Key Capacity Research Articles

What Is Driving Gender Equality in Secondary Education? Evidence from 57 Developing Countries, 1970–2010

Despite global efforts to expand educational opportunities for women, gender inequalities persist in many developing countries. Addressing the root causes of gender inequalities in secondary education we ask whether such disparities persist because of low state capacity or low willingness. Based on gender- and age-specific educational attainment data for 57 developing countries in 1970–2010, our analysis indicates that willingness factors are central to understanding gender equality in education: ethnically heterogeneous countries and countries where Islam is the primary religion experience lower levels of equality. However, key capacity factors like a country’s income level are unrelated to gender differences in education.

Exploring climate change adaptive capacity of surf life saving in Australia using Bayesian belief networks

Surf Lifesaving (SLS) in Australia is an icon of local beach culture with more than 300 clubhouses distributed along the coastline. Their distribution at the interface of the terrestrial and marine environments means that assets and operations associated with SLS are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and climate change from both the land and the sea. For Australia, this is particularly pertinent given that the east coast is projected to experience SLR that is higher than global average. This study describes how a probabilistic modelling approach (Bayesian belief networks (BBNs)) and participatory modelling techniques were used to help elicit information on the key adaptive capacity determinants influencing the ability of Australian SLS to implement climate change adaptation options. 10 BBNs were developed across four stakeholder workshops at four locations within Australia. Results of this participatory modelling show that most determinants of adaptive capacity broadly related to funding, knowledge, equipment, communication and community support. For each workshop, the BBNs indicated broad consensus in the beliefs of the stakeholders for these broad and perhaps well-known determinants of effective adaptation. Conversely, there was less agreement between the stakeholders regarding the more specific determinants as evidenced by the results of the sensitivity analyses and in the levels of debate between the stakeholders. This highlights that as the determinants of adaptive capacity become more nuanced, there is more likely to be an imperfect, and less likely to be a shared, understanding of the system by the stakeholders. Overall, the approach used in this study has shown to be effective in exploring adaptive capacity at the community level and to improve community understanding and awareness of coastal hazards and climate change risks.

Phylogenetic analysis of human Chlamydia pneumoniae strains reveals a distinct Australian indigenous clade that predates European exploration of the continent.

BackgroundThe obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common respiratory pathogen, which has been found in a range of hosts including humans, marsupials and amphibians. Whole genome comparisons of human C. pneumoniae have previously highlighted a highly conserved nucleotide sequence, with minor but key polymorphisms and additional coding capacity when human and animal strains are compared.ResultsIn this study, we sequenced three Australian human C. pneumoniae strains, two of which were isolated from patients in remote indigenous communities, and compared them to all available C. pneumoniae genomes. Our study demonstrated a phylogenetically distinct human C. pneumoniae clade containing the two indigenous Australian strains, with estimates that the most recent common ancestor of these strains predates the arrival of European settlers to Australia. We describe several polymorphisms characteristic to these strains, some of which are similar in sequence to animal C. pneumoniae strains, as well as evidence to suggest that several recombination events have shaped these distinct strains.ConclusionsOur study reveals a greater sequence diversity amongst both human and animal C. pneumoniae strains, and suggests that a wider range of strains may be circulating in the human population than current sampling indicates.

Seismic fragility assessment of existing sub-standard low strength reinforced concrete structures

An analytical seismic fragility assessment framework is presented for the existing low strength reinforced concrete structures more common in the building stock of the developing countries. For realistic modelling of such substandard structures, low strength concrete stress-strain and bond-slip capacity models are included in calibrating material models. Key capacity parameters are generated stochastically to produce building population and cyclic pushover analysis is carried out to capture inelastic behaviour. Secant period values are evaluated corresponding to each displacement step on the capacity curves and used as seismic demand. A modified capacity demand diagram method is adopted for the degrading structures, which is further used to evaluate peak ground acceleration from back analysis considering each point on the capacity curve as performance point. For developing fragility curves, the mean values of peak ground acceleration are evaluated corresponding to each performance point on the series of capacity curves. A suitable probability distribution function is adopted for the secant period scatter at different mean peak ground acceleration values and probability of exceedance of limit states is evaluated. A suitable regression function is used for developing fragility curves and regression coefficients are proposed for different confidence levels. Fragility curves are presented for a low rise pre-seismic code reinforced concrete structure typical of developing countries.

