Search results for: rate of fertilizer application

Authors: Alessandra Chiara Maraschin, Estelle Trengove

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In South Africa, only 23% of engineering students attain their degrees in the minimum time of 4 years. This begs the question: Why is the 4-year throughput rate so low? Improving the throughput rate is crucial in assisting students to the shortest possible path to completion. The Electrical Engineering programme has a fixed curriculum and students must pass all courses in order to graduate. In South Africa, as is the case in several other countries, many students rely on external funding such as bursaries from companies in industry. If students fail a course, they often lose their bursaries, and most might not be able to fund their 'repeating year' fees. It is thus important to improve the throughput rate, since for many students, graduating from university is a way out of poverty for an entire family. In Electrical Engineering, it has been found that the Software Development I course (an introduction to C++ programming) is a significant hurdle course for students and has been found to have a low pass rate. It has been well-documented that students struggle with this type of course as it introduces a number of new threshold concepts that can be challenging to grasp in a short time frame. In an attempt to mitigate this situation, a part-time night-school for Software Development I was introduced in 2015 as an intervention measure. The course includes all the course material from the Software Development I module and allows students who failed the course in first semester a second chance by repeating the course through taking the night-school course. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the introduction of this intervention course could be considered a success. The success of the intervention is assessed in two ways. The study will first look at whether the night-school course contributed to improving the pass rate of the Software Development I course. Secondly, the study will examine whether the intervention contributed to improving the overall throughput from the 2nd year to the 3rd year of study at a South African University. Second year academic results for a sample of 1216 students have been collected from 2010-2017. Preliminary results show that the lowest pass rate for Software Development I was found to be in 2017 with a pass rate of 34.9%. Since the intervention course's inception, the pass rate for Software Development I has increased each year from 2015-2017 by 13.75%, 25.53% and 25.81% respectively. To conclude, the preliminary results show that the intervention course is a success in improving the pass rate of Software Development I.

Keywords: academic performance, electrical engineering, engineering education, intervention course, low pass rate, software development course, throughput

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Manpreet Kaur

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The effect of external and internal exposure in outdoor and indoor environment can be significantly gauged by natural radionuclides. Therefore, it is a consequential to approximate the level of radionuclide contents in soil samples of any area and the risks associated with it. Rate of radon emerging from soil is also one of the prominent parameters for the assessment of radon levels in environmental. In present study, natural radionuclide contents viz. ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ⁴⁰K and radon/thoron exhalation rates were evaluated operating thallium doped sodium iodide gamma radiation detector and advanced Smart Rn Duo technique in the soil samples from 30 villages of Jammu district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Radon flux rate was also measured by using surface chamber technique. Results obtained with two different methods were compared to investigate the cause of emanation factor in the soil profile. The radon mass exhalation rate in the soil samples has been found varying from 15 ± 0.4 to 38 ± 0.8 mBq kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ while thoron surface exhalation rate has been found varying from 90 ± 22 to 4880 ± 280 Bq m⁻² h⁻¹. The mean value of radium equivalent activity (99 ± 27 Bq kg⁻¹) was appeared to be well within the admissible limit of 370 Bq kg⁻¹ suggested by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2009) report. The values of various parameters related to radiological hazards were also calculated and all parameters have been found to be well below the safe limits given by various organizations. The outcomes pointed out that region was protected from danger as per health risks effects associated with these radionuclide contents is concerned.

Keywords: absorbed dose rate, exhalation rate, human health, radionuclide

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Nidhi Gaur, Padmaja Joshi, Vijay Jain, Rajeev Srivastava

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Web application architecture is important to achieve the desired performance for the application. Performance analysis studies are conducted to evaluate existing or planned systems. Web applications are used by hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously, which sometimes increases the risk of server failure in real time operations. We use Coloured Petri Net (CPN), a very powerful tool for modelling dynamic behaviour of a web application system. CPNs extend the vocabulary of ordinary Petri nets and add features that make them suitable for modelling large systems. The major focus of this work is on server side of web applications. The presented work focuses on modelling restructuring aspects, with major focus on concurrency and architecture, using CPN. It also focuses on bringing out the appropriate architecture for web and database servers given the number of concurrent users.

