Search results for: egg quality parameters

Authors: Nebiat Lemenih Lenger

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Today, the digital economy is evolving faster than ever in Ethiopia. Platforms that provide a ride-hailing service are growing fast in the country. The market welcomed them as they disrupt it with quality services and lower prices. This revolution is, however, not without challenges. These include cybersecurity breaches, facilitating illegal economic activities, and challenging concepts of privacy. To mitigate the risks and utilize the benefits, appropriate regulation should be introduced in the economy. By identifying legal and institutional gaps in Ethiopia`s digital economy, this research work assists the government`s effort to create a better digital economy. Moreover, this study, being a pioneer study in the area, will be an input for further studies in academia. The research employs a qualitative legal research method and analyzes various legal and policy instruments in Ethiopia in comparison with best international experiences. As this research applies a qualitative research method, a grounded theory method of data analysis is used. The research concluded that Ethiopia is far from designing appropriate legal and regulatory infrastructures. Due to the government monopoly of the sector, there is poor digital infrastructure in the country. The existing labor laws have no specific provisions on the rights and obligations of gig workers.

Keywords: Ethiopia, gig economy, digital, ride-hailing, regulation

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Authors: L. Mouzai, M. Bouhadef

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Raindrops and overland flow both are erosive parameters but they do not act by the same way. The overland flow alone tends to shear the soil horizontally and concentrates into rills. In the presence of rain, the soil particles are removed from the soil surface in the form of a uniform sheet layer. In addition to this, raindrops falling on the flow roughen the water and soil surface depending on the flow depth, and retard the velocity, therefore influence shear velocity and Manning’s factor. To investigate this part, agricultural sandy soil, rainfall simulator and a laboratory soil tray of 0.2x1x3 m were the base of this work. Five overland flow depths of 0; 3.28; 4.28; 5.16; 5.60; 5.80 mm were generated under a rainfall intensity of 217.2 mm/h. Sediment concentration control is based on the proportionality of depth/microtopography. The soil loose is directly related to the presence of rain splash on thin sheet flow. The effect of shear velocity on sediment concentration is limited by the value of 5.28 cm/s. In addition to this, the rain splash reduces the soil roughness by breaking the soil crests. The rainfall intensity is the major factor influencing depth and soil erosion. In the presence of rainfall, the shear velocity of the flow is due to two simultaneous effects. The first, which is horizontal, comes from the flow and the second, vertical, is due to the raindrops.

Keywords: flow resistance, laboratory experiments, rainfall simulator, sediment concentration, shear velocity, soil erosion

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Authors: Barby Jennette A. Florano

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Dietary intake has been associated with the health and wellbeing of adults, and lifestyle related diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether nutrition knowledge, food label use, and food preference are associated with the dietary intake in a sample of San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan (SJDM) adults. A sample of 148 adults, with a mean age of 20 years, completed a validated questionnaire related to their demographic, dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, food label use and food preference. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and there was no association between dietary intake and nutrition knowledge. However, there were positive relationships between dietary intake and food label use (r=0.1276, p<0.10), and dietary intake and food preference (r=0.1070, p<0.10). SJDM adults who use food label and have extensive food preference had better diet quality. This finding magnifies the role of nutrition education as a potential tool in health campaigns to promote healthy eating patterns and reading food labels among students and adults. Results of this study can give information for the design of future nutrition education intervention studies to assess the efficacy of nutrition knowledge and food label use among a similar sample population.

Keywords: dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, food preference, food label use

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Authors: Lowanika Victor Tibane, David Mamba

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Human body, animals, and plants depend on certain essential metals in permissible quantities for their survival. Excessive metal concentration may cause severe malfunctioning of the organisms and even fatal in extreme cases. Because of gold mining in the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa, enormous untreated mine dumps comprise elevated concentration of essential trace elements. Elevated quantities of trace metal have direct negative impact on the quality of soil for different land use types, reduce soil efficiency for plant growth, and affect the health human and animals. A total of 21 subsoil samples were examined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence methods and the results elevated men concentration of Fe (36,433.39) > S (5,071.83) > Cu (1,717,28) > Mn (612.81) > Cr (74.52) > Zn (68.67) > Ni (40.44) > Co (9.63) > P (3.49) > Mo > (2.74), reported in mg/kg. Using various contamination indices, it was discovered that the sites surveyed are on average moderately contaminated with Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, S, and Zn. The ecological risk assessment revealed a low ecological risk for Cr, Ni and Zn, whereas Cu poses a very high ecological risk.

