Calculation model of the “building-foundation” system on anisotropic base and deformation calculations

In the construction of new buildings and facilities although the requirements of construction laws, building codes are observed, the heeling process and the collapse of the urban high-rise buildings are continuing at different speeds. Unfortunately, the number of such collapses and destruction in the world continues to this day. The purpose of this article is to show the mechanisms of collapse and patterns of deformation of loose and water-saturated soils of the construction site, which often have anisotropic structures by creating a calculated mechanical and mathematical model. A brief overview shows the state of the issue on the scale of the consequences of the collapse of modern high-rise buildings in the world. Attention is drawn to the lack of knowledge of the soil bases of structures of anisotropic structure. A computational model of a soil ground of complex anisotropic structure and algorithms for its application in practical calculations are proposed. The results of studies and their analysis, the regularities of the deformation state of the system consisting of foundation and buildings base, depending on the angle of inclination of the inclined layered base are developed in the study as well. In the form of tables and a large number of drawings there are the elucidated basic laws of inclination of buildings and structures that took place in large cities of Kazakhstan

The impact of food assistance on food insecure populations during conflict: evidence from a quasi-experiment in Mali

Mali, a vast landlocked country at the heart of West Africa in the Sahel region, is one of the least developed and most food insecure countries in the world. Mali suffered from a series of political, constitutional and military crises since January 2012, including the loss of government control of northern territories from April 2012 until January 2013. A range of humanitarian aid interventions were scaled up in response to these complex crises. In this study, we exploit data from a unique pre-crisis baseline to evaluate the impact of humanitarian aid on the food security of rural populations. We design a quasi-experimental study based on two survey rounds, five years apart, in the Mopti region in Northern Mali. Data was collected from 66 communities randomly selected from within food-insecure districts. Study outcomes include household expenditures and food consumption and a proxy for child nutritional status (height measurements). We estimate program impact by combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference. Food assistance was found to increase household non-food and food expenditures and micro-nutrient availability. Disaggregating by degree of conflict exposure showed that the effects on children’s height and caloric and micro-nutrient consumption were mostly concentrated in areas not in the immediate vicinity of the conflict, unlike the increase in food expenditures that were driven by households located in close proximity to armed groups. The effects were also concentrated on households receiving at least two forms of food assistance. In villages where armed groups were present, food assistance improved household zinc consumption and also appeared to support food expenditures. Food transfers are thus found to exert a protective effect among food insecure population in conflict context

The potential economic impact of guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: Comparing research paradigms

Rural Malians who grow dryland crops depend on sorghum as a primary food staple. Despite steady advances in sorghum research, in this risk-prone environment, achieving major gains in national sorghum yields has posed a challenge. We assess the potential economic impact of the first, Guinea-race sorghum hybrids produced and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralized, farmer-managed seed systems. We compare this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralized, state-managed seed system, which was the approach pursued prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augment the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages in the high-potential sorghum production zone serves as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids is a sound investment, but particularly when combined with locally-based mechanisms for disseminating seed. In part, this finding reflects the fact that despite many years of efforts aimed at liberalizing the seed sector in Mali, the sorghum seed system remains largely farmer-based

The potential economic impact of Guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: A comparison of research and development paradigms

Rural Malians depend on sorghum as a staple food. Despite long-term investment in sorghum improvement, achieving major gains in sorghum yields has posed challenges. We assessed the potential economic impact of the first Guinea-race sorghum hybrids developed and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralised, farmer-based seed systems. We compared this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralised, state-managed seed system – the sole approach pursued in Mali prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augmented the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages of the Sudanese Savanna served as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids with the new approach is a sound investment. Public and private actors need to continue investing in innovative ways to expand the sorghum seed system. The sensitivity of results to the price elasticity of supply suggests commercialisation opportunities

Effets des subventions d’engrais sur la qualité du régime alimentaire des femmes maliennes en milieu rural

