Search results for: small area variation

Authors: Siwapech Silapaprayoon, Januluk Khanobdee, Sompid Samipak

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Chili peppers are the fruits of Capsicum pepper plants well known for their fiery burning sensation on the tongue after consumption. They are members of the Solanaceae or common nightshade family along with potato, tomato and eggplant. Thai cuisine has gained popularity for its distinct flavors due to usages of various spices and its heat from the addition of chili pepper. Though being used in little quantity for each dish, chili pepper holds a special place in Thai cuisine. There are many varieties of chili peppers in Thailand, and thirty accessions were collected at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Lampang, Thailand. To effectively manage any germplasm it is essential to know the diversity and relationships among members. Thirty-six Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSRs) DNA markers were used to analyze the germplasm. Total of 335 polymorphic bands was obtained giving the average of 9.3 alleles per marker. Unweighted pair-group mean arithmetic method (UPGMA) clustering of data using NTSYS-pc software indicated that the accessions showed varied levels of genetic similarity ranging from 0.57-1.00 similarity coefficient index indicating significant levels of variation. At SM coefficient of 0.81, the germplasm was separated into four groups. Phenotypic variation was discussed in context of phylogenetic tree clustering.

Keywords: diversity, germplasm, Chili pepper, ISSR

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Authors: Arun Joshi

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The present study deals with the report of Gangamopteriscyclopteroides from the Barakar Formation of Simlong Open Cast Mine, Rajmahal Area, Rajmahal Basin, Jharkhand, India. The genus Gangamopteriscomprises leaves which are simple, entire, symmetrical or asymmetrical, linear, lanceolate, elliptical, obovate in shape, apex broadly rounded, obtuse, acute, acuminate or mucronate, base petiolate or contracted, midrib absent. Median region occupied by subparallel veins with anastomoses of elongate or hexagonal outline. Secondary veins arise from median veins by repeated dichotomy, arched, bifurcating and anasotomosing network. The present work is significant as it represents the presence of Glossopteris flora (250- 290 ma) which is mainly responsible for the formation of coal. Coal is one of the major fuels for power production through thermal power plants. The Glossopteris flora is one of the major floras that occupied the southern continent during Carboniferous- Permian time. This southern continent is also known as Gondwana comprising Australia, South Africa, Antarctica, Madagascar and India. There is a vast geological reserve of coal with favorable stripping ratio available at the Simlong Block but the area comes under the most naxalite prone area and thus the mine has been running in an unplanned manner. It has got the potential of becoming a big project with higher capacity and is well suited for enhancing production which can be helpful in the economic growth of the country. Though, the present record is scanty, it shows the presence of Glossopteris flora responsible for the formation of coal in the Coalmine. However, there are fears of fossils disappearing from this area as the state government of Jharkhand has given out a mining lease in the area to private companies. Therefore, it is very necessary to study such coal forming vegetation and their systematic study from the area to generate a new palaeobotanical database, palaeoenvironmental interpretation, basinal correlation and for the understanding of evolutionary perspectives.

Keywords: Barakar formation, coal, Glossopteris flora, Gondwana, India, Naxalite, Rajmahal Basin

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Authors: Naso Isaiah Thanavisuth

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Medical cannabis can be used for treatment including pain, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and cancer. However, medical cannabis leads to adverse effects (AEs), which is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In previous studies, the major of THC metabolism enzymes are CYP2C9. Especially, the variation of CYP2C9 gene consist of CYP2C9*2 on exon 3 and CYP2C9*3 on exon 7 to decrease enzyme activity. Notwithstanding, there is no data describing whether the variant of CYP2C9 genes are apharmacogenetics marker for the prediction of THC-induced AEs in Thai patients. We want to investigate the association between CYP2C9 gene and THC-induced AEs in Thai patients. We enrolled 39 Thai patients with medical cannabis treatment who were classified by clinical data. The CYP2C9*2 and *3 genotyping were conducted using the TaqMan real time PCR assay. All Thai patients who received the medical cannabis consist of twenty-four (61.54%) patients were female, and fifteen (38.46%) were male, with age range 27- 87 years. Moreover, the most AEs in Thai patients who were treated with medical cannabis between cases and controls were tachycardia, arrhythmia, dry mouth, and nausea. Particularly, thirteen (72.22%) medical cannabis-induced AEs were female and age range 33 – 69 years. In this study, none of the medical cannabis groups carried CYP2C9*2 variants in Thai patients. The CYP2C9*3 variants (*1/*3, intermediate metabolizer, IM) and (*3/*3, poor metabolizer, PM) were found, three of thirty-nine (7.69%) and one of thirty-nine (2.56%), respectively. Although, our results indicate that there is no found the CYP2C9*2. However, the variation of CYP2C9 allele might serve as a pharmacogenetics marker for screening before initiating the therapy with medical cannabis for the prevention of medical cannabis-induced AEs.

