3x3 Multibeam Network for a Triangular Array of Three Radiating Elements

A multibeam antenna study based on Butler network will be undertaken in this document. These antenna designs combines phase shift systems with multibeam networks to optimize multiple channel systems. The system will work at 1.7 GHz with circular polarization. Specifically, result simulations and measurements of 3 element triangular subarray will be shown. A 45 element triangular array will be formed by the subarrays. Using triangular subarrays, side lobes and crossing points are reduced

Internal and External Transparency in Public-Private Partnerships—The Case of Barcelona's Water Provision

Despite the efforts devoted to open government, transparency is mainly considered an issue for public organizations. However, various tasks such as public services delivery and management are being increasingly privatized or outsourced to public-private partnerships (PPPs). Our study aims to contribute towards bridging this gap by answering two research questions: (1) What determines internal and external transparency in PPPs? and (2) To what extent does internal transparency contribute to external transparency? We answer these questions through a qualitative case study, consisting of 38 in-depth interviews, on the transparency in water provision and management in the city of Barcelona. We conclude that in the case of PPPs, transparency goes beyond making data available; thus, politicians and managers must build a narrative around the data they provide that guides citizens and partners in their interpretation of the information. Furthermore, our results show that internal transparency influences external transparency

The Challenges of Organizational Factors in Collaborative Artificial Intelligence Projects

Despite the current popularity of AI and a steady increase in publications over time, few studies have investigated artificial intelligence (AI) in public contexts. As a result, assumptions about the drivers, challenges, and impacts of AI in government are far from conclusive. By using a case study that involves a large research university in England and two different county councils in a multi-year collaborative project around AI, we study the challenges that interorganizational collaborations face in adopting AI tools and implementing organizational routines to address them. Our findings reveal the most important challenges facing such collaborations: a resistance to sharing data, due to privacy and security concerns; insufficient understanding of the required and available data; a lack of alignment between project interests and expectations around data sharing; and a lack of engagement across organizational hierarchy. Organizational routines capable of overcoming such challenges include working on-site, presenting the benefits of data sharing, re-framing problems, designating joint appointments and boundary spanners, and connecting participants in the collaboration at all levels around project design and purpose

Effect of dietary supplementation with insect fats on growth performance, digestive efficiency and health of rabbits

Background: The present work aimed at evaluating the effect of the dietary replacement of soybean oil (S) by two types of insect fats extracted from black soldier fly larvae (H, Hermetia illucens L.) and yellow mealworm larvae (T, Tenebrio molitor L.) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood parameters, intestinal morphology and health of growing rabbits. Methods: At weaning, 200 crossbred rabbits (36 days old) were allotted to five dietary treatments (40 rabbits/group): a control diet (C) containing 1.5% of soybean oil and four experimental diets where soybean oil was partially (50%) or totally (100%) substituted by H (H50 and H100) or T (T50 and T100) fats. Total tract digestibility was evaluated on 12 rabbits per treatment. The growth trial lasted 41 d and, at slaughtering (78 days old), blood samples were collected from 15 rabbits per treatment, morphometric analyses were performed on duodenum, jejunum and ileum mucosa, and samples of liver, spleen and kidney were submitted to histological evaluation. Results: No difference was observed between the control and the experimental groups fed insect fats in terms of performance, morbidity, mortality and blood variables. The addition of H and T fats did not influence apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, protein, ether extract, fibre fractions and gross energy. Gut morphometric indices and organ histopathology were not affected by dietary inclusion of H and T fats. Conclusions: H and T fats are suitable sources of lipid in rabbit diets to replace soybean oil without any detrimental effect on growth performance, apparent digestibility, gut mucosa traits and health

Use of the furoxan (1,2,5-oxadiazole 2-oxide) system in the design of new NO-donor antioxidant hybrids

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Integrated Management of Fusarium Wilt Diseases

The integrated management concept is one of the fundamental paradigms that have emerged in crop protection in the last 50 yrs and yet a matter for legislation as exemplified by the European Union that recently has establishes the integrated management as the fundamental procedure for the management of crop diseases, pests and weeds. However, the integrated management is not a panacea for the control of plant diseases. It is an ecology-based approach aiming minimizing damage caused by diseases through ‘the combined use of all available disease control measures, either simultaneously or in a sequence, through actions taken prior and after establishing the crop’. In this chapter, we propose and develop a strategy for the integrated management for Fusarium wilts, one of the most devastating and challenging type of diseases impairing agricultural production worldwide,, based on the: (i) use of pathogen-free planting material; (ii) site selection to avoid planting into high risk soils; (iii) reduction or elimination of F. oxysporum inoculum in soil; (iv) use of biocontrol agents for protection of healthy planting material from infection by resident or incoming inoculum subsequent to planting; (v) use of resistant cultivars regardless the level of resistance; and (vi) choice of cropping practices to avoid conditions favouring infection of the plant. The integrated management of Fusarium wilt diseases is difficult because complexities of target pathosystems are overlaid on the inherent complexities of the management strategy itself. Much research is still needed on population biology and genetic diversity in Fusarium wilt pathogens, disease risk prediction, disease-incidence-yield losses relationships, biological control, biotechnological breeding for disease resistance. On top of difficulties pointed out above, the practice of integrated management requires involvement of well-trained professional plant pathologists able to implement the tenets of the concept at the local level, as well as to incorporate into decision-making framework new knowledge and technologies that may be developed from scientific research. As the demand has increased for knowledgeable practitioners capable of integrating multifaceted controls in rigorous IDM programs, institutional support has declined through declining or even vanishing University education in Plant Pathology and the loss of extension-related activities in commercial agriculture. Erosion at the top of the trickle-down structure responsible for knowledge transfer to the field is one of the most serious threats to IDM