Supporting Preservice Science Teachers' Ability to Attend and Respond to Student Thinking by Design

Author(s): Kang, H; Anderson, CW | Abstract: A teacher's ability to attend and respond to student thinking is a key instructional capacity for promoting complex and deeper learning in science classrooms. This qualitative multiple case study examines 14 preservice science teachers' (PSTs) responses to learning opportunities created to develop this capacity, as provided by a teacher preparation program. The PSTs engaged in multiple cycles of designing assessments and analyzing student work in coordination with clinical experiences in the field. Drawing upon the notions of responsiveness and noticing, we analyze teaching episodes for whether and how the PSTs in this study attended and responded to student thinking in instructional contexts. Several teaching episodes provide evidence of PSTs' productive responsiveness-suggesting modification in specific elements of instructional design to create better conditions for advancing students' scientific thinking. In general, however, the episodes suggest uneven success in PSTs' responses to student thinking. The findings point to two considerations in designing learning opportunities to enhance PSTs' responsiveness: (a) the use of high-quality assessment tasks that make student thinking visible and (b) helping PSTs to reframe the problems by deprivatizing PSTs' interpretations of student responses.

Key Generation Over Wiretap Models With Non-Causal Side Information

The key agreement problem over a state-dependent wiretap channel with a parallel one-way public channel in the forward direction is studied. It is assumed that the channel state information (CSI) is non-causally known at the transmitter. In this paper, the effect of the public channel and the CSI on the key generation is investigated, and the key capacity as a function of public channel capacity $C_{\!_{P}}$ , $C_{\!_{K}}(C_{\!_{P}}\!)$ , is sought for a discrete memoryless (DM) model and a Gaussian model, in which the CSI is an additive white Gaussian interference. For each model, a lower bound and an upper bound on the key capacity are derived, and $C_{\!_{K}}(\infty )$ is achieved as the bounds are asymptotically tight. For any DM wiretap channel, it is shown that there exists a finite capacity $C^{*}_{\!_{P}}$ beyond which $C_{\!_{K}}(C_{\!_{P}}\!)=C_{\!_{K}}(C^{*}_{\!_{P}}\!)$ . If the CSI is also fully known at the legitimate receiver, it is proved that the public channel has no effect on the key capacity. For the Gaussian model, the achievable key rate is a strictly increasing function of $C_{\!_{P}}$ in general. In addition, $C_{\!_{K}}(C_{\!_{P}}\!)$ is attained in both the low signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) regime and the high SIR regime. In the low SIR regime, the public channel cooperates with the transmitter for the key generation from the known interference. In the high SIR regime, however, the public channel makes negligible contribution to the key generation.

Factors influencing adoption of genetically modified crops in Africa

The debate around genetically modified (GM) crops in Africa continues to grow especially among policy-makers, food manufacturers, farmer organisation and consumer advocacy groups and the general public. While other regions have taken a firm position on biotech crops, Africa remains largely ambivalent, with wide variation in GM policy across countries. The central objective of this paper is to analyse the factors that influence the adoption of GM crops in Africa. First we evaluate the current status of GM crop adoption in Africa. Second we identify the key enablers and hindrances to adoption of GM crops. The main factors include ministerial control of biosafety, peer country influence, stage of seed sector development, advocacy by key political figures, the media, activism, food security and technical capacity. We posit that, for most African countries, GM policy is guided by political rather than technological considerations with media and special interest groups playing a key role. Despite the numerous impediments, slow progress is being made in preparing the requisite enabling environment for biotechnology adoption in Africa.

