Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulations of a shaped dielectric lens antenna by FEKO

− In the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), millimeter waves are used and antennas are requested to have beam scanning ability. In the millimeter wave operation, a dielectric lens antenna is one of the prominent candidates. Authors designed a shaped dielectric lens antenna based on the Abbe’s sine condition. Wide angle beam scanning characteristics were ensured through the ray tracing calculations and radiation pattern measurement. Recently, owing to the enhancement of electromagnetic simulator abilities, simulations of a dielectric lens antenna become possible. By employing an electromagnetic simulation, it is expected that detailed electrical performances of both the feed horn and the dielectric lens will be made clear. In this paper, electromagnetic simulations of a shaped dielectric lens antenna by FEKO suit 5.3 are conducted. First, the corrugate horn used for the feed horn is electromagnetically simulated. Excellent simulated radiation patterns coinciding with the measured results are achieved. Next, the feed horn radiation patterns are combined with the dielectric lens simulations. And simulation results of beam scanning characteristics are obtained. When comparing the simulated scanned beam shapes with the measured results, very good agreements are obtained. So, accuracies of simulations are ensured. Moreover, unexpected sidelobe increases in the specific wide angle region that were pointed out previously are studied. Simulated and measured results can confirm the sidelobe increases. As an additional study, electrical field distributions in the dielectric lens are simulated. Then, multiple reflections between lens surfaces are visually made clear. The reason of sidelobe increases can be clearly understood. As a result, it is confirmed that the FEKO simulator can rigorously simulate electromagnetic characteristics of a shaped dielectric lens antenna.
Evaluation of the Possible Hypolipidemic Properties of Quail Egg on Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats

Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Department of Veterinary Surgery, University of Abuja, Nigeria *Corresponding author`s Email: Patrick.aba@unn.edu. ng Received: 06 Nov. 2015 Accepted: 06 Dec. 2015 ABSTRACT This study evaluated the pancreatic histomorphometry and possible hypolipidemic effects of graded concentrations of quail egg administration on alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Thirty adult male albino rats were assigned to 5 groups of 6 rats per group. Diabetes was induced in the rats of groups 2-5 by single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan monohydrate at the dose of 160 mg/kg. Group 1 rats were not injected with alloxan monohydrate. Rats with fasting blood glucose levels above 126 mg/dl were considered diabetic. Upon establishment of diabetes, rats in groups 2-4 were treated with 30, 15 and 7.5 mg/ml of quail egg solution respectively. Rats in groups 1 and 5 were administered with 10 ml/kg distilled water. At the end of the 21 days treatment, blood samples were collected for lipid profile analyses. The rats were euthanized using chloroform anaesthesia and the pancreases were then collected for histomorphometric assessment. Results of the study revealed that rats treated with 30 mg/ml of quail egg solution showed significant (P<0.05) reductions in the serum levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein when compared with the negative control group while high density lipoprotein was not significantly increased compared to the negative control. The pancreas of diabetic untreated rats showed immense cytoplasmic vacuolation of the islet cells while the groups treated with quail egg solution especially those treated at the 30 mg/ml showed mild degeneration of the islet cells. In conclusion, administration of quail egg solution to alloxanized rats demonstrated hypolipidemia and ameliorated lesions in the pancreas.
Phylogeny of Branchiopoda (Crustacea) based on a combined analysis of morphological data and six molecular loci

The phylogenetic relationships of branchiopod crustaceans have been in the focus of a number of recent morphological and molecular systematic studies. Although agreeing in some respects, major differences remain. We analyzed molecular sequences and morphological characters for 43 branchiopods and two outgroups. The branchiopod terminals comprise all eight “orders”. The molecular data include six loci: two nuclear ribosomal genes (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA), two mitochondrial ribosomal genes (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA), one nuclear protein coding gene (elongation factor 1α), and one mitochondrial protein coding gene (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I). A total of 65 morphological characters were analyzed dealing with different aspects of branchiopod morphology, including internal anatomy and larval characters. The morphological analysis resulted in a monophyletic Phyllopoda, with Notostraca as the sister group to the remaining taxa supporting the Diplostraca concept (“Conchostraca” + Cladocera). “Conchostraca” is not supported but Cyclestheria hislopi is the sister group to Cladocera (constituting together Cladoceromorpha) and Spinicaudata is closer to Cladoceromorpha than to Laevicaudata. Cladocera is supported as monophyletic. The combined analysis under equal weighting gave results in some respects similar to the morphological analysis. Within Phyllopoda, Cladocera, Cladoceromorpha and Spinicaudata + Cladoceromorpha are monophyletic. The combined analysis is different from the morphological analysis with respect to the position of Notostraca and Laevicaudata. Here, Laevicaudata is the sister group to the remaining Phyllopoda and Notostraca is sister group to Spinicaudata and Cladoceromorpha. A sensitivity analysis using 20 different parameter sets (different insertion–deletion [indel]/substitution and transversion/transition ratios) show the monophyly of Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata, Cladoceromorpha, Cladocera, and within Cladocera, of Onychopoda and Gymnomera under all or almost all (i.e., 19 of 20) parameter sets. Analyses with an indel‐to‐transversion ratio up to 2 result in monophyletic Phyllopoda, with Laevicaudata as sister group to the remaining Phyllopoda and with Spinicaudata and Cladoceromorpha as sister groups. Almost all analyses (including those with higher indel weights) result in the same topology when only ingroup taxa are considered.
Effect of gibberellic acid spraying and soaking of rhizomes on the growth and flowering of calla lily (Zantedeschia Spreng.)

