Search results for: scavenging processes

Authors: Ahmed Mateen, Zhu Qingsheng, Muhammad Awais, Muhammad Yahya Saeed

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This paper targets the rising factor of entrepreneurship innovation, which lacks in Pakistan as compared to the other countries or the regions like China, India, and Malaysia, etc. This is an exploratory and explanatory study. Major aspects have identified as the direction for the policymakers while highlighting the issues in true spirit. IT needs to be considered not only as a technology but also as itself growing as a new community. IT management processes are complex and broad, so generally requires extensive attention to the collective aspects of human variables, capital and technology. In addition, projects tend to have a special set of critical success factors, and if these are processed and given attention, it will improve the chances of successful implementation. This is only possible with state of the art intelligent decision support systems and accumulating IT staff to some extent in decision processes. This paper explores this issue carefully and discusses six issues to observe the implemented strength and possible enhancement.

Keywords: security and defense forces, IT-incentives, big IT-players, IT-entrepreneurial-culture

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Authors: Leyla Noroozbabaee, David Nickerson

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We introduce a modular, consistent, reusable bond graph model of the renal nephron’s proximal convoluted tubule (PCT), which can reproduce biological behaviour. In this work, we focus on ion and volume transport in the proximal convoluted tubule of the renal nephron. Modelling complex systems requires complex modelling problems to be broken down into manageable pieces. This can be enabled by developing models of subsystems that are subsequently coupled hierarchically. Because they are based on a graph structure. In the current work, we define two modular subsystems: the resistive module representing the membrane and the capacitive module representing solution compartments. Each module is analyzed based on thermodynamic processes, and all the subsystems are reintegrated into circuit theory in network thermodynamics. The epithelial transport system we introduce in the current study consists of five transport membranes and four solution compartments. Coupled dissipations in the system occur in the membrane subsystems and coupled free-energy increasing, or decreasing processes appear in solution compartment subsystems. These structural subsystems also consist of elementary thermodynamic processes: dissipations, free-energy change, and power conversions. We provide free and open access to the Python implementation to ensure our model is accessible, enabling the reader to explore the model through setting their simulations and reproducibility tests.

Keywords: Bond Graph, Epithelial Transport, Water Transport, Mathematical Modeling

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Authors: Christina Drosou, Konstantina E. Kyriakopoulou, Andreas Bimpilas, Dimitrios Tsimogiannis, Magdalini C. Krokida

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Rationale: Agiorgitiko is one of the most widely-grown and commercially well-established red wine varieties in Greece. Each year viticulture industry produces a large amount of waste consisting of grape skins and seeds (pomace) during a short period. Grapes contain polyphenolic compounds which are partially transferred to wine during winemaking. Therefore, winery wastes could be an alternative cheap source for obtaining such compounds with important antioxidant activity. Specifically, red grape waste contains anthocyanins and flavonols which are characterized by multiple biological activities, including cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antiviral and antibacterial properties attributed mainly to their antioxidant activity. Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) is considered an effective way to recover phenolic compounds, since it combines the advantage of mechanical effect with low temperature. Moreover, green solvents can be used in order to recover extracts intended for used in the food and nutraceutical industry. Apart from the extraction, pre-treatment process like drying can play an important role on the preservation of the grape pomace and the enhancement of its antioxidant capacity. Objective: The aim of this study is to recover natural extracts from winery waste with high antioxidant capacity using green solvents so they can be exploited and utilized as enhancers in food or nutraceuticals. Methods: Agiorgitiko grape pomace was dehydrated by air drying (AD) and accelerated solar drying (ASD) in order to explore the effect of the pre-treatment on the recovery of bioactive compounds. UAE was applied in untreated and dried samples using water and water: ethanol (1:1) as solvents. The total antioxidant potential and phenolic content of the extracts was determined using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. Finally, the profile of anthocyanins and flavonols was specified using HPLC-DAD analysis. The efficiency of processes was determined in terms of extraction yield, antioxidant activity, phenolic content and the anthocyanins and flavovols profile. Results & Discussion: The experiments indicated that the pre-treatment was essential for the recovery of highly nutritious compounds from the pomace as long as the extracts samples showed higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Water: ethanol (1:1) was considered a more effective solvent on the recovery of phenolic compounds. Moreover, ASD grape pomace extracted with the solvent system exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (IC50=0.36±0.01mg/mL) and phenolic content (TPC=172.68±0.01mgGAE/g dry extract), followed by AD and untreated pomace. The major compounds recovered were malvidin3-O-glucoside and quercetin3-O-glucoside according to the HPLC analysis. Conclusions: Winery waste can be exploited for the recovery of nutritious compounds using green solvents such as water or ethanol. The pretreatment of the pomace can significantly affect the concentration of phenolic compounds, while UAE is considered a highly effective extraction process.

