Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family policies in Europe: available databases and initial comparisons

Population trends in recent years have prompted most European countries to introduce or expand family support policies. In particular, the decline in fertility since the 1970s might be harmful in the long term. The number of children per family is often below the desired number declared in surveys. State support is intended to close the gap by lowering the barriers to having children. The increase in divorce, separation and blended families, and the numbers of children born outside marriage and living with `lone' parents, have also prompted countries to increase support for families, particularly for struggling families, whose children are the most vulnerable to poverty. At the same time, governments have sought to encourage women's workforce participation by ensuring that these policies enable parents to strike a better balance between work and family. Consequently, the total investment of governments in benefits and services for families has strongly increased recently, reaching an average of 2.4% of GDP in 2003 in OECD countries, compared with 1.6% in 1980.
Experiments on ice spikes and a simple growth model

Abstract Ice-spike observations in nature have sparked much interest in the scientific and non-scientific communities alike, yet most research performed thus far has been largely qualitative. We have conducted a quantitative, systematic laboratory investigation in order to assess theories explaining ice-spike growth and to determine the conditions conducive to it. We observed ice-spike growth using time-lapse digital photography, using two water types in two different containers. We observed that ice spikes occurred much more frequently in distilled water than in tap water. Digital images were analyzed to determine the growth rate of the ice spikes. Water temperature was recorded throughout the freezing process, and the cooling rate was used to estimate a bulk heat transfer coefficient. Finally, a simple model, based on mass conservation, was derived and was found to give useful predictions of ice-spike growth rate.
Modelling the Impact of Human Population Growth on Livestock Population.

Abstract: In this paper, a deterministic mathematical model for the impact of human population growth on livestock population is formulated. The model is aimed to s how how livestock’s biomass changes with the increase in human population. The model equilibrium points are obtained. Stability analysis of the equilibrium points is done and numerical simulations are carried out. Numerical simulations show that increasing human population causes a slow growth of livestock population .
Vertical distribution of phytoplankton functional groups in a tropical shallow lake: driving forces on a diel scale

AIM: This study analyzed the vertical distribution of phytoplankton functional groups in two diel cycles in a warm monomictic shallow tropical lake; METHODS: Sampling of the abiotic variables, phytoplankton and zooplankton communities was performed at intervals of 3 hours over 24 hours in vertical profiles, in the stratification (February) and circulation (July) periods; RESULTS: The high thermal stability and the partial atelomixis favored the coexistence of functional groups that are sensitive to destratification, NA and F, composed by desmids and Chlorophyceae coccoids, and groups S2 and Lo, which persisted during the circulation, and were composed by filamentous cyanobacteria which do not fix N2 and dinoflagellates, respectively. The discontinuity in the vertical distribution of the functional groups, with dominance of NA and F in the epilimnion and R and Lo in the metalimnion and hypolimnion, was characteristic of the stratification, and differences between the daytime and nighttime periods were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction of 80% of the biomass of the NA group during the mixing period indicates the influence of thermal stability and partial atelomixis as determinant factors in the compartmentalization of functional groups, restricting daytime vertical migration (DVM) and loss by sedimentation during the stratification period.
Air–sea fluxes of oxygenated volatile organic compounds across the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract. We present air–sea fluxes of oxygenated volatile organics compounds (OVOCs) quantified by eddy covariance (EC) during the Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise in 2012. Measurements of acetone, acetaldehyde, and methanol in air as well as in water were made in several different oceanic provinces and over a wide range of wind speeds (1–18 m s−1). The ocean appears to be a net sink for acetone in the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic but a source in the subtropics. In the South Atlantic, seawater acetone was near saturation relative to the atmosphere, resulting in essentially zero net flux. For acetaldehyde, the two-layer model predicts a small oceanic emission, which was not well resolved by the EC method. Chemical enhancement of air–sea acetaldehyde exchange due to aqueous hydration appears to be minor. The deposition velocity of methanol correlates linearly with the transfer velocity of sensible heat, confirming predominant airside control. We examine the relationships between the OVOC concentrations in air as well as in water, and quantify the gross emission and deposition fluxes of these gases.
Filtering of complex systems using overlapping tree networks

