bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Birdsbesafe® collar cover reduces bird predation by domestic cats (Felis catus)
Authors: Pemberton Catherine , Ruxton Graeme D. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThe domestic cat (Felis catus) is one of the world’s most damaging invasive species, especially threatening to local bird populations. This study examined the efficacy of the Birdsbesafe® collar cover at reducing predation rates by household cats on avian populations. The vivid colours of the Birdsbesafe® collar cover are assumed to alert nearby birds to the cat’s presence, allowing them to escape safely. Overall, 19 cats were trialled over 8 weeks and the Birdsbesafe® collar cover resulted in a reduction of 78% in the number of birds killed. Further research is required into owner attitudes to collars in order to examine whether these collar‐based devices could be widely adopted.
A Joint Scoring Model for Peer-to-Peer and Traditional Lending: A Bivariate Model with Copula Dependence
Authors: Calabrese Raffaella , Osmetti Silvia Angela , Zanin Luca 
Published: October 2019

SummaryWe analyse the dependence between defaults in peer-to-peer lending and credit bureaus. To achieve this, we propose a new flexible bivariate regression model that is suitable for binary imbalanced samples. We use different copula functions to model the dependence structure between defaults in the two credit markets. We implement the model in the R package BivGEV and we explore the empirical properties of the proposed fitting procedure by a Monte Carlo study. The application of this proposal to a comprehensive data set provided by Lending Club shows a significant level of dependence between the defaults in peer-to-peer and credit bureaus. Finally, we find that our model outperforms the bivariate probit and univariate logit models in predicting peer-to-peer default, in estimating the value at risk and the expected shortfall.
Information Asymmetry and Leverage Adjustments: A Semiparametric Varying-coefficient Approach
Authors: Jin Man , Zhao Shunan , Kumbhakar Subal C. 
Published: October 2019

SummaryInformation asymmetry reflects the risk and uncertainty faced by investors and is a measure of a firm's transparency. High information asymmetry could increase the cost of external financing, which in turn impedes a firm's leverage (debt–asset ratio) adjustment. The paper studies the adjustment speed towards the target leverage in the presence of information asymmetry by using microlevel data from China. In contrast with previous studies, we allow heterogeneity in the adjustment speed coefficient by modelling it as a non-parametric function of information asymmetry and other firm characteristics. This refinement not only allows for more flexibility in the model, but it also facilitates further exploration into the differences and determinants of firms’ financing behaviour. We uniquely build the firm level measure of information asymmetry into the traditional partial leverage adjustment framework. Based on our firm level measure of the adjustment speed, our paper explores why the leverage adjustment speed matters by examining its association with corporate performance indicators. We find that China's firms do have leverage targets and they slowly adjust towards these targets. We also find that the adjustment speed decreases with an increase in information asymmetry. Overall, firms which converge towards their targets faster perform better in value, profitability, investment and costs.
Associations of 24‐hours activity composition with adiposity and cardiorespiratory fitness: The PregnActive project
Authors: Oviedo‐Caro Miguel Ángel , Bueno‐Antequera Javier , Munguía‐Izquierdo Diego 
Published: October 2019

AimThis study examined the associations of activity behaviors composition (sleep, sedentary time, light and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity) with adiposity and cardiorespiratory fitness, and how isotemporal reallocations of time between activity behaviors are associated with differences in adiposity and cardiorespiratory fitness.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted in 130 women during midpregnancy. Activity behaviors, conceptualized as a 24‐hours composition, were objectively assessed by multi‐sensor monitors. Skinfold thickness, fat mass index, and body mass index were calculated as indicators of adiposity. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using a 6‐minute walk test. Log‐ratio multiple linear regression models and compositional isotemporal substitutions were used to analyze the associations and estimated differences in outcomes.ResultsThe activity composition was significantly associated with adiposity indicators (all P < .001) and cardiorespiratory fitness (P values from .025 to <.001) during midpregnancy. The isotemporal substitutions were asymmetrical, showing the highest estimated differences in adiposity (8.7%, 0.80 kg/m2, for fat mass index; 6.0%, 2.65 mm, for the sum of skinfold thickness; and 3.8%, 1.02 kg/m2, for body mass index) and cardiorespiratory fitness (3.0%, 1.00 mL/kg min) when 30 minutes of moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity was reallocated by sedentary time.ConclusionThe activity composition was associated with adiposity and the cardiorespiratory fitness levels during midpregnancy, with moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity being the leading activity behavior. The most unfavorable differences in adiposity and cardiorespiratory fitness were found when moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity was replaced by another behavior, mainly sedentary time, reinforcing the importance of at least maintaining moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity during pregnancy.
The ability of exercise to meaningfully improve glucose tolerance in people living with prediabetes: A meta‐analysis
Authors: Hrubeniuk Travis J. , Bouchard Danielle R. , Goulet Eric D. B. , Gurd Brendon , Sénéchal Martin 
Published: October 2019

