Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Calibration and Simultaneous Monitoring of Soil Water Content and Salinity with Capacitance and Four-electrode Probes

Non-destructive monitoring of soil water content (W) and the electrical conductivity of the soil solution (ECw) has been desired for environmental evaluation and sustainable agriculture. Dielectric probes and four-electrode probes are widely used for the non-destructive determination of W and the soil bulk electrical conductivity (ECb), respectively. Since the output of dielectric probes is affected by soil salinity, the calibration for the effect is indispensable for accurate determination of W. Meanwhile, four-electrode probes require the W value for determination of ECw from ECb. We present an empirical calibration method for the salinity dependence of commercial capacitance moisture probes. A four-electrode probe was also calibrated to investigate the possibility of simultaneous monitoring of W and ECw by combining each calibration equation for capacitance and four-electrode probes. A laboratory experiment was conducted using a sandy soil to obtain probe outputs at various W (air-dry-near-saturation) and ECw (0-31.9 dS m-1). The output of the capacitance probe exhibited strong, nonlinear dependence on ECw. The root mean square error (RMSE) between actual W and calculated W using the linear functions provided by the manufacturer was at a maximum of 0.162 m3 m-3. A calibration equation, describing the probe output as a function of W and ECw, was developed using curve fitting approach. The RMSE between the actual and calibrated W by this equation was at a maximum of 0.011 m3 m-3. The output of the four-electrode probe (ECb) was also expressed as a function of W and ECw. The calibration equations for each probe were combined and solved for W and ECw. Although both W and ECw were determined with acceptable accuracy, the combined calibration equation had multiple solutions for W. Development of the method to select optimal solutions will be needed for the practical application of this probe combination.
Comparison of a 2D- and 3D-Based Graphical User Interface for Localization Listening Tests

Recently, there is a trend in developing new multi-channel formats towards adding additional loudspeakers in elevated positions. While the common 5.1 surround sound system only has loudspeakers in the horizontal plane, more complex systems, such as 10.2 or 22.2, include two or more elevated loudspeakers. When listening to music using a multi-channel playback system, the audio material has often not been produced for the used system, e.g. listening to 10.2 material while using a 5.1 surround system. In such cases, the audio material has to be downor upmixed. Compared with listening to the original audio material, downor upmixing affects the listening experience. The localization of sound sources is one attribute that might be affected by downor upmixing the audio material. In the past, some localization listening tests were conducted by using an user interface depicting a two-dimensional representation of the scene. When it comes to elevated loudspeakers, a third dimension also has to be depicted by the user interface. In this work, an experiment was conducted where participants had to locate sound sources by using two different graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The first GUI consisted of two static images of the scene: a topview and a front-view. The other GUI had a fully adjustable 3D visualization of the scene. The main purpose of the experiment is to investigate the differences between both GUIs. This includes the time participants spend on each GUI and the difference in the responses. This work is a contribution to the development of new evaluation methods for new and existing multi-channel audio formats and renderers.
THE STUDY OF MOTHERS' PARENTING PRACTICES WITH CHILD'S WITHDRAWN BEHAVIORS AND TEMPERAMENT

This annual report discusses several topics related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "The Study of Mothers' Parenting Practices with Child's Withdrawn Behaviors and Temperament" (Sueko Toda); (2) "Structure, Developmental Change, and Sex Differences in Temperament of Japanese Children" (Emiko Kusanagi, Nobuko Hoshi, Shing-Jen Chen); (3) "Emotion Communication of Japanese Mothers and Their Infants" (Nobuko Hoshi, Shing-Jen Chen); (4) "A Cross-Cultural Study of Facial Expressions of Emotion Using Multidimensional Scaling" (David Bimler, John Kirkland, Shing-Jen Chen); and (5) "Current Status of Learning Disabilities and Teacher Training Problems in Japan" (Satoshi Takizawa). Each article contains references. (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Oltice of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Ny(This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. ISSN 0386-8435 FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Isolation of Helicobacter pylori from femoral or iliac atherosclerotic plaques