Keywords: essential trace elements, soil contamination, contamination indices, toxicity, descriptive statistics, ecological risk evaluation

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Authors: Aboozar Dehghan, S. Sharifi, S. A. Dehghan, Ali Aliabadi, Arash Esfandiari

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Ultrasonography is a safe, available and particular method in diagnostic imaging science. In ultrasonography most of body soft tissue imaged in B mode display. Iranian Qashqaeian sheep is an old and domestic breed in Zagros mountain area in central plateau of Iran. Population of this breed in Fars state (study location) is 250000 animals. Gestation age detection in sheep was performed by ultarasonography in Kivircik breed in 2010 in turkey. In this study 5 adult, clinically healthy, Iranian ewes and 1 Iranian ram were selected. We measured biparital diameter that thickened part of fetal skull include (BPD), trunk diameter (TD), fetal heart diameter(FHD), intercostals space of fetus (ICS) and fetal heart rate per minute (FHR) weekly after day 60 after pregnancy. Inguinal area in both sides shaved and cleaned by alcohol 70 degree and covered by enough copulating gel. Trans abdominal Ultarasonography was performed by a convex multi frequency transducer with 2.5-5 MHz frequency. Data were collected and analyzed by on way Annova method in Spss15 software. Mean of BPD, TD, FHD and ICS in day 60 were 14.58, 25.92, 3.53, 2.3mm. FHR can measure on day 109 to 150. TD after day 109 cannot displayed in 1 frame in scanning. Ultrasonography in sheep pregnancy is a particular method. Using this study can help in theriogeniologic disease that affected fetal growth. Differentiating between various sheep breed is a functional result of this study.

Keywords: qashqaeian sheep, fetometry, ultrasonography

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Authors: Abhishek Pandey

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Capping and lamination are the most common tablet defects with poorly compressible drugs the common example of that Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen. Generally both these drugs are compressed by wet granulation method which is very time consuming process Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen is widely used as prescription & non-prescription medicine. Ibuprofen mainly used in the treatment of mild to moderate pain related to headache, migraine, postoperative condition and in the management of spondylitis, osteoarthritis Acetaminophen used as an analgesic and antipyretic drug. Ibuprofen having high tendency of sticking to punches of tablet punching machine while Acetaminophen is not ordinarily compressible to tablet formulation because Acetaminophen crystals are very hard and brittle in nature and fracture very easily when compressed producing capping and laminating tablet defects therefore wet granulation method is used to make them compressible. The aim of study was to prepare Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen tablets by direct compression technique and their evaluation. In this Investigation tablets were prepared by using directly compressible grade excipients. Dibasic calcium phosphate, lactose anhydrous (DCL21), microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel PH 101). In order to obtain best or optimize formulation nine different formulations were generated among them batch F5, F6, F7 shows good results and within the acceptable limit. Formulation (F7) selected as optimize product on the basis of evaluation parameters.

Keywords: capping, lamination, tablet defects, direct compression

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Authors: Hakan Bozdoğan

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A wide variety of traditional methodologies has been enhanced for characterising smooth habitats in order to find out different environmental objectives. The habitats were characterised based on size and shape by using Geo-Gebra Software. In this study, an innovative approach to researching habitat characterisation in the lacewing species, GeoGebra software is utilised. This approach is demonstrated using the example of ‘surface area’ as an analytical concept, wherein the goal was to increase clearness for researchers, and to improve the quality of researching in survey area. In conclusion, habitat characterisation using the mathematical programme provides a unique potential to collect more comprehensible and analytical information about in shapeless areas beyond the range of direct observations methods. This research contributes a new perspective for assessing the structure of habitat, providing a novel mathematical tool for the research and management of such habitats and environments. Further surveys should be undertaken at additional sites within the Amanos Mountains for a comprehensive assessment of lacewings habitat characterisation in an analytical plane. This paper is supported by Ahi Evran University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit, Projects No:TBY.E2.17.001 and TBY.A4.16.001.

Keywords: uneven habitat shape, habitat assessment, lacewings, Geo-Gebra Software

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Authors: Latha Subbiah, Dhanalakshmi Samiappan

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In this paper, we propose denoising Common Carotid Artery (CCA) B mode ultrasound images by a decomposition approach to curvelet thresholding and automatic segmentation of the intima media thickness and adventitia boundary. By decomposition, the local geometry of the image, its direction of gradients are well preserved. The components are combined into a single vector valued function, thus removes noise patches. Double threshold is applied to inherently remove speckle noise in the image. The denoised image is segmented by active contour without specifying seed points. Combined with level set theory, they provide sub regions with continuous boundaries. The deformable contours match to the shapes and motion of objects in the images. A curve or a surface under constraints is developed from the image with the goal that it is pulled into the necessary features of the image. Region based and boundary based information are integrated to achieve the contour. The method treats the multiplicative speckle noise in objective and subjective quality measurements and thus leads to better-segmented results. The proposed denoising method gives better performance metrics compared with other state of art denoising algorithms.

