Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the impact of innovation adoption in agriculture: how and where Precision Agriculture Technologies can be suitable for the Italian farm system?

Starting from the twenty-first century, the digital paradigm has brought with it a new way of thinking about innovation within the firms through the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT), keys factors of digital transformation technologies. In addition, the use of Precision Agriculture (PA) has created a new approach to farming practices, allowing farmers to reduce the inputs, while protecting natural resources. Today, also in Italy PA is starting to be an effective technological innovation potentially capable to improve farms efficiency and sustainability. Given these considerations, the present paper aims, firstly, to review the factors more affect the adoption of precision agriculture technologies (PATs); secondly, to investigate where the PATs could be convenient to apply in Italy. A multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method is performed to achieve this goal. The analysis shows that the geographical area more likely to use PATs in Italy is the North East territory. However, in Italy, the adoption of these technologies in agriculture meets various obstacles: the cultural barrier to innovation and a limited awareness of benefits; the reduced average size of farms, with the difficulty of investing in and appreciating the benefits of PATs.
Memory systems and the control of skilled action

ABSTRACT In keeping with the dominant view that skills are largely automatic, the standard view of memory systems distinguishes between a representational declarative system associated with cognitive processes and a performance-based procedural system. The procedural system is thought to be largely responsible for the performance of well-learned skilled actions. Here we argue that most skills do not fully automate, which entails that the declarative system should make a substantial contribution to skilled performance. To support this view, we review evidence showing that the declarative system does indeed play a number of roles in skilled action.
Entangled Dynamos and Joule Heating in the Earth’s Ionosphere

Abstract. The Earth's neutral atmosphere is the driver of the well-known Solar quiet (Sq) and other magnetic variations, observed since more than 100 years. Yet the understanding of how the neutral wind can accomplish a dynamo effect has been incomplete. A new viable model is presented, where a dynamo effect is obtained only in case of winds perpendicular to the magnetic field B that spatially vary along B. Uniform winds have no effect. We identify Sq as being driven by wind differences at magnetically conjugate points, and not by a neutral wind per se. The view of two different but entangled dynamos is favoured, with some conceptual analogy to quantum mechanical states. Because of the large preponderance of the neutral gas mass over the ionized component in the Earth's ionosphere the dominant effect of the plasma adjusting to the winds is Joule heating. The amount of global Joule heating power from Sq is estimated, with uncertainties, to be much lower than Joule heating from ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling at high latitudes in periods of strong geomagnetic activity. However, on average both contributions could be relatively evenly matched. The global contribution of heating by ionizing solar radiation in the same height range should be 2–3 orders of magnitude larger.
Studies on Subclinical Mastitis in Sirohi Goats in Southern Rajasthan with Reference to Prevalence and Diagnostic Aspects

Mastitis is an economically important disease in goats. In the present study, a total of 100 quarter milk samples were collected from 50 apparently healthy Sirohi Goats in Udaipur district. The culture examination of these samples revealed the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in Sirohi goats as 26 (26/100) % and 34 (17/50) % on udder quarter basis and animal basis, respectively. The highest prevalence of subclinical mastitis was observed in 3rd lactation (50 %). Among the different isolates, staphylococci were found as most prevalent organism accounting for 37.50 (12/32) %, followed by streptococci 28.12 (9/32) %, E. coli 18.75 (6/32) %, bacilli 9.37 (3/32) % and Corynebacterium spp. 6.25 (2/32) %. The threshold values of modified California mastitis test, total somatic cell count and electrical conductivity in subclinical mastitic milk samples were observed to be +1, 1.0 million cells/ml of milk and 6.0 mS/cm, respectively.
EFL Teacher’s Anxiety in Using English in Teaching in the Language Classroom

