Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Universal Secondary Education Program Accompanying Public-Private Partnership on Students' Access, Sorting and Achievement: Evidence from Uganda

This paper evaluates how the abolition of fees for public secondary education affects the access, sorting and achievement of students when it is accompanied by the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. In 2007, Uganda introduced the Universal Secondary Education policy, which solicited the participation of private schools to offer fee-free education by receiving public assistance. This has created (1) public schools (fee-free for all), (2) PPP private schools (accepting both fee-free and fee-paying students) and (3) private schools. We investigate the sorting across these types of schools, and further assess the impact on achievement, student composition, and learning environments by the type. In order to identify the effects of the policy, we utilize the across-cohort discontinuity in exposure to the program and across-district variation in the program intensity based on the pre-existing transition and retention rates. Our results suggest that the program increased the overall number of the students taking the secondary school exit exam by 16% in the median intensity district, the private school entry. It was not accompanied by a change in test scores, though learning environments worsened. Across the subsectors, the PPP and private schools experienced particularly large gains in the test scores. Our findings suggest that fee elimination can improve the access to secondary education with few negative effects on learning, and that PPP can provide one of the cost-effective means for financing it.
Citrus Virologists Conference Proceedings ( 1957-2010 ) Title Techniques for the Specific Detection of the Two Huanglongbing ( Greening ) Liberobacter Species : DNA / DNA Hybridization and DNA Amplification by PCR Permalink

Based on the 16s rDNA sequences, as well as the sequence of the rplKAJL-rpoBC operons (p operon) leading to probes In 2.6 and AS 1.7, two liberobacter species causing citrus Huanglongbing (greening) have been recognized. They are Liberobacter asiaticum and Liberobacter africanum, respectively. The two liberobacter species can be detected specifically in infected citrus trees by DNA-DNA hybridization using probe In 2.6 for L. asiaticum and probe AS 1.7 for L. africanum. A PCR detection method has also been developed with primers derived from the 16s rDNA sequences. These primers allow amplification of the 16s rDNA of the two liberobacter species, and do not amplify DNA from other citrus pathogenic bacteria or bacteria which might occasionally be present on citrus samples. When digested by XbaI, the DNA amplified by PCR from a Huanglongbing-infected tree yields a restriction profile of DNA specific for L. asiaticum or L. afri-
Kinematic and Dynamic Analysis of New Polar Positioning System Dedicated to Mechatronic Laser Glass Engraving System

Abstract Analytical formulas describing the kinematics and dynamics of a multibody system of a new polar positioning system dedicated to mechatronic laser glass or other transparent dielectrics engraving system will be presented in this work. The analytical results will become in the later stages of the research the basis of numerical simulations. They will optimize the proposed solution of the positioning system.
Female Size Influences Mate Preferences of Male Guppies

Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) have a promiscuous mating system in which female choice for brightly coloured males plays an important role. Consequently, much research on guppies has examined how mate choice by females has lead to the evolution of male colour patterns. Much less attention has been devoted to mate choice by males in this species. In this study, we show that male guppies are choosy when selecting a female to associate with, significantly preferring the larger female when presented with two females that differed by ≥2 mm in standard length (SL). The strength of their preference for each female increased with absolute female size. The relative sizes of the females, however, also influenced male mating preferences: males showed stronger preferences for the larger female as the difference in SL between the two females increased. Such a preference for larger females is not unexpected as fecundity generally increases with body size in female fish. Thus, males choosing to mate with the larger female should have higher reproductive success. An apparent, but non-significant anomaly, whereby males appear to prefer the smaller of the two females when the difference between female SL was < 4 mm, deserves further investigation.
Enzymatic Degradation of Organophosphate Compounds: Evaluation of High-level Production, Solubility and Stability