Keywords: agiorgitico grape pomace, antioxidants, phenolic compounds, ultrasound assisted extraction

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Authors: Galit Harel

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This article describes the long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a young woman who had experienced trauma during her childhood. The details of the trauma were unknown, as all memory of the trauma had been repressed. Past trauma is analyzable through a prism of transference, dreaming and dreams, mental states, and thinking processes that offer an opportunity to explore and analyze the influence of both reality and fantasy on the patient. The presented case describes a therapeutic process that strives to discover hidden meanings through the unconscious system and illustrates the movement from unconscious to conscious during exploration of the patient’s personal trauma in treatment. The author discusses the importance of classical and contemporary psychoanalytic models of childhood sexual trauma through the discovery of manifest and latent content, unconscious fantasies, and actual events of trauma. It is suggested that the complexity of trauma is clarified by the tension between these models and by the inclusion of aspects of both of them for a complete understanding.

Keywords: dreams, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, thinking processes, transference, trauma

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Authors: Safia Hocine, Djamil Aïssani

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Risk models, recently studied in the literature, are becoming increasingly complex. It is rare to find explicit analytical relations to calculate the ruin probability. Indeed, the stability issue occurs naturally in ruin theory, when parameters in risk cannot be estimated than with uncertainty. However, in most cases, there are no explicit formulas for the ruin probability. Hence, the interest to obtain explicit stability bounds for these probabilities in different risk models. In this paper, we interest to the stability bounds of the univariate classical risk model established using the regenerative processes approach. By adopting an algorithmic approach, we implement this approximation and determine numerically the bounds of ruin probability in the case of large claims (heavy-tailed distribution).

Keywords: heavy-tailed distribution, large claims, regenerative process, risk model, ruin probability, stability

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Authors: Khalil Bachiri, Ali Yahyaouy, Nicoleta Rogovschi

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Improved user experience is a goal of contemporary recommender systems. Recommender systems are starting to incorporate reinforcement learning since it easily satisfies this goal of increasing a user’s reward every session. In this paper, we examine the most effective Reinforcement Learning agent tactics on the Movielens (1M) dataset, balancing precision and a variety of recommendations. The absence of variability in final predictions makes simplistic techniques, although able to optimize ranking quality criteria, worthless for consumers of the recommendation system. Utilizing the stochasticity of Leonard-Ornstein processes, our suggested strategy encourages the agent to investigate its surroundings. Research demonstrates that raising the NDCG (Discounted Cumulative Gain) and HR (HitRate) criterion without lowering the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process drift coefficient enhances the diversity of suggestions.

Keywords: recommender systems, reinforcement learning, deep learning, DDPG, Leonard-Ornstein process

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Authors: K. Appasamy, P. Paul

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Mauritius, a developing small-island-state, is facing a recession which is having a considerable economic impact particularly on its construction sector. Further, the presence of foreign entities, both as companies and workers, within this sector is creating a very competitive environment for local firms. This study investigates the key drivers that allow foreign firms to participate in this sector, in particular looking at the international and local tender processes, and the capacity of local industry to participate. This study also looks at how the current set up may hinder the latter’s involvement. The methodology used included qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with established foreign companies, local companies, and public bodies. Study findings indicate: there is an adequate availability of professional skills and expertise within the Mauritian construction industry but a lack of skilled labour especially at the operative level; projects awarded to foreign firms are either due to their uniqueness and hence lack of local knowledge, or due to foreign firms having lower tender bids; tendering systems and processes are weak, including monitoring and enforcement, which encourages corruption and favouritism; a high level of ignorance of this sector’s characteristics and opportunities exists amongst the local population; local entities are very profit oriented and have short term strategies that discourage long term investment in workforce training and development; but most importantly, stakeholders do not grasp the importance of encouraging youngsters to join this sector, they have no long term vision, and there is a lack of mutual involvement and collaboration between them. Although local industry is highly competent, qualified and experienced, the tendering and procurement systems in Mauritius are not conducive enough to allow for effective strategic planning and an equitable allocation of projects during an economic downturn so that the broadest spread of stakeholders’ benefit. It is of utmost importance that all sector and government entities collaborate to formulate strategies and reforms on tender processes and capacity building to ensure fairness and continuous growth of this sector in Mauritius.

Keywords: construction industry, tender process, international firms, local capacity, Mauritius

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Authors: Chantal Hendriks, Harry Gibson, Anna Trett, Penny Hancock, Catherine Moyes

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The use of modern inputs for crop protection, such as insecticides, is strongly underestimated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies measured toxic concentrations of insecticides in fruits, vegetables and fish that were cultivated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The use of agricultural insecticides has impact on human and environmental health, but it also has the potential to impact on insecticide resistance in malaria transmitting mosquitos. To analyse associations between historic use of agricultural insecticides and the distribution of insecticide resistance through space and time, the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides needs to be mapped through the same time period. However, data on the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides in Africa are limited and therefore risk maps on the spatiotemporal occurrence of agricultural insecticides are created using environmental data. Environmental data on crop density and crop type were used to select the areas that most likely receive insecticides. These areas were verified by a literature review and expert knowledge. Pesticide fate models were compared to select most dominant processes that are involved in the environmental fate of insecticides and that can be mapped at a continental scale. The selected processes include: surface runoff, erosion, infiltration, volatilization and the storing and filtering capacity of soils. The processes indicate the risk for insecticide accumulation in soil, water, sediment and air. A compilation of all available data for traces of insecticides in the environment was used to validate the maps. The risk maps can result in space and time specific measures that reduce the risk of insecticide exposure to non-target organisms.

