Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationships be tween density of brown hare Lepus europaeus and landscape structure in Poland in the years 1981-1995

The relationships between the density of brown hare Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 and landscape structure were analysed on the basis of data collected for 11 study areas between 1991 and 1994, and hunting reports from all the 49 provinces of Poland covering the period 1981-1995. The average autumn density of hares in study areas (8-28 ind/km, estimated by strip census) decreased with the number of forest edges and increased with the number of permanent cover areas per km of transects. In the provinces of the country, the hare abundance index (hunting bag, ranging from 0.07 to 5.18 ind/km) decreased with both the proportion of large fields and forests in all the years. The negative effects of large fields and forests on the hare abundance index increased in the study period.
Phylogeographic variation of the Karoo bush rat, Otomys unisulcatus : a molecular and morphological perspective

Phylogeographic genetic structure has been documented for a number of southern African terrestrial taxa. Information regarding geographic population genetic structuring in multiple taxa, with differing life histories, can provide insights into abiotic processes such as vicariance. A fragment of the cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA gene of a plains-dwelling species, Otomys unisulcatus, was sequenced and analysed. Two closely related geographic assemblages were found. The first assemblage (lowland group) contains populations from both the eastern and western parts of the species range, and the second comprises populations from the Little Karoo (central group). The lowland group was shown to be in a state of population expansion after a relatively recent mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coalescence, while the genetic signature of the central assemblage was characterized by more genetic diversity indicative of an older lineage/genetic refuge. Areas of higher elevation (namely mountain ranges) appeared to be the main factor limiting gene flow between these two groups. Aridification cycles due to glacial maximum periods probably resulted in increased dispersal leading to the widespread distribution of common haplotypes throughout the lowland group. Morphological variation in skull shape and size has been shown to follow environmental clines in some rodents. Geometric morphometric analyses on the ventral and dorsal views of the craniums of O. unisulcatus were utilised to test whether the population groupings obtained in the genetic analyses would be recovered by morphometric analyses. In addition, it was also investigated which of the environmental factors investigated influenced skull shape and size. The genetic groupings were not recovered for either the cranial shape or size. Size variation in the females correlated positively with annual rainfall, and so by proxy with habitat productivity, indicating that females which inhabited areas with lower rainfall would be larger. The significant relationship between females’ centroid sizes and rainfall was thought to be as a result of the increased nutrient requirement by this gender in the production of offspring. The males did not show a significant correlation between any of the environmental variables and centroid size. There was a significant difference between the skull shapes of the genders, further verifying the sexual dimorphism in the species. Three major clusters were found (according to cranium shape) using a Two-Block Partial Least Squares Analysis (2B-PLS), which relate to the biome boundaries within the species’ range. Variations in
Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing , FAIM 2017 , 27-30 June 2017 , Modena , Italy Key Performance Indicators for Sustainable Production Evaluation in Oil and Gas Sector

The oil and gas sector has a significant impact on sustainable development, making it important for the sector to implement serious changes in the way it does business. Oil and gas operations involve both upstream activities, and downstream activities. Due to the nature of these activities which cause high risks, companies work continuously to reduce the significance of their adverse impacts on the environment and people. Thus, evaluating the sustainable production in this sector is become a necessity. This paper proposes a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for evaluating the sustainable production believed to be appropriate to the oil and gas sector based on the triple bottom line of sustainability. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is applied to prioritize the performance indicators by summarizing the opinions of experts. It is hoped that the proposed KPIs enables and assists this sector to achieve the higher performance in sustainable production and so as to ensures business sustainability. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing.
Temperature Distributions in Single Cell of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Simulated by an 1D Multi-plate Heat-Transfer Model and a 3D Numerical Simulation Model

The purpose of this study is to verify an 1D multi-plate heat-transfer model estimating the temperature distribution on the interface between polymer electrolyte membrane and catalyst layer at cathode in single cell of polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which is named as reaction surface in this study, with a 3D numerical simulation model solving many governing equations on the coupling phenomena in the cell. The results from both models/simulations agreed well. The effects of initial operation temperature, flow rate, and relative humidity of supply gas on temperature distribution on the reaction surface were also investigated. It was found in both 1D and 3D simulations that, the temperature rise (i.e., Treact – Tini) of the reaction surface from initial operation temperature at 70 °C was higher than that at 80 °C irrespective of flow rate of supply gas. The effect of relative humidity of supply gas on Treact – Tini near the inlet of the cell was small. Compared to the previous studies conducted under the similar operation conditions, the Treact – Tini calculated by 1D multi-plate heat-transfer model in this study as well as numerical simulation using 3D model was reasonable.
A computational assessment of two arterial switch operations

