Search results for: tree growth

Authors: Nayyra Zeb, Fu Qiang, Sundas Rauf

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is often seen as a significant factor of economic development in developing countries like Pakistan. The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of FDI on Pakistan’s economic growth during 1972–2012. Besides FDI, three other variables such as trade openness, political instability and terrorist attacks are also used in this study. The least square method has been applied to check the effect of these variables on GDP of Pakistan. The results show that FDI has a positive significant effect on economic growth of Pakistan.

Keywords: FDI inflows, trade openness, political instability, terrorist attacks

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Authors: A. Ramalho, L. Romeiro, R. Ventura, A. Suleman

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A real-time path planning framework for Unmanned Air Vehicles, and in particular multi-rotors is proposed. The framework is designed to provide feasible trajectories from the current UAV position to a goal state, taking into account constraints such as obstacle avoidance, problem kinematics, and vehicle limitations such as maximum speed and maximum acceleration. The framework computes feasible paths online, allowing to avoid new, unknown, dynamic obstacles without fully re-computing the trajectory. These features are achieved using an iterative process in which the robot computes and optimizes the trajectory while performing the mission objectives. A first trajectory is computed using a modified Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm, that provides trajectories that respect a maximum curvature constraint. The trajectory optimization is accomplished using the Interior Point Optimizer (IPOPT) as a solver. The framework has proven to be able to compute a trajectory and optimize to a locally optimal with computational efficiency making it feasible for real-time operations.

Keywords: interior point optimization, multi-rotors, online path planning, rapidly exploring random trees, trajectory optimization

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Authors: S. Mhamdi, O. Brendel, P. Montpied, K. Ben Yahia, N. Saouyah, B. Hasnaoui, E. Dreyer

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Leaf Life Span (LLS) is used to classify trees into two main groups: evergreen and deciduous species. It varies according to the forms of life between taxonomic groups. Co-occurrence of deciduous and evergreen oaks is common in some Mediterranean type climate areas. Nevertheless, in the Tunisian forests, there is no enough information about the functional inter-specific diversity among oak species, especially in the mixed stand marked by the simultaneous presence of Q. suber L., Q. canariensis Willd. and their hybrid (Q. afares), the latter being an endemic oak species threatened with extinction. This study has been conducted to estimate the LLS, the relative growth rate, and the count of different growth flushes of samplings in semi-controlled conditions. Our study took 17 months, with an observation's interval of 4 weeks. The aim is to characterize and compare the hybrid species to the parental ones. Differences were observed among species, both for phenology and growth. Indeed, Q. suber saplings reached higher total height and number of growth flushes then Q. canariensis, while Q. afares showed much less growth flushes than the parental species. The LLS of parental species has exceeded the duration of the experiment, but their hybrid lost all leaves on all cohorts. The short LLSs of hybrid species are in accordance with this phenology in the field, but for Q. canariensis there was a contrast with observations in the field where phenology is strictly annual. This study allowed us to differentiate the hybrid from both parental species.

Keywords: leaf life span, growth, hybrid, Q. afares Pomel, Q. suber L., Q.canariensis Willd

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Authors: Raihan Zahirah Mauludy Ridwan, Frisca Devi Choirina

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Indonesia with its former presidents has enhanced the bilateral cooperation also multilateral cooperation in terms of economy but the result was not significant towards eradicating poverty, unemployment, income inequality, and economic growth. To eradicate these problems, President Joko Widodo through his several points of Nawacita wants to boost Indonesia’s economic relationship and cooperation which manifested in “Economic Diplomacy” as one of Indonesia’s foreign policy priority and he pitches it in international forums. The economic diplomacy does not only attracts prospective countries but also attracts the foreign businessman and investors. The economic diplomacy includes four sectors which are vital for economic growth, one of them is investment. This paper would like to answer how economic diplomacy can have significant impact towards social welfare, equity and economic growth especially in Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of economic diplomacy and its impact toward Indonesia’s welfare, equity, and economic growth. This paper uses the theory of economic diplomacy to link the current international political economic sphere and the impact of economic diplomacy for Indonesia through case study method. The paper affirms that economic diplomacy in investment sector does have significant impact, especially in the development of infrastructures, foreign direct investment in several sectors, and food security.

