Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Canopy cover is correlated with reduced injurious feather pecking in commercial flocks of free-range laying hens

Injurious feather pecking in non-cage systems is a serious economic and welfare concern for the egg-producing industry. Here, we describe the first results from an ongoing collaborative project to improve range environment and welfare of laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) within the McDonald's Restaurants Ltd, UK supply base. The objective of this study was to investigate, in a commercial situation, the correlation between: i) proportion of range cover and ii) proportion of canopy cover, with plumage damage of end-of-lay hens. The assessment of plumage damage due to injurious feather pecking is a key animal-based welfare indicator for laying hens in non-cage systems. In 2007 and 2008, all laying-hen producers within the McDonald's Restaurants Ltd egg-supply base, were required to plant (if not present already), 5% of the total range area with blocks of trees ether side, and between 20-25 m from the laying hen house. Plumage damage at end of lay was positively correlated with mortality and flocks depleted in summer had less plumage damage at end of lay than flocks depleted in autumn or winter, possibly because of weather conditions at the time of placement. There was no correlation between the proportion (5-90%) of range cover and plumage damage at the end of lay, however, plumage damage was negatively correlated with percent of canopy cover within tree-planted areas. Providing a minimum of 5% tree cover, planted close to the house but with good canopy coverage, may be a feasible and practical method enabling producers to reduce plumage damage due to injurious feather pecking in their laying-hen flocks. Tree cover provision may also provide environmental benefits, such as soil stabilisation, reduced nutrient leaching and carbon sequestration.
Managing Innovation under Constraints: A Glimpse on the Brazilian Conditions for Innovation

To generate innovation in Brazil becomes a high level priority in the last two decades. Innovation, according to the Presidential speech, is the right way to conduce the nation towards the development of technological competitive capabilities through the high technology-based products and services. Although the nation has come a long way, Brazil has to face the challenge of overcoming obstacles in infrastructure conditions for innovation. This paper aims to describe the main conditions to manage innovation in Brazil. This work offers a quantitative analysis of the main factors that impact innovation. This is a documental research based on data collected from high reliability international sources complemented by a research field applied to a sample of technology–based firms located in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. The results indicated that entrepreneurs deal with difficulties to develop managerial competences in order to manage the business growth while developing new products and services. The lack of qualified human resources to manage business in technological environment is also a matter. Keywords: Business management competences, Education, Innovation, Technology-based firms.
A comprehensive study of spin coating as a thin film deposition technique and spin coating equipment

Description and theory of spin coating technique has been elaborately outlined and a spin coating machine designed and fabricated using affordable components. The system was easily built with interdisciplinary knowledge of mechanics, fluid mechanics and electronics. This equipment employs majorly three basic components and two circuit units in its operation. These include a high speed dc motor, a proximity sensor mounted at a distance of about 15 mm from a reflective metal attached to the spindle of the motor to detect every passage of the reflective metal at its front and generate pulses. The pulses are transmitted to a micro-controller which process them into rotational speed (revolution per minute) and displays it on a lead crystal display (LCD) which is also a component of the micro-controller. The circuit units are a dc power supply unit and a PWM motor speed controlling unit. The various components and circuit units of this equipment are housed in a metal casing made of an 18 gauge black metal sheet designed with a total area of 1, 529.2 cm 2 . To illustrate the use of the spin-coating system, ZnO sol-gel films were prepared and characterized using SEM, XRD, UV-vis, FT-IR and RBS and the result agrees well with that obtained from standard equipment and a speed of up to 9000 RPM has been achieved.
Effects of silvicultural treatments on summer forest microclimate in southeastern Missouri Ozarks

