22,390 research outputs found
Determinants of poverty among bee farmers: An antidote for apicultural development in Kwara State, Nigeria
The study examined the poverty status of bee-farmers in two ecological zones of Kwara State, Nigeria with modern bee-keeping farmers as a case study. Primary data subjected to a pre-survey which involved structured questionnaire and interview schedule were administered using multistage random technique to selected 80 bee farmers in the two ecological zones. Sixty five percent of bee farmers earned at least .25,000 per annum each and averaged .30,800 from bee production. This shows positive contribution to bee householdâs welfare. Majority of the pooled farmers (75%) had subsidiary occupations with average yearly off-farm income of .35,600. This shows that the rural farmers have developed capacity to cope with increasing vulnerability associated with apicultural practices by diversification and migration. The result of logit regression revealed that years of experience; level of education; adjusted household size; number of hives; bee income and non-bee income were found to be significant in poverty determinants of bee farmers. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke index analysis estimated a poverty line of .236.50 (US$1.48) per household head per day. The results revealed that improvement in level of training, amount of credit accessed and increasing number of hives invested were inversely related to poverty status of bee farmers. The results also showed prevalence of poverty among rural bee households that utilized open spaces for disposing their faeces, stream water for drinking and local lamp for lightening compared to bee farmers that utilized pit toilets, well water or boreholes and electricity respectively.Keywords: Bee farmers, education, extension contact, povert
Robust fault diagnosis for an exothermic semi-batch polymerization reactor under open-loop
An independent radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is developed and employed here for an online diagnosis of actuator and sensor faults. In this research, a robust fault detection and isolation scheme is developed for an open-loop exothermic semi-batch polymerization reactor described by ChyllaâHaase. The independent RBFNN is employed here for online diagnosis of faults when the system is subjected to system uncertainties and disturbances. Two different techniques to employ RBFNNs are investigated. Firstly, an independent neural network (NN) is used to model the reactor dynamics and generate residuals. Secondly, an additional RBFNN is developed as a classifier to isolate faults from the generated residuals. Three sensor faults and one actuator fault are simulated on the reactor. Moreover, many practical disturbances and system uncertainties, such as monomer feed rate, fouling factor, impurity factor, ambient temperature and measurement noise, are modelled. The simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method
Effect of Relative Density on Settlements above Tunnels in Sands
This paper presents centrifuge experiment data related to the problem of tunnelling-induced ground displacement in sand. The paper focuses on the examination of the effect that relative density has on greenfield soil displacements above tunnels in sandy ground. Data from a series of plane strain centrifuge tests on tunnels in silica sand are presented. The relative density of the sand ranged from 50% to 90% in the tests. The soil displacement data were obtained using an imaged-based deformation measurement technique and examined to determine features of greenfield settlement, both surface and subsurface. The effect that relative density has on the settlement trough shape is demonstrated and discussed
Simulating Auxiliary Inputs, Revisited
For any pair of correlated random variables we can think of as a
randomized function of . Provided that is short, one can make this
function computationally efficient by allowing it to be only approximately
correct. In folklore this problem is known as \emph{simulating auxiliary
inputs}. This idea of simulating auxiliary information turns out to be a
powerful tool in computer science, finding applications in complexity theory,
cryptography, pseudorandomness and zero-knowledge. In this paper we revisit
this problem, achieving the following results:
\begin{enumerate}[(a)] We discuss and compare efficiency of known results,
finding the flaw in the best known bound claimed in the TCC'14 paper "How to
Fake Auxiliary Inputs". We present a novel boosting algorithm for constructing
the simulator. Our technique essentially fixes the flaw. This boosting proof is
of independent interest, as it shows how to handle "negative mass" issues when
constructing probability measures in descent algorithms. Our bounds are much
better than bounds known so far. To make the simulator
-indistinguishable we need the complexity in time/circuit size, which is better by a
factor compared to previous bounds. In particular, with our
technique we (finally) get meaningful provable security for the EUROCRYPT'09
leakage-resilient stream cipher instantiated with a standard 256-bit block
cipher, like .Comment: Some typos present in the previous version have been correcte
Centrifuge modelling of cone penetration tests in layered soils
Penetration problems are important in many areas of geotechnical engineering, such as the prediction of pile capacity and interpretation of in situ test data. The cone penetration test is a proven method for evaluating soil properties, yet relatively little research has been conducted to understand the effect of soil layering on penetrometer readings. This paper focuses on the penetration of a probe within layered soils and investigates the layered soil effects on both penetration resistance and soil deformation. A series of centrifuge tests was performed in layered configurations of silica sand with varying relative density in a 180° axisymmetric model container. The tests allowed for the use of a half-probe for observation of the induced soil deformation through a poly(methyl methacrylate) window as well as a full-probe for measurement of penetration resistance within the central area of the container. The variations of penetration resistance and soil deformation characteristics as they relate to penetration depth, soil density and soil layering are examined. The results of deformation are also compared with previous experimental data to examine the effect of the axisymmetric condition. The effects of soil layering on both resistance and soil deformation are shown to be dependent on the relative properties between soil layers
