Science & Mathematics

This study aims to determine how Information Technology (IT) impacts financial inclusion and strengthens the profit of commercial banks and MDIs in Cambodia using two-stage value chain DEA technique. The model also provides the efficiency score and approached factors within financial inclusion and profitability mechanism. The finding suggests that financial inclusion is backed up by strong significant technology while profitability is anchored at 76.5 percent of total banks' profits. Furthermore, through the usage of IT-based transactions at 32 percent, banks and financial institution could enhance 28 percent of profit, and 78 percent of ATMs has been used to promote the access and financial usage. From these results, improving institutional IT adoption could increase financial inclusion and achieves the profit efficiency.

Abstract Bangladesh’s commercial poultry production is growing rapidly, including the commercial processing of poultry. This expansion of poultry processing plants is fueled by the belief that this sub-sector provides safer food and has less food-borne disease risks compared to traditional live bird markets (LBMs). The purpose of this study is to describe Bangladesh’s dressed and processed poultry production and distribution network (PDN), identify what and where quality control occurs, and suggest where improvements could be made. Engaging with PDN for dressed and processed poultry, we used in-depth interviews with key informants to identify the stakeholders involved and their connections with other poultry PDNs. In addition, we mapped out the supply and distribution of dressed and processed poultry and quality control processes occurring throughout the network. We argue that dressed and processed poultry PDNs are closely connected with traditional PDNs such as LBMs, with multiple crossover points between them. Also, there is a lack of consistency in quality control testing and a lack of meat traceability. Consequently, perceptions of dressed and processed poultry being safer than birds from LBMs needs to be treated with caution. Otherwise, unsubstantiated consumer confidence in dressed poultry may inadvertently increase the risk of food-borne diseases from these products.

We present observations of four rapidly rising (t_{rise}~10d) transients with peak luminosities between those of supernovae (SNe) and superluminous SNe (M_{peak}~-20) - one discovered and followed by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and three by the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS). The light curves resemble those of SN 2011kl, recently shown to be associated with an ultra-long-duration gamma ray burst (GRB), though no GRB was seen to accompany our SNe. The rapid rise to a luminous peak places these events in a unique part of SN phase space, challenging standard SN emission mechanisms. Spectra of the PTF event formally classify it as a Type II SN due to broad Halpha emission, but an unusual absorption feature, which can be interpreted as either high velocity Halpha (though deeper than in previously known cases) or Si II (as seen in Type Ia SNe), is also observed. We find that existing models of white dwarf detonations, CSM interaction, shock breakout in a wind (or steeper CSM) and magnetar spindown can not readily explain the observations. We consider the possibility that a "Type 1.5 SN" scenario could be the origin of our events. More detailed models for these kinds of transients and more constraining observations of future such events should help better determine their nature.

Les enfants allophones scolarisés en France sont très souvent influencés par leur fratrie dans leur apprentissage du français. La fratrie agit comme un soutien et un puissant stimulant dans celui-ci. Par ailleurs, les rôles dans les familles sont bouleversés du fait de la rapidité de l’apprentissage de la langue du pays d’accueil par les enfants, contrairement à leurs parents qui bénéficient de moins de structures pour apprendre la langue. Les enfants deviennent ainsi des personnes ressources pour leurs parents et les rôles de chacun dans la famille sont modifiés voire inversés. D’autre part, si les dispositifs d’accueil des enfants allophones au sein de l’Éducation Nationale semblent satisfaisants, les délais pour être scolarisés sont parfois longs. La scolarisation des 16/18 ans, quant à elle, reste fragile et est un enjeu de taille pour les adolescents nouveaux arrivants en France de cet âge. Enfin, les adultes migrants, une fois leur parcours linguistique obligatoire effectué, ont peu de solutions d’apprentissage du FLE qui correspondent à leurs besoins.

An increasing amount of multimodal recordings has been paving the way for the development of a more automatic way to study language and conversational interactions. However this data largely comprises of audio and video recordings, leaving aside other modalities that might complement this external view of the conversation but might be more difficult to collect in naturalistic setups, such as participants brain activity. In this context, we present BrainKT, a natural conversational corpus with audio, video and neuro-physiological signals, collected with the aim of studying information exchanges and common ground instantiation in conversation in a new, more indepth way. We recorded conversations from 28 dyads (56 participants) during 30 minutes experiments where subjects were first tasked to collaborate on a joint information game, then freely drifted to the topic of their choice. During each session, audio and video were captured, along with the participants' neural signal (EEG with Biosemi 64) and their electrophysiological activity (with Empatica-E4). The paper situates this new type of resources in the literature, presents the experimental setup and describes the different kinds of annotations considered for the corpus.