Keywords: CYP2C9, medical cannabis, adverse effects, THC, P450

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Authors: Darn H. Hsiao, Zhu-Yun Zheng

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Since Taiwan is located between the Eurasian and Filipino plates and earthquakes often thus occur. The coastal plains in western Taiwan are alluvial plains, and the soils of the alluvium are mostly from the Lao-Shan belt in the central mountainous area of ​​southern Taiwan. It could come mostly from sand/shale and slate. The previous investigation found that the soils in the Kaohsiung area of ​​southern Taiwan are mainly composed of slate, shale, quartz, low-plastic clay, silt, silty sand and so on. It can also be found from the past earthquakes that the soil in Kaohsiung is highly susceptible to soil subsidence due to liquefaction. Insufficient bearing capacity of building will cause soil liquefaction disasters. In this study, the boring drilling data from nine districts among the Love River Basin in the city center, and some factors affecting liquefaction include the content of fines (FC), standard penetration test N value (SPT N), the thickness of clay layer near ground-surface, and the thickness of possible liquefied soil were further discussed for liquefaction potential as well as groundwater level. The results show that the liquefaction potential is higher in the areas near the riverside, the backfill area, and the west area of ​​the study area. This paper also uses the old paleo-geological map, soil particle distribution curve, compared with LPI map calculated from the analysis results. After all the parameters finally were studied for five sub zones in the Love River Basin by maximum-minimum method, it is found that both of standard penetration test N value and the thickness of the clay layer will be most influential.

Keywords: liquefaction, western Taiwan, liquefaction potential map, high liquefaction potential areas

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Authors: Himayatullah Khan

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This study estimates supply response function of sugarcane in Pakistan from 1980-81 to 2012-13. The study uses co-integration approach and error correction mechanism. Sugarcane production, area and price series were tested for unit root using Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF). The study found that these series were stationary at their first differenced level. Using the Augmented Engle-Granger test and Cointegrating Regression Durbin-Watson (CRDW) test, the study found that “production and price” and “area and price” were co-integrated suggesting that the two sets of time series had long-run or equilibrium relationship. The results of the error correction models for the two sets of series showed that there was disequilibrium in the short run there may be disequilibrium. The Engle-Granger residual may be thought of as the equilibrium error which can be used to tie the short-run behavior of the dependent variable to its long-run value. The Granger-Causality test results showed that log of price granger caused both the long of production and log of area whereas, the log of production and log of area Granger caused each other.

Keywords: co-integration, error correction mechanism, Granger-causality, sugarcane, supply response

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Authors: Avadhoot Bhosale, Robin Davis P., Pradip Sarkar

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The seismic performance of buildings with irregular distribution of mass, stiffness and strength along the height may be significantly different from that of regular buildings with masonry infill. Masonry infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frames are very common structural forms used for multi-storey building construction. These structures are found to perform better in past earthquakes owing to additional strength, stiffness and energy dissipation in the infill walls. The seismic performance of a building depends on the variation of material, structural and geometrical properties. The sensitivity of these properties affects the seismic response of the building. The main objective of the sensitivity analysis is to found out the most sensitive parameter that affects the response of the building. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis by considering 5% and 95% probability value of random variable in the infills characteristics, trying to obtain a reasonable range of results representing a wide number of possible situations that can be met in practice by using pushover analysis. The results show that the strength-related variation values of concrete and masonry, with the exception of tensile strength of the concrete, have shown a significant effect on the structural performance and that this effect increases with the progress of damage condition for the concrete. The seismic risk assessments of the selected frames are expressed in terms of reliability index.

Keywords: fragility curve, sensitivity analysis, reliability index, RC frames

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Authors: Mekonen G., Sileshi M., Melkamu M.

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Recharge estimation is important for the assessment and management of groundwater resources effectively. This study applied the soil moisture balance and Baseflow separation methods to estimate groundwater recharge in the Fetam Catchment. It is one of the major catchments understudied from the different catchments in the upper Blue Nile River basin. Surface water has been subjected to high seasonal variation; due to this, groundwater is a primary option for drinking water supply to the community. This research has been conducted to estimate groundwater recharge by using fifteen years of River flow data for the Baseflow separation and ten years of daily meteorological data for the daily soil moisture balance recharge estimating method. The recharge rate by the two methods is 170.5 and 244.9mm/year daily soil moisture and baseflow separation method, respectively, and the average recharge is 207.7mm/year. The average value of annual recharge in the catchment is almost equal to the average recharge in the country, which is 200mm/year. So, each method has its own limitations, and taking the average value is preferable rather than taking a single value. Baseflow provides overestimated result compared to the average of the two, and soil moisture balance is the list estimator. The recharge estimation in the area also should be done by other recharge estimation methods.

