Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect Of Small-Scale Irrigation On The Income Of Rural Farm Households: The Case Of Laelay Maichew District, Central Tigray, Ethiopia

Agricultural intensification is presumed to be a necessary pre-condition for the development of the agricultural sector in Ethiopia. To this end, various government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), among others, initiated small-scale irrigation schemes throughout the country including the Tigray region. Despite these efforts, however, smallholder farmers particularly in the study area are found to be reluctant to participate in small-scale irrigation schemes. This study therefore, assessed the factors that affect smallholder farmers’ participation in small-scale irrigation of the study area. It also explored the effect of participation in small-scale irrigation on the income of rural farm households. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to first select peasant associations and then sample respondents. Descriptive statistics and Heckman’s two-stage estimation were used to estimate determinants of small-scale irrigation participation and household income. The analysis revealed that income, gender, access to market information and health condition of households are important determinants for participating in small scale irrigation schemes. The analysis further revealed that irrigation participation, family labor force, livestock ownership and access to market information and credit are positively and significantly associated with household income. Hence, improving rural farm households’ access to market information and health services, is likely to improve participation in irrigation schemes thereby improve small holder farmers income. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.4038/jas.v7i1. 4066 JAS 2012 7(1): 43-57
Society, Community, and Development: A Tale of Two Regions

Contemporary social science remains quite divided about the type of coordination that allows some groups of agents to carry out successful economic development and which distinguishes them from cases of failure. In some cases, it is said to be traditional or non-market forms of coordination, such family, networks, or shared traditions: these are "communitarian" sources of organization. In most mainstream economics, however, the opposite is said to be necessary: anonymous and transparent rules of the market, property rights, and contracts. These are "societal" forces. For example, for some analysts, Silicon Valley is a case of community, while for others it is due to appropriate societal forces. The same cleavage can be found in rival interpretations of the success of the Asian Tigers, the industrial clusters of the Third Italy, or any of a host of other cases. A more robust explanation shows how both communitarian and societal forces act as checks and balances on one another, all the while each creating specific but different sources of efficiency in the economy. This view is illustrated via a study in contrasts, between a failed case of low-technology economic development in the Brazilian Northeast, and a success story in the state of Jalisco, Mexico
Magnetohydrodynamic flow of nanofluid over permeable stretching sheet with convective boundary conditions

Analysis has been carried out for the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of nanofluid. The flow is caused by a permeable stretching sheet. Convective type boundary conditions are employed in modeling the heat and mass transfer process. Appropriate transformations reduce the nonlinear partial differential equations to ordinary differential equations. The convergent series solutions are constructed. Graphical results of different parameters are discussed. The behaviors of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion of nanoparticles have been examined. The dimensionless expressions of local Nusselt and local Sherwood numbers have been evaluated and discussed.
Fast evaluation of zero‐offset Green's function for layered media with application to ground‐penetrating radar

We propose an efficient integration path for the fast evaluation of the three‐dimensional spatial‐domain Green's function for electromagnetic wave propagation in layered media for the particular case of zero‐offset, source‐receiver proximal ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) applications. The integration path is deformed in the complex plane of the integration variable kρ so that the oscillations of the dominant exponential term in the spectral Green's function are minimized. The contour does not need to be closed back on the real kρ axis as the complex integrand rapidly damps. The accuracy and efficiency of the technique have been confirmed by comparison with traditional elliptic integration contours. The proposed algorithm appears to be promising development for fast, full‐wave modeling and inversion of GPR data.
Decoherence and relaxation of single electron excitations in quantum Hall edge channels.

A unified approach to decoherence and relaxation of energy resolved single electron excitations in Integer Quantum Hall edge channels is presented. Within the bosonization framework, relaxation and decoherence induced by interactions and capacitive coupling to an external linear circuit are computed. An explicit connexion with high frequency transport properties of a two terminal device formed by the edge channel on one side and the linear circuit on the other side is established.
Evaluation of Mitochondrial Functions and Dysfunctions in Muscle Biopsy Samples

Within the past decade, the list of publications involving mitochondrial dysfunction in the etiology of metabolic disorders in obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, has been growing steadily. Today, large controversies still exist and it is clear that the understanding of the causes and consequences of impairments in mitochondrial functioning are far from being accomplished. In this context, our purpose is to review techniques used in human samples to highlight defects in mitochondrial activity, with a particular focus on skeletal muscle. Several tools are described to assess a large array of mitochondrial functions. In order to facilitate the reading of the review, several details related to methodological concerns are provided in supplementary materials and remain available upon request to the authors.
Uncovering the diversification history of marine tetrapods: ecology influences the effect of geological sampling biases