Keywords: coloured Petri Nets (CPNs), concurrent users, per- formance modelling, web application architecture

Procedia PDF Downloads 600

Authors: Siddarth A., Bhoomika K.

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Campuskart is a web-based platform that enables college students to buy and sell various items related to electronics, books, project materials, and electronic gadgets at reasonable prices. The application offers students the opportunity to resell their items at valuable and worthwhile prices, while also providing customers with the chance to purchase items at a lower price than the market price. The forthcoming paper will outline the various processes involved in developing the web application, including the design process, methodology, and overall functioning of the system. It will offer a comprehensive overview of how the platform operates and how it can benefit college students looking for affordable and convenient options for buying and selling various items.

Keywords: campuskart, web development, data structures, studentfriendlywebsite

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Helena Dvořáčková, Jakub Elbl, Irina Mikajlo, Antonín Kintl, Jaroslav Hynšt, Olga Urbánková, Jaroslav Záhora

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Application of biochar to arable soils represents a new approach to restore soil health and quality. Many studies reported the positive effect of biochar application on soil fertility and development of soil microbial community. Moreover biochar may affect the soil water retention, but this effect has not been sufficiently described yet. Therefore this study deals with the influence of biochar application on: microbial activities in soil, availability of mineral nitrogen in soil for microorganisms, mineral nitrogen retention and plant production. To demonstrate the effect of biochar addition on the above parameters, the pot experiment was realized. As a model crop, Lactuca sativa L. was used and cultivated from December 10th 2014 till March 22th 2015 in climate chamber in thoroughly homogenized arable soil with and without addition of biochar. Five variants of experiment (V1–V5) with different regime of irrigation were prepared. Variants V1–V2 were fertilized by mineral nitrogen, V3–V4 by biochar and V5 was a control. The significant differences were found only in plant production and mineral nitrogen retention. The highest content of mineral nitrogen in soil was detected in V1 and V2, about 250 % in comparison with the other variants. The positive effect of biochar application on soil fertility, mineral nitrogen availability was not found. On the other hand results of plant production indicate the possible positive effect of biochar application on soil water retention.

Keywords: arable soil, biochar, drought, mineral nitrogen

Procedia PDF Downloads 422

Authors: Bouharati Lokman, Bouharati Imen, Bouharati Khaoula, Bouharati Oussama, Bouharati Saddek

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Ionizing radiation exposure is an established cancer risk factor. Compared to other common environmental carcinogens, it is relatively easy to determine organ-specific radiation dose and, as a result, radiation dose-response relationships tend to be highly quantified. Nevertheless, there can be considerable uncertainty about questions of radiation-related cancer risk as they apply to risk protection and public policy, and the interpretations of interested parties can differ from one person to another. Examples of tools used in the analysis of the risk of developing cancer due to radiation are characterized by uncertainty. These uncertainties are related to the history of exposure and different assumptions involved in the calculation. We believe that the results of statistical calculations are characterized by uncertainty and imprecision. Having regard to the physiological variation from one person to another. In this study, we develop a tool based on fuzzy logic inference. As fuzzy logic deals with imprecise and uncertain, its application in this area is adequate. We propose a fuzzy system with three input variables (age, sex and body attainable cancer). The output variable expresses the risk of infringement rate of each organ. A base rule is established from recorded actual data. After successful simulation, this will instantly predict the risk of infringement rate of each body following chronic exposure to 0.1 Gy.

Keywords: radiation exposure, cancer, modeling, fuzzy logic

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Farhat Hajer, Khir Tahar, Ammar Ben Brahim

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This work presents a study on the influence of the main operating variables on the gas turbine cycle. A numerical simulation of a gas turbine cycle is performed for a real net power of 100 MW. A calculation code is developed using EES software. The operating variables are taken in conformity with the local environmental conditions adopted by the Tunisian Society of Electricity and Gas. Results show that the increase of ambient temperature leads to an increase of Tpz and NO_x emissions rate and a decrease of cycle efficiency and UHC emissions. The CO emissions decrease with the raise of residence time, while NO_x emissions rate increases and UHC emissions rate decreases. Furthermore, both of cycle efficiency and NOx emissions increase with the increase of the pressure ratio.

