Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of the socio-economic impacts of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies among community garden clubs in Maphephetheni, KwaZulu-Natal.

The impact of morbidity and mortality on women’s coping strategies has not been explored or documented in South Africa. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies among 10 community vegetable garden clubs representing 79 households in the Maphephetheni uplands, rural KwaZulu-Natal. An innovative mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was used to determine the impacts of morbidity and mortality on women’s coping strategies. Qualitative research methodologies included group sustainable livelihoods analyses. Quantitative methodologies included three annual household surveys conducted between 2003 and 2005. The coping strategy index was also used to determine the levels of food insecurity and understand how morbidity and mortality compromised the coping ability of participating households. The coping strategy index has not been previously used in assessing the impact of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies. Chi-Square tests, Pearson correlation, paired-sample t-tests, and frequency and descriptive statistics were applied to analyse data. The study found that the key contribution of women in community gardening and non-farm activities was compromised by the burden of morbidity and mortality that had negative effects on women’s coping strategies. Findings indicated that the frequency of illness among garden club and household members increased between 2003 (21.2% of household members) and 2004 (25%). Similarly, more households (42% of the sample households) experienced a death in 2004 compared to 7.6 percent of households in 2003. As a result, costs associated with health care and funerals were significantly (P = 0.01) lower in 2003 than in 2004. Most garden club and household members relied on subsidised medication to treat illness. Number of households dependent on subsidised medication dropped from 86 percent of households in 2003 to 66.7 percent in 2004. In 2004, households reported purchasing medication in addition to subsidised medication. Caring for the sick and contributions to household chores were significantly (P = 0.01) correlated in 2003 and 2004. This means that increased caring for sick members resulted in increased workloads for women. Caring for the sick and engagement in
Indirect facilitation as a structuring mechanism of submersed aquatic plants : a buffering role under biotic and abiotic constraints

Direct facilitation among plants has recently been included into the humped-back diversitybiomass relationship along environmental severity gradients. However, recent evidence stresses the occurrence of indirect facilitation due to biotic disturbance under a wide range of environmental severity, and including indirect facilitation will thus bring these conceptual frameworks up to date. We propose a new conceptual model of variation in plant interactions along both biotic disturbance and environmental severity gradients, combining earlier models and theories into an integrated approach. This response surface model underlines a peak of direct/indirect facilitation related to hot-spots of diversity in intermediately severe and biotically disturbed environments, and explains how plant communities might expand into, or be excluded from, harsh and biotically disturbed environments.
Simulating the Effects of Urban Parameterizations on the Passage of a Cold Front During a Pollution Episode in Megacity Shanghai

Urbanization significantly influences meteorological conditions and air quality. Statistically, air pollution in the megacity of Shanghai usually occurs with cold weather fronts. An air pollution episode during a cold front was simulated using weather research and forecasting and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model system. In this study, we used two urban schemes, a simple bulk scheme (denoted BULK) and the single-layer urban canopy model (SLUCM), to check the effects of urban parameterization. Our results showed that SLUCM better predicted the arrival time and cooling process of the cold front and more realistically simulated the moving process of the cold front. The improvement in the temperature and relative humidity simulation achieved using SLUCM was more effective under higher urbanization levels, whereas the wind speed simulation was better in rural areas. The simulated concentrations at sites with high urbanization were obviously improved by urban parameterization. The barrier role of the urban canopy during a cold front was better represented and was shown to cause a wider polluted area and higher pollutant concentration using SLUCM than with BULK. Overall, accurate meteorological simulations in the atmospheric boundary layer using SLUCM are expected to provide good prediction of urban air quality.
Does Product Market Competition Drive CVC Investment? Evidence from the U.S. IT Industry

We study the effect of product market competition on the propensity to use corporate venture capital (CVC) as a part of an information technology (IT) firm’s innovation strategy. Using novel measures of product market competition based on product descriptions from firm 10-K statements and accounting for potential endogeneity, we investigate how product market competition between 1997 and 2007 relates to the magnitude of CVC spending. We first find that firms in competitive markets make higher research and development (R&D) and CVC investments. In addition, we find that increasing product market competition leads to a shift away from internal R&D spending and into CVC. These movements are significantly stronger for technology leaders, i.e., firms with deep patent stocks, in the IT industry. We also find that CVC appears to be an effective way of exploiting external knowledge for technology leaders in the IT-producing industry, but not for technology slow starters. CVC investments lead to significantly more patent applications for technology leaders but no appreciable difference for slow starters. Our results provide new insights for theories of innovation in competitive, dynamic markets, potentially as part of a portfolio that includes internal R&D as well as open innovation models.
Assessment of the Impacts of Oil: Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Development in Sudan