Retraction system performance analysis of landing gear with the influence of multiple factors

The landing gear retraction system is a mixed complex system consisted of mechanism,electricity and hydraulics. The retraction performance is affected by various factors. In most of the current studies,the subsystems are not well combined. Thus,a set of method combining theoretical analysis,multidisciplinary simulation and test verification was put forward,which provided a more accurate analysis method for the landing gear retraction system. Firstly,the dynamics equations of the retraction system were derived by power bond graph in detail. Then,a multidisciplinary simulation model was established,which combined the mechanism dynamics with the hydraulic system. This virtual prototype was verified by contrasting its results with the test results. At last,the key parameters' influence on the landing gear retraction performance was studied. The results show that,the pressure curves of the co-simulation model agree well with the ones of the test. Meanwhile,some key parameters,including crosswind,friction,damper orifices,liquid capacity and oil leak,affect the landing gear retraction performance in different degrees. Some meaningful results are concluded,which can be used as the guidances of the determination of retraction system parameters,the retraction fault analysis and the reliability study.

Joint optimisation of secret key capacity and sparse channel estimation based on pilot power allocation

Pilot power allocation is investigated under the framework of physical layer secure communications in time-division duplex systems, where the secret keys are generated from the estimates of sparse wireless channels. The joint optimisation of secret key capacity and sparse channel estimation performance based on pilot power allocation is formulated as a convex optimisation problem. Considering the fairness between these two sides, a scaling factor is introduced. Then, a scheme is proposed to fast solve the problem by looking up a table and using existing optimisation solvers. Simulation results show that a proper scaling factor can make a trade-off between the secret key capacity and sparse channel estimation performance.

Categorization behaviour in adults, adolescents, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder adolescents: A comparative investigation.

Although significant progress has been made with respect to our understanding of categorization and concept learning behaviour in adults, much less is known about how this key capacity plays out with respect to more restrictive populations. This is unfortunate because much may be revealed about the nature of concept learning by examining the limits exhibited by special populations. With this tenet in mind, in what follows, we investigated key aspects of concept learning in terms of the unexplored comparative performance of three populations-adults, adolescents, and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To do so, we employed a novel parainformative experimental task involving categorical stimuli with four objects defined over three dimensions. The learning difficulty ordering for these types of three-dimensional stimuli has proven robust and has been replicated by several researchers. Indeed, in our experiment, we observed the same concept learning ordering in adults and adolescents, but not in ADHD adolescents: For example, the latter group showed greatly impaired categorization performance on stimuli characterized by an "exclusive-or" rule. However, categorization performance on such type of stimuli indicated good reliability in discriminating between adolescents with and without ADHD (receiver-operating characteristic, ROC = .82). We accurately predicted and accounted for these results using generalized invariance structure theory (GIST; Vigo, 2013. The GIST of concepts. Cognition, 129, 138-162), which posits that organisms detect invariance patterns in stimuli that are necessary precursors to concept formation.

Acquiring External Knowledge: How Much Overlap is Best?

Knowledge overlaps between an organization's internal knowledge and the external knowledge it seeks are a key element of the ability of an organization to absorb new, external knowledge. There have been some similarities and differences in the research literature concerning the size of an overlap and its effect on an organization's knowledge management efforts. By comparing and contrasting two key literatures, absorptive capacity and organizational routines, a clearer picture can be provided to explain the effects of different sizes of knowledge overlaps. The integration of elements of these two literatures suggests that organizations should become more aware of knowledge overlap size and to take a variety of knowledge, organizational, and environmental factors into account when determining what types of external knowledge they should seek. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Analysis of the roles of pilots and controllers in the resilience of air traffic management

