CULTURAL AGROECOSYSTEM SERVICES

This paper present an approach to evaluating recreation potential (outdoor recreation) based on the analysis of natural factors affecting recreational opportunities and attractiveness of the area and its potential for summer, winter or year-round recreation. Seven agricultural study areas, each of them with two different land use categories (arable land and permanent grasslands) located in various natural conditions of Slovakia, were evaluated. Potential for outdoor recreation of model areas was compared with its provisioning services. The capacities of grassland to supply cultural agroecosystem services at the two model areas were higher than their provisioning services. Agroecosystems providing cultural services can significantly contribute to the economic stability and prosperity of a particular region, using the soils with low production potential for recreational purposes.
Elements of Formal Semantics

Categorial Grammar (ACG), 65 Ajdukiewicz Calculus,29 arbitrary and constant denotations, 8 basic types and domains, 22 beta-reduction, 43 binary structure, 28 categorization, 17 characteristic function, 23 color terms, 17 common sense reasoning, 17 comparative and positive forms of adjectives, 58 complement, 13 complex expressions, 28 compositionality, 10 concatenation, 63 concepts, 17 conclusion, 3 conditionals, 57 constituents, 11 contradictory sentences, 16 Currying, 32 deduction step, 29 defeasible and indefeasible reasoning, 4 denotation, 5 denotational information, 27 direct compositionality, 11 disambiguation, 12 domain, 22,24, 66 empty phonetic entity, 63 entailment, 3 entity in a model, 6 equivalence, 14 extra/intra-linguistic phenomena, 2 frame, 26,66 function application (FA), 28 function introduction, 60 hypothetical reasoning, 59 identity function, 32 implication, 57 implication elimination, 58 implication introduction, 59 implicature, 17 inclusive and exclusiveor, 15 intended model, 35 interrogatives, 17 intersection, 8 isomorphism, 23 lambda calculus, 43 lambda terms, 41 Lambek-Van Benthem Calculus for signs, 68 Lambek-Van Benthem Calculus, 61 lexical information, 27 lexical interpretation function, 27, 67 lexical semantics, 7 lexical typing function, 27, 67 lexicalist, 36 linear adjacency, 40 linguistic sign, 62 membership function, 7 model, 5,27, 67 modification, 35 Modus Ponens (MP), 29, 57 movement, 54 natural logic, 17 non-representationalism, 11 object narrow scope (ONS) reading, 50 object wide scope (OWS) reading, 50 permutation, 29 phonetic entity, 63 powerset, 23 premise, 3 proof-theoretical semantics, 17 reading, 12 reasoning, 3 reflexive pronouns, 43 relative clauses, 51 restricting functor,34, 69 restrictive modifiers, 35 saturation, 46 Sbasic-domains, 66 Schönfinkel’s Trick, 32 scope, 50 semantic incoherence, 4 semantic interpretation, 5 simple expressions, 28 structural ambiguity, 12 symmetric difference, 15 syntactic typing and denotation functions, 30, truth-conditionality criterion, 35 truth-value, 5 type, 22,24, 66
Changes in the fluorescence composition of multiple DOM sources over pH gradients assessed by combining parallel factor analysis and self‐organizing maps

Dissolved organic matter is a ubiquitous constituent of natural waters that plays key roles in several important processes. The fluorescence properties of DOM have been linked to its functionality, but these properties may vary with pH. In this study Kohonen's self‐organizing maps (SOMs) were applied to excitation‐emission matrices (EEMs) of fresh dissolved organic matter (DOM) from three sources: senescent sugar‐maple leaves and white spruce needles, and humified white spruce needles, over a pH range of ~4.5 – 12.5. SOMs were applied to raw EEMs, EEMs reduced in dimensionality by pre‐processing using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), and PARAFAC loading proportions normalized to values at initial pH. Some separation of EEMs into source‐based clusters was achieved in the SOM of raw EEMs, but commingling was apparent and evidence of changes over pH gradients was overshadowed. SOMs of PARAFAC component proportions demonstrated clear source‐based clustering, and pH‐based gradients were visible for DOM from senescent and humified spruce needles. Changes in optical properties were obvious over pH gradients in the SOM of components normalized to starting condition. Component proportions decreased to values as low as 5% of the initial values for microbial humic‐like peak M and increased to as high as 278% for a humic‐like component. Tyrosine‐like fluorescence increased to 112% of initial over increasing pH in humified spruce leachates but decreased to as low as 45% in the other leachates. The combination of PARAFAC and SOM drastically enhanced visualization and interpretability of pH‐induced changes in DOM compared to either method alone.
Interannual variability of the tropical tropopause derived from radiosonde data and NCEP reanalyses