This paper provides an assessment of the impacts of oil and discusses the opportunities and challenges for enhancing economic development in Sudan. One advantage of our analysis in this paper is that we provide a more comprehensive analysis using the most recent secondary data to discuss the positive and negative impacts of oil for enhancing economic development in Sudan. We explain that the various positive impacts of oil and the opportunities for enhancing development in Sudan's economy include the impacts of oil in satisfying domestic consumption and achievement of self sufficiency, increasing government and public revenues, rapid and impressive economic growth as measured by the growth in the GDP and its composition and structure, increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) and increasing the volume of foreign trade as measured by the volume and structure of exports. We find that while oil has recently contributed to the improvement of economic performance in the country, the recent heavy dependence on it, may lead to negative impacts and serious challenges for the Sudan since oil is an exhaustible resource and because of the instability of oil prices in the international market the revenue from oil is uncertain and volatile and may lead to instability of economic growth. Moreover, the increasing dependence on oil leads to increasing debate for and against the incidence of the Dutch Disease in Sudan economy, the lack of diversification and the challenges related to potential north-south conflict and division of the country.
Performance and Behavior of Family Firms: Evidence from the French Stock Market

We look at the corporate performance of family firms listed on the French stock exchange between 1994 and 2000. On the French stock market, approximately one third of the firms are widely held, another third are founder controlled and the remaining third are heir-controlled family firms. We find that, in cross section, family firms largely outperform widely held corporations. This result holds for founder-controlled firms, but more surprisingly also for heir-managed firms. To explain this, we provide evidence consistent with the fact that, because of their different time horizons, heir-managed corporations have a comparative advantage when enforcing implicit insurance contracts with their labor force. More specifically, we find that: (1) employment in heir-managed firms is less sensitive to industry shocks; and (2) heirs pay lower wages. Finally, we discuss issues related to the endogeneity of performance/family regressions looking both at delisting and transitions from family to non-family status. We conclude that these issues may lead us to overestimate the performance of heirs compared to professionally-managed firms, but to underestimate the performance of heirs when compared to widely held firms.
Noncooperative Rendezvous Using Angles-Only Optical Navigation: System Design and Flight Results

This paper presents system design and on-orbit results from the Advanced Rendezvous Demonstration using Global Positioning System and Optical Navigation (ARGON). ARGON has been conducted during the extended phase of the Prototype Research Instruments and Space Mission Technology Advancement (PRISMA) mission in April 2012. It represents one of the first rendezvous technology experiments using line of sight measurements from optical navigation and was motivated by the new generation of on-orbit-servicing and debris-removal missions which are discussed at national and international level. Its primary goal was to demonstrate the capability of an active servicer spacecraft to safely approach and rendezvous a non-cooperative passive client using angles-only optical navigation in a ground-in-the-loop fashion. To this end, a dedicated flight dynamics system has been developed for routine processing of the camera images collected on-board, for estimation of the relative orbit of the servicer with respect to the cl.
Comparison of standardised dietary folate intake across ten countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Folate plays an important role in the synthesis and methylation of DNA as a cofactor in one-carbon metabolism. Inadequate folate intake has been linked to adverse health events. However, comparable information on dietary folate intake across European countries has never been reported. The objective of the present study was to describe the dietary folate intake and its food sources in ten countries in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted in 36 034 participants (aged 35–74 years) who completed a single 24 h dietary recall using a computerised interview software program, EPIC-Soft® (International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon). Dietary folate intake was estimated using the standardised EPIC Nutrient DataBase, adjusted for age, energy intake, weight and height and weighted by season and day of recall. Adjusted mean dietary folate intake in most centres ranged from 250 to 350 μg/d in men and 200 to 300 μg/d in women. Folate intake tended to be lower among current smokers and heavier alcohol drinkers and to increase with educational level, especially in women. Supplement users (any types) were likely to report higher dietary folate intake in most centres. Vegetables, cereals and fruits, nuts and seeds were the main contributors to folate intake. Nonetheless, the type and pattern of consumption of these main food items varied across the centres. These first comparisons of standardised dietary folate intakes across different European populations show moderate regional differences (except the UK health conscious group), and variation by sex, educational level, smoking and alcohol-drinking status, and supplement use.
Comparison between the Hybrid Capture II Test and a PCR-Based Human Papillomavirus Detection Method for Diagnosis and Posttreatment Follow-Up of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

