Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selected non-communicable diseases and risk conditions among fishermen in Divisional Secretariat Division of Kalpitiya

Introduction Fishermen are special group of people who are more vulnerable to non-communicable diseases due to occupation specific conditions. Objective To determine the prevalence of accidental injuries, hypertension, malnutrition, smoking and alcohol consumption among fishermen in Divisional Secretariat Division of Kalpitiya. Methodology This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted during the period of August to October 2011. The sample consisted of 465 fishermen with ≥6 months experience in fishing and selected by applying the cluster sampling technique. The study instruments were the interviewer-administered questionnaire and the record sheet. Prevalence of the above conditions and diseases with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results The prevalence of accidental injuries was 19.6%(95%CI:16%-23.2%). The prevalence of hypertension was 24.3%(95% CI:20.4%-28.2%) and it was significantly higher among those who have >10 years of service experience in the fishing sector (p 10 years duration (p Conclusion The prevalence of hypertension, smoking and alcohol consumption were higher and obesity was lower among fishermen than general population. Improve the knowledge on prevention and screening are recommended.
The relationship between attentional blink and psychometric intelligence: A fixed-links model approach

Attentional blink (AB) denotes the impairment in identifying a target when this target follows a preceding target after about 150 to 500 msec. Several models explain AB and some studies suggest that more processes than only one are involved in AB. Therefore, confounding effects of these underlying processes might be the reason why previous studies could not observe a relationship between AB and psychometric intelligence. In the present study, fixed-links models were used to disentangle the processes underlying the performance of 66 female and 52 male volunteers on an AB task. In accordance with theoretical explanations of AB, three latent variables with loadings describing a linearly increasing, a linearly decreasing and a u-shaped trend described the data well. Psychometric intelligence was related to the latent variables reflected by the u-shaped (β = .30; p < .05) and the linearly increasing trends (β = .23; p < .05) but not to the latent variable reflected by the linearly decreasing trend (β = .10; n.s.). These results support the assumptions that more processes than only one are involved in AB. Decomposition of the underlying processes seems to be promising to investigate intelligence-related individual differences on this early level of information processing.
Predicting Short-time Traffic Flow Using Volterra Adaptive Model

An adaptive method for predicting short-time traffic flow, which is based on phase space reconstruction and Volterra series was proposed. We first employed Lyapunav exponent method based small data sets to validate that chaos exists in traffic flow. Then, phase space reconstruction for traffic flow data was performed. And we constructed Volterra adaptive prediction model, which coefficients were updated by LMS adaptive algorithm. We finally applied this model to execute simulations for chaotic time series and real measured traffic flow data. Experimental results show that Volterra adaptive model can effectively predict chaotic time series and traffic flow.
Unsupervised Pedestrian Detection in Still Images

Abstract : In this report, an unsupervised pedestrian detection algorithm is proposed. An input image is first divided into overlapping detection windows in a sliding fashion and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) features are collected over each window using non-overlapping cells. A distance metric is used to determine the distance between histograms of corresponding cells in each detection window and the average pedestrian HOG template (determined a priori). The distance feature vectors over overlapping blocks of cells are concatenated to form the distance feature vector of a detection window. Each window provides a data sample that is extracted from the whole image and then modeled as a normalcy class using support vector data description (SVDD). Assuming that most of the image is covered by background, the outliers that are detected during the modeling of the normalcy class can be hypothesized as detection windows that contain pedestrians in them. The detections are obtained at different scales in order to account for the different sizes of pedestrians. The final pedestrian detections are generated by applying non-maximal suppression on all the detections at all scales. The system is tested on the INRIA pedestrian dataset and its performance analyzed with respect to accuracy and detection rate.
Working Paper Series Ambiguity and Equity Premium in Production Economies

We propose a novel one-sector stochastic growth model, where productivity growth follows a Markov-switching process with two regimes, and where households have generalized recursive smooth ambiguity preferences. The adopted class of preferences permits a three-way separation of risk aversion, ambiguity aversion, and the attitude toward intertemporal substitution. Ambiguity averse agents are ambiguous about the probability distribution of productivity growth. We show that in the absence of ambiguity aversion, the presence of a persistent high productivity regime combined with the elasticity of intertemporal substitution being greater than unity cannot generate a sizable risk premium. With a moderate coefficient of relative risk aversion, our model with ambiguity aversion can account for the low volatility of consumption growth observed in the data, and produce a high and volatile equity premium and a low and smooth risk-free rate. In addition, this model is able to generate, albeit weak, long horizon predictability in equity returns. JEL Classification: C61; D81; G11; G12.
Sibling Relationships in Adoptive and Fostering Families: A Review of the International Research Literature