Les politiques agricoles affectent les régimes alimentaires des ménages ruraux à travers plusieurs canaux, notamment par le biais des changements de la structure des coûts et bénéfices agricole, le rendement de la main d’œuvre familiale au sein et en dehors de l’exploitation et, les prix des produits qui créent des incitations qui guident le choix du paysan de cultiver une plante plutôt qu'une autre, ou à acheter un produit de consommation plutôt qu'un autre. Ici, nous prenons l’exemple d’une politique largement répandue dans les pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, les subventions aux engrais (intrants). Bien qu’une abondante littérature ait mesuré les impacts des subventions aux engrais en Afrique subsaharienne depuis leur rétablissement sous forme de « subventions judicieuses », nous n’avons trouvé jusque-là qu’une poignée d’études qui examinent les implications nutritionnelles. Celles-ci comprennent les études menées au Malawi, où ces subventions ont été lancées dans les années 90, et en Tanzanie (pas encore publiées, à notre connaissance). De plus, documenter les effets au sein des ménages dirigés par des hommes n’était pas l’objectif principal de ces études bien que plusieurs d’entre elles rapportent des différences selon le sexe du chef d’exploitation. Il en est de même pour le Mali où relativement peu d'études ont été menées sur les effets de la subvention aux engrais. Nous focalisons notre analyse sur la mesure des relations entre la quantité d’engrais subventionnés obtenue et la qualité du régime alimentaire des femmes en âge de reproduction qui gèrent les parcelles au sein des ménages dirigés par des hommes au Mali. Ainsi, cette analyse contribue à la fois à la base de connaissances au Mali et à la littérature générale sur le thème des subventions aux engrais en Afrique sub-saharienne. Nous utilisons les données d’enquête collectées par une équipe de l’Institut d’Economie Rurale et de Michigan State University pendant l’année agricole 2017-2018. Les données portent sur 2400 ménages dont les gérants de parcelles ont été interviewés sur leur utilisation d’engrais et méthodes de gestion. Au sein de ces ménages, 5900 femmes en âge de reproduction ont été interviewées sur leur consommation d’aliments au cours des 24 heures précédant l’entretien. Nous avons construit les indicateurs actuellement recommandés qui permettent de mesurer la qualité du régime alimentaire des femmes : 1) le score de diversité alimentaire minimal adéquat, et 2) le score de diversité alimentaire des femmes. Ces indices sont, corrélés aux mesures anthropométriques et à la qualité du régime alimentaire des enfants des répondants. Nous trouvons une faible proportion assez troublante de femmes (43%) ayant atteint le score minimal adéquat de consommation d’aliments appartenant à au moins 5 des 10 principaux groupes d’aliments, le jour précédant l’enquête. Cette proportion était considérablement plus faible dans les ménages de la zone agro écologique du Plateau de Koutiala que dans celle du Delta du Niger. Les statistiques des échantillons suggèrent que les femmes gérantes de parcelles, emblavées en cultures ciblées par les subventions, avaient plus de chances, par rapport aux autres gérantes de parcelles, de consommer des sources d’aliments riches en fer mais également des collations et des repas hors du domicile ainsi que des sources d’aliments riches en sucre. Cependant, la consommation totale d’aliments riches en sucre semble faible, la source la plus répandue étant de loin le sucre rajouté au thé ou au café et n’étant cependant pas consommé tous les jours. Enfin, nous avons trouvé que l’impact général des subventions aux engrais sur la qualité du régime alimentaire des femmes était susceptible d’être très limité en termes d’ampleur bien que la corrélation entre le kg par ha et le nombre de groupes d’aliments soit statistiquement significative. Des travaux supplémentaires examineront, en détail, les hypothèses et conclusions

Atom‐to‐atom Mapping : A Benchmarking Study of Popular Mapping Algorithms and Consensus Strategies

In this paper, we compare the most popular Atom-to-Atom Mapping (AAM) tools: ChemAxon,([1]) Indigo,([2]) RDTool,([3]) NameRXN (NextMove),([4]) and RXNMapper([5]) which implement different AAM algorithms. An open-source RDTool program was optimized, and its modified version ("new RDTool") was considered together with several consensus mapping strategies. The Condensed Graph of Reaction approach was used to calculate chemical distances and develop the "AAM fixer" algorithm for an automatized correction of erroneous mapping. The benchmarking calculations were performed on a Golden dataset containing 1851 manually mapped and curated reactions. The best performing RXNMapper program together with the AMM Fixer was applied to map the USPTO database. The Golden dataset, mapped USPTO and optimized RDTool are available in the GitHub repository https://github.com/Laboratoire-de-Chemoinformatique

Crop Adaptation and Improvement for Drought-Prone Environments

https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1049/thumbnail.jp