Wstep . Badania nad etiologią miazdzycy wskazują na powiązanie procesow zapalnych z ewolucją blaszki miazdzycowej. Objely one takze zakazenia wywolane przez wirusy i bakterie, w tym Helicobacter pylori. Obecnośc tych paleczek w blaszkach miazdzycowych wykrywano na podstawie obecności DNA metodą lancuchowej reakcji polimerazy (PCR). Niewielu autorow wykazalo wystepowanie w blaszkach zywych form Helicobacter pylori metodą hodowli. Celem pracy byla izolacja paleczek Helicobacter pylori z blaszek miazdzycowych wystepujących w tetnicy udowej lub biodrowej oraz oznaczenie wrazliwości wyhodowanych szczepow na stosowane antybiotyki. Material i metody . W trakcie zabiegu operacyjnego od 51 pacjentow pobrano blaszki miazdzycowe(31 z tetnicy udowej i 20 z tetnicy biodrowej). Materialy posiewano na odpowiednie podloza i inkubowano w warunkach mikroaerofilnych przez 4–7 dni w temperaturze 37°C. Szczepy paleczek identyfikowano na podstawie cech morfologicznych i biochemicznych. Oznaczono wrazliwośc wyizolowanych paleczek na antybiotyki: doksycykline, klarytromycyne i amoksycyline oraz na metronidazol. Wyniki . Paleczki Helicobacter pylori wyizolowano z 6,4% blaszek wystepujących w tetnicy udowej i 5,0% z tetnicy biodrowej. Wszystkie szczepy byly wrazliwe na doksycykline i klarytromycyne, a oporne na metronidazol. Wnioski . 1. Paleczki Helicobacter pylori w blaszkach miazdzycowych zachowują swoją zywotnośc, co umozliwia ich wyhodowanie na specjalnym podlozu w warunkach mikroaerofilnych. 2. Czestośc wystepowania szczepow Helicobacter pylori w blaszkach miazdzycowych tetnic udowych i biodrowych u chorych operowanych z powodu niedokrwienia konczyn dolnych wynosi 6,4% w blaszkach tetnicy udowej i 5% w tetnicy biodrowej. 3. Wykazano, ze wyhodowane szczepy Helicobacter pylori są oporne na metronidazol, natomiast stwierdzono ich wrazliwośc na doksycykline, klarytromycyne i amoksycyline. Acta Angiol 2010; 16, 3: 129–134
Changes instead of levels? Reassessment of the relationship between inequality and subsequent growth using top income shares data

We discuss the association between changes in inequality and subsequent growth, although majority of the empirical papers in this literature focuses on the relationship between the level of inequality and following growth. The reason for addressing this question stems from an interesting study by Banerjee and Duflo (2003). They find that changes in Gini in any direction are associated with lower growth in the following period. They also argue that nonlinearity might explain why the formerly reported estimates in the literature have varied substantially between different studies. Another widely discussed problem related to inequality–growth studies is that empirical models have suffered from low-quality inequality data. Our study contributes the inequality–growth literature in two aspects. Firstly, we use regression spline methods in addition to traditional approach. Secondly, we use recently published top 1% income share series as our inequality data. We find that the levels of top income shares are more closely related to growth than changes in these shares. We also suggest that inequality–growth relation depends on the level of development: positive relation between the level of top 1% shares and following growth can be found only at earlier stages of development process, and high level of top 1% shares is not positively correlated to growth in advanced countries.
Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers on Growth, Yield and Yield Components of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.) at Konta District, South West Ethiopia