Keywords: crop protection, pesticide fate, tropics, insecticide resistance

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Authors: Nasrin Hosseinzad

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Troxerutin, a trihydroxyethylated derived of rutin, is a flavonoid existing in tea, coffee, cereal grains, various fruits and vegetables have been conveyed to display radioprotective, antithrombotic, nephron-protective and hepato-protective possessions. Troxerutin, has been well-proved to utilize hepatoprotective assets. Troxerutin could upturn the resistance of hippocampal neurons alongside apoptosis by lessening the action of AChE and oxidative stress. Consequently, troxerutin may have advantageous properties in the administration of Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Troxerutin has been testified to have several welfares and medicinal stuffs. It could shelter the mouse kidney against d-gal-induced damage by refining renal utility, decreasing histopathologic changes, dropping ROS construction, reintroducing the activities of antioxidant enzymes and reducing DNA oxidative destruction. The DNA cleavage study clarifies that troxerutin showed DNA protection against hydroxyl radical persuaded DNA mutilation. Troxerutin uses anti-cancer effect in HuH-7 hepatocarcinoma cells conceivably through synchronized regulation of the molecular signalling pathways, Nrf2 and NF-κB. DNA binding at slight channel by troxerutin may have donated to feature breaks leading to improved radiation brought cell death. Furthermore, the mechanism principal the observed variance in the antioxidant activities of troxerutin and its esters was qualified to equally their free radical scavenging capabilities and dissemination on the cell membrane outward.

Keywords: troxerutin, DNA, oxidative stress, antioxidant, free radical

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Authors: Rana Nasiri, Hamid Vahidkia

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Recently, most courts in democratic nations were hesitant to consider foreign and international law. Their approach was to steer clear of using foreign sources of law that conflicted with their own government's stance. Numerous legal experts consider turning to foreign and international law unsuitable. However, those who advocate for using external sources of law also believe that relying on foreign and international law will always be in conflict with the importance of national sovereignty. Therefore, the academic discussion revolves around the commonly known broader debate on ‘the counter-majoritarian difficulty’. This article challenges the idea of tension. It suggests that in many democratic nations' legal systems, including those in the U.S., using foreign and international law can help strengthen domestic democratic processes by protecting them from outside economic, political, and legal influences. Citing international law supports domestic democratic processes and regains national sovereignty from various globalization forces. In other words, national courts must consider foreign and international law to uphold their national political institutions and protect their own status in relation to political branches.

Keywords: international law, social science, US, democracy, politics

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Authors: Chiau Yuan Lim, Hayyiratul Fatimah Mohd Zaid, Fai Kait Chong

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Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) is used in various applications due to its simplicity in synthesis procedure, biodegradable, inexpensive and easily available chemical ingredients. Graphene Oxide is a popular catalyst that being used in various processes due to its stacking carbon sheets in layer which theoretically rapid up the catalytic processes. In this study, choline chloride based DESs were synthesized and ChCl-PEG(1:4) was found to be the most effective DES in performing desulfurization, which it is able to remove up to 47.4% of the sulfur content in the model oil in just 10 minutes, and up to 95% of sulfur content after repeat the process for six times. ChCl-PEG(1:4) able to perform up to 32.7% desulfurization on real diesel after 6 multiple stages. Thus, future research works should focus on removing the impurities on real diesel before utilising DESs in petroleum field.

Keywords: choline chloride, deep eutectic solvent, fuel desulfurization, graphene oxide

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Authors: Megan E. Davies

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With the intention of identifying cognitive processes uniquely involved in the dark triad personality traits of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism, this study aimed to determine further potential differences and parameters of individual traits by explaining a statistically significant amount of variance between the constructs of manipulativeness, impulsiveness, grit, and need for cognition within the dark triad. Applying a cross-sectional design, N = 96 participants self-reported using the MACH-IV, SRP-III, NFC-S, and Grit Scale for Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that only manipulativeness predicted Machiavellianism, whereas manipulativeness and impulsiveness were found to have predictive qualities for psychopathy. Overall, these results found areas of discrepancy and overlap between manipulation and impulsivity regarding psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Additionally, this study serves to preliminarily eliminate the Need for Cognition and grit as predictive variables for Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

