Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of foliar applications of a bio-stimulant derived from algae extract on the physiological behavior of lulo seedlings (Solanum quitoense cv. Septentrionale)

Seaweed extracts are used as nutritional supplements, biostimulants, or biofertilizers in agriculture and horticulture to increase plant growth and yield. In this experiment, foliar applications of bio-stimulant derivate from seaweed extract were tested on plant growth, leaf gas exchange properties, and proline accumulation in lulo seedlings cultivated under greenhouse conditions. Lulo plants were split into four treatments: (i) plants with soil fertilizer; (ii) plants treated only with foliar bio-stimulant sprays; (iii) a combination of soil fertilizer plus a foliar bio-stimulant application; and (iv) a control treatment (without nutrient application). Lulo plants treated with soil fertilizer and foliar bio-stimulants increased growth, as this group of plants showed a higher total plant dry weight, stem diameters, and absolute growth rate. Lulo plants without soil fertilizater and treated with foliar bio-stimulant application had lower leaf gas exchange (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and plant transpiration) and leaf chlorophyll content. Foliar biostimulant sprays enhanced the partitioning of dry mass in floral cushions. In conclusion, the application of foliar bio-stimulant applications as a complement to soil fertilizer is a technique that can be employed in the cultivation of lulo because foliar sprays of these kinds of agrochemicals can enhance dry matter accumulation and blooming. Extractos de algas marinas son usados como Fuente de nutrientes, biosetimulantes o biofertilizantes in la agricultura y horticultura con el proposito de incrementa el crecimiento y rendimiento de la planta. En este experimento, se evaluaron las aplicaciones foliar de un bioestimulante a base de un extracto de algas marinas sobre el crecimiento de la planta, propiedades de intercambio gaseoso de la hoja y produccion de prolina en plantulas de lulo cultivadas bajo condiciones de invernadero. Las plantas de lulo fueron divididas en cuatro tratamientos: i) plantas con fertilizacion ed a fica; ii) plantas tratas solamente via foliar con el biostimulante iii) una combinacion de fertilizacion edafica y aplicacion foliar de bioestimulante y iv) plantas control (sin ninguna aplicacion de fertilizante y bioestimulante). Las plantas de lulo tratadas con fertilizante edafico mas aplicaciones foliares del bioestimulante mostraron una mayor altura de planta, peso seco total, diametro del tallo y tasa absoluta de crecimiento. Plantas control presentaron una menor tasa fotosintetica, conductancia estomatica y transpiracion. Asimismo, aplicaciones foliares del bioestimulante favorecio la aparicion de botones florales. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que el uso de un bioestimulante a base de extractos de algas marinas puede ser considerado como un complemento a la fertilizacion edafica, ya que puede favorecer la acumulacion de materia seca y floracion.
STRIGA HERMONTHICA SEED GERMINATION THROUGH ROOT EXUDATES OF INDIGENOUS SUB-SAHARAN WEED SPECIES

This study was conducted to evaluate root exudates from sub-Saharan indigenous weed species to induce germination of Strigahermonthica(Del.) Beth. , a root parasitic weed.Significant variation in Striga seed germination was observed, ranging from an absence to the induction of 74.1% Striga seeds. Direct comparison of Striga germination was obscured by differences in weed root biomass as within most of the species, a direct proportional relation between Striga seed germination and weed root dry weight was observed. Expression of Striga seed germination in % g-1root dry weight (GIC) was found a suitable solution, as stable values for GIC were obtained, despite considerable variation in root dry weight. GIC was significant for 25 species and highest with Commelinaforskalaeiand Sesamumalatum(9.91; 9.78 % g-1 dry root, respectively). Striga seeds did not germinate following application of exudates from Mitracarpusscaberand Phyllanthuspentrandus. These results show that a substantial number of indigenous weed species may serve as alternative trap crops to control the parasites seed bank. Furthermore, the timing of weeds in the cropping system may provide a (partial) explanation for the erratic infestation levels found across fields and years that has dazedresearchers for many years.
Implementing drag-and-drop like manipulations in a collaborative and large screen surface context

Drag-and-drop is probably one of the mostly successful and generic illustrations of direct manipulation technique available in today’s WIMP interfaces. Yet it does not adapt without major evolutions to the emerging new devices and environments. Over the past years, several evolutions of drag-and-drop have emerged. The diver- sity of implementations strategies makes them difficult to integrate into an existing windowing system. At the same time, standard existing drag-and-drop implementa- tions vary widely across different windowing systems or toolkit and do not facilitate integration or evolution. The aim of this paper is to propose a unifying implementation model capable of handling most drag-and-drop extensions in a consistent framework while supporting distributed environments. The proposed model aims at facilitating the implemen- tation and evolution of drag-and-drop in future windowing systems. Its benefits are shown with a Java-based implementation. This work builds upon a synthesis of drag-and-drop implementations, an analysis of requirements of recent evolutions and a dedicated interaction model based on instrumental interaction.
Archiving grammatical descriptions

