Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agricultural price instability and optimal stabilisation policies=Instabilité des prix agricoles et politiques optimales de stabilisation

En francais : Cette these propose une analyse des politiques de stabilisation des prix alimentaires dans les pays pauvres. Afin de representer la situation dans ces pays, nous considerons dans un modele de stockage a anticipations rationnelles que les consommateurs ne peuvent pas s'assurer contre le risque prix et qu'ils sont averses au risque. L'incompletude de marche justifie l'intervention publique et des politiques optimales de stabilisation sont analysees. Une politique optimale de stockage publique implique une augmentation du niveau de stockage. Ce stockage additionnel entrai��ne l'evincement de tous les stockeurs prives en supprimant les opportunites de profit speculatif. L'usage de regles complexes d'intervention publique etant peu probable dans des pays pauvres, nous comparons des politiques optimales de stockage alimentaire a des regles simples comme une subvention au stockage prive ou une bande de prix defendue par du stockage public. L'engagement du gouvernement entraine des gains de bien-etre par rapport a une politique discretionnaire lies a la possibilite de manipuler les anticipations des producteurs et donc de les induire a stabiliser les prix. Les regles simples de stabilisation permettent d'obtenir des gains proches de ceux obtenus avec des politiques optimales. Dans un cadre d'economie ouverte, les instruments de stabilisation sont la politique commerciale et le stockage. Une politique de stockage non accompagnee d'une politique commerciale ne profite pas aux consommateurs, car les benefices de la stabilisation se dissipent sur le marche mondial. Au contraire, une politique commerciale optimale permet d'augmenter la stabilisation en exploitant le marche mondial.
Design and experimental attitude control of an unmanned Tilt-Rotor aerial vehicle

The design and experimental control of an unmanned Tilt-Rotor aerial vehicle operating in Bi-Rotor mode is presented in this article. Tilt-Rotor UAVs exhibit important flight characteristics due to their ability to fly both like a rotorcraft (in Bi-Rotor Mode) and like a fixed-wing aerial system. The ability of having a dual flight envelope makes ideal for complex missions where both the speed and flight endurance of a fixed-wing design and the hovering, aggressive maneuvering and vertical take-off/landing capabilities of a helicopter are needed. In the work presented, the main design principles, the Bi-Rotor mode nonlinear/linearized dynamics and the corresponding attitude tracking controller design are exhibited. Experimental studies in attitude stabilization indicate the overall system and controller's efficiency in hovering operation.
Should Scientists Talk About GMOs Nicely? Exploring the Effects of Communication Styles, Source Expertise, and Preexisting Attitude

The present study investigated the effects of communication styles, source expertise, and audiences’ preexisting attitudes in the contexts of the debate regarding genetically modified organisms. A between-subject experiment (N = 416) was conducted manipulating communication styles (aggressive vs. polite) and the expertise of the communicator (scientist vs. nonscientist) in blog articles. The results showed significant effects of communicator expertise and individuals’ preexisting attitudes on writer likability and message quality, depending on the communication style used. Expectancy violation was found as a significant mediator that explains the differences. These findings provided a plausible explanation for the way in which communication styles work in science communication contexts and offered practical implications for science communicators to communicate more strategically.
Shaft Resistance of Driven Piles Based on CPT and CPTu Results Using GMDH-type Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms

Cone penetration test is one of the most common in-situ tests for pile analysis given that by its analogy as a model pile, the measured cone resistance and sleeve friction can be employed for estimation of pile unit toe and shaft resistances, respectively. In this paper, group method of data handling (GMDH)-type neural networks optimized using Genetic algorithms (GAs) are used for modelling the effects of effective cone point resistance (Equ) and cone sleeve friction (fs) as input parameters on driven piles unit shaft resistance, using some experimental training and test data. Therefore twenty two pile case histories have been compiled including static loading tests performed in uplift, or in push with separation of shaft and toe resistances at sites which comprise CPT or CPTu sounding. Sensitivity analysis of the derived polynomial model has been carried out to study the influence of input parameters on model output. Some curves have been found to estimate driven piles unit shaft resistance using obtained results from sensitivity analysis. Comparison between proposed method and other CPT and CPTu direct methods referenced to measure pile shaft capacity shows acceptable accuracy of the developed model.
Evaluating factors associated with uncontrolled hypertension: Isfahan cohort study, Iran