Two arterial switch operations (ASO) designed for transposition of great arteries with ventricular septal defect are numerically assessed. To prove that the SRGA (spiral relationship of the normally related great arteries) arterial switch operation (ASO) is hemodynamically superior to that of the Lecompte procedure, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulations were carried out in the resulting two different vessels. In the mixed tri-quadratic finite element formulation, the streamline upwind model developed on the sup–inf-satisfying elements is employed to enhance convective stability. For the sake of accuracy, the degree of upwinding needed to enhance stability is analytically derived on the one-dimensional basis. For quantitative assessment of the two investigated operations, we calculate the pressure on the vessel surface and the wall shear stress from the simulated velocities. It is found that SRGA surgery is accompanied with lower pressure and higher shear stress, in comparison with those obtained from the Lecompte operation. Additionally, SRGA surgery results in much smaller areas of high pressure and low shear stress. Evidence is also given to show that the SRGA manoeuvre is less susceptible to stenosis. We also show that SRGA is the operation of choice for the ASO from the energy point of view since this anatomy is associated with smaller total energy loss coefficient and hydraulic dissipated power index.
Deer in an arid habitat: dental microwear textures track feeding adaptability

Teeth constitute a bridge between an organism and its environment. Dental wear is a good proxy for (paleo) ecologists to better comprehend the ecology and habitat of modern and extinct species. In this study, we showed Dental Microwear Texture Analysis to be a useful tool, integrating not only specific plant selection but also dietary quality and digestibility in order to understand resource use. Resource-partitioning, seasonal and sexual variations in the diet of two deer species on a Spanish game estate are explored here through Dental Microwear Texture Analysis. This Mediterranean area is on the fringes of the average European environments in terms of constraints and diet for extant red and fallow deer, resulting in an opportunity to understand their ability to live in harsh conditions and the feeding strategies they developed. These two taxa already experienced harsh living conditions during the Pleistocene. Dental microwear texture shows both deer feeding differently on the herbaceous layer in a context where it is the main resource consumed annually. These differences are linked to body mass. With its smaller incisor arcade, Dama dama is able to be more selective, hence focusing on less fibrous parts of forages. Cervus elaphus is more plastic, with dietary variations corresponding to seasonal plant availability and the physiological requirements of stags and does. In general, C. elaphus consumes a more fibrous and less digestible vegetable material than D. dama . This study brings light on the feeding behavior of the two game species under constraint conditions. The results of this study are discussed in terms of realized vs potential ecological niche.
Bread wheat production in small scale irrigation users agro-pastoral households in Ethiopia: Case of Afar and Oromia regional state

Conceptually, benefits of irrigation are realized through improvements in agricultural productivity. At household level, agricultural production increases could be followed by improvements in food consumption patterns. The goal of this research is to examine relationship between irrigation, production and consumption patterns for rural smallholders with pre-scaling up of bread wheat (Ga’ambo variety). A survey was undertaken and data collected on demographics, landholdings, irrigation, returns, consumption behaviors, farmer perceptions, experiences, and other related variables. The results show that using irrigation to the production of bread wheat has positive impact in yield. Though overall production increases the agricultural income of households but amounts spend on food for each household did not increase as consequence because the produced wheat was changed as food source in the form of bread, Injera, Qolo and other forms. However better dietary diversity was found on the consumption pattern of the households with higher income since part of the generated yield was supplied as a seed to the surrounding agro-pastoral wheat producers. Integrated approaches are needed to secure a healthy diet when the food supply of the family is increasing from the cereal part. The average total land holding was found 2.9 ha while the average land cultivated in the bread wheat production at the season was 1.4 ha. Average years of experience of agro-pastoral households in using different improved verities were 2.5 years which had good contribution in production management. The seed amount used on average for the production was found 84.5 kg/ha which lies between the national recommendation which is 80 to 90 kg/ha for irrigated areas while the average seed cost was 13.1 birr (Ethiopian currency) per kg. The average yields collected from the small scale irrigation users were found 31.8 quintal (which is about 3,180 kg) yet at individual levels it was varied from 15 to 37.3 quintals the variation was because of management practice with keeping other heterogeneous factors constant.
Improvement of Time-Periodical Production Schedule of the Group of Products in the Group of Workplaces Through the Lot Sizes Alteration

