Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Soil Fertility and Growth Performance of Planted Shorea macrophylla (de Vriese) after Enrichment Planting at Rehabilitation Sites of Sampadi Forest Reserve, Sarawak, Malaysia

A study was conducted to determine the status of soil properties after enrichment planting in comparison to an adjacent secondary forest and to evaluate the effect of enrichment planting of Shorea macrophylla (de Vriese) on the soil fertility status with special reference to Soil Fertility Index (SFI) and Soil Evaluation Factor (SEF) at Sampadi Forest Reserve, Sarawak. The study sites were stands rehabilitated in different years (1996: SM96; 1997: SM97; 1998: SM98; 1999: SM99) and secondary forest (SF). Findings indicated that the soils at rehabilitation sites and SF were strongly acidic in nature, with pH less than 5.50, poor soil exchangeable bases, and nutrient status. The soils were relatively of sandy clay loam to sandy clay. Principal Component Analysis revealed the three most significant components of the soil properties which explained 76.3% of the total variation. At surface soils, SFI was correlated with tree growth parameters of S. macrophylla, indicating that SFI is an applicable soil quality index as compared to SEF. Notwithstanding, a significant association was found between soil available phosphorus and planted S. macrophylla, indicating that soil phosphorus is a better indicator than SFI. Further studies on other environmental factors influencing tree growth performance, early establishment of experimental reforestation at nursery, and field should be implemented to obtain the initial data on seedling growth performance prior to outplanting.
Impact of Service Quality and Perceived Value on Customer Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions: Evidence from Convenience Stores in Vietnam

This research investigates the relationship among product quality, service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavior intentions. Validated measurements were identified from a literature review. The measurement model and the conceptual model depicting hypothesized relationships were evaluated based on responses from 220 customers using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The testing results show that, for the direct path, product quality has a significant, positive influence on customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Also, perceived value directly influences customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and satisfaction is an antecedent of behavioral intentions. For the indirect path, service quality has a significant, positive influence on behavioral intentions through the customer satisfaction. The major finding of this study suggest that service quality easily attract more customers, especially the young consumers. About the sale personnel, communication skills, knowledge and ways of treatment to customers are crucial to retailers to gain competitive advantage over competitors. Therefore, it should have clear and consistent processes, procedures with criteria that create the best condition for organization and individual to open this kind of retailing store. Furthermore, product quality improvement is essential; all products must have clear originality; and diversifying products and services is also the way to appeal more consumers.
Macroevolution and Paleobiogeography of Middle to Late Ordovician Brachiopods: A Phylogenetic Biogeographic Approach

WRIGHT, DAVID F. , M. S. , June 2012, Geological Sciences Macroevolutionary and Paleobiogeography of Middle to Late Ordovician Brachiopods: A Phylogenetic Biogeographic Approach Director of Thesis: Alycia L. Stigall The evolution and biogeography of three Ordovician orthid brachiopod genera were examined using species-level phylogenetic analyses and phylogenetic biogeography. Species-level evolutionary patterns and taxonomic revisions were documented for Laurentian species of Glyptorthis Foerste, 1914; Plaesiomys Hall and Clarke, 1892, and Hebertella Hall and Clarke, 1892. Recovered evolutionary relationships were used to investigate geological drivers of macroevolutionary and paleobiogeographic patterns in Middle to Late Ordovician brachiopods and constrain the biogeographic origin of the Late Ordovician Richmondian Invasion. Results indicate a transition in the dominant mode of speciation from vicariance to dispersal occurs across the middle Mohawkian M4/M5 sequence boundary. This macroevolutionary shift corresponds to changes in paleoceanographic conditions brought about by diachronous tectonic events related to the Taconian Orogeny and major rise in global sea level. Multiple biogeographic pathways directed the influx of invasive species during the Richmondian Invasion following a relative rise in sea-level and a return to tropical conditions within the Cincinnati Basin. 4 Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Alycia L. Stigall Associate Professor of Geological Sciences
Climatic and environmental drivers on temporal-spatial variations of grain meteorological yield in high mountainous region