The objective of this paper is to show how qualitative resilience analysis approaches can be effectively structured for large sets of disturbances and strategies for work-as-done at the sharp end of a complex sociotechnical system. This is pursued by studying the roles of air traffic controllers and airline pilots in dealing with a wide set of disturbances in current air traffic operations. Disturbances are events or conditions that may affect one or more components or processes of the ATM system and thereby perturb air traffic operations. A set of 459 disturbances are clustered at three abstraction levels and characterised with respect to frequency of occurrence. Strategies of pilots and controllers for dealing with these disturbances are identified, and these strategies are also clustered at three hierarchical levels. The strategies are analysed with respect to key characteristics, such as detection and interpretation of the disturbances, coordination about the strategy, and strategy acquirement. The effects of the strategies on the key performance areas (KPAs) safety, capacity, environment and cost-efficiency are characterised and ranked. The results show that the strategies for dealing with disturbances have positive safety implications for the majority of disturbances and negligible safety effects for the remaining cases. The effects on the other KPAs are negligible in the majority of cases, but they are negative for a variety of disturbances. The results emphasize the important roles of pilots and controllers for dealing resiliently with disturbances in ATM.

How to stop or change a motor response: Laplacian and independent component analysis approach

Response inhibition is an essential control function necessary to adapt one's behavior. This key cognitive capacity is assumed to be dependent on the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. It is unresolved whether varying inhibitory demands engage different control mechanisms or whether a single motor inhibitory mechanism is involved in any situation. We addressed this question by comparing electrophysiological activity in conditions that require stopping a response to conditions that require switching to an alternate response. Analyses of electrophysiological data obtained from stop-signal tasks are complicated by overlapping stimulus-related activity that is distributed over frontal and parietal cortical recording sites. Here, we applied Laplacian transformation and independent component analysis (ICA) to overcome these difficulties. Participants were faster in switching compared to stopping a response, but we did not observe differences in neural activity between these conditions. Both stop- and change-trials Laplacian transformed ERPs revealed a comparable bilateral parieto-occipital negativity around 180ms and a frontocentral negativity around 220ms. ICA results suggested an inhibition-related frontocentral component which was characterized by a negativity around 200ms with a likely source in anterior cingulate cortex. The data provide support for the importance of posterior mediofrontal areas in inhibitory response control and are consistent with a common neural pathway underlying stopping and changing of a motor response. The methodological approach proved useful to distinguish frontal and parietal sources despite similar timing and the ICA approach allowed assessment of single-trial data with respect to behavioral data.

Photon-efficient quantum key distribution using time–energy entanglement with high-dimensional encoding

Conventional quantum key distribution (QKD) typically uses binary encoding based on photon polarization or time-bin degrees of freedom and achieves a key capacity of at most one bit per photon. Under photon-starved conditions the rate of detection events is much lower than the photon generation rate, because of losses in long distance propagation and the relatively long recovery times of available single-photon detectors. Multi-bit encoding in the photon arrival times can be beneficial in such photon-starved situations. Recent security proofs indicate high-dimensional encoding in the photon arrival times is robust and can be implemented to yield high secure throughput. In this work we demonstrate entanglement-based QKD with high-dimensional encoding whose security against collective Gaussian attacks is provided by a high-visibility Franson interferometer. We achieve unprecedented key capacity and throughput for an entanglement-based QKD system because of four principal factors: Franson interferometry that does not degrade with loss; error correction coding that can tolerate high error rates; optimized time–energy entanglement generation; and highly efficient WSi superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. The secure key capacity yields as much as 8.7 bits per coincidence. When optimized for throughput we observe a secure key rate of 2.7 Mbit s−1 after 20 km fiber transmission with a key capacity of 6.9 bits per photon coincidence. Our results demonstrate a viable approach to high-rate QKD using practical photonic entanglement and single-photon detection technologies.

Calcium mitigates the stress caused by ZnSO4 as a sulphur fertilizer and enhances the sulforaphane formation of broccoli sprouts

CaCl2 improved the growth and sulforaphane formation of broccoli sprouts under ZnSO4via enhancing key bioactive substances level, antioxidant capacity, myrosinase activity and related genes expression.