ABSTRACT Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the major cause of cervical cancer and its precursor, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and HPV testing has therefore been proposed for improved triaging and follow-up of women treated for CIN. We compared two common HPV DNA detection tests (Hybrid Capture II [HCII] and PCR-enzyme immunosorbent assay (EIA) using the primers GP5+/GP6+ followed by HPV typing with reverse dot blot hybridization) for sensitivity and specificity for detection of CIN and of CIN recurrence after treatment. Two hundred and thirty-nine women referred to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Västerås, Sweden, were enrolled because of atypical Pap smears; 177 of these were later treated for dysplasia by conization or loop diathermy. Samples for HPV DNA testing were taken before and 4 to 6 months after treatment. There was substantial agreement between the HCII and PCR-EIA (kappa, 0.70 before treatment and 0.72 after treatment). The sensitivity for histopathologically confirmed CIN III was 100.0% for PCR-EIA and 95.6% for HCII. For patients with CIN II or worse (CIN II+), the sensitivities were 92.9% (PCR-EIA) and 91.8% (HCII). The specificities for CIN II+ in the pretreatment setting were 30.4% for PCR-EIA and 24.1% for HCII. After treatment, the sensitivities for CIN III in cytology were 100.0% by both methods, and for CIN II+, sensitivities were 80.0% by both methods. The specificities for CIN II+ in the posttreatment setting were 83.5% for PCR and 85.4% for HCII. In conclusion, the sensitivities of both PCR-EIA and HCII are high and almost equal, suggesting that both methods are suitable as tools for detection and posttreatment follow-up of CIN II-III.
Exploration and exploitation across three resource classes : market / customer intelligence , brands / bonds , and technologies / processes

Purpose. Long-run corporate success requires engagement in two types of innovative activities: exploitation and exploration. However, earlier research has focused on exploration and exploitation concerning a firm’s technologies. The purpose of the present article is to explicitly examine exploration and exploitation related to customers and markets. Design/methodology/approach. The article is conceptual in nature, based on marketing, strategic management, and organization literatures. Findings. The article explains the logic of exploration-exploitation with respect to two market-related resource classes – (1) the firm’s knowledge of markets and customers (market/customer intelligence) and (2) market actors’ knowledge of and bonds to the firm (brands/bonds) – as viewed in combination with the resource class of (3) technologies, processes, and products (technologies/processes). The distinction of these three resource classes enables a three-dimensional conceptualization of the ideal types of a firm’s business development projects, which are seen as combinations of exploration and exploitation of resources across the three classes. The article also introduces the notions of multidimensionality of exploration-exploitation within the resource classes and relativity of resource newness. Originality/value. The article explicates how firms can orient their exploration and exploitation strategies not only on the technology dimension but also on the dimensions of market/customer intelligence and brands/bonds.
Clinical characteristics and factors associated with COVID-19-related mortality and hospital admission in 5 rural provinces in Indonesia: a retrospective cohort study

BackgroundData on COVID-19 clinical characteristics and severity from resource-limited settings are limited. This study examined clinical characteristics and factors associated with COVID-19 mortality and hospitalisation in rural settings of Indonesia, from 1 January to 31 July, 2021. MethodsThis retrospective cohort included individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 based on polymerase chain reaction or rapid antigen diagnostic test, from Lampung, Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara Provinces. We extracted demographic and clinical data, including hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19 surveillance records. We used mixed-effect logistic regression to examine factors associated with COVID-19-related mortality and hospitalisation. ResultsOf 6,583 confirmed cases, 205 (3.1%) died, and 1,727 (26%) were hospitalised. The median age was 37 years (IQR 26-52), with 825 (12{middle dot}53%) under 20 years, and 3,371 (51.21%) females. 4,533 (68.86%) cases were symptomatic, 319 (4.85%) had a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia, and 945 (14.36%) with at least one pre-existing comorbidity. The mortality and hospitalisation rate ranged from 2.0% and 13.4% in East Nusa Tenggara to 4.3% and 36{middle dot}1% in Lampung. Age-specific mortality rates were 0.9% (2/340) for 0-4 years; 0% (0/112) for 5-9 years; 0.2% (1/498) for 10-19 years; 0.8% (11/1,385) for 20-29 years; 0.9% (12/1,382) for 30-39 years; 2% (23/1,095) for 40-49 years; 5% (57/1,064) for 50-59 years; 11% (62/576) for 60-69 years; 16% (37/232) for [≥]70 years. Older age, pre-existing diabetes, liver diseases, malignancy, and pneumonia were associated with higher risk of mortality and hospitalisation. Pre-existing hypertension, cardiac diseases, chronic kidney disease, COPD, and immunocompromised condition were associated with risk of hospitalisation but not with mortality. ConclusionClinical characteristics and risk factors of severe COVID-19 outcomes in rural provinces were broadly similar to those in urban settings. The risk of COVID-19-related mortality and hospitalisation was associated with higher age, pre-existing chronic comorbidities, and clinical presentation of pneumonia.
of Phonated Speech from Whispers Using Formant-Derived Plausible Pitch Modulation.