We introduce a technique that is capable to filter out information from complex systems, by mapping them to networks, and extracting a subgraph with the strongest links. This idea is based on the Minimum Spanning Tree, and it can be applied to sets of graphs that have as links different sets of interactions among the system's elements, which are described as network nodes. It can also be applied to correlation-based graphs, where the links are weighted and represent the correlation strength between all pairs of nodes. We applied this method to the European scientific collaboration network, which is composed of all the projects supported by the European Framework Program FP6, and also to the correlation-based network of the 100 highest capitalized stocks traded in the New York Stock Exchange. For both cases we identified meaningful structures, such as a strongly interconnected community of countries that play an important role in the collaboration network, and clusters of stocks belonging to different sectors of economic activity, which gives significant information about the investigated systems.
Migrant Housing in Urban China: Based on Residential Segregation and Social Exclusion Theory

China’s recent waves of internal migration, primarily rural to urban reflect a rapidly urbanizing society. However, how to settle down the migrants to promote the process of urbanization, housing problem has become a central topic among scholars. This article mainly reviews the present situation of migrant housing in urban China from four aspects, such as housing choice, spatial distribution of residence, housing condition and housing satisfactory. Based on residential segregation and social exclusion theory, the research finds that the country’s unique institutional factors, particularly the existing household registration system, together with the individual characteristics, contribute to the overall poor conditions of migrant housing. Thus, several effective measures should be implemented to improve the living standard of migrant housing.
Competition in three Cyprinodont fish species in the Netherlands Antilles

Cyprinodon dearborni, Poecilia sphenops and Rivulus marmoratus seem to fill almost the same niche. In most of the landlocked bays, lagoons or pools the three species were not found together. In only two landlocked locations two of the species were found together. In the locations with an open connection with the sea all three species, or at least two were present. In landlocked waters interspecific competition seems to play an important role as the niches of the three species overlap to a large extent. Environmental factors of importance appeared to be: 1) Plant or algal growth is required by Poecilia and Rivulus. 2) Low salinities seem to be of advantage to Poecilia and Rivulus, supersaline environments seem to favour Cyprinodon. 3) Oxygen depletion may threaten Poecilia more than the others 4) Cyprinodon is able to take any food of suitable size but its main food source is formed by unicellular cyanophyceans, a source that is almost inexhaustible. Poecilia, although omnivorous, is more particular in its food choice; Rivulus is carnivorous and its population depends on the availability of live food. 5) Cyprinodon does not prey upon the other two species. Poecilia preys upon the eggs and fry of the others, and Rivulus also takes juveniles. 6) Cyprinodon is hardly ever cannibalistic; it may only consume some of its eggs. Cannibalism in Poecilia and Rivulus is of great importance. In adverse conditions, it keeps the populations small, which seems to be an advantage in small lagoons or pools. 7) Ovoviviparity and hermaphroditism in Poecilia and Rivulus may have a special advantage in maintaining very small populations. 8) In isolated waters, predation by other fish species or by birds seem to be of little importance. 9) Mass mortality because of parasitism is an exception. 10) All three species are very able to flee from adverse conditions. If a population is destroyed repopulation will take place from the sea where small, but stable populations are present. 11) Many of the characteristics mentioned are of special advantage in island environments.
ANTINOCICEPTIVE EFFECT OF THE METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF ROOTS OF ANDRACHNE ASPERA IN THREE MODELS OF NOCICEPTION

