Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variability of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis isolated from different wheat areas of Tunisia: Morpho-cultural characterization, pathogenic analysis and virulence effector genes

Abstract Sixty-three isolates of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis collected from various wheat areas of the north of Tunisia were characterized and studied for their variability. Under in vitro conditions, morpho-cultural characterization showed the presence of several colors of colonies. An inoculation bioassay was performed identifying the presence of three symptoms type i.e., small brown spots, chlorosis, and necrosis with chlorosis. ANOVA of leaf infected area and lesion length data caused by isolates showed significant difference, and Ascending Hierarchical Clustering discriminated them into two distinct pathogenic profiles. Molecular detection of virulence effector genes demonstrated the presence of ToxA, ToxB, and toxb gene individually or in combination, resulting in five different gene profiles. These results indicate large variability of features. Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Ascending Hierarchical Clustering identified four distinct isolates classes. Both pathogenic profiles of isolates appeared in all the groups. Hence, it was not possible to establish a relationship between variability characters and geographical regions from which the isolates were collected.
Transformer-Less Switched-Capacitor Quasi-Switched Boost DC-DC Converter

In this article, a quasi-switched boost converter based on the switched-capacitor technique with high step-up voltage capability is dealt with and analyzed. The proposed converter offers a simple structure and low voltage stress on the semiconductor elements with intrinsic small duty cycle. An inductor of the proposed converter is connected in series with the input voltage source; therefore, continuous input current ripple is attainable. In addition, the efficiency of the proposed converter is also improved. A detailed steady-state analysis is discussed to identify the salient features of the switched-capacitor-based quasi-switched boost DC-DC converter. The performance of the converter is compared against similar existing high boost DC-DC converters. Finally, the switched-capacitor-based quasi-switched boost DC-DC converter is investigated by experimental verification.
FRONT-LINE PROBLEM SOLVING: THE RESPONSES OF HOSPITAL NURSES TO WORK SYSTEM FAILURES.

This research investigated how nurses responded to problems that hindered patient-care. The reaction of front-line workers to system failures has implications for quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction, particularly in service environments where the front-line employees interact with customers. Understanding the behaviors of front-line workers and the organizational factors that influence these behaviors is therefore critical for improving organizational learning and performance. Past research on quality improvement and problem solving has found that certain approaches affect the results of solution efforts, but has not investigated the embedded nature of front-line problems and how this affects workers' ability to use these approaches effectively. Thus, although researchers have identified preferred methods for analyzing and preventing problems, we argue that the demands of the front-line environment limit the applicability of these approaches. To develop theory and practice related to problem .
Mutual coupling between microstrip patch antennas

A theoretical approach to the mutual coupling phenomenon between microstrip patch antennas of arbitrary geometry and alignment is presented. The theory employs an equivalent magnetic wall model for each single radiator, a series expansion in resonant modes in connection with a reaction concept treatment of antenna interaction. Good agreement of theoretical and experimental data is observed in a wide frequency range for various element spacings.
ANTBAL: an ant colony optimization algorithm for balancing mixed-model assembly lines with parallel workstations

This paper presents ANTBAL, an ant colony optimization algorithm for balancing mixed-model assembly lines. The proposed algorithm accounts for zoning constraints and parallel workstations and aims to minimize the number of operators in the assembly line for a given cycle time. In addition to this goal, ANTBAL looks for solutions that smooth the workload among workstations, which is an important aspect to account for in balancing mixed-model assembly lines. Computational experience shows the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.
A Generic Method to Derive Coastal Bathymetry From Satellite Photogrammetry for Tsunami Hazard Assessment

In this study, we use Pleiades satellite stereo imagery to map shallow‐water bathymetry specifically for the purpose of assessing tsunami hazard in coastal regions. In order to calculate the refraction correction factor, we independently measure the refractive indices of seawater mixed with a variety of phytoplankton, which was previously unquantified. We find that the refractive index of seawater increases with cell density of phytoplankton, ranging from 1.3410 to 1.3425. Through rigorous error analysis, we demonstrate that the change in refraction due to heterogeneous distribution of phytoplankton is negligible, suggesting that the technique is applicable to the global ocean. Using the Penghu Islands as a case example, we show that photogrammetric bathymetry is able to reveal tsunami impacts more accurately and reasonably than the commonly used General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans data, highlighting the importance of high‐resolution and high‐accuracy bathymetry for tsunami hazard assessment.
Procurement Effects on Coopetition in Client-Contractor Relationships