Abstract Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates gave rise to sea-going forms independently among the ichthyosaurs, sauropterygians, thalattosaurs, crocodyliforms, turtles, squamates, and other lineages. Many passed through a shallow marine phase before becoming adapted for open ocean life. This allows quantitative testing of factors affecting our view of the diversity of ancient organisms inhabiting different oceanic environments. We implemented tests of correlation using generalized difference transformed data, and multiple regression models. These indicate that shallow marine diversity was driven by changes in the extent of flooded continental area and more weakly influenced by uneven fossil sampling. This is congruent with studies of shallow marine invertebrate diversity and suggests that ‘common cause’ effects are influential in the shallow marine realm. In contrast, our view of open ocean tetrapod diversity is strongly distorted by temporal heterogeneity in fossil record sampling, and has little relationship with continental flooding. Adaptation to open ocean life allowed plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and sea turtles to ‘escape’ from periodic extinctions driven by major marine regressions, which affected shallow marine taxa in the Late Triassic and over the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. Open ocean taxa declined in advance of the end-Cretaceous extinction. Shallow marine taxa continued diversifying in the terminal stages due to increasing sea-level. Supplementary material: The data series and full analytical results are available at http://www.geolsoc. org.uk/SUP18486
Idea generation: customer co‐creation versus traditional market research techniques

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between proactive and reactive market research techniques during the development of new market offerings. The study focused on the financial and innovative performance of traditional market research techniques, such as focus groups and in-depth interviews, in comparison to more co-creation-oriented techniques that are designed to capture customers value-in-use. Design/methodology/approach - The study was a two-stage process. Study I, an empirical investigation of 195 development projects in European companies, examined how these companies use different market research techniques and how this relates to the profit margins of new products and services. Study II designed an experiment with 50 users of a consumer good and evaluated the contribution of different market research techniques, based on the degree of originality and customer value. Findings - Significant differences were found, in terms of both content and originality, between the technique based on customer co-creation and the two traditional market research techniques (Study II). These findings can help to explain why the relationship between the use of market research techniques and profit margin (Study I) is stronger for co-creation techniques than it is for traditional market research techniques. Originality/value - Despite empirical evidence that the application of market research techniques based on co-creation can lead to original ideas, there is a lack of valid studies regarding how co-creation techniques perform in relation to more traditional methods of collaboration with customers.
Antioxidant Activity and Lipoxygenase Enzyme Inhibitory Assay with Total Flavonoids Content from Garcinia hombroniana Pierre Stem Bark Extract

Introduction: Garcinia has been known as a rich source of xanthones, flavonoids, and phenols. The aim of this research is to obtain data of antioxidant activity and to observe potential inhibition of lipoxygenase activity that most active from methanolic, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts with total flavonoids content from most active extracts from the bark of Garcinia hombroniana Pierre. Methods: The antioxidant activity was measured using the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), the anti-inflammatory assay was measured using inhibition of lipoxygenase activity test, qualitative analysis of flavonoids using thin layer chromatography, and total flavonoids content was measured using AlCl3 colorimetric method. Results: The results showed that the ethyl acetate extract from G. hombroniana Pierre stem bark as the most active extract for antioxidant and lipoxygenase inhibition activity with EC50 and IC50 value consecutively 15.34 μg /ml; 0.26 μg /ml. Total flavonoids content of ethyl acetate is 7.430 mg QE/g extract. The results of this study showed bark extract Garcinia hombroniana Pierre has antioxidant activity and potent to inhibit lipoxygenase activity. Conclusion: Based on the research for methanolic, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extract, it can be concluded that the ethyl acetate extract of G. hombroniana Pierre as the most active extract for antioxidant and lipoxygenase inhibition activity.
The impact of liberalisation policies on income inequality in african countries

Despite over three decades of Liberalisation policies in Africa, income-inequality has stayed persistently high. Using updated panel data of 26 African countries spanning the period 1996-2010, this study examines the effect of liberalisation policies with particular focus on financial, trade, institutional, political and economic liberalisations on income-inequality. We find: that financial liberalisation has a levitated income-redistributive effect with the magnitude of the de jure measure (KAOPEN) higher than that of the de facto measure (FDI); that exports, trade and ‘freedom to trade’ have an equality incidence on income-distribution; and that institutional and political liberalisation has a negative impact and we also find that, economic freedom has a negative income-redistributive effect possibly because of the weight of its legal component. The impact of these policies implications are discussed in detail in this study.
Flow and anchoring effects on nematic fluctuations in confined geometry