Entanglement generation outside a Schwarzschild black hole and the Hawking effect
We examine the Hawking effect by studying the asymptotic entanglement of two
mutually independent two-level atoms placed at a fixed radial distance outside
a Schwarzschild black hole in the framework of open quantum systems. We treat
the two-atom system as an open quantum system in a bath of fluctuating
quantized massless scalar fields in vacuum and calculate the concurrence, a
measurement of entanglement, of the equilibrium state of the system at large
times, for the Unruh, Hartle-Hawking and Boulware vacua respectively. We find,
for all three vacuum cases, that the atoms turn out to be entangled even if
they are initially in a separable state as long as the system is not placed
right at the even horizon. Remarkably, only in the Unruh vacuum, will the
asymptotic entanglement be affected by the backscattering of the thermal
radiation off the space-time curvature. The effect of the back scatterings on
the asymptotic entanglement cancels in the Hartle-Hawking vacuum case.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, Revte
Coherent quantum phase slip
A hundred years after discovery of superconductivity, one fundamental
prediction of the theory, the coherent quantum phase slip (CQPS), has not been
observed. CQPS is a phenomenon exactly dual to the Josephson effect: whilst the
latter is a coherent transfer of charges between superconducting contacts, the
former is a coherent transfer of vortices or fluxes across a superconducting
wire. In contrast to previously reported observations of incoherent phase slip,
the CQPS has been only a subject of theoretical study. Its experimental
demonstration is made difficult by quasiparticle dissipation due to gapless
excitations in nanowires or in vortex cores. This difficulty might be overcome
by using certain strongly disordered superconductors in the vicinity of the
superconductor-insulator transition (SIT). Here we report the first direct
observation of the CQPS in a strongly disordered indium-oxide (InOx)
superconducting wire inserted in a loop, which is manifested by the
superposition of the quantum states with different number of fluxes. Similarly
to the Josephson effect, our observation is expected to lead to novel
applications in superconducting electronics and quantum metrology.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
The prevalence of atopic dermatitis beyond childhood: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
BACKGROUND: There are sparse and conflicting data regarding the long-term clinical course of atopic dermatitis (AD). Although often described as a childhood disease, newer population-based estimates suggest the prevalence of pediatric and adult disease may be similar. METHODS: Our objective was to determine whether there is a decline in the prevalence of AD in population-based cohorts of patients followed longitudinally beyond childhood. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis including studies assessing AD prevalence across 3 or more points in time. The primary outcome was weighted overall risk difference (percentage decrease in AD prevalence). RESULTS: Of 2080 references reviewed, 7 studies with 13Â 515 participants were included. Participants were assessed at 3-6 time points, ranging from age 3Â months to 26Â years. The percentage decrease in prevalence after age 12 was 1%, which was not significantly different from zero (95% confidence interval -2%-5%). Similar results were found with other age cut-offs. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of AD in longitudinal birth cohort studies is similar in childhood and adolescence/early adulthood
Interactions in vivo between the Vif protein of HIV-1 and the precursor (Pr55GAG) of the virion nucleocapsid proteins
The abnormality of viral core structure seen in vif-defective HIV-1 grown in PBMCs has suggested a role for Vif in viral morphogenesis. Using an in vivo mammalian two-hybrid assay, the interaction between Vif and the precursor (Pr55GAG) of the virion nucleocapsid proteins has been analysed. This revealed the amino-terminal (aa 1â22) and central (aa 70â100) regions of Vif to be essential for its interaction with Pr55GAG, but deletion of the carboxy-terminal (aa 158â192) region of the protein had only a minor effect on its interaction. Initial deletion studies carried out on Pr55GAG showed that a 35-amino-acid region of the protein bridging the MA(p17)âCA(p24) junction was essential for its ability to interact with Vif. Site-directed mutagenesis of a conserved tryptophan (Trp21) near the amino terminus of Vif showed it to be important for the interaction with Pr55GAG. By contrast, mutagenesis of the highly conserved YLAL residues forming part of the BC-box motif, shown to be important in Vif promoting degradation of APOBEC3G/3F, had little or no effect on the VifâPr55GAG interaction
Identifying dynamical modules from genetic regulatory systems: applications to the segment polarity network
BACKGROUND
It is widely accepted that genetic regulatory systems are 'modular', in that the whole system is made up of smaller 'subsystems' corresponding to specific biological functions. Most attempts to identify modules in genetic regulatory systems have relied on the topology of the underlying network. However, it is the temporal activity (dynamics) of genes and proteins that corresponds to biological functions, and hence it is dynamics that we focus on here for identifying subsystems.
RESULTS
Using Boolean network models as an exemplar, we present a new technique to identify subsystems, based on their dynamical properties. The main part of the method depends only on the stable dynamics (attractors) of the system, thus requiring no prior knowledge of the underlying network. However, knowledge of the logical relationships between the network components can be used to describe how each subsystem is regulated. To demonstrate its applicability to genetic regulatory systems, we apply the method to a model of the Drosophila segment polarity network, providing a detailed breakdown of the system.
CONCLUSION
We have designed a technique for decomposing any set of discrete-state, discrete-time attractors into subsystems. Having a suitable mathematical model also allows us to describe how each subsystem is regulated and how robust each subsystem is against perturbations. However, since the subsystems are found directly from the attractors, a mathematical model or underlying network topology is not necessarily required to identify them, potentially allowing the method to be applied directly to experimental expression data
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