Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Adolescents and Youth Programs Missing The Real Targets? Analysis of Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Use of Sexual Reproductive HealthServices by Young People in Swaziland

Background: Access to reproductive health services by youth has received minimal attention given that Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) service provision for many years has been tailored to meet the needs of the adult population. The youth have therefore been neglected partly due to cultural sensitivity that dictates what, when and how SRH information and services should be transmitted to them. The current study therefore sought to unveil and explore sociocultural factors influencing youth utilization of SRH services provided in health facilities. Methods: A mixed method approach was used to gain a comprehensive view of factors influencing utilization of adolescent sexual reproductive health (ASRH) services. Data were collected quantitatively by using semi-structured questionnaires and qualitatively through individual in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) among a total of 927 youth aged 15-24 years (222 out of school youth and 705 in-school youth). The study sample also comprised of 68 gate keepers who included: teachers, religious authorities, parents/guardians, traditional authorities and health professionals. Results: The study exposed factors underlying utilization of SRH services among Swazi youth. Such factors included the family, peers, religious and community values and norms. Youth who perceived their families, communities and peers to be liberating towards uptake of SRH services were more likely to utilize those services compared to youth who perceived the opposite. Conclusion: The results persuade optimistic youth programs determined to increase uptake of SRH services among youth to incorporate parental and community programs instead of exclusively focusing on youth in all interventions designed to propel protective sexual behaviour among youth at all service delivery levels. Recommendations: Parental, community, traditional and religious leadership involvement in the development and execution of youth program interventions should be prioritized.
Comparing Prediction Accuracy for Machine Learning and Other Classical Approaches in Gene Expression Data

Microarray based gene expression profiling has been emerged as an efficient technique for cancer classification, as well as for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment purposes. The classification of different tumor types is of great significance in cancer diagnosis and drug innovation. Using a large number of genes to classify samples based on a small number of microarrays remains a difficult problem. Feature selection techniques can be used to extract the marker genes which influence the classification accuracy effectively by eliminating the unwanted noisy and redundant genes. Quite a number of methods have been proposed in recent years with promising results. But there are still a lot of issues which need to be addressed and understood. Diagonal discriminant analysis, regularized discriminant analysis, support vector machines and k-nearest neighbor have been suggested as among the best methods for small sample size situations. In this paper, we have compared the performance of different discrimination methods for the classification of tumors based on gene expression data. The methods are applied to datasets from four recently published cancer gene expression studies. The performance of the classification technique has been evaluated for varying number of selected features in terms of misclassification rate using hold-out cross validation. Our study shows that KNN, RDA and SVM with linear kernel methods have lower misclassification rate than the other algorithms. Keywords: microarray, gene expression, KNN, DLDA, RDA, SVM
DOES SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND AFFECT FIRST YEAR ECONOMICS PERFORMANCE? A PRELIMINARY STUDY *

It is widely reported that previous study in economics and maths play an important role in determining student performance in tertiary economics. This paper examines the determination of academic performance by adding a slightly broader range of factors that include socio-economic background to the main factors already identified in the literature. The paper regresses overall subject results for students enrolled in a core, first year economics subject at a large cosmopolitan university against a set of variables previously shown to have affected student performance as well as socio-economic background. Results are consistent with those from the existing literature but the innovative finding is a negative effect of low socio-economic background on performance. The effect of English language background is also identified as an important factor and the view put that correlation between these two variables remains under-researched. This is important to economics education since universities are enrolling increasing numbers of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Limitations of the study are identified and suggestions made for further work. Keywords: socio-economic background, student performance. JEL classification: A22
Fundamental shock selection in DSGE models

DSGE models are typically estimated assuming the existence of certain structural shocks that drive macroeconomic fluctuations. We analyze the consequences of introducing nonfundamental shocks for the estimation of DSGE model parameters and propose a method to select the structural shocks driving uncertainty. We show that forcing the existence of non-fundamental structural shocks produces a downward bias in the estimated internal persistence of the model. We then show how these distortions can be reduced by allowing the covariance matrix of the structural shocks to be rank deficient using priors for standard deviations whose support includes zero. The method allows us to accurately select fundamental shocks and estimate model parameters with precision. Finally, we revisit the empirical evidence on an industry standard medium-scale DSGE model and find that government, price, and wage markup shocks are non-fundamental.
Facial Expression Recognition Using LocalBinary Patterns

