Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Number 137 Looking ahead optimally in allocating aid

The Collier-Dollar approach to aid allocation among countries has been less than fully embraced by donors – even those focused on poverty reduction – partly because it conflicts with the approach to aid allocation implied by the Millennium Development Goals. These two approaches are shown to be special cases of a more general model of aid allocation, in which donors care about future as well as current poverty. This model is illustratively applied to data for developing regions. Adding a poverty decline adjustment to the allocation formulae used by donors could resolve the conflict between the two approaches.
DEVELOPMENT OF A RESTRICTED ADDITIVE SCHWARZ PRECONDITIONER FOR SPARSE LINEAR SYSTEMS ON NVIDIA GPU

In this paper, we develop, study and implement a restricted additive Schwarz (RAS) preconditioner for speedup of the solution of sparse linear systems on NVIDIA Tesla GPU. A novel algorithm for constructing this preconditioner is proposed. This algorithm involves two phases. In the first phase, the construction of the RAS preconditioner is transformed to an incomplete-LU problem. In the second phase, a parallel triangular solver is developed and the incomplete-LU problem is solved by this solver. Numerical experiments show that the speedup of this preconditioner is sufficiently high.
The Biosocial Burden of HIV and Malaria Co-infection Among Pregnant Mothers

Malaria and HIV/AIDS; exacerbated by poverty affects the poorest segments of the population by making them more vulnerable to infections due to lack of access to basic socio-economic needs. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between biosocial indices in relation to co-infection of HIV and malaria among participants. One hundred and forty-nine respondents were interviewed and administered with well-structured questionnaires. After informed consent, their venipunture blood samples were subjected to HIV and Malaria parasite screening by using standard protocols. All data obtained were transcribed and subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. Of the (149) mothers recruited, 32.9% (49/149) were primigravidae while 27.5% (41/149) had more than one previous pregnancy (secungravidae). Respondents with Primary education were 53(35%), 9(19.5%) Secondary while 3(26.2%) had no formal education. Fractions of 12.8% were government employees, 29.5% were self-employed, 2% were un-employed while 49.0% were of other categories. The household size of the respondents ranged from 78.2% with less than 5 members and 21.3% with more than 5 household members. Majority were of no salaried income status whereas the lowest percentage of 2.9% belongs to high income status. There was no statistically significant relationship between socioeconomic indices and prevalence of both HIV and malaria in pregnancy.
Analysis of Current Position Determination Accuracy in Natural Resources Canada Precise Point Positioning Service

Abstract Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is a technique used to determine highprecision position with a single GNSS receiver. Unlike DGPS or RTK, satellite observations conducted by the PPP technique are not differentiated, therefore they require that parameter models should be used in data processing, such as satellite clock and orbit corrections. Apart from explaining the theory of the PPP technique, this paper describes the available web-based online services used in the post-processing of observation results. The results obtained in the post-processing of satellite observations at three points, with different characteristics of environment conditions, using the CSRS-PPP service, will be presented as the results of the experiment. This study examines the effect of the duration of the measurement session on the results and compares the results obtained by working out observations made by the GPS system and the combined observations from GPS and GLONASS. It also presents the analysis of the position determination accuracy using one and two measurement frequencies
Community Detection Algorithm based on Centrality and Node Closeness in Scale-Free Networks

We present a method for detecting community structures based on centrality value and node closeness. Many real world networks possess a scale-free property. This property makes community detection difficult especially on the widely used algorithms that are based on modularity optimization. However, in our algorithm, communities are formed from hub nodes. Thus communities with scale-free property can be identified correctly. The method does not contain any random element, nor requires pre-determined number of communities. Our experiments showed that our algorithm is better than algorithms based on modularity optimization in both real world and computer generated scale-free datasets.
New Aspects on Stability Analysis of a Planar Charge-varying Collisional Dust Molecular Cloud with Finite Thermal Inertia