Keywords: economic diplomacy, economic growth, equity, Indonesia, Joko Widodo, social welfare

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Authors: Dimitrios Triantakonstantis, Demetris Stathakis

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Urban areas have been expanded throughout the globe. Monitoring and modeling urban growth have become a necessity for a sustainable urban planning and decision making. Urban prediction models are important tools for analyzing the causes and consequences of urban land use dynamics. The objective of this research paper is to analyze and model the urban change, which has been occurred from 1990 to 2000 using CORINE land cover maps. The model was developed using drivers of urban changes (such as road distance, slope, etc.) under an Artificial Neural Network modeling approach. Validation was achieved using a prediction map for 2006 which was compared with a real map of Urban Atlas of 2006. The accuracy produced a Kappa index of agreement of 0,639 and a value of Cramer's V of 0,648. These encouraging results indicate the importance of the developed urban growth prediction model which using a set of available common biophysical drivers could serve as a management tool for the assessment of urban change.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, CORINE, urban atlas, urban growth prediction

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Authors: Rayhaneh Amooaghaie, Maryam Norouzi

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In this study, the effects of nTiO₂ on seed germination and growth of six plant species (wheat, soybean, tomato, canola, cucumber, and lettuce) were evaluated in petri dish (direct exposure) and in soil in a greenhouse experiment (soil exposure). Data demonstrate that under both culture conditions, low or mild concentrations of nTiO₂ either stimulated or had no effect on seed germination, root growth and vegetative biomass while high concentrations had an inhibitory effect. However, results showed that the impacts of nTiO₂ on plant growth in soil were partially consistent with those observed in pure culture. Based on both experiment sets, among above six species, lettuce and canola were the most susceptible and the most tolerant species to nTiO₂ toxicity. However, results revealed the impacts of nTiO₂ on plant growth in soil were less than petri dish exposure probability due to dilution in soil and complexation/aggregation of nTiO₂ that would lead to lower exposure of plants. The high concentrations of nTiO₂ caused significant reductions in fresh and dry weight of aerial parts and root and chlorophyll and carotenoids contents of all species which also coincided with further accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA). These findings suggest that decreasing growth might be the result of an nTiO₂-induced oxidative stress and disturbance of photosynthesis systems.

Keywords: chlorophyll, lipid peroxidation, nano TiO₂, seed germination

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Authors: Zehra Aytac, Nurdilek Gulmezoglu

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Safflower has been grown for centuries for many purposes worldwide. Especially it is important for the orange-red dye from its petal and for its high-quality oil obtained from the seeds. The crop is high adaptable to areas with insufficient rainfall and poor soil conditions. The plant has a deep taproot that can draw moisture and plant nutrients from deep to the subsoil. The research was carried out to study the nitrogen (N) uptake of different safflower cultivars and lines at different stages of growth and different plant parts in the experimental field of Faculty of Agriculture, Eskişehir Osmangazi University under semi-arid conditions. Different safflower cultivars and lines of varied origins were used as the material. The cultivars and lines were planted in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Two different growth stages (flowering and harvest) and three different plant parts (head, stem+leaf and seed) were determined. The nitrogen concentration of different plant parts was determined by the Kjeldahl method. Statistical analysis were performed by analysis of variance for each growth stage and plant parts taking a level of p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 as significant according to the LSD test. As a result, N concentration showed significant differences among different plant parts and different growth stages for different safflower genotypes of varied origins.

Keywords: Carthamus tinctorius L., growth stages, head N, leaf N, N uptake, seed N, Safflower

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Authors: R. Gary Black, Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl

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The International Building Code (IBC) and the California Building Code (CBC) both recognize four basic types of steel seismic resistant frames; moment frames, concentrically braced frames, shear walls and eccentrically braced frames. Based on specified geometries and detailing, the seismic performance of these steel frames is well understood. In 2011, the authors designed an innovative steel braced frame system with tapering members in the general shape of a branching tree as a seismic retrofit solution to an existing four story “lift-slab” building. Located in the seismically active San Francisco Bay Area of California, a frame of this configuration, not covered by the governing codes, would typically require model or full scale testing to obtain jurisdiction approval. This paper describes how the theories, protocols, and code requirements of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs) were employed to satisfy the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2010 California Building Code (CBC) for seismically resistant steel frames and permit construction of these nonconforming geometries.