The use of organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) enzyme to degrade Chemical Warfare Agents is one of the most frequently used decontamination methods. OPH is a ~36 kDa homodimeric metalloprotein that is found in the membrane of Flavobacterium sp. strain ATCC 27551 and Brevundimonas diminuta MG and is capable of hydrolyzing a wide range of oxon and thion , such as paraoxon and parathion. OPH gene ( opd ) has been expressed in many hosts, such as bacteria, insect cells, fungi, and Streptomyces spp. High level and soluble expression and correct folding of each protein are of important factors. Fusion proteins, including TRX, Gb1 and MBP, are commonly used to increase solubility, folding and in some cases, stability. The present study evaluated thioredoxin (TRX) role in OPH expression level, solubility and stability by cloning the opd gene into pET32a and pET21a and expressing the resulting vectors in E. coli shuffle T7. The pET32a vector encodes a fusion protein containing TRX that is not present in the pET21a. The results revealed an increased expression level, solubility and stability in OPH produced by the pET32a- opd construct compared to the pET21a vector due to the presence of the TRX fusion in pET32a vector.
Venturing under fire

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how a new entrepreneurship education (EE) intervention offered at conflict-ridden Maiduguri, Nigeria, is having transformative impacts through new venture creation and poverty reduction. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a single case study approach, drawing from in-depth interviews of participants, experts, and facilitators of the entrepreneurship training, in addition to relevant memos and documents. Findings The findings indicate that the EE programme is, by generating awareness and facilitating skill development, contributing to new venture creation, poverty reduction, and positive change in mindset. However, the impact is limited by inadequate support through venture capital and limited facilities for business incubation. Research limitations/implications This study is limited in its focus on EE provided for university undergraduates and graduates. Further research should explore interventions aimed at less-educated youth in the region, and in other conflict contexts. Social implications The study suggests that EE facilitates youth empowerment through venture creation, in the process transforming them from aggrieved outsiders to active stakeholders in societal peace and national prosperity. Originality/value The nascent theory of transformative entrepreneuring identifies poverty reduction and conflict resolution as the main mechanisms. This paper focuses on how EE triggers new venture creation, which in turn contributes to poverty reduction and overall change in mindset of otherwise unemployed and aggrieved youths.
A Case Study: What Impacts the Fuzzy Front End?

Research show that it is early in the innovation process that organizations have the largest possibility to have an impact on the idea, and this impact is the least expensive during the early phase of the innovation process. Even though it is here the organizations have the largest opportunity to have an impact on the potential idea, this phase is often not prioritized by organizations. SCA has decided to not be one of these firms; it has developed and is planning on implementing a process for the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) phase. However, this structured approach is developed in a general way and not tailor made for each unit of the company. Hence, Global Hygiene Category Away From Home Professional Hygiene wants to know how to apply this developed model to their organization, how to use the different tools, and to know what is important when using the different tools among other factors. With employee interviews at the researched unit as the foundation, four factors were considered important to research. The theoretical results show that the main benefits to achieve during ideation workshops are knowledge sharing and gaining additional idea development. Moreover, the identified potential improvement generally is regarding how to manage the four identified factors to be able to obtain the identified benefits. The recommendations argue how SCA could manage each of these four factors in order to obtain the best possible FFE phase.
METAHEURISTIC ALGORITHMS FOR SCHEDULING ON PARALLEL MACHINES WITH VARIABLE SETUP

In order to meet growing demands of the market modern manufacturing and service environments must offer an increasingly broad range of services or products as well as ensure their required amount and short lead times. It can be done by the application of universal machines or workers which are able to perform different tasks. On the other hand, human activity environments are often affected by learning. Therefore, in this paper, we analyse related problems, which can be expressed as the makespan minimization scheduling problem on identical parallel machines with variable setup times affected by learning of workers. To provide an efficient schedule, we propose metaheuristic algorithms. Their potential applicability is verified numerically.
Learning Polynomial Operations: A Game Based on Students' Preferences

In this paper we describe a pedagogical interactive activity currently in development, which takes the form of a mobile game. The subject of the game is a curriculum topic in Mathematics, namely the four elementary operations on polynomials. The design options considered emerged from previous work of the authors, specifically a survey on the gaming preferences of students and their favorite game. We present the main results of our research and how it has contributed to the creation of the game.
sgmcmc: An R Package for Stochastic Gradient Markov Chain Monte Carlo