Keywords: Carbon monoxide, Efficiency, Emissions, Gas Turbine, Nox, UHC

Procedia PDF Downloads 432

Authors: Haji Ali Haji, Hussein Suleman, Ulrike Rivett

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This paper presents the design, development and evaluation of an application prototype developed to support tuberculosis (TB) patients’ treatment adherence. The system makes use of graphics and voice reminders as opposed to text messaging to encourage patients to follow their medication routine. To evaluate the effect of the prototype applications, participants were given mobile phones on which the reminder system was installed. Thirty-eight people, including TB health workers and patients from Zanzibar, Tanzania, participated in the evaluation exercises. The results indicate that the participants found the mobile graphic-based application is useful to support TB treatment. All participants understood and interpreted the intended meaning of every image correctly. The study findings revealed that the use of a mobile visual-based application may have potential benefit to support TB patients (both literate and illiterate) in their treatment processes.

Keywords: ICT4D, mobile technology, tuberculosis, visual-based reminder

Procedia PDF Downloads 428

Authors: Hee Joon Lee

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There are many difficulties in measuring a small flow rate of an order of milli grams per minute (LPM) or less using a conventional flowmeter. Therefore, a flow meter with minimal loss and based on a new concept was designed as part of this paper. A chamber was manufactured with a level transmitter and an on-off control valve. When the level of the collected condensed water reaches the top of the chamber, the valve opens to allow the collected water to drain back into the tank. To allow the water to continue to drain when the signal is lost, the valve is held open for a few seconds by a time delay switch and then closed. After an examination, the condensing flow rate was successfully measured with the uncertainty of ±5.7% of the full scale for the chamber.

Keywords: chamber, condensation, flow meter, milli-grams

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: George-Anokwuru Chioma Chidinma Bernadette

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This paper investigated the effect of trade liberalization on domestic private investment in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. To achieve this objective, secondary data on domestic private investment, trade openness, exchange rate and interest rate were sourced from the statistical bulletin of Nigeria’s apex bank. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique was used as the main analytical tool. The ARDL Bounds test revealed the existence of long run association among the variables. The results revealed that trade openness and exchange rate have positive and insignificant relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. At the same time, interest rate has negative relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no significant relationship between trade openness, exchange rate, interest rate and domestic private investment in Nigeria during the period of study. Based on the findings, the study recommended that government should formulate trade policies that will encourage the growth of domestic private investment in Nigeria. To achieve this, government should ensure consistency in trade policies and at the same time strengthen the existing policies to build investors’ confidence. Also, government should make available an investment-friendly environment, as well as monitor real sector operators to ensure that foreign exchange allocations are not diverted. Government should increase capital investment in education, housing, transportation, agriculture, health, power, road construction, national defense, among others that will help the various sectors of the economy to function very well thereby making the business environment friendly thereby enhancing the growth and development of the country.

Keywords: trade openness, domestic private investment, ARDL, exchange rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Dennis Otieno, Lilian Kirimi Nicholas Odhiambo, Hillary Bii

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Kenya is considered to be a middle level income country and usuaaly does not meet household food security needs especially in North and South eastern parts. Approximately half of the population is living under the poverty line (www, CIA 1, 2012). Agriculture is the largest sector in the country, employing 80% of the population. These are thereby directly dependent on the sufficiency of outputs received. This makes efficient, easy-accessible and cheap agricultural practices an important matter in order to improve food security. Maize is the prime staple food commodity in Kenya and represents a substantial share of people’s nutritional intake. This study is the result of questionnaire based interviews, Key informant and focus group discussion involving 220 small scale maize farmers Kenyan. The study was located to two separated areas; Lower Kuja, Bunyala, Nandi, Lower Nzoia, Perkerra, Mwea Bura, Hola and Galana Kulalu in Kenya. The questionnaire captured the farmers’ use and perceived importance of the use irrigation services and irrigated maize production. Viability was evaluated using the four indices which were all positive with NPV giving positive cash flows in less than 21 years at most for one season output. The mean willingness to pay was found to be KES 3082 and willingness to pay increased with increase in irrigation premiums. The economic value of water was found to be greater than the willingness to pay implying that irrigated maize production is sustainable. Farmers stated that viability was influenced by high output levels, good produce quality, crop of choice, availability of sufficient water and enforcement the last two factors had a positive influence while the other had negative effect on the viability of irrigated maize. A regression was made over the correlation between the willingness to pay for irrigated maize production using scheme and plot level factors. Farmers that already use other inputs such as animal manure, hired labor and chemical fertilizer should also have a demand for improved seeds according to Liebig's law of minimum and expansion path theory. The regression showed that premiums, and high yields have a positive effect on willingness to pay while produce quality, efficient fertilizer use, and crop season have a negative effect.

