Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflections on evolving water management institutions and institutional bricolage: a case of irrigation schemes in Iringa Rural and Kilombero districts, Tanzania

Over the past 40þ years, evolution of water institutions responsible for allocation and distribution of water has been enormous. This paper analyzes the evolution of both formal and informal water management institutions and how they affect today’s processes of allocating and distributing water in farmer-managed irrigation schemes (FMISs). It also assesses how farmers translate and modify introduced formal institutions in the rights of the existing informal institution while trying to solve water management challenges based on the local conditions. In-depth and focus group data for the study were collected using a checklist of questions administered to 40 informants, one group discussion per village in Itunundu, Mboliboli, Mkula and Magombera villages, Tanzania. The basic argument of this paper is that water institutions have changed over time. Drawing from study findings, the evolution process of water institutions might be understood as an outcome of the government efforts to address emerging challenges with respect to increasing water demand and multi-use. However, institutional evolution is accompanied by some negatives outcomes, as they weaken social norms and threaten sound water management. The experiences from the irrigation schemes highlight the need to include locally evolved institutions while re-crafting formal institutions. Such interventions may well have significant outcomes for efficient, equity and power relations among water users.
Association between Ownership Structure Characteristics and Firm Performance: Oman Evidence

In this study, the effect of ownership structure characteristics namely government ownership, foreign ownership and institutional ownership, upon non-financial Omani firms performance (ROA) for the years 2012-2014 was examined. To achieve the study objective, the researcher obtained 81 sample firms in order for the above relationship to be tested. Sampling was taken from the firm’s annual reports for three years. A total of 243 firms were selected, 81 for each year. For the purpose of testing the relationship between the independent and dependent variables, multiple regression analysis was employed. The study aims to fill the gap in extant literature regarding the ownership structure-firm performance relationship in Oman, a developing nation. The findings showed a positive and significant relationship between government ownership and foreign ownership, and firm performance (ROA). Some recommendations for future studies were provided prior to concluding the work.
A 24 GHz ISM Band Doppler Radar System for Moving Target Sensing

A 24 GHz ISM band Doppler radar system for moving target sensing is presented. The system is comprised of a Doppler radar antenna, transceiver module and display software. High isolation characteristic of the proposed antenna is achieved by inserting a decoupling structure. The simulated -10 dB bandwidth of the proposed antenna is 510 MHz and the simulated isolation between Tx and Rx ports is higher than 36.7 dB over the 24 GHz ISM band. Movement information of an object can be detected by using base-band signals from phase- modulated received wave with proper filtering and decision processing. The proposed system can be a good candidate for contact-free heart rate and respiration rate monitoring in health care applications.
Grounded Coplanar Waveguide-Fed Millimeter Wave Volumetric Pyramidal Horn on LTCC

There is a strong interest to implement antenna-in-package (AiP) systems for a variety of applications such as imaging, beamforming, integrated transceivers, and radars. Substrate integrated horn antennas are valuable AiP candidates due to their small form factor, ease of integration, and high gain. Alternatively, a volumetric packaging approach can significantly reduce the antenna’s form factor and enhance the gain. For the first time, in this paper, we present a 94GHz low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) integrated volumetric pyramidal horn antenna. Using a vertical LTCC approach, a GCPW-fed single horn antenna was designed. Results show that the antenna operates from 91.6GHz to 95.6GHz for S11 < 10dB, with a realized gain of 8.7dBi.
Diagnosis of Incipient Bearing Faults using Convolutional Neural Networks

The majority of faults occurring in rotating electrical machinery is attributed to bearings. To reduce downtime, it is desired to apply various diagnostic methods so that bearing degradation can be detected in good time prior to a complete failure. The work presented in this paper utilizes a data-driven machine learning approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in order to diagnose different types of bearing faults. A one-dimensional CNN is trained on vibration signals and compared to a two-dimensional CNN trained in time-frequency domain using continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The proposed method is demonstrated on data collected from run-to-failure tests.The results show that the one-dimensional network can be trained to predict bearing faults during degradation at a fairly high rate. The outcome of utilizing the two-dimensional CNN shows that extracting more information from the signals can, in some cases, result in even higher prediction accuracy. However, it also shows the importance of narrowing down the range of relevant features to extract.
Clustering Analysis and Genome Inference of Pisang Raja Local Cultivars (Musa spp.) from Java Island by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) Marker