This paper presents a review of the international research literature published since 2005 focusing specifically on sibling relationships in fostering and adoptive families. It presents an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding sibling relationships of fostered and adopted children as well as gaps and limitations. The review concludes that while methodological advances are apparent in this body of work siblinghood is poorly conceptualised and there has been inadequate attention to the perspectives of children. The paper goes on to suggest that one possible source of insight comes from recent work undertaken within social anthropology and sociology and the application of this theoretical and methodological approach to the study of siblinghood in out-of-home care is considered.
Comparison of Green Communications Technology Oriented to WBAN

Wireless Body Area Network is a branch of Wireless Sensor Network. Generally, it is apply to the aspect of telemedicine and health care, etc. Green communication which is a communication concept of sustainable development is the inevitable trend of the development of the communications industry, today. This article introduces and compared three kinds of green communication technology including WiFi, Bluetooth adn ZigBee, which are all suitable for Wireless Body Area Network(WBAN).
Plant Age Affects Wound-Induced Senescence in Lactuca Sativa L

In the present study we investigated the performance of dark-stored wounded leaf discs and pieces (to some extent mimicking fresh-cut product) of Lactuca sativa L. in relation to the physiological maturity at harvest. We used two related genotypes, i.e. a green (cv. Troubadour) and a red butterhead (cv. Teodore) differing in their pigment levels. For both genotypes, senescence of the wounded (fresh-cut) tissue prepared from leaves of younger plants was significantly delayed compared to wounded tissue prepared from the more mature plants. Shelf-life (time to unacceptable quality) of fresh-cut was doubled when plants were harvested one week before the commercial harvesting date. To explain differences in shelf-life between fresh-cut products prepared from plants harvested at different age, a number of physiological and nutritional parameters were determined at harvest. The red lettuce contained about two times more chlorophyll, carotenoids, and polyphenolic antioxidants than the green lettuce, but the shelf-life of both genotypes was about similar. Increasing the amount of pigments and polyphenols through application of LED light (with high percentage blue) during cultivation did not affect the shelf life of the wounded leaf tissue. The content of chlorophyll, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, as well as total antioxidant capacity was not affected by age of the plants for either genotype. The content of ascorbic acid decreased with maturation in the green lettuce but it was not affected by maturity in the red lettuce. This shows that there are no obvious signs of leaf senescence with age and the differences in pigments and antioxidants show no relation to the fresh-cut shelf life and thus cannot explain the effect of plant age on senescence of the wounded tissue. The net photosynthesis rate and carbohydrate reserves in the red lettuce were about half of that in the green lettuce but the shelf-life of both genotypes was similar. The net photosynthesis rate was not influenced by plant maturity in the green lettuce, whereas it decreased with maturation in the red lettuce. A decrease in sucrose and starch, and therefore the total content of carbohydrates with aging was observed in both genotypes. This effect was more pronounced in the red than in the green lettuce. There was no apparent relationship between the absolute levels of the total carbohydrates and the shelf-life of the fresh-cut product showing that carbohydrate reserves in itself cannot explain the effect of plant age on senescence of the wounded tissue. The leaves from older plants apparently have a reduced capability to cope with the stress from wounding. No simple one to one relationship emerged between any of the measured nutritional parameters, their change during maturation and the eventual shelf-life of the fresh-cut produce.
SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA: EVIDENCE FROM METAL WORKS AND FABRICATION IN GOMBE METROPOLIS, GOMBE STATE

The Small and Medium Enterprises has been globally acknowledged as the engine that drives the economic development of both the developing and developed countries. In Nigeria, SMEs Subsector has been identified as one of the critical elements to the achievement of the country’s vision 20-2020. Therefore, this study examined the problems and prospects of SMEs in Gombe metropolis, Nigeria. A total of a eighty (80) copies of the questionnaires were administered out of which seventy-six (76) copies representing 95% of the questionnaire were properly completed and returned while four (04) copies representing 5% were not returned. The responses of the respondents were analyzed using non-parametric simple percentages. The results from the study revealed that more than 60% of the SMEs operators possessed only secondary school certificate. Similarly, most of initial capital for SMEs in Gombe metropolis came from their personal savings or friends/family of the operators and more than 80% do not have access to credit facility. Furthermore, the results evidenced that 52.6% of the total respondents rented shop for their enterprises and mostly engaged 11-20 persons. As for nature of ownership, the study revealed that more than 70% of the SMEs in Gombe metropolis are sole proprietorship which indicates that a death of the owner may lead to end of the enterprises. Finally, the study revealed that more than 60% of the SMEs operators did not receive any formal training neither from higher institution of learning nor big company and more than 80% showed interest in receiving further training in order to acquire greater skills. The study therefore recommends that government should encourage the SMEs with cheaper sources of finance and other forms of support. This can be achieved by organizing awareness programmes on how to access loans and assistance from the Bank of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), respectively. Therefore, having established awareness campaign by the relevant agencies, government through SMEDAN should critically address their financial constraint by evolving a Credit Rating Scheme and Credit Guarantee Scheme for the sub-sector. This will make financing the sub sector attractive to banks and other investors.
Internet Gaming Disorder Co-morbidity Linked to Depression and Other Affective Problems

