Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AN ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY BEHAVIOUR IN SOUTH INDIA AT THE VILLAGE LEVEL

Regional variation patterns in the demographic transition of fertility decline and association of the processes with demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and diffusion process of knowledge have received much attention in the demographic research of recent years.2 These variations are related to the specific regional profiles of fertility decline that may vary in their timing and intensity across regions. Though some of the differences may be attributable to social and economic factors, there remains an important residual geographical component in these fertility variations. India, as a country of striking demographic diversity, with enormous variations in the conditions and mechanisms of fertility transition, offers a rich ground for these analyses.3 The decline in fertility in India is perceived as part of the innovation phenomena that is taking place according to diffusion mechanisms. In addition to the influence of several socioeconomic factors reflecting structural changes, the decline in fertility also seems to proceed by contagion for which any form of proximity, spatial or social, is an important factor of diffusion mechanism. In fact, the strong heterogeneity of the Indian environment will generate a new form of social differentiation due to the varied manner of the diffusion process. Recent research on fertility differentials has shown that these interregional variations in fertility transition have increased over the last 40 years.4 In south India, particularly, demographic transition has entered its last phase which is in sharp contrast with other regions in India, and this part of the country provides an ideal field for the study of determinants of demographic outcomes.5 During the last 15 years, whereas the tempo of fertility decline remained moderate elsewhere in India, south India has registered the most spectacular decline in fertility rate as demonstrated in other chapters of this book. However, in south India itself, we are confronted with an extremely contrasted demographic landscape. A great variety is observed not only between Kerala and other states, but also between administrative blocks within a single state. This chapter is an attempt to document the details of fertility differentials and their determinants at the lowest possible scale.6 In our attempt to study regional patterns of fertility rate and its socioeconomic determinants, we will carry out different regression analyses of fertility rates, estimated at various levels of aggregation. The data used is the census (1991) village-level data for south India. These data provide the geographically most detailed indicators of fertility ever given by Indian censuses.7 The study of detailed village-level data is the first of its kind in India. We also broaden our analysis in several other directions. In modelling
Phytoremediation of Nickel, Lead and Manganese in Simulated Waste Water Using Algae, Water Hyacint and Water Lettuce

The increase in industrial and artisanal mining and mineral processing activities has led to a surge in the quantity of hazardous materials, typically heavy metals that are released into the environment. These hazard materials, when discharge in water bodies, poses serious risk to humans, animals and environment. Phytoremediation is one of the cost effective methods use in the removal of these pollutants from environment. Several plants have been investigated for their phytoremediating potentials. In this paper, the phytoremediation potential of algae, water hyacinth and water lettuce for the removal of Ni, Pb, and Mn was demonstrated. Plants of equal size were grown in aqueous medium and supplemented with different concentration (1.0 mg/dm3, 3.0 mg/dm3 and 5.0 mg/dm3) of multi component metal solution for 15 consecutive days. All the plants revealed a very good accumulation potential, with the accumulation of metals shown to increase with an increase in the initial concentration of the metal solution. At all levels, the plants accumulated the metals more in the root than in shoot except for Mn in water hyacinth. The result showed that water hyacinth was able to accumulate Pb better, while water lettuce showed more preference for Ni and Mn. All the three plants can be used in remediating waste water. Hence, water hyacinth, water lettuce and algae are a promising biomass for phytoremediation.
A Cointegration Analysis of Business Real Estate Markets and Inflation

The impact of inflation on business real estate return has long been a primary financial concern of long-term investors. This study employ Johansen cointegration approach to investigates the long-term inflation hedging effectiveness of business real estate assets in Hong Kong over the period 1980-2008. The Johansen cointegration results provide strong evidence to support the hypothesis that inflation and the three types of business properties (commercial, retail and industrial property) are cointegrated, suggesting that the commercial, retail and industrial property provide a long-term hedge for inflation.
THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON A CLASSROOM IN THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON A CLASSROOM IN COMPARISON TO A TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM COMPARISON TO A TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM

“ By 2020, 77% of all jobs will require some form of technological skills with more jobs to be filled than qualified candidates” (Schuyler & Buckley, 2018, para. 2). Because of this, there is a strong need for students to be competent using technology. This is a study to determine if (1) student achievement is higher in fifth grade math when students are in a blended learning setting or a more traditional setting? Furthermore, (2) does the implementation of blended learning affect student learning based on gender? A sample of STAR Math scores for one school year of two fifth grade classes in two schools within the same district were analyzed to see if there was a significant difference between the blended learning classroom and the more traditional classroom. STAR Math tests were administered five times throughout the year: beginning of year, fall, winter, spring, and end of year. A close to significant difference (.057) for blended learning was discovered through a Repeated Measures ANOVA. When looking at gender, a significant difference was found for girls (.049) in the blended learning setting. A further T-Test determined that a significant difference was found for the winter (.034) and end of year tests (.012) for girls specifically. Implications of these findings for blended learning, further research, and recommendations for practice are discussed.
EXAMINATION OF THE EFFICACY OF OZONE SOLUTION DISINFECTANT IN IN ACTIVATING SARS VIRUS