The objectives of this research were 1) to study sources of teachers’ anxiety in using English in the language classroom, 2) to analyze components of sources of anxiety of language teachers, and 3) to compare the components of sources of teachers’ anxiety between 3 provinces namely, Udon Thani, Nong Khai, and Nongbualampoo. The current study is based on secondary English teachers’ experiences. The sample of the study was 673 English language teachers obtained through a stratified random sampling based upon the ratio of the English teachers from three provinces. The instruments were a focus group interview and a questionnaire. Statistics employed were percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test for dependence, and factor analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The research findings were as follows: 1. Four factors that caused teachers’ anxiety in using English in the language classroom were 1) teacher expectations about students’ language limitations and low motivation which were at the high level, 2) students’ attitudes towards studying English which was at the medium level, 3) teachers’ language proficiency was at the low level, and 4) teaching and learning management was at the medium level. 2. Analysis of 65 factors using factor loading from Principle Components Analysis it was found that sources of teachers’ anxiety in using English in the language classroom were in four areas. These were teacher expectations about students’ language limitations and low motivation, students’ attitudes towards studying English, teachers’ language proficiency, and teaching and learning management. 3. From factor analysis between Udon Thani, Nong Khai, and Nongbualampoo, it was revealed that in the area of teacher expectations about students’ language limitations and low motivation, the English teachers’ opinions were significantly different at the . 01 level.
Nurturing academic writing for students in an enrolled to registered nurse conversion course at university

A growing number of diploma-qualified nurses from vocational programs are enrolling in university Bachelor of Nursing programs to upgrade their qualifications. Universities typically provide these students with credit so they enter the Bachelor of Nursing program in second year. Known as pathway students, these students tend to miss the orientating opportunities that other students experience in their first-year university enrolment. This lack of first-year opportunity can be challenging for many pathway students, notably in academic writing. This paper reports on a tailored and scaffolded academic-writing teaching strategy designed for pathway students in their initial semester of learning. Both the students themselves, and teachers report evidence of improvements in academic writing amongst the pathway students.
The Effects of Computer Animated Dissection versus Preserved Animal Dissection on the Student Achievement in a High School Biology Class.

The purpose of thib study was to examine the effectiveness of computer-animated dissection techniques versus the effectiveness of traditional dissection techniques as related to student achievement. The sample used was 104 general biology students from a small, rural high school in Northeast Tennessee. Random selection was used to separate the students into an experimental group and a control group. The control group dissected a preserved earthworm. The experimental group dissected the earthworm using a CD-ROM dissection tool. Each student then took a test over the earthworm. This exact procedure was then used with the dissection of frog. Data were analyzed using a t-Test for Independent Means. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between the academic achievement of students in the control group versus students in the experimental group. The academic achievement of males in the control group versus males in the experimental group and females in the control group versus females in the experimental group was also examined. The data were analyzed using a t-Test for Independent Means. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in the academic achievement of the two groups. Further research is needed in this area. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/DDR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Traditional Vs. Computer Animated Dissection 1 Running head: TRADITIONAL VS. COMPUTER ANIMATED DISSECTION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Late Campanian–Maastrichtian Ammonite Fauna from Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula)

One of the richest and best preserved late Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite faunas of the world occurs within the Lopez de Bertodano Formation on Seymour Island. The excellent exposure of this sequence has offered an opportunity for detailed stratigraphic study of the fauna, providing a stratigraphic control unavailable for most other Southern Hemisphere strata of similar age. Ammonites are restricted to the Cretaceous portion of the Lopez de Bertodano Formation, becoming more abundant and increasing in diversity within a 600-m interval below the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. The ammonite-rich levels are divided into three zones (from oldest to youngest: Pachydiscus ootacodensis, P. riccardi and P. ultimus zones), extending from the late Campanian-Maastrichtian to the latest Maastrichtian. The taxonomic study of this fauna shows a predominance of endemic taxa of the family Kossmaticeratidae, including the species Maorites tuberculatus Howarth, M. seymourianus (Kilian and Reboul), M. densicostatus (Kilian and Reboul), M. weddelliensis n. sp. , Grossouvrites gemmatus (Huppe) and Gunnarites bhavaniformis (Kilian and Reboul). These taxa, together with the members of the family Desmoceratidae Kitchinites (Kitchinites) darwini (Steinmann) and K. (K.) laurae n. sp. , are mostly restricted to the margins of the Late Cretaceous Weddellian Province that extended from southern South America to Australia. Cosmopolitan genera described in this work become more abundant up section and include the species Anagaudryceras seymouriense n. sp. , Zelandites varuna (Forbes), Pseudophyllites loryi (Kilian and Reboul), Diplomoceras lambi Spath, Pachydiscus (Pachydiscus) ootacodensis (Stoliczka), P. (P.) riccardi n. sp. and P. (P.) ultimus n. sp.
Dynamic Random Testing: Technique and Experimental Evaluation