Keywords: eccentrically braced frame, lift slab construction, seismic retrofit, shear link, steel design

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Authors: HengJiang Cai, RuiJin Zhang, JinSong Gui

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Enhanced UV-B (280-320nm) radiation resulting from ozone depletion was one of the global environmental problems. The effects of enhanced UV-B radiation on marine macro-algae were exposed to be the greatest in shallow intertidal environments because the macro-alga was often at or above the water during low tide. Ulva pertusa Kjellman was belonged to Chlorophyta (Phylum), Ulvales (Order), Ulvaceae (Family) which was widely distributed in the western Pacific coast, and the resources were extremely rich in China. Therefore, the effects of UV-B radiation on the growth of Ulva pertusa seedling were studied in this research. Ulva pertusa seedling appearances were mainly characterized by rod shapes and tadpole shapes. The percentage of rod shapes was 90.68%±2.50%. UV-B radiation could inhibit the growth of Ulva pertusa seedling, and the growth inhibition was more significant with the increased doses of UV-B radiation treatment. The relative inhibition rates of Ulva pertusa seedling length were16.11%, 24.98%and 39.04% respectively on the 30th day at different doses (30.96, 61.92 and 123.84 Jm-2d-1) of UV-B radiation. Ulva pertusa seedling had emerged death under UV-B radiation, and the death rates were increased with the increased doses of UV-B radiation treatment. Physiology and biochemistry of Ulva pertusa seedling could be affected by UV-B radiation treatment. The SOD (superoxide dismutase) activity was increased at low-dose UV-B radiation (30.96 Jm-2d-1), while was decreased at high-dose UV-B radiation (61.92 and 123.84 Jm-2d-1). UV-B radiation could inhibit CAT (catalase) activity all the while. It speculated that the reasons for growth inhibition and death of Ulva pertusa seedling were excess ROS (reactive oxygen species), which produced by UV-B radiation.

Keywords: growth, physiology and biochemistry, Ulva pertusa Kjellman, UV-B radiation

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Authors: Kweon Oh-Sang, Kim Heung-Youl

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Estimating the engineering properties of fires is important to be prepared for the complex and various fire risks of large-scale structures such as super-tall buildings, large stadiums, and multi-purpose structures. In this study, a mock-up of a compartment which was 2.4(L) x 3.6 (W) x 2.4 (H) meter in dimensions was fabricated at the 10MW LSC (Large Scale Calorimeter) and combustible office supplies were placed in the compartment for a real-scale fire test. Maximum heat release rate was 4.1 MW and total energy release obtained through the application of t2 fire growth rate was 6705.9 MJ.

Keywords: fire growth, fire experiment, t2 curve, large scale calorimeter

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Authors: Ademoyegun Olusegun

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The advancement of industry in any given state involves a range of processes that entail entrepreneurship and innovative skill attainment, among others, for the development of an economy. This article studied the impact of innovative and entrepreneurship skill attainment as the panacea of the growth of industry for economic development in Nigeria. Content analysis was employed as an instrument on data obtained from secondary resources which include journals, magazines, Workshop Articles, the Internet, interviewing etc. this is preferred because of the absence of sequential data related to entrepreneurship and innovation on sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. The theory of innovative Entrepreneurship was used as a theoretical framework. Findings revealed that Entrepreneurship skill attainment will induce innovation that will accelerate the growth of Industry for the advancement of the Economy. The study recommended that the government should invest adequately in entrepreneurship skill attainment and create an enabling environment for innovation.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovation, skill attainment, panacea, sustainable development

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Authors: Maman Ali M. Moustapha, Qian Yu, Benjamin Adjei Danquah

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This paper investigates the dynamic interaction between renewable energy consumption (REC) and economic growth using dataset from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 2002 to 2016. For this study the Autoregressive Distributed Lag- Bounds test approach (ARDL) was used to examine the long run relationship between real gross domestic product and REC, while VECM based on Granger causality has been used to examine the direction of Granger causality. Our empirical findings indicate that REC has significant and positive impact on real gross domestic product. In addition, we found that REC and the percentage of access to electricity had unidirectional Granger causality to economic growth while carbon dioxide emission has bidirectional Granger causality to economic growth. Our findings indicate also that 1 per cent increase in the REC leads to an increase in Real GDP by 0.009 in long run. Thus, REC can be a means to ensure sustainable economic growth in the ECOWAS sub-region. However, it is necessary to increase further support and investments on renewable energy production in order to speed up sustainable economic development throughout the region

Keywords: Economic Growth, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Energy