Keywords: groundwater, recharge, baseflow separation, soil moisture balance, Fetam catchment

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Authors: Payam Haghparast, Mikhail V. Sorin, Hakim Nesreddine

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The complex oblique shock phenomenon can be simply assumed as a normal shock at the constant area section to simulate a sharp pressure increase and velocity decrease in 1-D thermodynamic models. The assumed normal shock location is one of the greatest sources of error in ejector thermodynamic models. Most researchers consider an arbitrary location without justifying it. Our study compares the effect of normal shock place on ejector dimensions in 1-D models. To this aim, two different ejector experimental test benches, a constant area-mixing ejector (CAM) and a constant pressure-mixing (CPM) are considered, with different known geometries, operating conditions and working fluids (R245fa, R141b). In the first step, in order to evaluate the real value of the efficiencies in the different ejector parts and critical back pressure, a CFD model was built and validated by experimental data for two types of ejectors. These reference data are then used as input to the 1D model to calculate the lengths and the diameters of the ejectors. Afterwards, the design output geometry calculated by the 1D model is compared directly with the corresponding experimental geometry. It was found that there is a good agreement between the ejector dimensions obtained by the 1D model, for both CAM and CPM, with experimental ejector data. Furthermore, it is shown that normal shock place affects only the constant area length as it is proven that the inlet normal shock assumption results in more accurate length. Taking into account previous 1D models, the results suggest the use of the assumed normal shock location at the inlet of the constant area duct to design the supersonic ejectors.

Keywords: 1D model, constant area-mixing, constant pressure-mixing, normal shock location, ejector dimensions

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Authors: Dilek Ozlem Esen, Mesut Kaya

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The focus of this study is to analyse the results of heat recovery from exhaust gas which is produced by an internal combustion engine (ICE). To obtain a small amount of energy, an exhaust system which is suitable for recovery waste heat has been constructed. Totally 27 TEGs have been used to convert from the heat to electric energy. By producing a small amount of this energy by the help of thermoelectric generators can reduce engine loads thus decreasing pollutant emissions, fuel consumption, and CO2. This case study is conducted in an effort to better understand and improve the performance of thermoelectric heat recovery systems for automotive use. As a result of this study, 0,45 A averaged current rate, 13,02 V averaged voltage rate and 5,8 W averaged electrical energy have been produced in a five hours operation time.

Keywords: thermoelectric, peltier, thermoelectric generator (TEG), exhaust, cogeneration

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Authors: Zeinab Syed Abdel Rehim

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Water shortage is considered as one of the huge problems the world encounter now. Water desalination is considered as one of the more suitable methods governments can use to substitute the increased need for potable water. The humidification-dehumidification process for water desalination is viewed as a promising technique for small capacity production plants. The process has several attraction features which include the use of sustainable energy sources, low technology, and low-temperature dehumidification. A pilot experimental set-up plant was constructed with the conventional HVAC components such as air blower that supplies air to an air duct inside which air preheater, steam injector and cooling coil of a small refrigeration unit are placed. The present work evaluates the characteristics of humidification-dehumidification process for water desalination as a function of air flow rate, total power input and air inlet temperature in order to study the optimum conditions required to produce distilled water.

Keywords: condensation, dehumidification, evaporation, humidification, water desalination

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Authors: E. Marušić-Paloka, I. Pažanin, M. Prša

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Subject of this study is the stationary heat conduction problem through a pipe filled with incompressible viscous fluid. In previous work, we observed the existence and uniqueness theorems for the corresponding boundary-value problem and within we have taken into account the effects of the pipe's dilatation due to the temperature of the fluid inside of the pipe. The main difficulty comes from the fact that flow domain changes depending on the solution of the observed heat equation leading to a non-standard coupled governing problem. The goal of this work is to find solution estimate since the exact solution of the studied problem is not possible to determine. We use an asymptotic expansion in order of a small parameter which is presented as a heat expansion coefficient of the pipe's material. Furthermore, an error estimate is provided for the mentioned asymptotic approximation of the solution for inner area of the pipe. Close to the boundary, problem becomes more complex so different approaches are observed, mainly Theory of Perturbations and Separations of Variables. In view of that, error estimate for the whole approximation will be provided with additional software simulations of gotten situation.