The most expressive way humans display emotions is through facial expressions. The aim of facial expression recognition methods is to build a system for classification of facial expressions from static images automatically. The face area is first divided automatically into small regions, from which the local binary pattern (LBP) histograms are extracted and concatenated into a single feature histogram, efficiently representing facial expressions— anger, disgust, fear, happiness and neutral. The best recognition performance is obtained by using Support Vector Machine classifiers (SVM) on LBP features. Images are taken from JAFFE database for conducting experiments.
Spatiotemporal Keyword Query Suggestion Based On Document Proximity and K-Means Method– A Review

: The commercial web search engines are looking for the efficient keyword suggestions methods for retrieving the relevant information. The submission of the right keyword query determines the right direction of the user’s search. Spatial proximity and query results are the crucial factors in the keyword suggestion techniques. The Spatiotemporal suggestion of queries deals with spatial proximity.On the basis of a weighted keyword document graph that maps the relevance of keyword queries semantically with the distance between the location of the user and the documents retrieved. The K-Means method used for retrieving the highest ranked top k objects near to the current location of the user and Time aware query suggestion brings out the most relevant documents based on the temporal proximity. The word sense disambiguation gives an added advantage of getting the local data without the location name ambiguity.
A Method of Malicious Application Detection

With the rapid development of broadband wireless access technology and mobile terminal, the mobile internet developed quickly in recent years. However, malicious applications have become one of the key factors threatening the development of mobile internet. In order to protect vital interest of mobile terminal users, mobile malicious applications should be effectively prevented and controlled. This paper analyzes the existence limitation of current mobile application detection technology and uses symbolic execution on the base of stream tracing. Malicious code writers usually hide malicious code execution path, and in some special circumstances to trigger some malicious behaviors. We constraint solve execution routes with sensitive calls, and ultimately solve the specific backstage behaviors and trigger conditions. We did some experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results show that our method can work well.
Project Team Perception of Causes of Building Cost Overruns: A Reflection in Tanzania

The paper provides an empirical insight into the significance of shared cognition reflected in the perception of key actors in selected construction projects. It has explored how clients, consultants and contractors prioritize causes of cost overrun in building projects in Tanzania and measured the statistical variance in their order of rank. A total of 55 respondents were selected from public projects that had experienced cost overruns. The results show an inclination of the top 4 causes of cost overrun being technical and originate from internal sources. The Spearman correlation coefficient established a strong positive correlation in the ranking of causes of cost overrun in construction project by clients, consultants and contractors, suggesting a shared cognition is in place for the project team. The outcome provides a good base for contemplating success of mitigation measures for cost overruns and reiterates the significance for a shared cognition for project team success.
Information spillover effects of IPOs using 2SLS

There are several Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) regulatory changes implemented in Taiwan stock markets since 2005. One of those new mechanisms is to release the stock IPOs pricing rules to underwriters. The underwriters and listed companies have been growing up rapidly in recent years, and the whole offer size has become full-scaled. However, foreign scholars found that pioneer companies have many uncertainties in IPOs due to there isn't any information about offer price and proceeds to refer. When companies want to decide the appropriate offer price and proceeds, they have to spend a lot of time and money on information gathering. If there existed information spillover, and the information would be acquired from the other companies which had finished IPOs. Therefore, we try to research whether there existed information spillover in Taiwan IPOs market using 2SLS and Probit to analyze. By empirical results, there exist positive information spillover in offer price and listing price revision. For underwriters, underwriter rank is based on underwriter reputation, and the underwriters which have better rank usually couldn't get the high initial return.
Analysis of Genetic Diversity Amongst Fusarium Spp. Associated with Root Rot of Apple

The Genus Fusarium is associated with crop diseases of horticultural and agricultural commodities and is considered to be a destructive pathogen. Genetic diversity among ten different isolates of Fusarium species isolated from apple rhizosphere from different locations of Himachal Pradesh was analysed using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR). Molecular characterization using ITS sequencing revealed that out of 10 isolates of Fusarium, three belongs to F. oxysporum, two belongs to F. solani, one belongs to F. equiseti and four were Fusarium species. Seven random primers were used for their genetic characterization using RAPD analysis. The dendrogram obtained from the UPGMA study characterized ten isolates into one main cluster and nine independent branches on the basis of similarity value 0.65.
In-situ Synthesis of Al-based Composites Reinforced with TiB2-TiC-Al2O3 Ceramic Particulates