Ozone solution disinfectant at different concentrations was tested for inactivation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus. The results showed that the high concentration of 27.73 mg/ L ozone could inactivate SARS virus in 4 min. The medium (17.82 mg/ L )and low (4.86 mg/ L) concentrations could also inactivate SARS virus with different speeds and efficacy.
Implementation of the Blockchain in the Optimization of the Security of Transport Documents (Driver's License and Vehicules Registration Cards)

Data security has become very important nowadays, especially with the increase of data from the big data, forcing each sector to review its security system. The security of driving license and the vehicle registration is always attributed to an authority. This authority can be public or private. In Cameroon, in the transport sector, the security of the driving license and the vehicle registration document is attributed to two private authorities. Presprint Pl for the driving license and High Tech Telesoft for the vehicle registration card. Their objective is to prove the authenticity, availability and confidentiality of the holder of the driving license or car registration card. But until now, the security of these transport documents has encountered certains problems such as the fact that some individuals possess false driver's licenses or false vehicle registration cards. Sometimes with the complicity of certain system managers, the time taken by an applicant to obtain his driver's license or vehicle registration card, the management of the data to be secured by a single authority. Faced with this situation, in order to ensure that only qualified persons who have received appropriate driver training and hold a authentic driving license can be authorized to drive vehicles. The security of the system will be optimized through the use of blockchain technology, in allowing transparency in data management and without a central authority.
Learning Efficient Coding of Natural Images with Maximum Manifold Capacity Representations

Self-supervised Learning (SSL) provides a strategy for constructing useful representations of images without relying on hand-assigned labels. Many such methods aim to map distinct views of the same scene or object to nearby points in the representation space, while employing some constraint to prevent representational collapse. Here we recast the problem in terms of efﬁcient coding by adopting manifold capacity , a measure that quantiﬁes the quality of a representation based on the number of linearly separable object manifolds it can support, as the efﬁciency metric to optimize. Speciﬁcally, we adapt the manifold capacity for use as an objective function in a contrastive learning framework, yielding a Maximum Manifold Capacity Representation (MMCR). We apply this method to unlabeled images, each augmented by a set of basic transformations, and ﬁnd that it learns meaningful features using the standard linear evaluation protocol. Speciﬁcally, we ﬁnd that MM-CRs support performance on object recognition comparable to or surpassing that of recently developed SSL frameworks, while providing more robustness to adversarial attacks. Empirical analyses reveal differences between MMCRs and representations learned by other SSL frameworks, and suggest a mechanism by which manifold compression gives rise to class separability.
Effect of abiotic factors on the seasonal incidence of Rice yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker) and rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee) population at the south-east coastal region of Bangladesh

An experiment was carried out under field conditions at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Regional station Sonagazi, Feni, to study the effect of abiotic factors on the seasonal incidence of rice yellow stem borer (RYSB), Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker) and rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee) population at the south-east coastal region of Bangladesh during Kharif-2 (T. Aman), 2019 season. This study aimed to determine the effect of abiotic factors on the incidence of the pest population and to forewarn & plan for timely management of RYSB and rice leaf folder. Insects were collected from the experimental plot by using sweep net method and weather data was recorded simultaneously from the meteorological observatory. Observations on S. incertulas incidence revealed that the highest per cent of dead hearts (10.51) and white heads (9.38) were occurred during the 2nd week of October and 1st week of November, respectively. Per cent, dead hearts incidence were observed highest during the vegetative phase and per cent of white heads were highest during the reproductive phase of the plant. The correlation studies with abiotic factors revealed that temperature showed a negative significant impact on the population of S. incertulas (white heads) and negative non-significant impact on dead hearts. Relative humidity showed a positive significant impact on dead hearts but the negative non-significant impact on white heads. Rainfall showed a positive non-significant impact on dead heart but it showed a negatively significant impact on white heads. Leaf folder infestation attained its peak during 2nd fortnight of October and didn’t get significantly affected by rainfall, relative humidity & temperature. So it is better to take preventive measures for leaf folder from the start of September month. These findings will be helpful for proper and timely management of the rice yellow stem borer & leaf folder in the south-east coastal region of Bangladesh.
Genetic divergence in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill.]