ABSTRACT Pisang Raja is an important local banana cultivar in the economy and cultural life in Indonesia, especially at Java. There are many Pisang Raja cultivars found on Java Island with various local names in each region, resulted in problems on taxonomic identification and grouping. Conventional research for grouping banana cultivars is still using morphological characters but considered inaccurate because of its subjectivity. This study aims to analyze the genetic diversity, grouping, and genome estimation of 13 local cultivars of Pisang Raja based on molecular approach using RAPD markers (OPA primers 1-20). Clustering and Principal Coordinates Analysis were performed to the amplified products using Paleontological Statistics (PAST) application version 3.15. Results showed that there were 12 primers which successfully amplified and produced DNA polymorphic bands in Pisang Raja, specifically OPA 1, OPA 2, OPA 3, OPA 4, OPA 5, OPA 8, OPA 16, OPA 17, OPA 18, OPA 19, and OPA 20. Pisang Raja cultivars considered have high genetic diversity, indicated by high polymorphic bands (95.17%) and low similarity coefficient values (0.2-0.6). Clustering and PCo analysis resulted in 3 clusters following its genomic group consist of AAA, AAB and ABB genomes, with Pisang Raja Bali as an outgroup (ABB). However, the separation of each cluster for genome inference was unclear. Cluster 1 consists of Pisang Raja Madu (AAB) and Raja Sereh (AAB). Cluster 2 consists of AAA and AAB genomes; includes Pisang Raja Jambe (AAA), Raja Kriyak (AAA), Raja Kutuk (AAB), Raja Brentel (AAB), Raja Seribu (AAB), and Raja Lini (AAB). Cluster 3 consists of AAA and AAB genomes, includes Pisang Raja Kisto (AAA), Raja Delima (AAA), Raja Bandung (AAB) and Raja Gareng (AAB). While Pisang Monyet (AAw) and Klutuk Wulung (BBw) as wild relatives were nested in Cluster 2. There were some different results of genome estimation based on RAPD markers compared to morphological characterization, and other molecular techniques. The use of RAPD markers is quite efficient and effective for studying genetic diversity and identifying genomes in bananas. Research Article
Tools and Resources for Detecting Hate and Prejudice against Immigrants in Social Media

This position paper describes the early stages of an on going project for the development of artiﬁcial intelligence tools and resourcestodetect andanalyzehatespeechandprejudiceagainst immigrants: IHATEPREJUDICE 3 . It istheresult of amulti-disciplinary team that includes skills from computational linguistics and sentiment analysis, to social network analysisand visualization. Theapproach followsaholistic and multi-lingual perspective, which encompassesdifferent knowledgesourcesto bemeaningfully aggregated. Thus, although the project is currently mainly focussed on a local case-study (Piedmont, a region of Italy), it is scalable over larger territories and different languages which can be considered as representative, namely the European Union. Since this is quite an innovative approach to the problem, this position paper aims at reaching out colleagues with a potential interest in this area and/or to solicitate feedback by those who are in the early stages of their projectsand wish to sharetheir experienceor join efforts.
A Multilayer Dielectric Filled Radial Substrate Integrated Waveguide Slot Antenna

A narrow slot antenna is excited by designing a radial substrate integrated waveguide (R-SIW) having TE10 mode. The length of the narrow slot antenna is increased to achieve wide impedance bandwidth and is found to be 10.61%, after simulation. In order to further increase the performance of the narrow slot antenna, in terms of gain and the shape of the principal E-plane radiation pattern; an engineered layer consisting of metal strips and EBG are constructed on top of the R-SIW. The simulated results for the realized gain and the principal radiation patterns are presented, and are compared with the presence and absence of an engineered layer. A peak realized gain of 11.5 dB at 30 GHz and impedance bandwidth of 10.5% are observed from frequency range 28.6 - 32 GHz, for the narrow slot antenna including the engineered layer.
Current Status of Local Drug Delivery Systems in the Treatment of Periodontal Diseases

Periodontal disease includes many pathological conditions affecting the periodontium, but gingivitis and periodontitis are the more common types. Gingivitis is a progressive condition, although it is reversible, when left untreated it can lead to periodontitis. Microbial species have a major role in the aetiology of periodontitis. Method: Information was derived from research papers using PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar using the keywords local drug delivery system, treatment, and periodontal disease. The search included articles up to 2018 with majorly in vivo studies in patients with periodontitis. The usage of local drug delivery systems with controlled or sustained release mechanisms may provide slightly better therapeutic effect in comparison with patients who undergo scaling and root planning only. Conclusion: The present review of the literature of the currently available local drug delivery systems in the treatment of periodontal diseases.
DEMOCRATIC CRITIQUE AND DEVELOPMENT: IN SEARCH OF RESPONSIVENESS

