Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variações pedológicas influenciam a composição florístico-estrutural de florestas aluviais?

Este estudo buscou investigar se a composição florístico-estrutural de uma floresta aluvial é influenciada pelas variações pedológicas e se há baixa diversidade e similaridade florística nesses ambientes. Ainda, objetivou avaliar se, independentemente do tipo de solo, essas florestas apresentam monodominância. O estudo foi realizado às margens do rio Iguaçu, no município de Araucária, Paraná, onde foram mapeadas e demarcadas a área de ocorrência de duas classes de solo: Gleissolo Háplico Ta Distrófico típico e Neossolo Flúvico Psamítico típico. Para a análise da estrutura fitossociológica, foram instaladas em cada compartimento 10 parcelas de 10 m x 10 m e monitorada a profundidade média do lençol freático. Foram amostradas 39 espécies, distribuídas em 21 famílias botânicas. Destas, somente seis espécies foram similares nos compartimentos analisados. A flutuação do lençol freático diferiu entre os compartimentos, sendo mais próximo da superfície no Gleissolo. Gymnanthes klotzschiana apresentou os maiores valores de densidade, dominância e importância em ambos os compartimentos. A segunda espécie de maior importância na área de Gleissolo foi Myrciaria tenella, e na área de Neossolo destaca-se Araucaria angustifolia, devido à maior profundidade do lençol freático e ao caráter não hidromórfico do solo. Os ambientes ripários apresentaram distinções florístico-estruturais, evidenciando a necessidade de compartimentação baseada em parâmetros pedológicos, obtendo-se assim um melhor entendimento da comunidade vegetal.
RESTRICCIÓN ALIMENTICIA Y SALBUTAMOL EN EL CONTROL DEL SÍNDROME ASCÍTICO EN POLLOS DE ENGORDA: 1. COMPORTAMIENTO PRODUCTIVO Y CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LA CANAL FEED RESTRICTION AND SALBUTAMOL TO CONTROL ASCITES SYNDROME IN BROILERS: 1. PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS TRAITS

Ascites syndrome affects productive performance and is one of the major causes of mortality in broilers. An experiment was conducted to study the combined effect of feed restriction (0 or 25 % feed reduction) and salbutamol (0 or 2 mg kg -1 ) on the incidence of ascites syndrome, productive performance and carcass traits in broilers. Restriction was carried out when broilers were 7 to 21 days old, and salbutamol was added to feed from days 21 to 35. A 2x2 factorial array with a completely random design and six replications of 29 animals per treatment was used. Body weight and carcass weight were used as covariables. There was no effect of interaction between feed restriction and salbutamol. Restriction reduced mortality from day 7 to 21 (p<0.05) and from day 22 to 35 (p<0.01). Weight gain (437 vs 327 g, p<0.0001) in the first period and body weight at 20, 34 and 48 days old (582 vs 465 g; 1312 vs 1205 g; 2234 vs 2117 g, without and with restriction, respectively; p<0.01) were also reduced. After the period of restriction, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not statistically different, and there was no evidence of compensatory growth. Salbutamol did not affect productive performance. Feed restriction reduced carcass weight and abdominal fat pad weight at day 20, but at the end of the study the effect persisted only in the fat pad (3.61 vs 3.05 %, p=0.029). Salbutamol increased breast mass (193 vs 201 g; p<0.05) and reduced abdominal fat (18.2 vs 15.1 g; p<0.05) at 34 days because of its temporary anabolic and lipolytic effect. The combined use of feed restriction and salbutamol did not reduce total mortality or ascites syndrome mortality, suggesting that each factor had independent effects.
Tracing antenna factors of precision dipoles to basic quantities

An experimental method is described to trace scalar S/sub 21/-measurements with a precision network analyzer to the basic quantities frequency and power. The achieved measurement uncertainty is 0.11 dB for two standard deviations (95.5% confidence level) at a dynamic range up to 70 dB. Precision reference dipoles have been constructed for use as electric field-strength standards in the frequency range of 30-1000 MHz. The transmission loss between such pairs was calculated by using the numerical electromagnetics code and measured both on an open-area test site and in a fully anechoic chamber. Deviations between computations and measurement of the transmission loss were less than 0.3 dB for any measurement and less than 0.25 dB for the mean values. The expanded uncertainty in the antenna factor of one precision dipole is 0.15 dB for two standard deviations.
A new approach to automatic base station placement in mobile network

The tremendous growth in the demand for mobile services has resulted in an explosion in base station (BS) density and network complexity, making the conventional manual planning processes highly inefficient. An innovative approach for automatic BS placement is presented in this paper. The powerful optimization strategy forms the core of the automatic process, which determines the number of BS, their locations and configurations to achieve a high-quality network.
Telehealth treatment for nonspecific low back pain: A review of the current state in mobile health