This paper introduces the R package sgmcmc; which can be used for Bayesian inference on problems with large datasets using stochastic gradient Markov chain Monte Carlo (SGMCMC). Traditional Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, such as Metropolis-Hastings, are known to run prohibitively slowly as the dataset size increases. SGMCMC solves this issue by only using a subset of data at each iteration. SGMCMC requires calculating gradients of the log likelihood and log priors, which can be time consuming and error prone to perform by hand. The sgmcmc package calculates these gradients itself using automatic differentiation, making the implementation of these methods much easier. To do this, the package uses the software library TensorFlow, which has a variety of statistical distributions and mathematical operations as standard, meaning a wide class of models can be built using this framework. SGMCMC has become widely adopted in the machine learning literature, but less so in the statistics community. We believe this may be partly due to lack of software; this package aims to bridge this gap.
Associations between GLUT expression and SUV values derived from FDG-PET in different tumors—A systematic review and meta analysis

Purpose Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET), quantified by standardized uptake values (SUV), is one of the most used functional imaging modality in clinical routine. It is widely acknowledged to be strongly associated with Glucose-transporter family (GLUT)-expression in tumors, which mediates the glucose uptake into cells. The present systematic review sought to elucidate the association between GLUT 1 and 3 expression with SUV values in various tumors. Methods MEDLINE library was screened for associations between FDG-PET parameters and GLUT correlation cancer up to October 2018. Results There were 53 studies comprising 2291 patients involving GLUT 1 expression and 11 studies comprising 405 patients of GLUT 3 expression. The pooled correlation coefficient for GLUT 1 was r = 0.46 (95% CI 0.40–0.52), for GLUT 3 was r = 0.35 (95%CI 0.24–0.46). Thereafter, subgroup analyses were performed. The highest correlation coefficient for GLUT 1 was found in pancreatic cancer r = 0.60 (95%CI 0.46–0.75), the lowest was identified in colorectal cancer with r = 0.21 (95% CI -0.57–0.09). Conclusion An overall only moderate association was found between GLUT 1 expression and SUV values derived from FDG-PET. The correlation coefficient with GLUT 3 was weaker. Presumably, the underlying mechanisms of glucose hypermetabolism in tumors are more complex and not solely depended on the GLUT expression.
Social-Network-Based Guided Emergent Narrative

Narrative is a key component of many video games; however, the interactivity of video games poses unique challenges to storytelling. An ideal video game narrative would react flexibly to the player’s actions while still maintaining narrative integrity and following the author’s intent. The goal of narrative generation is to balance flexibility and authorial intent without requiring every possibility to be planned for ahead of time. This paper describes previous work in narrative generation and proposes a new approach called Social-Network-Based Guided Emergent Narrative (SN-GEN). SN-GEN represents overall story plots as features of a social network graph. Individual agents in the story act autonomously, but are guided by the plot points. The game Sprite Quest is presented as an implementation of SN-GEN. Finally, SN-GEN is analyzed along two dimensions: expressive capability and flexibility to player interference.
Race-centrism: a critique and a research agenda

This article reviews some of the most prominent books in the field of race studies in the USA and identifies their shared assumptions: that racial inequality is the primary principle of stratification in the USA; that is has transformed but not lessened since the civil rights era; that it can be explained by the racist inclinations of the white majority, which operates as a collective, strategic actor to preserve its dominance; and finally, that racial domination plays a similarly crucial role around the world. I explore what kind of questions would need to be answered in order to put these assumptions on firmer empirical and theoretical ground and outline a corresponding research agenda. Some empirical evidence is provided to question the assumption that race plays a dominant role around the world and is associated with more political inequality than ethnic divisions.
SPECTROSCOPY FROM THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE COSMIC ORIGINS SPECTROGRAPH OF THE SOUTHERN NOVA-LIKE BB DORADUS IN AN INTERMEDIATE STATE

