Objective Method for Determining the Importance of Unprecedented Restlessness as a Rice Crisis Indicator at the National Level

In this study, we use restlessness as an input for a rice crisis indicator, since restlessness rather than rice price provides a comparable year-to year context. We outline the significant increase in the use of unprecedented restlessness (UR) as an indicator for rice crises. The UR approach involves a precedence analysis, in contrast with the existing approach, the price shock analysis. We test UR as a new indicator for rice crises at the national level, which can be applied in Asia and other countries around the world where rice is the staple food. Strong indicators point out the effectiveness of strategic government programs and are able to assess solutions and detect rice crises, while weak indicators are only reliable in detecting whether or not there has been a crisis. UR is tested across 43 countries using two new statistics: success probability (SP) and constraint probability (CP). As a consequence of SP and CP calculations, a large number of IMR control charts for UR analysis are constructed to provide evidence that UR is a strong indicator. The optimum validity measurement result is achieved with SP = 8/26 = 0.31 and CP = 8/14 = 0.57. This means that the UR detects and is followed by only 31% of riot events. Since the value of SP is less than 0.6, we can conclude that the UR indicator is not considered valid as an indicator of rice crises at the national level. The values of CP and SP are determined subjectively as equal to 0.6. This is the main cause of the emergence of new problems in the calibration of UR as an indicator of rice crises. The subjective success criteria trigger a question regarding why the value is 0.6, for which there is no scientific justification. Based on this background, we continue to objectively establish success criteria for UR validity. After conducting a risk analysis involving a crisis recovery cost (CRC) to crisis anticipation cost (CAC) ratio, it is found that the probability of the CRC-to-CAC ratio having values greater than 7 is 0.76, which means the CRC-to-CAC ratio tends to be higher than 7. Objectively, it is concluded that UR, which has been defined as rice crisis indicator at the national level, is an important indicator.

Comparative Analysis of Nigeria and Malaysia’s Production Sharing Contract (PSC)

The oil and gas industry is governed by policies with the aim of smoothening the business relationship between the Government, the International Oil Companies (IOC’s) and the Host communities. Different oil producing countries have their own laws governing petroleum activities and these laws vary from country to country based on the B-PEST factors which are Biological, Political, Environmental, Social and Technology. However, reserve size and oil type can also influence petroleum laws. Countries like Nigeria relies strongly on petroleum bills such as the PIB in which this research will be analyzing the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) which is a significant subset of the PIB. Comparison between the existing PSC of Malaysia and that of Nigeria was captured in this research and the analysis of the PSC was done based on the Government Take, National Oil Company (NOC) and the Contractor’s benefits. 26.67% and 56.58% recovery cost, 28.67% and 26.28% Government revenue, 23.14% and 7.64% NOC share, 21.52% and 9.50% Contractor share of revenue per barrel was arrived at for Malaysia and Nigeria respectively, showing that the Malaysian PSC model yields more income to the country when compared to that of Nigeria without necessarily short-changing the contractors or the IOCs. Finally, the reasons behind these deficits were highlighted and recommendations made to improve the PSC and benefits for all parties to the contractual agreements.

ADAPTATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE "SECONDARY BENEFIT FROM THE DISEASE"

An adaptation of the Russian version of the questionnaire «Secondary benefit from the disease» based on the questionnaire Will Joel Friedman «The Benefits of Suffering and the Costs of Well Being: Secondary Gains and Losses» (1994) is presented in the article. Our questionnaire consists of two parts and includes 40 questions, with 4-5 statements on each scale. The first part describes how a person becomes ill, includes scales: regression, somatization triggers, conformism, simulation. The second part of the questionnaire consists of scales: recovery resources, recovery cost, recovery pathways, autonomy, and reflects the recovery process. The standardization of the questionnaire (n=392) indicates that the methodology has good psychometric indicators of the internal consistency of the scales and retest reliability. However, we cannot say that the scales are completely independent, requiring additional research. The confirmatory analysis allowed us to see a good consistency of the questionnaire items. When studying the discriminative power of points, it turned out that this technique is suitable for studying the secondary benefit of the disease for people from 18 to 60 years old. The multi-scale method allows evaluating the psychological phenomena that hinder and contribute to a speedy recovery. The article contains the text of the questionnaire with instructions and keys.

