Reconstruction of the Part Vegetation on the Headwaters of the Piney Creek Watershed in Houston and Trinity Counties, Texas

The National Forests and Grasslands of Texas began a project in 1994 for ecosystem management involving multiple disciplines in an holistic approach to resource inventories. We first began with an intensive archival study of the forest acquisition files and the General Land Office (GLO) files in an effort to identify the western limits of the longleaf pine at the time of initial Anglo-American settlement ca. 1850. Vegetation information was gleaned from this work along with an understanding of the historical occupation of the area, aided by plotting this information onto USGS 7.5\u27 maps overlain by the historic Tobin landownership maps. We have since narrowed our focus from the mosaic of a broad area, to the headwaters of the Piney Creek watershed, an area rich in prehistory and history. Archeological survey has provided data for prehistoric occupations dating to the Early Ceramic period (ca. A.D. 500). More recent deed records, and subsequent landline surveys, have data on witness trees in the 1830s, 1860s, and 1890s, and then again after the Forest Service acquired the land in the 1930s, offering an opportunity to study specie composition over a 100 year period. This study on specie composition, tree density, and basal area, provides preliminary indications that fire suppression in the historic period significantly altered the forest composition

Impact of effectual propensity on entrepreneurial intention

For decades, entrepreneurship has been promoted in academia and the tourism sector and seen as an opportunity for new business ventures. In entrepreneurial behaviour, effectual logic shows how individuals use their resources to create new opportunities. This paper aims to determine effectual propensity as an antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions. For this purpose, and based on the TPB model, we conducted our research with tourism students from Cadiz and Seville (Spain) universities with Smart PLS 3. The results show that effectual propensity influences entrepreneurial intentions and that attitude and perceived behavioural control mediate between subjective norms and intentions. Our research has a great added value since effectual propensity is studied for the first time as an antecedent of intentions in people who have never been entrepreneurs.Durante décadas, el emprendimiento ha sido promovido en la academia y el sector del turismo, siendo visto como una oportunidad para nuevas empresas. En el comportamiento emprendedor, la lógica efectual muestra cómo los individuos utilizan sus recursos para crear nuevas oportunidades. Este documento tiene como objetivo determinar la propensión efectual como un antecedente de las intenciones emprendedoras. Con este propósito, y basándonos en el modelo TPB, llevamos a cabo nuestra investigación con estudiantes de turismo de las universidades de Cádiz y Sevilla (España) utilizando Smart PLS 3. Los resultados muestran que la propensión efectual influye en las intenciones emprendedoras y que la actitud y el control conductual percibido median entre las normas subjetivas e intenciones. Nuestra investigación tiene un gran valor agregado, ya que la propensión efectual se estudia por primera vez como antecedente de intenciones en personas que nunca han sido emprendedoras

Eco-friendly performance as a determining factor of the Adoption of Virtual Reality Applications in National Parks

The purpose of this study is to find the key factors of influence for the use and acceptance of Virtual Reality (VR) by tourists visiting National Parks in Costa Rica. The aim is to find whether tourists are willing to use VR to contribute to the eco-friendly performance of the area they visit and to determine whether they are willing to use VR in environmental tourism to protect flora and fauna. This study is quantitative and uses the theoretical Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model and a survey as the research instrument to obtain data. Data analysis was carried out using a PLS-SEM statistical analysis. The data collection procedure consisted of 50 people being surveyed in the initial pre-test phase and later 455 tourists in the fieldwork phase with national or foreign people over the age of 18 who visit or have visited the national parks of Costa Rica. The results show that there is a positive relationship between eco-friendly performance and the intention to use VR technology, as well as the actual use of VR for the benefit of the environment. The UTAUT2 model was used to find the effect of eco-friendly performance on the intention to use VR, as well as the use of this technology during visits to tourist destinations. The originality of the work is in answering the question of how to develop sustainable tourism in Costa Rica with the use of VR devices and applications that also allow the conservation of flora and fauna.2021-2

Applicability of Monte Carlo Glauber models to relativistic heavy ion collision data