Nonspecific low back pain (LBP) is an idiopathic musculoskeletal condition that affects four of five individuals in their lifetime and is the leading cause of job‐related disability in the United States. The interest in interactive and dynamic telehealth treatments for LBP continues to grow, and it is important for the medical community to remain up‐to‐date on the state of the science.
Stock performance of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winning companies

Since its creation, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) has had a significant influence on many US organizations, particularly so for companies embarking on or continuing with quality improvement efforts. It is generally considered to be the most prestigious quality award in the US. This paper examines the impact the MBNQA has had on the stock performance of its recipients (1988-98) by carrying out four different types of analysis: (1) an event study to investigate the reaction of the stock market to MBNQA announcements; (2) analysis of the stock market performance of MBNQA recipients by adjusting for market and industry effects and by calculating annualized returns; (3) illustration of the risk-return relationship between MBNQA recipients and the S&P 500 Index, and (4) determination of the long-term impact of buying and holding shares of MBNQA-winning organizations by calculating Treynor's Index and Jensen's Measure.
Analysis on Vehicle-Bridge Coupled Vibration of a Rigid-Frame Arch Bridge Based on Measured Road Roughness

Firstly, synchronous field measurements were carried out for the road roughness of the left and right wheels to obtain the roughness profile using a high speed laser roadway testing vehicle. Secondly, programming idea of multi-girder vehicle-bridge coupled vibration analysis module was presented briefly. Finally, a three-axle heavy truck crossing a rigid-frame arch bridge was taken as an example, detailed comparing and analyzing was carried out for the influence on the dynamic responses and spectrum characteristics of the vehicle-bridge system from three excitation cases which include using measured road roughness corresponding respectively to left and right wheels, using measured road roughness of left wheels and right wheels simultaneously. The analysis shows that when the differences in road roughness between left and right wheels are significant, the responses computed with inconsistent excitation is smaller than that with both of the latter two excitation cases, and there are some differences between the vertical contact forces of wheels and the spectrum characteristics of the vehicle-bridge system.
Impact of polysilicon emitter interfacial layer engineering on the 1/f noise of bipolar transistors

To optimize the electrical characteristics of polysilicon emitter bipolar transistors, the poly emitter interface needs careful engineering. In this paper, bipolar transistors of a 0.5 /spl mu/m BiCMOS process have been fabricated with intentionally grown oxides in an LPCVD cluster for precise control over the interfacial oxide thickness and uniformity. The trade off between current gain enhancement and increased 1/f noise will be discussed for various interfacial oxide thicknesses and emitter annealing conditions. It will be demonstrated that for sufficiently large base currents, both for large (20 /spl mu/m/spl times/20 /spl mu/m) and small (0.5 /spl mu/m/spl times/5 /spl mu/m) emitter areas the interfacial oxide dominates the 1/f noise spectrum of the base current. Hence, the polysilicon emitter interface engineering will not only set the current gain at a predefined value, but at the same time the associated oxide-tunnelling noise is fixed, within the constraint that the emitter-base junction depth is constant. Finally, it will be shown that the current gain enhancement and increased 1/f noise have compensating effects on the output noise of practical circuits.
Regulating Seeds—A Challenging Task

Seed is an essential start of any crop production. Seed, as both botanical seed and vegetive planting materials, is thus a very important component of agricultural livelihoods in food, ornamental, and industrial value chains, of local and global food security, and a determinant of sustainability. All farmers need good seed, irrespective of the farming system and markets that they supply. Seed qualities, in terms of germination/vigour, health, and genetic content, are a concern of all farmers. Farmers have various ways to access seeds. With time, the diversity of farmers’ and formal seed systems have become increasingly refined and complex. Given the importance of seed, not just for farmers but for society at large, seeds have become subject to an increasing number of regulations that pursue different policy objectives. Some have been intentionally developed to regulate seed systems themselves, while others impact them as a side effect. Various components of different policies, regulations and outcomes, their interactions and apparent dilemmas and inconsistencies are discussed to highlight the significance of seeds and to illustrate the importance for policymakers and regulators to carefully phrase rules and be sensitive toward the possible unintended effects of their actions. This particularly relates to seed marketing regulations, intellectual property and farmers’ rights, and biodiversity and biosafety rules. A general conclusion is that rules and regulations need to respond to evolving technical and socio-economic developments. Since seed systems differ widely and operate side by side, regulating a particular system may negatively impact others. The challenge for policymakers is to create policies and regulations that support both formal and farmers’ seed systems where they are most effective while minimalising negative consequences for breeding, selection, and seed production in either system. Several suggestions and recommendations for how to do so are provided in this special issue.
Reconfiguring Quotation over Time and the System-Internal Rise of BE like