The effects of silvicultural treatments (e.g., even-aged management, EAM, and uneven- aged, UAM) on 4 microclimatic variables (air temperature, incoming solar radiation, humidity, and soil temperature) were examined in oak forests of southeastern Missouri Ozarks, USA. Nine mobile cli- matic stations were used to collect field data during the summers of 1995 (pre-harvest), and 1997 and 1998 (post-harvest). Spatial variation of air temperature at 2 m height increased 96 and 35% (2-year average) after harvest in UAM and EAM sites, respectively, as quantified by 95% confidence intervals (CI). UAM increased the variability of air temperature at the lower end of the daily range in the CI more than at the upper end, while EAM had a stronger effect on raising spatial variation at the upper end of the CI than at the lower end. Spatial variation of soil temperature within an 80 〈 80 m grid increased significantly during daytime after harvest, especially at the surface, but did not change much during nighttime. EAM resulted in a larger increase of soil temperature variation than did UAM. Greater amplitudes of diurnal soil temperatures (especially at the surface) were observed at depths of 0, 5, and 10 cm and were more evident at the EAM site after harvest. The duration of variation in post-harvest soil surface temperature during daytime was about 3 times longer than pre-harvest at the EAM site. Spatial variation in radiation increased 56 and 128% in UAM and EAM sites after harvest, respectively. Except for radiation, significance levels of differences in means of microclimatic variables were reduced after harvest among the 3 Ecological Land Types (ELTs); the spatial variation of microclimate was smaller among ELTs within the same treatment than between treatments. Our results suggested that, usually, EAM affected the microclimate more than UAM did, especially in raising soil tempera- tures on northeast slopes (ELT18).
Studies on Placement of Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers in Wavelength Division Multiplexed Star and Tree Topology Networks

This thesis is mainly concerned with the use of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) broadcast topologies viz. star and tree. The aim of investigations is to determine the increase in the number of users when SOAs are placed in the above topologies. Various placement options have been considered in the above in vesti zations. Error correcting codes can also be used in optical networks to increase the number of users by improving the available power budget. Therefore, an on-off keying (00K) communication system has been investigated with SOA as preamplifier and an error correcting code. The coding gain in the single channel point-to-point link has been computed. In this study, the baseband filter in the receiver is assumed to be optimum for uncoded system. Hence, the coding gain in the above includes the effect of increased intersymbol interference (ISO. it is compared with the gain obtained due to placement of SOA in the link. The suitability of SOA over coding has been discussed based on the above comparison. It is shown that SOA provides much higher gain than the use of error correcting code. A detailed study on the use of SOAs in WDM star topology is also carried out. Two schemes have been considered viz. SOAs as postamplifiers and preamplifiers. In the postamplifier scheme, SOAs are placed after the transmitter and in the preamplifier scheme before the receiver. In the postamplifier scheme, three cases have been investigated. First case corresponds to unsaturated SOAs, second to gain saturated SOAs and in third case effect of reflection noise is studied. Similarly, in the preamplifier case unsaturated SOAs, average gain
Altered Hepatic LipidMetabolism Contributes to Nonalcoholic �atty Li�er �isease in Leptin��e�cient Ob�ObMice

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is strongly linked to obesity, insulin resistance, and abnormal hepatic lipid metabolism; however, the precise regulation of these processes remains poorly understood. Here we examined genes and proteins involved in hepatic oxidation and lipogenesis in 14-week-old leptin-de�cient Ob/Ob mice, a commonly studied model of obesity and hepatic steatosis. Obese Ob/Ob mice had increased fasting glucose, insulin, and calculated HOMA-IR as compared with lean wild-type (WT) mice. Ob/Ob mice also had greater liver weights, hepatic triglyceride (TG) content, and markers of de novo lipogenesis, including increased hepatic gene expression and protein content of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD-1), as well as elevated gene expression of PPARγγ and SREBP-1c compared with WT mice. While hepatic mRNA levels for PGC-1αα, PPARαα, and TFAMwere elevated in Ob/Ob mice, measures of mitochondrial function (ββ-HAD activity and complete (to CO2) and total mitochondrial palmitate oxidation) and mitochondrial OXPHOS protein subunits I, III, and V content were signi�cantly reduced compared with WT animals. In summary, reduced hepatic mitochondrial content and function and an upregulation in de novo lipogenesis contribute to obesity-associated NAFLD in the leptin-de�cient Ob/Obmouse.
Lightning discharges produced by wind turbines

New observations with a 3‐D Lightning Mapping Array and high‐speed video are presented and discussed. The first set of observations shows that under certain thunderstorm conditions, wind turbine blades can produce electric discharges at regular intervals of ~3 s in relation to its rotation, over periods of time that range from a few minutes up to hours. This periodic effect has not been observed in static towers indicating that the effect of rotation is playing a critical role. The repeated discharges can occur tens of kilometers away from electrically active thunderstorm areas and may or may not precede a fully developed upward lightning discharge from the turbine. Similar to rockets used for triggering lightning, the fast movement of the blade tip plays an important role on the initiation of the discharge. The movement of the rotor blades allows the tip to “runaway” from the generated corona charge. The second observation is an uncommon upward/downward flash triggered by a wind turbine. In that flash, a negative upward leader was initiated from a wind turbine without preceding lightning activity. The flash produced a negative cloud‐to‐ground stroke several kilometers from the initiation point. The third observation corresponds to a high‐speed video record showing simultaneous upward positive leaders from a group of wind turbines triggered by a preceding intracloud flash. The fact that multiple leaders develop simultaneously indicates a poor shielding effect among them. All these observations provide some special features on the initiation of lightning by nonstatic and complex tall structures.
The wine microbial consortium: a real terroir characteristic

