20 research outputs found
Stability analysis of anisotropic shells of revolution under axisymmetric load with general boundary conditions
No full textAerospace Engineerin
Development of a Rapid Thermoplastic Impregnation Device
No full textA melt impregnation device for rapid thermoplastic impregnation of fiber bundles has been developed through modeling and experiments. The basic principles behind the thermoplastic impregnation process are investigated and the properties needed for a successful thermoplastic impregnation device are formulated. All findings, both by experiments and modeling, are incorporated in the 'Integrated Rollerbox', which has actually been built.Structural Optimization and Computational Mechanics GroupMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Werkwijze voor het vervaardigen van een product onder gebruikmaking van een doorn
No full textA removable spacer device is provided on the mandrel before the product is formed on it. A method for forming a product using a mandrel comprises forming the product on the mandrel and then removing it from the latter. The mandrel is provided with a removable spacer device before the product is formed on it.Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Non-crop vegetation characteristics and vocalizing bird richness across 44 sites in Iowa, USA in June 2019
No full textThis data was derived from field work conducted in June 2019 where sixty AudioMoth passive acoustic monitors were placed along agricultural field margins in Iowa, USA. Twenty-five of the monitoring location were established by farmer and landowner collaborators, and the remaining (35) sites were established by the author (A.P.D.). Unique vocalizing bird species were counted in ninety-five recordings from 6 to 8 days during dawn hours per site. High resolution mapping identified non-crop vegetation and texture at spatial extents ranging from 100 to 1000 meters. Pesticide and fertilizer application were collected via a survey with collaborators. Site location names are included when the research site was an Iowa State Research and Demonstration Farm (ISRF). When the site was a collaborator, the site name was anonymized to "Collaborator" to respect the privacy of participants.Column definitions
location - recording location
Extent_meters - Radial distance in meters (spatial extent) of non-crop vegetation measure
VBRICH - Vocalizing bird richness
Noncrop_perc - Noncrop vegetation percent within spatial extent
Noncrop_m2 - Noncrop vegetation square meters within spatial extent
Texture_Dis - Noncrop vegetation dissimilarity texture scaled to between 0 and 1 (unitless)
Texture_Var -Noncrop vegetation variance texture scaled to between 0 and 1 (unitless)
Pesticide - Whether pesticide was applied in 2019 during or prior to June in field adjacent to recorder. Binary measure of 1 or 0, 1 for yes, 0 for no.
Fertilizer - Whether fertilizer was applied in 2019 during or prior to June in field adjacent to recorder. Binary measure of 1 or 0, 1 for yes, 0 for no
The identification of frail older adults in primary care: comparing the accuracy of five simple instruments
No full textBackground: many instruments are available to identify frail older adults who may benefit from geriatric interventions. Most of those instruments are time-consuming and difficult to use in primary care. Objective: to select a valid instrument to identify frail older adults in primary care, five simple instruments were compared. Methods: instruments included clinical judgement of the general practitioner, prescription of multiple medications, the Groningen frailty indicator (GFI), PRISMA-7 and the self-rated health of the older adult. Fried's frailty criteria and a clinical judgement by a multidisciplinary expert panel were used as reference standards. Data were used from the cross-sectional Dutch Identification of Frail Elderly Study consisting of 102 people aged 65 and over from a primary care practice in Amsterdam. In this study, frail older adults were oversampled. We estimated the accuracy of each instrument by calculating the area under the ROC curve. The agreement between the instruments and the reference standards was determined by kappa. Results: frailty prevalence rates in this sample ranged from 11.6 to 36.4%. The accuracy of the instruments ranged from poor (AUC = 0.64) to good (AUC = 0.85). Conclusion: PRISMA-7 was the best of the five instruments with good accuracy. Further research is needed to establish the predictive validity and clinical utility of the simple instruments used in this study. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved
A Stream-Based Resource for Multi-Dimensional Evaluation of Recommender Algorithms
No full textRecommender System research has evolved to focus on developing algorithms capable of high performance in online systems. This development calls for a new evaluation infrastructure that supports multi-dimensional evaluation of recommender systems. Today's researchers should analyze algorithms with respect to a variety of aspects including predictive performance and scalability. Researchers need to subject algorithms to realistic conditions in online A/B tests. We introduce two resources supporting such evaluation methodologies: the new data set of stream recommendation interactions released for CLEF NewsREEL 2017, and the new Open Recommendation Platform (ORP). The data set allows researchers to study a stream recommendation problem closely by "replaying" it locally, and ORP makes it possible to take this evaluation "live" in a living lab scenario. Specifically, ORP allows researchers to deploy their algorithms in a live stream to carry out A/B tests. To our knowledge, NewsREEL is the first online news recommender system resource to be put at the disposal of the research community. In order to encourage others to develop comparable resources for a wide range of domains, we present a list of practical lessons learned in the development of the dataset and ORP
