Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Country-led monitoring and evaluation systems through the lens of participatory governance and co-production: Implications for a Made in Africa Evaluation approach

management and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) became commonplace, the features of which continue to imbue national M&E systems across the continent. These systems, if not intentionally so designed and implemented, are not particularly focused on learning for course-correction and performance improvement from the perspective of citizens. Conducting evaluations, in particular, is often based on the need for accountability to funders or decision-makers, as opposed to downward accountability to the public and intended beneficiaries of the interventions. Objectives: This article explores how localised approaches to governance (merged with co-production) could ensure that evaluation systems are liberatory if they are endogenous and indigenous in their design and respond to the needs of citizens (rather than serving an upward accountability agenda). Method: Through the analytical framework of participatory governance and co-production, this article examines how participatory approaches to establishing national evaluation (and monitoring) systems may help the African continent liberate itself from the instrumental adoption of M&E systems, defined by compliance and accountability, and instead design systems based on a citizen-owned, people-centred notion of downward accountability. Results: Participatory governance and co-production are well aligned to the principles of MAE (Made in Africa Evaluation) and may provide the means to arriving at more inclusive forms of M&E systems development and, concomitantly, more inclusive ways of producing and using evidence for policy, governance and development on a national scale. Conclusion: Although desirable due its potential to transform systems of governance to become more citizen-centred, co-production must not be romanticised nor over-simplified. Increasing levels of citizen participation in governance must consider that there are significant changes that need to be made to institutional structures and processes, such as new forms of accountability, governance, systems and structures for citizen involvement. Therefore, a combination of practical, technical, ideological, relational and political factors must be considered in the adoption of more participatory approaches in establishing national M&E systems.
Correspondence analysis in practice

Preface Scatterplots and Maps Profiles and the Profile Space Masses and Centroids Chi-Square Distance and Inertia Plotting Chi-Square Distances Reduction of Dimensionality Optimal Scaling Symmetry of Row and Column Analyses Two-Dimensional Maps Three More Examples Contributions to Inertia Supplementary Points Correspondence Analysis Biplots Transition and Regression Relationships Clustering Rows and Columns Multiway Tables Stacked Tables Multiple Correspondence Analysis Joint Correspondence Analysis Scaling Properties of MCA Subset Correspondence Analysis Analysis of Square Tables Data Recoding Canonical Correspondence Analysis Aspects of Stability and Inference Appendix A: Theory of Correspondence Analysis Appendix B: Computation of Correspondence Analysis Appendix C: Bibliography of Correspondence Analysis Appendix D: Glossary of Terms Appendix E: Epilogue Index
Wireless Echo Friendly Communication System for Future Broad Band Applications

Our aim is to build an eco-friendly system for the assortment of information from the environment. The system must be power-independent with the usage of renewable power bases. As a holdup different resources in power source in the event of critical conditions, other ecological technologies can be used. Our proposed system needs to be power efficient and should be able to accomplish itself without any exterior observation.
Mitochondria-Associated Endoplasmic Reticulum Membranes: Inextricably Linked with Autophagy Process

Mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs), physical connection sites between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), are involved in numerous cellular processes, such as calcium ion transport, lipid metabolism, autophagy, ER stress, mitochondria morphology, and apoptosis. Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular process in which cellular contents are delivered by double-membrane vesicles, called autophagosomes, to the lysosomes for destruction and recycling. Autophagy, typically triggered by stress, eliminates damaged or redundant protein molecules and organelles to maintain regular cellular activity. Dysfunction of MAMs or autophagy is intimately associated with various diseases, including aging, cardiovascular, infections, cancer, multiple toxic agents, and some genetic disorders. Increasing evidence has shown that MAMs play a significant role in autophagy development and maturation. In our study, we concentrated on two opposing functions of MAMs in autophagy: facilitating the formation of autophagosomes and inhibiting autophagy. We recognized the link between MAMs and autophagy in the occurrence and progression of the diseases and therefore collated and summarized the existing intrinsic molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, we draw attention to several crucial data and open issues in the area that may be helpful for further study.
Investigation of Highly Efficient Five Level Asymmetrical Inverter Family With Embedded Buck-Boost Converter

In recent years, focus is given to the increment of the power conversion efficiency of multilevel inverters with integrated voltage boosting characteristics. This can be accomplished by integrating DC/DC converters, featuring partial processing characteristics. In this paper the optimal configuration of the front-end DC/DC converter is proposed considering the lowest power processed by the integrated DC/DC converter for a given asymmetrical five-level topology. It is shown that the Buck-Boost converter is the best candidate solution if the proper configuration is adopted. The operation with asymmetrical output voltage levels offers the ability for variable voltage gain and extension of the input voltage range. However, to avoid low order harmonics due to the asymmetrical levels a modified modulation scheme is proposed. Furthermore, it is proven through rigorous mathematical analysis that efficiency and power density increment can be achieved only if the appropriate mode of operation of the Buck-Boost converter is chosen. The previous statement is supported through an analytical comparison considering the three possible operating modes, proving that DCM operation is the optimal solution. Concluding, a 1.5kVA laboratory prototype is designed with a peak efficiency of 98.7% and experimental results are provided, denoting the converter performance and the accuracy of the preceded analysis.
A formal evaluation of The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic orientation session: A quality improvement project