BackgroundIndividuals with prediabetes are likely to progress to Type 2 diabetes. Although exercise training is an established method to improve glycemic control, the degree to which this translates into meaningful improvements, particularly in individuals with prediabetes, is unclear. The purpose of this meta‐analysis was to investigate the ability of exercise training to improve 2‐hour glucose tolerance beyond the smallest worthwhile difference in individuals with prediabetes. It was hypothesized that the majority of implemented exercise programs designed for individuals with prediabetes would not result in meaningful improvements in glucose tolerance.MethodsSearches were performed in MEDLINE, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, SPORTDiscus, and the Cochrane Library. Included studies reported glucose tolerance using a 2‐hour oral glucose tolerance test at baseline and post‐intervention; implemented an exercise program lasting at least 12 weeks; and included adults living with prediabetes. Mean effect summaries were determined using random‐effects models. Magnitude‐based inference statistic was used to estimate the likelihood that observed changes in glucose tolerance were meaningful to patients.ResultsNine articles were included in the meta‐analysis, producing 12 independent exercise interventions. The interventions led to an average improvement in glucose tolerance of 5.9% (95% confidence interval: 3.7%‐8.0%). Seven (58%) exercise interventions were deemed likely to benefit patients, whereas five (42%) had trivial or unclear findings.ConclusionWhile exercise intervention led to statistically significant improvements in 2‐hour glucose tolerance, the benefit for individuals living with prediabetes remains unclear. Further research is needed to delineate optimal prescription parameters for generating meaningful benefits in glucose tolerance.
What Should Cognitive Science Look Like? Neither a Tree Nor Physics
Authors: Schunn Christian D. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractWhile pointing out important features of cognitive science, Núñez et al. (2019) also argue prematurely for the end of cognitive science. I discuss problematic analytic features in the application of hierarchical cluster analysis to journal citation data. On the conceptual side, I argue that the research programs framework of Lakatos may not be so wisely applied to cognitive science. Further, the diversity of structure in cognitive science departments may represent a rational, strategic adaptation by an interdisciplinary department to cognitive and other resource challenges rather than the sign of low progress on a discipline.
COMPARISON OF EMISSION FACTORS FROM BIOMASS BURNING FACILITIES
Authors: Hanafi Nur H. , Hassim Mimi H. , M. Setapar Siti H. , Rashid M. 
Published: October 2019

Among different types of environmental imbalances, air pollution has been a global environmental and health issue with serious implications to both the surrounding and public health. One of the significant sources of atmospheric particles and gaseous pollutants is biomass burning. Even though biomass is the main source for alternative energy, this activity releases a large amount of air pollutants, which can cause serious effects on the ambient air quality, public health and climate. Emission of pollutants from biomass burning process and operation can be represented by emission factor. The interest of this paper is to compare the existing emission factors established for different type of biomasses. From the comparison, cereal waste gives the highest emission factor of PM (75±21g/kg), whereas the emission factor of element carbon emission rates being relatively higher from rice straw (57.7±27.9g/kg) and lower from wheat straw (0.42±0.23 g/kg). The emission factor of organic carbon is also considerably higher from rice straw burning (335.4±88.0 g/kg) and very much lower from Florida sugarcane burning (0.16±0.09 g/kg) wheareas corn stover had the highest emission factors of NO, NOx and CO2. Besides comparison of the established emission factors, the associated factors affecting the EFs establishment were also studied. Among the various factors with significant influence on the resulted emission factors are type of biomass, source of emission, condition of combustion (operating temperature and pressure), capacity of feedstock and Air Pollution Control (APC) system.
CRASH ANALYSIS OF RACING CAR NOSE CONE SUBJECTED TO FULL FRONTAL IMPACT
Authors: Abdul Aziz Nuraini , Zulkifli Norzima , A. Hamid Amar Ridzuan 
Published: October 2019

