Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empowerment of women through self help group approach: Empirical evidence from west Bengal, India

Women empowerment is always considered as the key aspect of social development throughout the world. Self Help Group is one of the most important approaches for women empowerment in India. This present study was designed to trace out the impact of Self Help Group in women empowerment in Nadia district of West Bengal, India. Both the members (beneficiaries) and non-members (non-beneficiaries) were considered for this study. It was found that beneficiaries had higher score in all the four dimensions of empowerment, that is, personal autonomy index, family decision making index, domestic economic consultation index and political autonomy index as well as aggregate empowerment index. It may be concluded that Self Help Group approach had a significant impact on women empowerment in Nadia district of West Bengal, India. Key words: Empowerment, self help group, West Bengal.
Analysis of Liver Transcriptome in Broilers with Ascites and Regulation by L-Carnitine

Two experiments were conducted using male Ross-308 broilers. Exp. 1 was to determine the differences in liver transcriptomic profile of healthy broilers at 39 days (D39) vs. 21 days of age (D21), and of ascites vs. healthy broilers at D39 by GeneChips, under a low-temperature environment. Differentially expressed genes related to liver antioxidative capacity and energy metabolism were screened. Exp. 2 was to analyze the regulatory roles of L-carnitine on genes and biochemical parameters involved in liver oxidoreduction and energy metabolism. The results showed that the expression of 790 genes in D39 vs D21 healthy broilers (386 upand 404 down-regulated) and expression of 178 genes in ascites vs. healthy broilers on D39 (128 upand 50 down-regulated) was changed. The analysis of pathway and GO indicated that genes related to amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, Krebs cycle, carbohydrate metabolism, vitamin metabolism, cell apoptosis, immune response, oxidoreduction, angiogenesis, nitric oxide formation and erythrocyte differentiation were involved in the development of ascites. Liver MDA level of ascites broilers was significantly increased, but the activity of T-SOD was significantly decreased than healthy broilers. The activity of liver HK, MDH, PK and Na + -K + -ATPase was significantly lower in ascites broilers. The expression of liver HKDC1 and PCK1 was significantly down-regulated, and that of HNF-4α and AKR1B10 expression was significantly up-regulated. L-carnitine supplementation significantly increased the activity of T-SOD and PK, and significantly up-regulated HKDC1 and HNF-4α expression. It can be concluded that genes involved in many biological processes are differentially expressed due to ascites. Liver oxidation damage and energy generation obstruction were found in broilers with ascites. L-carnitine can alleviate the liver oxidative damage and promote the generation and utilization of energy. The present results demonstrated that L-carnitine could serve as a potential regulatory agent to reduce ascites susceptibility and mortality.
Generating HumanWork Instructions from Assembly Plans

Despite enormous robotization efforts, most of the assembly process is still executed by human workforce in many industries performing the assembly of mechanical products. Therefore, a crucial component of any automated planning system in those applications is the worker instruction system that presents the automatically generated plans to human assembly workers. In case of complex products and processes, ﬁnding the most efﬁcient presentation to workers with different skills and background is a great challenge. This paper proposes novel methods for generating context-dependent, animated work instructions from automatically generated assembly plans. The proposed approach is demonstrated on an industrial case study that involves the manual assembly of an automotive supercharger.
A New Iterative Scheme of Modified Mann Iteration in Banach Space

We introduce the modified iterations of Mann's type for nonexpansive mappings and asymptotically nonexpansive mappings to have the strong convergence in a uniformly convex Banach space. We study approximation of common fixed point of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in Banach space by using a new iterative scheme. Applications to the accretive operators are also included.
Magnetosubbands of semiconductor quantum wires with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We have investigated the electronic structure of Rashba spin-split quantum wires in a magnetic field. For our numerical calculations, a harmonic confinement was assumed. We find that wire structures with several occupied one-dimensional subbands still exhibit a beating pattern in the magnetoresistance. The wire width turns out to strongly affect the magnetic field values at which nodes occur in the beating pattern. In the limit of narrow wires, the beating pattern would vanish altogether because spin-split subbands become populated equally.
Norepinephrine transporter gene (SLC6A2) polymorphisms and promoter methylation in peripheral blood of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