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Authors: Seun Mayowa Sunday

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Loan prediction is one of the most significant and recognised fields of research in the banking, insurance, and the financial security industries. Some prediction systems on the market include the construction of static software. However, due to the fact that static software only operates with strictly regulated rules, they cannot aid customers beyond these limitations. Application of many machine learning (ML) techniques are required for loan prediction. Four separate machine learning models, random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbour (KNN), and logistic regression, are used to create the loan prediction model. Using the anaconda navigator and the required machine learning (ML) libraries, models are created and evaluated using the appropriate measuring metrics. From the finding, the random forest performs with the highest accuracy of 80.17% which was later implemented into the Django framework. For real-time testing, the web application is deployed on the Alibabacloud which is among the top 4 biggest cloud computing provider. Hence, to the best of our knowledge, this research will serve as the first academic paper which combines the model development and the Django framework, with the deployment into the Alibaba cloud computing application.

Keywords: k-nearest neighbor, random forest, logistic regression, decision tree, django, cloud computing, alibaba cloud

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Authors: Nagini Sabbineni, Rajini T. V. Kanth, B. V. Kiranmayee

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India’s economy primarily depends on agriculture yield growth and their allied agro industry products. The agriculture yield prediction is the toughest task for agricultural departments across the globe. The agriculture yield depends on various factors. Particularly countries like India, majority of agriculture growth depends on rain water, which is highly unpredictable. Agriculture growth depends on different parameters, namely Water, Nitrogen, Weather, Soil characteristics, Crop rotation, Soil moisture, Surface temperature and Rain water etc. In our paper, lot of Explorative Data Analysis is done and various predictive models were designed. Further various regression models like Linear, Multiple Linear, Non-linear models are tested for the effective prediction or the forecast of the agriculture yield for various crops in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.

Keywords: agriculture yield growth, agriculture yield prediction, explorative data analysis, predictive models, regression models

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Authors: R. S. Hassani, S. Chikh, L. Tadrist, S. Radev

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A bubbly flow in a vertical miniature tube is analyzed theoretically. The liquid and gas phase are co-current flowing upward. The gas phase is injected via a nozzle whose inner diameter is 0.11mm and it is placed on the axis of the tube. A force balance is applied on the bubble at its detachment. The set of governing equations are solved by use of Mathematica software. The bubble diameter and the bubble generation frequency are determined for various inlet phase velocities represented by the inlet mass quality. The results show different behavior of bubble growth and detachment depending on the tube size.

Keywords: two phase flow, bubble growth, mini-channel, generation frequency

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Authors: Hamidreza Ghazvinian, Khosro Ghazvinian, Touba Khodaiean

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The importance of evaporation estimation in water resources and agricultural studies is undeniable. Pan evaporation are used as an indicator to determine the evaporation of lakes and reservoirs around the world due to the ease of interpreting its data. In this research, intelligent models were investigated in estimating pan evaporation on a daily basis. Shahroud and Mayamey were considered as the studied cities. These two cities are located in Semnan province in Iran. The mentioned cities have dry weather conditions that are susceptible to high evaporation potential. Meteorological data of 11 years of synoptic stations of Shahrood and Mayamey cities were used. The intelligent models used in this study are Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LSSVM), and M5 tree models. Meteorological parameters of minimum and maximum air temperature (Tmax, Tmin), wind speed (WS), sunshine hours (SH), air pressure (PA), relative humidity (RH) as selected input data and evaporation data from pan (EP) to The output data was considered. 70% of data is used at the education level, and 30 % of the data is used at the test level. Models used with explanation coefficient evaluation (R2) Root of Mean Squares Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results for the two Shahroud and Mayamey stations showed that the above three models' operations are rather appropriate.

Keywords: pan evaporation, intelligent methods, shahroud, mayamey

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Authors: Isabela Romanha de Alcantara, Jose Eustaquio Ribeiro Vieira Filho, Jose Garcia Gasques

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Innovation and technology can be determinant factors to ensure agricultural and sustainable growth, as well as productivity gains. Technical change has contributed considerably to supply agricultural expansion in Brazil. This agricultural growth could be achieved by incorporating more land or capital. If capital is the main source of agricultural growth, it is possible to increase production per unit of land. The objective of this paper is to estimate: 1) total factor productivity (TFP), which is measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input; and 2) the land-saving effect (LSE) that is the amount of land required in the case that yield rate is constant over time. According to this study, from 1990 to 2019, it appears that 87 percent of Brazilian agriculture product growth comes from the gains of productivity; the rest of 13 percent comes from input growth. In the same period, the total LSE was roughly 400 Mha, which corresponds to 47 percent of the national territory. These effects reflect the greater efficiency of using productive factors, whose technical change has allowed an increase in agricultural production based on productivity gains.

