Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India on Rural Poverty and Food Security

A study based on regional and micro level household data was taken up to inquire in to the impacts of a national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) in India. Studies in four sample districts in predominantly rainfed areas, which benefited from the scheme for the last six years indicated that the scheme attempted to address the core issue of rural unemployment of unskilled labor in earth works related to natural resource management. Primarily the rural labor obtained seasonal employment, but the resource poor farmers also participated in the Scheme more so in states like Maharashtra. The study findings indicated that the seasonal migration of rural labor has come down significantly due to the opportunities of employment provided under the scheme. The share of NREGS employment was up to one-third of wage days in some of the study districts. Similarly the contributions of income to the family from the wages of participation in the scheme were in the range of 12 to 33 per cent across the districts. These additional incomes were used by the rural households primarily for food security, education of dependents, health care and debt repayment. Wherever, the there were surpluses beyond these expenses, the households acquired durable assets and created amenities in the households. The negative fall out of the Scheme, albeit at a low scale, especially from the farming point of view is that there was abnormal rise in the wage rates. The scheme thus is a revolutionary one with broad spectrum impact on the rural milieu of India.
Protección preferencial de los dominios II y III de la toxina Cry1Aa de Bacillus thuringiensis en Vesículas de Membrana de Borde de Cepillo

The surface exposed Leucine 371 on loop 2 of domain II, in Cry1Aa toxin, was mutated to Lysine to generate the trypsin-sensitive mutant, L371K. Upon trypsin digestion L371K is cleaved into approximately 37 and 26 kDa fragments. These are separable on SDS-PAGE, but remain as a single molecule of 65 kDa upon purification by liquid chromatography. The larger fragment is domain I and a portion of domain II (amino acid residues 1 to 371). The smaller 26-kDa polypeptide is the remainder of domain II and domain III (amino acids 372 to 609). When the mutant toxin was treated with high dose of M. sexta gut juice both fragments were degraded. However, when incubated with M. sexta BBMV, the 26 kDa fragment (domains II and III) was preferentially protected from gut juice proteases. As previously reported, wild type Cry1Aa toxin was also protected against degradation by gut juice proteases when incubated with M. sexta BBMV. On the contrary, when mouse BBMV was added to the reaction mixture neither Cry1Aa nor L371K toxins showed resistance to M. sexta gut juice proteases and were degraded. Since the whole Cry1Aa toxin and most of the domain II and domain III of L371K are protected from proteases in the presence of BBMV of the target insect, we suggest that the insertion of the toxin into the membrane is complex and involves all three domains.
An artificial intelligence model based on LS-SVM for third-party logistics provider selection

The use of third-party logistics (3PL) providers is regarded as new strategy in logistics management. The relationships by considering 3PL are sometimes more complicated than any classical logistics supplier relationships. These relationships have taken into account as a well-known way to highlight organizations' exibilities to regard rapidly uncertain market conditions, follow core competencies, and provide long-term growth strategies. Choosing service providers has been considered as a notable research area in the last two decades. The review of the literature represents that neural networks have proposed better performance than traditional methods in this area. Therefore, in this paper, a new enhanced articial intelligence (AI) approach is taken into consideration to assist the decision making for the logistics management which can be successfully presented in cosmetics industry for long-term prediction of the real performance data. The presented AI approach is based on modern hybrid neural networks to improve the decision making for the 3PL selection. The model can predict the overall performance of the 3PL according to least squares support vector machine and cross validation technique. In addition, the proposed AI approach is given for the 3PL selection in a real case study for the cosmetics industry. The computational results indicate that the proposed AI approach provides high performance and accuracy through the real-life situations prediction along with comparing two other two well-known AI methods.
A multiscale model of intestinal crypts dynamics

Intestinal crypts are multicellular structures the properties of which have been partially characterized, both in the “normal” and in the transformed development, i.e. under specic mutations or pathway alterations eventually leading to the appearance of colorectal cancer. Only in the last years there has been an increasing interest in using mathematical and computational models to achieve new insights from a “systems point-of-view”. However, the overall picture lacks of a general model covering all the key distinct processes and phenomena involved in the activity of the crypt and, hence, a holistic and system-based picture of the overall dynamics is still missing. In this paper we propose a new multiscale model of crypt dynamics combining Gene Regulatory Networks at the intra-cellular level with a morphological model comprising spatial patterning, cell migration and crypt homeostasis at the inter-cellular level. The intra-cellular model is a Noisy Random Boolean Network ruling cell growth, division rate and lineage commitment in terms of emergent properties. The inter-cellular spatial dynamics is an extension of the Cellular Potts Model, a statistical mechanics model in which cells are represented as lattice sites in a 2D cellular automaton successfully used to model homeostasis in the crypts.
Three-terminal junctions operating as mixers, frequency doublers and detectors: a broad-band frequency numerical and experimental study at room temperature