ABSTRACT Development of sustainable mountain agriculture will require an increased understanding of the effects of climatic and environmental factors on grain yield. The objective of this study was to explore the drivers on variations of grain meteorological yield (MY) in Yunnan province, a typical high mountainous region. We used biological logistic regression model to simulate the trend yield to eliminate technological and management improvements effect. MY was calculated based on the data of actual grain yield (AGY) and trend yield. Our findings showed that during 1985–2012, MY showed an irregular fluctuation over time. Extreme temperature indices exerted a relatively greater impact on MY compared to extreme precipitation indices and annual precipitation. Spatially, topographic factors had higher direct effect on spatial variation of MY than that of extreme climate index, multi-year average temperature and precipitation, and soil properties. Redundancy analysis revealed that extreme temperature index (SU30) significantly affected inter-annual variation of MY, while spatial variation of MY was strongly influenced by slope, which can explain 44.62%. Our results illustrated the drivers on temporal-spatial variations of grain meteorological yield were inconsistent and topography effect should be considered when assessing the climatic change on crop yield in mountainous region.
A first phylogenomic hypothesis for Eulophidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)

ABSTRACT Eulophidae is a hyper-diverse family of chalcidoid wasps with 324 genera, about 5300 described species and probably thousands of others to be described. Until now, the absence of unequivocal morphological apomorphies and the low resolution provided by the handful of Sanger sequenced genes have hampered the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships within the family. Here, we used ultra-conserved elements and their flanking regions to resolve relationships among 84 species of eulophids included in 63 genera representing all subfamilies and most tribes, plus 15 outgroups. Our analyses recover all traditional Eulophidae subfamilies and tribes with high support and globally agree with the traditional classification of the family. Our results confirm that Eulophinae + Tetrastichinae is the sister group of (Opheliminae + Entiinae) + Entedoninae. At the generic level, our analyses provide high support for intergeneric relationships for which morphology and Sanger markers previously failed to provide resolution. Our results also confirm that Trisecodes does not group with Eulophidae and may not belong to this family; however, its correct classification still awaits a large-scale phylogenomic hypothesis for Chalcidoidea. This work opens new avenues towards a better understanding of the evolutionary history, biogeography and evolution of host–parasitoid associations in this hyper-diverse family of chalcidoid wasps.
Ergonomic Analysis of Traditional Pine Oleoresin Tapping: Musculoskeletal Disorders, Cumulative Fatigue, and Job Satisfaction

Pine oleoresin is a valuable non-timber forest product commodity in Indonesia. A traditional tapping using small-sized hoes ("kadukul" in Sundanese or "pethel" in Javanese) are widely applied. Given the protection of occupational safety and health is a worker's right, various ergonomic issues were discussed in this study. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) was examined by using Standardized Nordic Questionnaire and Wong-Baker Pain Rating Scale instruments, physical-mental-social fatigue was measured by Cumulative Fatigue Symptoms Index (CFSI), and job satisfaction was tested from eight variables such as wage, employment status, accessibility, health service, living facilities, work equipment, training, and social facility. This study revealed that most of the workers suffered from intense MSDs in the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand, thigh, calf, and foot (mostly right body side). This finding was in line with the CFSI analysis. The common fatigue symptoms suffered by the workers were in the category of the physical dimension, such as in sub-dimensions of general fatigue, chronics fatigue, and physical disorder. The job satisfaction analysis confirmed that two variables, i.e., wage and employment status, influenced job satisfaction significantly in a positive association. Proper personal protective equipment and workaid, working techniques improvement that meets occupational safety and health standard, and safety behavior incentive should be considered as effective strategies in improving the worker's safety and health protection. Keywords: forest harvesting, forestry worker, non-timber forest product, physical fatigue, safety
The Fiscal Multiplier of Public Investment: The Role of Corporate Balance Sheet

This paper explores whether public investment crowds out or crowds in private investment. To this aim, we build a database of about half a million firms from 49 countries. We find that the effect of public investment on corporate investment depends both on leverage and financial constraints. Public investment boosts private investment for firms with low leverage. However, for firms with high leverage, private investment does not react to an increase in public investment, in line with theory (Myers 1977). We also find that the effect of public investment on corporate investment is much weaker for firms that are financially constrained.
Energy management and damping improvement of a DC microgrid with constant power load using interconnection and damping assignment-passivity based control

This paper deals with (i) damping improvement and (ii) energy management of a DC microgrid for improvement of its stability. The direct current (DC) microgrid has a solar-photovoltaic system as a renewable source and fuel cell-battery combination as a backup system to supply power to constant power loads (CPLs). The presence of CPLs in a DC microgrid makes the stability problem more challenging since the negative impedance characteristics of CPLs bring instability into the system. A control approach using interconnection and damping assignment-passivity based control (IDA-PBC) is proposed in this paper to address both the objectives. The proposed control approach provides an efficient energy management, the required damping and also maintains the stability by making the system passive. The tuning parameters of the control laws are adapted incorporating the state of charge (SoC) for the effective energy management. In addition, an integral action is added with the proposed control laws to eliminate the steady-state error in the voltage level of the DC bus and load bus. The proposed IDA-PBC control along with an integral action is compared with four other control approaches, and reveals its better performances. The MATLAB/Simulink results show that the proposed control technique provides better responses in terms of providing damping and effective energy management.
Performance assessment of the augmented finite element method for the modeling of weak discontinuities