A theoretical evolutionary model for the nonlinear stability analysis of a planar dust molecular cloud (DMC) in quasi-neutral hydrodynamic equilibrium on the Jeans scales of space and time is developed. It is based on a selfgravitating multi-fluid model consisting of the warm electrons and ions, and the inertial cold dust grains with partial ionization. The Jeans assumption of self-gravitating uniform medium is adopted for fiducially analytical simplification by neglecting the zero-order field. So, the equilibrium is justifiably treated initially as “homogeneous”, thereby validating nonlinear local analysis. The lowest-order finite inertial correction of the thermal species (thermal inertia, which is conventionally neglected), heavier grain-charge fluctuation and all the possible collisional dynamics are included simultaneously amid non-equilibrium plasma inhomogeneities. We apply a standard multiple scaling technique methodologically to show that the eigenmodes are collectively governed by a new electrostatic driven Korteweg-de Vries (d-KdV) equation having a self-consistent nonlinear driving source, and self-gravitational Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation with neither a source, nor a sink. A detailed numerical shape-analysis with judicious multi-parameter variation parametrically portrays the excitation of electrostatic eigenmodes evolving as damped oscillatory shocks (nonconservative) with the increasing global amplitude due to the source, and extended two-tail compressive solitons (conservative), when the source-strength becomes very weak. In contrast, the self-gravitational counterparts grow as bell-shaped rarefactive soliton-like structures (conservative). The correlative effect of diverse plasma parameters on the amplitudes and patterns is explicitly investigated. Interestingly, this is conjectured that the grain-mass plays a key role in the eigenmode shaping (growth and decay) through the interplaying processes of pulsating gravito-electrostatic coupling. As the grain-mass increases, a new type of shock-to-soliton transition results, and so forth. The significance of the study in space, laboratory and astrophysical environments is stressed.
Assessment of Metro Passengers’ Convenience While Sitting and Standing in Confrontation with Whole-Body Vibration

Nowadays, using public transportation vehicles like metro in large cities are of significance, and exposure to whole-body vibration for the metro passengers is one of the physical contaminations. This paper is conducted with the aim of evaluating the passengers’ convenience and health both in sitting and standing conditions. The present study was done on the passengers of lines 1, 2, and 4 of Tehran metro with the use of an oscillator and a SVAN958 analyzer of SVSNTEK Co., based on the measurement methods and guidelines of ISO 2631-1, 4. The average amounts of RMS acceleration while sitting was 1.1 m/s2 with the standard deviation of 0.14 and while standing was 0.91 m/s2 with the standard deviation of 0.05; estimated VDV amount while sitting and standing equaled 6.72 m/s2 with the standard deviation of 1.26 and 6.48 m/s1.75 with the standard deviation of 0.96. Calculated RMS amounts generally fluctuated between level 3 (fairly unpleasant) and level 4 (unpleasant) of convenience evaluation scale, and total calculated VDV amounts for the sitting passengers was 1.1 m/s1.75 , being more than the perceived dose of standing passengers.
Low Molecular Weight Components from Various Sources Eliminate Oxidative Stress and Restore Physiological Characteristic of Animals at Early Stages of Cu-Induced Liver Fibrosis Development

Background: Low molecular weight components (proteins and peptides with a molecular weight less than 45 kDa), were isolated from bovine colostrum and Sacharomyces cerevisue and Pleurotus osteatus cell components. It has been determined their effects on physiological characteristics (weight change, body temperature, work capacity) and biochemical parameters (cholesterol, triacylglycerols, creatinine and albumin) and lipid hydroperoxides (figure prooxidant activity) activity of glutathione peroxidase (a measure of antioxidant system) on the model of Cu-induced liver fibrosis. It is shown that irrespective of the method and the source of the LMWCC and the Mix-factor its components eliminated the loss of body weight, the body temperature normalized, and partially restored working capacity of animals with Cu-induced fibrosis. Methods: A three-fold serial intraperitoneal administration of copper sulfate to animals at the dose of 33% of the lethal dose with an interval of 48 hours between injections was accompanied with development of liver fibrosis. Doses of "Mix-factor" and LMWCC were chosen for the removed of influence of experimental animal’s fibrosis. In the investigation were used the methods of definition of content of cholesterol, triacylglycerols, creatinine and albumin. Besides, it has been activity of glutathione peroxidase and content of lipid hydroperoxides. Results: Content of cholesterol, triacylglycerols, creatinine and albumin remained unchanged in animals with Cuinduced liver fibrosis, a lipid hydroperoxides have increased by 90% in blood serum and 83% in liver mitochondria and activity of glutathione peroxidase was reduced. Introduction of LMWCC and mix-factor increases the activity of glutathione peroxidase and normalize lipid hydroperoxides content. It has been identified S-shaped dose dependence of LMWCC on indicators of proantioxidant system. Conclusion: The results showed that LMWCC obtained from various sources (from cow colostrum or from Pleurotus ostreatus fungi, or from yeast) activated antioxidant defense enzymes (glutathione peroxidase), eliminated oxidative stress in animals with Cu-induced liver fibrosis. These biochemical changes in the body of animals with fibrosis were accompanied by normalization of physiological characteristics (body temperature, growth rate of animals).
Electrical resistivity testing for as-built concrete performance assessment of chloride penetration resistance