The links between excessive internet game play and depressive symptoms are well-established [1,2]. Many of the problematic and dysfunctional tendencies often defined by loss of impulse control that are linked with internet/video gaming and the diagnosis of internet gaming disorder (IGD) have been shown to have connections also with other conditions, including emotional, cognitive, motivational and somatic disruptions expressed in anhedonia, anxiety, sleep disturbance and depressive states and various types of social and generalized anxiety, psychological distress, lower levels of psychological resilience and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [3-7]. IGD exerts a negative impact upon physical, psychological, social, and occupational functioning within several domains of the affected individual, which often leading to severe consequences [8]. Users combining computer-games and smart phone-games were observed to exhibit a higher prevalence of IGD, depression and anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders [9]. Unsurprisingly, 89 percent of IGDdiagnosed and 92 percent of IGD-diagnosed, respectively, presented symptoms of depression and anxiety [10]. Patients presenting IGD were shown to be of younger age, with a greater likelihood of being single and unemployed, as well as presenting also a lower age-level for disorder onset [11]. Additionally, these patients expressed a lower level of somatization and depressiveness scores together with lower prevalence of tobacco use but higher food addiction scores accompanied by a higher mean body mass index. Furthermore, they evidenced lower novelty-seeking and persistence traits. Thus, the consensus of several clinical and non-clinical studies establishes that in IGD depressiveness and other affective problems, including gender, problematic alcohol use, anxiety, and a past history of psychiatric counselling or treatment due to internet gaming use, are common comorbidities [12]. These issues serve to underline the problematic nature of IGD [13,14].
A Hybrid Method Based on the Iterative Fourier Transform and the Differential Evolution for Pattern Synthesis of Sparse Linear Arrays

A hybrid method that combines the iterative Fourier transform (IFT) and the algorithm of differential evolution (DE) is proposed to address the synthesis of low sidelobe sparse linear array (SLA) including many elements. Firstly, a thinned linear array (TLA) with the lattices spaced at half wavelength is obtained by the IFT. Then, for the elements of the TLA whose left or right spacing are greater than half wavelength, their placements are selected as the candidates which will be further optimized by the DE, as long as the interelement spacing is not less than half wavelength. Consequently, the convergence pressure of DE is greatly alleviated for the reason that the selected elements only accounts for a small part of the total. Therefore, the SLA with improved sidelobe performance can be obtained at relative low hardware cost. Several numerical instances confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.
DELTA-VALIDATION OF ENVISAT SCIAMACHY TOTAL OZONE AND NO2 WITH THE DATA OF GROUND-BASED UV-VIS MEASUREMENTS (M-124 AND SAOZ)

The present study is focused on validation of the recent SCIAMACHY nadir level 2 data by means of comparisons with correlative ground-based measurements over Russia and Western Europe in 2004. The newly available validation dataset, based on the SCIAMACHY level 2 off-line processor version 3.00 (OL 3.00), was compared with the measurements of 14 Russian UV filter ozonometers M-124 and 3 French SAOZ UV-visible zenith-sky spectrometers. According to the results, the new SCIAMACHY dataset, OL 3.00, demonstrate better agreement with ground-based M-124 ozone measurements. In addition, our ground-based validation datasets were compared with correlative measurements of ERS-2 GOME, AURA OMI and SCIAMACHY stratospheric NO2 column (scientific product, University of Bremen).
A nuclear DNA basis for shelf‐ and bank‐scale population structure in northwest Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua): Labrador to Georges Bank

Variation at five microsatellite DNA loci scored in ≈ 1300 individuals provided evidence of genetic structure among 14 cod (Gadus morhua) populations spanning the range of the species in the northwest (NW) Atlantic. Using DA and DSW measures of genetic distance, as well as FST and RST measures of population structure, differences are revealed among populations at continental shelf scales (NE Newfoundland Shelf, Grand Banks, Flemish Cap, Scotian Shelf, Georges Bank) where regions are separated by submarine saddles, channels and trenches. However, we also provide evidence of genetic structure at spawning‐bank scales consistent with variation in oceanographic features and in the spatiotemporal distribution of spawning, each of which may represent barriers to gene flow among geographically contiguous populations inhabiting a highly advective environment. The differences described are consistent with postdispersal spawning fidelity to natal areas, a behaviour that may be facilitated by topographically induced gyre‐like circulations that can act as retention mechanisms. Significant degrees of substructure among neighbouring and contiguous cod populations may be most easily explained by the associated oceanographic features and processes that conceivably form the template for the evolution of the structure. We suggest that bathymetric and hydrodynamic structure represents a rational starting point for developing hypotheses to examine the processes that lead to the genetic structuring of marine fish species.
Regularized regression for categorical data