Divergence analysis among sixty one soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill. ) genotypes collected from different geographic sources was carried out using Mahalanobis's D2 statistic. The genotypes were grouped into eleven different clusters. The maximum inter-cluster distance was found between clusters II and IX (D=150.36) followed by that between clusters II and XI (D=129.64), II and VIII (D=124.78), X and XI (D=117.46), IV and IX (D=101.49) and IV and XI (D=100.02) indicated that these groups of genotypes were highly divergent from each other. The genotypes in above clusters revealed substantial difference in the means for important yield contributing characters suggesting that the genotypes belonging to cluster II (J659), cluster IX (PK-986), cluster XI (PK-926) and cluster VIII (NRC-2-R) should be selected as parents in hybridization programme for improvement in soybean. The most important trait causing maximum genetic divergence was the number of cluster per plant (33.61) followed by plant height (23.28) and oil content (10.27). These three characters contributed 67.16% of the total diversity in the material studied. Hence, it is advisable to select divergent parents based on these three characters and attempt crossing between them so as to achieve a broad spectrum of favourable genetic variability for yield improvement in soybean.
Common Fixed Point for Two Multivalued Mappings on Proximinal Sets in Regular Modular Space

In 2010, Chistyakov, V. V. , defined the theory of modular metric spaces. After that, in 2011, Mongkolkeha, C. et. al. studied and proved the new existence theorems of a fixed point for contraction mapping in modular metric spaces for one single-valued map in modular metric space. Also, in 2012, Chaipunya, P. introduced some fixed point theorems for multivalued mapping under the setting of contraction type in modular metric space. In 2014, Abdou, A. A. N. , Khamsi, M. A. studied the existence of fixed points for contractive-type multivalued maps in the setting of modular metric space. In 2016, Dilip Jain et. al. presented a multivalued F-contraction and F-contraction of Hardy-Rogers-type in the case of modular metric space with specific assumptions. In this work, we extended these results into the case of a pair of multivalued mappings on proximinal sets in a regular modular metric space. This was done by introducing the notions of best approximation, proximinal set in modular metric space, conjoint F-proximinal contraction, and conjoint F-proximinal contraction of Hardy-Rogers-type for two multivalued mappings. Furthermore, we give an example showing the conditions of the theory which found a common fixed point of a pair of multivalued mappings on proximinal sets in a regular modular metric space. Also, the applications of the obtained results can be used in multiple fields of science like Electrorheological fluids and FORTRAN computer programming as shown in this communication.
The Hakos-Rostock Nappe Complex: a case study of alpine-type thrust tectonics within the Southern Margin Zone of the Damara Orogen, Namibia

The Southern Margin Zone (SMZ) of the Pan-African Damara Orogen in Namibia constitutes an alpinotype fold and thrust belt in which Neoproterozoic Damara rocks and the Mesoto Palaeozoic basement were tectonically stacked by the collision of the Kalahari and Congo cratons. The Hakos recumbent fold, with more than 100 km of hinge line, is the most spectacular structure of the SMZ; it forms part of a nappe pile that can be subdivided into the lower parautochthonous to allochthonous Rostock Nappe Complex (RNC) and the upper, allochthonous Hakos Nappe Complex (HNC). Detached Basement and Damara rocks are stacked in the basal RNC whereas the HNC is composed of Neoproterozoic passive margin sediments previously subdivided into the older Kudis and younger Vaalgras Subgroups of the Swakop Group. However, structural analysis and geological mapping demonstrate the presence of large scale of thrusts that delimit individual units. Therefore, due to the absence of absolute time markers the current stratigraphic models remain
Foreign direct investment & trade: A global value chains analysis

The present article deals with how host countries’ trade and global value chains characteristics (GVCs) affect their capacity of attracting foreign mergers and acquisitions (M&As). To this end, we combine a bilateral M&As and trade in value added databases for the period 2000-2015 and estimate an augmented gravity equation. Results indicate that trade openness perse does not favour M&As, but rather the countries’ trade characteristics not captured by different trade openness indicators. Exports (imports) in intermediate and final goods destinations (sources) countries heterogeneity, domestic value added embedded in exports, and global value chains position and participation are relevant for explaining bilateral M&As. Keywords— Final goods, global value chains, intermediate goods, M&As, trade in value added JEL— F13, F21, F23 ∗federicocarril@gmail.com †Elena.Pavlova@ecb.int
The Impacts of the GATT/WTO on Trade: Formal Members, Non-member Participants and Outsiders