A particularly good software testing strategy is to achieve the underlying testing goal while solving the problems of tradeoffs between testing effectiveness and efficiency. To improve the fault detection effectiveness of software testing, the principle of feedback control theory was adopted, which motivated the proposal of dynamic random testing (DRT). The main idea behind DRT is using the testing results to guide the test case selection to increase the selection probabilities of the subdomains with higher fault detection rates. Previous works show that DRT strategy can achieve better effectiveness than random testing strategy and random partition testing strategy, and has significantly lower computational costs than adaptive testing strategy. However, the essential factors that affect the performance of DRT, i.e., adjusting parameters, initial profile, and test case classification have not been thoroughly investigated. Besides, some experimental assumptions are inconsistent with real scenarios. Therefore, this paper gives a series of investigations on DRT with a set of practical subject programs. More specifically, the effectiveness and efficiency of DRT are presented, and the extended experiments on DRT with relevant factors are conducted. The results indicate that the effectiveness of DRT is robust to different initial profiles and affected noticeably by the adjusting parameter settings and test case classification methods.
Review of accelerated ageing methods and lifetime prediction techniques for polymeric materials.

Manufacturers of polymer-based materials are increasingly being asked for assurance of product lifetime, particularly for components, which cannot be easily inspected or may fail catastrophically in service. Whilst the life expectancy of products in non-demanding applications have traditionally been predicted from previous in-service experience, the use of plastics in long-term or critical applications requires a far better understanding of the failure mechanisms and the use of accelerated ageing conditions to enable reliable lifetime predictions to be made. This report reviews the failure mechanisms that are commonly experienced in service and the techniques that have been developed to predict life expectancy. The report consists of: a summary of the main degradation mechanisms present in polymeric materials; a review of techniques for predicting the life expectancy of polymers; standards for life-prediction; and the results of an industrial survey examining current UK practice. NPL Report DEPC MPR 016 4 © Crown copyright 2005 Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland
Tolerance of Peas (Pisum sativum) to Acifluorfen Applied Preemergence

In four field experiments, acifluorfen {5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-2-nitrobenzoic acid} applied preemergence at 1.1 kg/ha was not phytotoxic to peas (Pisum sativum L.) and increased the yield of shelled peas by an average of 25% compared to the weedy control. Yields were highest in all four experiments at the 1.1 kg/ha rate and tended to decline at higher rates of application. Growth chamber studies demonstrated that pea tolerance to acifluorfen was not affected by temperatures of 16/10 to 27/21C (light/dark) nor by stimulated rainfall of 0.5 to 5.0 cm. Peas and soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] were more tolerant of acifluorfen than were snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus L.) when acifluorfen was applied preemergence in the greenhouse or in hydroponic nutrient solution.
How middle managers contribute to strategy formation process: connection of strategy processes and strategy practices

