Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear Filtering Problems for Systems Governed by PDEs

NGAMINI, MELISSA GUEMO. Nonlinear Filtering Problems for Systems Governed by PDEs. (Under the direction of Kazufumi Ito.) In this thesis, we study how to efficiently solve nonlinear filtering and smoothing problems and joint state and parameters estimation problems. Data assimilation is one of the type of processes that we will be addressing as well since our approach encompasses a method for combining observations of variables into models. Also, our proposed methods can be applied for uncertainty quantification [20, 31]. Our objective is to develop smoothing and filtering algorithm for a large scale model dynamics, especially system governed by large scale partial differential equations dynamics. These large scale dynamics are commonly used in mathematical modeling, data assimilation and uncertainty quantification and have a lot of real life applications. Developing effective and efficient algorithm is essential due to the large scale and complex dynamics. This is why we must develop and analyze efficient but effective filtering algorithm to perform the task at hand. Our approach is based on the optimal filtering theory; i.e., the optimal filter based on the Bayes’ formula for discrete time dynamics and the Zakai equation for continuous time. After understanding the relationship between the discrete time and continuous time filter, we conclude that the discrete time filter with properly determined one step solution map can be applied directly to the continuous time filtering. Well known result of Bayes’ optimal filter is the Kalman filter for linear and Gaussian system. And our objective is to use Gaussian filter for nonlinear (significantly) system to improve the Kalman filter (extended). That is, we develop the filtering update via the assumed Gaussian density filter. A key step is that we update the covariance in the square root factors form and thus we update the square root factors of the Gaussian covariance. This evolves into the reduced Gaussian filter based on the reduced factor updates. For dissipative system, we also develop an alternative to the reduced Gaussian filter, by the assumed covariance filter. For systems that are time reversible, we use the time reversal filter. As a result we obtain the forward and backward filter for time reversible systems. We also focus on the joint state-parameters estimate for parameters dependent problems such as media identification. © Copyright 2015 by Melissa Guemo Ngamini All Rights Reserved Nonlinear Filtering Problems for Systems Governed by PDEs by Melissa Guemo Ngamini A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Augmented sparse principal component analysis for high dimensional data

We study the problem of estimating the leading eigenvectors of a high-dimensional population covariance matrix based on independent Gaussian observations. We establish lower bounds on the rates of convergence of the estimators of the leading eigenvectors under $l^q$-sparsity constraints when an $l^2$ loss function is used. We also propose an estimator of the leading eigenvectors based on a coordinate selection scheme combined with PCA and show that the proposed estimator achieves the optimal rate of convergence under a sparsity regime. Moreover, we establish that under certain scenarios, the usual PCA achieves the minimax convergence rate.
Fermentative and bromatological characteristics of Piata palisadegrass ensiled with levels of meals from biodiesel industry

Desenvolveu esse estudo com o objetivo de avaliar as caracteristicas fermentativas e bromatologicas do capim-piata ensilado com niveis de farelos da industria do biodiesel. O experimento foi conduzido no Instituto Federal Goiano, Campus Rio Verde. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repeticoes, em esquema fatorial 4 x 4, sendo quatro farelos (algodao, girassol, soja e canola) e quatros niveis de adicao (0, 5, 10 e 15%). Os resultados demonstraram que os farelos da industria do biodiesel pode ser indicado como aditivos para a ensilagem, por trazer melhorias nas caracteristicas fermentativas, qualitativas e nutricionais da silagem de capim-piata. Recomenda-se a adicao do nivel de 15% dos farelos, por proporcionar melhor qualidade da silagem. O farelo de soja mostrou-se mais eficiente para melhorar a qualidade da silagem, quando comparados com os outros aditivos.
Predicting firm performance through supply chain finance: a moderated and mediated model link

ABSTRACT Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are currently facing vulnerability in their supply chains, which has become the most pressing concern for all the SMEs. In this paper, we examine how supply chain finance (SCF) as a risk mitigation strategy directly or indirectly influences firm performance (FP). Moreover, this study also pursues to investigate the role of supply chain visibility (SCV) as moderator and supply chain risk (SCR) as a mediator in the relationship between SCF and FP. Data was gathered from 330 textile sector SMEs using a survey approach. AMOS was used to run the structural equation modelling for validating the proposed model and structural relationships. The results highlight that SCF significantly reduces the SCR which subsequently enhance the FP. While SCV moderates the relationship between SCF and SCR. SCR significantly mediates the relationship between SCF and FP. Finally, the study discussion and implications are discussed followed future research directions.
The Acute Electrocortical and Blood Pressure Effects of Chocolate