Keywords: agriculture, land-saving effect, livestock, productivity

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Authors: Ogunlana Olarewaju Fatai, Kelani Fatai Adeshina

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The interplay of corruption and institutional quality determines how effective and efficient an economy progresses. An efficient institutional quality is a key requirement for economic stability. Institutional quality in most cases has been used interchangeably with Governance and these have given room for proxies that legitimized Governance as measures for institutional quality. A poorly-tailored institutional quality has a penalizing effect on corruption and economic growth, while defective institutional quality breeds corruption. Corruption is a hydra-headed phenomenon as it manifests in different forms. The most celebrated definition of corruption is given as “the use or abuse of public office for private benefits or gains”. It also denotes an arrangement between two mutual parties in the determination and allocation of state resources for pecuniary benefits to circumvent state efficiency. This study employed Barro (1990) type augmented model to analyze the nexus among corruption, institutional quality and economic growth in Nigeria using annual time series data, which spanned the period 1996-2019. Within the analytical framework of Johansen Cointegration technique, Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) and Granger Causality tests, findings revealed a long-run relationship between economic growth, corruption and selected measures of institutional quality. The long run results suggested that all the measures of institutional quality except voice & accountability and regulatory quality are positively disposed to economic growth. Moreover, the short-run estimation indicated a reconciliation of the divergent views on corruption which pointed at “sand the wheel” and “grease the wheel” of growth. In addition, regulatory quality and the rule of law indicated a negative influence on economic growth in Nigeria. Government effectiveness and voice & accountability, however, indicated a positive influence on economic growth. The Granger causality test results suggested a one-way causality between GDP and Corruption and also between corruption and institutional quality. Policy implications from this study pointed at checking corruption and streamlining institutional quality framework for better and sustained economic development.

Keywords: institutional quality, corruption, economic growth, public policy

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Authors: Sahbi Farhani

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This study investigates the relationship between external debt and military spending in case of India over the period of 1970–2012. In doing so, we have applied the structural break unit root tests to examine stationarity properties of the variables. The Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach is used to test whether cointegration exists in presence of structural breaks stemming in the series. Our results indicate the cointegration among external debt, military spending, debt servicing, and economic growth. Moreover, military spending and debt servicing add in external debt. Economic growth helps in lowering external debt. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) analysis and Granger causality test reveal that military spending and economic growth cause external debt. The feedback effect also exists between external debt and debt servicing in case of India.

Keywords: external debt, military spending, ARDL approach, India

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Authors: Sanusi Abdullahi, Musa Momoh, Abubakar Umar Moreh, Aminu Muhammad Bayawa, Olubunmi Popoola

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Kesterite-type Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) thin films were deposited on corning glass from a single quaternary target. In this study, we investigated the growth mechanism and the influence of thin film thickness on the structural and compositional properties of CZTS films. All the four samples (as-deposited inclusive) show peaks corresponding to kesterite-type structure. The diffraction peaks of (112) are sharp and the small characteristics peaks of the kesterite structure such as (220)/ (204) and (312)/ (116) are also clearly observed in X-ray diffraction pattern. These results indicate that the quaternary CZTS would be a potential candidate for solar cell applications.

Keywords: RF sputtering, Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film, annealing, growth mechanism, annealing, growth mechanism, renewable energy

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Authors: O. R. Obalowu, F. B. Akande, T. P Abegunrin

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Maize (Zea may) is mostly grown and consumed by Nigeria farmers using different tillage practices which have a great effect on its growth and yield. In order to maximize output, there is need to recommend a suitable tillage practice for crop production which will increase the growth and yield of maize. This study investigated the effect of tillage practices and planting pattern on the growth and yield of maize. The experiment was arranged in a 4x3x3 Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) layout, with four tillage practices consisting of no-tillage (NT), disc ploughing only (Ponly), disc ploughing followed by harrowing (PH), and disc ploughing, harrowing then ridging (PHR). Three planting patterns which include; 65 x 75, 75 x 75 and 85 x 75 cm spacing within and between the rows respectively, were randomly applied on the plots. All treatments were replicated three times. Data which consist of plant height, stem girth, leaf area and weight of maize per plots were taken and recorded. Data gathered were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in the Minitab Software Package. The result shows that PHR under the third planting pattern has the highest growth rate (216.50 cm) while NT under the first planting pattern has the lowest mean value of growth rate (115.60 cm). Also, Ponly under the first planting pattern gives a better maize yield (19.45 kg) when compared with other tillage practices while NT under first planting pattern recorded the least yield of maize (9.40 kg). In conclusion, considering soil and weather conditions of the research area, plough only under the first planting pattern (65 x 75 cm) is the best alternative for the production of the Swan maize variety.