Keywords: curvelet, decomposition, levelset, ultrasound

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Authors: Niloofar Fathizaviyehkord

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Just as two hands cannot make a good boxer, knowing two or more languages cannot make a skillful interpreter. Interpreting, either consecutive or simultaneous, is a cognitively demanding task requiring not only linguistic and discourse knowledge but also strategic competence. Moreover, experience level can play a very crucial role in the strategies interpreters may employ since translation and interpretation quality is a matter of experience, besides other factors, as well. With regard to the significance of strategic competence, this study investigated what strategies are mainly employed by interpreters, what strategies are employed more frequently, and whether experience level can affect the choice of strategies by interpreters or not. To collect the necessary data, the first retrospective interviews were held with 20 interpreters experienced more or less in simultaneous and consecutive interpretation to see what strategies other than those classified in the literature are employed by interpreters. Then, several classifications of strategies in literature were merged with those emerging from the retrospective interviews to come up with a comprehensive questionnaire on interpreting strategies. After seeking five experts’ opinions regarding the wording/content of the questionnaire, it was given to 60 interpreters. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire data and experience level through ANOVA showed experience level could affect the choice of strategies. This study closes with the theoretical/practical implications of the findings for interpreter training.

Keywords: experience level, consecutive and simultaneous, interpretation strategies, translation

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Authors: Zhaozhi Liu, Feng Xu, Junhua Xu, Xiaolong Tang, Ying Liu, Dunwen Zuo

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Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond coated cutting tool has excellent cutting performance, it is the most ideal tool for the processing of nonferrous metals and alloys, composites, nonmetallic materials and other difficult-to-machine materials efficiently and accurately. Depositing CVD diamond coating on the cemented carbide with high cobalt content can improve its toughness and strength, therefore, it is very important to research on the preparation technology and cutting properties of CVD diamond coated cemented carbide cutting tool with high cobalt content. The preparation technology of boron-doped diamond (BDD) coating has been studied and the coated drills were prepared. BDD coating were deposited on the drills by using the optimized parameters and the SEM results show that there are no cracks or collapses in the coating. Cutting tests with the prepared drills against the silumin and aluminum base printed circuit board (PCB) have been studied. The results show that the wear amount of the coated drill is small and the machined surface has a better precision. The coating does not come off during the test, which shows good adhesion and cutting performance of the drill.

Keywords: cemented carbide with high cobalt content, CVD boron-doped diamond, cutting test, drill

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Authors: E. Ghasemi Ardi, K. J. Dong, A. B. Yu, R. Y. Yang

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In current work, a numerical model based on the discrete element method (DEM) was developed which provided information about particle dynamic and impact event condition inside a laboratory scale impact mill (Fritsch). It showed that each particle mostly experiences three impacts inside the mill. While the first impact frequently happens at front surface of the rotor’s rib, the frequent location of the second impact is side surfaces of the rotor’s rib. It was also showed that while the first impact happens at small impact angle mostly varying around 35º, the second impact happens at around 70º which is close to normal impact condition. Also analyzing impact energy revealed that varying mill speed from 6000 to 14000 rpm, the ratio of first impact’s average impact energy and minimum required energy to break particle (Wₘᵢₙ) increased from 0.30 to 0.85. Moreover, it was seen that second impact poses intense impact energy on particle which can be considered as the main cause of particle splitting. Finally, obtained information from DEM simulation along with obtained data from conducted experiments was implemented in semi-empirical equations in order to find selection and breakage functions. Then, using a back-calculation approach, those parameters were used to predict the PSDs of ground particles under different impact energies. Results were compared with experiment results and showed reasonable accuracy and prediction ability.

Keywords: single particle breakage, particle dynamic, population balance model, particle size distribution, discrete element method

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Authors: Mustafa Saeed Omar

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The formula which contains the maximum increase of mean bond length, melting entropy and critical particle radius is used to calculate lattice volume in nanoscale size crystals of Ga₂Se₃. This compound belongs to the binary group of III₂VI₃. The critical radius is calculated from the values of the first surface atomic layer height which is equal to 0.336nm. The size-dependent mean bond length is calculated by using an equation-free from fitting parameters. The size-dependent lattice parameter then is accordingly used to calculate the size-dependent lattice volume. The lattice size in the nanoscale region increases to about 77.6 A³, which is up to four times of its bulk state value 19.97 A³. From the values of the nanosize scale dependence of lattice volume, the nanoscale size dependence of melting temperatures is calculated. The melting temperature decreases with the nanoparticles size reduction, it becomes zero when the radius reaches to its critical value. Bulk melting temperature for Ga₂Se₃, for example, has values of 1293 K. From the size-dependent melting temperature and mean bond length, the size-dependent lattice thermal expansion is calculated. Lattice thermal expansion decreases with the decrease of nanoparticles size and reaches to its minimum value as the radius drops down to about 5nm.

