A Comparative Study Of Large-Scale Network Data Visualization Tools

One of the most important parts of Data Analysis is Data Visualization [15]. The easy thing about Data Visualization is that there are hundreds of ways to do it, one better than the other. Ironically, however, it is difficult to choose the right tool for the job. This can be a concern because it is really important to know which tool is best depending on the resources we have. This thesis tries to answer that question – to an extent. In this thesis, I have tried to compare three Data Visualization tools: Gephi, Pajek and NodeXL. I have mainly discussed what each tool can do, what each tool is best at, and when to and when not to use each tool. Therefore, using the right tool can not only save us a lot of time by making the task easy and get the work done using a minimal number of resources, but also help to get the best results. The comparison is based on what Visualization features each tool has, how each tool computes different graph features, and how Compatible and Scalable each tool is. In the process, I used different Network datasets and tried to calculate certain features of the graph and wrote the findings. The end report discusses which tool can be best to use given the size of dataset, the problem we are trying to solve, the resources we have and the time we can spend

Relationship between Income-poverty and Food insecurity in Rural Far-western Mid-hills of Nepal

For the purpose of this study, sample was selected through stratified random sampling from Baitadi district, which falls in rural Far-western Hills of Nepal. Both income and consumption measure of poverty revealed that problem of poverty is more severe in Melauli, which is relatively remote village devoid of transportation, communication, market, and other developmental services. Education, occupation, gender of household head, and family size are found to be the most important factors that affect income-poverty as well as consumption-poverty (food insecurity). Caste and landholding size has a significant effect on poverty when we consider food insecurity. Households with illiterate head, head engaged in laboring, female-head, larger family size, Occupational Caste household, and small holding are suffering from both income-poverty and consumption-poverty in greater extent. Income-poverty measure shows the higher incidence, gap, and severity of poverty compared to food insecurity for all the variables considered for the study. This could be due to inclusion of non-food expenses while constructing poverty line, and is also due nature of consumption itself, which is relatively continuous compared to income. However, in Melauli, incidence, depth, and severity of both poverty measures are closer. This may be due to shortcoming of income-poverty measure to take into account of spatial factor. Therefore, adoption of poverty line for whole region i.e., Rural Western Hills could mislead understanding of poverty. Thus, consumption-poverty is very relevant in the case where construction of location specific income-poverty line demands extra cost. This can further be justified by significantly higher chance of non-poor, in terms of income-poverty, being food insecure, and lower chance of income-poor being food secure in Melauli compared to Patan.Income-poverty; consumption-poverty; Baitadi; householdIncome-poverty, consumption-poverty, Baitadi district.

A Poverty Analysis in Baitadi District, Rural Far Western Hills of Nepal: An Inequality Decomposition Analysis

Occupational caste is deprived in terms of education, and landholding. Due to this laboring and agriculture (specially small animals like goats and poultry) remain the prominent source of income for them. Average income from salaried job is the highest followed by remittance and that from laboring is the lowest. This led to the high concentration of Occupational caste under third and fourth income quartile (poorer). A share of income from agriculture in total income is the highest and the share from laboring is the lowest. Relative concentration coefficient (RCC-ci or gi) shows salaried job has both the highest income disequalizing effect (ci = 1.56 or gi = 1.49) as well as the highest factor inequality weight (wici) followed by agriculture. In case of Melauli, however, salaried job followed by remittance has the highest income disequalizing effect. Negative values of Relative Concentration Coefficient and factor inequality weight for laboring indicate that income from it has the income equalizing effect. Thus, agricultural promotion in rural areas based on labor demand increasing policies with proper market arrangement for the agricultural produce will be helpful to reduce the income inequality. In addition, regulation regarding working hour and minimal wage rate should be strictly enforced for the welfare of those involved in laboring, which is also the poorest.Coefficient of variation; gini-coefficient; relative concentration coefficient; factor inequality weight

High-Performing, Low-Temperature-Operating, Long-Lifetime Aerospace Lubricants

Long-duration space exploration will require spacecraft systems that can operate effectively over several years with minimal or no maintenance. Aerospace lubricants are key components of spacecraft systems. Physical Sciences Inc., has synthesized and characterized novel ionic liquids for use in aerospace lubricants that contribute to decreased viscosity, friction, and wear in aerospace systems. The resulting formulations offer low vapor pressure and outgassing properties and thermal stability up to 250 C. They are effective for use at temperatures as low as -70 C and provide long-term operational stability in aerospace systems. In Phase II, the company scaled several new ionic liquids and evaluated a novel formulation in a NASA testbed. The resulting lubricant compounds will offer lower volatility, decreased corrosion, and better tribological characteristics than standard liquid lubricants, particularly at lower temperatures