Objective: The present study investigated the effects of consuming chocolate on electroencephalograph (EEG) frequencies and localization and on blood pressure. Method: Across six conditions, 122 participants consumed either higher (60%) cacao chocolate, low (0%) cacao chocolate, higher cacao chocolate +L-theanine, high sugar water, low sugar water, or water. EEGs, blood pressure, and mood were measured before and after a 60-minute digestion period. Results: Analyses indicated a decrease in frontal, parietal, and temporal theta and an increase in occipital beta EEG following the consumption of a 60% cacao confection compared with control conditions. Diastolic blood pressure increased with the consumption of higher cacao chocolate when compared to water alone and to higher cacao chocolate + L-theanine. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure decreased following consumption of higher cacao + L-theanine chocolate, averaging 4-8 mmHg. No condition-specific mood changes or gender differences were found. Conclusions: This study suggests an acute stimulating effect of cacao on the human brain and vasoconstrictive effects on peripheral vasculature, the latter of which appear to be offset by an L-theanine additive. Significance: This is the first known study to investigate acute EEG effects of consuming chocolate and suggests a potential attention-enhancing effect.
A combined association mapping and t-test analysis of SNP loci and candidate genes involving in resistance to low nitrogen traits by a wheat mutant population

Crop productivity is highly dependent on the application of N fertilizers, but ever-increasing N application is causing serious environmental impacts. To facilitate the development of new wheat cultivars that can thrive in low N growth conditions, key loci and genes associated with wheat responses to low N must be identified. In this GWAS and t-test study of 190 M6 mutant wheat lines (Jing 411-derived) based on genotype data from the wheat 660k SNP array, we identified a total of 221 significant SNPs associated four seedling phenotypic traits that have been implicated in resistance to low N: relative root length, relative shoot length, relative root weight, and relative shoot weight. Notably, we detected large numbers of significantly associated SNP in what appear to be genomic ‘hotspots’ for resistance to low N on chromosomes 2A and 6B, strongly suggesting that these regions are functionally related to the resistance phenotypes that we observed in some of the mutant lines. Moreover, the candidate genes, including genes encoding high-affinity nitrate transporter 2.1, gibberellin responsive protein, were identified for resistance to low N. This study raises plausible mechanistic hypotheses that can be evaluated in future applied or basic efforts by breeders or plant biologists seeking to develop new high-NUE wheat cultivars.
Africa's Trade Revisted

The popular impression that Africa has not integrated into world trade, as suggested by the evolution in simple indicators, has been called into question recently by more formal analysis. This paper refines and generalizes this analysis, but lends support to the popular view of disintegration. Africa, especially Francophone Africa, is currently under-exploiting its trading opportunities and has witnessed disintegration over time, a trend that is most pronounced in its trade with the technologically advanced countries.
Development and psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the Resilience Scale for Southeast Asian immigrant women who divorced in Taiwan

Background Only a few studies exist on the resilience of divorced women. Furthermore, relevant instruments for assessing the resilience of divorced immigrant Southeast Asian women are rare. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to develop and examine a new Resilience Scale-Chinese version (RS-C) that is specific to divorced immigrant Southeast Asian women in Taiwan. Methods The study was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, 20 items were used to evaluate face and content validities. In phase 2, a cross-sectional study was conducted. In total, 118 immigrant women participated in this study and were recruited from three nongovernmental organizations providing services for immigrants in Taipei City and Miaoli and Chiayi Counties. Psychometric properties of the instrument (i.e., internal consistency, test–retest reliability, item-to-total correlation, construct validity, and convergent validity) were examined. Significance was set at p < 0.05 for all statistical tests. Results The final 16-item RS-C resulted in a three-factor model. The three factors, namely personal competence, family identity, and social connections, were an acceptable fit for the data and explained 54.60% of the variance. Cronbach’s α of the RS-C was 0.85, and those of its subscales ranged from 0.77 to 0.82. The correlation value of the test–retest reliability was 0.87. The RS-C was significantly associated with the General Self-Efficacy scale and the Chinese Health Questionnaire-12. Conclusion The RS-C is a brief and specific self-report tool for evaluating the resilience of divorced immigrant Southeast Asian women and demonstrated adequate reliability and validity in this study. This RS-C instrument has potential applications in both clinical practice and research with strength-based resiliency interventions. However, additional research on the RS-C is required to further establish its reliability and validity.
Physical function assessment of older adults with lower body fractures at 3 months post-discharge from hospital

