PREDISPOSING-PERSONAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PASSENGERSAFETY AND SAFE RIDINGBEHAVIORS AMONG CYCLISTS (BODA BODA RIDERS) IN KAMPALA

Background: Motorcycle taxis are common means of transportation in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa which remains a major neglected public health issue that presently at any time constitutes risk for road traffic accident and injuries in low and middle income countries. This study describes the level of predisposing-personal factors associated with passenger safety and safe riding behaviors among cyclists (bodabodariders) in Kampala and the relationship between age, educational attainment and the risk of road accident. Methodology:The study design was a cross-sectional survey using a validated semi-standard questionnaire to collect data on predisposing-personal factors and safe riding behaviors measured on a 31 and 24-point reference scale respectively from 422 consenting riders in the metropolis. Data from the study was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and simple descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, and proportions were used to describe the data all in 95% confidence interval and Analysis of variance was employed to test differences in measures across age and level of education with a cut-off set at (p≤0.05) significance level. Results: The findings showed thatmajority of the respondents were between age of 25 and 29 (35.5%) where most of them (36.0%) had secondary educational attainment. The mean score for the level of predisposing-personal factors measured on a 31-point reference scale among respondents in our study was 23.9 (CI =23.60 ± 24.20) denoting a prevalence of 77.1%while the mean score for the safe riding behaviors as measured on 24-pointscale was 9.3 (CI =9.10 ± 9.60) which translates to prevalence of 38.8%. The study further revealed that older respondents and riders with non-formal education inconsistently reported lowest scorefor predisposing-personal factors (F=3.54, p=0.007 and F=14.49, p<0.0001), whereas older respondents and riders with tertiary educational attainment constantly displayed lowest scores for safe riding behaviours (F=14.86, p<0.0001 and F=7.15, p<0.0001). Conclusions: The level of predisposing-personal factors associated with road safety and safe riding in terms of knowledge about passenger safety, perception of risk on road accidents and health consequences as well as attitudes toward safety rules and safe riding among respondents in the study is relatively high but the level of their safe riding behaviors is low and quite unsatisfactory.Thus, this calls for education and training exercises by the regulatory agencies on the initiation of safe riding behaviorsamong riders for knowledge without practice is useless.

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey – V. Preliminary flux tables for the calibration of Gaia DR2 and (E)DR3

ABSTRACT We present the flux tables of the spectrophotometric standard stars (SPSS) used to calibrate in flux the Gaia DR2 and (E)DR3 data releases. The latest SPSS grid version contains 112 stars, whose flux tables agree to better than 1 per cent with the CALSPEC spectra of 11 flux standards for the calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope. The synthetic magnitudes computed on the SPSS spectra also agree to better than 1 per cent with the Landolt magnitudes of 37 stars in common. The typical spreads in both comparisons are of the order of 1 per cent. These uncertainties already meet the initial requirements for the Gaia SPSS project, but further improvements are expected in the next SPSS versions, that will be used to calibrate future Gaia releases. We complement the SPSS flux tables with literature spectra of 60 additional stars that did not pass all the criteria to be SPSS, the Passband Validation Library (PVL). The PVL contains stars of extreme spectral types, such as bright O and B stars and late M stars and brown dwarfs, and was useful to investigate systematic effects in the previous Gaia DR2 release and to minimize them in the EDR3 one. The PVL literature spectra are recalibrated as accurately as possible on to the SPSS reference scale, so that the two sets together can be used in a variety of validation and comparison studies.

A Reference Scale of Cucurbit[7]uril Binding Affinities

The accurate determination of ultra-high binding affinities in supramolecular host-guest chemistry is a challenging endeavour because direct binding titrations are generally limited to affinities <106 M-1 due to sensitivity constraints...

The credibility of news media text: The experience of macrostructural analysis

The problem of textual credibility is considered in line with the theory of reference from the standpoint of a text’s grammar. The referential semantics of a text is determined by the type of discourse in which the text is generated. Subsequently, the criteria for credibility are discur sively conditioned. The article reveals the referential aspects of news media text as a “product” of news discourse with its accuracy and objectivity requirements to factually ascertain a message. To describe these characteristics, the concept of referential density of the text is introduced, which is revealed through macrostructural text analysis. The basic definitions of this analysis are provided, its methodology is described and its testing is carried out to explicate the degree of reference density of the text. The key terms of macrostructural analysis are the macro-textual position and the ways of filling it. The main macro-textual positions of the news media text are headline ↔︎ text, compositional-factual, compositional-logical, compositional-syntagmatic relations and stylistic perspective. The different ways of filling these positions reveal different degrees of factuality/interpretability, which can be located on the reference scale in a certain sequence. Scales for each macro-textual position are combined into a referential matrix of the text, graduated in the direction of decreasing reference density/increasing interpretability. Another way to visualize the results of macro-textual analysis is to construct a radar diagram, on which the referential focus of the text is especially evident. Using the example of three news reports of the Russian press, the analysis of the filling of macro-textual positions, of which reveals varying degrees of reference density, three types of referential focus of news media text are demonstrated: concentrated, shifted and diffused. The distinguished types reflect the corresponding referential types of news media text, the referential density of which is a “linguistic dimension” of its credibility.

