Control of Substrate Water Availability Using Soil Sensors and Effects of Water Deficit on the Morphology and Physiology of Potted Hebe andersonii

Many plant producers tend to overwater crops to prevent water stress and salt-induced damage. These practices waste irrigation water and cause leaching that harms the environment and increases production costs. In order to optimize water consumption and minimize the environmental impact of plant production, this study aimed to determine the physiological and morphological responses of Hebe andersonii to three substrate volumetric water contents (49%, 39%, and 32%). The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with an irrigation protocol that consisted of adding small volumes of water to avoid leaching while monitoring substrate moisture with dielectric soil sensors. The results showed that moderately low substrate moisture improved the water-use efficiency, while growth was significantly reduced under more severe water deficit conditions (but without leaf chlorosis or abscission). The photosynthetic activity of Hebe was primarily controlled by the stomatal aperture, which was co-determined by the substrate moisture and seasonal temperature. Hebe leaves promoted non-photochemical quenching when carbon assimilation was limited by a water deficit, and accumulated solutes through an osmotic adjustment process (especially Cl−, Na+, and K+) to maintain their water status. Overall, Hebe andersoni cv. Variegata could successfully grow and improve its water-use efficiency in low substrate moisture and under a non-draining irrigation regime.

Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Exchange Rate in China and Japan? Evidence from Threshold Cointegration with Asymmetric Adjustment

In this article, we estimate the links between nominal exchange rates (JPY/USD and CNY/USD) and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in China and Japan by employing monthly data during the period span from January 1997 to September 2020. The threshold cointegration approach focus in TAR, M-TAR, C-TAR and C-MTAR is used. Results indicate the evidence of asymmetric effect in the adjustment process to equilibrium and the M-TAR is the best model to detect threshold effect for the (CNY/USD-CNYEPU) pair and the C-TAR is the best model to detect threshold effect for the (JPY/USD-JPYEPU) pair.

“You Have to be Resilient”: A Qualitative Study Exploring Advice Newcomer Youth Have for Other Newcomer Youth

Research infrequently includes the perspectives of vulnerable and marginalized youth. As the population of newcomer youth in Canada continues to grow, it is imperative that attention is devoted not only to challenges they experience, but also to resilience factors they perceive to support their adjustment and well-being. To address this gap, this qualitative research explored newcomer youths’ experiences and advice for other newcomer youth who have recently arrived in Canada. Thirty-seven newcomer youth from two medium-sized cities in Ontario participated in focus groups. Participants ranged from 14 to 22 in age and identified mostly as female refugees from the Middle East. Through thematic analysis, five overarching themes were found across groups: (1) moving to a new country is hard, (2) maintain a healthy mindset, (3) take an active role in the adjustment process, (4) stay true to who you are, (5) and you are not alone. Youth described hardships that make moving to a new country difficult including lack of belonging due to racism and bullying, insufficient orientation to new systems, language barriers, and high levels of stress. Findings demonstrated youths’ resilience, coping skills, and strategies to lead meaningful lives. Youth discussed resilience strategies such as maintaining a connection with home culture and religion, reframing thinking to be positive, receiving emotional support, accessing community support at newcomer agencies, and building language proficiency. Findings provide implications for professionals working with newcomer youth and reflect the importance of addressing structural barriers and racism. The opportunity for newcomer youth to share experiences as experts in research may also help to promote resilience.

Akomodasi Komunikasi Aparatur Sipil Negara Magang di Perusahaan Manufaktur

Magang merupakan salah satu upaya Kementerian Perindustrian (Kemenperin) untuk mendorong pegawainya mampu mencermati berbagai dinamika kondisi aktual dan melakukan berbagai penyesuaian untuk melakukan langkah-langkah proaktif dalam mendukung industri nasional. Perbedaan budaya pada kedua jenis instansi dapat menjadi hambatan yang menimbulkan ketidakpastian dan kecemasan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui akomodasi komunikasi yang dilakukan oleh peserta magang dan hambatan-hambatan yang dialami dalam proses akomodasi komunikasi tersebut. Studi ini menggunakan Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) yang merujuk pada empat tahapan model Giles dan Anxiety Uncertainty Management (AUM). Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah kualitatif interpretif dengan metode studi kasus, dan teknik pengumpulan data dengan wawancara mendalam. Penelitian menemukan bahwa peserta magang melakukan akomodasi kovergensi, divergensi, dan sedikit akomodasi berlebihan untuk dapat menyesuaikan komunikasi dengan pegawai PT X. Akomodasi komunikasi bertujuan untuk proses penyesuaian antarbudaya agar terbentuk saling pengertian di antara individu yang terlibat, tercipta perasaan nyaman, menurunkan hambatan komunikasi, dan mereduksi ketidakpastian dalam berinteraksi untuk mencapai komunikasi yang efektif. Internships are one of the efforts of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) to encourage employees to observe various dynamics of actual conditions and make multiple adjustments to take proactive steps to support the national industry. Cultural differences in the two types of institutions can be obstacles that cause uncertainty and anxiety. This study aims to determine the communication accommodation made by interns and the barriers experienced in the communication accommodation process. This study employed Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which refers to the four stages of the Giles model and Anxiety Uncertainty Management (AUM). It used is a qualitative interpretive approach with a case study method and data collection techniques with in-depth interviews. The study found that the interns accommodated convergence, divergence, and a little excessive accommodation to adjust their communication style to PT X employees. Communication accommodation aims at the intercultural adjustment process to form a mutual understanding between the individuals involved, create a feeling of comfort, lower communication barriers, and reduce uncertainty in interacting to achieve effective communication.