* Corresponding author Summary Adrachne aspera spreng grows at an altitude of 1000 –2400m often in rock crevices. The roots of this plant are traditionally used in for various ailments. Despite its widespread use, this medicinal plant has not been subjected to pharmacological studies. It was the aim of the present study to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of the root extract. The 80% methanolic extract was dissolved in 2.5% v/v tween 80 in normal saline and the antinociceptive effect of different oral doses was assessed in the writhing, the tail flick and the hot plate tests in mice. The extract produced significant antinociception in all the tests as compared to the vehicle (2.5% tween 80 in normal saline (v/v)). The antinociception produced was dose-dependent in the tail flick test. The results of this work, therefore, support the claimed traditional use.
Assessment of Quality and Safety of Winged Termites (Macrotermes bellicosus) Enriched Locally Formulated Complementary Foods

Addition of edible insects to local staples used as complementary foods can improve their nutrient content. Nutritional quality and safety of Macrotermes bellicosus enriched boiled rice (BR) and yam (BY) complementary foods (CFs) was assessed using rats. Macrotermes bellicosus (MB) were collected, dried, and refrigerated at -4 o C. Ground MB was added to BR and BY in ratios 10.0%, 15.0%, 20.0% (w/w) to give BR 1 , BY 1 ; BR 2 , BY 2 , and BR 3 , BY 3 respectively. Nutrient content of MB, BY, BR and MB-enriched CFs were determined by AOAC methods. Nutrient bioavailability and safety of BR3 and BY 3 were assessed using rats fed ad libitum for 28 days. Serum trace minerals in the CFs, control and basal diets and histopathological effects of CFs on rats’ organs were determined. Data were analysed using ANOVA at p<0.05. Dried MB contained 31.8g protein, 16.4g fat, 3.8g ash, 227.5mg calcium, 2.1mg iron, 15.0mg zinc, 330. 4μg retinol equivalent (RE), and 529.0kcal energy/100g sample. The BR and BY contained 3.7-5.9g protein, 70.0-120mg calcium,4.2-5.6mg iron, 1.2-1.5mg zinc and 380- 386kcal/100g compared with 7.9-15.3g protein, 242.2-264mg calcium, 2.4-4.4mg iron, 15.1-19.8mg zinc and 357-372kcal/100g enriched CFs (p<0.05). Rats Serum trace minerals ranged between 3.4- 4.3mg zinc, 23.4-27.9mg calcium, 30.6-37.0mg iron; and 52.5-56. 9μg RE, compared with control (3.2, 22.2, 34.1, 48.2) and basal (2.2, 21.1, 24.0 mg, 32.3 μg) diets respectively (p<0.05). No pathological lesions were observed in internal organs of rats on CF diets. Adding Macrotermes bellicosus to local complementary foods is safe and improved their nutritional quality, hence its use is recommended among mothers.
Sonority and early words: The Sonority Syllable Model applied to an acquisitional project with Danish children

Syllables play an important role in children’s early language acquisition, and children appear to rely on clear syllabic structures as a key to word acquisition (Vihman 1996, Oller 2000). However, not all languages present children with equally clear cues to syllabic structure, and since the specific L1 is known to influence the acquisition rate, it is worth investigating how sonority characteristics in children’s linguistic input influence their lexical acquisition. Danish is characterized by having a monotonous sonority envelope compared to other Scandinavian languages. Danish language acquisition therefore presents us with the opportunity to examine how children respond to the task of word learning when the input language offers less clear cues to syllabic structure than usually seen. To investigate the sound structure in Danish children’s lexical development, we need a model of syllable structure; and as the theoretical basis for our analyses related to sonority we present Basboll’s Sonority Syllable Model for phonotactics, which is based upon a non-circular version of a sonority hierarchy. We investigate spontaneous child language output in a longitudinal corpus with two children aged 9-29 months. For the two children, the phonetic structure of the first ten words to occur is compared with that of the last ten words to occur before 30 months of age, and with that of ten words in between. Measures related to the sonority envelope, viz. sonority types and in particular sonority rises, are applied to this data
Analysis of an Orbiting Three-Rigid-Body System's Dynamics