Phase Imbalance Optimization in Interference Linear Displacement Sensor with Surface Gratings

In interferential linear displacement sensors, accurate information about the position of the reading head is calculated out of a pair of quadrature (sine and cosine) signals. In double grating interference schemes, diffraction gratings combine the function of beam splitters and phase retardation devices. Specifically, the reference diffraction grating is located in the reading head and regulates the phase shifts in diffraction orders. Measurement diffraction grating moves along with the object and provides correspondence to the displacement coordinate. To stabilize the phase imbalance in the output quadrature signals of the sensor, we propose to calculate and optimize the parameters of these gratings, based not only on the energetic analysis, but along with phase relationships in diffraction orders. The optimization method is based on rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulation of the phase shifts of light in diffraction orders in the optical system. The phase properties of the reference diffraction grating in the interferential sensor are studied. It is confirmed that the possibility of quadrature modulation depends on parameters of static reference scale. The implemented optimization criteria are formulated in accordance with the signal generation process in the optical branch. Phase imbalance and amplification coefficients are derived from Heydemann elliptic correction and expressed through the diffraction efficiencies and phase retardations of the reference scale. The phase imbalance of the obtained quadrature signals is estimated in ellipticity correction terms depending on the uncertainties of influencing parameters.

KAJIAN VALIDITAS INSTRUMEN PENGUKURAN SKALA PENGALAMAN KERAWANAN PANGAN DI INDONESIA

The results of the FAO study since 2013 through the Voices of Hungry Project (VoH-FAO) have produced measures of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). FIES is a global reference scale that becomes a reference for comparing the prevalence of food insecurity between countries and regions. The challenge of using the FIES instrument, each country must carry out linguistic adaptations that are appropriate to the culture and national language. This study aims to analyze the validity of FIES measurements in Indonesia, including internal and external analysis. The Rasch model (RM) used for internal validity analysis. Measurement of the validity and reliability of Indonesian FIES items was calibrated with a global reference scale. Differences in the scale of calibration items with a global reference scale of less than 0.35 indicate that they are standard items. FIES measurements require at least five common items. External analysis of FIES measurements uses the Pearson correlation between district-level aggregation on each FIES item that is answered "yes" and determinant characteristics of household food insecurity. The expected correlation coefficient indicated the direction of a positive correlation and observed the correlation coefficient of item 1501 to 1508, which is getting smaller. Internal analysis of FIES measurements in Indonesia shows the achievement of unidimensional and local independence assumptions. However, item 1501 has identified as an outlier. Then identify unique issues are 1501 and 1504, while unique items in rural subsamples are 1503 and 1508. Unique item differences founded in food expenditure 60 percent or more, i.e., 1502. This shows a discordance with items assumption of parameter invariance. The reliability of the FIES item is 0.78, and this reflects the suitability of the model quite well. External analysis of the FIES measurement identifies item 1501 and 1504 as invalid items (unique items).

NO REFERENCE QUALITY OF THE HAZY IMAGES DEPENDING ON TRANSMISSION COMPONENT ESTIMATION

The research aim is to measure the quality of hazy images using a no-reference scale based on the Transmission Component and Wavelet Transform (TCWT) by calculating the histogram in the High and Low (HL) component. The system is designed to capture several images at different levels of distortion from little to medium to high and the quality is studied in the transmission component. This measure is compared with the other no-reference measurements as a Haze Distribution Map based Haze Assessment (HDMHA) and Entropy by calculating the correlation coefficient between the no reference measurements and the reference scale Universal Quality Index (UQI). The results show that the proposed algorithm TCWT is a good measure of the quality of hazy images. ABSTRAK: Kajian ini bertujuan bagi mengukur kualiti imej berjerebu dengan menggunakan skala tiada-rujukan berdasarkan Komponen Transmisi dan Penukaran Signal Gelombang (TCWT) dengan mengira komponen Tinggi dan Rendah (HL) histogram. Sistem ini dicipta bagi mengumpul imej pada tahap berbeza dari takat selerakan paling rendah kepada paling tinggi dan kualiti imej diselidik dalam komponen transmisi. Ukuran ini dibandingkan dengan ukuran tiada-rujukan lain sebagai Peta Selerak Berjerebu (UQI). Keputusan menunjukkan algoritma kualiti imej berjerebu TCWT yang dicadangkan adalah berkualiti baik.