Keywords: tillage practice, planting pattern, disc ploughing, harrowing, ridging

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Authors: Sarah Jorjani, Afshin Ghelichi, Mazyar Kamali

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The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of addition of ginger and red pepper and their mixture in diet on growth performance, survival rate and body composition of Astronotus ocellatus (Oscar fish). This study had been carried out for 8 weeks. For this reason 132 oscar fishes with intial weight of 2.44±0.26 (gr) were divided into 4 treatments with three replicate as compeletly randomize design test and fed by 100% Biomar diet (T1), Biomar + red pepper (55 mg/kg) (T2), Biomar + ginger (1%) (T3) and Biomar + mixture of red pepper and ginger (T4).The fish were fed in 5% of their body weight. The results showed T2 have significant differences in most of growth parameters in compare with other treatments, such as PBWI, SGR, PER and SR (P < 0.05), but there were no significant differences between treatments in FCR and FE (P > 0.05).

Keywords: red pepper, ginger, oscar fish, growth performance, body composition

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Authors: Yunfeng Shan, Xiaoliang Wang, Youjun Zhou

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Whole-genome data from two lungfish species, along with other species, present a valuable opportunity to reassess the longstanding debate regarding the evolutionary relationships among tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths. However, the use of bootstrap support has become outdated for large-scale phylogenomic data. Without robust phylogenetic support, the phylogenetic trees become meaningless. Therefore, it is necessary to re-evaluate the phylogenies of tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths using novel measures of phylogenetic support specifically designed for phylogenomic data, as the previous phylogenies were based on 100% bootstrap support. Our findings consistently provide strong evidence favoring lungfish as the closest living relative of tetrapods. This conclusion is based on high gene support confidence with confidence intervals exceeding 95%, high internode certainty, and high gene concordance factor. The evidence stems from two datasets containing recently deciphered whole genomes of two lungfish species, as well as five previous datasets derived from lungfish transcriptomes. These results yield fresh insights into the three hypotheses regarding the phylogenies of tetrapods, lungfishes, and coelacanths. Importantly, these hypotheses are not mere conjectures but are substantiated by a significant number of genes. Analyzing real biological data further demonstrates that the inclusion of additional taxa diminishes the number of orthologues and leads to more diverse tree topologies. Consequently, gene trees and species trees may not be identical even when whole-genome sequencing data is utilized. However, it is worth noting that many gene trees can accurately reflect the species tree if an appropriate number of taxa, typically ranging from six to ten, are sampled. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully select the number of taxa and an appropriate outgroup while excluding fast-evolving taxa as outgroups to mitigate the adverse effects of long-branch attraction (LBA) and achieve an accurate reconstruction of the species tree. This is particularly important as more whole-genome sequencing data becomes available.

Keywords: gene support confidence (GSC), origin of land vertebrates, coelacanth, two whole genomes of lungfishes, confidence intervals

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Authors: Liang Cheng Chang, Wei Ju Huang, You Cheng Chen

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Investigation and research are keys for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources. The hydrogeological structure is an important base for groundwater analysis and simulation. Traditionally, the hydrogeological structure is artificially determined based on geological drill logs, the structure of wells, groundwater levels, and so on. In Taiwan, groundwater observation network has been built and a large amount of groundwater-level observation data are available. The groundwater level is the state variable of the groundwater system, which reflects the system response combining hydrogeological structure, groundwater injection, and extraction. This study applies analytical tools to the observation database to develop a methodology for the identification of confined and unconfined aquifers. These tools include frequency analysis, cross-correlation analysis between rainfall and groundwater level, groundwater regression curve analysis, and decision tree. The developed methodology is then applied to groundwater layer identification of two groundwater systems: Zhuoshui River alluvial fan and Pingtung Plain. The abovementioned frequency analysis uses Fourier Transform processing time-series groundwater level observation data and analyzing daily frequency amplitude of groundwater level caused by artificial groundwater extraction. The cross-correlation analysis between rainfall and groundwater level is used to obtain the groundwater replenishment time between infiltration and the peak groundwater level during wet seasons. The groundwater regression curve, the average rate of groundwater regression, is used to analyze the internal flux in the groundwater system and the flux caused by artificial behaviors. The decision tree uses the information obtained from the above mentioned analytical tools and optimizes the best estimation of the hydrogeological structure. The developed method reaches training accuracy of 92.31% and verification accuracy 93.75% on Zhuoshui River alluvial fan and training accuracy 95.55%, and verification accuracy 100% on Pingtung Plain. This extraordinary accuracy indicates that the developed methodology is a great tool for identifying hydrogeological structures.