Evaluating recovery, cost, and throughput of different concentration methods for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater-based epidemiology

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect communities across the globe, the need to contain the spread of the outbreaks is of paramount importance. Wastewater monitoring of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent responsible for COVID-19, has emerged as a promising tool for health officials to anticipate outbreaks. As interest in wastewater monitoring continues to grow and municipalities begin to implement this approach, there is a need to further identify and evaluate methods used to concentrate SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA from wastewater samples. Here we evaluate the recovery, cost, and throughput of five different concentration methods for quantifying SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in wastewater samples. We tested the five methods on six different wastewater samples. We also evaluated the use of a bovine coronavirus vaccine as a process control and pepper mild mottle virus as a normalization factor. Of the five methods we tested head-to-head, we found that HA filtration with bead beating performed the best in terms of sensitivity and cost. This evaluation can serve as a guide for laboratories establishing a protocol to perform wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2.HighlightsFive methods for concentrating SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater evaluatedMethod performance characterized via recovery, cost, throughput, and variabilityHA filtration with bead beating had highest recovery for comparatively low costBovine coronavirus, pepper mild mottle virus assessed as possible recovery controls

Binary-Addition Tree Algorithm-Based Resilience Assessment for Binary-State Network Problems

Applications in real life are composed of different kinds of network systems; these networks may be interfered by uncontrollable or unpredictable disruptive events involving natural disasters, human errors, evil-intentioned attacks, or other disturbances. Any of these disruptive events will cause networks to malfunction and possibly result in large economic losses. As a result, it is important to assess network resilience which is a measure to describe how a network system recovers its performance and functionality to a satisfactory level from a disruptive event. Inspired by the measures of reliability evaluation used in binary-state networks, this paper proposes a binary-addition tree algorithm-based resilience assessment for binary-state networks and applies it on a wildfire network with wireless sensors. Considering the stochastic nature of disruptive events, the proposed binary-addition tree algorithm-based resilience assessment comprehensively enumerates all the possible disruptive events and all the corresponding recovery strategies, and then calculate the network resilience. Furthermore, recovery cost limit is concerned in this paper for decision makers who choose the recovery strategies with their recovery cost limit and resilience requirement.

Use of Modern Resource-Saving Methods in Parts' Manufacturing and Repairing on the Example of Electric Spark Alloying (ESA)

The work is devoted to a universal resource-saving method of parts processing - electric spark alloying (ESA). It is used both in manufacturing and repairing. This method allows you to apply reinforced and restored coatings to various objects (parts, tools, and tooling) regardless of their shapes and sizes.Purpose of reseach is to show high universality and efficiency of ESA method on the examples of its practical application for problem solving of machine-building production and repair.Methods. The work is analytical and carried out taking into account authors' practical experience.Results. Some information about ESA method, coating forming mechanism, their thickness and properties is given. Implementing strengthening technologies wear resistance is increased by 2-5 times and more by coatings of increased hardness using electrodes from metal-ceramic hard alloys based on carbides of TiC, WC and other hard compounds. The expediency of recovery technologies is shown: wear of most parts (about 85%) of various techniques does not exceed 200 um and their recovery cost is usually no more than 25-30% of a new part cost; recovered parts resource is commensurate or exceeds new parts resource. Adjusting and restoring technologies are described using specific examples.Conclusion. Given examples of practical application of ESA method confirm high universality and efficiency of this method for solving machine-building and repair production problems. Obtained results can be used in method selecting for strengthening or reducing of various objects from metals and alloys (parts of machines, tools, technological equipment) taking into account ESA advantages.