Interannual variability of the tropical tropopause is studied using long time series of radiosonde data, together with global tropopause analyses from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalyses over 1957–1997. Comparisons for the period 1979–1997 show the NCEP tropopause temperature is too warm by ∼3–5 K and too high in pressure by ∼2–6 mbar. However, these biases are approximately constant in time, so that seasonal and interannual variability is reasonably well captured by the NCEP data. Systematic differences in NCEP tropopause statistics are observed between the presatellite (1957–1978) and postsatellite (1979–1997) periods, precluding the use of the reanalyses for the study of multidecadal variability. Interannual anomalies in tropical average radiosonde and NCEP data show variations of order ±1–2 K over the period 1979–1997, but there can be differences between these two estimates which are of similar magnitude. These differences impact estimates of decadal trends: During 1979–1997, negative trends in tropopause temperature of order −0.5 K/decade are observed in radiosonde data but are not found in NCEP reanalyses. The space-time patterns of several coherent signals are identified in both sets of tropopause statistics. The volcanic eruption of El Chichon (1982) warmed the tropical tropopause by ∼1–2 K and lowered its altitude by ∼200 m for approximately 1–2 years. Smaller tropopause variations are observed following Mount Pinatubo (1991), particularly in radiosonde data. The signatures of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and El-Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events are strong in tropopause statistics. QBO variations are primarily zonal mean in character, while ENSO events exhibit dipole patterns over Indonesia and the central Pacific Ocean, with small signals for zonal averages.
Visual Judgments in Motion

Introduction. The judgments discussed in this paper are mainly those which the pilot of an aircraft has to make in order to land. Some of these, as, for instance, the judgment of alignment, are similar to those made by the driver of a moving surface vehicle, but some, as, for instance, the judgment of approach slope, are peculiar to the pilot, and are very much more difficult. The main difficulties of the pilot arise, however, from the fact that an aircraft has six degrees of freedom and is controllable about all three axes, whereas the surface vehicle has only three degrees of freedom and is controllable only about the vertical axis. In bad visibility these extra freedoms confuse the visual indications in ways of which the person who has only driven a surface vehicle has no conception. The result of this has been that until recently most of the engineers concerned in the layout of airports have not realized that pilots have special difficulties; while the pilots, not having studied visual psychology and perspective, have been unable to analyse these difficulties, or even explain them in terms intelligible to the engineers. In this country, we have been able to find methods of bridging the gap, and enabling both parties to talk the same language. The practical result of this can be seen at London Airport.
Relationships between plasma depletion and subsolar reconnection