Democracy in Slovenia is criticised for being unresponsive. A large majority of the electorate has consistently supported core features of the welfare state and democracy but fear retrenchments. In search of greater responsiveness in delivering a consensus on social values, the political system has changed from neo-corporatism through majoritarian pluralism to personalist politics. This article compares and contrasts the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the three models. Having gone through three distinct phases of political development in little more than 25 years, Slovenia is an illustrative and prototypical case that offers insights into the pan-European development of personalist politics.
β cell replication is the primary mechanism for maintaining postnatal β cell mass

The endocrine pancreas undergoes major remodeling during neonatal development when replication of differentiated β cells is the major mechanism by which β cell mass is regulated. The molecular mechanisms that govern the replication of terminally differentiated β cells are unclear. We show that during neonatal development, cyclin D2 expression in the endocrine pancreas coincides with the replication of endocrine cells and a massive increase in islet mass. Using cyclin D2–/– mice, we demonstrate that cyclin D2 is required for the replication of endocrine cells but is expendable for exocrine and ductal cell replication. As a result, 14-day-old cyclin D2–/– mice display dramatically smaller islets and a 4-fold reduction in β cell mass in comparison to their WT littermates. Consistent with these morphological findings, the cyclin D2–/– mice are glucose intolerant. These results suggest that cyclin D2 plays a key role in regulating the transition of β cells from quiescence to replication and may provide a target for the development of therapeutic strategies to induce expansion and/or regeneration of β cells.
Interactive comment on “An experiment on the evolution of an ensemble of neural networks for streamflow forecasting” by M.-A. Boucher et al

In this paper the authors use an ensemble of fifty neural networks for one day ahead stream flow forecasting. Each of the fifty networks initialized with different random weights is trained individually using a different bootstrap data set. The networks are evaluated for each epoch on test data set to form the ensemble of the predictions. Different probabilistic/ensemble forecasting verification statistics are also monitored during the training process on test data set. The experiments are done for four catchments. The work is basically sound from a technical perspective; however there are some issues that need to be addressed.
Kennedy Plasma membrane calcium ATPases ( PMCAs ) as potential targets for the treatment of essential hypertension

Available online 25 January 2016 The incidence of hypertension, the major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is increasing. Thus, there is a pressing need for the development of new andmore effective strategies to prevent and treat hypertension. Development of these relies on a continued evolution of our understanding of the mechanisms which control blood pressure (BP). Resistance arteries are important in the regulation of total peripheral resistance andBP; changes in their structure and function are strongly associated with hypertension. Anti-hypertensives which both reduce BP and reverse changes in resistance arterial structure reduce cardiovascular risk more than therapies which reduce BP alone. Hence, identification of novel potential vascular targets which modify BP is important. Hypertension is a multifactorial disorder which may include a genetic component. Genome wide association studies have identified ATP2B1, encoding the calcium pump plasma membrane calcium ATPase 1 (PMCA1), as having a strong association with BP and hypertension. Knockdown or reduced PMCA1 expression in mice has confirmed a physiological role for PMCA1 in BP and resistance arterial regulation. Altered expression or inhibition of PMCA4 has also been shown tomodulate these parameters. Themechanismswhereby PMCA1 and 4 canmodulate vascular function remain to be fully elucidated but may involve regulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis and/or comprise a structural role. However, clear physiological links between PMCA and BP, coupled with experimental studies directly linking PMCA1 and 4 to changes in BP and arterial function, suggest that they may be important targets for the development of new pharmacological modulators of BP. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
On the Decomposition of Posets into Minimum Set Node-Disjoint Chains

One of the most famous results in the theory of partially ordered sets is due to Dilworth (1950) who showed that the size of a minimum decomposition (into chains) of a partially ordered set S is equal to the size of a maximum antichain, which is a subset of pairwise incomparable elements. However, up to now, the bestalgorithm to decompose S into a minimum set of chains needs O(n 3 ) time, where n is the number of the elements in S. In this paper, we address this problem and propose an algorithm which produces a minimum decomposition in O(n 2 ) time and O(m + n)space, where is the size of a maximum antichain and m is the number of relations between elements (i.e., the number of pairs (a, c) such that ac). In general, is much smaller than n.
Cognifive Service Platform for Super Things*

In spite of the development of IoT types and technologies, there are many difficulties in integrating IoT due to the individual technological advances of many companies and the sale of products. Although studies have conducted to integrate numerous protocols and routing technologies with IoT platform technologies, this problem continues. It is necessary to integrate IoT services at the user’s convenience based on smart home rather than separated by each brand. In effect, in order to solve these problems, this paper presents the concept of Super Things and the Cognitive Service algorithm technique to provide the necessary complex services. This aims to present practical solutions through service techniques on how to better utilize existing functions rather than network integration in the current state. In addition, in order to address the unintegrated limitations of existing technologies, they identify their function’s own roles and seek ways to combine them organically with each other, enabling objective analysis of IoT data in smart home environments and integrated operation services.
Eigenmode Analysis of Printed-Ridge-Gap-Waveguide Cavity and Its Application to Antenna design