Rose [2004] finds little evidence that the formal GATT/WTO membership has any impact on trade. A subsequent comment by Tomz, Goldstein and Rivers [2007] addresses this “ineffectiveness puzzle” by investigating the measurement errors in GATT membership. They find that the non-member participants (NMPs) of the GATT trade more than outsiders and even more than formal members. It is hard to understand, however, why NMPs are even more liberalized than formal members (“NMP puzzle”). This paper solves both puzzles by including zero trade flows in the analysis and applying a more appropriate econometric method to estimate the gravity regression.
International Trade Fairs in the Global Political Economy: An Empirical Analysis of Inter-Firm Interaction across Capitalist Systems

Much of the recent literature on comparative capitalisms engages in debates concerning the dynamic elements of capitalist varieties (Deeg and Jackson 2007; Hall and Thelen 2009). The need for better explanations of specific empirical episodes of institutional change has led to a substantial body of research on various aspects of globalization, including the rapid internationalization of economic activity, the spread of Multinational Corporations (MNCs), and the nature and consequences of multilevel governance arrangements. Focusing on the type of institutional arrangements that has received the least attention in the comparative capitalisms literature – namely, inter-firm relations – this paper explores the processes by which new technologies, organizational norms and practices and their associated knowledge bases are transferred between firms and across capitalist varieties in the context of international trade fairs. The paper presents some preliminary results from an Internet-based survey distributed to several thousand firms that had previously exhibited at such events. Based on an original data set designed to shed light on the nature of the search and information processes of exhibitors at trade fairs, the paper aims to provide a dynamic and empirically grounded explanation of the ways in which inter-firm interactions at these events support processes of knowledge creation and transfer, which, in turn may lead to distinct national patterns of technological specialization and/or standardization.
A theoretical model investigation of ice and wide sloping structure interactions

It is a complicated process when level ice interacts with wide sloping structures. Initially when there is limited amount of rubble accumulation, the incoming ice fails against the structure in flexural which has conventionally predicted by the elastic-foundation beam/plate theories. However, due to the relatively inefficient ice clearing capability of the wide structure, the rubble accumulation would influence the ice failing mechanisms in several aspects. Meanwhile, the presence of rubble accumulation leads to additional ice load onto the sloping structure other than the ice breaking part of the load. In history, numerous theoretical models have been developed to account for different stages of the interactions and different components of the ice load. Based on these precedent models and also the focus on highlighting the rubble accumulation effect, a new theoretical model was recently developed by the same authors of this paper. In contrast to theoretical model development, this paper focuses on a further investigation of the same theoretical model so as to quantify some important processes. These include the effects from the rubble accumulation in both the ice breaking and ice rotating process; the effect of ventilation, and possible secondary ice breaking phenomena in the ice rotating process. Based on the numerical case studies, it is concluded that a coupled description of the ice breaking process with rubble accumulation is less conservative; that rubble accumulation tends to increase the ice rotation load and to increase the possibility of secondary ice breakings; and that the ventilation effect would increase both the ice load and also the possibility of secondary breakings. POAC’13 Espoo, Finland Proceedings of the 22 International Conference on Port and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions June 9-13, 2013 Espoo, Finland
Temi di discussione del Servizio Studi Endogenous growth in open economies : A survey Number 527-December 2004

Endogenous growth has set a new paradigm for macroeconomic analysis. This paper overviews the most relevant theoretical contributions of this literature for the analysis of open economies, highlighting their implications both for the effects of crosscountry integration on output convergence and for the overall growth performance of the integrated economy, as compared to that of an identical group of autarchic countries. The literature is divided into three major classes, studying, respectively, the effects of factor mobility, the role of international trade, and the consequences of technology diffusion. The main conclusion is that knowledge spillovers can go a long way in explaining the differences in growth performances across countries, but additional research is needed to completely understand the mechanisms driving their international diffusion. JEL classification: O4, F2.
Chemomechanical Caries Removal: An Insight into the Agents’ Development and the Clinical Efficiency

DOI: 10.21276/sjds.2018. 5.12. 4 Abstract: Chemomechanical caries removal is a minimally invasive technique which is gaining attention in dental practice. The agents are either sodium hypochloritebased such as GK-101, GK-101E (Caridex TM ) & Carisolv TM , or enzyme/papain-based agents like Papacarie ® and Carie-Care TM . This review outlines the historical development of the chemomechanical caries removal methods and their clinical efficiency based on recently published laboratory and clinical studies. Based on the existing evidence, the available chemomechanical caries removal methods are promising alternatives to the conventional rotary methods. Chemomechanical methods could be more useful in very anxious, special need and pediatric patients. These agents would still benefit from quicker excavation times in order to achieve more universal acceptance.