A B S T R A C T Field experiment was conducted at Duka, Konta district to determine the effect of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) fertilizers on growth, yield and yield components of black cumin. Five levels of N (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 kg haG 1 in the form of urea) and three levels of P (0, 20, 40 kg haG 1 in the form of TSP), arranged in RCB design with three replications. Results indicated that interaction of N and P highly significantly (p<0.01) influenced the different growth and yield parameters except for 1000 seed weight. The highest seed yield (1336.7 kg haG 1 was obtained from 60/40 kg N P haG 1 . Highest number of pods per plant (45.9) was obtained from 60 kg N haG 1 and 40 kg P haG 1 interactions. The tallest plants (72.5 cm) were measured o plots fertilized at the rate of 60/40 kg N P haG 1 . The highest number of branches (46.1) was obtained from the interaction effect of 60/40 kg N P haG 1 . The highest numbers of seeds per pod (91.6) was achieved at treatment combination of 60/40 kg N P haG 1 followed by 88.4 seeds by the treatment combination of 60/20 kg N P haG 1 . The highest harvest index (20.8%) was obtained from the treatment that received 60/40 kg NP followed by 20.5%, which received 45/20 kg, N P haG 1 interactions and the lowest harvest index (15.1%) was recorded from the treatment that received 15 and 0 kg NP interaction. The longest days to 50% flowering (86.7 days) were observed for the treatment that received 60/40 kg N P haG 1 . However, the shortest flowering days (75.5) days were for the control treatment. Partial budget analysis has shown that two treatment combinations of (NP haG 1 ) were found to be economically viable with marginal rate of revenue beyond the minimum acceptable level (150%). The highest MRR (%) was obtained with the interaction effect of 45/40 kg NP haG 1 with marginal rate of revenue (1272.2%) for net benefit 15254.1 birr, followed by the interaction effect of 15/20 kg NP haG 1 with marginal rate of revenue (485%) for net benefit 10325 birr over the control with a net benefit 8595.0 birr. Since the experiment was conducted at one place and only for one cropping season, it will not be appropriate to arrive at a strong recommendation. However, as a recommendation, growers can be advised to use a combination of 45/40 kg NP haG 1 followed by 15/20 Kg N P 2 O 5 haG 1 for black cumin production in the area.
Healthy Land? An Examination of the Area-Level Association between Brownfield Land and Morbidity and Mortality in England

It is increasingly understood that the physical environment remains an important determinant of area-level health and spatial and socioeconomic health inequalities. Existing research has largely focused on the health effects of differential access to green space, the proximity of waste facilities, or air pollution. The role of brownfield—or previously developed—land has been largely overlooked. This is the case even in studies that utilise multiple measures of environmental deprivation. This paper presents the results of the first national-scale empirical examination of the association between brownfield land and morbidity and mortality, using data from England. Census Area Statistical ward-level data on the relative proportion of brownfield land (calculated from the 2009 National Land Use Database), standardised morbidity (2001 Census measures of ‘not good’ general health and limiting long-term illness), and premature (aged under 75 years) all-cause mortality ratios from 1998/99 to 2002/03 were examined using linear mixed modelling (adjusting for potential environmental, socioeconomic, and demographic confounders). A significant and strong, adjusted, area-level association was found between brownfield land and morbidity: people living in wards with a high proportion of brownfield land are significantly more likely to suffer from poorer health than those living in wards with a small proportion of brownfield land. This suggests that brownfield land could potentially be an important and previously overlooked independent environmental determinant of population health in England. The remediation and redevelopment of brownfield land should therefore be considered as a public health policy issue. Keywords: regeneration, environment, deprivation, neighbourhood
A conceptual model for self‐sustained active‐break Indian summer monsoon

The Indian summer monsoon (ISM) exhibits a salient intraseasonal oscillation (ISO), and there have two ISO variability centers that are located at the equatorial Indian Ocean (EIO) and ISM regions, respectively. The prevalence of these two centers indicates that this active‐break monsoon cycle has a prominent stationary oscillation. To understand this aspect of the ISM ISO, a two‐box model is advanced to represent the ISO in these two variability centers. Linking by the local Hadley circulation, these two boxes can enhance each other's variability, but air‐sea interaction is shown to be necessary for producing a sustainable model ISO. Associated with a positive (negative) precipitation dipole anomaly, the reduced (enhanced) short wave radiation cools (warms) the sea surface and leads to an anomalous sea surface temperature dipole, which in turn stimulate development of a reversed precipitation dipole. This leads to a transition from one to the other phase of the monsoon cycle. This model demonstrates that even without the northward propagation, the air‐sea interaction, in cooperation with the instability caused by the local Hadley circulation and frictional boundary layer moisture convergence, can produce a self‐sustained ISM ISO.
A Theory of Influence: The Strategic Value of Public Ignorance