Virtualizing Project-Based Learning: An Abrupt Adaptation of Active Learning in the First Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, with Promising Outcomes

Project-based learning (PBL) is renowned as an active learning practice that promotes the application of the accumulation of knowledge through real-world and often open-ended problems. This work assesses a case evaluation of an introductory PBL course in a typical industrial engineering curriculum in Brazil. This course is taken during the first semester, in which students must develop solutions for a single given problem through weekly meetings. The case presented herein highlights the forced abrupt virtualization of the learning process, which imposed an unprecedented scenario on the students and instructors, especially with regard to this course, which is based primarily on presented discussions and activities. The first weeks of class following the abrupt virtualization of activities encountered misinformation and a lack of clarity about the adaptation of the activities. Fortunately, through rapid iterations, the adjustment process resulted in time invested by the students and classes, with an active discussion, using the tools made available by the university. This work aims to present the forced abrupt changes applied to this first-semester course, highlighting the challenges faced, and the positive outcomes obtained and observed by both the students and the instructor, and to make a comparison to the evolution of the course over the past years.

On the Frequency of Monitoring and Updating a Company's Strategic Business Development Plans

Amid economic or political uncertainty, strategic planning is an integral attribute of the success of entrepreneurial activities. Strategic planning has a special advantage over other types of business planning, namely its dynamic nature, when the draft plan is adjusted to the changed conditions of the economic environment. But the launch of the plan adjustment process is complicated by the need to select significant indicators of economic processes, on the basis of which the adjustment will be made. The main tool for the company’s management team to address the question of the frequency of the plan updating is the use of accounting and financial statement indicators. The purpose of the work is to analyze alternative methods of making managerial decisions in relation to the adjustment of strategic plans of the enterprise development. The main disadvantages of the management control system are identified on the basis of accounting and financial statements. The authors suggest such alternatives as making management decisions on the basis of intuitive understanding of the economic reality and the use of neural networks to monitor the economic environment at both the macro and micro levels, in order to trace any deviations from the specified vector of development. They also highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of the proposed tools. Thus, the main disadvantage of the intuitive managerial decision-making is the loss of verifiability of the proposed response measures; as for artificial neural networks, the main disadvantages here are a complex mathematical apparatus and a very time-consuming process needed for the effective network training.

A High-Efficiency Self-Synchronous RF–DC Rectifier Based on Time-Reversal Duality for Wireless Power Transfer Applications

An RF–DC rectifier is an important part in a wireless power transfer system. Diode-based rectifiers are widely used in low-power harvesting scenarios, and for high power, a transistor based on the time-reversal duality was proposed. This paper presents a high-efficiency self-synchronous RF–DC rectifier based on a waveform-guided design method and an improved rectification model of a commercial GaN device. The main contributions of this paper are that (1) an improved transistor model with correct reverse bias is built for accurate rectifier simulation, and (2) a new design method of self-synchronous RF–DC rectifier is proposed: as soon as the operating mode of the rectifier, input power, and DC load are set, matching and coupling network can be calculated directly based on waveform-guided method, thus design and adjustment process of a conventional power amplifier (PA) due to the duality between a PA and a rectifier would no longer be required. A 5.8 GHz self-synchronous RF–DC rectifier is designed for validation, and the optimum RF–DC conversion efficiency is 68% with 12 W input power as well as 19.9 V output DC potential with 50 Ω load resistance. The proposed rectifier is suitable for high input power rectification applications of wireless power transfer.

New Students' Self-Adjustment at Ar-Risalah Islamic Junior High School: Roles and Supporting Factors

The purpose of this research is to determine teachers’ roles in improving students' self-adjustment and its supporting factors at Ar-Risalah Islamic Junior High School, Padang, Indonesia. This is qualitative descriptive research with data collected from teachers, students, principals, and other school officials through interview, observation, and documentation. The data collected were analyzed using reduction and triangulation processes. The result showed that the teacher had expertise as a motivator to support and trigger the student enthusiasm in adapting and learning new materials at school. Meanwhile, the inhibiting factors of the self-adjustment process were parents that have not been able to let their children go to boarding schools and teachers without psychological backgrounds, because this background are needed for better approach and intervention for children to make them enthusiasm in learning in boarding school

Rainfall prediction optimization model in ten-day time step based on sliding window mechanism and zero sum game

Rainfall is a precious water resource, especially for Shenzhen with scarce local water resources. Therefore, an effective rainfall prediction model is essential for improvement of water supply efficiency and water resources planning in Shenzhen. In this study, a deep learning model based on zero sum game (ZSG) was proposed to predict ten-day rainfall, the regular models were constructed for comparison, and the cross-validation was performed to further compare the generalization ability of the models. Meanwhile, the sliding window mechanism, differential evolution genetic algorithm, and discrete wavelet transform were developed to solve the problem of data non-stationarity, local optimal solutions, and noise filtration, respectively. The k-means clustering algorithm was used to discover the potential laws of the dataset to provide reference for sliding window. Mean square error (MSE), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) were applied for model evaluation. The results indicated that ZSG could better optimize the parameter adjustment process of models, and improved generalization ability of models. The generalization ability of the bidirectional model was superior to that of the unidirectional model. The ZSG-based models showed stronger superiority compared with regular models, and provided the lowest MSE (1.29%), NSE (21.75%), and MAE (7.5%) in the ten-day rainfall prediction.