The frequency response of nanometric T- and Y-shaped three-terminal junctions (TTJs) is investigated experimentally and numerically. In virtue of the parabolic down-bending of the output voltage of the central branch obtained at room temperature under a push–pull fashion input, we analyse the low-frequency performance (<1 MHz) of TTJs operating as mixers, their RF capability as doublers up to 4 GHz and detection at 94 GHz. Special attention is paid to the impedance matching and cut-off frequency of the measurement setup. The numerical study is carried out by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We illustrate the intrinsic functionality of the device as frequency doubler or rectifier up to THz. The role of the width of the central branch on the high-frequency response is also explored, finding different cut-off frequencies for doubling and detection as a consequence of the diverse working principles of both mechanisms and the particular geometry of the TTJs.
Analysis of the boil-off loss in parental and different crosses of bivoltine silkworm, Bombyx mori L.

The process of removal of gummy proteinous material (sericin) from the silk is commonly referred to as degumming loss or boil-off loss and is considered as one of the important economic traits during the course of silkworm breeding. Loss of sericin varies with breeds / hybrids, it is essential to analyze the ratio with reference to cocoon shell, as it is the basic raw material for the raw silk to estimate silk productivity of a breed / hybrid. In the present study, boil-off loss ratio in the cocoon shells of twelve bivoltine parental breeds (6 oval and 6 dumb-bell) and newly developed 21 each of different crosses (single, three-way and four-way crosses) of bivoltine hybrids along with control hybrids CSR2xCSR4 and [(CSR2xCSR27)x(CSR6xCSR26)] was analyzed to identify promising hybrids with desired boil-off loss ratio. Heterosis for boil-off loss ratio, shell ratio and raw silk percentage both in parents and all the hybrid crosses was also estimated and discussed. Among the parents, the least value of 21.50% was registered in JPN8 (oval), 22.01 % (S9) amongst dumb-bells and in the hybrids, single-cross hybrid CSR27xCSR26 (23.25%), three-way cross hybrid, (JPN8xCSR17)xCSR26 (22.51%) and four-way cross hybrid [(JPN8xCSR17)x(D13xCSR26)] (22.33%) was recorded. It was observed that some of the different crosses of the hybrids have also recorded desirable heterosis values for boil-off loss trait.
Tax Reforms in Sri Lanka – Will a Tax on Public Servants Improve Progressivity?

The Sri Lankan government implemented tax reforms in 2011, including removal of the tax exemption given to public servants and reduction of personal income tax rates in order to improve tax compliance from pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax payers. This study evaluates the 2007 and 2011 tax systems in order to examine the effects that taxing the income of public sector employees has on total tax revenues and the tax base. The study also compares the distributional effects of the different tax systems. Study further conducts simulation analyses to assess the most progressive means of achieving the 2007 tax revenue levels. Implications for tax evasion are also examined under different tax systems. The study finds that the 2011 tax reforms reduce tax revenue by 48 percent relative to the structure of income taxation in 2007. This decline in tax revenues occurs even though income taxes are extended to public sector workers because the 2011 tax reforms reduced the rate of income taxes across the board and increased the tax-free threshold. Our simulations show that tax revenues would have risen if the reforms were limited to introducing income taxes to public servants. The resulting (hypothetical) tax system would also have been more progressive than the tax structure resulting from the 2011 reforms. The study evaluated the distributional impacts of modifications to the 2011 tax system which would increase tax revenue to their level in 2007. More specifically, the present study finds that the most progressive way to attain this tax revenue target would be to increase tax rates on taxable income by 6 percentage points and to lower the tax-free threshold from LKR 600,000 to LKR 400,000.
ONSET AGE AND DELINQUENCY

This is a re-analysis of four waves of data from the National Youth Survey collected beginning in 1976 on 1725 adolescents and comprising a representative national sample. Subjects were categorized into three onset groups: early onset (onset 12 or before), late onset (onset after age 12), and no-onset. Analyses were undertaken to determine the impact of age of onset of delinquency on subsequent level, type, and persistence of participation. Results indicate that, with the exception of damaged property and minor assault, no significant differences between early and late onset groups were found as to type of crime. However, early onset subjects were more likely to engage in serious patterned delinquency and to do sc chronically. No significant demographic differences were found, except that males were more likely to be in the early onset group. The early and late onset subjects scored poorly on all psychosocial scales and scored significantly poorer than no-onset subjects. These results, while not as potent as past studies of age of onset, still suggest age of onset as an important ris' rminant in delinquency research.
CHROMIUM (VI) REMOVAL BY SAWDUST OF PINE TREE