Racing a car involves high-speed and having high possibility to crash either among the racer or hitting the bench. Concerning the driver safety, impact structures such as nose cone is designed to absorb the race car kinetic energy to limit the decelerations acting on the human body. In this study, analysis of different type of nose cone material were conducted. The objective is to find the highest specific energy absorption (SEA) based on three different materials which are mild steel, aluminium and composite material. The nose cone was modelled using CATIA V5R16 while the crash simulation was done using LS-DYNA and LS-Prepost software with an average velocity of 80km/hour according to United States New Car Assessment Program (US-NCAP) frontal impact velocity and based on European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee. The simulation results show that fiberglass E with thickness of 2.6 mm and lay-up configurations of [0°/30°/60°/90°/120°] give the highest internal energy and specific energy absorption of 41.28845 kJ and 6.9104 kJ/kg. This concludes that fiberglass E is a suitable material to build a lightweight structure compared to steel and aluminium.
DESIGN SELECTION AND ANALYSIS OF ENERGY REGENERATIVE SUSPENSION
Authors: Abdullah Mohd Azman , Jamil Jazli Firdaus , Mohamad Muhammad Afiq , Rosdi Rahiman Salmi , Ramlan Mohamed Noor Ikhwan 
Published: October 2019

Nowadays, world demand for alternative fuels has led to an advanced research and development of hybrid and electrical vehicles. This paper presents the design development and analysis of energy regenerative suspension (EReSS) system to harvest wasted energy from vibration of a vehicle. The source of the wasted energy is the kinetic energy produced by the vibrating structures of the vehicle. Electromagnetic method was used to harvest the wasted energy. Several design concepts of the EReSS are discussed and proposed in this paper. Three-dimenstional (3D) modeling of the EReSS was performed using the Computer-Aided-Drafting (CAD). Design analysis was performed in order to find the best conceptual design of the EReSS, which then it will be fabricated. From the design analysis, the EReSS is attached as retrofit, outside the suspension system, and it will not disrupt the current suspension system. By the help of a moving suspension system, it helps vehicles to move smoothly on irregular road surface conditions.
MEASUREMENT OF FLOW IN CIRCULAR ELASTIC TUBE
Authors: Mahat Muhamad Mazwan , Kasolang Salmiah , Tharazi Izdihar , Izzati R. Nazirul 
Published: October 2019

Impedance pump is a simple valveless pumping mechanism which typically used in viscosity measurement device to assist pumping of fluid. It is typically connected to an elastic tube in a circulatory system of a more rigid tube. In conventional mechanical circulatory support systems using rotary pump, the pumping mechanism was exposed to turbulent stresses. Hence, this may cause damage to blood cells flowing through the impeller. There has been initial work on finding alternative solution using the impedance pump system. However, substantial findings are not yet sufficient to fully understand the mechanism. The purpose of this research is to extend the investigation on impedance pump by specifically looking at the effect of structural parameters on the elastic tube and the flow behaviour. In this study, a closed loop impedance pump system was set up to demonstrate blood flow circulatory system where the mixture of glycerine and water was used as the working fluid. Three variables were regulated namely voltage, tube thickness, and tube length was used in order to get the flowrate of the working fluid. Based on the results, it was found that tube thickness of 1 mm and a length of 200 mm had produced the highest flowrate in the region 75 ml/min.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THERMAL ARC SPRAY ALUMINIUM COATING IN ATMOSPHERIC CONDITION
Authors: Abd Malek Muhamad Hafiz , Saad Nor Hayati , Abas Sunhaji Kiyai , Mohd Shah Noriyati 
Published: October 2019

