Volume Integral Equation Methods for Forward and Inverse Bioelectromagnetic Approaches

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Socio-economics of pearl culture : industry changes and comparisons focussing on Australia and French Polynesia.

Concentrates on comparing socio-economic aspects of pearl culture in Australia, which mostly relies on the culture of the South Sea pearl oyster P. maxima, with that in French Polynesia which depends on the culture of the black-lipped pearl oyster P. margaritifera. Australian culture of pearl oysters dates from the 1950s whereas culture of black pearls in French Polynesia dates from the second half of the 1970s. After briefly outlining the history of pearl culture in Australia and Tahiti, this paper provides an overview of the industry, comparative structure of the industry in Australia and French Polynesia and its technologies. Socio-economic impacts, especially regional impacts, of the industry are considered. Market characteristics (such as prices of pearls and the marketing and promotion of Tahitian pearls) are given attention and observations are made about Australian export markets for pearls. There appears to be some positive correlation between the price received on average for Tahitian pearls and that obtained for Australian pearl exports, but more control is exerted over Australian supply of pearls to the market so enabling declines in the price for Australian pearls to be counteracted quickly

Como as infecções sexualmente transmissíveis são apresentadas em manuais escolares de 16 países e que formas de prevenção são facultadas

National audienceWithin the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN "Biology, Health and Environmental Education for better citizenship" was carried out a comparative analysis on the topic "Human Reproduction and Sexuality," for which was built a grid of analysis applied to specific textbooks of 16 countries (Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Tunisia, Senegal). in this paper we present the results on how the sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) are presented in textbooks and which means of preventing these diseases are referred to. AIDS is the STI most commonly presented, being present in all the analyzed textbooks of the various countries whereas the occurrence of other STI (Chlamydia, genital herpes, human papilloma virus, syphilis, gonorrhoea, cancroids, viral hepatitis, virginities) is variable among the textbooks of the 16 countries. Regarding methods of prevention of STIs, the use of condoms during sexual intercourse is the most frequently mentioned, and the images were generally of a condom wrapped in its casing or outside it, or unwound. Textbooks from France, Senegal and Tunisia are the most anchored in the Biomedical model, providing abundant scientific information and leaving behind the Health Promotion for the development of competencies for a healthy sexual behaviour. In contrast, textbooks from Finland emphasise Health Promotion, facilitating young people developing their knowledge based competencies and so being able to adopt responsible behaviours for themselves and for the others. In textbooks from Morocco and from Tunisia there are examples of traditional values and specific culture which are transmitted together with scientific knowledge e moral contents in an injunctive way. It can be concluded that Sex Education contents in textbooks of the several countries result of the interaction between scientific knowledge, values and social practices.No âmbito do projeto Europeu Biohead-Citizen "Biologia, Saúde e Educação Ambiental para uma melhor cidadania" foi levada a cabo uma análise comparativa no tópico "Reprodução Humana e Sexualidade", para a qual se construiu uma grelha de análise específica aplicada em manuais escolares de 16 países (Alemanha, Chipre, Estónia, Finlândia, França, Hungria, Itália, Líbano, Lituânia, Malta, Marrocos, Polónia, Portugal, Roménia, Tunísia, Senegal). No presente trabalho apresentam-se os resultados sobre a forma como as Infeções Sexualmente Transmissíveis (IST) são apresentadas nos manuais e que meios de prevenção destas doenças são referidos. A SIDA é a IST mais comummente apresentada, estando presente em todos os manuais escolares analisados dos vários países, sendo que a ocorrência de outras IST (clamídia, herpes genital, papiloma vírus humano, sífilis, gonorreia, cancroide, hepatite viral, vaginite) é variável entre os manuais dos 16 países. No que concerne métodos de prevenção das IST, o uso do preservativo masculino nas relações sexuais é o mais referido, sendo as imagens geralmente de um preservativo masculino enrolado no seu invólucro ou fora deste, ou desenrolado. Os manuais de França Senegal e Tunísia são os que se encontram mais ancorados no modelo Biomédico, providenciando informação científica em abundância e relegando para segundo plano a Promoção da Saúde e do desenvolvimento de competências para um comportamento sexual saudável. Por outro lado, os manuais da Finlândia enfatizam a Promoção da Saúde, facilitando aos jovens o desenvolvimento de competências baseadas no conhecimento que estes adquirem, e assim poderem adotar comportamentos responsáveis para com eles próprios e para com os outros. Nos manuais Marroquinos e Tunisinos encontram-se exemplos de os valores tradicionais de uma cultura própria, que são veiculados juntamente com o conhecimento científico, através de conteúdos morais de forma imperativa. Pode-se concluir que os conteúdos de Educação Sexual e como estes são apresentados nos manuais escolares dos diversos países resultam das interações entre o conhecimento científico, os valores, e as práticas sociais