We analyse an agency model where one individual decides how much evidence he collects. We assume that he has free access to information, but all the news acquired becomes automatically public. Conditional on the information disclosed, a second individual with conflicting preferences undertakes an action that affects the payoff of both agents. In this game of incomplete but symmetric information, we show that the first individual obtains rents due to his superior ability to decide whether to collect or forego evidence, i.e., due to his control in the generation of (public) information. We provide an analytical characterization of these rents, that we label ‘rents of public ignorance’. They can be interpreted as, for example, the degree of influence that a chairman can exert on a committee due exclusively to his capacity to decide whether to keep discussions alive or terminate them and call a vote. Last, we show that similar insights are obtained if the agent decides first how much private information he collects and then how much of this information he transmits to the other agent.
Biodiversity Conservation in Traditional Coffee Systems of Mexico

In Mexico, coffee is cultivated on the coastal slopes of the central and southern parts of the country in areas where two or more types of vegetation make contact. Based on management level and vegetational and structural complexity, it is possible to distinguish five main coffee production systems in Mexico: two kinds of traditional shaded agroforests (with native trees), one commercially oriented polyspecific shaded system, and two “modern” systems (shaded and unshaded monocultures). Traditional shaded coffee is cultivated principally by small‐scale, community‐based growers, most of whom belong to some indigenous culture group. Through an exhaustive review of the literature, we found that traditional shaded coffee plantations are important repositories of biological richness for groups such as trees and epiphytes, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods. We evaluated the conservation role of these traditional shaded systems by estimating the percentage of the whole coffee area under traditional management, by reviewing the ecological and geographical distribution of coffee areas in Mexico, and by connecting the geographical distribution of these coffee areas with recognized centers of species richness and endemism. The assesment revealed that in Mexico, coffee fields are located in a biogeographically and ecologically strategic elevational belt that is an area of overlap between the tropical and temperate elements and of contact among the four main types of Mexican forests. We also found that between 60% and 70% of these coffee areas are under traditional management and that at least 14 of 155 priority regions selected by experts as having high numbers of species and endemics overlap with or are near traditional coffee‐growing areas.
The Effects of STEM Training on the Academic Achievement of 4th Graders in Science and Mathematics and Their Views on STEM Training Teachers.

This study aims to identify the effects of STEM training on the academic achievement of 4th graders in science and mathematics, as well as their views about STEM training. The study group consisted of 4th graders with similar science and mathematics achievement levels from two separate elementary schools with similar socioeconomic profiles in Nigde. The study used the quasi experimental pre test-post test control group model. The data were collected by using the Science Achievement Test, Mathematics Achievement Test and a semi-structured interview form. The results showed that STEM training affects science and mathematics achievement, students have positive views about the training, wish to see more of it in future courses, and may consider choosing STEM areas for their future careers.
Knowledge andawareness of Menopause Among Female Elementary School Teachers in Osun State , Nigeria

Menopause is a natural part of a woman’s life, it is the phase when a woman no longer experience menstruation when her body begins to produce progressively lesser progesterone and estrogen and eventually her menstrual cycles cease.The study assessed awareness and knowledge of menopause and establish relationship between menarche, menopause, lifestyle modification and non communicable diseases with the view of encouraging positive healthy behavior. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional design. Sample size was calculated using Leslie-Fisher’s formula. Self-administered, structured questionnaires which were designed, piloted, and validated were used to collect data from 306 female teachers. Results were analyzed by Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 and P value was set as 0.05. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents (75.2%) perceived menopause as a time when women stops menstruation totally. The results also showed that (60.5%) of the respondents agreed that early menarche will cause early menopause while (52.9%) agreed that physical exercise reduces symptoms of menopause and prevents non communicable diseases. Concerning association of menopause to myths, half of the respondents (50%) believed that they should abstain from sexual intercourse during menopause owing to the fact that it can lead to storage of sperm in them by (33.3%). Multiple Regression analysis revealed that the age, marital status, educational status and knowledge about menopause are significantly related to onset of menopause with the p value of 0.035 which is < 0.05. This study concluded that female elementary school teachers were aware of menopause but have inadequate knowledge about nutrition and regular physical exercise during this phase of life.
Isoperimetric inequality and area growth of surfaces with bounded mean curvature