Client-contractor relationships are often criticized for being competitive and adversarial, rather than cooperative. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how construction clients’ procurement procedures affect the balance between cooperation and competition (i.e., coopetition) in client-contractor relationships. The empirical results, based on a survey to 87 Swedish construction clients, show that clients’ procurement procedures facilitate a focus on competition. It was also found that clients’ earlier experience of a certain procedure heavily affects their procurement choices, thereby preserving old behaviors. Although two-thirds of the clients wish to increase cooperation with contractors, this does not affect their procurement decisions. This study therefore concludes that the theoretical framework, based on transaction cost economics, is correct in prescribing more cooperation than is empirically observed in the construction sector. The theoretical framework can increase clients’ awareness of .
Reading Comprehension and Reading Speed of University English Language Learners in Ecuador

Reading represents a significant skill for knowledge acquisition. Nevertheless, many people cannot read properly, which may entail a serious limitation to their study, work, or other aspirations. The purpose of this research work is to determine the reading comprehension level and reading speed of English language students at the University of Cuenca, Ecuador, as well as the impact of sociodemographic factors and the use of reading strategies on these levels. The participants were 400 students who were taking English courses during September 2019 to February 2020 semester. The students completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic factors, took reading tests to determine their reading speed and comprehension, and then completed another questionnaire on reading strategies. The results show a high level of reading comprehension in English but a below-average reading speed, in part due to certain external factors. Given these results, research-based intervention is highly recommended to improve reading levels.
Glass: A Deadly Conservation Issue for Birds

Aside from habitat destruction that eliminates fundamental resources upon whichlife depends, it is my contention that clear and reflective sheet glass causes the deathsof more birds than any other human-related avian mortality factor. Although clear andirrefutable evidence to support this claim is currently not available, a vast amount ofdata and its interpretation overwhelmingly upholds this assertion. I have spent morethan 30 years studying bird-glass collisions and human-related avian mortality ingeneral, and this article presents an overview of the glass hazard for birds: itscharacter, scale, and our current knowledge about how to mitigate, if not eliminate,this unintended killing of birds.
Identifying urban land use social functional units: a case study using OSM data

ABSTRACT Urban land use is always the central focus of urban planners and policymakers when pursuing urban sustainable development. Currently, many studies have explored urban land use using satellite data, but few of them can identify the social function of land use through these data. In this research, OpenStreetMap (OSM) data are used to extract urban land use social functional units. Firstly, the OSM data are transferred to actual land use types based on the established mapping rules between OSM data and the urban land use classification standards. Then, the improved DBSCAN algorithm is applied with OSM data of the study area after estimating the parameters of the neighborhood radius (Eps) and the minimum polygons (MinPolys) based on the polygon density. With the two estimated parameters, the improved DBSCAN algorithm is used to cluster residential, commercial and public service land use social functional polygons of the OSM data. Following that, the clusters of the three land use types are processed into land use social functional units. The results show that OSM data perform well in determining these three land use social functional clusters using the improved DBSCAN algorithm, and the social functional units display obvious spatial features.
Influences of Patterns of Strategy Formation and Performance of Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Food Manufacturing Industry in Thailand

This investigation is concerned with how contextual variables impact the process of formulating strategy and their economic consequences for medium-seized enterprises in the Thai food manufacturing industry. This study was pursued in order to close a gap in the existing body of literature relating to organizational and environmental effects on the process of formulating strategy, including the effects of two contextual variables (organizational structure and the environment factor) on formulating particular strategies, whether patterned, planned or emergent, as well as on enterprise performance. Data was collected from 584 medium-sized food manufacturing enterprises in Thailand via questionnaires. Concerning the data collected in this fashion, the analysis was conducted by means of the techniques of simple linear regression. The finding revealed that a positive effect exists between benign environments, mechanistic organizational structure and planned strategic formation process. Analysis results showed that benign environment has positive effect on sales growth. The specific managerial implications of this research follow from the empirical findings. Regarding the environment, the results of this study suggest that firms should develop emergent strategy to guide their navigation of hostile environments and planned strategy for benign environments. Organic structural attributes should be matched with emergent strategy-formation processes, whereas mechanistic structural attributes should be matched with planned strategy-formation processes.
Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Heat Transfer in Closed Gas-Filled Rotating Annuli