El papel del nivel medio de administracion es esencial cuando se trata de una gestion con proceso integrador y emergente de formacion de la estrategia. Resaltamos la importancia del papel de este nivel intermedio que debe conectar de forma precisa los niveles micro y macro-organizacional, ofreciendo una contribucion importante cuando se examina la perspectiva de la estrategia como practica y el proceso integrador de formacion de la estrategia. El principal objetivo de esta investigacion es analizar la relacion entre el proceso integrador de formacion de la estrategia y los papeles del middle manager bajo la perspectiva de la estrategia como practica. Adoptamos una metodologia cualitativa a traves del estudio de caso en una universidad espanola. Los datos fueron recolectados a traves de entrevistas en profundidad, analisis de documentos y observacion directa. Encontramos que la universidad desarrolla un proceso integrador de formacion de la estrategia y le confiere al nivel intermedio un importante papel que se extiende a toda la organizacion.
Where should analgesia lead to? Quality of life and functional recovery with tapentadol

Abstract Chronic pain is a major health-care problem worldwide, affecting more than one out of five adults in Europe. Although multiple analgesic agents have been extensively investigated in terms of clinical response and tolerability profile, few studies have focused on the impact of these therapies on patients’ quality of life (QoL). Of note, improvement in QoL, together with functional recovery, has been recognized since the late 1990s as two main goals of analgesic therapy. Tapentadol is a novel analgesic molecule that synergistically combines two mechanisms of action, µ-opioid receptor agonism and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition, and for which multiple literature data are available that confirm its efficacy and safety in controlling pain. This narrative review summarizes the information available on the impact of tapentadol on QoL, with the aim to provide clinicians with a comprehensive overview of the analgesic effects of tapentadol prolonged release beyond the reduction of pain.
Learning representations of speech from the raw waveform. (Apprentissage de représentations de la parole à partir du signal brut)

Bien que les reseaux de neurones soient a present utilises dans la quasi-totalite des composants d’un systeme de reconnaissance de la parole, du modele acoustique au modele de langue, l’entree de ces systemes reste une representation analytique et fixee de la parole dans le domaine temps-frequence, telle que les mel-filterbanks. Cela se distingue de la vision par ordinateur, un domaine ou les reseaux de neurones prennent en entree les pixels bruts. Les mel-filterbanks sont le produit d’une connaissance precieuse et documentee du systeme auditif humain, ainsi que du traitement du signal, et sont utilisees dans les systemes de reconnaissance de la parole les plus en pointe, systemes qui rivalisent desormais avec les humains dans certaines conditions. Cependant, les mel-filterbanks, comme toute representation fixee, sont fondamentalement limitees par le fait qu’elles ne soient pas affinees par apprentissage pour la tâche consideree. Nous formulons l’hypothese qu’apprendre ces representations de bas niveau de la parole, conjontement avec le modele, permettrait de faire avancer davantage l’etat de l’art. Nous explorons tout d’abord des approches d’apprentissage faiblement supervise et montrons que nous pouvons entrainer un unique reseau de neurones a separer l’information phonetique de celle du locuteur a partir de descripteurs spectraux ou du signal brut et que ces representations se transferent a travers les langues. De plus, apprendre a partir du signal brut produit des representations du locuteur significativement meilleures que celles d’un modele entraine sur des mel-filterbanks. Ces resultats encourageants nous menent par la suite a developper une alternative aux mel-filterbanks qui peut etre entrainee a partir des donnees. Dans la seconde partie de cette these, nous proposons les Time-Domain filterbanks, une architecture neuronale legere prenant en entree la forme d’onde, dont on peut initialiser les poids pour repliquer les mel-filterbanks et qui peut, par la suite, etre entrainee par retro-propagation avec le reste du reseau de neurones. Au cours d’experiences systematiques et approfondies, nous montrons que les Time-Domain filterbanks surclassent systematiquement les melfilterbanks, et peuvent etre integrees dans le premier systeme de reconnaissance de la parole purement convolutif et entraine a partir du signal brut, qui constitue actuellement un nouvel etat de l’art. Les descripteurs fixes etant egalement utilises pour des tâches de classification non-linguistique, pour lesquelles elles sont d’autant moins optimales, nous entrainons un systeme de detection de dysarthrie a partir du signal brut, qui surclasse significativement un systeme equivalent entraine sur des mel-filterbanks ou sur des descripteurs de bas niveau. Enfin, nous concluons cette these en expliquant en quoi nos contributions s’inscrivent dans une transition plus large vers des systemes de comprehension du son qui pourront etre appris de bout en bout.
Sensitivity of chest X-ray for detecting lung cancer in people presenting with symptoms: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Despite increasing use of computed tomography (CT), chest X-ray remains the first-line investigation for suspected lung cancer in primary care in the UK. No systematic review evidence exists as to the sensitivity of chest X-ray for detecting lung cancer in people presenting with symptoms. AIM To estimate the sensitivity of chest X-ray for detecting lung cancer in symptomatic people. DESIGN AND SETTING A systematic review was conducted to determine the sensitivity of chest X-ray for the detection of lung cancer. METHOD Databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched; a grey literature search was also performed. RESULTS A total of 21 studies met the eligibility criteria. Almost all were of poor quality. Only one study had the diagnostic accuracy of chest X-ray as its primary objective. Most articles were case studies with a high risk of bias. Several were drawn from non-representative groups, for example, specific presentations, histological subtypes, or comorbidities. Only three studies had a low risk of bias. Two primary care studies reported sensitivities of 76.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 64.5 to 84.2%) and 79.3% (95% CI = 67.6 to 91.0%). One secondary care study reported a sensitivity of 79.7% (95% CI = 72.7 to 86.8%). CONCLUSION Though there is a paucity of evidence, the highest-quality studies suggest that the sensitivity of chest X-ray for symptomatic lung cancer is only 77% to 80%. GPs should consider if further investigation is necessary in high-risk patients who have had a negative chest X-ray.
Investment Timing and Incentive Costs ∗