The resonant characteristics of a printed ridge gap waveguide cavity are analyzed using the eigenmode method. The field distributions of typical modes and the relevant eigen frequencies are presented. One cavity-backed slot antenna based on the eigenmode results is proposed with the desirable input matching and radiation performance. That could demonstrate the feasibility of antenna design using printed ridge gap waveguide as a resonant cavity.
Analysis of Hyperspectral Images Using Supervised Learning Techniques

The advantage of hyperspectral image is the possibility to access the spectral signature for each pixel having the capability to see the unseen. The classifiers used for hyperspectral images can be deeply studied and analyzed for obtaining an accurate classification to extract the features from the images. In this paper we aim to analyze the hyperspectral images by trying to identify the nature of each element in the field, which is represented by a pixel, using the techniques of supervised learning.
MAINSTREAMING RELIGION IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINED DEVELOPMENT

Religion is a critical factor that is correlated to socio economic development, yet the two are often dichotomized and this often results in distorted analysis of the socio-economic complexities at the local and national level. This paper is based on literature search and will outline the relationship between religion and socio-economic development based on various religious teachings. The findings are that religion promotes sustained socio-economic development based on equity, justice and fairness. The paper concludes by giving recommendations of how religious values and practices can be incorporated in policies to foster sustained socio-economic development.
IMPLEMENTATION OF WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS FOR REAL TIME MONITORING OF OIL AND GAS FLOW RATE METERING INFRASTRUCTURE

This research work described the design and implementation of wireless sensor network for real-time remote monitoring of oil & gas flow rate metering infrastructure. The system maintained a continuous measurement of the flow rate and displayed the result in real time; regardless of where the oil well were located and allowed for inexpensive monitoring of oil and gas processing from wellheads to export terminals to bring transparency, accountability and reduced corruption in the oil and gas industries. It is focused at harnessing the economic opportunities in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria and the world around. The wireless sensor network includes flow sensor, pumping machine, microcontroller, wifi or wireless link and a database server. The pumping machine pumps the oil & gas then a flow rate sensor measured the quantity and communicates the flow rate data in meter cube per second via a wireless link to the database server for further processes. The resulting data is stored on the database server while the continuous flow rate is displayed in real time on the website designed as the human interaction interface through which the quantity of the oil and gas lifted can easily be access in order to know the amount without seeking to collect the data from the several stations manually. The cost-effective indices for reporting the quantity of oil and gas lifting is of significance to any accountable and transparent system, however, manual processes have not been able to do that in real time. As a need for urgent and reliable approach, the approached of a real time provides the most immediate solution; which is the focused of this research work.
NOVEL APPLICATION OF MIXED HYDROTROPIC SOLUBILIZATION TECHNIQUE IN THE FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SOLID DISPERSION OF FLUPIRTINE MALEATE

Flupirtine is an amino pyridine derivative that functions as a centrally acting non-opioid, non-steroidal analgesic. It is a selective neuronal potassium channel opener that also has NMDA receptor antagonist properties. Its muscle relaxant properties make it popular for back pain and other orthopedics uses. In the present investigation, recently developed mixed hydrotropic solid dispersion technology precludes the use of organic solvent and also decreases the individual concentration of hydrotropic agents, simultaneously decreasing their toxic potential. Mixed-hydrotropic solubilisation technique is the experience to increase the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs in the aqueous solution containing blends of hydrotropic agents, which may give synergistic enhancement effect on solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs and to reduce concentrations of each individual hydrotropic agent to minimize their toxic effects due to high concentration of hydrotropic agents. The Flupirtine loaded solid dispersion was prepared by a solvent evaporation technique using sodium benzoate and a niacinamide hydrotropic mixture. The prepared solid dispersions were valuated regarding their solubility, mean particle size, in-vitro drug release. The prepared solid dispersions were found very stable (chemically). The superior dissolution rate due to its reduced particle size may have contributed to the increased oral bioavailability. This study demonstrated that mixed-solvency may be an alternative approach for poorly soluble drugs to improve their solubility and oral bioavailability. Keywords: Flupirtine, Solid dispersion, Mixed-hydrotropic solubilisation, Solvent evaporation technique, Sodium benzoate, Niacinamide