Rhizomes of Zantedeschia , 15-18 cm in circumference with leaf buds 0.5-1 cm in length, were planted into 20-cm pots on 15 May 2006 into a medium consisting of peat with a pH of 6.2, enriched with a slow-release fertiliser Osmocote Plus (3-4M) and mixed with fresh shredded pine bark at a rate of 3:1 (v:v). Before planting, the rhizomes were soaked for 20 minutes in a water solution of gibberellic acid at a concentration of 150 mg x dm -3 , or sprayed with the same concentration once, twice or three times, each time after thorough drying. For each round of spraying, 100 ml of the solution were used. Gibrescol 10 MG was applied. Gibberellic acid had a similar effect, whether applied in the form of a solution for soaking or spraying of rhizomes. The number of sprayings of rhizomes had no effect on the effectiveness of gibberellic acid. In the cultivar 'Black Magic', rhizome spraying caused earlier flowering, while in 'Cameo' a similar effect was obtained by soaking the rhizomes in gibberellic acid. Gibberellic acid had no effect on the quality of flowers and the number of leaves. Gibberellic acid had a good effect on the index of leaf greenness in the cultivars under study.
Fictional vs. Factual Narration

Factual and fictional narrative are generally defined as a pair of opposites. However, there is no consensus as to the rationale of this opposition. Three major competing definitions have been proposed: (a) semantic definition: factual narrative is referential whereas fictional narrative has no reference (at least not in “our” world); (b) syntactic definition: factual narrative and fictional narrative can be distinguished by their logico-linguistic syntax; (c) pragmatic definition: factual narrative advances claims of referential truthfulness whereas fictional narrative advances no such claims. One could add a fourth definition, narratological in nature: in factual narrative author and narrator are the same person whereas in fictional narrative the narrator (who is part of the fictional world) differs from the author (who is part of the world we are living in) (Genette [1991] 1993: 78–88). But this fourth definition is better seen as a consequence of the pragmatic definition of fiction.
Productivity of Sweet Sorghum Genotypes under Contrasting Fertility Management for Food and Ethanol Production

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) has a good potential for ethanol production in Ethiopia. However, continual supply of feed stock to the distillery is one of the major constraints in sweet sorghum-based ethanol and grain yield productions. A study was carried out in Ethiopia during the 2015 to 2016 crop seasons to determine the performance of sweet sorghum genotypes for their stability or specific adaptability under contrasting fertilizer rates across environments. All agronomic characters were varied with the genotypes and environments. Grain yield, panicle weight and plant height were also significantly varied with fertilizations, but other agronomic characters were not varied with fertilizations. The ethanol yield and quality components varied with genotypes, environments and fertilizations, but brix % was not varied with fertilizations. The genotypes, E36-1, ICSR 93034 and IESV 92207 DL, produced greater estimated sugar, ethanol, juice and fresh stalk yield. The genotype, IESV 92207 DL, was the superior genotypes in grain yield and yield related traits, although it was second in brix % and ethanol yield followed by E36-1. At phenotypic and genotypic levels, grain yield was positive and significant correlations with panicle weight and panicle width. There was positive and significant (p<0.01) correlations between ethanol, juice, sugar and fresh stalk yields at both levels, this indicates the merits of these quality characters to improve ethanol yield.
Option Pricing with Transaction Costs

A fast numerical algorithm is developed to price European options with proportional transaction costs using the utility maximization framework of Davis (1997). This approach allows option prices to be computed by solving the investor's basic portfolio selection problem, without the insertion of the option payo into the terminal value function. The properties of the value function can then be used to drastically reduce the number of operations needed to locate the boundaries of the no transaction region, which leads to very e cient option valuation. The optimization problem is solved numerically for the case of exponential utility, and comparisons with approximately replicating strategies reveal tight bounds for option prices even as transaction costs become large. The computational technique involves a discrete time Markov chain approximation to a continuous time singular stochastic optimal control problem. A general de nition of an option hedging strategy in this framework is developed. This involves calculating the perturbation to the optimal portfolio strategy when an option trade is executed.
Effect of stocking rate on biomass variation and lamb performances for barley stubble in Tunisian semi arid region and under conservation agriculture conditions