BACKGROUND Hypertension (HTN) considers as one of the most common risk factors, which potentially raises the risk of cardiovascular disease. Regarding high prevalence of HTN among Iranian population this study designed to examine a range of socio-demographic and clinical variables to determine the association with failure to achieve blood pressure control in a cohort of hypertensive subjects. METHODS This retrospective cohort study is a part of Isfahan cohort study which carried out on adults aged 35 years old or more. Subjects with confirmed HTN entered in this sub-study. For all subjects questionnaire included socio-demographic characteristics, clinical data and lifestyle behavior completed by trained nurses. Uncontrolled HTN was defined as systolic and diastolic blood pressure more than 140/90 in the presence or absent of pharmacological treatment. RESULTS The prevalence of uncontrolled men was significantly higher than controlled in both 2001 and 2007 (P < 0.001). A significant association was found between sex and control of blood pressure: compared with women, being men [odds ratio (OR) = 2.31; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.64-3.24] was significantly associated with uncontrolled HTN in 2001 and (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.78-3.18). Among lifestyle behaviors, tendency for more consumption of salty foods increased the risk of uncontrolled HTN in 2001 by 1.73 times [OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.20-2.50, (P = 0.003)]. Patients who were naive to mono-therapy without considering the type of antihypertensive drug were found to be associated with uncontrolled blood pressure (OR = 0.14; 95 % CI =0.1-0.2). CONCLUSION Uncontrolled HTN was sex, marital status, diabetes, tendency to salty foods and medication adherence. Assessment of them presence of these risk factors is warranted to recommend an aggressive HTN management with the goal of reducing excessive risk of cardiovascular events caused by uncontrolled HTN.
SN 2006tf: Precursor Eruptions and the Optically Thick Regime of Extremely Luminous Type IIn Supernovae

SN 2006tf is the third most luminous supernova (SN) discovered so far, after SN 2005ap and SN 2006gy. SN 2006tf is valuable because it provides a link between two regimes: (1) luminous Type IIn supernovae powered by emission directly from interaction with circumstellar material (CSM), and (2) the most extremely luminous SNe where the CSM interaction is so optically thick that energy must diffuse out from an opaque shocked shell. As SN 2006tf evolves, it slowly transitions from the second to the first regime as the clumpy shell becomes more porous. This link suggests that the range in properties of the most luminous SNe is largely determined by the density and speed of hydrogen-rich material ejected shortly before they explode. The total energy radiated by SN 2006tf was at least 7 × 1050 ergs. If the bulk of this luminosity came from the thermalization of shock kinetic energy, then the star needs to have ejected ~18 M☉ in the 4-8 yr before core collapse, and another 2-6 M☉ in the decades before that. A Type Ia explosion is therefore excluded. From the Hα emission-line profile, we derive a blast wave speed of 2000 km s−1 that does not decelerate, and from the narrow P Cygni absorption from preshock gas we deduce that the progenitor's wind speed was ~190 km s−1. This is reminiscent of the wind speeds of luminous blue variables (LBVs), but not of red supergiants or Wolf-Rayet stars. We propose that like SN 2006gy, SN 2006tf marked the death of a very massive star that retained a hydrogen envelope until the end of its life and suffered extreme LBV-like mass loss in the decades before it exploded.
THE EFFECT OF CD 4 COUNT LEVEL ON THE MIDDLE EAR DYNAMICS OF HIV INFECTED PATIENTS