Multiple Noises in Diffusion Model for Semi-Supervised Multi-Domain Translation

Domain-to-domain translation involves generating a target domain sample given a condition in the source domain. Most existing methods focus on fixed input and output domains, i.e. they only work for specific configurations (i.e. for two domains, either $D_1\rightarrow{}D_2$ or $D_2\rightarrow{}D_1$). This paper proposes Multi-Domain Diffusion (MDD), a conditional diffusion framework for multi-domain translation in a semi-supervised context. Unlike previous methods, MDD does not require defining input and output domains, allowing translation between any partition of domains within a set (such as $(D_1, D_2)\rightarrow{}D_3$, $D_2\rightarrow{}(D_1, D_3)$, $D_3\rightarrow{}D_1$, etc. for 3 domains), without the need to train separate models for each domain configuration. The key idea behind MDD is to leverage the noise formulation of diffusion models by incorporating one noise level per domain, which allows missing domains to be modeled with noise in a natural way. This transforms the training task from a simple reconstruction task to a domain translation task, where the model relies on less noisy domains to reconstruct more noisy domains. We present results on a multi-domain (with more than two domains) synthetic image translation dataset with challenging semantic domain inversion

Determinants of tax non-compliance among small and medium-sized corporations in Sarawak: tax audit data

One of country's sources of income to stimulus economic development is based on a tax managed to be collected. In Malaysia, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (TRBM) is an agency appointed to govern the direct tax collection which is known as income tax. Income tax is the main contributor to most of the country's revenue. Performance statistics shown that the tax collection reported by the IRBM increasing annually. However, non-compliance issue tremendously increased with an increase in the number of tax audit cases finalized with audit adjustments and penalties. This study is carried out to identify the determinant of non-compliance among the Small and Medium Corporations (SMCs). Secondary data is obtained from the IRBM taxation Audit Case Management System as quantitative data for the purpose of this study. Samples of the study population used the SMCs tax audit case finalized in year 2018 at Sarawak's IRBM branches. The focus of the study is on company location, industry type, company size and financial liquidity of SM Cs. The results showed that there was a significant difference between SMCs tax non-compliance in Sarawak branches and the type of industry as well as the size of the company factors. However, there is no significant difference between SM Cs tax non-compliance in Sarawak branches and the company location and company's financial liquidity factors. The result of this study is expected to provide additional information to tax literatures and assistance to the IRBM in Sarawak to enhance the tax compliance among SMCs in Sarawak

The effect of wheat variety, fermentation and incorporation of ingredients on the texture profile, colour and sensory attributes of whole wheat bread

Whole grain flour is gaining an increase in demand for its nutritive and health promotion values in different food products for human consumption worldwide. Whole flour from wheat grain varieties (Gihundo, Kibatsi, Nyaruka and Reberaho), spent coffee grounds (SCG), juices of lemon fruit (L) and rosemary leaves (R), and dough fermentation were assessed for their impact on the texture profile, colour and sensory attributes of bread. Wheat grains (sampled from the stores of Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, Kinigi, Rwanda) were conditioned to 15.5% moisture content and were wholly milled. The mixture of 200 g whole wheat flour, 4% spent coffee grounds, 1% juice of lemon fruit and 1% juice of rosemary leaves were fermented by using 2% instant dry yeast at 34 °C, 60% relative humidity (RH) for 60 min and at 39 °C, 85% RH for 120 min, separately. The dough was baked at 180 °C for 20 min. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance using SAS System. Treatment means were separated using Tukey’s test and the least significant difference was accepted at p ≤ 0.05. The control bread was made for 60 min of fermentation without incorporation of SCG and LR. The control bread was harder than the bread containing SCG and SCG+LR with the same time of fermentation. The long fermentation and the inclusion of SCG and SCG+LR in doughs, caused the supplemented bread to have lower L*, a* and b* values than control bread. Low L*, a* and b* values indicate minimum darkness, redness and yellowness of bread. Aroma, taste and appearance of SCG+LR bread from doughs fermented for 120 min were the most liked. Whole wheat bread obtained satisfied consumers’ preferences. Therefore, the application of spent coffee grounds, juices of lemon fruit and rosemary leaves in bread making represents a good opportunity at low cost

Variable Stars in the Cetus dSph Galaxy: Population Gradients and Connections with the Star Formation History