Yeast, bacteria, species and strains play a key role in the winemaking process by producing metabolites, which determine wine sensorial qualities. Therefore microbial population enumeration, species identification and strain discrimination from berry surface at harvest to storage in bottle are fundamental. The microbial diversity and significance of its variation according to the estate localization have not really been thoroughly considered in literature. This is the focus of this work. That should be of great interest because the spontaneous microbial population dynamics associated with a wine producing estate provide information on what might be considered as the method to obtain specific terroir typed wine. The both use of conventional microbiological methods like microbial population enumeration on nutritive selective media and efficient molecular tools of species identification like PCR-RFLP for yeasts and PCR-DGGE for bacteria and strains discrimination have demonstrated significant microbial differences between different estates localized in the Bordeaux area. Theses results appeared very interesting since certain microbial species are clearly specific of certain estates, in particular the bacterium Pediococcus parvulus, and also some strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, of Oenococcus oeni and Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Within an estate this specificity persists from one year to another. These differences observed suggest that the indigenous winemaking processes can contribute to the specificity of the wines produced on the various estates. That concludes to the hypothesis of a microbial part in wines speficities.
Differences in the development of new services between developed and developing financial markets

There is a lack of literature regarding development of service innovations in developing financial markets. The study addresses the factors influencing the success/failure of innovations in developing financial markets. We hypothesized that the factors such as new service development process, quality of service, organizational culture and knowledge have the significant impact while market characteristics have no impact on the success of new financial services. The hypotheses are tested on the sample of 60 innovations offered on Slovenian financial market, as one of the developing financial markets. The discrepancies between the development of financial innovations in developing and developed markets with respect to the impact of these factors are also revealed. The most important differences referred to the impact of two factors, i.e. market characteristics, and technical development and technical activities. Key-Words: Innovation, Financial Service, Success Factors, Slovenia
Enhanced switching stability in Ta 2 O 5 resistive RAM by fluorine doping

The effect of fluorine doping on the switching stability of Ta2O5 resistive random access memory devices is investigated. It shows that the dopant serves to increase the memory window and improve the stability of the resistive states due to the neutralization of oxygen vacancies. The ability to alter the current in the low resistance state with set current compliance coupled with large memory window makes multilevel cell switching more favorable. The devices have set and reset voltages of <1 V with improved stability due to the fluorine doping. Density functional modeling shows that the incorporation of fluorine dopant atoms at the two-fold O vacancy site in the oxide network removes the defect state in the mid bandgap, lowering the overall density of defects capable of forming conductive filaments. This reduces the probability of forming alternative conducting paths and hence improves the current stability in the low resistance states. The doped devices exhibit more stable resistive states in both dc and.
THE IMPORTANT FACTORS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SINGAPORE

This research paper will analyze the development of tourism industry in Singapore in which it focuses on the increasing number of tourist visit to Singapore, that contribute a significant source of tourism sector’s income and its role to generate the Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDPS). The research aims to examine general characteristics of Singapore’s tourism industry and its role within the process of globalization. By applying the theoretical explanations, this research will observe several main questions: How the tourist locates Singapore as a tourist place and how they enter Singapore. In addition, what are the possible consequences on Singapore especially the influence on its National Income? The field research has been conducted at the most popular location of tourist area. Three equations had formed the hypothesis to answer those questions. First, the output of the study has shown that the price of consumer index (Index) have influence the increasing number of tourist to Singapore (TouS) in a positive way. Second, there are many other factors that contributed to the tourism sector’s income, however, the output of this study revealed only the total number of hotels in Singapore (HoS) is the major factors that contributed to the tourism sector’s income (ImS).
Improving Technological Services and Its Effect on the Police’s Performance

The role of police department in any country is critical. It is obvious that improving the technology in police department can be done with safety and contributes to improve its economy. This paper, first tries to recognize the existed weaknesses in used technologies. Then, it will suggest the best approach. The proposed framework of this study points out to two different moderating roles that can be considered as technical contributions. Moreover, the combination of this proposed framework is new for current study. This framework is concentrated on technology improvement, knowledge management system, technology acceptance, police performance, and ministry performance.
Effect of Metal and Magnetic Slab on Radiation Characteristics of Monopole Antenna