Keywords: Ga₂Se₃, lattice volume, lattice thermal expansion, melting point, nanoparticles

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Authors: Issa M. Hweidi, Saba W. Al-Ibraheem

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This study aimed to assess the increased hospital length of stay and healthcare costs associated with SSIs among ventriculoperitoneal shunting surgery patients in Jordan. This study adopted a retrospective and nested 1:1 matched case-control design. A non-probability convenient sample of 48 VP shunt patients was recruited for the purpose of the study. The targeted groups of the study basically used to cross-match the variables investigated to minimize the risk of confounding. Information was extracted from the text of patients' electronic health records. As compared to the non-SSI group, the SSI group had an extra mean healthcare cost of $13,696.53 (p=0.001) and longer hospital length of stay (22.64 mean additional days). Furthermore, Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumonia were identified as being the most predominant causative agents of SSIs. The results of this study may provide baseline data for national and regional benchmarking to evaluate the quality of care provided to likewise patients. Adherence to infection control strategies and protocols considering new surveillance methods of SSIs is encouraged.

Keywords: ventriculoperitoneal shunt, health care cost, length of stay, neurosurgery, surgical site infections

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Authors: An-Hsu Chen

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The study intends to explore how the athletic trainings (12 hours per day, four days per week) have impacts on athlete burnout and their leisure participations. The connection between athlete burnout and leisure participation of collegiate athletes is also discussed. Athlete burnout and leisure participation questionnaire were administrated and 186 valid responses were collected. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Results suggest that athlete burnout among collegiate athletes with different specialties are significant distinct. Participants who train more days per week are more likely to participate in entertainment activities while those who have higher training hours per day tend to avoid knowledge-based activities. The research also finds there is a significant positive correlation between athlete burnout and leisure participation of collegiate athletes while sport devaluation is negatively correlated with sport activities in leisure participation. Hence, adjust and well-arrange training quality and quantity may help to avoid over-trainings. Away trainings, uploading training volumes, and group leisure activities are suggested to be arranged properly to allow athletes cope with the burnout and stress caused by long-term trainings and periodical competitions.

Keywords: emotional and physical exhaustion, leisure activities, sport devaluation, training hours

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Authors: Abdullah Alhajoj, Bassam Alowaiesh

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This work aims to reduce the risks of discharging olive mill waste directly to the environment without treatment in Sakaka City, KSA. The organic loads expressed by chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the produced wastewater (OMWW) as well as the solid waste (OMW) were evaluated. The wastes emitted from the three-phase centrifuge decanters was found to be higher than that emitted from the two-phase centrifuge decanters. The olive mill wastewater (OMWW) was treated using advanced oxidation combined with filtration treatment. The results indicated that the concentration of COD, BOD, TSS, oil and grease and phenol was reduced by using complex sand filtration from 72150, 21660 10256, 36430, and 1470 mg/l to 980, 421, 58, 68, and 0.35 mg/l for three-phase OMWW and from 150562, 17955, 15325, 19658 and 2153 mg/l to 1050, 501, 29, 0.75, and 0.29 mg/l, respectively. While, by using modified trickling filter (packed with the neck of waste plastic bottles the concentration of the previously mentioned parameters was reduced to 1190, 570, 55, 0.85, and 0.3 mg/l, respectively. This work supports the application of such treatment technique for reducing the environmental threats of olive mill waste effluents in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: two-phase, three-phase, olive mill, olive oil, waste treatment, filtration, advanced oxidation, waste plastic bottles

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Authors: M. R. Ghasemi, R. Ghiasi, H. Varaee

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Surrogate model has received increasing attention for use in detecting damage of structures based on vibration modal parameters. However, uncertainties existing in the measured vibration data may lead to false or unreliable output result from such model. In this study, an efficient approach based on Monte Carlo simulation is proposed to take into account the effect of uncertainties in developing a surrogate model. The probability of damage existence (PDE) is calculated based on the probability density function of the existence of undamaged and damaged states. The kriging technique allows one to genuinely quantify the surrogate error, therefore it is chosen as metamodeling technique. Enhanced version of ideal gas molecular movement (EIGMM) algorithm is used as main algorithm for model updating. The developed approach is applied to detect simulated damage in numerical models of 72-bar space truss and 120-bar dome truss. The simulation results show the proposed method can perform well in probability-based damage detection of structures with less computational effort compared to direct finite element model.

