PHENOTYPIC CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PRODUCTIVITY ELEMENTS OF RED CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM PRATENSE L.)

Studying the correlations between productivity elements of red clover (green matter, dry matter and seed yield) is a very important aspect of breeding programs because it helps obtaining highly productive cultivars. Positive correlations, statistically assured, were observed between green and dry matter yields in both years of vegetation, for both groups of ploidy. Negative correlations were noticed between seed yield and first cut green matter yield in the 2nd year, for diploids and between seed yield and total green and dry matter in the 1st year, for tetraploids

NAMA Members\u27 Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility

As corporate social responsibility becomes increasingly important within organizations, it is imperative that professionals define their role in setting the CSR agenda. Through a descriptive survey, this study investigated National Agri-Marketing Association members’ perceptions of their roles in CSR and acceptable practices for releasing data about an organization. Respondents were neutral that the agricultural communications industry has a clear code of ethics and standards of performance. NAMA members agreed that developing programs that are good for society is both good for business and good citizenship, and that public relations professionals should be deeply involved in helping management define an organization’s social role. A majority of respondents reported working for an organization that recruited and hired employees who had an agricultural communications major, and had worked with someone who had an agricultural communications major, but were unsure of their preparation, management skills, and strategic thinking skills. Agricultural communications programs should take this perception into account and incorporate these three issues into their curriculum. No research was found that discussed CSR and public relations in the agriculture industry. With this study, agricultural public relations practitioners might see their role in CSR and the need for a clear code of ethics to unify the industry. This study creates a foundation for additional studies of agricultural public relations professionals, delving deeper into more specific roles related to CSR

User quality of experience of mulsemedia applications

User Quality of Experience (QoE) is of fundamental importance in multimedia applications and has been extensively studied for decades. However, user QoE in the context of the emerging multiple-sensorial media (mulsemedia) services, which involve different media components than the traditional multimedia applications, have not been comprehensively studied. This article presents the results of subjective tests which have investigated user perception of mulsemedia content. In particular, the impact of intensity of certain mulsemedia components including haptic and airflow on user-perceived experience are studied. Results demonstrate that by making use of mulsemedia the overall user enjoyment levels increased by up to 77%

Free to move or trapped in your group: Mathematical modeling of information overload and coordination in crowded populations

We present modeling strategies that describe the motion and interaction of groups of pedestrians in obscured spaces. We start off with an approach based on balance equations in terms of measures and then we exploit the descriptive power of a probabilistic cellular automaton model. Based on a variation of the simple symmetric random walk on the square lattice, we test the interplay between population size and an interpersonal attraction parameter for the evacuation of confined and darkened spaces. We argue that information overload and coordination costs associated with information processing in small groups are two key processes that influence the evacuation rate. Our results show that substantial computational resources are necessary to compensate for incomplete information -- the more individuals in (information processing) groups the higher the exit rate for low population size. For simple social systems, it is likely that the individual representations are not redundant and large group sizes ensure that this non--redundant information is actually available to a substantial number of individuals. For complex social systems information redundancy makes information evaluation and transfer inefficient and, as such, group size becomes a drawback rather than a benefit. The effect of group sizes on outgoing fluxes, evacuation times and wall effects are carefully studied with a Monte Carlo framework accounting also for the presence of an internal obstacle

Approximate solution to a hybrid model with stochastic volatility: a singular-perturbation strategy

We study a hybrid model of Sch¨obel-Zhu-Hull-White-type from a singular-perturbationanalysis perspective. The merit of the paper is twofold: On one hand, we find boundary conditions for the deterministic non-linear degenerate parabolic partial differential equation for the evolution of the stock price. On the other hand, we combine two-scales regular- and singular-perturbation techniques to find an approximate solution to the pricing PDE. The aim is to produce an expression that can be evaluated numerically very fast

Metabolic therapy: cardioprotective effects of orotic acid and its derivatives

Metabolic therapy involves the administration of a substance normally found in the human body to enhance cellular reactions involved in the pathogenesis of disease. Myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury represents a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, also in cardiovascular disease. Therapeutic strategies aimed at limiting cardiomyocyte death during the postischaemic reperfusion and in the perioperative settings are nowadays extensively studied. Conceived originally as a dietary constituent (known as vitamin B13) only, it is now apparent that most orotic acid is synthesized in the human body where it arises as an intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway of pyrimidine nucleotides. Previous investigations in the heart suggest that orotate and its derivatives could be of significant clinical benefit in the treatment of heart disease. The present brief review is concerned with the current knowledge of the major effects of these compounds in both experimental and clinical cardiology. The potential mechanisms and biochemical pathways responsible for cardioprotection are highlighted.Biomedical Reviews 2010; 21: 47-55

Is Multimedia Multisensorial? - A Review of Mulsemedia Systems

© 2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Mulsemedia - multiple sensorial media - makes possible the inclusion of layered sensory stimulation and interaction through multiple sensory channels. e recent upsurge in technology and wearables provides mulsemedia researchers a vehicle for potentially boundless choice. However, in order to build systems that integrate various senses, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. is review deals with mulsemedia topics remained insu ciently explored by previous work, with a focus on multi-multi (multiple media - multiple senses) perspective, where multiple types of media engage multiple senses. Moreover, it addresses the evolution of previously identi ed challenges in this area and formulates new exploration directions.This article was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement no. 688503