Observations in the subsolar magnetosheath show that the plasma depletion layer (PDL) is less pronounced for southward than for northward IMF. Since subsolar plasma depletion indicates pile-up of magnetic flux, the degree of plasma depletion should depend on the relative rates of flux transport via subsolar reconnection and flux advection by the solar wind flow. To identify the factors affecting plasma depletion, we consider the ratio D = Er/Esw where Er is the reconnection electric field and Esw is the imposed solar wind electric field. For a quasi-perpendicular subsolar bow shock D can be expressed in terms of magnetosheath parameters. Since PDL formation is suppressed when the subsolar bow shock is quasi-parallel, we restrict attention to quasi-perpendicular conditions. We show that D increases with increasing reconnection efficiency, magnetic shear at the magnetopause, and the magnetosheath magnetic field but decreases with increasing total perpendicular pressure (particle plus magnetic field) in the magnetosheath. By combining observations of the subsolar quasi-perpendicular magnetosheath from AMPTE/IRM and AMPTE/CCE we verify that the degree of plasma depletion is inversely correlated with D. Furthermore, we show that the greater prevalence of plasma depletion in the CCE data implies that the reconnection efficiency is lower for the CCE events and specifically that the reconnection efficiency depends roughly inversely on magnetosheath β, for β > 1. Finally, the results show that all of the changes brought about by plasma depletion act to increase Er so that some subsolar reconnection is likely to occur even for low magnetic shear. Thus the percentage of the magnetosheath magnetic field that participates in reconnection near the subsolar region does not act as a rectifier but remains positive for all shear angles, decreasing monotonically as the magnetic shear at the subsolar magnetopause changes from high to low shear. This implies that the equatorward polar cap convection cells observed during northward IMF and conventionally thought to be driven by a viscous interaction may be due at least in part if not wholly to subsolar low shear reconnection.
An Analysis of Applicants Presenting to a Medical Marijuana Specialty Practice in California

While 15 states and the District of Columbia provide allowances for medical marijuana, little is known about the individuals who seek a physicians recommendation to use marijuana. This study provides descriptive information about 1,655 applicants in California who sought a physicians recommendation for medical marijuana, the conditions for which they sought treatment, and the diagnoses made by the physicians. It presents a systematic analysis of physician records and questionnaires obtained from consecutive applicants seen during a three-month period at nine medical marijuana specialty practices operating throughout the state. The analysis yields insights that may be useful for future research on medical marijuana and marijuana policy, including: 1) very few of those who sought a recommendation had cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis; 2) most applicants presented with chronic pain, mental health conditions, or insomnia; and 3) half of the applicants reported using marijuana as a substitute for prescription drugs.
Single Loci and Haplotypes in CAPN1 and CAST Genes are Associated with Growth, Biometrics, and in Vivo Carcass Traits in Santa Inês Sheep

Abstract µ-calpain (CAPN1) and calpastatin (CAST) genes play key roles in protein turnover. The present study aimed to identify the variants in these genes associated with growth and ultrasound carcass traits in Santa Inês sheep. A sample of 192 no full sibling Santa Inês lambs was used. Fragments of the CAST and CAPN1 genes were amplified and next-generation sequencing was performed in the MiSeq platform. Variants in the CAPN1 and CAST sequences were then detected using bioinformatic tools. Withers and croup heights, body length, thoracic and croup widths, thoracic and leg girths, body depth, carcass fat score, rib eye area, fat thickness, body weights were recorded at weaning and at 140 days post-weaning, and average daily gain post-weaning was calculated. Both single-locus and haplotype association analyses were performed with the model as follows: farm (2 levels), year (4 levels), the month of birth (12 levels), and the covariate age of the animal. The fragments amplified included 4,514 bp between the 20th and 23rd exons of CAST as well as 3,927 bp between the 12th and 21st exons of CAPN1. In these regions, 58 (CAST) and 45 (CAPN1) variants were identified. In the CAST gene, the single-locus analysis revealed 22 suggestive additive effects (P<0.05) on several growth and carcass traits. Moreover, haplotype substitutions were associated with rib eye area (–0.689±0.290), average daily gain (–23.6±10.4), thoracic girth (–2.72±1.27), body length (–3.38±1.49), and leg girth (–2.84±1.37). Regarding the CAPN1 gene, the single-locus analysis identified seven suggestive additive effects, while only one haplotype replacement effect on fat thickness (–0.0143±0.0053) was detected. The results of the present study suggest that variants in the CAPN1 and CAST genes are associated with growth and ultrasound carcass traits in Santa Inês sheep, which may be a source of information to improve knowledge regarding the genetic control of these traits.
Canadian tornadoes, 1950–1979