Keywords: maize, food security, profits, sustainability, willingness to pay

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Prashant Verma, K. K. Singh, Anjali Singh, Ujjaval Srivastava

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Contraceptive policies have been derived to achieve desired reductions in the growth rate and also, applied to the data of Uttar-Pradesh, India for illustration. Using the Lotka’s integral equation for the stable population, expressions for the proportion of contraceptive users at different ages have been obtained. At the age of 20 years, 42% of contraceptive users is imperative to reduce the present annual growth rate of 0.036 to 0.02, assuming that 40% of the contraceptive users discontinue at the age of 25 years and 30% again continue contraceptive use at age 30 years. Further, presuming that 75% of women start using contraceptives at the age of 23 years, and 50% of the remaining women start using contraceptives at the age of 28 years, while the rest of them start using it at the age of 32 years. If we set a minimum age of marriage as 20 years, a reduction of 0.019 in growth rate will be obtained. This study describes how the level of contraceptive use at different age groups of women reduces the growth rate in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The article also promotes delayed marriage in the region.

Keywords: child bearing, contraceptive devices, contraceptive policies, population growth, stable population

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: David B. Tsuanyo, Didier Aussel, Yao Azoumah, Pierre Neveu

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An innovative concept called “Flexy-Energy”is developing at 2iE. This concept aims to produce electricity at lower cost by smartly mix different available energies sources in accordance to the load profile of the region. With a higher solar irradiation and due to the fact that Diesel generator are massively used in sub-Saharan rural areas, PV/Diesel hybrid systems could be a good application of this concept and a good solution to electrify this region, provided they are reliable, cost effective and economically attractive to investors. Presentation of the developed approach is the aims of this paper. The PV/Diesel hybrid system designed consists to produce electricity and/or heat from a coupling between Diesel gensets and PV panels without batteries storage, while ensuring the substitution of gasoil by bio-fuels available in the area where the system will be installed. The optimal design of this system is based on his technical performances; the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Levelized Cost of Energy are developed and use as economic criteria. The Net Present Value (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR) and the discounted payback (DPB) are also evaluated according to dual electricity pricing (in sunny and unsunny hours). The PV/Diesel hybrid system obtained is compared to the standalone Diesel gensets. The approach carried out in this paper has been applied to Siby village in Mali (Latitude 12 ° 23'N 8 ° 20'W) with 295 kWh as daily demand. This approach provides optimal physical characteristics (size of the components, number of component) and dynamical characteristics in real time (number of Diesel generator on, their load rate, fuel specific consumptions, and PV penetration rate) of the system. The system obtained is slightly cost effective; but could be improved with optimized tariffing strategies.

Keywords: investments criteria, optimization, PV hybrid, sizing, rural electrification

Procedia PDF Downloads 440

Authors: Charirat Kusonwiriyawong, Supha Photichan, Wannarut Chutibutr

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Soil test kits for rapid analysis of the organic matter, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium were developed to drive a low-cost field testing kit to farmers. The objective was to provide a decision tool for improving soil fertility. One aspect of soil test kit development was ease of use which is a time requirement for completing organic matter, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium test in one soil sample. This testing kit required only two extractions and utilized no filtration consuming approximately 15 minutes per sample. Organic matter was principally created by oxidizing carbon KMnO₄ using the standard color chart. In addition, modified single extractant (Mehlich I) was applied to extract available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium. Molybdenum blue method and turbidimetric method using standard color chart were adapted to analyze available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, respectively. Modified single extractant using in soil test kits were highly significant matching with analytical laboratory results (r=0.959** and 0.945** for available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, respectively). Linear regressions were statistically calculated between modified single extractant and standard laboratory analysis (y=0.9581x-12.973 for available phosphorus and y=0.5372x+15.283 for exchangeable potassium, respectively). These equations were calibrated to formulate a fertilizer rate recommendation for specific corps. To validate quality, soil test kits were distributed to farmers and extension workers. We found that the accuracy of soil test kits were 71.0%, 63.9% and 65.5% for organic matter, available phosphorus, and exchangeable potassium, respectively. The quantitative survey was also conducted in order to assess their satisfaction with soil test kits. The survey showed that more than 85% of respondents said these testing kits were more convenient, economical and reliable than the other commercial soil test kits. Based upon the finding of this study, soil test kits can be another alternative for providing soil analysis and fertility recommendations when a soil testing laboratory is not available.