Keywords: probability-based damage detection (PBDD), Kriging, surrogate modeling, uncertainty quantification, artificial intelligence, enhanced ideal gas molecular movement (EIGMM)

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Authors: Fatiha Atmani, Lamia Djellab, Nacera Yeddou Mezenner, Zohra Bensaadi

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Generally, bilge waters can be briefly defined as saline and greasy wastewaters. The oil and grease are mixed with the sea water, which affects many marine species. Bilge water is a complex mixture of various compounds such as solvents, surfactants, fuel, lubricating oils, and hydraulic oils. It is resulted mainly by the leakage from the machinery and fresh water washdowns,which are allowed to drain to the lowest inner part of the ship's hull. There are several physicochemical methods used for bilge water treatment such as biodegradation electrochemical and electro-coagulation/flotation.The research herein presented discusses adsorption as a method to treat bilge water and eggshells were studied as an adsorbent. The influence of operating parameters as contact time, temperature and adsorbent dose (0,2 - 2g/l) on the removal efficiency of Chemical oxygen demand, COD, and turbidity was analyzed. The bilge wastewater used for this study was supplied by Harbour Bouharoune. Chemical oxygen demand removal increased from 26.7% to 68.7% as the adsorbent dose increased from 0.2 to 2 g. The kinetics of adsorption by eggshells were fast, reaching 55 % of the total adsorption capacity in ten minutes (T= 20°C, pH =7.66, m=2g/L). It was found that the turbidity removal efficiency decreased and 95% were achieved at the end of 90 min reaction. The adsorption process was found to be effective for the purification of bilge water and pseudo-second-order kinetic model was fitted for COD removal.

Keywords: adsorption, bilge water, eggshells and kinetics, equilibrium and kinetics

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Authors: Kaustuvmani Patowary, Suresh Deka

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Oil pollution accidents, nowadays, have become a common phenomenon and have caused ecological and social disasters. Microorganisms with high oil-degrading performance are essential for bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon. In this investigation, an effective biosurfactant producer and hydrocarbon degrading bacterial strain, Pseudomonas sp.PG1 (identified by 16s rDNA sequencing) was isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated garage soil of Pathsala, Assam, India, using crude oil enrichment technique. The growth parameters such as pH and temperature were optimized for the strain and upto 81.8% degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) has been achieved after 5 weeks when grown in mineral salt media (MSM) containing 2% (w/v) crude oil as the carbon source. The biosurfactant production during the course of hydrocarbon degradation was monitored by surface tension measurement and emulsification activity. The produced biosurfactant had the ability to decrease the surface tension of MSM from 72 mN/m to 29.6 mN/m, with the critical micelle concentration (CMC)of 56 mg/L. The biosurfactant exhibited 100% emulsification activity on crude oil. FTIR spectroscopy and LCMS-MS analysis of the purified biosurfactant revealed that the biosurfactant is Rhamnolipidic in nature with several rhamnolipid congeners. Gas Chromatography-Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis clearly demonstrated that the strain PG1 efficiently degrade different hydrocarbon fractions of the crude oil. The study suggeststhat application of the biosurfactant producing strain PG1 as an appropriate candidate for bioremediation of crude oil contaminants.

Keywords: petroleum hydrocarbon, hydrocarbon contamination, bioremediation, biosurfactant, rhamnolipid

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Authors: Seungwoo Kim, Yeongcheol Cho

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In this paper, a holonomic mobile robot is designed in omnidirectional wheels and an adaptive fuzzy controller is presented for its precise trajectories. A kind of adaptive controller based on fuzzy multi-layered algorithm is used to solve the big parametric uncertainty of motor-controlled dynamic system of 3-wheels omnidirectional mobile robot. The system parameters such as a tracking force are so time-varying due to the kinematic structure of omnidirectional wheels. The fuzzy adaptive control method is able to solve the problems of classical adaptive controller and conventional fuzzy adaptive controllers. The basic idea of new adaptive control scheme is that an adaptive controller can be constructed with parallel combination of robust controllers. This new adaptive controller uses a fuzzy multi-layered architecture which has several independent fuzzy controllers in parallel, each with different robust stability area. Out of several independent fuzzy controllers, the most suited one is selected by a system identifier which observes variations in the controlled system parameter. This paper proposes a design procedure which can be carried out mathematically and systematically from the model of a controlled system. Finally, the good performance of a holonomic mobile robot is confirmed through live tests of the tracking control task.

Keywords: fuzzy adaptive control, fuzzy multi-layered controller, holonomic mobile robot, omnidirectional wheels, robustness and stability.