ABSTRACT Background Chronic pain affects approximately one in every five Canadians and has a substantial impact on psychological well-being, relationships, ability to attend work or school, and overall functioning.The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic introduced orientation sessions, with the aim of providing new patients with pain education to help prepare patients for engagement with multimodal pain management strategies. This report summarizes the results of a formative evaluation of the orientation session at The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic to determine whether patients perceived the orientation session as beneficial. Methods Interviews were conducted, transcribed, and then thematically analyzed to understand patients’ perspectives on the orientation session. Coding was done by two team members using the constant comparison analyses method with key ideas, concepts, and patterns identified and compared to identify similarities. Results Between September 6 and October 18, 2019, 18 patients attended an orientation session and 12 consented to participation and completed telephone interviews. The six themes identified included (1) feeling of community, (2) participants feeling heard by providers, (3) appreciation of the holistic approach, (4) availability of community resources, (5) barriers to access, and (6) discordant feelings of preparedness for the physician appointment. Conclusion Results from this evaluation indicate that the orientation session offered at The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic improves chronic pain literacy, reduces feeling of isolation, and instills hope. As such, it appears to be a valuable component of pain clinic programs.
EFL Teachers Teach Heterogeneous Classroom in One Junior High School in Medan: A Phenomenological Study

Teachers, of course, need to have some ways in handling students with various skills in a classroom. This research was done in One Junior High School in Medan. There were five EFL teachers participated in this study. Researcher used a qualitative which focused on phenomenology as the research method. Some findings were categorized into some themes. The findings showed some students’ diversity aspects such as Current Level of English, Potential Learning Ability, Motivation, Learner Independence and Autonomy Personality, Learning Style, Confidence, Discipline and Interest. These aspects of diversity were according to Goncharova’s theory (2003). These findings also indicated that teachers ought to motivate their students to result on the performance of the students in teaching and learning process and Furthermore, teachers should have strategies that can take students’ interests to study. Most importantly, teachers needed to be able to understand each of their students well because teachers have to cooperate with all mixed-ability students well during the teaching and learning process. In short, teachers can take advantage of approaching and talking in personal, creating more enjoyable activities and making a contract of language-learning with the students whose very uncooperative. EFL teachers who face the heterogenous classes do not need to be perturbed on how to manage students with different ability. The more teachers apply a mixture of strategies, the easier they teach the heterogenous classes and the better the learning outcome will be.
A Weak Quantum Oblivious Transfer

Due to the commonly known impossibility results, information theoretic security is considered impossible for oblivious transfer (OT) in both the classical and the quantum world. In this paper, we proposed a weak version of the all-or-nothing OT. In our protocol the honest parties do not need long term quantum memory, entanglements, or sophisticated quantum computations. We observe some difference between the classical and quantum OT impossibilities.
Analysis of Survival Data by a Weibull-generalized Sibuya Distribution

In this paper, we consider a survival model of a series system with random sample size, Z. Such a situation arises in competing risk analysis where the number of causes of failure is random and only the minimum of the survival times due to various causes is observed. Considering the distribution of Z as generalized Sibuya and the baseline distribution as Weibull, a Weibull-generalized Sibuya distribution is derived. The structural properties of the proposed model are studied along with the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters. Extensive simulation studies are carried out to study the performance of the estimators. For illustration, two real data sets are analyzed and it is shown that the proposed model fits better than some of the existing models.
A History of Parametric Statistical Inference from Bernoulli to Fisher, 1713-1935