Keywords: available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, modified single extractant, organic matter, soil test kits

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: A. Jatau, Q. Majeed, H. M. Bandiya

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The efficacy of five local spices, namely; Hot pepper (Capsicum annum L.), Black pepper (Piper guinese Schum and Thonn), Sweet basil (Occimum canum Sim), African nut-meg (Monodora myristica Dunal), and Ginger (Zingiber officianale Ross) with conventional insecticide against the D. maculatus was studied under ambient laboratory conditions. The plants were pulverized into powders and applied at the rate of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0g per 25g of disinfected dried fish. The same amount of fish (25g) was treated with 5ml of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 percent solution of conventional insecticide (dichlorvos) and air dried for 2hrs. Ten newly hatched 1st instar larvae (24hrs old) were introduced into each powdered smoked fish in separate beakers. Untreated control was also set up. Observation on the mortality and development were recorded daily until the larvae pupated. Each of the treated smoked fish showed significant (p<0.05) effect on the larval mortality and development when compared with the control. The Piper guinense was as efficacious as dichlorvos in killing all the larvae (100%) at all concentrations before pupation. Ocimum Canunm gave the second best results (50.00, 63.33 and 100%), while the other three spices resulted in less than 50% mortalities at all rate of application. The spice powders were also observed to have extended the larval developmental period. Thus, the spices tested can be recommended for the control of D. maculatus.

Keywords: development, dermestes maculatus, insecticide, local spices, mortality

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Thanh Phuong Doan, Narueporn Sutanthavibul

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The influence of freezing cycle on influenza haemagglutinin (HA) conformational stability was investigated in terms of freezing rates and formulation compositions. The results showed that appropriate HA conformation could be evaluated using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy with HA concentration of greater than 0.09 mg/ml. The intermediate freezing rate of approximately 1.0oC/min preserved the original HA conformation better than at slow freezing rate (0.5oC/min) and rapid freezing rate (2.6oC/min). The changes in CD spectra of the secondary HA structure were more pronounced than those of the tertiary HA structure during the evaluation. Additionally, the formulations, which resulted in the highest conformational stability were found to have sucrose present in the composition. As opposed to when only glycine was used, the stability of HA conformation was poor.

Keywords: freezing, haemagglutinin, influenza, circular dichroism

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Darrol Stanley, Levan Efremidze, Jannie Rossouw

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We investigate the predictability of the USD/ZAR (South African Rand) exchange rate with sample entropy analytics for the period of 2004-2015. We calculate sample entropy based on the daily data of the exchange rate and conduct empirical implementation of several market timing rules based on these entropy signals. The dynamic investment portfolio based on entropy signals produces better risk adjusted performance than a buy and hold strategy. The returns are estimated on the portfolio values in U.S. dollars. These results are preliminary and do not yet account for reasonable transactions costs, although these are very small in currency markets.

Keywords: currency trading, entropy, market timing, risk factor model

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Ku Aina Afiqah Ku Adzman, Manmeet Mahinderjit Singh, Zarul Fitri Zaaba

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NFC operates on low-range 13.56 MHz frequency within a distance from 4cm to 10cm, and the applications can be categorized as touch and go, touch and confirm, touch and connect, and touch and explore. NFC applications are vulnerable to various security and privacy attacks such due to its physical nature; unprotected data stored in NFC tag and insecure communication between its applications. This paper aims to determine the likelihood of security risks happening in an NFC technology and application. We present an NFC technology taxonomy covering NFC standards, types of application and various security and privacy attack. Based on observations and the survey presented to evaluate the risk assessment within the touch and go application demonstrates two security attacks that are high risks namely data corruption and DOS attacks. After the risks are determined, risk countermeasures by using AHP is adopted. The guideline and solutions to these two high risks, attacks are later applied to a secure NFC-enabled Smartphone Attendance System.