Sessions: Soil Microbial Processes, Fossil Carbon in Soils, Dynamics of Soil Organic Matter, Novel Tools for Soil Analysis,

24x36 mm, gélatine plan-film.

The book under review provides a thorough construction-oriented synchronic and diachronic investigation of quotative indexes in a representative sample of 39 African languages. The study is typologically and theoretically well-informed and offers a good of deal of thought-provoking findings and insightful generalizations of general interest, well beyond the Africanist readership whose attention the title may attract most. The book also contains a wealth of language-specific data and analyses, both synchronic and diachronic. These data and analyses will be relevant not only to the specialists in the respective languages and language families, who could profit a lot from the new perspective on the data they may already be familiar with, but also to a readership attentive to issues of cross-linguistic diversity and language change.

13x18, plaque. Qasr el-Heir al-Sharqi, vue générale.

We demonstrate x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) detected by x-ray beam induced current (XBIC) in single n(+)i-n(+) doped nanowire devices. Spatial scans with the 65 nm diameter beam show a peak of the XBIC signal in the middle segment of the nanowire. The XBIC and the x-ray fluorescence signals were detected simultaneously as a function of the excitation energy near the Ga K absorption edge at 10.37 keV. The spectra show similar oscillations around the edge, which shows that the XBIC is limited by the primary absorption. Our results reveal the feasibility of the XBIC detection mode for the XAFS investigation in nanostructured devices.

Une analyse théorique détaillée des cellules solaires P Ga1-χ AlχAs-N Ga1-yAlyAs à gradients de bande interdite montre que leurs rendements de conversion d'énergie à air-masse zéro sont supérieurs à ceux des cellules au GaAs conventionnelles. Cette analyse tient compte de la recombinaison des porteurs minoritaires en surface et en volume, du champ électrique et de l'épaisseur propres à la couche superficielle et à la couche de base, mais elle néglige la recombinaison dans la région de la jonction, les pertes dues à la résistance série et celles dues à la réflexion sur la surface. L'amélioration des rendements provient essentiellement de l'existence des champs électriques internes dans chacune des couches, leur origine étant liée aux gradients des bandes interdites. Ces champs d'entraînement ont pour effet d'accélérer les porteurs minoritaires créés vers la jonction P-N, ce qui équivaut à une réduction de la recombinaison en surface, donc à une augmentation du rendement de collecte des porteurs. On peut ainsi prévoir, en prenant une vitesse de recombinaison en surface de 105 cm.s-1 et des longueurs de diffusion de 3 μm et 1 μm respectivement pour les électrons et les trous, un rendement de conversion AMO maximum de 21,4 %.

At low temperatures, low-dimensional metals are commonly found to exhibit superlattices incommensurate with the primitive lattice (periodic lattice distortion coupled to charge density waves, PLD-CDW). Transitions to such states are driven by strong electronphonon coupling and favoured by the particular forms of the Fermi surface of these metals. Experimental investigations of the structural distortions, and of the changes in electronic structure around the Fermi level produced by the PLD-CDW state, will be discussed for the layered dichalcogenides, the linear chain platinum complex KCP, and the organic charge transfer salts.

It is well known that giant long period comets originating from the Oort's cloud could be the most threatening celestial bodies. The warning time could indeed be very short and the kinetic energy could be sufficient for global and durable effects on Earth, killing all life forms on the surface. Humans might nevertheless be able to survive decades in underground shelters. Based on a model used to determine the minimum number of people to survive on another planet, a classification of long terms shelters is proposed, taking all needs into consideration and also the double redundancy principle. "A" corresponds to shelters with lots of resources but a weak autonomy, and therefore a well-established limited lifetime. "B" corresponds to long term shelters with strong autonomous capacities but little margins and high risks of collapse. "C" corresponds to ideal shelters with double redundancy for every system and also for the working capacity. Thanks to a high resilience, they could last decades, eventually saving humanity from extinction. The limits of the shelters are discussed, as well as uncertainties. The risk is indeed high that some problems are underestimated and a slow but unstoppable degradation of life conditions would lead to the death of the survivals, whatever the preparation and motivation of the survivals and the category of the shelter.