Keywords: aquifer identification, decision tree, groundwater, Fourier transform

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Authors: Manoela Cabo da Silva, Elton Fernandes, Ricardo Pacheco, Heloisa Pires

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This study examined cointegration and causal relationships between economic growth and regular domestic and international passenger air transport in Brazil. Total passengers embarked and disembarked were used as a proxy for air transport activity and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for economic development. The test spanned the period from 2000 to 2015 for domestic passenger traffic and from 1995 to 2015 for international traffic. The results confirm the hypothesis that there is cointegration between passenger traffic series and economic development, showing a bi-directional Granger causal relationship between domestic traffic and economic development and unidirectional influence by economic growth on international passenger air transport demand. Variance decomposition of the series showed that domestic air transport was far more important than international transport to promoting economic development in Brazil.

Keywords: air passenger transport, cointegration, economic growth, GDP, Granger causality

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Authors: E. O. E. Nnadi

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Transportation is a critical factor in the economic growth and development of any nation, region or state. Good transportation network supports every sector of the economy like the manufacturing, transportation and encourages investors thereby affect the overall economic prosperity. The paper evaluates the impact of transportation on the economic growth of Nigeria using south eastern states as a case study. The choice of the case study is its importance as the commercial and industrial nerve of the country. About 200 respondents who are of different professions such as dealers in goods, transporters, contractors, consultants, bankers were selected and a set of questionnaire were administered to using the systematic sampling technique in the five states of the region. Descriptive statistics and relative importance index (RII) technique was employed for the analysis of the data gathered. The findings of the analysis reveal that Nigeria has the least effective ratio per population in Africa of 949.91 km/Person. Conclusion was drawn to improve road network in the area and the country as a whole to enhance the economic activities of the people.

Keywords: economic growth, south-east, transportation, transportation cost, Nigeria

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Authors: Katawut Kaewbanjong

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We analyzed a volume of data and found significant user satisfaction in software project factors. A statistical significance analysis (logistic regression) and collinearity analysis determined the significance factors from a group of 71 pre-defined factors from 191 software projects in ISBSG Release 12. The eight prediction models used for testing the prediction potential of these factors were Neural network, k-NN, Naïve Bayes, Random forest, Decision tree, Gradient boosted tree, linear regression and logistic regression prediction model. Fifteen pre-defined factors were truly significant in predicting user satisfaction, and they provided 82.71% prediction accuracy when used with a neural network prediction model. These factors were client-server, personnel changes, total defects delivered, project inactive time, industry sector, application type, development type, how methodology was acquired, development techniques, decision making process, intended market, size estimate approach, size estimate method, cost recording method, and effort estimate method. These findings may benefit software development managers considerably.

Keywords: prediction model, statistical analysis, software project, user satisfaction factor

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Authors: Kiran Nawaz, Waheed Anwar, Sehrish Iftikhar, Muhammad Nasir Subhani, Ahmad Ali Shahid

Abstract:

