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Rocket seed meal (Eruca sativa) can replace soybean meal in fattening lamb diets improving performance, protein metabolism, and economic balance
Get PDFThe study determined the effects of replacing different levels of soybean meal (SBM) with rocket seed cake (RSC) in the diets of growing lambs on feed utilization and growth performance. Twenty‐eight male lambs (180 ± 5 d old) were divided into four groups in a complete randomized design with repeated measures for 105 d. Soybean meal was replaced with RSC at 0% (RSC0), 25% (RSC25), 50% (RSC50), and 75% (RSC75). The RSC75 group had the lowest final weight, total weight gain, and daily weight gain. The RSC25 increased (P < 0.001) the intakes of DM, starch value (SV), total digestible nutrients (TDN), digestible energy (DE), and digestible crude protein (DCP) compared to the other diets, while the RSC75 decreased these values. Moreover, the RSC25 decreased (P < 0.05) feed conversion of DM compared to other diets. Treatments did not affect nutrient digestibility or diet's nutritive values expressed as true SV, TDN, DCP, and DE. The RSC linearly increased albumin and urea and lowered the high‐density lipoprotein concentrations in lamb's blood. The inclusion of RSC in the diet increased economic efficiency, with the highest relative percentages of net revenue with the RSC25. Overall, RSC can replace SBM at 25% in the diet of growing lambs
Role of exact exchange and empirical dispersion in density functional theory-based three-body noncovalent interactions
Get PDFTotal and three-body interaction energies are calculated for a benchmark set of three-body systems using a range of different types of density functional theory (DFT) methods, with the results compared to CCSD(T)/CBS results from the benchmark reference [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2023, 25, 28621–28637]. Inclusion of Hartree-Fock exchange, via either a global or range-separated hybrid approach or inclusion of empirical dispersion corrections, increases accuracy for total and three-body interactions. Basis set convergence testing shows that the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set is well converged with little to no change seen when using quadruple-ζ basis sets. The accuracy of the DFT methods is similar when calculating interaction energies for both global and local minimum structures. Overall, the CAM-B3LYP-D3BJ, B97D3, and ωB97XD functionals are recommended for calculating three-body interactions
The impact of the Norman invasion on the Gower Peninsula
No full textThis thesis presents an assessment of the impact of Norman influence on the Gower region in south
Wales. It uses an interdisciplinary approach, due to limited documentary sources for the twelfth
century relating to Gower. The main focus of this thesis is the impact of the creation of the lordship
of Gower early in the twelfth century, due to Norman expansion into Wales from England. As
relatively little is known of Gower during this period, traditional narratives adopted by modern
historians have been established in the absence of evidence that assert there was a swift and
comprehensive conquest, immediately followed by the widespread building of stone churches and
extensive English colonisation. This thesis challenges these narratives, providing a historical
framework which represents a fundamental shift in the way in which Gower’s early history is
perceived. It argues that far from being swift and comprehensive, it was not until the end of the
twelfth century, rather than the beginning, that the situation in Gower resembled the traditional
narratives. By using a progressive methodology of exploring Gower in the Early Medieval period, the
impact of Norman influence can be assessed far more comprehensively than previous studies. This
thesis takes a thematic approach, covering ecclesiastical development, secular power and
settlement. Each theme has two chapters, one investigating the development of Gower during the
Early Medieval period in relation to the twelfth century and the other assessing the impact of
Norman influence. This thesis argues that during the twelfth century, Gower’s historical processes
were defined more by continuity, rather than by rapid change
A more ethical workplace? How and why perceived socially responsible human resource management makes a difference
No full textSocially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) is a critical component of an organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. It focuses on promoting sustainability goals and creating a positive social environment for employees to observe, learn, and internalize the organization's ethical values. Drawing on social learning theory, we conducted two separate field studies to investigate the direct and indirect links between employee perceptions of SRHRM practices and ethical workplace behaviour, as well as the moderating role of supervisor ethical leadership. In Study 1, we analysed three-wave data from 243 employees in Taiwanese organizations. The results show that perceived SRHRM practices shape ethical workplace behaviour both directly and indirectly through cognitive (value commitment) and morality-based (moral ownership) mechanisms. Study 2 validates these findings using time-lagged data from 302 employee–supervisor dyads in Vietnamese organizations. Additionally, this study reveals that the indirect positive relationship between perceived SRHRM and ethical behaviour is stronger when supervisors adopt an ethical leadership style. These findings offer a crucial Asia-Pacific perspective, complementing the predominantly Western-focused views on social responsibility in HRM and CSR research
Processes controlling extratropical near-tropopause humidity and temperature in the ECMWF global weather forecast model
Get PDFAccurate representation of near-tropopause fields is important for the forecast skill of numerical weather prediction models, yet there remain significant systematic forecast errors in the region of the tropopause. Although extratropical near-tropopause humidity, temperature, and wind model biases have been documented from several models, more knowledge of their causes is required as a step towards reducing these biases. Typically, a moist bias is present in the lowermost stratosphere in the analyses used to initialise forecasts, which leads to a growing cold bias in the lowermost stratosphere over the course of the forecasts due to long-wave radiative cooling. Experiments are conducted with the European Centre of Medium-Range Weather Forecasts global forecast system where the humidity in a layer 0–4 km above the tropopause in the extratropics is reduced to correct the moist bias in the initial conditions. In these experiments, the lowermost stratosphere cold bias growth is halved compared with the control and gradually remoistens, returning to typical analysis values with a half-life of around 8–9 days. The reduction in cooling in the lowermost stratosphere is due to a reduction in long-wave radiative emission from the water vapour above the tropopause. The main contributors to the remoistening are resolved advective transport and parametrised turbulent mixing in the model, the cloud microphysical process rates being similar in the modified and control experiments. The biases in near-tropopause moisture transport are almost independent of horizontal resolution. These results show that the temperature bias in the extratropical lower stratosphere can be reduced by correcting the collocated moist bias, but the moist bias cannot be fixed by solely correcting the initial conditions and further model improvements are also required to reduce cross-tropopause moisture transport
Media archaeology in Samuel Beckett’s television plays
No full textThis thesis examines Beckett’s television works through the methodology of media archaeology
and presents the interrelationship between the history of media technology and Beckett’s
televisual aesthetics. Media archaeology is a critical framework that provides a new perspective
on identifying traces and influences of old, lost and forgotten media in contemporary media
forms and focuses on the repetition of the same subject across media.