Whispering is a natural, unphonated, secondary, aspect of speech communications for most people. However it is the primary mechanism of communications for some speakers who have impaired voice production mechanisms, such as partial laryngectomees. Similarly for those prescribed voice rest, which often follows surgery or damage to the larynx. Unlike most people, who choose when to whisper and when not to, these speakers may have little choice but to rely upon whispers for much of their daily vocal interaction. Even though most speakers will whisper at times, and some speakers can only whisper, the majority of today’s computational speech technology systems assume or require phonated speech. This paper considers conversion of whispers into natural-sounding phonated speech as a non-invasive prosthetic aid for people with voice impairments who can only whisper. As a by-product, the technique is also useful for unimpaired speakers who choose to whisper. Speech reconstruction systems can be classiﬁed into those requiring training and those which do not. Among the latter, a recent parametric reconstruction framework is explored, then enhanced through a re-ﬁned estimation of plausible pitch from weighted formant differences. The improved reconstruction framework, with proposed formant-derived artiﬁcial pitch modulation, is validated through subjective and objec-tive comparison tests alongside state-of-the-art alternatives.
Population ageing in India

List of figures List of tables Preface Acknowledgements Introduction G. Giridhar, K. M. Sathyanarayana and K. S. James 1. Demographics of population ageing in India Lekha Subaiya and Dhananjay W. Bansod 2. Elderly workforce participation, wage differentials and contribution to household income Sakthivel Selvaraj, Anup Karan and S. Madheswaran 3. Living arrangements of elderly in India: policy and programmatic implications K. M. Sathyanarayana, Sanjay Kumar and K. S. James 4. Health status of elderly in India: trends and differentials Moneer Alam and Anup Karan 5. The national policy for older persons: critical issues in implementation S. Irudaya Rajan and U. S. Mishra 6. Policy initiatives on population ageing in select Asian countries and their relevance to the Indian context Mala Kapur Shankardass 7. Studies on ageing in India: a review S. Siva Raju About the editors and contributors Index.
Correlation of BOLD signal and kinematics during a reach-to-grasp movement

Lo scopo della presente tesi e stato quello di indagare la correlazione tra l'attivita neurale misurata dal segnale BOLD tramite la tecnica fMRI e il segnale cinematico proveniente dall'arto superiore in movimento. Al fine di raggiungere tale obiettivo, e' stato utilizzato un sistema di motion capture integrato con uno scanner di risonanza magnetica. I risultati dell'analisi di gruppo evidenziano la presenza di una correlazione positiva tra il segnale BOLD e la massima apertura pollice-indice
Entomological Research in Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems

Ce livre presente l’etat actuel des recherches entomologiques dans les divers ecosystemes forestiers mediterraneens du monde. Unique en son genre, il comble une lacune importante dans le domaine de l’entomologie forestiere et mediterraneenne. Il comprend 4 parties principales : bilans des travaux de recherches ; biodiversite entomologique ; cycles biologiques et relations avec les arbres hotes ; surveillance et controle des populations d’insectes. Chercheurs, enseignants et etudiants du superieur ainsi que gestionnaires et decideurs forestiers y trouveront matiere a reflexion et de nombreuses informations actualisees.
Open Archive Toulouse Archive

With upcoming breakthroughs in free-form display technologies, new user interface design challenges have emerged. Here, we investigate a question, which has been widely explored on traditional GUIs but unexplored on non-rectangular interfaces: what are the user strategies in terms of visual search when information is not presented in a traditional rectangular layout? To achieve this, we present two complementary studies investigating eye movements in di ﬀ erent visual search tasks. Our results unveil which areas are seen ﬁ rst according to di ﬀ erent visual structures. By doing so we address the question of where to place relevant content for the UI designers of non-rectangular displays. displays having any 2D shape [9], and circular displays are already available on many smartwatches (e.g. the Motorola M360). Beyond smartwatches, previous works revealed a broad range of usage contexts [16], where existing artifacts with non-rectangular features were suggested for display augmentation (such as road signs, kitchen cooktops, pocket mirrors among others). & ese technological advances challenge the way we design graphical user interfaces as users may use unconventional strategies for perceiving and searching information on non-rectangular displays.
Not all Stereotypic Biases are Created Equal: Evidence for a Stereotype-Disconfirming Bias

Stereotype-confirming biases are well documented in the social psychological literature. However, motivations to disconfirm social stereotypes may be more influential for unprejudiced individuals. Three experiments are presented that test the hypothesis that extremely unprejudiced people exhibit a bias toward stereotype disconfirmation. Experiment 1 investigates stereotype disconfirmation in information-seeking preferences. Experiments 2 and 3 explore attributional strategies for stereotype disconfirmation. In all experiments, unprejudiced participants respond in ways reflecting a motivation to disconfirm social stereotypes. Implications for stereotype change and stereotypic influences on judgment and behavior are discussed.