The development of multi-joint-spacecraft mission concepts calls for a deeper understanding of their nonlinear dynamics to inform and enhance system design. This paper presents a study of a three-finite-shape rigid-body system under the action of an ideal central gravitational field. The aim is to gain an insight into the natural dynamics. The Hamiltonian dynamics is derived and used to identify relative attitude equilibria of the system with respect to the orbital reference frame. Then a numerical investigation of the behaviour far from the equilibria is provided using tools from modern dynamical systems theory such as energy methods, phase portraits and Poincare maps. Results reveal a complex structure of the configuration manifold underlying the dynamics as well as the existence of connections between some of the equilibria. Stable equilibrium configurations appear to be surrounded by very narrow regions of regular and quasi-regular motions. Trajectories evolve on chaotic motions in the rest of the domain.
Filtrage anisotrope robuste et segmentation par B-spline snake : application aux images échographiques

Le contexte de ce travail est le traitement d'images echographiques. Plus precisement, on s'est interesse au filtrage et a la segmentation automatique d'images degradees par du speckle. La premiere partie concerne les travaux effectues sur le filtrage du speckle. Ils ont abouti a la conception d'une methode de diffusion anisotrope robuste, nommee -diffusion. Elle se fonde sur un coefficient de diffusion original qui exploite lui-mˆeme la statistique du coefficient de variation et une adaptation de la fonction de Tukey. Un estimateur robuste du parametre d'echelle de ce filtre est presente. L'evolution de la diffusion est modelisee par une equation aux derivees partielles s'appliquant sur l'enveloppe du signal brut, non compressee logarithmiquement. Cette approche permet de reduire le bruit des images echographiques, tout en preservant les structures importantes pour leur interpretation. Dans la deuxieme partie, nous presentons un contour actif parametrique de type B-spline snake. L'etude de la continuite geometrique des B-splines nous permet de justifier le choix de l'energie interne. Nous proposons deux nouvelles energies externes qui exploitent notamment un champ de flux de vecteurs gradients, nomme s-GVF, calcule sur une carte de coefficients de variation locaux. Une fonction d'inhibition controle l'influence respective de ces deux energies externe lors de l'evolution du snake. Enfin, nous proposons une nouvelle methode d'initialisation automatique pour contour actif parametrique. Une application au cas du filtrage des images echographiques et de la segmentation des cavites cardiaques est presentee. Les resultats demontrent une robustesse et une precision accrue par les modeles proposes par rapport aux techniques classiques de filtrage et segmentation par contours actifs. ABSTRACT : This thesis presents a robust model for speckle anisotropic filtering, and a parametric active contour model (B-spline snake) for the segmentation of images affected by speckle. First an original diffusion tensor is developed. It is based on the Tukey's error norm and on a local estimation of the coefficient of variation. The diffusion evolution is modelled by a partial derivative equation for raw images with no log-compression. This model reduces speckle while preserving important image features that are used by doctors to perform a diagnosis. Then we present a B-spline snake model with an external energy term that uses the amplitude and direction of the coefficient of variation gradient. The geometric continuity is guaranted by a uniform parametrisation and an internal energy term which penalizes the curve for irregular nodes spacing. An application to ultrasound image filtering and heart cavities detection is presented.
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF UV SPECTROPHOTO METRIC ESTIMATION OF EBASTI NE IN BULK AND TABLET DOSAGE FORM USING AREA UNDER CURVE METHOD

The aim of this work is to develop a simple, accurate, reproducible and cost effec tive spectrophotometric method for determination of Ebastine in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage form. This method is based on area under curve (AUC) in wavelength range of 247 - 257nm and method has followed linearity in the concentration range of 5 - 30 μg/ml . M ethanol was used as a solvent. The developed analytical method was validated as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The value of correlation coefficient (R 2 ) was 0.999. Limit of Detection and Limit of Quantitation were calculate d as 0. 78µg/ml and 2. 37µg/ml , respectively. Results of the recovery studies showed good accuracy of the method. Validation results suggest that the developed method can be used for routine quality control studies for assay of Ebastine in bulk and tablet do sage form.
Passive Nonlinear Control Strategy for AC/DC Bidirectional Converter