Background and purpose Physical function assessment can be performed to assess functional mobility among older adults, especially after a traumatic incident such as lower body fracture (LBF). The objective of this study was to evaluate physical function of older patients with LBF after 3 months of discharge from the hospital. Patients and methods A total of 89 patients were followed up at the discharge phase. Four independent variables were tested: age, sex, type of fracture, and use of a walking aid before fracture. Mobility and strength were assessed with the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and hand-grip strength (HGS) test, respectively. Results The majority of the patients were ≥65 years old (64%), female (61.8%), of Chinese ethnicity (50.6%), and had a hip fracture (51.7%). The mean time for TUG test was 26.11 seconds, while mean HGS was 19.02 kg. We found significant differences in TUG test scores with respect to all independent variables tested: age (P=0.026), sex (P=0.011), fracture type (P<0.001), and use of a walking aid before fracture (P=0.004). Significant differences were also detected in HGS test scores with respect to all independent variables tested: age (P<0.001), sex (P<0.001), fracture type (P<0.001), and use of a walking aid before fracture (P=0.035). Conclusion Increasing age, female sex, having a hip fracture, and use of a walking aid before fracture predicted reduction in the physical function and strength among older adults with LBF.
Applied business process management: An information systems approach to improve service delivery in public hospitals of low‐ and middle‐income countries

South African public hospitals are faced with many challenges comprising inefficient processes, lack of digitalisation, severe austerity measures, and the rising burden of disease. Irrespective of the many existing initiatives in place, a critical challenge is the shortage of necessary resources required to fund, implement, and sustain new interventions. This deprives public hospitals from the efficiencies and quality of service experienced in private hospitals or other business entities. Through a case study strategy, this paper has abstracted two practice contributions. First, it describes and prescribes a low‐cost approach in which business process redesign was applied in a public hospital through a partnership between the hospital and a higher learning institution. The initiative involved third year students majoring in Information Systems performing, as part of their class project, process analysis at the hospital at no cost to the hospital other than their employees' time. The second contribution is a priority list of redesign and lean management principles that were abstracted from these initiatives. These include improving staff training, distributing and adhering to up‐to‐date standard operating procedures, performing tasks in parallel rather than in series, reducing handovers by avoiding certain tasks, incentivizing use of existing mobile software by doctors, developing low‐cost task automation solutions such as Microsoft Office applications, redesigning and standardizing forms, capturing data at source electronically rather than later, redesigning physical spaces, and improved key performance indicators and reporting. The study confirms the usefulness of this collaborative business process redesign approach for public hospitals as stakeholders got relevant information and practical, low‐cost, creative solutions with the potential to improve efficiencies and subsequently service delivery.
Primary School Teachers' Views about Supervisional Deviant Behaviours.

This research examines supervisional deviant behaviours depending on the primary school teachers’ view in Izmir, Turkey. Organizational or workplace deviant behaviours have been studied in number of studies and these types of behaviours are determined. It is obvious that solving the problems of orgaizational deviance contribute to meet organizational objectives. Since the supervision process which aims at revealing the realization level of organizational goals is one of the important part of organizations, determining and solving the problems of supervisional deviant behaviours can also contribute to meet the targets. Therefore this study is organized to determine supervisional deviant behaviours in supervision process depending on the primary school teachers’ opinions. Qualitative research was conducted in this study. Extreme-end sampling was used as a procedure of data collection. MAXQDA10.1 data analysis programme is used to anlayze the data. According to research findings supervisional deviant behaviours are observed in Turkish primary schools and supervisional deviance is influenced by three themes namely “supervisors’ individual deviant behaviours”, “deviant behaviours resulted from supervisors inabilities” and “supervisors unethical deviant behaviours”. Consequently, educational system should take some measures to overcome the negative effects of supervisional deviant behaviours for better learning outcomes. Key words: Organizational deviance, supervisioanl deviance, primary school teachers’ views.
A Motivational Analysis of the ARCS Model for Information Literacy Courses in a Blended Learning Environment