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Authors: Haïfa Ben Mna, Ayed Added

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To evaluate the trace metals contamination status in the Gulf of Tunis, forty one sediment samples were analyzed using different approaches. According to certain contamination and ecological risk indices (Contamination Factor, Geoaccumulation index and Ecological risk index), Hg has the highest contamination level while pollution by Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr was absent. The highest concentrations of trace metals were found in sediments collected from the offshore and coastal areas located opposite the main exchange points with the gulf particularly, the Mejerda and Meliane Rivers, the Khalij Channel, Ghar El Melh and El Malah lagoons, Tunis Lake and Sebkhat Ariana. However, further ecological indices (Potential ecological risk index, Toxic unit and Mean effect-range median quotient) and comparison with sediment quality guidelines suggest that in addition to Mercury, Cr, Pb and Ni concentrations are detrimental to biota in both the offshore and areas near to the exchange points with the gulf. Moreover, in these areas the results from sequential extraction and individual contamination factor calculation pointed to the mobility and bioavailability of Cr, Pb and Ni.

Keywords: sediment, trace metals, contamination assessment, ecological risk, Tunis gulf

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Authors: N. V. Nikhil, S. R. Lee, Do Won Park

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Korean peninsula receives about two third of the annual rainfall during summer season. The extreme rainfall pattern due to typhoon and heavy rainfall results in severe mountain disasters among which 55% of them are debris flows, a major natural hazard especially when occurring around major settlement areas. The basic mechanism underlined for this kind of failure is the unsaturated shallow slope failure by reduction of matric suction due to infiltration of water and liquefaction of the failed mass due to generation of positive pore water pressure leading to abrupt loss of strength and commencement of flow. However only an empirical model cannot simulate this complex mechanism. Hence, we have employed an empirical-physical based approach for hazard analysis of debris flow using TRIGRS, a debris flow initiation criteria and DAN3D in mountain Woonmyun, South Korea. Debris flow initiation criteria is required to discern the potential landslides which can transform into debris flow. DAN-3D, being a new model, does not have the calibrated values of rheology parameters for Korean conditions. Thus, in our analysis we have used the recent 2011 debris flow event in mountain Woonmyun san for calibration of both TRIGRS model and DAN-3D, thereafter identifying and predicting the debris flow initiation points, path, run out velocity, and area of spreading for future extreme rainfall based scenarios.

Keywords: debris flow, DAN-3D, extreme rainfall, hazard analysis

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Authors: Zeliha Erdogan, Hatice Torcu Koc

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The fish, Sarpa salpa (L.), is one of the main macroherbivores in the Mediterranean. A total of 600 Salema individuals were collected from around Gökçeada, Sea of Northern Aegean, between January 2014 and January 2015 in order to evaluate some information on the biology of the Salema population. For this aim, measurements of the Salema were obtained using a caliper. The age readings were made from otoliths. The population was composed of 6 age classes (I-VI). The total lengths and total weights of sampled fish were determined to be ranged from 12.5 to 33.1 cm and 33.57 to 559.33 g, respectively. Length-weight relationship for all individuals was calculated as W=0.0085*L3.1723, R2=0.9524. Growth parameters were determined as L∞= 35.55cm, k=0.31, t0= -9.2, '=2.60. As the sexual ratio was 1.08:1 (M: F), the Salema population consisted of 51.66% male and 47.5% female individuals. The highest average condition factors were observed for females in May (1.68) and for males in May (1.67). According to gonad somatic index values, the spawning period was determined twice a year in spring (April) and autumn (October). The highest average hepatosomatix index value was observed for all individuals in May and December. It was estimated that total (Z) mortality, natural (M) mortality, and fishing (F) mortality rates were Z=0.44 year-1, M=0.064 year-1 and F=0.38 year-1, respectively. As the exploitation rate was estimated as E=0.86, it can be shown that the Salema stock was highly influenced by overfishing.

Keywords: biology, sarpa salpa, Gökceada, meadows

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Authors: Bowen Ding, Yihao Kuang

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In recent years, large-scale pre-trained language models have achieved state-of-the-art performance on a variety of natural language processing tasks. The word vectors produced by these language models can be viewed as dense encoded presentations of natural language that in text form. However, it is unknown how much linguistic information is encoded and how. In this paper, we construct several corresponding probing tasks for multiple linguistic information to clarify the encoding capabilities of different language models and performed a visual display. We firstly obtain word presentations in vector form from different language models, including BERT, ELMo, RoBERTa and GPT. Classifiers with a small scale of parameters and unsupervised tasks are then applied on these word vectors to discriminate their capability to encode corresponding linguistic information. The constructed probe tasks contain both semantic and syntactic aspects. The semantic aspect includes the ability of the model to understand semantic entities such as numbers, time, and characters, and the grammatical aspect includes the ability of the language model to understand grammatical structures such as dependency relationships and reference relationships. We also compare encoding capabilities of different layers in the same language model to infer how linguistic information is encoded in the model.