We present a spectral analysis of the spectrum from the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST/COS) of the southern VY Scl nova-like variable BB Doradus, obtained as part of a Cycle 20 HST/COS survey of accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in cataclysmic variables. BB Dor was observed with COS during an intermediate state with a low mass accretion rate, thereby allowing an estimate of the WD temperature. The results of our spectral analysis show that the WD is a significant far-ultraviolet (FUV) component of the spectrum with a temperature of about 35,000–50,000 K, assuming a WD mass of ( ). The disk, with a mass accretion rate of , contributes about 1/5 to 1/2 of the FUV flux.
If This Is a Man • The Truce

Primo Levi's account of life as a concentration camp prisoner falls into two parts. If This Is A Man describes his deportation to Poland and the twenty months he spend working in Auschwitz. The Truce covers his long journey to Italy at the end of the war through Russia and Central Europe. Levi never raises his voice, complains or attributes blame. By telling his story quietly, objectively and in plain language he renders both the horror and the hope of the situation with absolute clarity. Probing the themes which preoccupy all his writing - work love, power, the nature of things, what it is to be human - he leaves the reader drained, elated, apprehensive.
Nutritional and net energy value of fermented olive wastes in rations of lactating ewes

In an experiment with 18 lactating Chios ewes, the replacement of barley grain, wheat grain, sugar beet pulp and lucerne meal with fermented olive wastes (FOW), maize grain and soybean meal was used to formulate diets that allowed the net energy (NE) for lactation (NEl) density of FOW to be calculated. In the experiment, which lasted 8 weeks, ewes were allocated, after equal distribution for milk yield, body weight (BW) and lactation number, into three treatments of 6 ewes each in a Youden square experimental design with 4 consecutive periods of 14 days. Ewes in all groups were offered a concentrate mixture ad libitum (1.12 kg/ewe/day, dry matter (DM) basis) and lucerne hay (0.90 kg/ewe/day, DM basis). FOW were added to the concentrate mixture at inclusion levels (on an as-fed basis) of 0, 100 and 200 kg/t for treatments FOW0, FOW100 and FOW200, respectively. There were no differences among groups in milk protein (60.0 g/kg), lactose (53.0 g/kg) or ash (9.6 g/kg) contents, but milk fat content increased linearly (P < 0.01) with increasing dietary levels of FOW. Average milk yield (1 137 g/day) and yields of components tended (P < 0.10) to decrease with increased FOW feeding. The best estimate of the NEl density of FOW was 2.55 MJ/kg DM at 2.7×M NE intake, a value only slightly lower than that of 2.62 at 2.7×M based upon a Van Soest et al. (1984) discount from equations of Van Es (1978), who suggested 3.00 MJ/kg DM at 1.1×M of NE intake. FOW is a low protein, high fibre and low NEl feedstuff that will be of limited value in rations of high producing lactating ewes.
EVIDENCE OF CROSS-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE IN GENERIC NOUN PHRASES IN THE SPEECH OF AN ENGLISH-SPANISH SIMULTANEOUS BILINGUAL CHILD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH MONOLINGUAL CHILDREN

El estudio examina frases nominales genericas agramaticales en el lenguaje de un nino bilingue entre edades 2;3 y 5;6, al compararlas con frases genericas producidas por 25 ninos(as) monolingues del ingles y del espanol de la misma edad. No se encontraron ejemplos de frases genericas agramaticales en el lenguaje de los y las ninas monolingues del ingles, pues todas las frases genericas aparecieron sin pronombre (Ej., ‘I love apples’). Los datos de los ninos y ninas monolingues del espanol tampoco revelaron construcciones agramaticales a pesar de que en espanol los nombres genericos pueden aparecer con o sin articulo (Ej., me encantan las manzanas / me gusta comer manzanas); el segundo ejemplo se restringe a ciertos contextos pragmaticos. Por el contrario, mientras que el nino bilingue nunca produjo genericos agramaticales en ingles, en espanol el 40% de sus construcciones con genericos fueron agramaticales por no tener el articulo requerido (Ej., por que iguanas tienen eso? ‘why do iguanas have that? ); tales construcciones se produjeron junto con construcciones gramaticales. Las construcciones agramaticales en el espanol del nino bilingue sugieren la aplicacion de la forma gramatical de frase nominal generica del ingles (i.e., genericos sin articulo definido) en frases genericas del espanol en contextos incorrectos; esto parece indicar influencia croslinguistica del ingles sobre el espanol.
Localized energy pulse trains launched from an open, semi‐infinite, circular waveguide