The Three Revolutions in Parametric Statistical Inference. - The Three Revolutions in Parametric Statistical Inference. - Binomial Statistical Inference. - James Bernoulli's Law of Large Numbers for the Binomial, 1713, and Its Generalization. - De Moivre's Normal Approximation to the Binomial, 1733, and Its Generalization. - Bayes's Posterior Distribution of the Binomial Parameter and His Rule for Inductive Inference, 1764. - Statistical Inference by Inverse Probability. - Laplace's Theory of Inverse Probability, 1774-1786. - A Nonprobabilistic Interlude: The Fitting of Equations to Data, 1750-1805. - Gauss's Derivation of the Normal Distribution and the Method of Least Squares, 1809. - Credibility and Confidence Intervals by Laplace and Gauss. - The Multivariate Posterior Distribution. - Edgeworth's Genuine Inverse Method and the Equivalence of Inverse and Direct Probability in Large Samples, 1908 and 1909. - Criticisms of Inverse Probability. - The Central Limit Theorem and Linear Minimum Variance Estimation by Laplace and Gauss. - Laplace's Central Limit Theorem and Linear Minimum Variance Estimation. - Gauss's Theory of Linear Minimum Variance Estimation. - Error Theory. Skew Distributions. Correlation. Sampling Distributions. - The Development of a Frequentist Error Theory. - Skew Distributions and the Method of Moments. - Normal Correlation and Regression. - Sampling Distributions Under Normality, 1876-1908. - The Fisherian Revolution, 1912-1935. - Fisher's Early Papers, 1912-1921. - The Revolutionary Paper, 1922. - Studentization, the F Distribution, and the Analysis of Variance, 1922-1925. - The Likelihood Function, Ancillarity, and Conditional Inference.
Dynamical coupled-channels model of $K^- p$ reactions. II. Extraction of $\Lambda^*$ and $\Sigma^*$ hyperon resonances

Resonance parameters (pole masses and residues) associated with the excited states of hyperons, Lambda^* and Sigma^*, are extracted within a dynamical coupled-channels model developed recently by us [Phys. Rev. C 90, 065204 (2014)] through a comprehensive partial-wave analysis of the K^- p --> barK N, pi Sigma, pi Lambda, eta Lambda, K Xi data up to invariant mass W = 2.1 GeV. We confirm the existence of resonances corresponding to most, if not all, of the four-star resonances rated by the Particle Data Group. We also find several new resonances, and in particular propose a possible existence of a new narrow J^P=3/2^+ Lambda resonance that couples strongly to the eta Lambda channel. The J^P=1/2^- Lambda resonances located below the barK N threshold are also discussed. Comparing our extracted pole masses with the ones from a recent analysis by the Kent State University group, some significant differences in the extracted resonance parameters are found, suggesting the need of more extensive and accurate data of K^- p reactions including polarization observables to eliminate such an analysis dependence of the resonance parameters. In addition, the determined large branching ratios of the decays of high-mass resonances to the pi Sigma^* and barK^* N channels also suggest the importance of the data of 2 --> 3 reactions such as K^- p --> pi pi Lambda and K^- p --> pi barK N. Experiments on measuring cross sections and polarization observables of these fundamental reactions are highly desirable at hadron beam facilities such as J-PARC for establishing the Lambda^* and Sigma^* spectrum.
A Smooth Estimator of Regression Function for Non-negative Dependent Random Variables

Commonly used kernel regression estimators may not provide admissible values of the regression function or its functionals at the boundaries, for regressions with restricted support. Any smoothing method will become less accurate near the boundary of the observation interval because fewer observations can be averaged, and thus variance or bias can be affected. Here, we adapt Chaubey et al. (2007)'s method of density estimation for nonnegative random variables to define a smooth estimator of the regression function. The estimator is based on a generalization of Hille's lemma and a perturbation idea. Its uniform consistency and asymptotic normality are obtained, for the sake of generality, under a stationary ergodic process assumption for the data . The asymptotic mean squared error is derived and the optimal value of smoothing parameter is also discussed. Graphical illustration of the proposed estimator are provided on simulated as well as real-life data.
Design and Optimization a New Spoke-Type Flux-Modulation Machine With Inverted T-Shape Permanent Magnets

This paper takes a new spoke-type flux-modulation (STFM) machine with inverted T-shape permanent magnets as the research object and proposes a multi-objective optimization design method based on air-gap flux density harmonics to improve the torque and torque ripple. The key of the proposed method is to optimize the overall torque performance by improving the contribution of main air-gap harmonics to torque and torque ripple. The working harmonic expression of the machine is firstly obtained based on the magnetomotive force (MMF) -permeance model due to the new rotor structure make the working harmonics are different from the existing flux-modulation PM machine. Then, the torques generated by the 11th and 31st air-gap harmonics and the torque ripple generated by the 29th air-gap harmonics are taken as sub-objectives. Furthermore, the response surface analysis (RSM) and the barebones multi-objective particle swarm optimization (BB_MOPSO) algorithm are combined to optimize three sub-objectives. The overall torque and torque ripple are improved due to the optimization of three sub-objectives. Moreover, the 20-slot/11-pole pair traditional model is used as a benchmark to verify the performance of the investigated machine. Finally, a prototype is manufactured and tested to verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis.
Designing New Futures for Design Education