Regulation of T Cell Receptor Signaling by Diacylglycerol Kinases and Phosphatidylinositol Transfer Proteins

Signals transduced through the T cell receptor (TCR) lead to T cell differentiation, proliferation, and elaboration of cytokines, all of which are required for optimal immunity. Phosphoinositide (PI) mediated signaling plays a particularly prominent role in this process. TCR signaling is amplified by the activation of phospholipase C γ1 (PLCγ1), which cleaves phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) to form the second messengers diacylglycerol (DAG) and inositol triphosphate (IP3). Regulation of PI and products such as DAG are therefore essential for normal TCR signaling. DAG levels are reduced by diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs), which metabolize DAG and diminish DAG-mediated signaling. In T cells, the predominant DGK isoforms expressed are DGKα and DGKζ. Deletion of either isoform enhances DAG-mediated signaling, yet the relative importance of these enzymes is unknown. Here, we describe that DGKζ but not DGKα suppresses natural regulatory T cell development and predominantly controls Ras and AKT signaling. The differential functions of DGKα and DGKζ are not attributable to differences in expression levels or localization to the T cell-APC contact site. However, RasGRP1, a key activator of Ras signaling, associated to a greater extent with DGKζ than DGKα. In addition, DGKζ displayed greater metabolism of DAG to PA after TCR stimulation than DGKα. In silico modeling of TCR-stimulated Ras activation in DGKα- versus DGKζ-deficient T cells suggested that a greater catalytic rate for DGKζ than DGKα could lead to increased suppression of Ras-mediated signals by DGKζ. DGKζ dominant functions over DGKα, therefore, are in part due to DGKζ\u27s greater effective enzymatic activity and association with RasGRP1. Future experiments will establish how DGK isoform function is regulated by TCR signaling. To examine how the DAG precursor PI is regulated, we performed a preliminary analysis of mice with a T cell specific deficiency of phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (PITP) α and β, which regulate PI-mediated signaling in vitro. Our initial in vivo studies suggest that deletion of PITPα and PITPβ at the double positive stage of T cell development results in loss of mature T cells in the thymus and periphery. Further experiments will establish why PITPs are required for normal T cell development

Poverty and Food Insecurity in Nepal A Review

Nepal being the poorest country in the world, poverty remains one of the crucial development agenda in Nepal since it started its development effort in 1956. Therefore, this review paper analyzes the poverty and food insecurity in Nepal. Macro economic indicators of the country i.e., Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate and inflation rate shows that the country is historically a low growth country with inflation rate always higher than the GDP growth rate. Therefore, macroeconomic indicators are not in favorable condition to tackle the overarching problem of poverty incidence in the country. Since 1976/77, poverty incidence is in increasing trend in Nepal. It was only in 2003/04, some progress in reducing poverty was reported, which was mainly due to the significantly higher inflow of remittance compared to earlier years, rapid urbanization, and an increase in non-farm incomes. This resulted not only in the decline in proportion of population suffering from poverty but also decline in the absolute number of population suffering from poverty. However, such decline in incidence of poverty was achieved at the cost of increased inequality.The gini coefficient increased from 0.24 in the year 1984/85 to 0.41 in 2003/04. Imbalanced growth in rural and urban areas could be the reason for increase in gini coefficient. Reduction of poverty in urban areas remains always high compared to that of rural areas. Therefore, poverty incidence remains always the highest in Mid-western and Farwestern rural hills. Also, poverty and food insecurity is the highest among female headed household, dalit and ethnic communities, small landholding households, households engaged in laboring and agriculture. This is mainly due to unequal distribution of resources such as land, social discrepancy, and lack of access to basic social and economic structures. Government has been giving the fi rst priority to the reduction of poverty since eighth five year plan (1992). But the government’s programs are failed to reach the target population. For instance government programs represent less than 10% of the national food deficit. Therefore, besides in-depth analysis of poverty at household level in order to understand location specifi c problem of poverty and food insecurity, expansion of government programs focusing on targeted population is very critical in dealing with the problems of poverty and food insecurity.poverty; food-insecurity; socio-economics; inequality;

Effect of climate variables on yield of major food-crops in Nepal -A time-series analysis-