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been extensively studied and applied for the biocontrol of many soilborne diseases. These rhizobacteria are very efficient against root rot and many other foliar diseases associated with solanaceous plants. These bacteria may inhibit the growth of various pathogens through direct inhibition of target pathogens or indirectly by the initiation of systemic resistance (ISR) which is active all over the complete plant. In the present study, 20 different rhizobacterial isolates were recovered from the root zone of healthy chili plants. All soil samples were collected from various chili-growing areas in Punjab. All isolated rhizobacteria species were evaluated in vitro and in vivo against Phytophthora capsici. Different species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas were tested for the antifungal activity against P. capsici the causal organism of Root rot disease in different crops together with chili. Dual culture and distance culture bioassay were carried out to study the antifungal potential of volatile and diffusible metabolites secreted from rhizobacteria. After seven days of incubation at 22°C, growth inhibition rate was recorded. Growth inhibition rate depended greatly on the tested bacteria and screening methods used. For diffusible metabolites, inhibition rate was 35-62% and 20-45% for volatile metabolites. The screening assay for plant growth promoting and disease inhibition potential of chili associated PGPR indicated 42-100% reduction in disease severity and considerable enhancement in roots fresh weight by 55-87%, aerial parts fresh weight by 35-65% and plant height by 65-76% as compared to untreated control and pathogen-inoculated plants. Pseudomonas flourescene, B. thuringiensis, and B. subtilis were found to be the most efficient isolates in inhibiting P. capsici radial growth, increase plant growth and suppress disease severity.

Keywords: rhizobacteria, chili, phytophthora, root rot

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: Ella Tyuryumina, Alexey Neznanov

Abstract:

This study is an attempt to obtain reliable data on the natural history of breast cancer growth. We analyze the opportunities for using classical mathematical models (exponential and logistic tumor growth models, Gompertz and von Bertalanffy tumor growth models) to try to describe growth of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases of human breast cancer. The research aim is to improve predicting accuracy of breast cancer progression using an original mathematical model referred to CoMPaS and corresponding software. We are interested in: 1) modelling the whole natural history of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; 2) developing adequate and precise CoMPaS which reflects relations between the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; 3) analyzing the CoMPaS scope of application; 4) implementing the model as a software tool. The foundation of the CoMPaS is the exponential tumor growth model, which is described by determinate nonlinear and linear equations. The CoMPaS corresponds to TNM classification. It allows to calculate different growth periods of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases: 1) ‘non-visible period’ for the primary tumor; 2) ‘non-visible period’ for the secondary distant metastases; 3) ‘visible period’ for the secondary distant metastases. The CoMPaS is validated on clinical data of 10-years and 15-years survival depending on the tumor stage and diameter of the primary tumor. The new predictive tool: 1) is a solid foundation to develop future studies of breast cancer growth models; 2) does not require any expensive diagnostic tests; 3) is the first predictor which makes forecast using only current patient data, the others are based on the additional statistical data. The CoMPaS model and predictive software: a) fit to clinical trials data; b) detect different growth periods of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; c) make forecast of the period of the secondary distant metastases appearance; d) have higher average prediction accuracy than the other tools; e) can improve forecasts on survival of breast cancer and facilitate optimization of diagnostic tests. The following are calculated by CoMPaS: the number of doublings for ‘non-visible’ and ‘visible’ growth period of the secondary distant metastases; tumor volume doubling time (days) for ‘non-visible’ and ‘visible’ growth period of the secondary distant metastases. The CoMPaS enables, for the first time, to predict ‘whole natural history’ of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases growth on each stage (pT1, pT2, pT3, pT4) relying only on the primary tumor sizes. Summarizing: a) CoMPaS describes correctly the primary tumor growth of IA, IIA, IIB, IIIB (T1-4N0M0) stages without metastases in lymph nodes (N0); b) facilitates the understanding of the appearance period and inception of the secondary distant metastases.

Keywords: breast cancer, exponential growth model, mathematical model, metastases in lymph nodes, primary tumor, survival

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Sh. Edrisi, M. Moeeni, A. Farahbakhsh

Abstract:

To study the effect of nitrogenous additive spray solution on the efficacy of three herbicides i.e. pinoxaden (Trade name: Axial), sulfosulfuron+metsulfuron-methyl (Trade name: Total) and sulfosulfuron (Trade name: Apirus) in controlling wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch), in different growth stages, a greenhouse experiment as a split plot in a completely randomized design in three replications was conducted. One month after treatments, all plants were harvested and growth parameters were determined. The data were analyzed with computer. The results showed that the herbicide applications with and without nitrogen additive caused significant reductions in growth parameters of wild barley at 2-4 leaf stage. However, the plants were not killed by this herbicide. Plants were killed completely due to applications of the two other herbicides i.e. Apirus and Total at 2-4 leaf. There was no significant difference between the effect of these two herbicides. There was no significant difference between the highest rate of each herbicide used alone and that of the lowest rate with nitrogenous additive.

Keywords: growth stage, herbicide, nitrogen, wild barley

Procedia PDF Downloads 260