Background: Norepinephrine (NE) dysregulation has been implicated as one of the mechanisms in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Norepinephrine transporter (NET) plays an important role in regulating of NE level at the synapses. The gene of NET is a potential research target for PTSD. However, few studies have examined the genetic variants and DNA methylation of NET regards to the risk of PTSD. Methods: We investigated 16 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the NET whole gene in 506 veteran patients. Using a subset of individuals (161 patients) from our larger genetic dataset, promoter methylation was performed using pyrosequencing analysis. Results: Significant difference was found in the genotype and allele frequencies for rs168924 and rs192303 by PTSD status, although the significance of rs192303 genotype (p=0.03) disappeared after Bonferroni correction. Neither rs168924 nor rs192303 was a significant predictor of PTSD diagnosis in primary logistic regression. However, significant interaction with Combat Exposure Scale (CES) was observed. The interaction effect was also positively associated with Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Higher CES and lower methylation were significantly associated with risk of PTSD, but no significant interaction effect was observed. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to extensively investigate NET gene Polymorphisms and promoter methylation among combat veteran PTSD. Our findings suggest the interaction of combat trauma and risk alleles of NET may account for the increased risk of PTSD. The NET promoter methylation may also participate in the process of PTSD development. Correspondence to: Dr. Zhewu Wang, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 114 Doughty Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA, Tel: 843792-7135, E-mail: wanzh@musc.edu
Thermally switchable adhesions of polystyrene-block-poly(n-isopropylacrylamide) copolymer pillar array mimicking climb attitude of geckos

Inspired by the gecko foot pad, we fabricated polystyrene-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PS-b-PNIPAAm) copolymer pillar array to mimic climbing attitude of a gecko, alternately attach to and detach from a surface. The pillar array structure of the PS segment significantly enhances both of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic property of PNIPAAm segment tips at 25 and 50 °C, respectively, which could generate alternating adhesive forces of approximately 120 and 11 nN. The dramatic change in adhesive and friction force difference at 25 and 50 °C may guide the design of bio-inspired artificial analogues, which could approach gecko's climbing behavior.
A Stochastic Trout Population Model for Supporting Fish Management

Abstract: Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) is an ecologically and economically important fish species in many Swiss rivers. Since the 1980s, a significant decrease of brown trout catches was reported across Swiss rivers. To better understand the causes of this decline, a trout population model was developed a few years ago. It predicted trout densities at single river reaches. We improved this model to better guide management decisions for river restoration. We extended the model by distinguishing stocked and resident fish. This allows us to account for the empirical evidence of different behavior of stocked and resident fish in order to better consider the effect of the most important fish management practice, stocking. We use different mortality rates for stocked and resident fish populations by introducing a mortality rate ratio between stocked and resident fish as a model parameter. The impact of this parameterization is studied by sensitivity analyses of the deterministic fry survival submodel as well as the full, stochastic brown trout life cycle model.
REFLECTANCE METHOD FOR A WEARABLE PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAPHIC SENSOR – EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

This is an open-access ar cle distributed under the terms of the Crea ve Commons A ribu on Non-commercial License (h p://crea vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits use, distribu on, and reproduc on in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. The article presents the design and testing results of a photoplethysmographic signal sensor intended for use in everyday activities.
Nutrition, Activity Intensity and Wage Linkages: Evidence from India

The present study tests the twin hypotheses, namely, (a) the poverty nutrition trap hypothesis that wages affect nutritional status, and (b) the activity hypothesis that activity intensity affects adult nutrition as measured by the Body Mass Index (BMI) in the context of India. The analyses draw upon three rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data in 1992, 1998 and 2005 and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) data in 2005. Our results indicate strong support for both the hypotheses in India. Physically intensive activity tends to worsen the nutritional conditions and there is evidence for a poverty nutrition trap associated with labor market participation.
Tax Progressivity and Recent Evolution of the Finnish Income Inequality