Abstract This study proposes an attention, Relevance, confidence, satisfaction (ARCS)-based research model that uses a set of ARCS-oriented certified digital general education information literacy (IL) materials for higher education initiated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Taiwan, to determine the motivation for learning in a blended learning environment. The research model is tested using an online questionnaire survey of 292 participants. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the results. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to validate the measurement and hypotheses. Brief comments and in-depth interviews with students who had scored very highly and very poorly in terms of their overall academic performance provided qualitative data on students’ learning motivation. The findings support the validity of the four motivational elements in the ARCS model. The quantitative and qualitative research results demonstrate that the motivation for taking IL courses, whether as a requirement or out of interest, is not a key factor in learning motivation. The results reveal that the ARCS-based digital materials, ARCS-based motivational course design for learning, and the student-centred, inquiring learning environment are critical components for achieving effective online IL courses and favourable learning outcomes.
Block Level Data Duplication on Hybrid Cloud Storage System

Data deduplication is one of the most important data compression technique,used for removing identical copies of repetitive data. For reduce duplication of data authorized duplication system is used. When a user uploads a file on the cloud, the file is split into a number of blocks, each block having a size of 4KB. Block is encrypted using a convergent key and subsequently a token is generated for it by using token generation algorithm. After encrypting the data using convergent key, users retain the key before sending the ciphertext to the cloud. Due to the deterministic nature of encryption, if identical data copies are uploaded the same convergent keys and the same cipher text will be produced thus preventing the deduplication of data. Each block is then compared with the database of cloud. After comparing,if a match is found in the cloud database then only metadata of the block is stored in DB profiler. This paper also prevents unauthorized access by using a secure proof of ownership protocol . The protocol uses authorizedduplicate check for hybrid cloud architecture. Thus, prevention is achieved by deduplication of data and protection of confidentiality of data while incurring minimal overhead compared to the normal operation.The proposed system has been compared with the existing system on the basis of database usage, security and bandwidth . The outcomes presented at the end conclusively prove that the proposed system gives better results as to the existing one. Keywords—Block levelduplication, authorized duplicate check, confidentiality, hybrid cloud, Proof of ownership.
Area and Energy Efficient Intelligent Level Shifte

The level shifters play a crucial role in multi supply systems and it is the effective way to reduce the power consumption at system level. The level shifters are the interfacing circuits, used to interface multi supply voltage modules. The design and analysis of competent level shifter is described in this study, with a lower energy and delay constraints. It is a novel architecture with multiplexer based circuit to perform both levels down operations. Proposed level shifter circuit has designed and analyzed using 90 nm CMOS process technology. This proposed level shifter can be operated at different s of VDDH. The experimental and simulation results exhibits that the proposed circuit is having levels down average power is 17.57 nW and delay is 1.49 designed and simulated with different load and suitable for low power and high speed applications
Comparison of Graph Databases and Relational Databases When Handling Large-Scale Social Data

Over the past few years, with the rapid development of mobile technology, more people use mobile social applications, such as Facebook, Twitter and Weibo, in their daily lives, and there is an increasing amount of social data. Thus, finding a suitable storage approach to store and process the social data, especially for the large-scale social data, should be important for the social network companies. Traditionally, a relational database, which represents data in terms of tables, is widely used in the legacy applications. However, a graph database, which is a kind of NoSQL databases, is in a rapid development to handle the growing amount of unstructured or semi-structured data. The two kinds of storage approaches have their own advantages. For example, a relational database should be a more mature storage approach, and a graph database can handle graph-like data in an easier way. In this research, a comparison of capabilities for storing and processing large-scale social data between relational databases and graph databases is applied. Two kinds of analysis, the quantitative research analysis of storage cost and executing time and the qualitative analysis of five criteria, including maturity, ease of programming, flexibility, security and data visualization, are taken into the comparison to evaluate the performance of relational databases and graph databases when handling large-scale social data. Also, a simple mobile social application is developed for experiments. The comparison is used to figure out which kind of database is more suitable for handling large-scale social data, and it can compare more graph database models with real-world social data sets in the future research.