ISOPERIMETRIC INEQUALITY AND AREA GROWTH OF SURFACES WITH BOUNDED MEAN CURVATURE MAY 2014 DECHANG CHEN Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor William H. Meeks III In this thesis, we give a lower bound on the areas of small geodesic balls in an immersed hypersurface M contained in a Riemannian manifold N . This lower bound depends only on an upper bound for the absolute mean curvature function of M , an upper bound of the absolute sectional curvature of N and a lower bound for the injectivity radius of N . As a consequence, we prove that if M is a noncompact complete surface of bounded absolute mean curvature in Riemannian manifold N with positive injectivity radius and bounded absolute sectional curvature, then the area of geodesic balls of M must grow at least linearly in terms of their radius. In particular, this result implies the classical result of Yau that a complete minimal hypersurface in R must have infinite area. We also attain partial results on the conjecture: If M is a compact immersed surface in hyperbolic 3-space H, and the absolute mean curvature function of M is bounded from above by 1, then Area(M) ≤ (Length(∂M)) 2 4π .
Drug Adsorption Behavior of Polyolefin Infusion Tube Compared to PVC and PU

PVC 재질로 만들어진 기존의 수액백과 튜브는 가소제인 DEHP(diethylhexyl phthalate)를 함유하고 있어 정맥 주사 시에 가소제의 용출과 약물 흡착이라는 심각한 취약점을 내재하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 폴리올레핀 재질로 만들어진 non-PVC 수액튜브(가소제 미포함)를 개발하고, 이들 튜브 내면에서의 약물 흡착 거동을 기존의 PVC 및 PU 재질의 수액 튜브와 비교 검토하므로써, 수액 주사 시 약물 흡착으로 인한 약효 감소 효과를 최소화 가능한 방안을 도출하고자 한다. 4가지의 non-PVC 수액튜브는 폴리에틸렌(PE), 폴리프로필렌(PP), syndiotactic 1,2-폴리부타 다이엔(PB)과 스타이렌-에틸렌(SE)의 공중합 탄성체를 사용하여 압출하여 제조하였으며, 이들은 기존의 PVC 수액튜브의 기계적 특성과 동등한 물성을 나타내었다. 아울러 제조된 폴리올레핀 재질의 4가지 수액튜브들은 기존의 PVC 및 PU 재질의 수액튜브 대비 우수한 약물흡착 방지 효과를 나타내었다. 따라서 이들은 약물흡착 방지용 수액튜브뿐 아니라 DEHP의 용출 위험이 배제된 안전한 수액튜브로서 임상 적용 가능할 것이다. 【PVC (polyvinyl chloride) intravenous fluid bags and tubes that contain DEHP (diethylhexyl phthalate) as a plasticizer have several associated disadvantages for intravenous injections. We investigated the drug absorption behaviors on the inner surface of an infusion tube that consisted of commercialized PVC/PU (polyurethane). We developed a non-PVC (polyolefin) tube in order to improve the efficacy of this drug administration method. We prepared four types of non-PVC (polyolefin) infusion tubes using a polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene (PB), and styrene-ethylene (SE) copolymer elastomers were prepared using a single screw extruder. The four types of manufactured non-PVC (polyolefin) infusion tubes had good mechanical properties that were equivalent to PVC tube properties. The four types of prepared non-PVC (polyolefin) infusion tubes also prohibited drug absorption when compared to the commercialized PVC and PU tubes. Therefore, based on the results of this study, prepared non-PVC (polyolefin) tubes are good candidates for infusion because they prevent drug absorption and the release of DEHP. 】