Keywords: asymptotic analysis, dilated pipe, error estimate, heat conduction

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Authors: Chitresh Kumar, Santanu Gupta

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The research work intends to understand the process of initiation, planning and development of capital-intensive urban area level infrastructure development in East Asian Cities (specific to Indian Cities). With the onset of emphasis on sustainable urban transport, self-financed urban local bodies, it has become of utmost important to identify infrastructure and projects on a priority basis, which provide optimal utility to the urban area. Through identification of Spatial, Demographic and Socio-Economic and Political Instability Parameters and their trends for the past 60 years at the urban area and state level, the paper attempts to identify the most suitable time period when initiation of the project would become economically and demographically viable for the city.

Keywords: urban planning, regional planning, mass transit, infrastructure development, spatial planning

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Authors: Tran Le Luu, Jeyong Yoon

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RuO2-TiO2 electrode now becomes popular in the chlor-alkali industry because of high electrocatalytic and stability with chlorine and oxygen evolutions. Using alternative green method for preparation RuO2-TiO2 electrode is necessary to reduce the cost, time. In addition, it is needed to increase the electrocatalyst performance, stability, and environmental compatibility. In this study, the Ti/RuO2-TiO2 electrodes were synthesized using sol-gel method under microwave irradiation and investigated for the anodic chlorine and oxygen evolutions. This method produced small size and uniform distribution of RuO2-TiO2 nanoparticles with mean diameter of 8-10 nm on the big crack size surface which contributes for the increasing of the outer active surface area. The chlorine, oxygen evolution efficiency and stability comparisons show considerably higher for microwave-assisted coated electrodes than for those obtained by the conventional heating method. The microwave-assisted sol-gel route has been identified as a novel and powerful method for quick synthesis of RuO2–TiO2 electrodes with excellent chlorine and oxygen evolution performances.

Keywords: RuO2, electro-catalyst, sol-gel, microwave, chlorine, oxygen evolution

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Authors: Jacob Dangerfield, Jacob Pollard, Jennifer DeCou

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Introduction: Burnout, anxiety, and depression are three conditions that are prevalent in medical providers. This is especially the case in the field of anesthesia, which has a high number of providers suffering from burnout and burnout syndrome. A major contributor to this issue is isolation in the workplace, with a perceived lack of peer support as a major risk factor for burnout. Two organizational interventions that can be done to help improve this issue are small group sessions and providing affordable mental health services. Per American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Guidelines, these affordable mental health services are a requirement of all residency programs, but for a variety of reasons, many residents do not access them. As physicians, we are often not good at asking for help. With this in mind, we hypothesized that carrying out small group resiliency sessions facilitated by Graduate Medical Education (GME) Wellness Counselors would improve both resident peer support as well as the likelihood that a resident will reach out to GME Wellness in a time of need. Methods: We held small group resiliency sessions with the GME Wellness Mental Health Professionals during protected didactic time. These sessions were small groups, including the members of one’s class (i.e., first-year residents on their own), and were facilitated by 1-2 mental health professionals. After these sessions, we surveyed residents who attended using a short Google Forms survey and using a 5-point Likert Scale, asked residents about some outcomes from the session. A “strongly agree” or “agree” was considered a positive response. Results: Results from our survey showed that the resident sessions had multiple positive outcomes. This survey was sent to 29 residents, and we had a 62% response rate. We found out through this survey that these small group sessions had a perceived positive impact on resident personal well-being, increased perceived peer support from classmates, and made residents more likely to reach out to GME Wellness in the future. Perceived positive impact on well-being was found in 83% of resident respondents, improved perceived peer support in 83% of respondents, and 78% of resident respondents stated that this session increased their likelihood of reaching out to mental health professionals. Conclusions: Through this study, we can conclude that our hypothesis was correct in that Small Group Resiliency Sessions that are facilitated by GME Wellness Counselors improve both resident peer support as well as the likelihood a resident reaches out to these mental health professionals in time of need. We believe these findings are very important as they address two important factors that can aid in decreasing a provider’s risk of experiencing burnout. Through this simple means, we believe other residency programs can help the well-being of their residents, and together, we can decrease the number of cases of burnout in anesthesia.