Keywords: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, manipulation, impulsiveness, need for cognition, grit, dark triad

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Authors: Julian Wise

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Newcrest Mining is one of the world’s top five gold and rare earth mining organizations by production, reserves and market capitalization in the world. This paper elaborates on the data acquisition processes employed by Newcrest in collaboration with Fortune 500 listed organization, Insight Enterprises, to standardize machine learning solutions which process data from over a hundred thousand distributed Internet of Things (IoT) devices located at mine sites globally. Through the utilization of software architecture cloud technologies and edge computing, the technological developments enable for standardized processes of machine learning applications to influence the strategic optimization of mineral processing. Target objectives of the machine learning optimizations include time savings on mineral processing, production efficiencies, risk identification, and increased production throughput. The data acquired and utilized for predictive modelling is processed through edge computing by resources collectively stored within a data lake. Being involved in the digital transformation has necessitated the standardization software architecture to manage the machine learning models submitted by vendors, to ensure effective automation and continuous improvements to the mineral process models. Operating at scale, the system processes hundreds of gigabytes of data per day from distributed mine sites across the globe, for the purposes of increased improved worker safety, and production efficiency through big data applications.

Keywords: mineral technology, big data, machine learning operations, data lake

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Authors: Madhat Abu Al-Naeem, Ismail Yusoff, Ng Tham Fatt, Yatimah Alias

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Groundwater in Gaza strip is increasingly being exposed to anthropic and natural factors that seriously impacted the groundwater quality. Physiochemical data of groundwater can offer important information on changes in groundwater quality that can be useful in improving water management tactics. An integrative hydrochemical and statistical techniques (Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and factor analysis (FA)) have been applied on the existence ten physiochemical data of 84 samples collected in (2000/2001) using STATA, AquaChem, and Surfer softwares to: 1) Provide valuable insight into the salinization sources and the hydrochemical processes controlling the chemistry of groundwater. 2) Differentiate the influence of natural processes and man-made activities. The recorded large diversity in water facies with dominance Na-Cl type that reveals a highly saline aquifer impacted by multiple complex hydrochemical processes. Based on WHO standards, only (15.5%) of the wells were suitable for drinking. HCA yielded three clusters. Cluster 1 is the highest in salinity, mainly due to the impact of Eocene saline water invasion mixed with human inputs. Cluster 2 is the lowest in salinity also due to Eocene saline water invasion but mixed with recent rainfall recharge and limited carbonate dissolution and nitrate pollution. Cluster 3 is similar in salinity to Cluster 2, but with a high diversity of facies due to the impact of many sources of salinity as sea water invasion, carbonate dissolution and human inputs. Factor analysis yielded two factors accounting for 88% of the total variance. Factor 1 (59%) is a salinization factor demonstrating the mixing contribution of natural saline water with human inputs. Factor 2 measure the hardness and pollution which explained 29% of the total variance. The negative relationship between the NO3- and pH may reveal a denitrification process in a heavy polluted aquifer recharged by a limited oxygenated rainfall. Multivariate statistical analysis combined with hydrochemical analysis indicate that the main factors controlling groundwater chemistry were Eocene saline invasion, seawater invasion, sewage invasion and rainfall recharge and the main hydrochemical processes were base ion and reverse ion exchange processes with clay minerals (water rock interactions), nitrification, carbonate dissolution and a limited denitrification process.

Keywords: dendrogram and cluster analysis, water facies, Eocene saline invasion and sea water invasion, nitrification and denitrification

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Authors: Gregory Vigneaux

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The capacity to anticipate future events across varying time scales is integral to the effective operation of both emergency management and emergency services organizations. This paper provides fresh insight into anticipation by first offering a novel conceptualization of organizations in both fields by twisting together socio-technical systems and autopoietic theory. The result of this intertwining of theory is a view of emergency management and emergency services organizations as self-reproducing systems driven by socio-technical processes contingent upon both inflows and outflows across a boundary produced by the system’s own activity. Flowing from this perspective is an approach to anticipation that extends from a system’s intent of continuing to reproduce its identity over a dynamic landscape. This discussion takes a pragmatic turn through Maturana and Verden-Zöller’s domains of structural change, classifying anticipated events and connecting them with types of responses involving inflows, outflows, and socio-technical processes.

Keywords: risk, anticipation, organizations, planning, transformation, identity

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Authors: S. Delpeux-Ouldriane, M. Gineys, S. Masson, N. Cohaut, L. Reinert, L. Duclaux, F. Béguin

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Nowadays, a wide variety of organic contaminants are present at trace concentrations in wastewater effluents. In order to face these pollution problems, the implementation of the REACH European regulation has defined lists of targeted pollutants to be eliminated selectively in water. It therefore implies the development of innovative and more efficient remediation techniques. In this sense, adsorption processes can be successfully used to achieve the removal of organic compounds in waste water treatment processes, especially at low pollutant concentration. Especially, activated carbons possessing a highly developed porosity demonstrate high adsorption capacities. More specifically, carbon cloths show high adsorption rates, an easily handling, a good mechanical integrity and regeneration potentialities. When loaded with pollutants, these materials can be indeed regenerated using an electrochemical polarization.