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with ceramic particulates have been attractive as high specific strength materials utilized in automobile and aerospace industries. In order to enhance refinement and dispersibility of the ceramic particulates, the synthesis process with in-situ reactions has been investigated. The in-situ synthesis can avoid complex and harmful processes of powder handling and produce fine inclusions in the matrix with rather lower costs than conventional fabrication methods. In this study, the Al-based composites with TiC, TiB 2 and Al 2 O 3 particulates have been prepared by the in-situ reaction synthesis from starting powders of Al, TiO 2 and B 4 C. It was found that the reactions has completed at 1200 ˚C and the temperature could be reduced when finer powder was used as the starting material. The obtained porous sintered samples were subjected to subsequent extrusion processing. The extrudates containing ceramic reinforcements up to 20vol% exhibited high density and homogeneous microstructures with fine ceramic particulates. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength were remarkably improved when the ceramic particulates were induced by in-situ reactions, as a result of enhanced dispersion strengthening.
A Design of SDN Based IP Mobility Management Considering Inter-Domain Handovers and Its Evaluation

To use IP services continually while users are moving with their mobile devices, IP mobility management that enables them to keep IP communication is necessary. Although Mobile IP is a popular method to manage IP mobility, Mobile IP has a problem that there is a possibility of a mobile node (MN) communicating over a redundant route. Then, Software Defined Network (SDN) based IP mobility management has emerged to solve this problem. Most of these solutions focus on intra-domain handovers and routing. However, since wireless network environment has spread, mobile devices move across domains during communication. To deal with this, we need to look upon inter-domain handovers and routing. In this paper, we propose a SDN based IP mobility management scheme considering situation of mobile devices moving across domains. This proposed scheme focuses on inter-domain handovers and introduces efficient functions of management information sharing and inter-domain routing. Experimental results show the desired effects of the proposed scheme: optimizing communication route and keeping the management information exchange traffic low.
SELF-CONTROL AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL CONTROL AND WORKPLACE DEVIANCE: A Proposed Framework

Several studies in the field of management, organizational psychology, sociology and criminology have reported that workplace deviance is related to organization/work variables, such as organizational justice, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and job stress, among others. However, few studies have attempted to consider the influence of formal control and workplace deviance. Even if any, they have reported conflicting findings. Therefore, a moderating variable is suggested. This paper proposes a moderating role of self-control on the relationship between formal control and workplace deviance.
Do Taxes Crowd Out Intrinsic Motivation? Field-Experimental Evidence from Germany

This paper studies how imposing norms on contribution behavior affects individuals' intrinsic motivation. We consider an urban area in Germany where the Catholic Church collects a local church levy as a charitable donation, despite the fact that the levy is legally a tax. In cooperation with the church, we design a natural randomized field experiment with letter treatments informing individuals that the church levy is in fact a tax. Guided by a simple theoretical model, we use baseline contribution behavior to measure individuals' intrinsic motivation and demonstrate that treatment effects differ strongly across motivational types. Among weakly intrinsically motivated individuals, communicating the existence of a legal norm results in a significant crowd-out of intrinsic motivation. In contrast, strongly intrinsically motivated individuals do not show any treatment response. We cross-validate our findings using alternative motivational measures derived from an extensive post-treatment survey.
EVALUATION OF DEMAND SHIFTING STRATEGIES WITH THERMAL MASS IN 1 TWO LARGE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS 2 3

Building thermal mass can be used to reduce the peak cooling load. For example, in summer, the building mass can be pre-cooled during non-peak hours in order to reduce the cooling load in the peak hours. As a result, the cooling load is shifted in time and the peak demand is reduced. The building mass can be cooled most effectively during unoccupied hours because it is possible to relax the comfort constraints. While the benefits of demand shift are certain, different thermal mass discharge strategies result in different cooling load reduction and savings. The goal of an optimized discharge strategy is to maximize the thermal mass discharge and minimize the possibility of rebounds before the shed period ends. A series of filed tests were carefully planned and conducted in two commercial buildings in Northern California to investigate the effects of various precooling and demand shed strategies. Field tests demonstrated the potential of cooling load reduction in peak hours and importance of discharge strategies to avoid rebounds. EnergyPlus simulation models were constructed and calibrated to investigate different kind of recovery strategies. The results indicate the value of pre-cooling in maximizing the electrical shed in the on-peak period. The results also indicate that the dynamics of the shed need to be managed in order to avoid discharging the thermal capacity of the building too quickly, resulting in high cooling load and electric demand before the end of the shed period. An exponential trajectory for the zone set-point during the discharge period yielded good results and is recommended for practical implementation.
Stratification of the level of aerobic fitness based on heart rate variability parameters in adult males at rest