Keywords: anesthesiology, burnout, wellness, depression, residents, trainees, mental health

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Authors: Azene Tesfaye, Yohannes Petros, Habtamu Zeleke

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To evaluate genetic variation among Ethiopian lentil, laboratory experiment were conducted to screen 12 accessions of lentil (Lens culinaris M.) for salt tolerance. Seeds of 12 Lentil accessions were grown at laboratory (Petri dish) condition with different levels of salinity (0, 2, 4, and 8 dSm-1 NaCl) for 4 weeks. The experimental design was completely randomized design (CRD) in factorial combination with three replications. Data analysis was carried out using SAS software. Average germination time, germination percentage, seedling shoot and root traits, seedling shoot and root weight were evaluated. The two way ANOVA for varieties revealed statistically significant variation among lentil accession, NaCl level and their interactions (p<0.001) with respect to the entire parameters. It was found that salt stress significantly delays germination rate and decreases germination percentage, shoot and root length, seedling shoot and root weight of lentil accessions. The degree of decrement varied with accessions and salinity levels. Accessions 36120, 9235 and 36004 were better salt tolerant than the other accessions. As the result, it is recommended to be used as a genetic resource for the development of lentil accession and other very salt sensitive crop with improved germination under salt stress condition.

Keywords: accession, germination, lentil, NaCl, screening, seedling stage

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Authors: Busra Ekinci

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Urban heat island term becomes one of the most important problem in urban areas as a reflection of global warming in local scale last years. Many communities and governments are taking action to reduce heat island effects on urban areas where the half of the world's population live today. At this point, urban design turned out to be an important practice and research area for providing an environmentally sensitive urban development. In this study, mitigating strategies of urban heat island effects by urban design are investigated in Aksaray Square and surroundings in Istanbul. Aksaray is an important historical and commercial center of Istanbul, which has an increasing density due to be the node of urban transportation. Also, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality prepared an urban design project to respond the needs of growing population in the area for 2018. The purpose of the study is emphasizing the importance of urban design objectives and strategies that are developed to reduce the heat island effects on urban areas. Depending on this, the urban heat island effect of the area was examined based on the albedo (reflectivity) parameter which is the most effective parameter in the formation of the heat island effect in urban areas. Albedo values were calculated by Albedo Viewer web application model that was developed by Energy and Environmental Engineering Department of Kyushu University in Japan. Albedo parameter had examined for the present situation and the planned situation with urban design project. The results show that, the current area has urban heat island potential. With the Aksaray Square Project, the heat island effect on the area can be reduced, but would not be completely prevented. Therefore, urban design strategies had been developed to reduce the island effect in addition to the urban design project of the area. This study proves that urban design objectives and strategies are quite effective to reduce the heat island effects, which negatively affect the social environment and quality of life in urban areas.

Keywords: Albedo, urban design, urban heat island, sustainable design

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Authors: Abegunde Linda, Adedeji Oluwatola

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It has become increasingly evident that large developments influence the climate within the immediate region and there are concerns that rising temperatures over developed areas could have negative impact and increase living discomfort within city boundaries. Temperature trends in Ibadan city have received minor attention, yet the area has experienced heavy urban expansion between 1972 and 2014. This research aims at examining the impact of landuse change on temperature knowing that the built environment absorbs and stores solar energy, the temperature in cities can be several degrees higher than in adjacent rural areas. This is known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The Landsat imagery were used to examine the landuse change for a time period of 42years (1972-2014) and Land surface temperature (LST) was obtained by converting the thermal band to a surface temperature map and zonal statistic analyses was further used to examine the relationship between landuse and temperature emission. The results showed that the settlement area increased by 200km2 while the area covered by vegetation also reduced to about 42.6% during the study period. The spatial and temporal trends of temperature are related to the gradual change in urban landcover and the settlement area has the highest emission of land surface temperature. This research provides useful insight into the temporal behavior of the Ibadan city.

Keywords: landuse, LST, remote sensing, UHI

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Authors: Syedhossein Vakili

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According to the opinion of some experts, the world's two-spatialization means the establishment of a new virtual space and placing this new space next to the physical space. This dualization of space has left various effects, one of which is reducing the need for buildings and making the area of business premises economical through the use of virtual space instead of a part of physical space. In such a way that before the virtual space was known, a commercial or educational institution had to block a large part of its capital to acquire physical spaces and buildings in order to provide physical space and places needed for daily activities, but today, Thanks to the addition of the virtual space to the physical space, it has been possible to carry out its activities more widely in a limited environment with a minimum of physical space and drastically reduce costs. In order to understand the impact of virtual space on the reduction of physical space, the researcher used the official reports of the countries regarding the average area mentioned in the permits for the construction of commercial and educational units in the period from 2014 to 2023 and compared the average capital required for the absolute physical period with The period of two-spatialization of the world in the mentioned ten-year period, while using the analytical and comparative method, has proven that virtual space has greatly reduced the amount of investment of business owners to provide the required place for their activities by reducing the need for physical space. And economically, it has made commercial activities more profitable.