The technique proposed in this paper can be used to improve a given existing time-periodical production schedule for a group of products in a group of workplaces (machines) having limited capacity, performing cost optimisation by lot size alteration. A coefficient, by which all lot sizes are multiplied, is derived which allows the creation of a new schedule that is feasible under all given constraints, minimising the total controllable costs and preserving the mutual ratio of lot sizes. The presented technique can also be used to solve the optimal lot size problem for a set of product, if the mutual relationship of these lot sizes is given.
Direct Numerical Simulations of Wake-Perturbed Separated Boundary Layers

A wake-perturbed flat plate boundary layer with a streamwise pressure distribution similar to those encountered on the suction side of typical low-pressure turbine blades is investigated by direct numerical simulation. The laminar boundary layer separates due to a strong adverse pressure gradient induced by suction along the upper simulation boundary, transitions, and reattaches while still subject to the adverse pressure gradient. Various simulations are performed with different wake passing frequencies, corresponding to the Strouhal number 0.0043< fhb=DU <0.0496 and wake profiles. The wake profile is changed by varying its maximum velocity defect and its symmetry. Results indicate that the separation and reattachment points, as well as the subsequent boundary layer development, are mainly affected by the frequency, but that the wake shape and intensity have little effect, and that the forcing is effective as long as the wake-passing period is shorter than the bubble-regeneration time. Moreover, the effect of the different frequencies can be predicted from a single experiment in which the separation bubble is allowed to reform after having been reduced by wake perturbations. The stability characteristics of the mean flows resulting from the forcing at different frequencies are evaluated in terms of local linear stability analysis based on the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4004882]
Total nitrogen removal in membrane sequencing batch bioreactor treating domestic wastewater

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of a sequencing batch membrane bioreactor (SBMBR) in wastewater treatment for total nitrogen removal. The reactor, which was built on a pilot scale with a volume of 30 L, was operated for 154 days and fed with synthetic wastewater. The SBMBR was operated under a sequencing batch regime with a total cycle time of 4 hours, which was broken down into 5 min. at the feeding stage, 55 min. of an anoxic phase and 180 min. of aeration and filtration. The permeation flux used was 5.55 L m -2 h -1 . The membrane bioreactor presented very efficient biological wastewater treatment, with COD, ammoniacal nitrogen and total nitrogen removal efficiency of 99, 98 and 96%, respectively. The high total nitrogen removal observed indicates that the SBMBR was able to promote effective nitrification and denitrification, with a concentration below 10 mg L -1 of this parameter in the permeate.
The Dimension of Service Quality and Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Loyalty: A Case of Malaysian Banks

Banking is an important industry in a nation but with the intense competition of various banks available, it is the services provided that crucially distinguishes the banks. Previous studies have examined the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, loyalty, trust and image. These studies adopted the SERVQUAL model to measure service quality in banks which may be five dimensional. This study proposes to measure service quality by applying six dimensions: tangibles, empathy, reliability and security, price, online banking and convenience. These six dimensions are used to examine the relationship between service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, bank image, customer loyalty and customer trust among bank customers in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Data were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM) in order to test all the relationships between the variables in the model. The findings support the proposed hypotheses, which are consistent with the theoretical framework. The results indicate that the dimensions of tangibles, empathy, reliability and security, and online banking have a significant positive relationship with perceived value. The analyses show that service quality, customer satisfaction, bank image and trust are important determinants of loyalty.
The Bright Side of Financial Derivatives: Options Trading and Firm Innovation

Do financial derivatives enhance or impede innovation? We aim to answer this question by examining the relationship between equity options markets and standard measures of firm innovation. Our baseline results show that firms with more options trading activity generate more patents and patent citations per dollar of R&D invested. We then investigate how more active options markets affect firms' innovation strategy. Our results suggest that firms with greater trading activity pursue a more creative, diverse and risky innovation strategy. We discuss potential underlying mechanisms and show that options appear to mitigate managerial career concerns that would induce managers to take actions that boost short-term performance measures. Finally, using several econometric specifications that try to account for the potential endogeneity of options trading, we argue that the positive effect of options trading on firm innovation is causal.
Global stability of combination of a viscous contact wave with rarefaction waves for the compressible fluid models of Korteweg type