Keywords: nanoporous carbons, activated carbon cloths, adsorption, micropollutants, emerging contaminants, regeneration, electrochemistry

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Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

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Automatic process monitoring schemes are designed to give early warnings for unusual process events or abnormalities as soon as possible. For this end, various techniques have been developed and utilized in various industrial processes. It includes multivariate statistical methods, representation skills in reduced spaces, kernel-based nonlinear techniques, etc. This work presents a nonlinear empirical monitoring scheme for batch type production processes with incomplete process measurement data. While normal operation data are easy to get, unusual fault data occurs infrequently and thus are difficult to collect. In this work, noise filtering steps are added in order to enhance monitoring performance by eliminating irrelevant information of the data. The performance of the monitoring scheme was demonstrated using batch process data. The results showed that the monitoring performance was improved significantly in terms of detection success rate of process fault.

Keywords: batch process, monitoring, measurement, kernel method

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Authors: Per Blomqvist

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This study is part of a larger research project on creativity and writing cultures in upper secondary schools in Sweden, with the purpose of exploring how formative assessment practices can be developed to better support students' writing of subject-specific texts. The purpose of the study is to shed light on how writing has changed over time in the subjects of Social Studies and Swedish, especially regarding changes in the formative assessment practice in relation to students opportunities to take part in creative writing processes that can develop their subject specific-writing. Theoretically, the study is based on concepts and models concerning creativity, writing instructions and formative assessment, especially regarding scaffolding in relation to the development of students' subject-specific writing. The empirical data consists of video recordings of teacher groups' conversations from five upper secondary schools in Sweden, compromising a total of twenty teachers. The conversations were conducted as so-called collective remembering interviews, a method to stimulate the participants' memory through social interaction, and focused on addressing issues on how writing assessment has changed over time. Topic analysis was used to analyze the conversations in order to identify common descriptions and expressions among the teachers in each group. The result highlights two different assessment practices that are described as giving students different opportunities to take part in creative writing processes to develop their writing of subject-specific texts. One of the assessment practices is characterized by teachers focusing on explaining to the students what the grading criteria mean and showing sample texts that correspond to a certain grade. The teachers describe that this assessment practice has led to a formalized, instrumental and product-oriented writing culture that has negative consequences for the student's development of their subject-specific writing, which often lacks independent reasoning, own conclusions and understanding of concepts. The other assessment practice is characterized by students examining text qualities and discussing a variety of sample texts to understand what different texts require. These teachers describe the assessment practice as an exploratory work that leads to more creative writing processes where the students gradually deepen their understanding of subject-specific texts and develop their writing.

Keywords: teaching for creativity, writing processes, formative assessment, subject-specific writing

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Authors: Mekhaldi Abdelkader, Bouzned Ahcen, Djibaoui Rachid, Hamoum Hakim

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This study presents an attempt to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of methanolic extract and essential oils prepared from the leaves of sage (Salvia officinalis L.). The content of polyphenols in the methanolic extract of the leaves from Salvia officinalis extract was determined by spectrophoto- metrically, calculated as gallic acid and catechin equivalent. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging activity using 2,2-diphenylpicryl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The plant essential oil and methanol extract were also subjected to screenings for the evaluation of their antioxidant activities using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. While the plant essential oil showed only weak antioxidant activities, its methanol extract was considerably active in DPPH (IC50= 37.29µg/ml) test. Appreciable total phenolic content (31.25mg/g) was also detected for the plant methanol extract as gallic acid equivalent in the Folin–Ciocalteu test. The plant was also screened for its antimicrobial activity and good to moderate inhibitions were recorded for its essential oil and methanol extract against most of the tested microorganisms. The present investigation revealed that this plant has rich source of antioxidant properties. It is for this reason that sage has found increasing application in food formulations.

Keywords: antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, flavonoid, polyphenol, salvia officinalis

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Authors: Adriano Valdes-Gomez, Francisco Javier Sevilla

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We devise a numerical algorithm to simulate the diffusion of a Brownian particle restricted to the surface of a three-dimensional sphere when the particle is under the effects of an external potential that is coupled linearly. It is obtained using elementary geometry, yet, it converges, in the weak sense, to the solutions to the Smoluchowski equation. Rotations on the sphere, which are the analogs of linear displacements in euclidean spaces, are calculated using algebraic operations and then by a proper scaling, which makes the algorithm efficient and quite simple, especially to what may be the short-time propagator approach. Our findings prove that the global effects of curvature are taken into account in both dynamic and stationary processes, and it is not restricted to work in configuration space, neither restricted to the overdamped limit. We have generalized it successfully to simulate the Kramers or the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, where it is necessary to work directly in phase space, and it may be adapted to other two dimensional surfaces with non-constant curvature.

