Hall Effect Parameters of Aluminium and Tungsten Co-Doped VO2 Thin Films

The Hall Effect parameters of Al and W co-doped VO2 thin films were studied in order to explain the effect of co-doping on the electrical properties of thermochromic VO2 films. The carrier concentrations and conductivity of the films were found to increase with increase in temperature while carrier mobility decreased reaching a minimum around the transition temperature then slightly rose and became stable at high temperatures. Tungsten doped films displayed higher carrier concentrations and conductivity on both sides of the metal insulator transition and lower mobility compared to undoped and Al and W co-doped VO2 thin films.Keywords: Vanadium dioxide; Hall effect; Career concentration; career mobilit

Evaluating the impact of an intervention to increase uptake of modern contraceptives among adolescent girls (15-19 years) in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania: the Adolescents 360 quasi-experimental study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania have some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates and lowest rates of modern contraceptive use among adolescents. The transdisciplinary Adolescents 360 (A360) initiative being rolled out across these three countries uses human-centred design to create context-specific multicomponent interventions with the aim of increasing voluntary modern contraceptive use among girls aged 15-19 years. METHODS: The primary objective of the outcome evaluation is to assess the impact of A360 on the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) among sexually active girls aged 15-19 years. A360 targets different subpopulations of adolescent girls in the three countries. In Northern Nigeria and Ethiopia, the study population is married girls aged 15-19 years. In Southern Nigeria, the study population is unmarried girls aged 15-19 years. In Tanzania, both married and unmarried girls aged 15-19 years will be included in the study. In all settings, we will use a prepopulation and postpopulation-based cross-sectional survey design. In Nigeria, the study design will also include a comparison group. A one-stage sampling design will be used in Nigeria and Ethiopia. A two-stage sampling design will be used in Tanzania. Questionnaires will be administered face-to-face by female interviewers aged between 18 and 26 years. Study outcomes will be assessed before the start of A360 implementation in late 2017 and approximately 24 months after implementation in late 2019. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Findings of this study will be widely disseminated through workshops, conference presentations, reports, briefings, factsheets and academic publications

Application of Functional Theory of Political Discourse in Chilean presidential debates to determine the influence of journalists in the contents

Within the growing academic interest over electoral debates, the role of the journalists who conduct the debates in determining the tenor of the answers has not been sufficiently studied. We used Chile as an extreme case, given the predominant role that the debate moderators receive here, thanks to the “journalistic panel” format utilized in them, where they take turns to interview the candidates. As a framework to describe these contents, we used Functional Theory of Political Discourse by William Benoit. Our data show that, indeed, the candidates use different combinations of said functions, depending on the different frameworks established by the rules for each debate. Clearly, the candidates tend to defend themselves from the attacks of the journalists, rather than their rivals’; and they use other strategies when the rules allow them more freedom

Neural Networks as a Tool for Constructing Continuous NDVI Time Series from AVHRR and MODIS

The long term Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (AVHRR-NDVI) record provides a critical historical perspective on vegetation dynamics necessary for global change research. Despite the proliferation of new sources of global, moderate resolution vegetation datasets, the remote sensing community is still struggling to create datasets derived from multiple sensors that allow the simultaneous use of spectral vegetation for time series analysis. To overcome the non-stationary aspect of NDVI, we use an artificial neural network (ANN) to map the NDVI indices from AVHRR to those from MODIS using atmospheric, surface type and sensor-specific inputs to account for the differences between the sensors. The NDVI dynamics and range of MODIS NDVI data at one degree is matched and extended through the AVHRR record. Four years of overlap between the two sensors is used to train a neural network to remove atmospheric and sensor specific effects on the AVHRR NDVI. In this paper, we present the resulting continuous dataset, its relationship to MODIS data, and a validation of the product

The Implementation of an Enhanced EFD System with an Embedded Tax Evasion Detection Features: A Case of Tanzania

This research article published by Modestum, 2020This paper aims at presenting the development of an enhanced Information and Communication Technology tax collection system that in some countries is referred to as Electronic Cash Register while in Tanzania is popularly known as the Electronic Fiscal Device Machine (EFD Machines). In Tanzania, the system was nurtured in 2010 to address the issue of tax evasion and improving revenue collection. Since then it has been used by business entities to print fiscal receipt/invoice and transmit accounting information to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) online system where the revenues raised from the tax were much increased. Regardless of the increase in revenues collection, still, EFD machines and its management system face several challenges concerning tax evasion which are frequently reported by government authorities. The major drawbacks observed from the current system by this study are; under-declaration of sales value, avoid EFD machine usage, the use of fake EFD system, division of business and conducting business in unknown areas without being detected by the EFD system. Therefore this paper presents the development of an improved EFD system that addresses the stipulated drawbacks with pharmaceutical business picked as a case study. The current EFD system weaknesses were fixed by embedding stock tracking and commodity cap-pricing features in the developed system. While developing the system, this study assumed evolutionary prototyping as a system development methodology to develop both EFD machine application software and EFD Management System. The major advances of the new system are its ability to detect; under-priced transactions, avoidance of EFD machine use, and use of fake EFD machines. Thus, stock tracking and cap-pricing capabilities incorporated in the developed system will enable TRA to detect tax evaders and therefore improve revenue collection across the country

Human-Wildlife Conflict Early Warning System Using the Internet of Things and Short Message Service

This research article was published by Engineering, Technology and Applied Science Research, Vol. 12 No. 2Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is an important challenge to communities living in areas bordering wildlife game parks and reserves. It is more evident in the United Republic of Tanzania, whose economy depends on wildlife tourism. This paper proposes a low-cost and low-power early warning system using the Internet of Things (IoT) and Short Message Service (SMS) to support HWC respond teams in mitigating these challenges. The system comprises three primary units: sensing, processing, and alerting. The sensing unit consists of a Passive Infrared (PIR) sensor, a Global Positioning System (GPS), and a Raspberry Pi camera. The PIR sensor detects the proximity of the animal using the heat signature, GPS senses and records the current location, while the Raspberry Pi camera has the primary purpose of taking a picture after the PIR sensor detects the proximity of the animal. The processing unit with a Raspberry microcomputer performs data processing and image inferencing using the You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm. Last is the alerting unit, which includes a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications module for sending SMS messages to the human-wildlife conflict response team and the nearer community response team leader whenever wild animals are spotted near the park’s border. The system detects, identifies, and reports the detected wild animals. The GPRS provides internet connectivity to support data collection, storage, and monitoring in the cloud