The electrical resistivity of concrete can provide information about its transport properties, which is relevant for durability performance. For example, resistivity is inversely proportional to chloride diffusion, at least within similar concrete compositions. A methodology is proposed for on-site assessment of concrete cover resistance against chloride penetration, based on on-site resistivity testing. As such, resistivity testing can extend existing service life approaches to assessing on site performance. For example, the Dutch Guideline for Service life design of structural concrete (in chloride contaminated environment) is based on chloride transport testing in the prequalification stage and production control by resistivity testing of wet-cured control cubes. Adding on-site resistivity testing would extend this approach with testing for as-built quality of the concrete cover. Applying this method requires that corrections are made for the effects of reinforcing bars, inhomogeneities due to drying out and resistivity increase due to cement hydration. A correction for the presence of reinforcement can be obtained by numerical modelling based on combined (simultaneous) cover depth and resistivity measurements. Effects of hydration and drying out can be accounted for using long-term resistivity data for concrete with different cement types and water/cement ratios in different moisture conditions.
An Empirical Investigation of Effective College Teaching Behaviors and Student Differences: Lecture Organization and Test Anxiety.

The present study investigated the interaction between college student entry characteristics and effective instruction. The experimental design involved 380 introductory psychology students and consisted of a Lecture Organization (low, high) by Test Anxiety (low, moderate, high) 2 x 3 design. The dependent variables included student attention, achievement, cognition, affect, and motivation observed during a lecture presentation. A set of hypotheses dealt with identifying which types of students, and under what teaching conditions, learning was enhanced or thwarted. First, test anxiety yielded differences in student learning outcomes. Second, analyses of Test Anxiety with Lecture Organization yielded relatively consistent patterns across a number of learning outcomes: lecture attention, student achievement, perceptions of control, affect, and motivation. High text-anxious students were unable to benefit directly from high-organized instruction though orgized instruction did increase these students' motivation to attend future classes. Specific explanations are postulated on how the differences in effective teaching behaviors and student differences may operate together to produce ideal and less than ideal learning environments. Finally, a number of new directions are provided for future research and suggestions are made for classroom instructors and college students. (Contains 82 references.)
Interactive comment on “ Dynamic sub-grid heterogeneity of convective cloud in a global model : Description and Evaluation of the Convective Cloud Field Model ( CCFM ) in ECHAM 6 – HAM 2 ” by Zak Kipling

We are grateful to the two anonymous referees for their time and constructive comments on our original manuscript and during the public discussion. All points raised by reviewer #1 were addressed during the access review. We have made a number of alterations in a revised manuscript to address the further points raised by reviewer #2 during the discussion phase, and we hope that the manuscript is now clearer as a result. Responses to individual points, and details of changes to the manuscript, are given below.
Investigating the determinants of smoking cessation: from the desire to quit to the effective attempt

Smoking behavior involves complex mechanisms such as addiction (physical and psychological dependence, self-control, social smoking) and smoking related perceptions (self-exempting beliefs ans smoking norms). The latter evolve through consumption career described by the stages of change. Those effects are tested on a sample of French smokers who completed an online-survey. A first model tests the role of addiction on the motivation to quit. The results show a strong relationship: physical and psychological dependence are positively related to the motivation to quit, as self-control is negatively related. Moreover, as cigarette consumption becomes more anchored in everyday life and more solitary, reported motivation to quit increases. The second model, studies the relationship between smoking related perceptions and motivation to quit. Results show that smoking denormalization beliefs increase, and self-exempting beliefs decrease across the smoking career. In order to re-establish smokers' self-control, public policies should act on physical dependence (by helping consumers to adopt a smoking cessation strategy through the funding of different kind of treatments), but also on environmental cues that trigger the desire to smoke (by limiting them). The second possible strategy is to act on the relationship between smoking-related beliefs and the motivation to quit by promoting nudges, normative change, and moderate fear-appealing campaigns associated to high levels of efficacy and self-efficacy.
Reliability-Based View Synthesis for Free Viewpoint Video

View synthesis is a crucial technique for free viewpoint video and multi-view video coding because of its capability to render an unlimited number of virtual viewpoints from adjacent captured texture images and corresponding depth maps. The accuracy of depth maps is very important to the rendering quality, since depth image–based rendering (DIBR) is the most widely used technology among synthesis algorithms. There are some issues due to the fact that stereo depth estimation is error-prone. In addition, filling occlusions is another challenge in producing desirable synthesized images. In this paper, we propose a reliability-based view synthesis framework. A depth refinement method is used to check the reliability of depth values and refine some of the unreliable pixels, and an adaptive background modeling algorithm is utilized to construct a background image aiming to fill the remaining empty regions after a proposed weighted blending process. Finally, the proposed approach is implemented and tested on test video sequences, and experimental results indicate objective and subjective improvements compared to previous view synthesis methods.
Nonlinear plate vibrations: A modal approach with application to cymbals and gongs