The Sender-Excited Secret Key Agreement Model: Capacity, Reliability, and Secrecy Exponents

We consider the secret key generation problem when sources are randomly excited by the sender and there is a noiseless public discussion channel. Our setting is thus similar to recent works on channels with action-dependent states where the channel state may be influenced by some of the parties involved. We derive single-letter expressions for the secret key capacity through a type of source emulation analysis. We also derive lower bounds on the achievable reliability and secrecy exponents, i.e., the exponential rates of decay of the probability of decoding error and of the information leakage. These exponents allow us to determine a set of strongly-achievable secret key rates. For degraded eavesdroppers the maximum strongly-achievable rate equals the secret key capacity; our exponents can also be specialized to previously known results. In deriving our strong achievability results we introduce a coding scheme that combines wiretap coding (to excite the channel) and key extraction (to distill keys from residual randomness). The secret key capacity is naturally seen to be a combination of both source- and channel-type randomness. Through examples we illustrate a fundamental interplay between the portion of the secret key rate due to each type of randomness. We also illustrate inherent tradeoffs between the achievable reliability and secrecy exponents. Our new scheme also naturally accommodates rate limits on the public discussion. We show that under rate constraints we are able to achieve larger rates than those that can be attained through a pure source emulation strategy.

Assessing research activity and capacity of community-based organizations: development and pilot testing of an instrument.

Although awareness of the importance of the research capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) is growing, a uniform framework of the research capacity domains within CBOs has not yet been developed. To develop a framework and instrument (the Community REsearch Activity assessment Tool [CREAT]) for assessing the research activity and capacity of CBOs that incorporates awareness of the different data collection and analysis priorities of CBOs. We conducted a review of existing tools for assessing research capacity to identify key capacity domains. Instrument items were developed through an iterative process with CBO representatives and community researchers. The CREAT was then pilot tested with 30 CBOs. The four primary domains of the CREAT framework include 1) organizational support for research, 2) generalizable experiences, 3) research specific experiences, and 4) funding. Organizations reported a high prevalence of activities in the research-specific experiences domain, including conducting literature reviews (70%), use of research terminology (83%), and primary data collection (100%). Respondents see research findings as important to improve program and service delivery, and to seek funds for new programs and services. Funders, board members, and policymakers are the most important dissemination audiences. The work reported herein advances the field of CBO research capacity by developing a systematic framework for assessing research activity and capacity relevant to the work of CBOs, and by developing and piloting an instrument to assess activity in these domains.

SERVIR HIMALYA: Enabling Improved Environmental Management and Livelihoods in the HKH

Abstract. With an overarching goal to improve environmental management and resilience to climate change, SERVIR-Himalaya is established as a collaborative initiative of USAID, NASA and ICIMOD. The SERVIR-Himalaya has been the key instrument to provide integrated and innovative geospatial solutions for generation and dissemination of information and knowledge resources on mountain environments. The SERVIR applications, products and services are viewed as essential cross-cutting elements to achieve the greater impacts on addressing Himalayan livelihood challenges. The broad thematic areas which are also subset of the societal benefit areas of Global Earth Observation (GEO), namely – agriculture and food security, ecosystems and sustainable landscapes, and disaster risk management are addressed. On the cross-cutting theme, SERVIR Himalaya is also focusing on developing regional level applications providing key information systems and services on multiple themes of regional significance. The regional level science applications include use of MODIS satellite information products and services for environmental and natural resources monitoring in the Himalayan region. Regional and national training and workshops, on-the-job training, internships and exchange programs and technical backstopping are key capacity building components to enhance the capacity of partners from national institutions in the regional member countries. These efforts are also seen as receiving feedback on the science applications, identify additional needs, and increase synergy by exploring opportunities for collaboration.

Targeting Dendritic Cells as a Good Alternative to Combat Leishmania spp.