After the Economic Crisis in early 1990s the Finnish economy has recovered rapidly, and simultaneously a major period of equalization from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s has been reversed, taking the levels of the Gini coefficient in a few years back to levels of inequality found 30 years ago. The paper examines how changes in Government policy, and in particular, in the incentives introduced by tax reforms have influenced income inequality. The paper introduces a decomposition of the Gini and concentration coefficients by population groups which are calculated for before- and after-tax incomes to consider evolution of income inequality and tax progressivity in Finland over the period 1990â€“2004. Decompositions of the Gini coefficient of after-tax income by income sources give little information on the effects of taxation. In contrast, popular measures of tax progressivity (Reynolds and Smolensky 1977) show a significant decrease. Our decomposition of the progressivity measure by income deciles focuses on changes in tax treatment of the income deciles in the ten year period after the mid 1990s. The changes in the decile shares of before-tax and after-tax income among those in the highest before-tax income deciles are the main factors that lie behind the recent change in tax progressivity, and play an important role in explaining the recent surge in inequality. These changes have been accompanied with a change in the composition of factor income. There has been an unprecedented increase in capital income which has mainly accrued to the population groups at the high end of the income distribution after the mid 1990s. The change is most clearly seen among those in the top income percentage. The 1993 Finnish tax reform introducing the Nordic dual income tax model, and creating strong incentives to shift labour income to capital income for those in the highest marginal tax brackets, is among the key policy decisions responsible for this trend. Interestingly enough, but consistent with the income shifting hypothesis, we find no increase in horizontal inequality in response to the introduction of the dual income tax.
Earning Profiles for Italian Male Workers: Is There Evidence of a Premium for Education?

Are younger generations better off than older ones? Can younger cohorts starting with lower real wages catch up with previous generations? Are young or old generations becoming more unequal? In this study we concentrate on the study of inter-generational and intra-generational patterns of earnings for Italian male dependent workers for the period 1987-2006. Using data from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth, we construct cohort-education-(macro) region-specific age profiles for mean real wages (the measure of central location here adopted) and for the 90-10 percentile differential (the inequality measure), allowing for region-specific price indexes. We verify how different cohorts have been doing comparatively and finally we test whether, with time, the (mean) returns to experience and education have increased. Our results indicate that, for the two education groups considered, each successive generation has benefited from higher entry wages, but we also find that the wage age-profiles for both education groups have become flatter so that we cannot conclude that more recent cohorts are better off than their immediate predecessors. When looking at high/low education relative wages, we find only scant evidence of positive cohort profiles (i.e. that the education premium has been rising across cohorts), while we notice that the relative wage tends to increase over the life-cycle. Finally, we find that inequality tends to increase with age, while we also find evidence of across-cohort variation, in the direction of increasing inequality. Our provides a clear framework in which “between” and “within” cohort comparisons are meaningful and easily interpretable. Moreover, it allows us to relate our results to those obtained by MaCurdy and Mroz (1995) and Beaudry and Green (2000) in their studies of the earning patterns of, respectively, American and Canadian workers.
Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK): Impact on Student Outcomes.

This paper examines Kentucky's school-finance formula and student outcomes as related to the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990. The report provides background information on KERA and describes the creation of the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funding mechanism, a three-tiered system composed of three distinct but closely related components. The paper focuses on the effects of centralization on SEEK. It looks at past funding strategies for education and provides a review of educational literature on school finance and the relationship of funding to student achievement. It offers a review of school-finance litigation and concludes that the effect of variables on indicators of student achievement produces a largely inconsistent finding. Included in the report are the results of a study in which data from public records for 176 local districts were gathered from the Kentucky School Board Association. The study asked such questions as: To what extent do selected financial characteristics contribute to student performance at the school-district level? Findings show that only one of the three selected financial characteristics influenced the district-level score. Comparisons of district expenditures indicate that significant revenue and spending gaps among Kentucky's 176 school districts still exist. (Contains 30 references.) (RJM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. SUPPORT EDUCATION EXCELLENCE IN KENTUCKY (SEEK): IMPACT ON STUDENT OUTCOMES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 0,"rhis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. 6 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Measuring urban maturation processes in Dutch and Chinese new towns: Combining street network configuration with building density and degree of land use diversification through GIS

Recent advances in software development make it possible to combine various spatial analysis methods to handle large amounts of data of whole towns. The aim of this paper is to present a spatial index method by combining space syntax, spacematrix and Mixed Use Index (MXI) into one model through the use of Geographical Information System (GIS). The challenge of this idea is to render various spatial features that can be quantitatively compared on a reasonably weighted basis, and then explore what this method can contribute to our overall knowledge of urbanism. This paper also reflects upon the results gleaned from the application of this new spatial index method to several case studies. As it turns out, the combined methodology makes it possible to measure the various degrees of urban maturation processes. The proposed spatial index method is tested on three new towns and one old town in the Netherlands, and one new town in China. Preliminary results support a hypothesis that the spatial configurations of a street network innately determine the urban maturation process. By contrast, the interrelationship between the various degrees of the three spatial variables (i.e., the ‘match rate’) affects a town’s maturation process over time. Based on these initial findings, two hypotheses for further empirical testing are proposed. The first is that a suitable matrix will help to better evaluate a town’s urban maturation process. The second hypothesis is that current planning practice seems to conflict with natural urban maturation processes, which results in new urban areas lacking economic vitality and vibrant street life. These understandings represent a first step towards designing spatial strategies for dealing with the urban challenge of promoting lively new towns in Europe and China.
The quality of behavioral and environmental indicators used to infer the intention to change lanes