Light scattering observation of nematic director fluctuations in confined geometries can be used to obtain interaction parameters of liquid crystals with surfaces. We present the basics of the method and some examples of the results in planar and cylindrical geometries. These results were obtained after neglecting the coupling of the director motion to flow. We give analytical and numerical results of flow effects on director fluctuations in a slab. The backflow contribution to the effective viscosity is strongly suppressed so that the results for the anchoring energy remain valid. Modal dispersion relations show an interesting behaviour of avoiding crossings.
Segment clustering methodology for unsupervised Holter recordings analysis

Cardiac arrhythmia analysis on Holter recordings is an important issue in clinical settings, however such issue implicitly involves attending other problems related to the large amount of unlabelled data which means a high computational cost. In this work an unsupervised methodology based in a segment framework is presented, which consists of dividing the raw data into a balanced number of segments in order to identify fiducial points, characterize and cluster the heartbeats in each segment separately. The resulting clusters are merged or split according to an assumed criterion of homogeneity. This framework compensates the high computational cost employed in Holter analysis, being possible its implementation for further real time applications. The performance of the method is measure over the records from the MIT/BIH arrhythmia database and achieves high values of sensibility and specificity, taking advantage of database labels, for a broad kind of heartbeats types recommended by the AAMI.
Physical aspects of the greenhouse effect and global warming

According to the simplest model of the earth’s radiative balance, global warming will occur with certainty as humankind increases its production and consumption of nonsolar energy. This prediction is revisited, using a broader model that allows the greenhouse effect to be considered. The new model predicts a global warming of ΔTE=(114 K)e, where e is the rate of surface energy release in units of the average incident solar radiation, 342 W m−2, and ΔTE is the average temperature rise at the earth’s surface. Present values of these quantities, excluding geothermal sources, are e=0.69×10−4 and ΔTE=7.9 mK. The model assigns a small number of optical parameters to the atmosphere and surface and qualifies the simple warming prediction: It is rigorous only if parameters other than e are unchanged. The model is not complex and should serve as an aid to an elementary understanding of global warming.
Co adatoms on Cu surfaces: Ballistic conductance and Kondo temperature

The Kondo zero bias anomaly of Co adatoms probed by scanning tunneling microscopy is known to depend on the height of the tip above the surface, and this dependence is different on different low index Cu surfaces. On the (100) surface, the Kondo temperature first decreases then increases as the tip approaches the adatom, while on the (111) surface it is virtually unaffected. These trends are captured by combined density functional theory and numerical renormalization group (DFT+NRG) calculations. The adatoms are found to be described by an S = 1 Anderson model on both surfaces, and ab initio calculations help identify the symmetry of the active d orbitals. We correctly reproduce the Fano lineshape of the zero bias anomaly for Co/Cu(100) in the tunneling regime but not in the contact regime, where it is probably dependent on the details of the tip and contact geometry. The lineshape for Co/Cu(111) is presumably affected by the presence of surface states, which are not included in our method. We also discuss the role of symmetry, which is preserved in our model scattering geometry but most likely broken in experimental conditions.
Quantum Circuit Depth Lower Bounds For Homological Codes

We provide an $\Omega(log(n))$ lower bound for the depth of any quantum circuit generating the unique groundstate of Kitaev's spherical code. No circuit-depth lower bound was known before on this code in the general case where the gates can connect qubits even if they are far away; To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a quantum circuit-depth lower bound is given for unique ground state of a {\it gapped} local Hamiltonian. Providing a lower bound in this case seems more challenging, since such systems exhibit exponential decay of correlations and standard lower bound techniques do not apply. We prove our lower bound by introducing the new notion of $\gamma$-separation, and analyzing its behavior using algebraic topology arguments. We extend out methods also to a wide class of polygonal complexes beyond the sphere, and prove a circuit-depth lower bound whenever the complex does not have a small "bottle neck" (in a sense which we define). Here our lower bound on the circuit depth is only $\Omega(logloglog(n))$. We conjecture that the correct lower bound is at least $\Omega(log(log(n))$, but this seems harder to achieve due to the possibility of hyperbolic geometry. For general simplicial complexes the lack of geometrical restriction on the gates becomes considerably more problematic than for the sphere, and we need to thoroughly modify the original argument in order to get a meaningful bound. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the class of trivial quantum states is separated from the class of unique ground states of gapped local Hamiltonians; we provide a survey of the current status of this hierarchy for completeness.The tools developed here will be useful in various contexts in which quantum circuit depth lower bounds are of interest, including the study of topological order, quantum computational complexity and quantum algorithmic speedups.
Calibration process for groundwater flow model of a river influenced shallow aquifer