Keywords: language models, probing task, text presentation, linguistic information

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Authors: Rachna, Uma Shanker

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Aromatic phenols, being priority pollutants, are found in various industrial effluents and seeking the attention of environmentalists worldwide, owing to their life-threatening effects. In the present study, the coupling of zinc oxide with Prussian blue was achieved involving co-precipitation synthesis process using Azadirachta indica plant extract. The fabricated nanocatalyst was employed for the sunlight mediated photodegradation of various phenols (Phenol, 3-Aminophenol, and 2,4-Dinitrophenol). Doping of zinc oxide with Prussian blue caused an increase in the surface area to value 80.109 m²g⁻¹ and also enhanced the semiconducting tendency of the nanocomposite with band gap energy 1.101 eV. The experiment was performed at different parameters of phenols concentration, catalyst amount, pH, time, and exposure of sunlight. The obtained results showed a lower elimination of 2,4-DNP (93%) than 3-AP (97%) and phenol (95%) owing to their molecular weight and basicity differences. In comparison to the starting material (zinc oxide and Prussian blue), nanocomposite was more capable in degrading the phenols and lowered the t1/2 value of phenol (4.405 h), 3-AP (4.04 h) and 2,4-DNP (4.68 h) to a greater extent. Effect of different foreign anions was also studied to check nanocomposite’s liability under natural conditions. The extent of charge recombination being the most limiting factor in the photodegradation of pollutants was determined through the photoluminescence. Sunlight active ZnO@FeHCF nanocomposite was proven to exhibit good catalytic ability up to 10 cycles.

Keywords: nanocomposite, phenols, photodegradation, sunlight, water

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Authors: Joseph Uzuazomaro Oju

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The ease at which manipulated media can be created, and the increasing difficulty in identifying fake media makes it a great threat. Most of the applications used for the creation of these high-quality fake videos and images are built with deep learning. Hence, the use of deep learning in creating a detection mechanism cannot be overemphasized. Any successful fake media that is being detected before it reached the populace will save people from the self-doubt of either a content is genuine or fake and will ensure the credibility of videos and images. The methodology introduced in this paper approaches the manipulated media detection challenge using a combo of VGG-19 and a deep capsule network. In the case of videos, they are converted into frames, which, in turn, are resized and cropped to the face region. These preprocessed images/videos are fed to the VGG-19 network to extract the latent features. The extracted latent features are inputted into a deep capsule network enhanced with a 3D -convolution dynamic routing agreement. The 3D –convolution dynamic routing agreement algorithm helps to reduce the linkages between capsules networks. Thereby limiting the poor learning shortcoming of multiple capsule network layers. The resultant output from the deep capsule network will indicate a media to be either genuine or fake.

Keywords: deep capsule network, dynamic routing, fake media detection, manipulated media

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Authors: Adriana B. Ribeiro, Camila B. Araujo, Frank L. Bueno, Luiz Eduardo V. Silva, Caroline V. Fortes, Helio C. Salgado, Rubens Fazan Jr., Claudia H. L. da Silva

Abstract:

Denture-related stomatitis (DRS) has recently been associated with deleterious cardiovascular effects, including hypertension. This study evaluated salivary parameters, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate variability (HRV), before and after DRS treatment in edentulous patients (n=14). Collection of unstimulated and stimulated saliva, as well as blood pressure (BP) measurements and electrocardiogram recordings were performed before and after 10 days of DRS treatment. The salivary flow (mL/min) was found similar at both times while pH was smaller (more neutral) after treatment (7.3 ± 2.2 vs. 7.1 ± 0.24). Systolic BP (mmHg) showed a trend, but not a significant reduction after DRS treatment (158 ± 25.68 vs. 148 ± 16,72, p=0,062) while diastolic BP was found similar in both times (86 ± 13.93 and 84 ± 9.38). Overall HRV, measured by standard deviation of RR intervals was not affected by DRS treatment (24 ± 4 vs 18 ± 2 ms), but differences of successive RR intervals (an index of parasympathetic cardiac modulation) increased after the treatment (26 ± 4 vs 19 ± 2 ms). Moreover, another index of vagal modulation of the heart, the power of RR interval spectra at high-frequency, was also markedly higher after DRS treatment (236 ± 63 vs 135 ± 32 ms²). Such findings strongly suggest that DRS is linked to an autonomic imbalance with sympathetic overactivity, which is markedly deleterious, increasing cardiovascular risk and the incidence of diseases such as hypertension. Acknowledgment: This study is supported by FAPESP, CNPq.