Climate change influences crop yield vis-à-vis crop production to a greater extent in countries like Nepal where agriculture depends largely on natural circumstances. Plausible scenarios of climate change like higher temperatures and changes in precipitation will directly affect crop yields. Therefore, this study assesses the effect of observed climate variables on yield of major food-crops in Nepal, namely rice, wheat, maize, millet, barley and potato based on regression model for historical (1978-2008) climatic data and yield data for the food-crops. The yield growth rate of all the food-crops is positive. However, the growth rate for all crops, except potato and wheat, is below population growth rate during the period. Climate variables like temperature and precipitation are the important determinants of crop yields. Trend of precipitation is neither increasing nor decreasing significantly during this period. However, temperature is increasing by 0.7 0C during the period. Climate variables show some influences on the yield of these major food-crops in Nepal. Increase in summer rain and maximum temperature has contributed positively to rice yield. Also, increase in summer rain and minimum temperature has positive impact on potato yield. However, increase in summer rain and maximum temperature adversely affected the yield of maize and millet. Increase in wheat and barley yield is contributed by current trend of winter rain and temperature. Consideration of spatial variation in similar type of study in Nepal that will be helpful in identifying the region more vulnerable to climate change in terms of crop yield is highly recommended.Climate variables; temperature; rainfall; food-crops; Nepal

Green Liquid Monopropellant Thruster

Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI), and Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) are developing a unique chemical propulsion system for next-generation NASA science spacecraft and missions. The system is compact, lightweight, and can operate with high reliability over extended periods of time and under a wide range of thermal environments. The system uses a new storable, low-toxicity liquid monopropellant as its working fluid. In Phase I, the team demonstrated experimentally the critical ignition and combustion processes for the propellant and used the data to develop thruster design concepts. In Phase II, the team developed and demonstrated in the laboratory a proof-of-concept prototype thruster. A Phase III project is envisioned to develop a full-scale protoflight propulsion system applicable to a class of NASA missions

Spacecraft Environment and Systems Monitoring Instrumentation for Small Satellites

Physical Sciences Ins. (PSI) has developed compact, lightweight, low power instrumentation for in-situ monitoring of the orbital environment of spacecraft/payload systems and the effects of this environment on long-term degradation of specific materials and solar photovoltaic arrays. This instrumentation, which will be flown on STEP-3 mission in October 1994, is especially suited for applications on small satellites. It is being developed under a BMDO-sponsored program called space-Active Modular Materials ExperimentS (SAMMES). SAMMES consists of four sensor modules, called Test Modules (TMs), and a controller, called the System Control Module (SCM). The TMs are 15x16x14 cm high, weigh 2.6-3.2 kg, and their electronics consume 4-8 watts power in operational mods. The SCM is 15x20x20 cm high, weighs 5.2 kg, and consumes 9 watts in operational mods. The SCM and TMs are equipped with power-conserving quiescent modes; 1.3-5.3 watts for TMs and 2.7 watts for the SCM. The four Test Modules are called Low Earth Orbit (LEO TM), CALorimeter (CAL TM), Temperature-controlled Quartz Crystal Microbalance/Actinometer (TQCM/ACT TM) and Solar PhotoVoltaic (SPV TM). The LEO module contains sensors for measuring space environment parameters such as atomic oxygen flux, and contaminant accretion, cumulative dose of ionizing radiation, solar irradiance, and local solar angle. The calorimeter module contains sensors (calorimeters) coated with materials whose long duration degradation in the space environment is to be evaluated on the STEP-3 mission, e.g. thermal control paints and films, charge control coatings and optical coatings. The TQCM/ACT TM contains actinometers and TQCMs coated with test materials to accurately measure their erosion due to the atomic oxygen and charge particle environment. The SPV TM continuously monitors the current vs. voltage characteristics of solar cell samples to evaluate their degradation due to the radiation and contamination environment. The TMs are equipped with heaters for each test material sample to maintain its temperature at a fixed value or to vary it linearly. These heaters consume typically about 0.5 watt each. The SCM communicates with the TMs via a MIL-SID-1553 bus and with the spacecraft on 1553, RS232/422 interfaces. The SCM controls the experiments by selecting TMs, sensors, setting test material temperatures, etc. It periodically polls the TMs for sensor data, puts them in the quiescent mode, and then goes into the quiescent mode itself. SAMMES is fully autonomous and can be run with minimal ground intervention. The SCM has several megabytes of RAM and EEPROM for data storage. It has the capability of performing onboard data reduction using preprogrammed or uploaded algorithms