This article investigates the convergence properties of the augmented finite element method (AFEM). The AFEM is here used to model weak discontinuities independently of the underlying mesh. One noticeable advantage of the AFEM over other partition of unity methods is that it does not introduce additional global unknowns. Numerical 2D experiments illustrate the performance of the method and draw comparisons with the finite element method (FEM) and the nonconforming FEM. It is shown that the AFEM converges with an error of 𝒪(h0.5) in the energy norm. The nonconforming FEM shares the same property while the FEM converges at 𝒪(h) . Yet, the AFEM is on par with the FEM for certain homogenization problems.
Investigation of hemotoxicologic potential of an ayurvedic preparation Kutajarista used in Sprue syndrome after chronic administration to male Sprague-Dawley rats

The ayurvedic medicinal system is the world’s most primitive medical systems which were originated in India. For the treatment of Sprue syndrome, a very well-known ayurvedic preparation named Kutajarista (KTJ) is used in the south Asian region. This study aimed to detect the impact of chronic administration of KTJ on hematological parameters. The experimental animals were subdivided into two groups. A high dose (50 mL/kg) of body weight was given to the first group for 42 days and the second group which was considered as the control group was treated with normal water for the same period. There was a remarkable reduction [10.37%, p=0.092] in the total numbers of red blood cells (RBC). A prominent decrease [10.75%. p=0.097] is also observed in the hemoglobin content of the blood. There was a noticeable [11.05%, p=0.077] decrease in the hematocrit level of the blood and a very high [64.35%, p=0.19] increase in the number of white blood cell (WBC) count of the male Sprague-Dawley rat. A remarkably high increase was observed in the absolute count of Neutrophils (220.161%, p=0.12), Eosinophils (368.75%, p=0.11), Lymphocytes [11.29%, p=0.06], and Monocyte [142.781%, p=0.13] count. Also a prominent [↑ 14.15%, p=0.42] increase in the number of platelet counts was observed. Rat cutaneous tail bleeding time and whole blood clotting time shortening were also observed and the result is statistically prominent. As the result shows a significant change in different hematological parameter it can be summarized that KTJ have potential hemotoxicity at a higher dose. Further study is required at a lower dose. Key words: Ayurvedic, Kutajarista, hemotoxicity, red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC).
Towards Model-Free Pressure Control in Water Distribution Networks

Pressure control in water distribution networks (WDNs) is one of the interventions commonly employed to improve the reliability and sustainability of water supply. Various approaches have been proposed to solve the problem of pressure control. However, most schemes that have been proposed rely on the accuracy of a model in order to precisely control a real WDN. Therefore, any deviation between a model and real WDN parameters could render the results of control schemes useless. As a result, this work proposes the utilisation of the reinforcement learning (RL) technique to control nodes pressure in WDNs without solving the model. Quadratic approximation emulators of WDNs and RL agents are used in the proposed scheme. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is tested on two WDNs networks and the results are compared with the conventional optimisation scheme that is commonly used for simulation cases. The results show that the proposed scheme is able to achieve the desired results when compared to the benchmark optimisation procedure. However, unlike the optimisation procedure, the proposed scheme achieved the results without the numerical solution of the WDNs. Therefore, this scheme could be used in situations where the model of a network is not well defined.
FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS CHOOSING MANAGEMENT STUDY PROGRAM (CASE STUDY ON THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS, Dr. SOETOMO UNIVERSITY, SURABAYA)

The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze: The factors that influence students in choosing a Management study program at Dr. Soetomo University, Surabaya. This research is motivated by a fairly tight competition between private universities in Surabaya to attract students who will continue their studies at higher education, and the large number of study program choices. To win the competition, each private university tries to improve the quality of its study program with various strategies. On the other hand, students have many choices to decide what study program, and which private university to choose. There are certain study programs and private universities that are very popular, and some are less attractive. Therefore, it is very important that the student decision-making process in choosing a study program in a particular private university is analyzed through a study of consumer behavior. Data analysis used is quantitative, while to analyze quantitative data using multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed the R Square coefficient of 0.682 means that variations in student decisions can be explained by the cultural, social, personality, and psychological variables of 68.2%. While the remaining 31.8% can be explained by other variables not examined by this study. Simultaneous testing shows that the independent variables, namely Culture, Social, Personality, Psychology, jointly affect student decisions. This is indicated by the F Count of 61.517. From testing the research variables partially shows that the independent variables, namely Culture, Social, Personality, Psychology, have an effect on the dependent variable, namely Student Decisions. From the independent variables, namely Culture, Social, Personality, the most dominant variable is psychological. This is indicated by the lowest level of significance, namely α = 0.000 and the greatest coefficient, namely the t value of 4.766. Keywords: Culture, Social, Personality, Psychology, Student Decisions
Experimental Investigation on Influence of Shed Parameters on Surface Rainwater Characteristics of Large-Diameter Composite Post Insulators under Rain Conditions