Background: HIV infection, a multi systemic disease has been identified as one of the causes of hearing loss in man. Objectives: To compare the effect of HIV infection on the middle ear dynamics of HIV infected and non-HIV infected individuals using tympanometry. Design: A prospective cross sectional study Setting: HIV Clinic at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in 2010. Subjects: Tympanometry was done on adults (18-45year old) patients with confirmed retroviral disease (RVD) infection and confirmed non-HIV infected adults (18-45year old) as the control group. All the patients certified the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Main Outcome Measures: More women were found with HIV infection than men at a ratio of 1:3.7(men = 21% and females = 79%). There was preponderance of type “B” tympanogram among HIV-infected individuals. Result: There was a significant correlation between CD4 cell count and type “B” tympanogram (P=0.03). The CD4 cell count measured severity of HIV infection while the type “B” tympanogram detected middle ear effusion. Conclusions: Middle ear effusion is the genesis of middle ear pathology in HIV infected
The Mobile Workplace: Collaboration in a Vast Setting

This chapter discusses how truly mobile occupational groups relate to locations in a vast working area when collaborating with each other. It brings forth two ethnographic studies on mobile professionals, working on the roads. Their work setting has predominantly been described from a perspective where they are isolated in the drivers-seat. However, seeing that the environment in which they drive through constitutes their workplace, the chapter examines their relation to the surroundings when performing their tasks. The empirical data illustrates the importance of mutual understanding of locations to successfully perform collaborative tasks. For example, coordinates supplied by a GPS-receiver are not sufficient in the performance of their tasks. It is rather the mutual understanding of locations, being in proximity, or other visual clues, which are of importance. The authors argue the need for a detailed understanding regarding the use of locations, to succeed in the development of future mobile position-based services.
Analysis of Genetic Interactions Involving Maternal and Offspring Genotypes at Different Loci: Power Simulation and Application to Testicular Cancer

The analyses of genetic interaction between maternal and offspring genotypes are usually conducted considering a single locus. Here, we propose testing maternal × offspring (M×O) and maternal × maternal (M×M) genotype interactions involving two unlinked loci. We reformulate the log‐linear approach of analyzing cases and their parents (family trios) to accommodate two loci, fit fuller models to avoid confounding in a first analysis step and propose that the model be reduced to the most prominent effects in a second step. We conduct extensive simulations to assess the validity and power of this approach under various model assumptions. We show that the approach is valid and has good power to detect M×O and M×M interactions. For example, the power to detect a dominant interaction relative risk of 1.5 (both M×O and M×M) is 70% with 300 trios and approaches 100% with 1,000 trios. Unlike the main effects, M×O and M×M interactions are conditionally independent of mating types, and consequently, their power is not affected by missing paternal genotypes. When applied to single‐locus M×O interaction, our method is as powerful as other existing methods. Applying the method to testicular cancer, we found a nominally significant M×M interaction between single nucleotide polymorphisms from C‐Kit Ligand (KITLG) and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) using 210 families (relative risk 2.2, P = 0.03). This finding supports a role of maternal hormones in offspring testicular cancer and warrants confirmation in a larger dataset.
Semantics and pragmatics of evidentials in Cuzco Quechua

This dissertation explores the semantics and pragmatics of evidentiality through a detailed study of three evidential markers in Cuzco Quechua (spoken in Cuzco, Peru), the Direct -mi, the Conjectural -ch a and the Reportative -si. I adopt a narrow de nition of evidentiality as the linguistic encoding of the speaker's grounds for making a speech act, which in the case of assertions corresponds with his or her source of information. The meaning of each of the three Cuzco Quechua evidentials, as well as their absence, is described based on data collected by the author and from published sources. One of the central cross-linguistic questions in the study of evidentiality is how it is related to epistemic modality. I argue that the two concepts are distinct, but overlapping categories. I show that the evidential enclitics in Cuzco Quechua di er from typical epistemic modals in that they do not contribute to the main proposition expressed, can never occur in the scope of propositional operators such as negation, and can only occur in illocutionary force bearing environments. Furthermore, the Direct and the Reportative are not analyzable in terms of epistemic necessity or possibility. In contrast, the Conjectural also encodes epistemic possibility, and it is therefore considered to be in the evidentiality/epistemic modality overlap. It is argued that an evidential scale in terms of strength of evidence can be dened. Against previous proposals, I argue that this is only a partial ordering, since conjectural is not stronger than reportative evidence, or vice versa. For each ordered pair of evidentials the weaker one (e.g. Reportative) gives rise to the implicature that the stronger one (e.g. Direct) could not have been used in its stead. The Cuzco Quechua evidentials are analyzed as illocutionary modi ers which add
Threatening communication: A qualitative study of fear appeal effectiveness beliefs among intervention developers, policymakers, politicians, scientists, and advertising professionals