This paper is concerned with the large-time behavior of solutions to the Cauchy problem of the one-dimensional compressible fluid models of Korteweg type with density- and temperature-dependent viscosity, capillarity, and heat conductivity coefficients, which models the motions of compressible viscous fluids with internal capillarity. We show that the combination of a viscous contact wave with two rarefaction waves is asymptotically stable with a large initial perturbation if the strength of the composite wave and the capillarity coefficient satisfy some smallness conditions. The proof is based on some refined L2-energy estimates to control the possible growth of the solutions caused by the high nonlinearity of the system, the interactions of waves from different families and large data, and the key ingredient is to derive the uniform positive lower and upper bounds on the specific volume and the temperature.
Effects of Humic Acid and Chitosan under Different Levels of Nitrogen and Potassium fertilizers on Growth and Yield potential of Potato plants (Solanum tuberosum, L.)

Two field experiments were carried out during the fall seasons of 2014 and 2015 to investigate the main effect ofhumic acid (0 and 1000 ppm), chitosan (0 and 250 ppm) and NK (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%) of the recommended rate forthe commercial production of potato as well as their various interactions on some vegetative growth characters, tubersyield and its components. The obtained results indicated that increasing the applied level of NK up to 100% constantlyincreased most of vegetative growth characters (foliage fresh weight, leaf area, plant height, number of main stems andleaf chlorophyll content) and tubers yield and its components (total tuber yield plant-1 and fed-1 and tubers yield of large,medium and small sized plant-1). The highest two NK levels (75 and 100 %) didn’t, significantly, differ in their effects onmost of vegetative traits. Application of humic acid or chitosan produced, significantly, increased growth parameters aswell as tubers yield and its components. The most favorable combination treatments that produced the highest meanvalues of growth and tubers yield as well as yield components were 75 or 100 % NK + humic acid or chitosan, humic acid+ chitosan and 75 or 100% NK+ humic acid + chitosan . Therefore, fertilizing potato plants with 75 or 100 % of therecommended dose of NK combined with foliar spray of humic acid and chitosan could be recommended to gain the bestresults.
Has Private Participation in Water and Sewerage Improved Coverage? Empirical Evidence from Latin America

Introducing private sector participation (PSP) into the water and sewerage sectors in developing countries is difficult and controversial. Empirical studies on its effects are scant and generally inconclusive. Case studies tend to find improvements in the sector following privatization, but they suffer from selection bias, and it is difficult to generalize from their results. To explore empirically the effects of PSP on coverage, we assemble a new dataset of connections to water and sewerage services at the city, and province level, based on household surveys in Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. The household surveys, conducted over a number of years, allow us to compile data, before and after the introduction of PSP, as well as from similar (control) regions that never privatized at all. Our analysis reveals that, in general, connection rates to piped water and sewerage, improved following the introduction of PSP, consistent with the case study literature. We also find, however, that connection rates similarly improved in the control regions, suggesting that PSP, per se, may not have been responsible for those improvements. On the other hand, connection rates for the poorest households also tended to increase in the regions with PSP, and in the control regions, suggesting that-in terms of connections at least-PSP did not harm the poor.
Environmental changes and population trends of breeding waterfowl in northern Baltic Sea

Causes behind the changes in waterfowl populations in the Archipelago Sea, SW Finland, have until now not been quantitatively analysed. We modelled the impact of eutrophication, winter severity, weather conditions during breeding and water salinity on the breeding populations of ten waterfowl species (ducks, great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus and coot Fulica atra) using generalised linear models and the program TRIM (TRends and Indices in Monitoring data). The populations of the goldeneye Bucephala clangula, coot and velvet scoter Melanitta fusca decreased with increasing eutrophication. The populations of the goldeneye, coot, mallard Anas platyrhynchos, mute swan Cygnus olor and eider Somateria mollissima were most vulnerable to winter severity. We did not find evidence for impacts of weather conditions during breeding or water salinity on population trends. We also discuss alternative explanations to the observed population trends, such as predation and disturbance.
Management control in internationalized brazilian companies: a eight cases comparative study

The objective of this study is to determine whether the internationalization of a company’s operations has an impact on its management control systems. Using the case study methodology, the paper analyzes eight cases of Brazilian companies with international activities. The research was guided by the premise that, as the geographical scope of a company’s operations enlarges, its administrative complexity also grows—demanding the adoption of new and more sophisticated controls systems. The literature on management control (see Anthony & Govindarajan, 1998; Dyment, 1987; Gomes and Amat, 2001; Merchant, 1998; among others) provides a relatively similar treatment to the subject of management control of internationalized companies.