Abstract The design community has made several calls to re-imagine a design education for the future. Here I share a series of visual representations of guiding principles for design curricula that respond to these calls. These sketches were created over several years, exploring visually different objectives for design curricula. In doing the drawings, I wrestle with my own urge to break away from the Ulm-inspired design education of my youth. I created these drawings, often inspired by other images, over several years, as I reflected on design curricula inspired by different contexts: the needs of people in the Global South and of the most “vulnerable” countries (as defined by the United Nations); the pedagogical strategies of Freirean-inspired critical and empowering design education; design education methodologies that mean to promote twenty-first-century skills; design education practices inspired by Latin American decolonial scholars; and, finally, the complexities of pan-African identity. The article acknowledges other examples of decolonial design curricula. While none of the sketches is a complete curriculum, each invites other educators to challenge existing design education paradigms and create culturally relevant curricula for learners in their contexts.
Cyclosporine A Modulates LSP1 Protein Levels in Human B Cells to Attenuate B Cell Migration at Low O2 Levels

Coordinated migration of B cells within and between secondary lymphoid tissues is required for robust antibody responses to infection or vaccination. Secondary lymphoid tissues normally expose B cells to a low O2 (hypoxic) environment. Recently, we have shown that human B cell migration is modulated by an O2-dependent molecular switch, centrally controlled by the hypoxia-induced (transcription) factor-1α (HIF1A), which can be disrupted by the immunosuppressive calcineurin inhibitor, cyclosporine A (CyA). However, the mechanisms by which low O2 environments attenuate B cell migration remain poorly defined. Proteomics analysis has linked CXCR4 chemokine receptor signaling to cytoskeletal rearrangement. We now hypothesize that the pathways linking the O2 sensing molecular switch to chemokine receptor signaling and cytoskeletal rearrangement would likely contain phosphorylation events, which are typically missed in traditional transcriptomic and/or proteomic analyses. Hence, we have performed a comprehensive phosphoproteomics analysis of human B cells treated with CyA after engagement of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 with CXCL12. Statistical analysis of the separate and synergistic effects of CyA and CXCL12 revealed 116 proteins whose abundance is driven by a synergistic interaction between CyA and CXCL12. Further, we used our previously described algorithm BONITA to reveal a critical role for Lymphocyte Specific Protein 1 (LSP1) in cytoskeletal rearrangement. LSP1 is known to modulate neutrophil migration. Validating these modeling results, we show experimentally that LSP1 levels in B cells increase with low O2 exposure, and CyA treatment results in decreased LSP1 protein levels. This correlates with the increased chemotactic activity observed after CyA treatment. Lastly, we directly link LSP1 levels to chemotactic capacity, as shRNA knock-down of LSP1 results in significantly increased B cell chemotaxis at low O2 levels. These results directly link CyA to LSP1-dependent cytoskeletal regulation, demonstrating a previously unrecognized mechanism by which CyA modulates human B cell migration. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD036167.
Using a social robot for children with autism: A therapist‐robot interactive model

Social robots have great potential for the therapy of children with autism spectrum disorder, but the practical use of them is challenging. In this article, we presented a social robot YANG, which can interact with children with autism in their daily training. We propose a therapist‐robot interactive (TRI) model, which integrates with the practice of discrete trial training (DTT), a basic method utilized in autism training. To evaluate the TRI model, we implemented the model in YANG and conducted a single‐subject experiment in a rehabilitation training center. Data were collected on three children (ages 3–4) and their three therapists as they interacted with YANG in training sessions. Results showed that the children's learning ability significantly improved. YANG formed natural and friendly relationships with the children and delivered substantial support to therapists. Our research brings insight into using social robots for children with autism.
Nanotechnology driven improvement of smart food packaging

ABSTRACT The excellence of nanotechnology paved the way for its application in the food industry recently. Several industrial initiatives are now working on developing nano-based food packaging to improve food quality and ensure its safety. Along with providing improved mechanical property and barrier system, it also intimates the current condition of a food product. The ultimate goal is to extend the shelf life of food products, which the use of nanostructures can accomplish. The fabricated nanostructure is designed to release preservatives such as antimicrobials, at times to improve the shelf life. Two key applications of nanotechnology in the food sector are to develop nanostructured materials for food packaging or processing and nanosensors to detect food spoilage. This review discusses the types of nanomaterials used for food packaging, the advantages of nanobased packaging over conventional methods, and provides an overview of the risk of nanoparticles on the biological system.
PriMax: maximizing DSL application performance with selective primitive acceleration

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) improve developer productivity by abstracting away low-level details of an algorithm's implementation within a specialized domain. These languages often provide powerful primitives to describe complex operations, potentially granting flexibility during compilation to target hardware acceleration. This work proposes PriMax, a novel methodology to effectively map DSL applications to hardware accelerators. It builds decision trees based on benchmark results, which select between distinct implementations of accelerated primitives to maximize a target performance metric. In our graph analytics case study with two accelerators, PriMax produces a geometric mean speedup of 1.57x over a multicore CPU, higher than either target accelerator alone, and approaching the maximum 1.58x speedup attainable with these target accelerators.