The discharges of water columns and droplets between the sheds make the leakage distance not effectively used, which is one of the main reasons for flashover of composite post insulators under heavy rainfall. To study the influence of shed parameters on surface rainwater characteristics, artificial rain tests were carried out on the large-diameter composite post insulators under the rainfall intensity of 2–15 mm/min. Lwc (the length of water columns at the edge of large sheds), Nwc (the number of water columns at the edge of large sheds), Nwde (the number of water droplets at the edge of large sheds) and Nwds (the number of water droplets in the space between two adjacent large sheds) were proposed as the parameters of surface rainwater characteristics. The influences of large shed spacing, large shed overhang and rod diameter on the parameters of surface rainwater characteristics under different rainfall intensities were analyzed. The experimental results show that, under the same rainfall intensity, with the rise in large shed spacing, large shed overhang or rod diameter, Lwc, Nwc, Nwde and Nwds all increase. Under different rainfall intensities, the trends of the parameters with the change in shed parameters are basically invariant; however, the change ranges of the parameters are different. The increases in the parameters with the rises in shed parameters and rainfall intensity are mainly attributed to the change in the rainfall on the insulator surface. The experimental results can provide references for the quantitative description of surface rainwater characteristics and the design of large-diameter composite post insulators for DC transmission systems.
Density ratio effects on the topology of coherent turbulent structures in two-way coupled particle-laden channel flows

This investigation considers the effect of density ratio on the modification of coherent turbulent structures in particle-laden channel flows at a shear Reynolds number of Reτ = 180. Direct numerical simulation and Lagrangian particle tracking are used to accurately predict the motion of particles dispersed within the flow at three Stokes numbers, St+ = 0.1, 50, and 92. Particle–fluid coupling is achieved through a local element-based force feedback field in the Navier–Stokes equations, which are solved using a seventh-order accurate spectral element method. After an initial transitory period wherein the effects of particle–fluid interaction are emphasized, the low density ratio particles are found to enhance the turbulence field, increasing the frequency of Q-criterion satisfying regions, while the inertial particles suppress the turbulence, reducing the number of quasistreamwise vortices. Results indicate that the topology of the quasistreamwise vortices is altered by the presence of the particles in the viscous sublayer, the buffer layer, and the log-law region such that the distribution of the third invariant of the deviatoric tensor, R, is widened by the presence of tracer-like particles and made thinner by the inertial particles. This effect reduces the amount of unstable focus/compressing regions and stable focus/stretching regions, which account for the streamwise vortical structures observed in these types of flow. Investigating the instantaneous coupling force field surrounding turbulent structures and low speed streaks shows that particles exert their greatest influence on the fluid in the regions noted, and mechanisms by which the particulate phase interacts with turbulent vortices are analyzed.
Analytical Review of Account Methods and Experimental Approaches to Stress-Strain State Investigation of Structurally-Anisotropic Aircraft Panels Made from Composite Materials

Abstract The different approaches were analyzed to investigate the stress-strain state problems of structurally-anisotropic panels made from composite materials. The classification of mathematical models, analytical methods of calculations, numerical methods of calculations, testing results are presented in this review. New mathematical model relations for the stress-strain state investigation of structurally-anisotropic panels made of composite materials are presented. The primary scientific novelty is the further development of the theory of thin-walled elastic ribs related to the contact problem for the skin and the rib with an improved rib model. A promising area of research is the design of composite aircraft structures in the field of production technologies. We consider the residual thermal stresses and the preliminary tension of the reinforcing fibers with respect to the panel production technology. The stress-strain state problem results in the boundary value problem when solving for the eighth order partial derivative equation in the rectangular field. A computer program package is developed in MATLAB. The computer program package has been utilized for multi-criteria optimization of the design of structurally-anisotropic aircraft composite panels. The results of testing series are presented as the verification of the proposed mathematical model.