Keywords: biofilm, denture stomatitis, HRV, blood pressure

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Authors: Nato Kutaladze, George Mikuchadze, Giorgi Sokhadze

Abstract:

Precipitation forecasts are one of the most demanding applications in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Georgia, as the whole Caucasian region, is characterized by very complex topography. The country territory is prone to flash floods and mudflows, quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) at any leading time are very important for Georgia. In this study, advanced research weather forecasting model’s skill in QPF is investigated over Georgia’s territory. We have analyzed several convection parameterization and microphysical scheme combinations for different rainy episodes and heavy rainy phenomena. We estimate errors and biases in accumulated 6 h precipitation using different spatial resolution during model performance verification for 12-hour and 24-hour lead time against corresponding rain gouge observations and satellite data. Various statistical parameters have been calculated for the 8-month comparison period, and some skills of model simulation have been evaluated. Our focus is on the formation and organization of convective precipitation systems in a low-mountain region. Several problems in connection with QPF have been identified for mountain regions, which include the overestimation and underestimation of precipitation on the windward and lee side of the mountains, respectively, and a phase error in the diurnal cycle of precipitation leading to the onset of convective precipitation in model forecasts several hours too early.

Keywords: extremal dependence index, false alarm, numerical weather prediction, quantitative precipitation forecasting

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Authors: Ahmed Altalb

Abstract:

Fertilizers are natural materials, or industrial contain nutrients, which help to improve soil fertility and is considered (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) is important elements for the growth of crops properly. Fertilization is necessary in order to improve the quality of agricultural products and the recovery in agricultural activities. The use of organic fertilizers and chemical lead to reduce the loss of nutrients in agricultural soils, and this leads to an increase in the production of agricultural crops. Fertilizers are one of the key factors in the increase of agricultural production as well as other factors such as irrigation and improved seeds and Prevention and others; the fertilizers will continue to be a cornerstone of the agriculture in order to produce the food to feed of world population. The use of fertilizers has become commonplace today, especially the chemical fertilizers for the development of agricultural production, due to the provision of nutrients for plants and in high concentrations and easily dissolves in water and ease of use. The choose the right type of fertilizer depends on the soil type and the type of crop. In this subject, find the relationship between the agricultural extension and the optimal use of fertilizers. The extension plays the important role in the advise and educate of farmers in how they optimal use the fertilizers in a scientific way. This article aims to identify the concept the fertilizers. Identify the role of fertilizers in increasing the agricultural production, identify the role of agricultural extension in the optimal use of fertilizers and rural development.

Keywords: agricultural, extension, fertilizers, production

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Authors: Joshua Paul Steimel, Michael Pappas, Ethan Hall

Abstract:

Particle-particle interactions are critical in determining the state of an active matter system. Unique and ubiquitous non-equilibrium behavior like swarming, vortexing, spiraling, and much more is governed by interactions between active units or particles. In hybrid active-passive matter systems, the attraction between spinning active units in a 2D monolayer of passive particles is controlled by the mechanical behavior of the passive monolayer. We demonstrate here that the range and dynamics of this attraction can be controlled by changing the composition of the passive monolayer by adding dopant passive particles. These dopant passive particles effectively pin the movement of dislocation motion in the passive media and reduce the probability of defect motion required to erode the bridge of passive particles between active spinners, thus reducing the range of attraction. Additionally, by adding an out of plane component to the magnetic moment and creating a top-like motion a short range repulsion emerges between the top-like particle. At inter-top distances less than four particle diameters apart, the tops repel but beyond that, distance attract up to 13 particle diameters apart. The tops were also able to locally and transiently anneal the passive monolayer. Thus we demonstrate that by tuning several parameters of the hybrid active matter system, one can observe very different emergent behavior.

Keywords: active matter, colloids, ferromagnetic, annealing

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Authors: Nuhi Arslani, Stojan Potrc, Timotej Mikuljan

Abstract:

Background: In Department of Abdominal and General Surgery of University Medical Centre Maribor, we treated 578 patients for rectal cancer between 2004 and 2014. During and after treatment we especially concentrated on monitoring local and systemic complications. Methods: For analysis, we used data gathered from preoperative diagnostic tests, reports gathered during operation, reports from the pathohistologic review, and reports on complications after surgery and follow up. Results: In the case of 573 (out of 578) patients (99.1%) we performed resection. R0 was achieved in 551 patients (96,1%). R1 was achieved in 8 patients (1,4%). R2 was achieved in 14 patients (2,4%). Local complications were reported in 78 (13.5%) patients and systemic complications were reported in 68 (11.7%). We would like to point out the low number of local and systemic complications. Conclusions: With advances in surgical techniques, with a multimodal-multidisciplinary approach and with the use of total mesorectal excision we experienced a significant improvement in reducing the number of local and systemic complications in patients with rectal cancer. However, there still remains the question for truly optimal care for each patient with rectal cancer and his quality of life after surgical treatment.

Keywords: local complications, rectal cancer, resection, systemic complications

Procedia PDF Downloads 163