Thermal arc spray coating was regard as most preferred method as a protective coating due to its ability to sustain in high temperature, high friction surface, and low cost process. It has been applied by most of industrialist especially in oil and gas field, where current application of the coating used in onshore. This research is a study on mechanical properties of thermal arc spray coating by using aluminium alloy with purity 99.5% as coating material. Two samples with different coating thickness at range of 200 μm – 300 μm and 300 μm – 400 μm were used for this research. Some of tests were prepared to evaluate coating mechanical properties. Surface microstructures were viewed and analysed using scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The hardness was inspected using Vickers Hardness testing. Corrosion rate was established by performing Salt Spray Test. Porosity value was calculated using Image Analyzer. Surface roughness was viewed using Infinitefocus G4 machine. Experimental results were found that coating porosity was raising with enhancing of coating thickness. The increment coating thickness also resulted in reduction of hardness and surface roughness. For corrosion rate purpose, two samples with coating thickness at range of 200 μm – 300 μm and two samples with coating thickness at range 300 μm – 400 μm were prepared. It recorded at Rating 5 – Rating 7 after exposed in salt spray cabinet within 144 hours. As a result, coating thickness at range of 200 μm – 300 μm performs the most efficiency in terms of mechanical properties; less corrosion rate, less porosity and contribute to high hardness and surface roughness.
MODIFIED ABSORPTION FEATURES OF TITANIA-ERBIUM INCORPORATED PLASMONIC TELLURITE GLASS SYSTEM
Authors: Yusof Nur Nabihah , Ghoshal Sib Krishna , Ariffin Ramli , Sahar Mohd Rahim 
Published: October 2019

Achieving efficient lasing glass materials with enhanced absorption and emission cross-section by reducing the Rare Earth (RE) concentration quenching is a challenging issue. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) together with RE ions in the glass matrix are thought as a suitable alternative to overcome the limitations of concentration quenching and weak absorption of inorganic glasses. We prepare a series of Titania-Erbium doped Tellurite glass system with the form (69-x)TeO2-20ZnO-10Na2O-1Er2O3-(x)TiO2, where 0 ≤ x≤ 1.0 mol% via melt-quenching method with optimum erbium contents and varying TiO2 NPs concentrations. The NPs concentration dependent modifications in the absorption characteristics are scrutinized. Glasses are characterized via UV-Vis-NIR and XRD measurements. XRD pattern verifies the amorphous nature of prepared samples. The incorporation of TiO2 NPs is demonstrated to enhance the absorption intensity significantly. This augmentation is attributed to the effect of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) mediated strong local electric field that is swallowed by neighboring Er3+ ions. The observed modification in optical energy band gap and Urbach energy are ascribed to the strong electric field around NPs that interact with the ligand of glass network to transform weak bond into defects. This observation is useful for the development of plasmonic nanoglass materials applicable for photonic devices.
PERBEZAAN DALAM PENGGUNAAN JENTERA DAN MESIN BAGI KAEDAH PEMBINAAN SECARA KONVENSIONAL DAN SISTEM PEMBINAAN BERINDUSTRI (IBS)
Authors: Azman Mohamed Nor Azhari , Zaihidee Fardila Mohd , Mustapha Ramlee , Mohd Nawi Mohd Nasrun , Wai Bing Khuan , Habidin Nurul Fadly 
Published: October 2019

Use of machinery and machine extensively in the construction industry could increase construction productivity in terms of time, energy and costs and thereby to reduce dependence on foreign labour. Construction Industry Development Board has drawn up a strategic plan of using the Industrialised Building System (IBS) in both government and private sector to promote construction practices in the use of machinery and machine optimally. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the differences in the use of machinery and engines for conventional construction methods and IBS. The instrument consists of interview and focus group protocols. The findings found that there are two types of machines that were frequently used in the construction which included mobile cranes and backhoe, where IBS used modular components such as walls, floors, beams and columns. Modular components are heavy and large size which required the use of machinery and this could reduce the use of foreign labour. Using IBS, the completion of construction projects was within half or a third of the time of conventional construction period. This allows the contractor to add new construction projects and this could increase construction productivity.
EFFECT OF CPW EDGES CHAMFERING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNA
Authors: Dewan Raimi , A Rahim Mohamad Kamal , Hamid Mohamad Rijal , Mokhtar M.H. , Yusoff M.F.M. 
Published: October 2019