Keywords: Near Field Communication (NFC), risk assessment, multi-criteria decision making, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

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Authors: Daria N. Podvigina, Tatiana V. Chernigovskaya

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We have studied the temporal characteristics of bistable perception of the stimuli of two types: one involves alterations in a perceived depth and another one has an ambiguous content. We used the Necker lattice and lines of shadowed circles ambiguously perceived either as spheres or holes as stimuli of the first type. The Winson figure (the Eskimo/Indian picture) was a stimulus of the second type. We have analyzed how often the reversals occurred (reversal rate) and for how long each of the two interpretations, or percepts, was observed during one presentation (stability durations). For all three ambiguous images the reversal rate and the stability durations had similar values, which provide another evidence for a significant role of top-down processes in multistable perception.

Keywords: multistable perception, perceived depth, reversal rate, top-down processes

Procedia PDF Downloads 585

Authors: Carlos Gonzalez

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This paper describes a system to optimize the use of the internet by clients requiring downloading of videos at peak hours. The system consists of a web server belonging to a provider of video contents, a provider of internet communications and a software application running on a client’s computer. The client using the application software will communicate to the video provider a list of the client’s future video demands. The video provider calculates which videos are going to be more in demand for download in the immediate future, and proceeds to request the internet provider the most optimal hours to do the downloading. The times of the downloading will be sent to the application software, which will use the information of pre-established hours negotiated between the video provider and the internet provider to download those videos. The videos will be saved in a special protected section of the user’s hard disk, which will only be accessed by the application software in the client’s computer. When the client is ready to see a video, the application will search the list of current existent videos in the area of the hard disk; if it does exist, it will use this video directly without the need for internet access. We found that the best way to optimize the download traffic of videos is by negotiation between the internet communication provider and the video content provider.

Keywords: internet optimization, video download, future demands, secure storage

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Syamsul Syafiq, Maslina Daud, Hafizah Hasan, Ahmad Zairi, Shazil Imri, Ezaini Akmar, Norbazilah Rahim

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Over recent years, web development has changed significantly. Driven largely by the rise of trends like mobiles, the world of development is rapidly evolving. The rise of the Internet makes web applications crucial nowadays. The web application has been an interface for a company and one of the ways they present their portfolio to the client. On the other hand, the web has become part of the file management system which takes over the role of paper. Due to high demand in web applications, developers are required to develop a web application that are cost-effective, secure and well coded. A framework has been proposed to develop an application rather than using library style development. The framework is helping the developer in creating the structure of a web automatically. This paper will compare the advantages and disadvantages of web development using framework against library-style development. This comparison is based on a previous research paper focusing on two main indicators, which are the impact to management and impact to the developer.

Keywords: framework, library style development, web application development, traditional web, static web, dynamic web

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: Iftikhar U. Sikder

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This paper illustrates an application of granular computing approach, namely rough set theory in data mining. The paper outlines the formalism of granular computing and elucidates the mathematical underpinning of rough set theory, which has been widely used by the data mining and the machine learning community. A real-world application is illustrated, and the classification performance is compared with other contending machine learning algorithms. The predictive performance of the rough set rule induction model shows comparative success with respect to other contending algorithms.

Keywords: concept approximation, granular computing, reducts, rough set theory, rule induction

Procedia PDF Downloads 529

Authors: Yuncang Li, Cuie Wen

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Biodegradable metallic materials such as magnesium (Mg)-based alloys have attracted extensive interest for use as bone implant materials. However, the high biodegradation rate of existing Mg alloys in the physiological environment of human body leads to losing mechanical integrity before adequate bone healing and producing a large volume of hydrogen gas. Therefore, slowing down the biodegradation rate of Mg alloys is a critical task in developing new biodegradable Mg alloy implant materials. One of the most effective approaches to achieve this is to strategically design new Mg alloys with low biodegradation rate, excellent biocompatibility, and enhanced mechanical properties. Our research selected biocompatible and biofunctional alloying elements such as zirconium (Zr), strontium (Sr), and rare earth elements (REEs) to alloy Mg and has developed a new series of Mg-Zr-Sr-REEs alloys for biodegradable implant applications. Research results indicated that Sr and Zr additions could refine the grain size, decrease the biodegradation rate, and enhance the biological behaviors of the Mg alloys. The REE addition, such as holmium (Ho) and dysprosium (Dy) to Mg-Zr-Sr alloys resulted in enhanced mechanical strength and decreased biodegradation rate. In addition, Ho and Dy additions (≤ 5 wt.%) to Mg-Zr-Sr alloys led to enhancement of cell adhesion and proliferation of osteoblast cells on the Mg-Zr-Sr-Ho/Dy alloys.