Cr (VI) is a toxic metal on the list of priority pollutants due to its mutagenic and carcinogenic properties defined by the US EPA. Cr (VI) is mainly in discharges from electroplating, leather tanning, textile dyeing and metal finishing industries. The US EPA has the maximum allowable limit to Cr (VI) in drinking water and inland surface waters as 0.05 and 0.1 mg/L, respectively. Recently, a variety of low cost materials has been study for their ability to remove this metal from aqueous solution with promising results.We studied the Cr (VI) removal capacity in aqueous solution by sawdust biomass of pine tree. We use the diphenylcarbazide method to evaluate the metal concentration in solution and we obtain that the highest biosorption of the metal (50 mg/L) occurs within 9 hours, at pH of 1.0, and 28°C. The highest removal (100%), was observe at 50 o C and 60°C, at 2 hours. At the analyzed concentrations of Cr (VI), sawdust showed good removal capacity of 1.0 g/L of the metal (100%, 40 min at 60 o C, and 150 min at 28 o C, respectively). If we increase the biosorbent concentration, increase the metal removal, with 100% at 60 min with 5 g of sawdust biomass.On the other hand, it removes efficiently the metal in situ (57.25%, and 72% of removal, 7 days of incubation, with 5 g of biomass, in soil and water contaminated, respectively). So, the biomass of pine tree can be used to eliminate the metal of contaminated sites.
Common Fixed Point Theorems for Expansive Type Mappings in b-Metric Spaces

Abstract- In this paper, we prove three common fixed point results for expansive type mappings in b-metric spaces. First part of our main result contains two results on weakly compatible mappings under a given expansive condition. First theorem is a generalizations of main result of Deheria et.al.[7] and a slight variation of Mohanta [13]. Second theorem is a generalization of another fixed point result of Mohanta [13]. For the second section of our main result, we have introduced f-extension condition on b-metric spaces. Suppose a mapping g:X→X doesn’t satisfy an extension condition in itself but it have a fixed point. If another mapping f:X→X is introduced such that f and g satisfy an f-extension condition and provide a common fixed point then this is called f-extension. Below, we have given examples of f-extension as well as illustrative example of our third main result.
Increasing sensitivity of arc-induced long-period gratings—pushing the fabrication technique toward its limits

This paper presents an investigation of the sensing properties of long-period gratings (LPGs) written with the electric-arc technique in commonly used standard germanium-doped Corning SMF28 and boron co-doped Fibercore PS1250/1500 fibers. In order to increase the sensitivity of the LPGs, we studied and established for each fiber the writing parameters allowing for the coupling of the highest possible order of cladding modes at a resonance wavelength around λ = 1550 nm. The sensitivity of the LPGs to refractive index, to temperature and to hydrostatic pressure was investigated. The experimental results were supported by extensive numerical simulations. Thanks to the well-established and precisely controlled arc-writing process, we were able to reduce the minimum period of the gratings down to 345 and 221 µm, respectively, for LPGs based on the SMF28 and PS1250/1500 fibers. To the best of our knowledge, these are the shortest periods ever achieved for these fibers using the arc-manufacturing technique. The pressure sensitivities of 13 and 220 pm bar−1 are the highest ever measured for LPGs written in the SMF28 and PS1250/1500 fibers, respectively. Moreover, a reduction in the diameters of the SMF28 fiber induced by the arc was found, which significantly affected the distribution of resonances generated by the coupled cladding modes.
Autochthonous white rot fungi from the tropical forest: Potential of Cuban strains for dyes and textile industrial effluents decolourisation

Nineteen strains of wood-inhabiting pores fungi, representing thirteen species and ten genera, collected from both natural and "anthropic" ( urban) ecosystems in Cuba were tested for their ability to decolourise the industrial anthraquinonic dye Acid Blue 62 ( AB 62) in laboratory conditions, in both solid and liquid media. On the basis of their decolourisation rate and growth inhibition, seven strains viz. Tinctoporellus epimiltinus, Trametes maxima, Perenniporia tephropora, Coriolopsis rigida, Hexagonia tenuis, Pachykytospora alabamae and Hexagonia hydnoides were selected for further studies. All the strains were able to decolourise partially or completely the AB62 dye added to Malt extract. Almost total decolourisation was obtained with T. maxima. Decolourising activity was also shown with an industrial textile effluent, containing Remazol Yellow RGB, Remazol Red RR, and Remazol Black B 133. Production of laccase, a ligninolytic enzyme possibly involved in decolourisation, was stimulated by AB 62 for all the strains tested; T. maxima showing the highest production. Lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase were not produced under the experimental conditions used. T. maxima could represent a potential candidate for biotechnological applications. The exploitation of local biodiversity in tropical area appears as a potentially productive approach for identifying promising microbial strains for industrial use.
Nucleon isovector structure functions in (2+1)-flavor QCD with domain wall fermions