LEISHMANIASIS: GLOBAL BURDEN, CLINICAL FORMS, AND CURRENT STRATEGIES OF CONTROL Leishmaniasis is an important group of neglected diseases caused by more than 20 spp. of protozoan from the genus Leishmania. It is transmitted by sandfly bite (1), and impacts populations by inducing disfiguration, loss of productivity, and a burden estimated at 2,357.000 disabilityadjusted life years (DALY) (2). Ninetyeight countries have reported cases of leishmaniasis, and over 350 million people are living at risk, with 0.2–0.4 and 0.7– 1.2 million cases of VL and CL annually, respectively (3). Three main clinical forms are known: visceral (VL, more lethal, e.g., L. donovani and L. infantum), cutaneous (CL, more common, e.g., L. major), and mucocutaneous (MCL). Strategies to limit these diseases are controlling the vectors and chemotherapy of affected individuals, but these approaches have a high cost and led to resistant parasites and vectors (4). Thus, there is an urgent need of vaccines and more effective therapies for leishmaniasis, otherwise the number of cases and resistant strains will probably continue to rise. Since they have a key capacity to initiate and maintain an immune response, dendritic cells (DCs) have been seen as an important target for the control of different diseases, such as leishmaniasis. Thus, in this article we present the principal strategies to efficiently induce activation of DCs in the context of leishmaniasis. DENDRITIC CELLS AS THE MAIN TARGET OF VACCINES AGAINST LEISHMANIA The major task for a vaccine is to correctly induce the immune system to develop a protective response against one specific pathogen. In the case of leishmaniasis, this protection comes from Th1 CD4 T cells producing IFN-γ, TNF, and IL-12, which have been associated with disease control, macrophage activation, and elimination of parasites (5). However, to initiate this response, antigen presenting cells (APCs), present in different tissues of the body, must be activated to induce a proper response to eliminate or control the parasite. DCs are highly specialized APCs of the immune system capable of priming naive T cells, and mounting a T-cell response upon pathogen entry in the body. Distinct subsets of DCs are associated with lineages and receptor expression patterns (6), and they develop from hematopoietic stem cells stimulated with fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) or with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (7). The majority of DCs develop from myeloid precursors, whereas plasmacytoid DC (pDC) develops from lymphoid precursors and shares many features with B cells (8). To aid in their function, DCs express different toll-like receptors (TLR), which bind to common molecules associated with pathogens, and have been target for the development of new vaccine adjuvants. DCs express a large variety of receptors involved with uptake of molecules and pathogens, such as DC-SIGN (CD209) and DEC205 (CD205) (9). Immature DCs have a high endocytic capacity, which leads to pathogen or pathogen’s antigens degradation, processing, and finally loading of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Later, mature DCs lose their high capacity of endocytosis, and change efforts to up-regulate the expression of several receptors for cytokines, MHC, adhesion, and co-stimulatory molecules, such as CD80, CD86, and CD40. It is estimated that each mature DC expresses around 106–107 MHC Class II and 105 MHC Class I molecules, and “fix” a repertoire of peptides bounded onto MHC Class II to present to T cells (10). Eventually, DCs acquire capacity to activate a specific T-cell response against the pathogen that induced its activation (11). The last years were marked by an increase in the knowledge on the role and function of DCs in the immune system, and thus, the emergence of potential applications based on its manipulation. Starting on the field of cancer, which finally led to the US FDA approval of a DC-based vaccine against prostate cancer (Sipuleucel-T, Provenge®) (12), applications were quickly transferred to the field of infectious diseases with very encouraging clinical results against HIV (13). Although prospective results for infectious diseases were achieved, there is no DC vaccine or therapy for any infectious diseases that are currently available or in the pipeline (14, 15). Most of the results were gathered by

Fundamental rate-loss tradeoff for optical quantum key distribution.

Since 1984, various optical quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols have been proposed and examined. In all of them, the rate of secret key generation decays exponentially with distance. A natural and fundamental question is then whether there are yet-to-be discovered optical QKD protocols (without quantum repeaters) that could circumvent this rate-distance tradeoff. This paper provides a major step towards answering this question. Here we show that the secret key agreement capacity of a lossy and noisy optical channel assisted by unlimited two-way public classical communication is limited by an upper bound that is solely a function of the channel loss, regardless of how much optical power the protocol may use. Our result has major implications for understanding the secret key agreement capacity of optical channels-a long-standing open problem in optical quantum information theory-and strongly suggests a real need for quantum repeaters to perform QKD at high rates over long distances.