This study focuses on the examination and comparison of selected behavioural and environmental indicators that predict the intention to change lanes. These indicators were chosen from previous driving studies and driver models. The data were gathered in a field study with an instrumented car that can log data from the driver, the car, and the environment. The collected data were analysed and modelled with the help of a "knowledge discovery framework" (Georgeon, Mille, & Bellet, 2006). The first analysis of all lane changes caused by a slow leading vehicle focuses on the following indicators: glance to the left outside mirror, turn signal, and lane crossing. It is shown that the glance to the left outside mirror could serve as a predictor with a high potential to get information about the intention to change lanes in a very early stage. However, it is important to combine this predictor with additional predictors to avoid a high false alarm rate.
Village-Based Institutional Development Strategy to Prevent the Paddy-Field Conversion at Pandeglang Regency, Banten, Indonesia

Indonesia government needs innovative policies preventing the paddy-field conversion in the current era of regional decentralization. Average of paddy-field conversion in Indonesia has reached 187,200 hectares per year. Irrigated-paddy-field in Indonesia that converted to non-agricultural purpose in 2009 had already reached 3.09 million hectares (42.4 percent). The highest conversion areas were in Java and Bali islands that reached 1.67 million hectares. The study in Pandeglang Regency has shown the prior strategy to prevent paddy-field conversion. It requires the integration the protection toward the peasant based on inter- village participatory partnership to develop the rural area. The developed institution should follow the current applicable regulation, namely the Local Public Service Agency or Badan Layanan Umum Daerah (BLUD) to protect the paddy-fields. It does not only by managing logistic to support the production of the peasants, but also as a synchronizer among multi-parties for the empowerment actions of the peasants to manage the paddy-field farming. The government should use various development approach policies to prevent paddy-field conversion. Top-down development and bottom-up approach is required to be affirmed. Moreover, technocratic approach should be supported by participatory development. Otherwise, the stakeholders should be involved to implement the rural-based institutional development strategy preventing the paddy-field conversion.
The Impact of Affirmative Action on the Gendered Occupational Segregation in South Africa

This paper studies the impact of an affirmative action policy on occupational segregation by gender in South Africa. We estimate effects of the Employment Equity Act of 1998, the Black Economic Empowerment Act in 2003 and the Codes of Good Conduct in 2007 on (Black) female employment in top occupations using individual level, repeated cross-section data of 21 years. The findings based on difference-in-difference-in-difference identification strategy show that the probability of Black female employment in top occupations increased after 2003, however it decreased after 2007. Overall, the effects are quite small. We offer several explanations for these effects.
Acoustic species identification of schooling fish

Korneliussen, R. J., Heggelund, Y. , Eliassen, I. K. , and Johansen, G. O. 2009. Acoustic species identification of schooling fish. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1111-1118.The development of methods for the acoustic identification of fish is a long-term objective aimed at reducing uncertainty in acoustic-survey estimates. The relative frequency response r(f) measured simultaneously at several frequencies is one of the main acoustic features that characterize the targets, but the relationship between nearest neighbours, school morphology, and environmental and geographical data are also important characteristics in this context. The number of acoustic categories that can be separated with a high spatial resolution is limited by the stochastic nature of the measurements. Because the acoustic categorization of larger ensembles is more reliable than for single targets, spatial smoothing of the backscattering within the school boundaries before that process allows the separation of more categories than is possible with the raw, highly resolved data. Using the mean r(f) of an entire school gives even more reliable categorization, but determining whether or not the school is monospecific sets a new challenge. This problem is evaluated here. The methods are tested and verified. Identification of acoustic categories with similar acoustic properties is done for schooling fish, although the results have limited spatial resolution. The reliability of the categorization is further improved when knowledge of school morphology and geographical distribution of the species are taken into account.