Keywords: biocompatibility, magnesium, mechanical and biodegrade properties, rare earth elements

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Gürcan D. Baysal, Ali Tanış

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In this study, samples of plant types including rose hip (Rosa canina L.), jujube (Ziziphus jujube), sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), elderberry (Sambucus nigra), apricot (Prunus armeniaca), scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) were grown using plant supporting units called Ekobox and drip irrigation systems in the Karapınar, Konya region of Turkey to reveal the efficiency of Ekobox and drip irrigation compared against a control with no irrigation. The plant diameter, height, and survival rates were determined, compared with each other, and statistically analyzed. According to the statistical analysis of the results, Ekobox applications resulted in the highest values for survival rate, diameter, and height measurements whereas the lowest values were determined in the control groups. These results indicate that the cultivation of plants with Ekobox may help protect against the loss of fertile soils as an effective mechanism for combating erosion and desertification. These advantages may also lead to a lasting economic effect on the cultivation of plants by locals of the Karapınar, Konya province who suffer from an ever-decreasing underground water level as a result of agricultural consumption.

Keywords: drip irrigation, ekobox, plant diameter, plant height, plant survival rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Tala Toonsi, Marah Alagha, Lina Alnowaiser, Hala Rajab

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This report is about the Photomath app, which is an AI application that uses image recognition technology, specifically optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms. The (OCR) algorithm translates the images into a mathematical equation, and the app automatically provides a step-by-step solution. The application supports decimals, basic arithmetic, fractions, linear equations, and multiple functions such as logarithms. Testing was conducted to examine the usage of this app, and results were collected by surveying ten participants. Later, the results were analyzed. This paper seeks to answer the question: To what level the artificial intelligence features are accurate and the speed of process in this app. It is hoped this study will inform about the efficiency of AI in Photomath to the users.

Keywords: photomath, image recognition, app, OCR, artificial intelligence, mathematical equations.

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Evangeline Mbah, Margret Okeke, Agbo Joseph

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Agriculture was primarily a rural activity in Nigeria, but due to increasing demand for food and jobs for many urban dwellers, it became necessary for urban households to embark on farming as a means of improving household food security and additional income for economic empowerment. Urban agriculture serves as a veritable tool for poverty reduction among people living in urban areas mostly low-income earners and unemployed. The survey was conducted to identify key challenges encountered by households in Makurdi metropolis of Benue state, Nigeria who are engaged in urban agriculture. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of respondents used for the study. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score and standard deviation. Results show that a greater percentage (46.0%) of the respondents engaged in cultivation of leafy vegetable, 22.0% cultivated cassava, 21.0% planted sweet potato, 18.0% cultivated tomato while 56.0% reared poultry, 23.0% kept goat, among others. Sources of agricultural information indicated by the respondents were family members/relations (85.0%), friends/neighbours (73.0%), radio (68.0%), extension agents (57.0%), etc. Major challenges encountered by the respondents in urban agriculture include inadequate size of farmland (M= 2.72), lack of access to credit facilities (M= 2.63), lack of funds (M= 2.50), high cost of labour (M= 2.49), insecurity of lands (M= 2.46), theft of crops at maturity (M= 2.38), lack of farm inputs such as improved varieties of seeds, fertilizer and exotic breeds of livestock (M= 2.23), destruction of crops by stray farm animals (M= 1.96), among others. The study recommends that there is a need for adequate provision of farm inputs by the government at all levels at a subsidized rate in order to reduce the cost of production and enhance optimum productivity.