My research focuses on Eh Joe, Ghost Trio, …but the clouds…, Quad, and Nacht und
Träume, broadcast from the 1960s to the 1980s, using a media archaeological perspective on
both written texts and broadcast versions. Drawing on the biographical facts and testimonies of
those involved in Beckett’s television productions, I highlight the differences between the
manuscripts, published scripts, and the screenplays that were actually broadcast. In addition,
drafts and notes from the Beckett Collection at the University of Reading have been consulted
and incorporated into the analysis of the work. This archival research sheds light on creative
processes and ideas that have been under-examined in existing studies of Beckett’s television
plays, or that have not been linked to specific television productions. It reveals which
characteristics of television as a medium that Beckett was interested in.
The above findings identify the dramaturgical aspects of Beckett’s television plays that
reference the technological development and reception of television of different periods, and the
specificities of different audio-visual media such as pre-twentieth century optical devices,
painting, film, theatre and radio. Motifs and topics that Beckett had explored in his non-television work (e.g. the dead, the corporeality of women, dreams, memory, self-consciousness,
the unconscious, animals) recur in his television works. Through these topics, each teleplay
illustrates how the human senses, mainly audio-visual perception, are thematised through the
experience of television viewing and, more specifically, how this experience brings to the
viewer properties of sound and image that could not be produced by earlier or other media.
Through a media archaeological approach, this study demonstrates that Beckett,
through his television works, presents television as having a historical inheritance that came into
being through the interaction of existing audio-visual media. My case study of Beckett’s
television plays demonstrates that the media archaeological method can uncover a televisual
aesthetic which reflects Beckett’s incorporation of televisually specific modes of perception and
reception, as well as those of earlier media technologies
How does data-driven supply chain analytics capability enhance supply chain agility in the digital era?
No full textSupply chain analytics capability has recently gained more attention from both scholars and practitioners. Through the lens of information processing theory, this study examined how supply chain analytics capability impacts supply chain agility in the digital era with the associated adoption of digital technologies and platforms by companies. To obtain relevant data, a large-scale survey of Chinese manufacturing firms was conducted. Supply chain integration capability was evaluated as mediator and digital platform was evaluated as moderator. The results show that supply chain integration capability can mediate the effect of supply chain analytics capability on supply chain agility; moreover, supply chain analytics capability has a stronger impact on supply chain agility under a high level of digital platform adoption. These findings deepen the understanding of the role of supply chain analytics capability in supply chain management. This paper also provides managerial implications for enhancing supply chain agility in the digital era
The seventh blind test of crystal structure prediction: structure generation methods
Get PDFA seventh blind test of crystal structure prediction was organized by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre featuring seven target systems of varying complexity: a silicon and iodine-containing molecule, a copper coordination complex, a near-rigid molecule, a cocrystal, a polymorphic small agrochemical, a highly flexible polymorphic drug candidate, and a polymorphic morpholine salt. In this first of two parts focusing on structure generation methods, many crystal structure prediction (CSP) methods performed well for the small but flexible agrochemical compound, successfully reproducing the experimentally observed crystal structures, while few groups were successful for the systems of higher complexity. A powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) assisted exercise demonstrated the use of CSP in successfully determining a crystal structure from a low-quality PXRD pattern. The use of CSP in the prediction of likely cocrystal stoichiometry was also explored, demonstrating multiple possible approaches. Crystallographic disorder emerged as an important theme throughout the test as both a challenge for analysis and a major achievement where two groups blindly predicted the existence of disorder for the first time. Additionally, large-scale comparisons of the sets of predicted crystal structures also showed that some methods yield sets that largely contain the same crystal structures