We analyze how the costs of smoothly adjusting capital, such as incentive costs, affect investment timing. In our model, the owner of a firm holds a real option to increase a lumpy form of capital and can also smoothly adjust an incremental form of capital. Increasing the cost of incremental capital can delay or accelerate investment in lumpy capital. Incentive costs due to moral hazard are a natural source of costs for the accumulation of incremental capital. When moral hazard is severe, delaying investment in lumpy capital is costly, and overinvesting relative to the first-best case is optimal. (JEL G31, D92, D86)
Selected biomarkers from oil palm-ganoderma infected tissues for detection of basal stem rot disease

The oil palm industry has become a substantial contributor to the international market for vegetable oils, with Malaysia and Indonesia as the major producers of palm oil. However, basal stem rot disease caused by a certain fungi Ganoderma posed a major problem that affects the oil palm tree and eventually kills it. The aim of this research project is to investigate the specific organic compounds being released during the Ganoderma infection with different stages of severity among oil palm. Fresh trunk tissues were collected from oil palm trees at Langkon, Sawit Kinabalu Plantation, Sabah, Malaysia. The oil palm trees were selected based on their disease severity indices which was categorized to Index 0 (healthy), Index 1 (moderate healthy), Index 2 (moderate severe) and Index 3 (severe). The oil colour of palm trunk tissue was distinguished into white-yellowish (index 0), light yellow (index 1), dark yellow (index 2) and yellowish brown (index 3). The identity of the causal pathogen was confirmed as Ganoderma sp. BRIUMSa using Ganoderma Selective Medium, molecular identification and observation under the light microscope. Differences of the organic compounds released from oil palm tissues among different indices were studied using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis showed the presence of eleven compounds: mainly, fatty acid methyl esters, and fatty acids, amino acids, esters, alcohols, alkaloids. Among them, dodecanoic acid, methyl ester, 9-Octadecenoic acid (Z)-, methyl ester and methyl stearate may have the potential as the biomarkers for detection of infection in oil palm caused by Ganoderma sp.