Keywords: urban, agriculture, household, challenges, Makurdi, Nigeria

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Authors: Parisa Amouzgar, Chan Eng Seng, Babak Salamatinia

Abstract:

Pharmaceutical products are being increasingly detected in the environment. However, conventional treatment systems do not provide an adequate treatment for pharmaceutical drug elimination and still there is not a regulated standard for their limitation in water. Since decades before, pharmaceuticals have been in the water but only recently, their levels in the environment have been recognized and quantified as potentially hazardous to ecosystems. In this study chitosan with a bio-based NAC (Ct-NAC) were made as beads with extrusion dripping method and investigated for acetaminophen removal from water. The effects of beading parameters such as flow rate in dripping, the distance from dipping tip to the solution surface, concentration of chitosan and percentage of NAC were analyzed to find the optimum condition. Based on the results, the overall adsorption rate and removal efficiency increased during the time till the equilibrium rate which was 80% removal of acetaminophen. The maximum adsorption belonged to the beads with 1.75% chitosan, 60% NAC, flow-rate of 1.5 ml/min while the distance of dripping was 22.5 cm.

Keywords: pharmaceuticals, water treatment, chitosan nano activated carbon beads, Acetaminophen

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: M. A. Abdelfattah, F. K. Waleed

Abstract:

Anticoccidials were utilized widely in veterinary practice for the avoidance of coccidiosis in poultry and assume a huge job as development promotants in ruminants. Ionophore harming is every now and again happens because of accidental access to medicated feed, errors in feed mixing, incorrect dosage calculation or misuse in non-recommended species. Camels on several farms in Eastern area of Saudi Arabia were accidently fed with a feed pellet containing 13 ppm salinomycin. One hundred and sixty-three camels died with mortality rate of 100%. The poisoning was clinically characterized by restlessness with tail lift to the top, jerk in the muscles of legs and thighs, excessive sweating, frequent setting and standing with body imbalance, lateral and sternal recumbences with the legs stretched back, eye tears with dilated pupil, vomiting of the stomach content, loss of consciousness and death of some of them. Feed analysis indicated the presence of salinomycin in pelleted feed in a range of 13 mg/kg-47 mg/kg. Necropsy findings and histopathological examinations were presented. Regulations and legal implications concerning with sale of contaminated feed in Saudi market are discussed in the light of feed law and by-law. The necessity for an effective implication of regulation concerning application of quality assurance systems based on the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and the application of Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Point (HACCP) during feed production is necessary to avoid feed accident.

Keywords: medicated feed, salinomycin, anticoccidial, camel, toxicity

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: M. Lebrini, L. Salhi, C. Deyrat, C. Roos, O. Nait-Rabah

Abstract:

The paper presents a large experimental study on the corrosion of zinc in tropical soil and in the ground water at the various depths. Through this study, the corrosion rate prediction was done on the basis of two methods the electrochemical method and the gravimetric. The electrochemical results showed that the corrosion rate is more important at the depth levels 0 m to 0.5 m and 0.5 m to 1 m and beyond these depth levels, the corrosion rate is less important. The electrochemical results indicated also that a passive layer is formed on the zinc surface. The found SEM and EDX micrographs displayed that the surface is extremely attacked and confirmed that a zinc oxide layer is present on the surface whose thickness and relief increase as the contact with soil increases.

Keywords: soil corrosion, galvanized steel, electrochemical technique, SEM and EDX

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Dler Abdullah Ahmed, Zozan Ahmed Mohammed

Abstract:

Wear as an unavoidable phenomenon in stainless steel contact sliding parts is investigated In this work. Two grades of austenitic AISI 304, and S31254, as well as duplexes of S32205, and AISI 2507, were chosen to compare their wear behavior in temperatures ranging from room temperature to 550°C. The experimental results show that AISI 304 austenitic and AISI 2205 duplex stainless steel had lower wear resistance compared with S31254 and AISI 2507 in various temperatures. When the temperature rose to 140°C, and the wear rate of all grades increased, AISI 304 had the highest at 7.028x10-4 mm3/Nm, and AISI 2507 had the lowest at 4.9033 x 10-4 mm3/Nm. At 300°C, the oxides began to form on the worn surfaces, causing the wear rate to slow. As a result, when temperatures exceeded 300°C, the specific wear rate decreased significantly in all specimens. According to the XRD patterns, the main types of oxides formed on worn surfaces were magnetite, hematite, and chromite.

Keywords: wear, stainless steel, temperature, groove, oxide

Procedia PDF Downloads 75