Keywords: two spatialization, building area, cyberspace, physical space, virtual place

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Authors: John G. Skelly, Peter K. Dearden, Thomas W. R. Harrop, Sarah N. Inwood, Joseph Guhlin

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The Argentine stem weevil (ASW; L. bonariensis) is an economically important pasture pest in New Zealand, which causes about $200 million of damage per annum. Microctonus hyperodae (Mh), a parasite of the ASW in its natural range in South America, was introduced into New Zealand to curb the pasture damage caused by the ASW. Mh is an endoparasitic wasp that lays its eggs in the ASW halting its reproduction. Mh was initially successful at preventing ASW proliferation and reducing pasture damage. The effectiveness of Mh has since declined due to decreased parasitism rates and has resulted in increased pasture damage. Although the mechanism through which ASW has developed resistance to Mh has not been discovered, it has been proposed to be due to the different reproductive modes used by Mh and the ASW in New Zealand. The ASW reproduces sexually, whereas Mh reproduces asexually, which has been hypothesised to have allowed the ASW to ‘out evolve’ Mh. Other species within the Microctonus genus reproduce both sexually and asexually. Strains of Microctonus aethiopoides (Ma), a species closely related to Mh, reproduce either by sexual or asexual reproduction. Comparing the genomes of sexual and asexual Microctonus may allow for the identification of the mechanism of asexual reproduction and other characteristics that may improve Mh as a biocontrol agent. The genomes of Mh and three strains of Ma, two of which reproduce sexually and one reproduces asexually, have been sequenced and annotated. The French (MaFR) and Moroccan (MaMO) reproduce sexually, whereas the Irish strain (MaIR) reproduces asexually. Like Mh, The Ma strains are also used as biocontrol agents, but for different weevil species. The genomes of Mh and MaIR were subsequently upgraded using Hi-C, resulting in a set of high quality, highly contiguous genomes. A subset of the genes involved in mitosis and meiosis, which have been identified though the use of Hidden Markov Models generated from genes involved in these processes in other Hymenoptera, have been catalogued in Mh and the strains of Ma. Meiosis and mitosis genes were broadly conserved in both sexual and asexual Microctonus species. This implies that either the asexual species have retained a subset of the molecular components required for sexual reproduction or that the molecular mechanisms of mitosis and meiosis are different or differently regulated in Microctonus to other insect species in which these mechanisms are more broadly characterised. Bioinformatic analysis of the chemoreceptor compliment in Microctonus has revealed some variation in the number of olfactory receptors, which may be related to host preference. Phylogenetic analysis of olfactory receptors highlights variation, which may be able to explain different host range preferences in the Microctonus. Hi-C clustering implies that Mh has 12 chromosomes, and MaIR has 8. Hence there may be variation in gene regulation between species. Genome alignment of Mh and MaIR implies that there may be large scale genome structural variation. Greater insight into the genetics of these agriculturally important group of parasitic wasps may be beneficial in restoring or maintaining their biocontrol efficacy.

Keywords: argentine stem weevil, asexual, genomics, Microctonus hyperodae

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Authors: Maher J. Tadros, Yaseen Ananbeh

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The study area is located in Ajluon Forest Reserve northern part of Jordan. It consists of Mediterranean hills dominated by open woodlands of oak and pistachio. The aims of the study were to investigate the positive and negative relationships between the locals and the protected area and how it can affect the long-term forest conservation. The main research objectives are to review the impact of establishing Ajloun Forest Reserve on nature conservation and on the livelihood level of local communities around the reserve. The Ajloun forest reserve plays a fundamental role in Ajloun area development. The existence of initiatives of nature conservation in the area supports various socio-economic activities around the reserve that contribute towards the development of local communities in Ajloun area. A part of this research was to conduct a survey to study the impact of Ajloun forest reserve on biodiversity composition. Also, studying the biodiversity content especially for vegetation to determine the economic impacts of Ajloun forest reserve on its surroundings was studied. In this study, several methods were used to fill the objectives including point-centered quarter method which involves selecting randomly 50 plots at the study site. The collected data from the field showed that the absolute density was (1031.24 plant per hectare). Density was recorded and found to be the highest for Quecus coccifera, and relative density of (73.7%), this was followed by Arbutus andrachne and relative density (7.1%), Pistacia palaestina and relative density (10.5%) and Crataegus azarulus (82.5 p/ha) and relative density (5.1%),

Keywords: composition, density, frequency, importance value, point-centered quarter, structure, tree cover