Keywords: diffusion on the sphere, Fokker-Planck equation on the sphere, non equilibrium processes on the sphere, numerical methods for diffusion on the sphere

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Authors: Thi Phuong Ly Tran

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Being a basic and unique to human beings, cognitive activity possesses spiritualistic characteristics and is conveyed through languages. Words that represent rational cognition or processes related to rationality as follow: know, think, understand, doubt, be afraid, remember, forget, think (that), realize (that), find (that), etc. can reflect the process by which human beings have transformed cognitive activities into diversified and delicate manners through linguistic tasks. In this research article, applying the descriptive method and comparative method, we would like to utilize the application of the theoretical system of linguistic characteristics of cognitive verbs in Vietnamese language in comparison with English language. These achievements of this article will meaningfully contribute to highlight characteristics of Vietnamese language and identify the similarities and differences in the linguistic processes of Vietnamese and English people as well as supply more knowledge for social requirements such as foreign language learning, dictionary editing, language teaching in schools.

Keywords: cognitive activity, cognitive perspective, Vietnamese language, English language

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Authors: Florian Gschösser, Walter Purrer

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The paper shows examples for the (environmental) optimization of production processes for asphalt mixtures applied for typical road pavements in Austria and Switzerland. The conducted “from-cradle-to-gate” LCA firstly analyzes the production one cubic meter of asphalt and secondly all material production processes for exemplary highway pavements applied in Austria and Switzerland. It is shown that environmental impacts can be reduced by the application of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and by the optimization of specific production characteristics, e.g. the reduction of the initial moisture of the mineral aggregate and the reduction of the mixing temperature by the application of low-viscosity and foam bitumen. The results of the LCA study demonstrate reduction potentials per cubic meter asphalt of up to 57 % (Global Warming Potential–GWP) and 77 % (Ozone depletion–ODP). The analysis per square meter of asphalt pavement determined environmental potentials of up to 40 % (GWP) and 56 % (ODP).

Keywords: asphalt mixtures, environmental potentials, life cycle assessment, material production

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Fazeli

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Nowadays, the fourth industry, known as the digital transformation of industries, is seen as one of the top subjects in the history of structural revolution, which has led to the high-tech and tactical dominance of the organization. In the face of these profits, the undefined and non-transparent nature of the after-effects of investing in digital transformation has hindered many organizations from attempting this area of this industry. One of the important frameworks in the field of understanding digital transformation in all organizations is the maturity model of digital transformation. This model includes two main parts of digital transformation maturity dimensions and digital transformation maturity stages. Mediating factors of digital maturity and organizational performance at the individual (e.g., motivations, attitudes) and at the organizational level (e.g., organizational culture) should be considered. For successful technology adoption processes, organizational development and human resources must go hand in hand and be supported by a sound communication strategy. Maturity models are developed to help organizations by providing broad guidance and a roadmap for improvement. However, as a result of a systematic review of the literature and its analysis, it was observed that none of the 18 maturity models in the field of digital transformation fully meet all the criteria of appropriateness, completeness, clarity, and objectivity. A maturity assessment framework potentially helps systematize assessment processes that create opportunities for change in processes and organizations enabled by digital initiatives and long-term improvements at the project portfolio level. Cultural characteristics reflecting digital culture are not systematically integrated, and specific digital maturity models for the service sector are less clearly presented. It is also clearly evident that research on the maturity of digital transformation as a holistic concept is scarce and needs more attention in future research.

Keywords: digital transformation, organizational performance, maturity models, maturity assessment

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Authors: Montserrat Crespi Vallbona, Marta Domínguez Pérez

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Globalization impacts on cities and especially on their centers, especially on those spaces more visible and coveted. Changes are involved in processes such as touristification, gentrification or studentification, in addition of shop trendiness. The city becomes a good of interchange rather than a communal good for its inhabitants and consequently, its value is monetized. So, these different tendencies are analyzed: on one hand, the presence of tourists, the home rental increase, the explosion of businesses related to tourism; on the other hand; the return of middle classes or gentries to the center in a socio-spatial model that has changed highlighting the centers by their culture and their opportunities as well as by the value of public space and centrality; then, the interest of students (national and international) to be part of these city centers as dynamic groups and emerging classes with a higher purchasing power and better cultural capital than in the past; and finally, the conversion of old stores into modern ones, where vintage trend and the renewal of antiquity is the essence. All these transforming processes impact the European cities and redefine their image. All these trends reinforce the impression and brand of the urban center as an attractive space for investment, keeping such nonsense meaningful. These four tendencies have been spreading correlatively impacting the centers and transforming them involving the displacement of former residents of these spaces and revitalizing the center that is financed and commercialized in parallel. The cases of Madrid and Barcelona as spaces of greater evidence in Spain of these tendencies serve to illustrate these processes and represent the spearhead. Useful recommendations are presented to urban planners to find the conciliation of communal and commercialized spaces.