AC/DC bidirectional converter can realize power bidirectional transmission. And it has become a hot topic in the field of power electronics and micro grid. The traditional control method can not consider the nonlinear characteristics of the converter, so it is difficult to obtain satisfactory dynamic response results. A nonlinear control strategy based on the theory of passive control was proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy was verified by simulation experiments in Matlab platform. The simulation results show that the proposed control strategy can effectively improve the dynamic response characteristics of the system.
The impact of leadership styles on innovation management

Summary The article reviews research on the impact of different leadership styles on innovation management by setting out the organisational framework of the findings to date in four generic dimensions: people, measures, effects, and objectives. Using this framework, an overview has been provided of studies on directive and participative leadership, interactive leadership, charismatic leadership, transformational leadership, transactional and instrumental leadership, strategic and executive leadership, as well as shared and distributed leadership. There are strong signals that different stages and types of innovation raise different leadership requirements. Against this background, transformational leadership is not the only innovation management style and various leadership styles have their own, distinct ways of contributing to different types and stages of innovation. However, the determination of this allocation is still very incomplete and the answer to the question of how innovations should be managed remains unclear. The article also describes research needs and their practical implications.
Cultural Orientations, Entrepreneurial Competencies and SMEs Business Success: The Contingent Roles of Environmental Turbulence and Network Competence

Entrepreneurial competencies are essential to the success of SMEs in the competitive and rapidly changing business environments. There is truly need for SMEs to acquire and improve their entrepreneurial competencies. The existing researches have revealed the importance of entrepreneurial competencies for SMEs business success. Also, there is a general consensus among scholars that entrepreneurial competencies are context specific. Thus, the culture orientations play a vital role in the development of entrepreneurial competencies. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and business success and also to highlight the impact of cultural orientations on the development of competencies of ethnic entrepreneurs in the context of Malaysian SMEs. Moreover, this paper also argues that environmental turbulence and network competence improve the relationship between the entrepreneurial competencies and SMEs business success. Hence, it is important to investigate that how SMEs can achieve competitive advantage by utilizing their entrepreneurial competencies and network competence in environmental turbulence of modern global era. Therefore, by drawing insights from the existing review of the literature, our purpose is to improve understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and SMEs business success under the moderating effects of environmental turbulence and network competence. A model of competencies is also suggested to provide useful insights into ethnic entrepreneurial competencies in the context of Malaysian SMEs.
Modern radio-optical methods in quantum magnetometry

This paper is an extension of a part of the talk delivered under the more general title "Narrow spectral lines in fundamental metrology: state of the art, prospects, and problems"' at the session of the 90th anniversary of Physics–Uspekhi. The talk reviewed past developments and the current status of the metrology of length, frequency/time, and magnetic fields. The measurement of these quantities currently relies on the high stability of energies of standard transitions between metastable atomic states. Because of space restrictions in the journal, all metrology topics other than the title one were omitted in the present review.
Study of the Genetic Diversity of Ginger

The experiment was carried out at the research field of Spices Research Centre, Shibganj, Bogra, Bangladesh to find out the Genetic diversity among 20 germplasms of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) during Rabi 2013-14 using morphological traits. D analysis of 20 ginger lines and analysis of variance were done. The lines were grouped into five clusters. The inter-cluster distance was larger than the intra-cluster distances. Maximum inter-cluster distance was found between cluster I and IV (48.17) followed by cluster III and IV (42.55) and me and II (30.97) and me and V (27.84). It may be concluded that the line in cluster I (15) and the line in cluster III (3, 5, and 11) grouped here is superior to all other clusters and could be used for future breeding work.