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Authors: Yousuf Al Suleimani, Ahmed Al Mahruqi

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A typical cannabinoid O-1602 induces vasorelaxation and activates the orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR55 in human endothelial cells. The aim of this study is to characterize the mechanisms of endothelium-independent relaxation of O-1602 in the rat small mesenteric artery using wire myograph. In endothelium-denuded vessels, O-1602 partially produced concentration-dependent vasorelaxation. In vessels depleted of intracellular Ca2+ (by EGTA and methoxamine), CaCl2 produced concentration-dependent contraction. Preincubation with O-1602 (at 10 µM and 30 µM) abolished the contractile responses (P<0.01). The putative antagonist at novel “endothelial anandamide receptor” O-1918 (10 µM) significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of O-1602 on CaCl2-induced vasoconstriction. It is likely that the mechanism of endothelium-independent vasorelaxation to O-1602 is mediated by interfering with Ca2+ entry via an O-1918-sensitive pathway.

Keywords: O-1602, endothelium, vasorelaxation, calcium

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Authors: Tokuei Sako, Paul-Antoine Hervieux

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The energy-level structure of a pair of electron and positron confined in a quasi-one-dimensional nano-scale potential well has been investigated focusing on its trend in the small limit of confinement strength ω, namely, the Wigner molecular regime. An anisotropic Gaussian-type basis functions supplemented by high angular momentum functions as large as l = 19 has been used to obtain reliable full configuration interaction (FCI) wave functions. The resultant energy spectrum shows a band structure characterized by ω for the large ω regime whereas for the small ω regime it shows an energy-level pattern dominated by excitation into the in-phase motion of the two particles. The observed trend has been rationalized on the basis of the nodal patterns of the FCI wave functions.

Keywords: confined systems, positron, wave function, Wigner molecule, quantum dots

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Authors: Abdelaziz Hussien

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This article reports investigations of a study into the effectiveness of a traits cooperative learning (TCL) on teacher candidates’ writing achievement, composition, and attitudes towards traits of writing approach and small group learning. Mixed methodologies were used with the participants in a repeated measures quasi-experimental design. Forty-two class teacher candidates, enrolled in the Bahrain Teachers College, completed the pre and post author-developed measures. The results suggest that TCL has a positive effect on the participants’ writing achievement, composition, and attitudes towards traits of writing approach, but not on the attitudes towards small group learning. Further implications to teacher education are presented.

Keywords: trait-based language education, cooperative learning, writing achievement, writing composition, traits of writing, teacher education

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Authors: Muhammad Yusuf Abduh, Robert Manurung, Hero Jan Heeres

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Biodiesel can be produced in small scale mobile units which are designed with local input and demand. Unlike the typical biodiesel production plants, mobile biodiesel unit consiss of a biodiesel production facility placed inside a standard cargo container and mounted on a truck so that it can be transported to a region near the location of raw materials. In this paper, we review the existing concept and unit for the development of community-scale and mobile production of biodiesel. This includes the main reactor technology to produce biodiesel as well as the pre-treatment prior to the reaction unit. The pre-treatment includes the oil-expeller unit to obtain oil from the oilseeds as well as the quality control of the oil before it enters the reaction unit. This paper also discusses the post-treatment after the production of biodiesel. It includes the refining and purification of biodiesel to meet the product specification set by the biodiesel industry.

Keywords: biodiesel, community scale, mobile biodiesel unit, reactor technology

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Authors: H. M. Ross-McAlpine

Abstract:

Much of what is written on diplomacy, globalization and the global economy addresses the changing nature of relationships between major powers. While the most dramatic and influential changes have resulted from these developing relationships the world is not, on deeper inspection, governed neatly by major powers. Due to advances in technology, the shifting balance of power and a changing geopolitical order, small states have the ability to exercise a greater influence than ever before. Increasingly interdependent and ever complex, our world is too delicate to be handled by a mighty few. The pressure of global change requires small states to adapt their diplomatic practices and diversify their strategic alliances and relationships. The nature and practice of diplomacy must be re-evaluated in light of the pressures resulting from globalization. This research examines: how small states can best secure their foreign policy objectives? Small state theory is used as a foundation for exploring the case study of New Zealand. The research draws on secondary sources to evaluate the existing theory in relation to modern practices of diplomacy. As New Zealand lacks the required economic and military power to play an active, influential role in international affairs what strategies are used to exert influence? Furthermore, New Zealand lies in a remote corner of the Pacific and is geographically isolated from its nearest neighbors how does this affect security and trade priorities? The findings note a significant shift since the 1970’s in New Zealand’s diplomatic relations. This shift is arguably a direct result of globalization, regionalism and a growing independence from the traditional bi-lateral relationships. The need to source predictable trade, investment and technology are an essential driving force for New Zealand’s diplomatic relations. A lack of hard power aligns New Zealand’s prosperity with a secure, rules-based international system that increases the likelihood of a stable and secure global order. New Zealand’s diplomacy and prosperity has been intrinsically reliant on its reputation. A vital component of New Zealand’s diplomacy is preserving a reputation for integrity and global responsibility. It is the use of this soft power that facilitates the influence that New Zealand enjoys on the world stage. To weave a comprehensive network of successful diplomatic relationships, New Zealand must maintain a reputation of international credibility. Globalization has substantially influenced the practice of diplomacy for New Zealand. The current world order places economic and military might in the hands of a few, subsequently requiring smaller states to use other means for securing their interests. There are clear strategies evident in New Zealand’s diplomacy practice that draw attention to how other smaller states might best secure their foreign policy objectives. While these findings are limited, as with all case study research, there is value in applying the findings to other small states struggling to secure their interests in the wake of rapid globalization.