We report on numerical lattice QCD calculations of some of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions. The calculations are carried out with gauge configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations with (2+1)-flavors of dynamical domain-wall fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action ({beta} = 2.13). The inverse lattice spacing is a{sup -1} = 1.73 GeV, and two spatial volumes of (2.7 fm){sup 3} and (1.8 fm){sup 3} are used. The up and down quark masses are varied so the pion mass lies between 0.33 and 0.67 GeV, while the strange mass is about 12% heavier than the physical one. The structure function moments we present include the fully nonperturbatively renormalized isovector quark momentum fraction x{sub u-d}, the helicity fraction x{sub {Delta}u-{Delta}d}, and transversity 1{sub {delta}u-{delta}d}, as well as an unrenormalized twist-3 coefficient d{sub 1}. The ratio of the momentum to helicity fractions, x{sub u-d}/x{sub {Delta}u-{Delta}d}, does not show dependence on the light quark mass and agrees well with the value obtained from experiment. Their respective absolute values, fully renormalized, show interesting trends toward their respective experimental values at the lightest quark mass. A prediction for the transversity, 0.7 < 1{sub {delta}u-{delta}d} < 1.1, in the MS{sup -} schememore » at 2 GeV is obtained. The twist-3 coefficient, d{sub 1}, though yet to be renormalized, supports the perturbative Wandzura-Wilczek relation. « less
Parameters of protein metabolism in goats fed diets with different portion of sugarcane bagasse.

Fifteen Jawarandu male goats were used to study the effect of different portion of sugarcanebagasse in diets on some parameters of protein metabolism. Goats had average of body weight of 18 kgand aged at 18 months. Animals were housed in metabolic cages and were alloted to a completelyrandomized design receiving three experimental diets with sugarcane bagasse portions of 15, 25, and35% (dry matter basis), respectively. After eight weeks of adjustment period to experimental diets andenvironment, each group of treatment was subjected to ten days of digestion trial, and followed bycollection of rumen liquid samples. Parameters observed were feed digestibility, nitrogen retention,ruminal feed fermentation, and excretion of urinary allantoin to estimate microbial protein synthesis.Data were tested using one way analysis of variance, and followed by Duncan’s mulitiple range test. Drymatter and protein intakes lowered (P<0.05) as the increasing of sugarcane bagasse in diets. Proteindigestibility and retention were unaffected by the treatment of bagasse portion. The dietary treatment didnot change ruminal ammonia, total VFA, acetate, propionate, and butyrate concentrations. Microbialnitrogen synthesis and efficiency of microbial nitrogen synthesis were unaffected by the dietarytreatment.
The Syntax of Mixed DPs Containing anAdjective: Evidence from Bilingual German-Romance (French, Italian,Spanish) Children

The placement of attributive adjectives has been hotly debated since the first contributions to CS in bilingual adults and children. The present paper will focus on CS between an attributive adjective and a noun in bilingual children raised with a Romance language and German from birth. The data will be used in order to decide between different approaches to the categorial status of adjectives and the syntactic derivation of adjective placement in Romance and German. Section 2 presents a traditional approach to attributive adjectives in the Romance languages (e.g. Spanish, Italian, French) and German. Section 3 will discuss some proposals for the syntactic analysis of adjectives which either take adjectives to be lexical or functional categories. Furthermore, it will present the universal base for preand postnominal attributive adjectives which will be tested on the data presented. Section 4 summarizes some approaches to adult CS which make use of the categorial analyses and the previous syntactic analyses of adjectives. Predictions for child data will be deduced from these analyses. Section 5 presents the empirical database and the results of twelve longitudinal studies of Romance-German children. We will test the predictions on the database showing that only a derivation of adjectives which follows Kayne s (1994) Universal Base Hypothesis for preand postnominal adjectives can account for the data. Two observations are important here: The preference for the prenominal placement of switched adjectives and the rare use of postnominal ordering of German adjectives. Section 6 concludes the article with a summary of the main results and other crucial aspects for further research.
Oil Pollution in the Southeastern Baltic Sea by Satellite Remote Sensing Data in 2004-2015

Abstract The results of satellite monitoring of oil pollution in the Southeastern Baltic Sea in 2004-2015 are discussed in the paper. Interannual and seasonal variability of oil pollution is investigated. A steady decrease in total oil pollution was observed from 2004 to 2011. After a sharp increase of oil pollution in 2012, oil pollution level has established at 0.39 PI Index. Maximum of oil spills is observed in the spring and summer, which is probably due to favorable weather conditions for the detection of oil spills on radar images. According to the analysis of the shapes of the detected oil spills, it was concluded that the main polluters of the sea surface are vessels. No oil spills originated from the oil platform D-6 was detected in 2004-2015. Results of numerical experiments with the Seatrack Web oil spill model show that in the case of potential discharge of oil from the D-6 platform, oil will not reach the Curonian Spit beaches during 48 h after an accident.