Abstract Other than the ground‐breaking work of McKay and Lowe (1960), little has been known about the incidence of tornadoes and the risk of tornado damage in Canada. Data concerning tornadoes during the period 1950 to 1979 (and earlier) have been gathered from many sources and processed to arrive at a set of quantitative conclusions concerning some of their physical characteristics and climatology. The data indicate that tornado incidence (the number of tornadoes per unit area per unit time) in populated sections of Canada is compatible with the incidence values published for adjacent American States, and that the highest annual probability of tornado damage is in southwestern Ontario (0.05 to 0.1%) followed by southeastern Manitoba (0.05%). In terms of size, the Canadian tornado (regardless of intensity) has median damage dimensions of 6 km in length, 80 m in width, and 1 km2 in area. In southwestern Ontario, the return period of a strong or violent tornado is 5 years, and it is likely to have median d.
Reseeding of Crimson Clover and Corn Grain Yield in a Living Mulch System

A major drawback to the use of crimson clover Trifolium incarnatum L. ) as a winter legume cover with corn (Zea mays L.) is the cost of new seed each fall. Planting corn into a living mulch and allowing the clover to reseed could reduce these costs. This study was conducted for 3 yr (1989–1990) at Plains and Griffin, GA, to determine the feasibility of planting corn into various widths of chemically killed strips of crimson clover and allowing a living clover mulch between corn rows to mature and reseed naturally. Each fall, ‘Tihbee’ crimson clover was planted on a new strip and the previous year's plots were continued for reseeding studies in 1989 and 1990. Treatment included chemically killing 0, 25, 60, 80, 95, and 100% of the total area with paraquat (1.1-dimethyl-4,4″-bipyridinium ion) Killing the clover was accomplished 2 week before or at corn planting, except the 25% kill, which was killed at planting only. ‘Pioneer 3165’ corn was no-till planted on all of the plots in late March to early April at Plains and in mid April to early May at Griffin. Reseeding was satisfactory (>70% groundcover) for killed strips of 80% or less. Corn grain yields when clover was completely killed were 6 to 10 Mg ha⁻¹ at Griffin and 3 to 6 Mg ha⁻¹ at Plains, where rainfall was less. Corn grain yield was not depressed by the presence of a living clover mulch, as long as the clover was killed in strips of 60% or greater, compared with the conventional practice of completely killing clover. Time of killing clover was not important in most instances, but in 1989 killing early significantly reduced corn grain yields in the reseeded plots at Griffin and, to a lesser extent, in the fall-seeded plots at Plains. Based on corn yield and reseeding of clover, planting corn into clover killed in strips of 60 to 80% appears to be the optimum.
Late Cenozoic extension and crustal doming in the India‐Eurasia collision zone: New thermochronologic constraints from the NE Chinese Pamir

The northward motion of the Pamir indenter with respect to Eurasia has resulted in coeval thrusting, strike‐slip faulting, and normal faulting. The eastern Pamir is currently deformed by east‐west oriented extension, accompanied by uplift and exhumation of the Kongur Shan (7719 m) and Muztagh Ata (7546 m) gneiss domes. Both domes are an integral part of the footwall of the Kongur Shan extensional fault system (KES), a 250 km long, north‐south oriented graben. Why active normal faulting within the Pamir is primarily localized along the KES and not distributed more widely throughout the orogen has remained unclear. In addition, relatively little is known about how deformation has evolved throughout the Cenozoic, despite refined estimates on present‐day crustal deformation rates and microseismicity, which indicate where crustal deformation is presently being accommodated. To better constrain the spatiotemporal evolution of faulting along the KES, we present 39 new apatite fission track, zircon U‐Th‐Sm/He, and 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages from a series of footwall transects along the KES graben shoulder. Combining these data with present‐day topographic relief, 1‐D thermokinematic and exhumational modeling documents successive stages, rather than synchronous deformation and gneiss dome exhumation. While the exhumation of the Kongur Shan commenced during the late Miocene, extensional processes in the Muztagh Ata massif began earlier and have slowed down since the late Miocene. We present a new model of synorogenic extension suggesting that thermal and density effects associated with a lithospheric tear fault along the eastern margin of the subducting Alai slab localize extensional upper plate deformation along the KES and decouple crustal motion between the central/western Pamir and eastern Pamir/Tarim basin.