Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What explains the performance of community-based initiatives? Testing the impact of leadership, social capital, organizational capacity, and government support

ABSTRACT Community-based initiatives (CBIs) are thriving in Western countries. In CBIs, citizens take a leading role in providing public services and goods. CBIs have been acclaimed for their innovativeness, problem-solving capacity, and legitimacy. However, we lack large N studies on performance of CBIs and its antecedents. This article develops and tests a model that identifies relationships between performance and four antecedents by using survey data on CBIs collected in the Netherlands (N = 671). Using structural equation modelling, positive direct and indirect relationships between transformational leadership, boundary spanning leadership, organizational capacity, social capital ties, government support, and performance are found.
An Ultra-Compact Differentially Tuned 6-GHz CMOS LC-VCO With Dynamic Common-Mode Feedback

A fully integrated 0.024 mm2 differentially tuned 6-GHz LC-VCO for 6+Gb/s high-speed serial (HSS) links in 90-nm bulk CMOS is presented. It is smaller than any LC-VCO reported to date at this frequency. Its size is comparable with ring oscillators but it has significantly better phase noise. A circuit technique is introduced to dynamically set the common-mode (CM) voltage of the differential varactor control signals equal to the VCO's CM. Compared to other commonly used techniques such as replica biasing, this technique does not dissipate any extra power and it accurately tracks the output common-mode voltage of the VCO during the oscillations. Using a differential control a very wide tuning range from 4.5 GHz to 7.1 GHz (45%) is achieved. The VCO has a measured phase noise of -117.7 dBc/Hz at a 3-MHz offset from a 5.63-GHz carrier while dissipating 14 mW from a 1.6-V supply.
Acifluorfen Action on Growth and Phenolic Metabolism in Soybean (Glycine max) Seedlings

Three-day-old soybean seedlings were treated with acifluorfen via liquid culture [50 μM in dark, 1 μM in light (200 μE·m–2·s–1)]. Root elongation in the dark was inhibited only slightly (6%) after 96 h. In the light, acifluorfen inhibited root elongation after 48 h; after 96 h, inhibition was 32%. Hypocotyl length was not affected in either the light or dark. Soluble hydroxyphenolic content per axis was unaffected in the dark but was reduced by about 13 to 25% at 24 to 96 h in the light. Extractable phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) activity per axis was unaltered by herbicide in the dark. A brief transient increase in PAL activity (4 to 24 h) in axes of light-grown seedlings in the presence of acifluorfen was followed by reduced enzyme levels compared to light-grown controls at 72 and 96 h. Although light is required for maximal herbicide action, there was no effect on anthocyanin or chlorophyll accumulation or on the chlorophyll a/b ratio in hypocotyls or light-grown seedlings.
Dynamics of Frequency Estimation in the Frequency Domain

The possibility of error reduction in frequency estimations with a multipoint interpolated discrete Fourier transformation (DFT) for the Hanning window is described. An estimation of the periodic parameter by the interpolation of the DFT gives the same effect as the reduction of spectrum tails. Sidelobe suppression is obtained at the cost of widening the main lobe, and this increases noise contributions. In this paper, we try to show a tradeoff between the reduction in systematic error of the frequency estimation and the uncertainty of the estimated results due to the interpolated algorithm. The number of interpolated points depends on the noise level and on the mutual positions of the frequency components of the signal.
Assessment of the Huygens’ Box Method With Different Sources Near Obstacles

The Huygens’ box (HB) method allows an arbitrary printed circuit board (PCB) in a simulation to be replaced with a set of current sources on a closed surface. A numerical study of the method is performed with different noise sources, represented by its HB, in combination with different obstacles. The chosen combinations mimic radiation features of real PCBs and product environments. This study shows that if the ground plane and substrate are included in the HB, the accuracy of the HB method generally is good. However, if the coupling between the PCB and the obstacle is strong, the method fails at a few resonance frequencies. In the search for the methods general limits, it is shown that the method cannot predict the maximum radiated emission of power plane resonances without including the vias in the HB.
Supporting and Controlling Complex Concurrency in Fault- Tolerant Distributed Systems

Distributed computing often gives rise to complex concurrent and interacting activities. In some cases several concurrent activities may be working together, i.e. cooperating, to solve a given problem; in other cases the activities may be independent but needing to share common system resources for which they must compete. Many difficulties and limitations occur in the widely advocated objects and (trans)actions model when it is supposed to support cooperating activities. We have introduced previously the concept of coordinated atomic (CA) actions [Xu et al. 1995]; this paper analyzes and examines the derived objects and CA actions model for constructing fault-tolerant distributed systems and providing unified support for both cooperative and competitive concurrency. Our investigation reveals and clarifies several significant problems that have not previously been studied extensively, including the problem of ensuring consistent access to shared objects from a joint action as opposed to a set of independent actions. Conceptual and implementation-related solutions are proposed and illustrated.
Physical Activity Level and Dietary Pattern of Undergraduate Students of Kogi State University, Anyigba Kogi State