This study aimed to determine a model for stratifying the maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) based on heart rate variability (HRV) parameters at rest. It was applied 70 young adult physically active male. After recording the resting tachogram with a heart rate monitor for 5 min, a maximal incremental test was performed to measure VO2max. Based on VO2max percentile, participants were divided into two groups of 35: high (HG) and low (LG) aerobic fitness group. Groups were compared according to: (1) VO2max; (2) Classical HRV parameters and the cardiac deceleration rate (CDR). HG presented significant higher VO2max than LG (48.61 ± 6.70 vs 34.62 ± 3.81 ml.kg-1.min-1). The HG higher values in the time domain HRV parameters, as well as in the high frequency contents in the frequency domain. Also, CDR index was significant higher for HG than LG (p<0.01). The model for predicting VO2max was obtained by backward stepwise multivariate logistic regression assuming as independent variables CDR and pNN50. This model presented 85.74% positive predictive value, 88.51% negative predictive value and 87.16% total accuracy. In conclusion, the use of the proposed model was able to stratify the level of aerobic fitness in young healthy adult males at rest.
Swiss alpine snow pack variability: Major patterns and links to local climate and large-scale flow

The major patterns of interannual Swiss Alpine snow pack variability were determined and their relation to local and large-scale climate variability and recent trends was investigated. The snow variables considered were the seasonally averaged new snow sum, snow depth and snow days for winter (DJF) in the period 1958-1999. Three major patterns of large-scale snow variability were identified. The first pattern explains ~50% of total variance and extends over the entire area except the southernmost parts. The second pattern explains ~15% of total variance and has a dipole struc- ture with a maximum on the northern and a strong minimum on the southern slope of the Alps. The third pattern (~10% of total variance) is height dependent with a strong maximum at lowland stations and a minimum at high stations. In contrast to the first and second pattern, the third pattern's time component shows a distinct trend. It is well correlated with the 0°C isotherm which increased from ~600 m a.s. l. in the 1960s to ~900 m a.s. l. in the late 1990s and could be related to climate change. Variability in the first new snow sum pattern was primarily related to total precipitation anomalies. In contrast, variability in the first snow day pattern was primarily related to temperature anomalies. The dominance of precipitation for new snow sums and the dominance of temperature for snow days is physically consistent with the former being controlled by accumulation only and the latter by accu- mulation and ablation. The surface pressure anomaly pattern linked to the first new snow sum pat- tern is centred over southeastern Europe, resembling the Euro-Atlantic blocking pattern. For snow days the corresponding pressure anomaly is shifted further southeastward. The second snow pattern is mainly influenced by an East Atlantic like pattern, whereas only the third (height and temperature dependent) pattern is strongly linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation index.
Carbon Friction Pair in Total Hip Replacement

Abstract The article examines the advantages of a new pair of friction of the hip joint endoprosthesis made of pyrolytic carbon. The physico-mechanical and tribological characteristics of the material and their comparison with other materials used in the friction pair of hip joint endoprostheses are presented. Information is presented about the making of a material and its strength characteristics and the results of mathematical modeling of a friction pair. The results of a comparative research of the durability between a carbon pair of friction and a ceramic pair of friction.
The role of root architectural traits in adaptation of wheat to water-limited environments.

Better understanding of root system structure and function is critical to crop improvement in water-limited environments. The aims of this study were to examine root system characteristics of two wheat genotypes contrasting in tolerance to water limitation and to assess the functional implications on adaptation to water-limited environments of any differences found. The drought tolerant barley variety, Mackay, was also included to allow inter-species comparison. Single plants were grown in large, soil-filled root-observation chambers. Root growth was monitored by digital imaging and water extraction was measured. Root architecture differed markedly among the genotypes. The drought-tolerant wheat (cv. SeriM82) had a compact root system, while roots of barley cv. Mackay occupied the largest soil volume. Relative to the standard wheat variety (Hartog), SeriM82 had a more uniform rooting pattern and greater root length at depth. Despite the more compact root architecture of SeriM82, total water extracted did not differ between wheat genotypes. To quantify the value of these adaptive traits, a simulation analysis was conducted with the cropping system model APSIM, for a wide range of environments in southern Queensland, Australia. The analysis indicated a mean relative yield benefit of 14.5% in water-deficit seasons. Each additional millimetre of water extracted during grain filling generated an extra 55 kg ha-1 of grain yield. The functional implications of root traits on temporal patterns and total amount of water capture, and their importance in crop adaptation to specific water-limited environments, are discussed.