The catching up of European money markets: The degree vs. the speed of integration
No full textFinancial Markets;EMS;European Integration;430;210;420;Interest
Ocorrência e estrutura de comunidades de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares na cultura da mandioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz) após cultivo de plantas de cobertura
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agroecossistemas, Florianópolis, 2014.A mandioca é uma importante fonte alimentar, especialmente nos países em desenvolvimento, por ser cultivada em pequenas áreas e em solos com baixa disponibilidade nutricional. Esta espécie possui relação estreita com fungos micorrízicos arbusculares (FMA), que ampliam a extensão das raízes pela projeção de suas hifas, o que favorece a absorção de nutrientes do solo. Na cultura da mandioca o preparo do solo afeta as propriedades químicas, físicas, e biológicas do solo, além disso, a utilização de espécies diferentes de plantas de cobertura influenciam as comunidades fúngicas do solo. Além disso, a morfologia da mandioca, suas raízes com grande diâmetro, quanto à parte área que gera pouca cobertura de solo, podem afetar negativamente a conservação do solo. Estas características interferem diretamente no estabelecimento e no desenvolvimento da cultura, consequentemente afetando a produção das raízes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência das plantas de cobertura na ocorrência e estrutura de comunidades de FMA e a contribuição destes para a cultura da mandioca. Para isso foi conduzido na estação experimental da EPAGRI no município de Urussanga-SC, um experimento a campo com delineamento em blocos casualizados, constituído de seis tratamentos e quatro repetições. Os tratamentos correspondem ao cultivo das plantas de cobertura: Aveia (Avena sativa L.), Ervilhaca (Vicia sativa L.) e Nabo forrageiro (Raphanus sativus L.), e os consórcios (A+E e A+E+N) e testemunha roçada a cada 15 dias. Após 110 dias de cultivo das plantas de cobertura, foi realizado o plantio da mandioca. Amostras de solo foram coletadas no momento do plantio da mandioca, e suas raízes coletadas aos 33 e 110 dias após o plantio. As avaliações compreenderam em quantificar o total de esporos de FMA; potencial de inoculo micorrizico (NMP); colonização radicular da mandioca; estrutura de comunidades de FMA por PCR-DGGE; P em tecido vegetal; estande e rendimento. O tratamento com aveia apresentou aumento no número de esporos em relação aos demais, já o tratamento A+E+N, apresentou o NMP seis vezes superior ao tratamento com ervilhaca. A colonização micorrízica da mandioca foi alta nos 33 DAP, obtendo diferença estatística nos tratamentos com Aveia e A+E. Na avaliação da estrutura de comunidades de FMA em raízes de mandioca, pode-se observar um aumento da similaridade dos tratamentos consorciados, e evidenciando agrupamentos no tempo 33 e 110 DAP. Contudo, a estrutura de comunidades de FMA no solo teve um comportamento heterogêneo e não responsivo aos tratamentos. As variáveis, estande, teor de P no tecido vegetal e rendimento não apresentaram diferenças entre os tratamentos de plantas de cobertura. Embora os parâmetros de rendimento, estande e teor de P no tecido vegetal, bem como a estrutura de comunidade de FMA, não tenham apresentado diferenças entre os tratamentos, outros parâmetros como potencial de inoculo e taxa de colonização de FMA, demonstraram resposta positiva das plantas de cobertura no aumento da eficiência da simbiose de FMA com raízes de mandioca. A variável tempo foi a mais relevante no aumento da similaridade da estrutura de comunidades fúngicas presentes nas raízes de mandioca, evidenciando que um ciclo de cultivo das plantas de cobertura no cultivo da mandioca, pode não ser suficiente para obter resposta significativa nas variáveis P no tecido vegetal e no rendimento da cultura.Abstract : Cassava is an important food source, espcially in developing countries, to be grown in small areas and in soils with low nutrient availability. This species has a close relationship with mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which extend the length of the roots by the projection of their hyphae, which favors the absorption of nutrients from the soil. In cassava soil preparation affects the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil, in addition, the use of different plant species cover influence fungal communities of the soil. In addition, the morphology of cassava roots with large diameter and shoots that generates little ground cover, may adversely affect soil conservation. These characteristics directly affect the establishment and development of culture, thus affecting the production of roots. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of cover crops on the occurrence and structure of AMF communities and their contribution to the culture of cassava. For that was conducted at the experimental station of the city of EPAGRI Urussanga-SC, in a field experiment in a randomized blocks with six treatments and four replications. The treatments correspond to the cultivation of cover crops: oats (Avena sativa L.), vetch (Vicia sativa L.) and forage turnip (Raphanus sativus L.), and consortia (A + E and A + E + N) and witness mowing every 15 days. After 110 days of cultivation of cover crops, planting cassava was conducted. Soil samples were collected at planting cassava and roots collected at 33 and 110 days after planting. The evaluations to quantify the total AMF spore; mycorrhizal inoculum potential (NMP); root colonization; structure of AMF communities by PCR-DGGE; P in shoots; stands and yields. Treatment with oats showed an increase in the number of spores in relation to other, longer treatment A + E + N, NMP presented six times more than the treatment vetch. The mycorrhizal colonization of cassava was high at 33 DAP, giving a statistical difference in the treatments with oats and A + E. In the evaluation of the structure of AMF communities in roots of cassava, one can observe an increase in the similarity of intercropping treatments and reveal clusters in time 33 and 110 DAP. However, the structure of AMF communities in soil had a heterogeneous behavior and not responsive to treatment. Variables, booth P concentration in shoots and yield did not differ among treatments of cover crops. Although the performance parameters, stand and P content in plant tissue, and the structure of the FMA community, have not presented differences between treatments, other parameters such as potential inoculum and colonization rate of AMF, showed positive response of plants coverage on increasing the efficiency of the symbiosis with AMF cassava roots. The variable was the most important in increasing the similarity of the structure of fungal communities present in cassava roots, showing that a cycle of growing cover crops in cassava cultivation, may not be sufficient to obtain a significant response in the tissue P variables vegetable and crop yield
Virtue and democracy in Plato's late dialogues
No full textBoth Plato's theory of virtue and his attitude towards
democracy -the two being correspondent- change significantly as we
move from the middle to the late dialogues. The Republic is a
substantially authoritarian work which expresses an unmitigated
rejection of democracy. Its authoritarianism is deeply rooted in
the fact that its ethical and political assertions are justified
on a metaphysical basis. Plato suggests that virtue and
metaphysical knowledge legitimize political power, but both virtue
and knowledge are so defined as to be attainable only by a tiny
minority. In the Politicus Plato reasserts the superiority of a
complete virtue grounded on philosophical knowledge, but seriously
questions the attainability of this ideal. In the closing part of
this dialogue Plato demonstrates an interest in history and in
this respect the Politicus anticipates the Laws, where political
theory is not justified by metaphysics, but is informed by
historical experience. More specifically, Plato attempts to
reproduce on a theoretical level a legislation similar to the
actual historical legislation of Solon and he underlines the need
for a moderate state involving elements from different
constitutions. Because Plato adopts a historical perspective in
the Laws, his earlier authoritarianism is severely curtailed
(though not completely abandoned). So, despite still holding a low
opinion of democracy, Plato does use some democratic elements in
his Magnesian constitution and the predominant conception of moral
virtue put forward in the Laws is not the highly exclusive virtue
of the Republict but a virtue falling within the capacities of the
ordinary citizen. In comparison to the state of the Republic the
city of the Laws is for Plato only a "second best". Even so,
however, the latter dialogue with its moderation, its rejection of
absolutism and its surprisingly modern emphasis on the
accountability of all officials constitutes a contribution of
lasting interest to Western political thinking
Environmental interventions in low-SES neighbourhoods to promote healthy behaviour: enhancing and impeding factors
No full textBackground: Social and physical environments are important drivers of socioeconomic inequalities in health behaviour. Although many interventions aiming to improve such environments are being implemented in underprivileged neighbourhoods, implementation processes are rarely studied. Acquiring insight into successful implementation may improve future interventions. The present study aimed to investigate factors influencing the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance (RE-AIM) of social and physical environmental interventions aimed at promoting healthy behaviour in underprivileged neighbourhoods in The Netherlands. Methods: A large set of theory-based factors of successful implementation was assessed for 18 implemented interventions in three underprivileged neighbourhoods. Expert and target group panels scored the RE-AIM dimensions for each intervention. We analyzed the statistical significance of associations between theory-based factors and the actual RE-AIM in a statistical model, to identify factors associated with increased RE-AIM. Results: Six factors were identified: effectiveness and implementation success were higher when the target group was involved in the planning process, whereas maintenance increased in the absence of competition with other projects. If the current situation was inventoried during intervention development, the effectiveness, adoption and implementation were higher. These dimensions were also higher when the target group was informed before implementation. Involvement of the target group during implementation resulted in higher reach, effectiveness and adoption. Finally, lack of intervention staff worsened the reach. Discussion: This study contributes to the evidence base for effective implementation of environmental measures aimed at promoting healthy behaviours. In particular, interventions in which the target group was involved in the implementation process were associated with higher RE-AIM outcomes. © The Author 2013