Recent work on first person dialogue in conversation (“direct quotation”) assumes that quotation is undergoing rapid and large-scale change as a consequence of the emergence of BE like. In this chapter I merge archival and contemporary materials to explore the parameters of change across two longitudinal speech collections. My concern is the role of grammatical constraints on quotation, alongside evolution of the functional, pragmatic, and lexical repertoires. Drawing on parallel data from two varieties of English, I present a comparative variationist analysis of direct quotation, spanning the late nineteenth century to the present. Analysis reveals a longitudinal and multifaceted trajectory of change, resulting in a highly constrained variable grammar in which contextual factors can be seen to evolve and specialise. There is no evidence that recent changes are the result of new quotatives; rather, the system-internal evolutionary pathway that set the scene for BE like is laid bare.
Physical-mechanical properties and durability enhancement of glued laminated lumber made from inner part of Gewang (Corypha utan Lam.) trunk: The effect of lamina densification and lumber smoking

The inner part of gewang (Corypha utan Lam.) trunk has significantly lower physical-mechanical properties as well as biodeterioration resistance, compared to outer parts. This study investigated a method for improving the physical-mechanical properties and biodeterioration resistance of glued laminated lumber made from the inner part of gewang trunk (GLIT). The effects of pretreating the lamina with densification and exposing the GLIT to smoking process were investigated. The seven layers of GLIT samples were bonded with isocyanate adhesive at a glue spread of 280 g/m2, then smoked for 15 days. Solid lumber pieces made from the inner part as well as the outer part of GLIT were also prepared for comparative purposes. Physical and mechanical properties of the lumber samples were tested according to Japanese agricultural standards. Meanwhile, dry-wood termite and wood decaying fungi resistances of the lumber samples were determined according to Indonesian standard. Results showed that overall physical-mechanical properties as well as dry-wood termite and decay resistances of densified-smoked GLIT were enhanced significantly. Pretreating of lamina and post-production smoking can be considered as a potential method to improve physical-mechanical properties and biodeterioration resistance of the GLIT.
Cracking the GPS-SLR orbit anomaly

The global scientific community has come to rely heavily upon GPS as a tool to observe, monitor and model Earth system processes such as sea level rise, post-glacial rebound, plate tectonics and the hydrological cycle. These processes have signals varying at the level of millimetres per year. In addition GPS data is used as one of the corner stones for the realisation of the global international terrestrial reference frame. Any systematic errors or biases in the estimates of the GPS satellite orbits will alias into these analyses. The principal independent test of GPS orbit accuracy has been laser tracking of SVN35 and SVN39. A comparison of altitudes derived from both satellite laser ranging data and from GPS orbits (estimated using phase and pseudorange data) shows a consistent and intractable bias of 4-5 cm. Laser ranging accuracy is at the level of 5-6 mm and hence it is suspected that the problem lies in some aspect of the GPS orbit estimation process. Whilst the bias may seem small it has some strong knock-on effects in terms of our ability to predict the satellite orbits – an error of 5cm in height results in a mis-modelling of the gravity field of the order of 2.1E-09 m/s2 and an along track prediction error of circa 2m. In addition, as the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis (Kepler’s third law) it is clear that a small height error can map into a significant orbital period error. In this study a team of scientists from University College London and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory have sought to resolve the GPS orbit anomaly. We have applied a new generation of high precision nonconservative force models in the orbit determination process. These force models cover two effects: Planetary Radiation Pressure (PRP) and Antenna Thrust (AT). PRP here is the combined effect of radiation both emitted (Long Wave – LW) and reflected (Short Wave – SW) by the Earth. AT is the reaction force on the satellite due to the energy transmitted in the L-band carrier waves. In the paper we describe the data sources and modelling techniques applied. Orbit determination tests were carried out using JPL’s GIPSY OASIS II software. We present initial results for five days of precise orbits. In these tests the SLR bias is reduced by 2.1 cm when using the new force models. In addition it has come to our notice that the accepted figure for the offset between the GPS SV centre of mass and the laser retro-reflector array may be in error by 11 mm for one satellite and 13 mm for the other. Combined with our force modelling result we can posit a reduction in the SLR bias of 32 – 34 mm, which is a significant reduction.
User's Delay Perception and Tolerance in Human-Computer Interaction

This paper focuses on user's delay perception and tolerance in a simulated computer supported cooperative work (a special case of HCI) environment, as well as the non-technological factors affecting user's delay tolerance. Five factors (gender, Type-A personality, task-type, difficulty level and time delay) were investigated by a mixed 2 (male vs. female, between-group) X 2 (object search vs. budget calculation, within-group) X 2 (hard vs. easy, within-group) factorial experimental design. Type-A personality and time delay were nested in gender and treatment respectively. Results showed that users could estimate 2–6 second delay accurately, but would underestimate shorter delays (<2 seconds) and overestimate longer delays (>6 seconds). MANOVA analysis indicated that task-type, difficulty level and time delay were major factors affecting user's delay tolerance. We also found some important interaction effects between independent variables. The findings suggest that users can adjust their delay tolerance based on the context information such as task-type and difficulty level.
The partnership co-creation process: Conditions for success?