The effect of metal and magnetic slab on the radiation characteristic of monopole antenna is studied in this paper. The presence of metal slab changes the antenna radiation pattern and it also increases the gain up to 4.6 dB. The radiation characteristic of monopole antenna is determined by the separation distance between planar monopole and metal slab. In addition, magnetic slab also changes the antenna radiation pattern and it also increases the gain up to 3 dB. Metal slab makes antenna generate reflection, but magnetic slab makes antenna generate refraction is their difference. As to the application slab, the initial pattern of the antenna without materials was omnidirectional. However, when the materials were added, its pattern would change, making the antenna to have other usages and transition effect. They will influence electromagnetic in power systems.
Study on the Dynamic Impulse of Stock Market Order Flow on Return

Studying on the dynamic impulse of stock market order flow on the return is beneficial for the investors to make accurate investment decisions. This paper use Cointegration test and Granger causality test, constructs the VAR model and select the data from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014, to empirically analyze the dynamic relationship between stock market order flow and return. The empirical results show that the effect of lagged first order flow on the stock return is 1.1710, and the effect of the lagged second order flow is 0.5776. The impact of the lagged first order and second orders is significant under the 1% level. The impact on the return is gradually reduced to the minimum in the third phase, and then gradually becomes larger, in the sixth phase gradually achieve smooth, and gradually disappear.
Scattering of an Impact Wave by a Crack in a Composite Plate

Ultrasonic waves provide an efficient means of characterizing defects in structures. For this purpose it is necessary to analyze scattering by such defects. However, scattering by crack-like defects in a plate-like structure is a complicated phenomenon and the problem is made more difficult if it is a composite plate. In recent years considerable progress has been made toward understanding wave propagation in anisotropic composite plates [1–5], but not much work has been done on the scattering by cracks in a composite plate. Recently Karim and Kundu [6] and Karim et al. [7] studied scattering of elastic waves in a layered half-space and in layered fiber-reiforced composite plates by interface cracks using a boundary integral formulation. They considered antiplane motions. Although this method can be extended to plane strain motion the computional effort is considerably amplified if one considers a plate geometry. Besides, the method used by these authors is limited to planar defects. For arbitrarily shaped scatterers Sanchez-Sesma [8] reviewed various applicable methods. Most of these numerical methods require considerable computational effort to evaluate the response. Their applicability to layered and anisotropic medium is also limited.
Stock Market Participation, Portfolio Choice and Pensions over the Life-Cycle

The empirical evidence on stock market participation and portfolio choice de es the predictions of standard life-cycle theory. In this paper we develop and estimate a model of portfolio choice that can account for the limited stock market participation and substantial portfolio diversi cation seen in the data. We present three realistic extensions to the basic framework: per period xed costs, public pension provision, and a small chance of a stock market crash. The estimated model is able to explain observed patterns at reasonable wealth levels, while keeping to a fairly simple framework. We demonstrate that it is no longer necessary to assume counterfactual asset holdings, heterogeneity in preferences, or implausible parameter values, in order to match key nancial statistics. Keywords: precautionary saving, portfolio choice, stock market participation and uninsurable labour income risk JEL Classi cation: G11, H31 I would like to thank Sule Alan, James Banks, Tom Crossley, Richard Disney, Pramila Krishnan, Hamish Low and participants of seminars and conferences at Cambridge University, Ifo Institute, Public Economics UK and the Royal Economic Society. yCorresponding address at: Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DD. Email : sgb24@econ.cam.ac.uk Web: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/phd/sgb24
Adaptation to floods and droughts in the Baltic Sea basin under climate change

There has been an increasing body of evidence regarding the ongoing climate change at variety of scales. Since the climate and freshwater systems are closely inter-connected, a climate change induces changes in the freshwater systems. Even if presented climate change impacts on water resources in the Baltic region are not as strong as in other areas, and some of them are advantageous, adaptation would be needed to avoid adverse impacts and to enhance beneficial effects. Adaptation strategies in the Baltic Sea region are currently at the stage of research or policy investigations. When considering adaptation, one addresses projected impacts - in much of the Baltic Sea basin, precipitation and river runoff would increase in winter, but they may decrease in summer in the south (according to some, but not all, models). There are projections of more intense summer precipitation in the Baltic region, but also more frequent summer droughts are likely. The present paper also discusses the adaptation notions and concepts, mitigation vs. adaptation, and the uncertainties.