Increasing the thermal efficiency by higher turbine inlet temperatures is one of the most important aims in the area of gas turbine development. Because of the high temperatures not only the turbine vanes and blades have to be cooled, but also the knowledge of the mechanically and thermally stressed parts in the hottest zones of the rotor are of great interest. The prediction of the temperature distribution in a gas turbine rotor containing closed, gas-filled cavities, for example in between two discs, has to account for the heat transfer conditions encountered in these cavities. In an entirely closed annulus forced convection is not present, but a strong natural convection flow exists, induced by a non uniform density distribution in the centrifugal force field.In /3/ experimental and numerical investigations on rotating cavities with pure centripetal heat flux had been carried out. The present paper deals with investigations on a pure axially directed heat flux. An experimental set-up was designed to realize a wide range of Ra-numbers (2·108<Ra<5·1010) usually encountered in cavities of gas turbine rotors.Parallel to the experiments numerical calculations have been conducted. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data. The numerical scheme is also used to account for the influence of Re-numbers on heat transfer without changing the Ra-number. This influence could not be pointed out by experiments, because a variation of the Re-Ra characteristic of the employed annuli was not possible.It was found that the numerical and experimental data are in quite good agreement, with exception of high Ra-numbers, where the numerical scheme predicts higher heat transfer than the experiments show. One reason may be that in the experiments the inner and outer cylindrical walls were not really adiabatic, an assumption used in the numerical procedure. Moreover the assumption of a 2-D flow pattern may become invalid for high Ra-numbers. The influence of 3-D effects was studied with the 3-D-version of the numerical code.In opposite to the radial directed heat transfer it was found that the Nu-number is much smaller and depends strongly on the Re-number — whereas the radial heat transfer is only weakly influenced by the Re-number.Copyright © 1994 by ASME
Response surface analysis and process optimization of non-cereal (elephant foot yam, taro and water chestnut) snacks

The present study was conducted to develop non-cereal starch extruded products. The effects of feed moisture (15-21%), temperature (130-170 °C) and screw speed (120-160 rpm) were evaluated on the physical and functional properties of extruded snacks using response surface methodology. Feed moisture and screw speed increased the bulk density and hardness of extruded snacks. Significant decreases in water absorption index and increases in water solubility index were observed with increases in extrusion temperature. The best conditions were determined by numerical optimization. The optimized value for non-cereal snacks for feed moisture is 18.22%, temperature 155.96 °C, screw speed 142.75 rpm and, desirability is 0.75. Verification of results showed decent agreement between the responses of experimental values at certain optimum conditions and the predicted values.
High-Lift Propulsive Airfoil with Integrated Crossflow Fan

A concept for embedding a crossflow fan into a thick wing for lift enhancement and thrust production is proposed. The design places a crossflow fan propulsion system with raised inlet near the trailing edge of the wing. Flow is drawn in from the suction surface, energized, and expelled out the trailing edge. The integration of a crossflow fan within a modified Gottingen 570 airfoil section with 34% thickness to chord ratio is developed and simulated using the commercial CFD software Fluent. Unsteady sliding mesh calculations are used to visualize the flowfield and calculate fan performance and airfoil lift coefficient. The results of the CFD work show that the jet leaving the fan fills up the wake behind the airfoil, whereas the suction effect produced by the fan virtually eliminates flow separation at high angle of attack, yielding very high-lift coefficients. A system level analysis demonstrates the benefits of using an embedded crossflow fan for distributed aircraft propulsion. The system analysis yields tradeoffs between various design parameters and provides a basis for preliminary crossflow fan airfoil design.
High current regimes in transistor collector regions

The falloff of transistor gain and cutoff frequency at high currents is a familiar phenomenon. We show here, for the case of transistors having epitaxial collectors, how the mechanism responsible for the falloff depends upon device operating conditions. At any V cb , a current can be calculated above which falloff begins. If the magnitude of V cb is lower than a critical value V crit , falloff will occur because the transistor enters a saturation or quasi-saturation mode of operation. If the magnitude of V cb is greater than V crit , falloff will occur because the transistor enters a mode of operation associated with space-charge-limited flow. We illustrate the usefulness of this description in understanding observed device behavior, and show how it enables a new interpretation to be given to experimental results previously reported. Important implications for transistor modeling are also discussed.
Enhancing farmers access to technology for increased rice productivity in Ghana

A two-year emergency rice (Oryza sativa L.) initiative was launched in 2009 in response to the global rice crises in 2008. The objective of this initiative in Ghana was to increase rice productivity in order to improve food security. Project activities included planning sessions, demonstrations, training courses and community seed production. The project made remarkable progress in enhancing access to quality seed and fertilizer for over 12,600 farmers while expanding knowledge of best-bet production technologies. Farmers produced 28,663 Mt of paddy which was 16,841 Mt above what they normally produced without project intervention. Average yield increased by 92% and also 4,093 women farmers constituting about 32.4% of the total number of participating farmers benefited directly from the project. Seed fairs, rural radios and audio-visual broadcasts on improved rice production technologies were used to reach non-participating farmers. The combination of methods that stimulated adoption of improved rice production technology was effective in achieving both increased paddy yields and household income. We conclude that investment in rice technology transfer and production efforts during the two-year period was well justified. Key words: Technology-transfer, emergency, seed fair, improved-technology.
The Problem with Design Reuse: An Investigation into Outcomes and Antecedents