A new decomposition of exact solutions to the scalar wave equation into bidirectional, backward and forward traveling plane waves is described. These elementary blocks constitute a natural basis for synthesizing Brittinghamlike solutions. Examples of such solutions, besides Brittingham’s original modes, are Ziolkowski’s electromagnetic directed energy pulse trains (EDEPTs) and Hillion’s spinor modes. A common feature of these solutions is the incorporation of certain parameters that can be tuned in order to achieve slow energy decay patterns. The aforementioned decomposition is used first to solve an initial boundary‐value problem involving an infinite waveguide. This is followed by considering a semi‐infinite waveguide excited by a localized initial pulse whose shape is related directly to parameters similar to those arising in Ziolkowski’s EDEPT solutions. The far fields outside the semi‐infinite waveguide are computed using Kirchhoff’s integral formula with a time‐retarded Green’s function. The resulti.
Seismic Retrofit of a Historical Building in Tehran University Museum Using FRP Technology and Steel Jacketing

In this paper evaluation of seismic capacity of a historical building is carried out. It had been used as a national library about 40 years ago. Also, before that, it had been constructed as a part of a Royal complex. This building has been constructed by traditional methods using bricks and mortars. The ceilings system of the structure consists of jack arches. Also, the roof of the building has been constructed with wood trusses. The building does not have any designed lateral bearing system. Lateral resistant of the building is due to masonry walls and due to the brittle and non-ductile performance of it. In secondary cycles of earthquake vibration, it will loose its stiffness and strengthening radically. Also, the building does not have any reliable about integrity. Load bearing systems are not reliable too. In this paper, the evaluation of the resistant capacity of the building is established, and the weak points of the system are distinguished. For some masonry columns some traditional method of steel jacketing is designed, and for increasing the reliability of the columns, FRP sheets are applied. In order to retrofits the walls, FRP sheets are installed on its surfaces; the externally bonded FRP sheets are strengthening the wall against in-plane and out of plane applied horizontal forces. The combination of the steel jacketing and externally bonded FRP sheets is prescribed to achieve an integrated system of the elements.
Venture Investment Incentive Mechanisms and Simulation with Venture Entrepreneurs Having Multistage Efforts Based on Fairness Preference Theory

When venture capital has been invested into venture companies, venture capitalists and venture entrepreneurs form a principal-agent relationship. Take into account the fact that the venture entrepreneur’s effort is a long process, because the effort is not the same at different stage. Therefore, efforts variables are seen as the multistage dynamic variable, and venture investment principal-agent model with venture entrepreneurs having multistage efforts is constructed on the basis of the classic principal-agent theory in the paper. Further, in the later stage effort of venture entrepreneurs is affected by the size of prestage benefit with venture capitalists and venture entrepreneurs; thus the fairness preference model is improved, and venture investment principal-agent model with venture entrepreneurs having multistage efforts is constructed on the basis of fairness preference theory. Both theoretical derivation and simulation have demonstrated that, under the condition of information asymmetry, if the fairness preference of venture entrepreneurs holds, then venture capitalists provide venture entrepreneurs with level higher than that without fairness preference, in every single stage venture entrepreneurs make efforts higher than those without fairness preference, and in two periods both venture investors and venture entrepreneurs gain total real gains higher than those in two periods without fair preference.