This article is published under a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial). The licence permits users to use, reproduce, disseminate or display the article provided that the author is attributed as the original creator and that the reuse is restricted to non-commercial purposes i.e. research or educational use. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ______________________________________________________
Measurement-driven quantum computing: Performance of a 3-SAT solver

We investigate the performance of a quantum algorithm for solving classical 3-SAT problems. A cycle of post-selected measurements drives the computer's register monotonically toward a steady state which is correlated to the classical solution(s). An internal parameter $\theta$ determines both the degree of correlation and the success probability, thus controlling the algorithm's runtime. Optionally this parameter can be gradually evolved during the algorithm's execution to create a Zeno-like effect; this can be viewed as an adiabatic evolution of a Hamiltonian which remains frustration-free at all points, and we lower-bound the corresponding gap. In exact numerical simulations of small systems up to 34 qubits our approach competes favourably with a high-performing classical 3-SAT solver, which itself outperforms a brute-force application of Grover's search.
Design and Analysis of 15.4dBi, 8-Element Phased Array Dipole Antenna resonating at2.0GHz for Mobile Communication Applications

This paper presents the design and simulation of the proposed 15.4dBi, 8-element phased array dipole antenna at 2.0GHz for mobile communication applications using MOMNEC2 and arraycalV2.4 simulators. The paper considered the effects of changing the magnitude and phase excitation of the signal to each element while keeping the geometrical configuration of the antenna uniform. The optimized results show that the simulated value of directivity D is 15.4dBi which is 0.3 higher than the chosen design value of 15.1dBi. Also, there is a slight variation in the -3dB beamwidth values; the simulated value is 15o while the designed value is 12.7o. The analysis also show that the minimum computed SWR is 1.36dB, and the computed reflection coefficient and return loss are respectively 0.15 and 16.3dB, which show that the impedance bandwidth of the antenna is 1575 – 2460MHz.
Does a Stricter Environmental Policy Discourage Foreign Direct Investment

We set up a two-country model in which a foreign firm chooses FDI or exporting to enter the host market, and plays a Cournot competition game with 11 host firms. Facing the host country's emission tax policy, all firms located in the host country use the same abatement technology to abate emissions. The major findings are as follows. When the trade cost is high and the abatement technology is efficient, a higher emission tax rate may encourage FDI. Moreover, under plausible parameters, raising the emission tax to drive the foreign firm out of the host country will be detrimental to environmental quality but raise consumer surplus in the host country. The interaction of the abatement technological efficiency and trade cost with emission tax plays a key role in the entry mode of the foreign firm and the associate welfare of the host country.
Corporate Behavior in the Petrochemical Industry

Purpose This case study, which investigates Taiwanese bellwether corporate groups in the petrochemical industry, explores employee observations and distinguishes these from general stakeholders’ perspectives as organizational outsiders. The exploration involves in-depth discussions of the prevailing social atmosphere as environmental awareness emerges, and the linkages between corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizational commitment (OC), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Design The study is based on models established by Taiwanese and international scholars addressing CSR’s effects on OC and OCB. The study conducted a staff survey at several corporate groups’ individual factories, selected using stratified sampling. Of 1,500 questionnaires distributed, 784 valid responses were collected. A five-point Likert scale was used to summarize data and conduct descriptive analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings With respect to the research hypotheses, the study finds that: (1) CSR has a significant and positive effect on OC; (2) CSR has a significant and positive effect on OCB; (3) OC has a significant and positive effect on OCB; and (4) CSR uses OC to generate an intermediary effect affecting OCB. Practical implications This study and its conclusions provide specific recommendations for industry and organizational insiders regarding how to fulfill CSR, improve OC, and achieve OCB. Value In an environment characterized by changing global socioeconomic conditions, this study provides academic and practical research recommendations for the petrochemical industry as well as recommendations for future research.
Monetary policy analysis in practice