An exploratory study of the difficulties of design reuse has been conducted in two design organisations. The study involved building simple causal networks to explain each of 171 cases of problematic reuse described in unstructured interviews with 50 designers and design managers. Most reuse problems concerned transfer that was inhibited in some way, although error and unexpected effort in the reuse process was also a significant outcome. Many of the causes lying behind these problems were local (such as unprecedented client requirements). But many were more general and structural. For instance, reuse was often precluded by differences in preference among designers, or among clients, and these differences appeared to arise from reinforcing feedback effects, which in turn arose from limitations of human inference-like insensitivity to sampling variability and confirmation bias. Reuse was also precluded by engineering problems, such as the combinatorial properties of constraints, which meant, in some instan.
Different Fault Response to Stress during the Seismic Cycle

Seismic prediction was considered impossible, however, there are no reasons in theoretical physics that explicitly prevent this possibility. Therefore, it is quite likely that prediction is made stubbornly complicated by practical difficulties such as the quality of catalogs and data analysis. Earthquakes are sometimes forewarned by precursors, and other times they come unexpectedly; moreover, since no unique mechanism for nucleation was proven to exist, it is unlikely that single classical precursors (e.g., increasing seismicity, geochemical anomalies, geoelectric potentials) may ever be effective in predicting impending earthquakes. For this reason, understanding the physics driving the evolution of fault systems is a crucial task to fine-tune seismic prediction methods and for the mitigation of seismic risk. In this work, an innovative idea is inspected to establish the proximity to the critical breaking point. It is based on the mechanical response of faults to tidal perturbations, which is observed to change during the “seismic cycle”. This technique allows to identify different seismic patterns marking the fingerprints of progressive crustal weakening. Destabilization seems to arise from two different possible mechanisms compatible with the so called preslip patch, cascade models and with seismic quiescence. The first is featured by a decreasing susceptibility to stress perturbation, anomalous geodetic deformation, and seismic activity, while on the other hand, the second shows seismic quiescence and increasing responsiveness. The novelty of this article consists in highlighting not only the variations in responsiveness of faults to stress while reaching the critical point, but also how seismic occurrence changes over time as a function of instability. Temporal swings of correlation between tides and nucleated seismic energy reveal a complex mechanism for modulation of energy dissipation driven by stress variations, above all in the upper brittle crust. Some case studies taken from recent Greek seismicity are investigated.
RHD Genotyping of Rh-Negative and Weak D Phenotype among Blood Donors in Southeast Iran

Background: The D antigen is a subset of Rh blood group antigens involved in the hemolytic disease of the newborn [HDFN] and hemolytic transfusion reaction [HTR]. The hybrid Rhesus box that was created after RH gene deletion, was known as a mechanism of the Rh-negative phenotype. Hybrid marker identification is used to confirm the deletion of the RHD gene and to determine zygosity. This study aims to detect this marker in Rh-negative and weak D phenotype blood donors of the southeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: The molecular analysis of the hybrid Rhesus box was performed on the 200 Rh-negative blood donors in Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeast Iran. The presence of alleles responsible for the D variants was assessed by DNA sequencing in 26 weak D phenotype donors. Results: Of the 200 Rh-negative blood samples, 198 samples were homozygous (99%), and two samples were heterozygous (1%). Heterozygous samples had RHD*01N.73 allele and the RHD*01N.18 allele. Of the 26 samples with weak D phenotype, 16 partial DLO (61%), 4 partial DBT1 (15.3%), 2 partial DV type 2 (7.7%), 1 weak D type 1, 1 weak D type 4.2. 3, 1weak D type 105 and 1 RHD (S103P) (4%) were determined. Conclusion: Since RHD gene deletion is the main mechanism of the Rh-negativity in Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, a hybrid Rhesus box marker can be used in resolving RhD typing discrepancies by RHD genotyping methods.
A Family of Integer-Point Ternary Parametric Subdivision Schemes

New subdivision schemes are always required for the generation of smooth curves and surfaces. The purpose of this paper is to present a general formula for family of parametric ternary subdivision schemes based on the Laurent polynomial method. The different complexity subdivision schemes are obtained by substituting the different values of the parameter. The important properties of the proposed family of subdivision schemes are also presented. The continuity of the proposed family is C 2 m . Comparison shows that the proposed family of subdivision schemes has higher degree of polynomial generation, degree of polynomial reproduction, and continuity compared with the exiting subdivision schemes. Maple software is used for mathematical calculations and plotting of graphs.