We investigate the variable star content of the isolated, Local Group, dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) Cetus. Multi-epoch, wide-field images collected with the VLT/VIMOS camera allowed us to detect 638 variable stars (630 RR Lyrae stars and 8 Anomalous Cepheids), 475 of which are new detections. We present a full catalogue of periods, amplitudes, and mean magnitudes. Motivated by the recent discovery that the pulsational properties of the RR Lyrae stars in the Tucana dSph revealed the presence of a metallicity gradient within the oldest (>10 Gyr old) stellar populations, we investigated the possibility of an analogous effect in Cetus. We found that, despite the obvious radial gradient in the Horizontal Branch (HB) and Red Giant Branch (RGB) morphologies, both becoming bluer on average for increasing distance from the center of Cetus, the properties of the RR Lyrae stars are homogeneous within the investigated area (out to r~15'), with no significant evidence of a radial gradient. We discuss this in connection with the star formation history (SFH) previously derived for the two galaxies. The observed differences between these two systems show that even systems this small show a variety of early evolutionary histories. These differences could be due to different merger or accretion histories.Comment: Accepted for publication on MNRAS. The complete set of light curves and finding charts, together with the full table of the pulsational properties of all variable stars will be available in the on-line edition of the pape

Comparison of Microscopy and PCR for Detection of Giardia Lamblia and Entamoeba Histolytica in Human Stool Specimens in a Resource Limited Setting in Western Kenya

BACKGROUND፡ Accurate diagnosis of Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica is important since these intestinal parasites account for a significant proportion of morbidity and mortality globally. Microscopy is the key diagnostic test used for diagnosis of the two parasites. Other tests including rapid diagnostic tests and polymerase chain reaction have been developed to improve the detection of these parasites. Most of these newer tests are not affordable in resource limited settings, hence the over reliance on microscopy. The objective of this study was to determine the reliability of microscopy in a resource limited setting in Western Kenya, a region endemic for the two intestinal parasites.METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction, the gold standard test, was performed on stool samples suspected for G. lamblia and E. histolytica. Microscopy was then performed on the same samples and the two tests compared.RESULTS: Microscopy was found to be 64.4% sensitive, 86.6% specific for the detection of G. lamblia. Additionally, this test was 64.2% sensitive and 83.6% specific for the diagnosis of E. histolytica. Cohen’s kappa values of 0.51 and 0.47 were determined for microscopy for G. lamblia and E. histolytica respectively. McNemar’s test revealed a significant difference between the two tests, P<0.001.CONCLUSION: This study found microscopy to be a reliable diagnostic test in this resource limited setting

L'éducation à la santé : analyse comparative des manuels scolaires de biologie de 3 pays méditerranéens

International audienceCe travail présente une analyse comparative de manuels scolaires de trois pays méditerranéens (France, Liban et Maroc) en utilisant la même grille spécifique d'analyse. Nous travaillons principalement dans le domaine de la biologie et de la santé. Notre point de vue est résolument didactique, c'est à dire que nos analyses (et donc nos instruments) sont centrés sur des contenus et objectifs relatifs à un enseignement disciplinaire et à un thème précis au sein de cette discipline, celui de l'éducation à la santé et de la prévention. Quelle est la nature des images pour l'éducation à la santé ? Quel modèle d'éducation à la santé et de prévention est privilégié dans ces manuels? Quels sont les styles pédagogiques utilisés ? Telles sont les trois questions qui sont au centre des enjeux de la promotion et de l'éducation à la santé à l'école et auxquelles nos analyses essaient d'apporter une réponse

RR Lyrae variables in M32 and the disk of M31

We observed two fields near M32 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys/High Resolution Channel (ACS/HRC) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The main field, F1, is 1.8 arcmin from the center of M32; the second field, F2, constrains the M31 background, and is 5.4 arcmin distant. Each field was observed for 16-orbits in each of the F435W (narrow B) and F555W (narrow V) filters. The duration of the observations allowed RR Lyrae stars and other short-period variables to be detected. A population of RR Lyrae stars determined to belong to M32 would prove the existence of an ancient population in that galaxy, a subject of some debate. We detected 17 RR Lyrae variables in F1 and 14 in F2. A 1-sigma upper limit of 6 RR Lyrae variables belonging to M32 is inferred from these two fields alone. Use of our two ACS/WFC parallel fields provides better constraints on the M31 background, however, and implies that $7_{-3}^{+4}$ (68 % confidence interval) RR Lyrae variables in F1 belong to M32. We have therefore found evidence for an ancient population in M32. It seems to be nearly indistinguishable from the ancient population of M31. The RR Lyrae stars in the F1 and F2 fields have indistinguishable mean V-band magnitudes, mean periods, distributions in the Bailey diagram and ratios of RRc to RR(tot) types. However, the color distributions in the two fields are different, with a population of red RRab variables in F1 not seen in F2. We suggest that these might be identified with the detected M32 RR Lyrae population, but the small number of stars rules out a definitive claim.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted Ap