The accuracy of Monte Carlo Glauber model descriptions of minimum-bias multiplicity frequency distributions is evaluated using data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) within the context of a sensitive, power-law representation introduced previously by Trainor and Prindle (TP). Uncertainties in the Glauber model input and in the mid-rapidity multiplicity frequency distribution data are reviewed and estimated using the TP centrality methodology. The resulting errors in model-dependent geometrical quantities used to characterize heavy ion collisions ({\em i.e.} impact parameter, number of nucleon participants $N_{part}$, number of binary interactions $N_{bin}$, and average number of binary collisions per incident participant nucleon $\nu$) are presented for minimum-bias Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 20, 62, 130 and 200 GeV and Cu-Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62 and 200 GeV. Considerable improvement in the accuracy of collision geometry quantities is obtained compared to previous Monte Carlo Glauber model studies, confirming the TP conclusions. The present analysis provides a comprehensive list of the sources of uncertainty and the resulting errors in the above geometrical collision quantities as functions of centrality. The capability of energy deposition data from trigger detectors to enable further improvements in the accuracy of collision geometry quantities is also discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, 11 table

Dielectric Properties of the Quasi-Two-Dimensional Electron Liquid in Heterojunctions

A quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) electron liquid (EL) is formed at the interface of a semiconductor heterojunction. For an accurate characterization of the Q2D EL, many-body effects need to be taken into account beyond the random phase approximation. In this theoretical work, the self-consistent static local-field correction known as STLS is applied for the analysis of the Q2D EL. The penetration of the charge distribution to the barrier-acting material is taken into consideration through a variational approach. The Coulomb from factor that describes the effective 2D interaction is rigorously treated. The longitudinal dielectric function and the plasmon dispersion of the Q2D EL are presented for a wide range of electron and ionized acceptor densities choosing GaAs/AlGaAs as the physical system. Analytical expressions fitted to our results are also supplied to enable a widespread use of these results.Comment: 39 pages (in LaTeX), including 8 PostScript figure

Study protocol: HepaT1ca - an observational clinical cohort study to quantify liver health in surgical candidates for liver malignancies.

Background Accurate assessment of liver health prior to undertaking resectional liver surgery or chemoembolisation for primary and secondary cancers is essential for patient safety and optimal outcomes. LiverMultiScan™, an MRI-based technology, non-invasively quantifies hepatic fibroinflammatory disease, steatosis and iron content. We hypothesise that LiverMultiScan™can quantify liver health prior to surgery and inform the risk assessment for patients considering liver surgery or chemoembolization and seek to evaluate this technology in an operational environment. Methods/Design HepaT1ca is an observational cohort study in two tertiary-referral liver surgery centres in the United Kingdom. The primary outcome is correlation between the pre-operative liver health assessment score (Hepatica score - calculated by weighting future remnant liver volume by liver inflammation and fibrosis (LIF) score) and the post-operative liver function composite integer-based risk (Hyder-Pawlik) score. With ethical approval and fully-informed consent, individuals considering liver surgery for primary or secondary cancer will undergo clinical assessment, blood sampling, and LiverMultiScan™multiparametric MRI before and after surgical liver resection or TACE. In nested cohorts of individuals undergoing chemotherapy prior to surgery, or those undergoing portal vein embolization (PVE) as an adjunct to surgery, an additional testing session prior to commencement of treatment will occur. Tissue will be examined histologically and by immunohistochemistry. Pre-operative liver health assessment scores and the post-operative risk scores will be correlated to define the ability of LiverMultiScan™to predict the risk of post-operative morbidity and mortality. Because technology performance in this setting is unknown, a pragmatic sample size will be used. For the primary outcome, n = 200 for the main cohort will allow detection of a minimum correlation coefficient of 0.2 with 5% significance and power of 80%. Discussion This study will refine the technology and clinical application of multiparametric MRI (including LiverMultiScan™), to quantify pre-existing liver health and predict post-intervention outcomes following liver resection. If successful, this study will advance the technology and support the use of multiparametric MRI as part of an enhanced pre-operative assessment to improve patient safety and to personalise operative risk assessment of liver surgery/non-surgical intervention

Pengaruh Dana Pihak Ketiga, Capital Adequacy Ratio, Non Performing Loan dan Tingkat Suku Bunga terhadap Penyaluran Kredit Bank Umum yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia

Today's developing economy encourages banks to focus on raising funds and channeling credit to people who need them to meet their needs. The funds he raises are known as DPK. The purpose of this research is to examine and analyze the effect of Third Party Funds, Capital Adequacy Ratio, Non-Performing Loans and Interest Rate Stimulant and Partial on Commercial Bank Credit Distribution listed on the IDX. This type of research used is quantitative. The research is causal and the data is quantitative with a ratio scale. Data collected documentation and secondary data. The total population of commercial banks listed on the IDX in 2014 - 2018 in 45 banks. The research sample consisted of 22 companies. This study was analyzed by multiple linear regression. The result is that Third Party Funds, Non-Performing Loans, Capital Adequacy Ratio, and Partial and stimulant Interest Rates have an influence on Commercial Bank Credit Distribution listed on the IDX

Digitalização do setor de consultoria: impulsionadores e facilitadores internos e externos

Literature has conventionally addressed the concept of Digitalization by focusing on the manufacturing industry, harmonizing and pairing its features with the service industry. This leads us to ask ourselves whether there is a single concept of digitalization or the digital transformation of the firm can vary depending on sales orientation. To answer our problem statement and research questions, we used a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis (BA) of digitalization to identify the most relevant articles on the subject. After analyzing a set of 1316 articles extracted from Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST, and the Web of Science databases, we found that the process of digitalization of a company should be studied differently depending on its underlying sector or activity. We also found that digital transformation in the consulting business has been facilitated and boosted by internal and external drivers that resulted in a change in the service digitalization paradigm in this sector, going from cost-saving strategies to value-added chains.La literatura ha abordado convencionalmente el concepto de Digitalización centrándose en la industria manufacturera y equiparando sus características con la industria de servicios. Esto nos lleva a plantearnos la cuestión de si existe un único concepto de digitalización o si la transformación digital de la empresa puede variar en función de la orientación comercial. Para responder al planteamiento del problema de investigación, utilizamos una revisión sistemática de la literatura (SLR) y un análisis bibliométrico (BA) de la digitalización para identificar los artículos más relevantes sobre el tema. Después de analizar un conjunto de 1316 artículos, extraídos de las bases de datos Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST y Web of Science, encontramos que el proceso de digitalización de la empresa debe estudiarse de manera diferente según el sector o actividad subyacente. También encontramos que la transformación digital en la consultoría se ha visto facilitada e impulsada por factores internos y externos que han motivado un cambio de paradigma de digitalización de servicios en este sector, caracterizado por pasar de estrategias de ahorro de costos a cadenas de valor agregado.A literatura tem abordado convencionalmente o conceito de digitalização focando na indústria manufatureira e equiparando suas características com a indústria de serviços. Isso leva a perguntar se existe um conceito único de digitalização ou se a transformação digital da empresa pode variar dependendo da orientação comercial. Para responder à abordagem do problema de pesquisa, utilizou-se uma revisão sistemática da literatura (SLR) e uma análise bibliométrica (BA) de digitalização para identificar os artigos mais relevantes sobre o assunto. Após a análise de um conjunto de 1.316 artigos, extraídos das bases de dados Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST e Web of Science, constatou-se que o processo de digitalização da empresa deve ser estudado de forma diferenciada dependendo do setor ou atividade subjacente dela. Constatou-se também que a transformação digital no setor empresarial de consultoria tem sido facilitada e impulsionada por fatores internos e externos que levaram a uma mudança de paradigma na digitalização de serviços neste setor, caracterizada por passar de estratégias de redução de custos para cadeias de agregação valor

What Role does Corporate Governance Play in the Intention to Use Cloud Computing Technology?

This paper aims to investigate the factors which promote the adoption of cloud-based technology. It strives for a better understanding of the impact of corporate governance on the adoption of this technology. This study concentrated on executives in companies where the use of cloud computing may give a competitive advantage. The main contribution of this work is to propose a model for the influence of corporate governance and other factors that determine the adoption of this technology. A questionnaire was prepared after taking into consideration the reviewed literature. The sample consisted of 164 technology companies from Southern Spain that already use the new economic models for digital solutions. The methodology used to analyze the structural model was the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results of the survey showed the influence of Corporate Governance and the procedures and practices of the organization on the adoption of cloud computing and the associated business model. This study aims to point out the importance of corporate support and Knowledge Management for the correct and successful adoption of this technology and to show the effects on the new business model of billing for the use of available resources