Norges Bank is one of few central banks publishing an interest rate forecast. This paper discusses how we derive and communicate the interest rate forecast. To produce the forecasts, the Bank uses a medium-sized small openeconomy DSGE model NEMO. Judgments and information from other sources are added through conditional forecasting. The interest rate path is derived by minimizing a loss function representing the monetary policy mandate and the Board’s policy preferences. Since optimal policy is vulnerable to model uncertainty, some weight is placed on simple interest rate rules. A weight on the deviation of the interest rate from the level implied by a simple rule is included in the loss function. ∗Corresponding author. Address: Monetary Policy Department, Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway). E-mail: oistein.roisland@norges-bank.no †The views expressed in this paper are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Norges Bank. We thank Martin Seneca for useful comments. All errors are our own.
An Expert PI Controller with Dead Time Compensation of Monitor AGC in Hot Strip Mill

Hot strip rolling production is a high-speed process which requires high-speed control and communication system, but because of the long distance between the delivery stand of the finishing mill and the gauge meter, dead time occurs when strip is transported from the site of the actuator to another location where the gauge meter takes its reading, which seriously affects the thickness control effect. According to the process model which is developed based on the measured data, a filtered Smith predictor is applied to predict the thickness deviation of the finishing mill. At the same time, an expert PI controller based on feature information is proposed for the strip thinning during looper rising and coiler biting period and the strip thickening during the tension loss period of the strip tail end. As a result, the thickness accuracy has been improved by about 1.06% at a steady rolling speed and about 1.23% in acceleration and deceleration.
Atmospheric Responses of Gill-Type and Lindzen–Nigam Models to Global Warming

AbstractThe equatorial Pacific atmosphere responds differently to global warming in the Gill-type and Lindzen–Nigam models. Under an assumption of no change in the zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the Gill-type model, the Walker circulation is intensified in a warmer climate relative to current climatic conditions, while slightly weakened in the Lindzen–Nigam model. Furthermore, for more accurate derivation of the surface wind, the free atmosphere in the Gill-type model is combined with the atmospheric boundary layer. This modified Gill-type model actually produces weaker surface wind than the Gill-type model would, but the sensitivity of the Walker circulation to the warmer climate is similar to that obtained from the Gill-type model. These results may explain why the zonal gradient of equatorial Pacific SST during the twentieth century is observed to strengthen while the Walker circulation is not, even though they are dynamically linked.
The Employment Effect of Deregulating Shopping Hours: Evidence from German Food Retailing

We provide difference-in-differences evidence from Germany on the effect of deregulating weekday shop opening hours on employment in food retailing. Using data on the universe of German shops, we find that relaxing restrictions on business hours increased employment by 0.4 workers per shop corresponding to an aggregate employment effect of 3 to 4 per cent. The effect was driven by an increase in parttime employment while full-time employment was not affected. The statistical significance of these results hinges on assumptions on error correlation, and we hence report inference robust to clustering at different levels. A back-of-the-envelope calculation gives an employment increase by 0.1 workers per additional actual weekly opening hour.
CAHIER 2001-18 WAGE POLICY OF FIRMS : AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

This paper analyzes the dynamics of wages and workers' mobility within firms with a hierarchical structure of job levels. The theoretical model proposed by Gibbons and Waldman (1999), that combines the notions of human capital accumulation, job rank assignments based on comparative advantage and learning about workers' abilities, is implemented empirically to measure the importance of these elements in explaining the wage policy of firms. Survey data from the GSOEP (German Socio-Economic Panel) are used to draw conclusions on the common features characterizing the wage policy of firms from a large sample of firms. The GSOEP survey also provides information on the worker's rank within his firm which is usually not available in other surveys. The results are consistent with non-random selection of workers onto the rungs of a job ladder. There is no direct evidence of learning about workers' unobserved abilities but the analysis reveals that unmeasured ability is an important factor driving wage dynamics. Finally, job rank effects remain significant even after controlling for measured and unmeasured characteristics.
The importance of novel ecosystems for biodiversity : a study of ground beetles (Carabidae) on afforested fields