In the last two decades, regularization techniques, in particular penalty-based methods, have become very popular in statistical modelling. Driven by technological developments, most approaches have been designed for high-dimensional problems with metric variables, whereas categorical data has largely been neglected. In recent years, however, it has become clear that regularization is also very promising when modelling categorical data. A specific trait of categorical data is that many parameters are typically needed to model the underlying structure. This results in complex estimation problems that call for structured penalties which are tailored to the categorical nature of the data. This article gives a systematic overview of penalty-based methods for categorical data developed so far and highlights some issues where further research is needed. We deal with categorical predictors as well as models for categorical response variables. The primary interest of this article is to give insight into basic properties of and differences between methods that are important with respect to statistical modelling in practice, without going into technical details or extensive discussion of asymptotic properties.
A review on copper oxide thin films

Copper oxide films have direct band gap of about 1.2 to 2.6eV. They could be used in many applications including solar cell, sensor and optoelectronic industry. The aim of this work is to investigate the properties of copper oxide thin films under various deposition methods. The obtained results based on the structure, optical, morphology and electrical properties are discussed. The overall results found that different researchers have reported different properties of copper oxide based on experimental conditions.
DISTRIBUTED ESTIMATION: DO NOT TRUST GOSSIPS

Distributed estimation and detection is of interest for those situations for which the sensor net must achieve an agreement by exchanging information without resorting to the use of an external fusion center. In this paper we deal with the distributed estimation of a parameter for both static and time-varying cases, for which it is important to have similar estimates as accurate as possible. The cooperation is performed in a distributed way to guarantee scalability and robustness to failures, and it is designed to reduce the detrimental effects of the channel noise on the sensor exchanges.
PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF LOW POWER SRAM CELLS: A REVIEW

In this paper, various Low Power SRAM cell design techniques have been reviewed on the basis of power, stability, and delay. Many studies have proposed various SRAM architectures for different applications. It has been reported that 6T SRAM cell are high in speed but at low supply voltage, stability is a critical issue. It is found that 8T SRAM cell shows the highest level of stability at low supply voltage, but it has area penalty. Hence in this work all the required performance parameters of various SRAM cell architectures have been reviewed. This work will be helpful for VLSI designer to choose proper memory architecture as per applications. For example, machine learning needs high performance memory block while bio-medical implants require low power memory block. This paper also presents various tradeoffs between various design parameters of SRAM.
Flexural Design and Analysis of Composite Beams with Inverted-T Steel Girder with Ultrahigh Performance Concrete Slab

This study intends to improve the efficiency of the composite beam combining a slab made of steel fiber-reinforced ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) and a steel girder without top flange. To that goal, the experiment is conducted on 24 composite beams fabricated with varying compressive strength of UHPC, steel fiber content, stud spacing, and slab thickness to evaluate the behavior of the studs and the flexural behavior of the composite beam combining the UHPC slab and the inverted-T steel girder. The experimental results show the test members developed sufficient ductile behavior with respect to the slip limit of 6 mm stipulated in Eurocode-4 and regardless of the considered test variables. The experimental ultimate horizontal shear force is seen to be clearly larger than the static strengths of the stud predicted by Eurocode-4 and AASHTO-LRFD. Improved design formulae for the composite beam shall be derived to reflect the UHPC slab thickness.
Loughborough University Institutional Repository Indentation in single-crystal 6 H silicon carbide : Experimental investigations and finite element analysis

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising material ideally suited for small-scaled devices deployed in harsh environments. SiC is brittle in bulk form, however, at small component length-scales plasticity is observed. A good understanding of deformation behaviour is, therefore, crucial for reliable small-scale component design and fabrication. Here, experimental and numerical analysis of the deformation behaviour of single-crystal 6H-SiC in nanoindentation is presented. Nanoindentation studies are carried out in two orientations of the single-crystal using a Berkovich indenter. Next, a crystal-plasticity theory was implemented in finiteelement (FE) modelling framework to predict the deformation of the hexagonal single-crystal. The validity of the present FE modelling methodology was corroborated through comparison between FE simulations and experimental data in terms of indent profile and loaddisplacement curves. Our results showed that classical crystal plasticity theory can be reliably applied in predicting plastic deformation of ceramic at small scales. 1 Corresponding author, E-mail address:A.Roy3@lboro.ac. uk 2 10.1016/j.ijmecsci. 2017.11. 021