Nutritional habits and physical activity influence the health status and cognition of young adults. The objective of this study was to assess the physical activity level and dietary pattern of undergraduate students of Kogi State University, Anyigba Kogi State. In this study, a group of 246 students from the university (150 female and 96 male subjects) were engaged. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Health Research ethics committee, Kogi state ministry of health and all students signed a written consent form. With the aid of a validated questionnaire, interview was conducted to obtain information on demographic and physical activity levels after obtaining informed consent from the target population. Anthropometric measurements were carried out to ascertain the nutritional status, and dietary intakes were equally assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. 27.4% and 6.4% of target population recorded low and high levels of physical activity respectively. Healthy weight was recorded at 72% and obesity at 3.7%. Despite the high percentage in healthy weight, a low physical activity level was recorded, with inadequate meal patterns and food choices. This suggests an urgent necessity for improving overall health status of students by implementing a university based nutrition and exercise awareness programme.
STUDY OF THE GROWTH RESPONSE OF SAFFLOWER CULTIVARS BY NANO-SILVER PRIMING

PASARI, B. , Z. HOSSIENBOR and A. ROKHZADI, 2016. Study of the growth response of saffl ower cultivars by nano-silver priming. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 955–960 Increasing seed germination and enhance seedling growth with expensing less time, cost and effort is vital for supply growing edible oil demand, in Iran. This experiment was carried out using a split plot layout in a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2013 growing season. The main factor was seed priming with various nano-sliver particle concentration including 4 levels of 0 (distilled water: control), 20, 40 and 60 ppm, the sub factor was saffl ower cultivars with 3 levels included: Sina’, Faraman’ and IL111’. Results showed that the effects of nano-silver on growth traits including: stem dry mass, leaf dry mass, head dry mass, seed weight in head and numbers of head in plant were signifi cant and the highest value of mentioned characters were achieved at 20 ppm nano-silver. The comparison of seed weight in head in various nano-silver particles treatments with control showed that the highest seed weight in head was obtained at 20 ppm nano-silver as it produced 63.18% more yield in comparison to control.
Association between Cardiovascular Health Metrics and Frailty in a Taiwanese Population

Introduction: Frailty is known as a reduced response to stressors and an increased vulnerability to adverse health events. Early intervention for individuals with risk factors for frailty will improve their outcomes. Despite the growing amount of evidence indicating that cardiovascular disease is associated with frailty, the evidence for primary prevention is poor. Materials and Methods: The data were drawn from the MJ Health Management Institution and were cross-sectional design. The participants were general population. Cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics included smoking status, body mass index, healthy diet score, physical activity, total cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose. The definition of frailty was modified from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Frailty Index. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations among CVH metrics, individual components of frailty, and frailty itself. Results: The mean age of 37,843 participants was 62.15 ± 7.66 years. Overall, 19.2% of the participants were defined as having frailty. When those with 0–2 ideal CVH metrics were used as the reference group, the odds ratios for frailty were 0.68 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56–0.82) for those with 3–4 ideal CVH metrics and 0.36 (95% CI, 0.23–0.55) for those with 5–7 ideal CVH metrics after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusions: Our results suggested a significantly lower risk of frailty among older individuals with more ideal CVH metrics. These findings suggest that attaining ideal CVH metrics has the potential to reduce the burden of frailty.
An Online Verification Framework for Motion Planning of Self-driving Vehicles with Safety Guarantees

Self-driving vehicles must be able to safely navigate in any traffic scenario. However, all situations are different; even when clustering them, an impractical amount of scenarios would have to be verified. Thus, we propose a safety framework to verify the safety of each planned trajectory on-the-fly, using formal methods to handle uncertain measurements and future behaviors of traffic participants and disturbances acting on the ego vehicle, among others. Our framework can easily be integrated in existing motion planning architectures and enables fail-safe operation of self-driving vehicles, since we provide a safe plan for any given point in time. We demonstrate the benefits of our framework in different highway and urban scenarios of the CommonRoad benchmark suite.
Can Type 2 Diabetes Sufferers Actually Estimate Serum Glucose Level From Interstitial Fluid Glucose Level: A Diabetes Patient’s Experience