The integration of livestock in the practices of conservation agriculture (CA) was assessed in Tunisian semi-arid conditions. Forty five Barbarine lambs (aged 220 ± 10 days, average body weight 20 ± 2.5 kg) were used in a performance trial, carried out in the experimental station of INRAT. During the experiment, lambs were grazing on a plot of barley stubble cultivated according to CA was divided into 6 fenced equal subplots and to each subplot was assigned a stocking rate of animals (15 and 30 lambs per hectare, SR15 and SR30 respectively). The biomass of stubble and its botanical composition were estimated 2 times, using quadrats sampling technique. Live weight was determined 3 times after the start of the experiment (three 15-days successive periods) to calculate live weight gain (LWG) and daily live weight gain (DLWG). The amount of biomass varied (P <0.05) from 2204 to 2067 kg DM / ha for SR15 plots and from 2404 to 1826.5 kg DM/ha for SR30 ones. This decrease was higher with SR30 (P<0.05). Heads proportion decreased first, then leaves and finally stems. Biomass chemical composition declined with sampling period. During the first grazing period, lambs assigned to both treatments lost LW (P<0.001), mainly SR30 lambs as compared to SR15 (P<0.05, -610 and -110 g, respectively). The same trend was observed in DLWG (P<0.05). In the second period, the two groups exhibited similar LWG (about 2 kg) and DLWG (about 171 g/d). In the third period, SR15 lambs maintained their body weight, while SR30 group lost (P<0.001) about 400 g comparatively to the second period. It was concluded that under the studied feeding system, stubble grazing without supplementation allowed Barbarine sheep to maintain body conditions. Key words: Lambs, barley stubble, stocking rate, conservation agriculture.
Access to land and rural poverty in developing countries: theory and evidence from Guatemala

The lack of consensus on the social and economic impact from access to land continues to generate heated political and academic debates. The existing empirical literature does not consider possible opportunity costs, factors that can affect this impact and different time horizons. Toward solving this problem, this article elaborates a theoretical argument on the potential benefits, opportunity costs and asset accumulation dynamics that may derive from gaining access to or increasing the size of rural land in developing countries. Empirical tests of the argument and poverty reduction assessment are then carried out using household data from Guatemala. Finally, policy and future research implications are derived.
Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic

AbstractA recent state estimate covering the period 1992–2010 from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project is utilized to quantify the upper-ocean heat budget in the North Atlantic on monthly to interannual time scales (seasonal cycle removed). Three novel techniques are introduced: 1) the heat budget is integrated over the maximum climatological mixed layer depth (integral denoted as H), which gives results that are relevant for explaining SST while avoiding strong contributions from vertical diffusion and entrainment; 2) advective convergences are separated into Ekman and geostrophic parts, a technique that is successful away from ocean boundaries; and 3) air–sea heat fluxes and Ekman advection are combined into one local forcing term. The central results of our analysis are as follows: 1) In the interior of subtropical gyre, local forcing explains the majority of H variance on all time scales resolved by the ECCO estimate. 2) In the Gulf Stream region, low-frequency H ano.
Development of Fermented Millet Sprout Milk Beverage Based on Physicochemical Property Studies and Consumer Acceptability Data

Millets play an important role in the food and nutritional security of the poor in arid and semiarid regions of the world. The present study focused on the use of underexploited millets for production of fermented millet based milk beverage. The beverage was prepared using skimmed milk along with three different millets (finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum). The techniques used for processing millets are soaking, sprouting and extraction of milk from millets. The ratio of millet milk blending with skimmed milk was optimized using Mixture Design based on physicochemical properties viz., sediment, viscosity, wheying off, acidity and sensory responses. The overall acceptability of the optimized sample was 7.1, which is very close to the predicted value. The nutritional analysis was done for the sample prepared using optimized combination of millet milk.
Compressible simulation of rotor-stator interaction in pump-turbines

This work investigates the influence of water compressibility on pressure pulsations induced by rotor-stator interaction (RSI) in hydraulic machinery, using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS-CFX. A pipe flow example with harmonic velocity excitation at the inlet plane is simulated using different grid densities and time step sizes. Results are compared with a validated code for hydraulic networks (SIMSEN). Subsequently, the solution procedure is applied to a simplified 2.5-dimensional pump-turbine configuration in model scale with an adapted speed of sound. Pressure fluctuations are compared with numerical and experimental data based on prototype scale. The good agreement indicates that the scaling of acoustic effects with an adapted speed of sound works well. Finally, the procedure is applied to a 3-dimensional pump configuration in model scale. Pressure fluctuations are compared with results from prototype measurements. Compared to incompressible computations, compressible simulations provide similar pressure fluctuations in vaneless space, but pressure fluctuations in spiral case and penstock may be much higher. With respect to pressure fluctuation amplitudes along the centerline of runner channels, incompressible solutions exhibit a linear decrease while compressible solutions exhibit sinusoidal distributions with maximum values at half the channel length, coinciding with analytical solutions of one-dimensional acoustics.
Trapping Monochamus galloprovincialis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Vector of the Pine Wood Nematode, with Pine Allelochemicals, in Portugal

