The comparative performance of shaded and unshaded Zebu cross steers was studied in a Queensland feedlot from January to May 1992. The provision of shade gave no significant (P > 0.05) advantage in liveweight gain (182 V. 177 kg), feed conversion ratio (9.4 v. 9.8 kg of fresh feed/kg liveweight gain), carcase weight, dressing percentage, P8 rump fat, eye muscle area, saleable meat yield, meat c...

This study analyzed how the variations of plant area index (PAI) and weather conditions alter the influence of urban green infrastructure (UGI) on microclimate. To observe how diverse UGIs affect the ambient microclimate through the seasons, microclimatic data were measured during the growing season at five sites in a local urban area in The Netherlands. Site A was located in an open space; sit...

Increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis in sugarcane canopies is key for improving crop yield. Herein, we evaluated photosynthetic performance along canopy ten cultivars and three Saccharum species. Canopy morphological traits were evaluated, leaf gas exchange was measured first (sun-exposed, +1) fourth (shaded, +4) fully expanded leaves under low- high-light conditions. Similar capacity fo...

Shaded pole induction motors, despite the simplicity and low cost, are difficult to analyze particularly in the equivalent circuit methods, due to the asymmetric structure, saturation, harmonics, inaccurate estimation of leakage inductances and skew. Hence, 3D numerical methods could be very useful in the design and optimization stage. This paper presents the 3D transient finite element analysi...

We present a novel algorithm for rendering physically-based soft shadows in complex scenes. Instead of casting shadow rays, we place both the points to be shaded and the samples of an area light source into separate hierarchies, and compute hierarchically the shadows caused by each occluding triangle. This yields an efficient algorithm with memory requirements independent of the complexity of t...

Leaf retention time increases with decreasing irradiance, providing an effective way of amortizing the costs of foliage construction over time. To elucidate the physiological mechanisms underlying this dependence, I studied needle life span, morphology, and concentrations of carbon, nitrogen and nonstructural carbohydrates along a gradient of relative irradiance in understory trees of Picea abi...

Composition and diversity of aeroterrestrial phototrophic microbial communities are up to now poorly understood. Here, we present a comparative study addressing the composition of algal communities on sandstone substrata based upon the analysis of rRNA gene clone libraries from environmental samples and crude cultures. From a west-facing, shaded wall area of the mediaeval castle ruin Gleichen (...