Keywords: gentrification, shop trendiness, studentification, touristification

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Authors: Joao Teotonio Manzi

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Reversibility, irreversibility, equilibrium and steady-state that play a central role in the thermodynamic analysis of processes arising in the context of reactive systems are discussed in this article. Such concepts have generated substantial doubts, even among the most experienced researchers, and engineers, because from the literature, conclusive or definitive statements cannot be extracted. Concepts such as the time-reversibility of irreversible processes seem paradoxical, requiring further analysis. Equilibrium and reversibility, which appear to be of the same nature, have also been re-examined in the light of maximum entropy. The goal of this paper is to revisit and explore these concepts based on classical thermodynamics in order to have a better understanding them due to their impacts on technological advances, as a result, to generate an optimal procedure for designing, monitoring, and engineering optimization. Furthermore, an effective graphic procedure for dimensioning a Plug Flow Reactor has been provided. Thus, to meet the needs of chemical engineering from a simple conceptual analysis but with significant practical effects, a macroscopic approach is taken so as to integrate the different parts of this paper.

Keywords: reversibility, equilibrium, steady-state, thermodynamics, reactive system

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Authors: Kar Lin Nyam, Phey Yee Lim

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The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant potential, nutritional composition, and functional properties of kenaf leaves powder. Besides, the effect of kenaf leaves powder in bread qualities, properties, and consumer acceptability were evaluated. Different formulations of bread fortified with 0%, 4% and 8% kenaf leaves powder, respectively were produced. Physical properties of bread, such as loaf volume, dough expansion, crumb colour, and bread texture, were determined. Nine points hedonic scale was utilized in sensory evaluation to determine the best formulation (the highest overall acceptability). Proximate composition, calcium content, and antioxidant properties were also determined for the best formulation. 4% leaves powder bread was the most preferred by the panelists followed by control bread, and the least preferred was being 8% leaves powder bread. 4% leaves powder bread had significantly higher value of DPPH radical scavenging capacity (8.05 mg TE/100g), total phenolic content (12.88 mg GAE/100g) and total flavonoid content (13.26 mg QE/100g) compared to control bread (1.38 mg TE/100g, 8.17 mg GAE/100g, and 8.77 mg QE/100g respectively). Besides, 4% leaves powder bread also showed higher in calcium content and total dietary fiber compared to control bread. Kenaf leaves powder is suitable to be used as a source of natural antioxidant for fortification and nutrient improver in bread.

Keywords: dietary fibre, calcium, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content

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Authors: Samaneh Rahimirshnani, Hossein Jafari

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In this paper, we consider fluid queueing processes fed by an isonormal Gaussian process. We study the correlation structure of the queueing process and the rate of convergence of the running supremum in the queueing process. The Malliavin calculus techniques are applied to obtain relations that show the workload process inherits the dependence properties of the input process. As examples, we consider two isonormal Gaussian processes, the sub-fractional Brownian motion (SFBM) and the fractional Brownian motion (FBM). For these examples, we obtain upper bounds for the covariance function of the queueing process and its rate of convergence to zero. We also discover that the rate of convergence of the queueing process is related to the structure of the covariance function of the input process.

Keywords: queue length process, Malliavin calculus, covariance function, fractional Brownian motion, sub-fractional Brownian motion

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Authors: Yogesh Dalvi, Ruby Varghese, Nibu Varghese, C. K. Krishnan Nair