Seven different trap models or variations and ten different chemical lures or combinations thereof were compared as to their efficiency to attract and capture the pine sawyer Monochamus galloprovincialis, vector of the Pine Wood Nematode (PWN) (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) in Portugal, between 2001 and 2004. Traps were made at the INRB laboratories (former EFN), with and without a visual silhouette, with chemical lures (ethanol, α- pinene and/or turpentine) from the maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), the only host of the PWN and its vector in Portugal. They were tested in four successive assays on pine stands; the less efficient were eliminated and the best were accepted for subsequent tests. The best combination was a transparent cross-vane interception trap lured with ethanol and turpentine in separate vials. The implications of the results for control of M. galloprovincialis are discussed.
Investigating bending strength of spur gear: A review

Having a lightweight and efficient gear system could improve engine efficiency that will reduce emission and enhanced fuel economy in order to reduce the global carbon footprint. Gear tends to play a very vital role in all industries. As other mechanical systems, it is subject to design parameter, installation errors, method of manufacture and load uncertainties arising from randomness. Before engineers could design an efficient and safe gear, it is importance to understand on how gear can fail is much needed. This article reviews the methodology used to investigate bending strength of spur gear; Finite Element Method (FEM), Numerical Calculation and Investigational Techniques were usually carried out in order to understand the bending strength of thin-rimmed spur gear. Works and experiment from the literature were studied and their findings were extracted to understand the methods used. The most common method used to investigate bending strength is the numerical calculation. This method was used with several types of established equations and standards to predict gear failures. Next stage is to simulate the gear using Finite Element Method (FEM) in order to get the analysis of gear strength and later to be used for data verification. The most important stage is to put the gears to physical experiment or testing facilities to determine and validate all data from the numerical calculation and FEM method.
Forage legumes as feed for pigs in smallholder production systems in the North of Lao PDR

This thesis sought to characterise and understand existing smallholder pig production systems in the North of Lao PDR and to investigate the role of forage legumes as alternative protein sources for pigs in smallholder production systems. A survey found that there were three main pig rearing systems, free-scavenging, semi-scavenging and confinement (enclosures and pens), in the study areas. These systems were managed differently depending on intensity of crop production, farmer ethnicity and reason for keeping pigs. Farmers fed their pigs mainly rice bran, distiller's waste, maize, cassava and green plant materials. The growth performance was poor, with an average daily gain (ADG) of around 100 g. The reproductive performance of sows was low, with an average litter size of 8.3 piglets and piglet mortality around 50%. Other constraints in smallholder systems were disease outbreaks. An agronomy trial showed that the forage legumes Stylo composite and porcupine joint vetch produced high DM yields, had high contents of crude protein (CP) and had potential to be used as protein sources for pigs in smallholder systems. Harvesting every 45 days produced higher DM yields than other harvesting intervals. The CP content was highest with the shortest harvesting interval, while the opposite was true for the fibre content (CF, ADF and NDF). Growth trials on the CP requirements of growing local Moo Lath pigs showed that final body weight (BW), ADG, feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) did not improve above a dietary CP level of 181 g kg-1 DM for weaner pigs, 132 g kg-1 DM for grower pigs and 111 g kg-1 DM for finisher pigs. Additional growth trials with Moo Lath pigs showed that replacing soybean CP with forage leaf CP reduced DM and energy intake and ADG, but had no effect on FCR. Increasing the replacement of soybean CP with legume leaf CP had a negative linear effect on DM and energy intake, final BW and ADG, and on all carcass traits except lean meat percentage. Supplementing a traditional diet with soybean meal resulted in higher DM and energy intake, lower FCR and higher final BW and ADG.
Insect antifeedant and growth regulating activities of neem seed oil – the role of major tetranortriterpenoids

Abstract: An attempt was made to correlate insect antifeedant and growth regulatory activities of neem (Azadirachta indica) seed oil with the major tetranortriterpenoids. Selective elimination of triterpenoids by preparative high‐performance liquid chromatography, incorporation of the eliminated compounds in defined concentrations and bioassaying the resultant fractions against Spodoptera litura indicated the necessity to quantify major triterpenoids for correlation of bioactivity of neem oil.