Introduction: The general assumption is that blood glucose (BG) and interstitial fluid glucose (IntFG) are practically the same. We aimed to determine whether the typical patient with type 2 diabetes can use IntFG to estimate BG. Description: The study was conducted on an 83-year-old white male with type 2 diabetes. One hundred pairs of IntFG and BG observations mg/dL (n = 50 simultaneous; n = 50 with 15-minute lag) were made over a 10-day period. We used paired t tests, correlation coefficients, and linear regression to predict relationships between IntFG and BG. Results: There were significant (P < .0001) mean differences between IntFG and BG (simultaneous: 53.8 mg/dL; 15-minute time lag: 46.4 mg/dL). There were significant (P < .0001) positive correlations between IntFG and BG (simultaneous: r = 0.641; 15-minute time lag: r = 0.712). Linear regression revealed that increased IntFG was significantly (P < .0001) associated with declines in mean predicted BG. Conclusion: The typical type 2 diabetes patient cannot use IntFG level to estimate BG.
On occurrence of point singularities in orthorhombic media

Degeneracies of the slowness surfaces of shear (and compressional) waves in low‐symmetry anisotropic media (such as orthorhombic), known as point singularities, pose difficulties during modelling and inversion, but can be potentially used in the latter as model parameter constraints. I analyse the quantity and spatial arrangement of point singularities in orthorhombic media, as well as their relation to the overall strength of velocity anisotropy. A classification scheme based on the number and spatial distribution of singularity directions is proposed. In normal orthorhombic models (where the principal shear moduli are smaller than the principal compressional moduli), point singularities can only be arranged in three distinct patterns, and media with the theoretical minimum (0) and maximum (16) number of singularities are not possible. In orthorhombic models resulting from embedding vertical fractures in transversely isotropic background, only two singularity distributions are possible, in contrast to what was previously thought. Although the total number of singularities is independent of the overall anisotropy strength, for general (non‐normal) orthorhombic models, different spatial distributions of singularities become more probable with increasing magnitude of anisotropy.
Optimization of a Sheet Electron Beam Interaction With a Slow Wave

A simple planar circuit model consisting of impedance and screen electrodes is used to analyze the strength of the interaction of a sheet electron beam with the in-phase slow-wave mode of the circuit. The impedance approximation is used to represent the fields of E- and H-waves by the zero and ±1 space harmonics. A new generalized formula for the coupling coefficient characterizing the interaction strength is used to demonstrate its dependence on the thickness of the sheet beam and the distance between the impedance and screen electrodes. A comparison between the coupling coefficients calculated for sheet and cylindrical beams shows the significant advantage of the sheet beam configuration.
Large Scale Simulation for Optical Propagation in 3-D Photonic Crystal using the FDTD Method with Parallel Processing

In this paper, the optical propagation in the 3-D photonic crystal optical waveguide is simulated numerically using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Since the division number of the domain increases to indicate the structure of the photonic crystal precisely, huge memory is required, and it takes much time to solve the problem. Furthermore, using the micron-order wavelength need much more division number. Therefore, we apply this problem for parallel processing using a PC cluster not only to speed up but also to gather memories in each node
Future of nano CMOS technology

Although Si MOS devices have dominated the integrated circuit applications over the four decades, it has been anticipated that the development of CMOS would reach its limits after the next decade because of the difficulties in the technologies for further downscaling and also because of some fundamental limits of MOSFETs. However, there have been no promising candidates yet, which can replace Si MOSFETs with better performance with low cost. Thus, for the moment, it seems that we have to stick to the Si MOSFET devices until their end. The downsizing is limited by the increase of off-leakage current between source and drain. In order to suppress the off-leakage current, multi-gate structures (FinFET, Tri-gate, and Si-nanowire MOSFETs) are replacing conventional planar MOSFETs, and continuous innovation of high-k/metal gate technologies has enabled EOT scaling down to 0.9 nm in production. However, it was found that the multi-gate structures have a future big problem of significant conduction reduction with decrease in fin width. Also it is not easy to further decrease EOT because of the mobility and reliability degradation. Furthermore, the development of EUV (Extremely Ultra-Violet) lithography, which is supposed to be essential for sub-10 nm lithography, delays significantly because of insufficient illumination intensity for production. Thus, it is now expected that the reduction rate of the gate length, which has a strong influence on the off-leakage current, will become slower in near future.
Epigenetic and genetic variation between two behaviorally isolated species of Neoconocephalus (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea)