Understanding and simulating the interaction of groundwater and surface water is essential to hydrologists. Water supply and water quality aspects are a few examples of common water-resource issues where understanding the interconnections of groundwater and surface water is fundamental to develop an effective water-resource management and policy. In our study a detailed investigation of a riverbank aquifer was performed to be able to simulate and predict the behavior of the flow system. The continuous hydraulic head measurements in the area of interest showed strong influence on the hydraulic head field caused by intensively changing river head at a distance from the river up to 3,500 m. Based on the results steady state and transient flow calculations were compared, and a great effort has been made to ensure that the model more precisely describe the time and space variable flow field. Beside fulfilling the standard calibration requirements, a multi-step calibration process was performed.
Disaggregating User Evaluations Using the Shapley Value

We consider a market where final products or services are compositions of a number of basic services. Users are asked to evaluate the quality of the composed product after purchase. The quality of the basic service influences the performance of the composed services but cannot be observed directly. The question we pose is whether it is possible to use user evaluations on composed services to assess the quality of basic services. We discuss how to combine aggregation of evaluations across users and disaggregation of information on composed services to derive valuations for the single components. As a solution we propose to use the (weighted) average as aggregation device in connection with the Shapley value as disaggregation method, since this combination fulfills natural requirements in our context. In addition, we address some occurring computational issues: We give an approximate solution concept using only a limited number of evaluations which guarantees nearly optimal results with reduced running time. Lastly, we show that a slightly modified Shapley value and the weighted average are still applicable if the evaluation profiles are incomplete.
The Interactive Effects of Cause Related Marketing Campaigns, Perceptual Brand Equity Dimensions and Cultural Values on Consumer Purchase Intentions

The purpose of this research is to investigate the kind of relationship between Cause Related Marketing (CRM) campaigns, brand perceptual dimensions and cultural traits as possible antecedents of consumer purchase intentions in the country of Iran. An initial conceptualization was developed from mainstream literature to be validated through empirical research. The conceptualization was then tested with quantitative survey data collected from about 384 consumers studying in different purchase centers in Esfahan. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the hypothesis derived from literature. The findings indicate that consumer purchase intentions are influenced by the cause related marketing campaigns. Furthermore it was observed that the perceptual brand equity dimensions and cultural values partially mediate the impact of CRM campaigns on consumer purchase intentions. The data was gathered from purchase centers in Esfahan only. Hence, future research could extend these findings to other cities in Iran to test their generalizing ability. This research has key implications for companies, charities and academic to effective use of cause related marketing campaigns in Iran. The study contributes to cause related marketing literature by indicating a mediating role of perceptual brand equity and cultural values on CRM campaigns and consumer purchase intentions. The mediating role of culture and perceived quality was ignored in previous studies. Moreover, it contributes to close the gap of empirical research in this field in Iran.
A Combination of Teacher-Led Assessment and Self-Assessment Drives the Learning Process in Online Master Degree in Transplantation

Background: Good performance in a summative assessment does not always equate to educational gain following a course. An educational programme may focus on improving student’s performance on a particular test instrument. For example, practicing multiple choice questions may lead to mastery of the instrument itself rather than testing the knowledge and its application. We designed an assessment strategy that consistently valid and reliable that would fit with the students with a range of 27 nationalities with a different institutional, cultural and educational background in this totally online masters programme in transplantation. Methods: Based on the published evidence, we analyzed 2 main assessment domains: (a) self-assessment and (b) peer-assessment. We compared them with traditional teacher-led assessment considering the diversity of students. Conclusion: We conclude that traditional teacher-led assessment supplemented by self-assessment is a strong drive in the learning process in this on-line course, whilst peer-assessment is challenging and associated with many flaws giving the diversity of our students. Peer-assessment may be unreliable and not valid due to the difference in the institutional background and variation in experience between the students.