Threatening communication is a widely applied method in behavior change interventions, which at the same time has been heavily criticized in the psychological literature. The current paper describes a study of the reasons for this persistent wide application of threatening communication. We conducted qualitative interviews with 33 key actors in behavior change intervention development in The Netherlands. Specifically, we interviewed intervention developers, policymakers, politicians, scientists, and advertising professionals. The interviews were transcribed and subsequently coded using NVivo. We found that participants most closely involved with the actual intervention development were generally convinced that threatening information was to be prevented, but often did not understand the exact processes involved. They were often under the impression that rather than a potent efficacy enhancing element, a behavioral suggestion would suffice to prevent threatening communication from backfiring. As participants were further removed from the actual intervention development, they generally tended to be more in favor of threatening communication. The main reasons for use of threatening information were to attract attention or prompt self-reflection through confrontation, because target population members were assumed to like threatening information and respond rationally to increased risk perceptions by changing their behavior, or simply because no alternatives were available. In addition, intervention developers frequently had to deal with supervisors or funders who preferred threatening communication. Thus, when communicating with practitioners, it seems fruitful to provide them with a toolbox of evidence-based behavior change methods that promote adaptive, rather than maladaptive, behavior; to promote basing interventions on the most relevant behavioral determinants as identified by determinant analyses; and to equip intervention developers with the tools to persuade other key stakeholders that fear is a bad counselor.
THE INFLUENCE OF CONCENTRATION AND DYNAMICAL STATE ON SCATTER IN THE GALAXY CLUSTER MASS–TEMPERATURE RELATION

Using a hydrodynamics plus N-body simulation of galaxy cluster formation within a large volume and mock Chandra X-ray observations, we study the form and evolution of the intrinsic scatter about the best-fit X-ray temperature–mass relation for clusters. We investigate the physical origin of the scatter by correlating it with quantities that are closely related to clusters' formation and merging histories. We also examine the distribution of the scatter for merging and non-merging populations, identified using halo merger trees derived from the simulation as well as X-ray substructure measures. We find a strong correlation between the scatter in the M–TX relation and the halo concentration, in the sense that more concentrated clusters tend to be cooler than clusters with similar masses. No bias is found between the merging and relaxed clusters, but merging clusters generally have greater scatter, which is related to the properties of the distribution of halo concentrations. We also detect a signature of non-lognormality in the distribution of scatter for our simulated clusters both at z = 0 and at z = 1. A detailed comparison of merging clusters identified by substructure measures and by halo merger trees is given in the discussion. We conclude that, when cooling-related effects are neglected, the variation in halo concentrations is a more important factor for driving the intrinsic scatter in the M–TX relation, while departures from hydrostatic equilibrium due to cluster mergers have a minor effect.
Introduction to the South American Low-Level Jet Experiment ( SALLJEX )