Staff-student partnership activity continues to increase across the higher education sector, expanding to encompass a broad range of initiatives. Numerous frameworks and typologies have been proposed to help organise the literature and facilitate comparisons among different types of partnerships. The research reported here draws on a case study of a quality-enhancement staff-student partnership to identify the stages of the partnership co-creation process. It argues that the establishment of partnership values is intertwined with the stages of the co-creation process and is critical to the partnership’s success. This research contributes to practice and the literature by offering a practical approach to managing a staff-student partnership, adding to work on quality enhancement partnerships, and extending prior work evaluating partnership activity from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.
Local scour around large obstructions

An experimental study, funded by the Department of the Environment, was made to determine the depth of local scour around large obstructions such as caissons and cofferdams used during the construction of bridge across rivers and estuaries. These structures are usually larger than the completed bridge piers so the construction phase can be more critical in terms of scour depth. Model and prototype data for large obstructions are limited but suggest that existing design formulae tend to overestimate the amount of scour. The present study therefore concentrated on cases where the width of the structure was large in relation to the depth of flow.
Measuring Designers’ Empathic Understanding of Users by a Quick Empathic Accuracy (QEA)

Empathy is an essential ability for designers to step into users’ shoes and potentially discover their latent needs. However, although empathy helps designers to better understand users, the degree to which designers can actually understand them remains unclear. Consequently, it is essential to measure the accuracy of designers’ empathic understanding. In our previous work, we have adopted an experimental procedure from psychology to quantify designers’ empathic accuracy. However, the measure as such is time-consuming. Therefore, we attempted to shorten the experimental time while retaining the validity of the measure. This paper reports on the process of shortening the measure and compares the original instrument with the shortened one. The data collected from the shortened instrument shows excellent internal consistency and between subject variance and is able to produce similar results to the original longer measure.
Interaction of crude oil and manure treatments and its effects on the agronomic characteristics of maize ( Zea mays l.)

An experiment was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Imo State, University, Owerri Nigeria to investigate the interaction of crude oil and manure on the agronomic characteristics of maize. The experiment was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design of a split plot fashion with four main plots represented by the levels of crude oil pollution (0 ml, 100 ml, 200 ml, & 300 ml), while the organic manure (poultry manure, cow dung manure and farm yard manure) and a control (no treatment) plots made up the subplots. The set up was replicated four times. Soil collected from the University’s farm site was used to fill 64 buckets of 30 cm3 capacity each to 2/3 of their volumes. Crude oil was applied to the buckets according to the levels. Organic manure was applied 14 days after pollution at the rate of 2Kg/20Kg of soil, while the maize seeds (Obatampa variety) were planted at 28 days after pollution. Soil samples were collected for physical and chemical analysis before application of crude oil and 28 days after application of crude oil. The germination percentage was determined two weeks after planting. Plant height (cm) and leaf length (cm) were determined at 3 and 6 wks after planting, while cob length (cm), cob diameter (cm), number of seeds per cob and weight (g) of 100 seeds were determined at maturity. Results showed that application of manure significantly influenced the growth and performance of maize plant in the crude oil polluted soil. Poultry manure significantly improved the agronomic characteristics of maize more than the cow dung and farm yard manure in the crude oil polluted soil. This indicated that poultry manure exhibited a higher remedial potential of the crude oil-polluted soil than the other organic manures (cow dung and farm yard manure). The results further showed that application of poultry manure positively interacted with crude oil and it is therefore recommended to be used in the remediation of crude oil degraded soils. Key words:Crude oil, Zea mays,Interaction, Organic manure, Remediation
Tribological properties of polytetrafluoroethylene as additive in titanium complex grease

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study, analyze and present the lubricating mechanism and tribological properties of two types of oil‐based titanium complex grease containing Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Design/methodology/approach – Two types of oil‐based sebacic acid/stearic acid titanium complex greases containing PTFE additive were synthesized using 3 L reaction vessel, and the base oils including neopentyl polyol ester and mixed oil of 650SN and neopentyl polyol (1:1.8). Friction‐reduction, antiwear, and load‐carrying properties of greases were evaluated using a four‐ball tester, and their dropping point and penetration were characterized using relevant ASTM standards. Morphologies of wear scar and chemical states of typical elements on worn surfaces were characterized by means of scanning electron microscope and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively.Findings – Tribological results show that titanium complex grease containing PTFE had better friction‐reduction and antiwear propert.