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Introduction: The Genus Phellinus, locally known as Phansomba is a well-known traditional folk medicine. Especially, in Western Ghats of India, many tribes use several species of Phellinus for various ailments related to teeth, throat, tongue, stomach and even wound healing. It is one of the few mushrooms which play a pivotal role in Ayurvedic Dravyaguna. Aim: The present study focuses on to investigate phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, and antitumor (in vitro and in vivo) potential of Phellinus robinae from South India, Kerala Material and Methods: The present study explores the following: 1. Phellinus samples were collected from Ranni, Pathanamthitta district of Kerala state, India from Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. and species were identified using rDNA region. 2. The fruiting body was shadow dried, powdered and extracted with 50% alcohol using water bath at 60°C which was further condensed by rotary evaporator and lyophilized at minus 40°C temperature. 3. Secondary metabolites were analyzed by using various phytochemical screening assay (Hager’s Test, Wagner’s Test, Sodium hydroxide Test, Lead acetate Test, Ferric chloride Test, Folin-ciocalteu Test, Foaming Test, Benedict’s test, Fehling’s Test and Lowry’s Test). 4. Antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity were analyzed by DPPH, FRAP and Iron chelating assay. 5. The antitumor potential of Water alcohol extract of Phellinus (PAWE) is evaluated through In vitro condition by Trypan blue dye exclusion method in DLA cell line and In vivo by murine model. Result and Discussion: Preliminary phytochemical screening by various biochemical tests revealed presence of a variety of active secondary molecules like alkaloids, flavanoids, saponins, carbohydrate, protein and phenol. In DPPH and FRAP assay PAWE showed significantly higher antioxidant activity as compared to standard Ascorbic acid. While, in Iron chelating assay, PAWE exhibits similar antioxidant activity that of Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) as standard. Further, in the in vitro study, PAWE showed significant inhibition on DLA cell proliferation in dose dependent manner and showed no toxicity on mice splenocytes, when compared to standard chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. In vivo study, oral administration of PAWE showed dose dependent tumor regression in mice and also raised the immunogenicity by restoring levels of antioxidant enzymes in liver and kidney tissue. In both in vitro and in vivo gene expression studies PAWE up-regulates pro-apoptotic genes (Bax, Caspases 3, 8 and 9) and down- regulates anti-apoptotic genes (Bcl2). PAWE also down regulates inflammatory gene (Cox-2) and angiogenic gene (VEGF). Conclusion: Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed that PAWE contains various secondary metabolites which contribute to its antioxidant and free radical scavenging property as evaluated by DPPH, FRAP and Iron chelating assay. PAWE exhibits anti-proliferative activity by the induction of apoptosis through a signaling cascade of death receptor-mediated extrinsic (Caspase8 and Tnf-α), as well as mitochondria-mediated intrinsic (caspase9) and caspase pathways (Caspase3, 8 and 9) and also by regressing angiogenic factor (VEGF) without any inflammation or adverse side effects. Hence, PAWE serve as a potential antioxidant and antitumor agent.

Keywords: antioxidant, antitumor, Dalton lymphoma ascites (DLA), fungi, Phellinus robinae

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Authors: P. Comendador, I. Garcia, S. Orozco, L. Santamaria, M. Amutio, G. Lopez, M. Olazar

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In situ CO₂ capture in steam reforming processes has been studied in the last years as an alternative for increasing H₂ yields and H₂ purity in the product stream. For capturing the CO₂ at the reforming conditions, CaO-based sorbents are usually employed due to their properties at high temperature, low cost and high availability. However, the challenge is to develop high-capacity (gCO₂/gsorbent) materials that retain their capacity over cycles of operation. Besides, since the objective is to capture the CO₂ generated in situ, another key aspect is the sorption dynamics, which means that, in order to efficiently use the sorbent, it has to capture the CO₂ at a rate equal to or higher than the generation rate. In this work, different CaO-based materials have been prepared to aim at meeting these criteria. First, and by using the wet mixing method, different inert materials (Mg, Ce and Al) were combined with CaO. Second, and with the inert material selected (Mg), the effect of its concentration in the final material was studied. Transversally, the calcination temperature was also evaluated. It was determined that the wet mixing method is a simple procedure suitable for the preparation of CaO sorbents mixed with inert materials. The materials prepared by mixing the CaO with Mg have shown satisfactory anti-sintering properties and adequate sorption kinetics for their application in steam reforming processes. Regarding the concentration of Mg in the solid, it was concluded that high values contribute to the stability but at the expense of losing sorption capacity. Finally, it was observed that high calcination temperatures negatively affected the sorption properties of the final materials due to the decrease in the pore volume and the specific surface area.

Keywords: calcination temperature effect, CO₂ capture, Mg-Ce-Al stabilizers, Mg varying concentration effect, Sorbent stabilization

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Authors: Saikiran Subbagari, Avinash Malladhi

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Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations are designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing activities worldwide. Financial institutions around the world are legally obligated to identify, assess and mitigate the risks associated with money laundering and report any suspicious transactions to governing authorities. With increasing volumes of data to analyze, financial institutions seek to automate their AML processes. In the rise of financial crimes, optical character recognition (OCR), in combination with machine learning (ML) algorithms, serves as a crucial tool for automating AML processes by extracting the data from documents and identifying suspicious transactions. In this paper, we examine the utilization of OCR for AML and delve into various OCR techniques employed in AML processes. These techniques encompass template-based, feature-based, neural network-based, natural language processing (NLP), hidden markov models (HMMs), conditional random fields (CRFs), binarizations, pattern matching and stroke width transform (SWT). We evaluate each technique, discussing their strengths and constraints. Also, we emphasize on how OCR can improve the accuracy of customer identity verification by comparing the extracted text with the office of foreign assets control (OFAC) watchlist. We will also discuss how OCR helps to overcome language barriers in AML compliance. We also address the implementation challenges that OCR-based AML systems may face and offer recommendations for financial institutions based on the data from previous research studies, which illustrate the effectiveness of OCR-based AML.

Keywords: anti-money laundering, compliance, financial crimes, fraud detection, machine learning, optical character recognition

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