research programme dealing with climate variability and predictability on timescales from months to centuries. We would like to invite the CLIVAR community to submit papers to CLIVAR Exchanges for issue 31. The overarching topic will be on North Atlantic Predictability. The deadline for articles for this issue is 30th July 2004. See CLIVAR webpage (see below) for full details. This issue has been sponsored by the China Meteorological A d m i n i s t r a t i o n t h ro u g h the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences. Editorial The South American Low-level Jet (SALLJ) along the lee of the Andes Mountains is a key feature of the continent's climate. At the initiation of the Variability of the American Monsoon (VAMOS) programme in 1997 there was consensus that the SALLJ was directly relevant to the strong mesoscale features that develop around its exit region in central South America. It was also thought that the jet played a key role in the regional hydrology and in the water exchanges between the Amazon Basin in the tropics and the La Plata Basin to the south. The SALLJ, however, flows above some of the poorest regions in South America and the available data sets were simply not adequate to attempt a meaningful quantitative validation of the hypotheses being put forward. The emerging VAMOS programme also brought to light that many leading scientists from the region, and beyond, were eager and ready to investigate and study the SALLJ. The combination of an exciting, unexplored atmospheric phenomenon with the potential for important interactions with the underlying land surface, and the readiness of the scientific community to tackle it, put the SALLJ study high on the VAMOS agenda. In that context, the CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group requested that a SALLJ project be developed, firmly rooted in a climate framework. This was helped by the timely publication of studies that suggested associations between the SALLJ and the major modes of South American climate variability, including links with sea-surface-temperature anomalies in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Once the scientific stage was set, the SALLJ research programme quickly took shape. In particular, a field campaign, the South American Low-level Jet Experiment (SALLJEX), was proposed that would enhance rain gauge networks, launch pilot balloons and radiosondes several times a day, and fly instrumented research aircraft to probe the associated mesoscale convective systems. This …
Galaxy morphology and evolution from SWAN adaptive optics imaging

We present the results from adaptive optics (AO) assisted imaging in the Ks band of an area of 15 arcmin 2 for SWAN (Survey of a Wide Area with NACO). We derive the high resolution near-IR morphology of ∼400 galaxies up to Ks ∼ 23. 5i n the f irst 21 SWAN fields around bright guide stars, carefully taking into account the survey selection effects and using an accurate treatment of the anisoplanatic AO PSF. The detected galaxies are sorted into two morphological classes according to their Sersic index. The extracted morphological properties and number counts of the galaxies are compared with the predictions of different galaxy formation and evolution models, both for the whole galaxy population and separately for late-type and early-type galaxies. This is one of the first times such a comparison has been done in the near-IR, as AO observations and accurate PSF modeling are needed to obtain reliable morphological classification of faint field galaxies at these wavelengths. For early-type galaxies we find that a pure luminosity evolution model, without evidence for relevant number and size evolution, better reproduces the observed properties of our Ks-selected sample than current semi-analytic models based on the hierarchical picture of galaxy formation. In particular, we find that the observed flattening of elliptical galaxy counts at Ks ∼ 20 is quantitatively in good agreement with the prediction of the pure luminosity evolution model that was calculated prior to the observation. For late-type galaxies, while both models are able to reproduce the number counts, we find some hints of a possible size growth. These results demonstrate the unique power of AO observations to derive high resolution details of faint galaxies’ morphology in the near-IR and drive studies of galaxy evolution.
Disruption of Orbitofronto-Striatal Functional Connectivity Underlies Maladaptive Persistent Behaviors in Alcohol-Dependent Patients

Objective Alcohol dependence is characterized by persistent alcohol-seeking despite negative consequences. Previous studies suggest that maladaptive persistent behaviors reflect alcohol-induced brain changes that cause alterations in the cortico-striatal-limbic circuit. Methods Twenty one alcohol dependent patients and 24 age-matched healthy controls performed a decision-making task during functional MRI. We defined the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) as a region-of-interest and performed seed-based functional connectivity analysis. Results Healthy controls were more flexible in adapting an alternative behavioral strategy, which correlated with stronger mOFC-dorsal striatum functional connectivity. In contrast, alcohol dependent patients persisted to the first established behavioral strategy. The mOFC-dorsal striatum functional connectivity was impaired in the alcohol-dependent patients, but increased in correlation with the duration of abstinence. Conclusion Our findings support that the disruption of the mOFC-striatal circuitry contribute to the maldaptive persistent behaviors in alcohol dependent patients.