Epigenetic variation allows for rapid changes in phenotypes without alterations to nucleotide sequences. These epigenetic signatures may diverge over time among isolated populations. Epigenetic incompatibility following secondary contact between these populations could result in the evolution of reproductive isolating mechanisms. If epigenetic incompatibility drove the evolution of species isolating mechanisms, we expect to see significant epigenetic differentiation between these species. Alternatively, epigenetic variation could be the result of predominantly environmental variables and not align along species boundaries. A methylation sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis was performed on individuals of the closely related katydid species Neoconocephalusrobustus and N.bivocatus. We observed significant variation in total methylation levels between species. However, genetic differentiation remained larger than epigenetic differentiation between species groups. We measured a significant correlation between the epigenetic and genetic distance between individuals. Epigenetic differentiation is therefore likely the result of an interaction between genetic and epigenetic loci and not a mechanism for species differentiation. We therefore did not find evidence to support our hypothesis of an epigenetically mediated mechanism for speciation between N.robustus and N.bivocatus.
System-level data-format exploration for dynamically allocated datastructures

System-level exploration of memory organizations is a key issue in successful implementation of data dominated applications based on dynamically allocated data structures involving records and access keys. This paper presents a formalized technique for exploring different memory data-format alternatives when only the system level functional behavior of the application has been defined. Our data-format exploration approach allows to substantially minimize the number of accessed bits by rearranging the format of the data records. The technique exploits parallelism in the data transfer by analyzing the dependencies between data-record accesses. As a result, significant reduction in memory size, bandwidth, and power are obtained. We have validated our techniques using several real-life asynchronous transfer mode cell processing applications, where we have obtained reductions in memory size (up to 20%), power (up to a 60%), and bandwidth.
Dead-time elimination of pwm-controlled inverter/converter without separate power sources for current polarity detection circuit

This paper will present a dead-time elimination scheme for PWM-controlled inverter/converter. The presented dead-time elimination scheme doesnpsilat require separated power supplies for wheeling current detection of high-side and low-side power devices. The presented scheme includes the freewheeling current polarity detection circuit and the PWM control generator without dead-time. It will be shown that the presented scheme eliminates the dead-time of PWM control for inverter/converter and therefore dramatically improving the output voltage loss and current distortion. Experimental results derived from an FPGA-based PWM-controlled inverter are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness.
Profit Maximization for Sponsored Data in Wireless Video Transmission Systems

Recently, sponsored data started to gain wide-spread use in wireless networks. Existing approaches for regular data services when applying to video transmission in sponsored data faces tremendous challenges. In two-sided markets, internal and external competitions among service providers (SPs), content provider (CPs), and end-users (EUs) become more complex, because larger video-bandwidth significantly increases the cost. When the three parties benefit from sponsored data, pricing and transmission design become much more complicated and difficult in parameterized systems by profit decomposing models, because maximizing the total profits among the three parties is a NP-hard problem. In this paper, we address the problem of maximizing the total profits for sponsored video data. We propose a submodular-based optimization framework for wireless video transmission systems. First, we formulate the sponsored data models in wireless video transmission respective to SP, CPs and EUs sides. The proposed profit models are used in wireless broadcasting networks with a specific attention to sponsored video data. Second, we construct a layered video transmission model in two-sided market through incorporating submodularity. We approximate the NP-hard layered-video broadcasting problem by applying submodular theory. Third, we present a profit maximization framework that optimizes the number of sponsored users, pricing and bandwidth provision. The profit of SP is maximized as well as the profit of CPs is improved and the cost-effective QoE of EUs is guaranteed. To verify the efficiency, we perform the experiments for different pricing schemes. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms existing approaches because the proposed method can achieve maximum profits of both SP and CPs in a wide range of transmission rates.
Forensic Exploration of the Mechanical Properties of Basalt Grains in Earthenware

The overall goal of this project is to contribute to reconstruct the innovation mechanisms and development of ceramic production using forensic engineering techniques. Instead of optimizing materials as a driver in modern engineering, here we wish to use these methodologies, but aim to solve questions on advancement in the past fabrication process – and thus ultimately understand the key issues of a less or (un)successful design and subsequent improvement. This paper wishes to address the advantages and constraints regarding to use of basalt in ceramic matrices. By utilizing a standardized set of different test bars comprising different amounts of basalt fired at both 800°C and 1000°C, it can be concluded basalt tempered ceramics have a higher fracture toughness when compared to quartz enriched materials. It is there plausible to identify basalt as a good temper material for (ancient) earthenwares in terms of thermal (shock) activities.
Pengaruh Kepercayaan, Kemudahan dan Kualitas Informasi terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Daring di Aplikasi Bukalapak pada Mahasiswa Politeknik Negeri Batam

The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the influence of trust, ease of use and information quality on the purchasing decision. The sample are students who ever made purchases online. The sampling method using purposive sampling and used multiple regression analysis. The results show that simultaneously, trust, ease of use and information quality are affecting positively and significantly in the purchasing decision. Partially, trust is affecting not significantly in the purchasing decision in online shop. Ease of use and information quality are affecting positively in the purchasing decision in online shop.