In this paper, an Ultra Wideband (UWB) antenna is presented. The antenna radiating patch is circular in shape with coplanar waveguide (CPW) feeding technique. The proposed chamfering to the outer edges of the ground plane successfully widens the -10 dB impedance bandwidth of the antenna to cover from 1.92 GHz up to 15.16 GHz (correspond to 155% fractional bandwidth). The antenna gain varies from 2 to 5 dB over the operating band. Parametrical studies have been conducted for four different conditions of the ground plane; without chamfering, chamfering on the inner edges, chamfering on the outer edges and both chamfering of inner and outer edges. The effects of distinguished chamfering conditions to antenna performance are analyzed. The measured and simulated results for reflection coefficients and radiation patterns (2.45 GHz, 3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz) are presented. The corresponding realized gains are 2.14 dB, 2.85 dB and 3.4 dB respectively. The measured results satisfactorily agreed with the simulated ones. The antenna is 8 - 37 % wider bandwidth than previous research.
POLARIZATION-INDEPENDENT METAMATERIAL ABSORBER FOR SINGLE BAND AND MULTI-BAND FREQUENCY
Authors: Ayop Osman , A. Rahim Mohamad Kamal , Murad Noor Asniza 
Published: October 2019

This paper presents the design and simulation of polarization-independent type of metamaterial absorbers (MMAbs) at X-band frequency. The advantage of polarization-independent MMAbs is it can absorbs incident electromagnetic (EM) wave in all polarization states. It can be achieved by applying circular ring shape in a unit cell of MMAbs because the shape is very symmetry. The simulation is done in a unit cell for each proposed MMAbs structures. The FR4 substrate is used for MMAbs structure designs. The designed MMAbs structures can be divided into two parts which is circular ring and modified circular ring. The characteristics of both structure are studied through simulation process using CST software. Parametric study is conducted to observe the effect of each parameters in unit cell on the absorbing magnitude and frequency. It is observed that circular ring structures can achieve high EM wave absorbance for single band and multi band frequency. Since frequency separation distant limitation occurred, the modified circular ring structure is proposed by adding copper lines on the original circular ring structure. Thus, dual band frequency with close separation distant between two resonant frequencies is obtained as close as 1 GHz compared to the original dual band circular ring which is 2 GHz.
EVALUATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF AGED ASPHALT BINDER AND MIXTURE UNDER VARIOUS AGING METHODS
Authors: Idham Mohd Khairul , Hainin Mohd Rosli , M. Warid M. Naqiuddin , Abdul Raman Noor Azah , Mamat Rosmawati 
Published: October 2019

Hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavement encounter short and long term aging throughout the service life. Laboratory aging is the method used to simulate field aging process of HMA pavement. This study was undertaken to determine the long term effect of different binder and mixture laboratory aging methods on HMA (binder aging and mixture aging). Three types of HMA mixtures were prepared for this study namely Asphaltic Concrete with 10 mm nominal maximum aggregate size (AC 10), Asphaltic Concrete 14 mm (AC 14) and Asphaltic Concrete 28 mm (AC 28). These specimens were conditioned with nine different methods and durations. Resilient modulus test was carried out at 40˚C as an initial indicator of the specimen performance. Permanent deformation of the same specimens was then evaluated by dynamic creep test. Generally, the aged asphalt binder specimens have higher resilient and stiffness modulus compared to aged asphalt mixture specimens. In addition, aged binder specimens have a lower permanent strain which indicates higher resistance to permanent deformation. This study also found that high resilient and stiffness modulus of specimens is attributed by different in heating frequency, temperature, air exposure and binder content of the mixtures.