Geometrically nonlinear vibrations of plates are investigated with the purpose of sound synthesis and application to cymbals, gongs and thunder plates. Von-Karman equations are used to describe the motion of the plate when the amplitude is comparable to the plate thickness. In this contribution, the case of a rectangular plate is considered, and a modal approach is selected. A general procedure, adapted from a paper by Li [JSV, 2004], is proposed in order to deal with various case of boundary conditions, for which no analytical solutions are available. After discretisation, one is left with a system of ordinary differential equations for the temporal modal coordinates, with cubic coupling terms. The results are validated by comparing frequency-response curves with other either found in literature, or computed with a finite difference approach, showing good agreement. The nonlinear dynamics of a simply supported plate is investigated by computing its frequency-energy plot (FEP), displaying variations of eigenfrequencies with amplitude and highlighting their interactions via internal resonance. The proposed method provides a possible strategy for modelling the shimmering sounds of musical instruments such as gongs and cymbals, as it allows for an accurate description of modal viscous damping. Finally, impulsive sounds will be shown and compared to those obtained with a finite difference approach.
Pattern Recognition Versus Verification Systems Analysis Studies for Biometrics Face Based Independent Component Analysis

Face recognition has long been a goal of computer vision, but only in recent years reliable automated face recognition has become a realistic target of biometrics research. In this paper the contribution of classifier analysis to the Face Biometrics Verification performance is examined. It refers to the paradigm that in classification tasks, the use of multiple observations and their judicious fusion at the data, hence the decision fusions at different levels improve the correct decision performance. The fusion tasks reported in this work were carried through fusion of two well-known face recognizers, ICA I and ICA II. It incorporates the decision at matching score level, a novel fusion strategy is employed; the Likelihood Ratio Fusion within scores. This strategy increases the accuracy of the face recognition system and at the same time reduces the limitations of individual recognizer. The performance of the analysis studies were tested based on three different face databases ORL 94, Indian face database and eNTERFACE2005 Dynamic Face Database and the simulation results are showed a significant performance achievements.
Absorption of anthocyanin dye and its first order kinetics on bacterial cellulose produced by fermentation of black tea

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is one of the most important biomaterial in food and nutraceutical industries, these industries utilize BCto immobilize anti-oxidants and flavonoids inside, as they are easily digestible. Industries produce BC by fermentation process using Gluconoacetobacterxyllinum, which cellulose turns out to be expensive. This experiment was designed to produce bacterial cellulose from fermented tea or Kombucha tea by Symbiotic colony of bacterial and yeast (SCOBY) and absorption of anthocyanin dye on BC pellicle was studied, dye retention capacity were obtained for samples kept in various dye loading% and soaked for different time periods, dye retention capacity optimized the time period and dye loading for BC.
Effects of N/S Molar Ratio on Product Formation in Psychrophilic Autotrophic Biological Removal of Sulfide

The excessive H2S presence in water and wastewater can lead to corrosion, toxicity, and biological processes inhibition—i.e., anaerobic digestion. Production of H2S can occur in psychrophilic conditions. Biological removal of HS− by addition of NO3− as an electron acceptor under psychrophilic (10 °C) conditions in a continuous flow experiment is evaluated here. Four different N/S molar ratios—0.35, 0.40, 0.60, and 1.30—were tested in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. Samples were analyzed daily by ion chromatography. Efficient psychrophilic HS− removal with sulfur products oxidation control by NO3− supply is documented. The highest HS− removal was obtained at N/S = 0.35 and 1.30 (89.1 ± 2.2 and 89.6 ± 2.9%). Removal of HS− was less at mid-N/S with the lowest value (76.9 ± 2.6%) at N/S = 0.60. NO3− removal remained high for all N/S ratios. N/S molar ratio influenced the sulfur products distribution with less S0 and increase in SO42− effluent concentration with increasing N/S ratio. Oxidation of HS− and accumulated S0 occurred simultaneously at N/S ratios >0.35. The observations are explained by culture flexibility in utilizing available resources for energy gain.
Nonlocal analysis of the Reynolds stress in turbulent shear flow

An exact expression for the Reynolds stress is derived using the response function for the velocity fluctuation. The nonlocal eddy viscosity in the expression represents a contribution to the Reynolds stress by the mean velocity gradient at remote points in space and time. A direct numerical simulation of channel flow is conducted to validate the nonlocal expression. The transport equations for the velocity and the response function are numerically solved to evaluate the nonlocal eddy viscosity; it is shown that the nonlocal expression is accurate for both normal and shear stresses. A local expression for the Reynolds stress is also evaluated and reveals that the local approximation is not accurate enough near the wall. Analysis using the nonlocal expression is shown to be useful for obtaining a better understanding of turbulent shear flow.