Deforestation, cultivation and other land management practices are transforming ecosystems in increasingly amounts. As a consequence, exceptional anthropogenic ecosystems will arise. The importance of these novel ecosystems for biodiversity will increase in the near future as the human impact on the Earth increases. Afforested fields could in many cases be regarded as novel ecosystems: Fertilizing has long lasting effects on the physical features of the soil and the amount of nutrients is higher in afforested field than in natural forest. However, the precise outcome of vegetation development is not yet known. In Finland, the area of afforested fields is now almost 300 000 hectares and their possible positive importance for the biodiversity is still insufficiently known. Carabids are widespread group of beetles and found almost in all kinds of habitats. They are surface active predators and an important link in ecosystem processes including nutrient fluxes and food web regulation. Ground beetles reflect changes in their environment – especially disturbances caused by human actions – in short period of time. Although the effects of different land use activities to ground beetles have been studied extensively in many kinds of environments, there has been only few research focused on carabids of afforested fields. The overall aim of this study was to achieve knowledge about what kind of ground beetle species afforested fields maintain in Finland and what is their abundance and composition in these habitats. Furthermore, I studied the importance of wooded species for ground beetle species composition and community structure. I had a field experiment in former agricultural peat soils which were afforested about 25 years ago. My research included 8 study sites which were situated in Central Finland and Ostrobothnia. A total of 4018 carabid individuals representing 40 species were recorded. Overall, species composition and abundance was exceptional in comparison with managed forests. Contrary to hypothesis, the number of species and individuals did not differ between wooded species. However, the similarity of carabid community depends both on tree species and geographical location (study site) when they were considered together. Altogether, it seems that afforested fields in this study really are novel ecosystems at least in regard to carabids due to their exceptional composition and abundance in these habitats.
Title Development and Testing of Field-Deployable Real-Time Laser-Based Non-Intrusive Detection System for Measurement of True Travel Time on the Highway Permalink

We have developed a field prototype of a laser-based non-intrusive detection system for real-time measurement of delineationsof moving vehicles for highway testing, based on our previous research on the laboratory prototype of the system. As described in the last report, the primary goal of this project is to develop a roadway detection system that can be used to gather reliable travel time data non-intrusively. The system uses a laser line that is projected onto the ground as a probe. The reflected light is collected and focused into a photodiode array by an optical system. Vehicle presence is detected based on the absence of reflected laser light. By placing two identical laser/sensor pairs at a known distance apart, the speed of both the front and rear of a vehicle is measured based on the times when each sensor is triggered. The length of each vehicle is determined by using these speed measurements and the residence time of the vehicle under each sensor. We have built a field prototype detection system which is used not only to proof the concept and algorithm of the detection system, but also to test the system in the real trafic environment. Several tests have been done with the field prototype system on the highway, and the test results further verified that the principle of our detection system is technically sound and indicated that the algorithm implemented in the software works in most cases. The software for the real-time data acquisition, data processing and graphic user interface has been developed in a real-time operating system. In the software, the speed, acceleration, and length of a detected vehicle can be calculated and displayed simultaneously. This document describes the design and implementation of each functional component and software of the field prototype system. The measurement and calculation of laser power has been performed to ensure that the system is safe to expose to public during the field tests and future operation on the highway. Chapter
The Employment Structures of Space Agencies in Three Regions and Implications for Competitiveness

While space organizations are present worldwide, dominant organizations are NASA in the US, ESA in Europe and JAXA in Japan. Each of these organizations has a high budget, which is a strong indicator of its political, economic and scientific dominance in the field. We investigate the flexibility of these agencies’ employee structures and show how their competitiveness is affected by those structures. We develop propositions on regular vs. non-regular employment, on long-term employment and on job security and conclude that, in the short run, it is difficult for ESA to compete against the more flexible hire-and-fire structure at NASA and against Japan’s highly developed non-regular employee system mentality, which is employed at JAXA. However, the European system has visible advantages in the long run. Implications for organizations are discussed.
To Lead or Not to Lead: Women Achieving Leadership Status in Higher Education

The purpose of this article is to continue the dialogue and examine the exclusionary practices, and tenets on women as leaders in higher education. Too often women are left out of leadership positions in higher education, which engenders the perception or reality of these positions being androcentric. Women have also been faced with the daunting task of following in the footsteps of their male counterparts, and their experiences are never the same, because culturally and structurally, decisions are made differently. Higher education therefore needs to examine the value placed on female leaders, as theoretically, female leaders have been found to possess the various types of leadership qualities in order to be considered good leaders. These areas establish credibility, as we begin to examine the requisite ingredients of leadership. Women's representation in colleges and universities throughout the world is on the rise, and is increasingly approaching the gender parity of 50 percent (Bradley, 2000). Importantly, in the United States of America, more women are expected to occupy college professor's position, as they represent 58 percent of young adults between the ages of 25 to 29, many of who hold an advanced degree (U.S. Census Bureau News, 2011). These phenomenal strides are important to recognize. The argument is put forward that attitudinal and organization biases against women in higher education tend to exclude women from upper-level leadership positions. Therefore, the author examines theoretical underpinnings of the different approaches to leadership, as well as the cultural and structural conditions and practices that create barriers to, and opportunities for the advancement of women in higher education.