Keywords: diplomacy, foreign policy, globalisation, small state

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Authors: Qianwei Cheng, A. K. M. Mahbubur Rahman, Anis Sarker, Abu Bakar Siddik Nayem, Ovi Paul, Amin Ahsan Ali, M. Ashraful Amin, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Moinul Zaber

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Thomas Friedman, in his famous book, argued that the world in this 21st century is flat and will continue to be flatter. This is attributed to rapid globalization and the interdependence of humanity that engendered tremendous in-flow of human migration towards the urban spaces. In order to keep the urban environment sustainable, policy makers need to plan based on extensive analysis of the urban environment. With the advent of high definition satellite images, high resolution data, computational methods such as deep neural network analysis, and hardware capable of high-speed analysis; urban planning is seeing a paradigm shift. Legacy data on urban environments are now being complemented with high-volume, high-frequency data. However, the first step of understanding urban space lies in useful categorization of the space that is usable for data collection, analysis, and visualization. In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily usable for machine analysis and show applicability of the methodology on a developing world setting. Categorization to plan sustainable urban spaces should encompass the buildings and their surroundings. However, the state-of-the-art is mostly dominated by classification of building structures, building types, etc. and largely represents the developed world. Hence, these methods and models are not sufficient for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the surrounding environment is crucial for the categorization. Moreover, these categorizations propose small-scale classifications, which give limited information, have poor scalability and are slow to compute in real time. Our proposed method is divided into two steps-categorization and automation. We categorize the urban area in terms of informal and formal spaces and take the surrounding environment into account. 50 km × 50 km Google Earth image of Dhaka, Bangladesh was visually annotated and categorized by an expert and consequently a map was drawn. The categorization is based broadly on two dimensions-the state of urbanization and the architectural form of urban environment. Consequently, the urban space is divided into four categories: 1) highly informal area; 2) moderately informal area; 3) moderately formal area; and 4) highly formal area. In total, sixteen sub-categories were identified. For semantic segmentation and automatic categorization, Google’s DeeplabV3+ model was used. The model uses Atrous convolution operation to analyze different layers of texture and shape. This allows us to enlarge the field of view of the filters to incorporate larger context. Image encompassing 70% of the urban space was used to train the model, and the remaining 30% was used for testing and validation. The model is able to segment with 75% accuracy and 60% Mean Intersection over Union (mIoU). In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily applicable for automatic use in both developing and developed world context. The method can be augmented for real-time socio-economic comparative analysis among cities. It can be an essential tool for the policy makers to plan future sustainable urban spaces.

Keywords: semantic segmentation, urban environment, deep learning, urban building, classification

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Authors: Augustine Osayande

Abstract:

This research is on Major Gullies Erosion Sites and Volume of Soil Loss in Edo State, Nigeria. The primary objective was to identify notable gullies sites and quantify the volume of soil loss in the study area. Direct field observation and measurement of gullies dimensions was done with the help of research assistants using a measuring tape, Camera and 3percent accuracy Global Positioning System (GPS). The result revealed that notable gullies in the area have resulted in the loss of lives and properties, destruction of arable lands and wastage of large areas of usable lands. Gullies in Edo North have Mean Volume of Soil Loss of 614, 763.33 m³, followed by Edo South with 79,604.76 m³ and Edo Central is 46,242.98 m³ and as such an average of 1,772, 888.7m3 of soil is lost annually in the study area due to gully erosion problem. The danger of gully erosion in helpless regions like Edo State called for urgent remedies in order to arrest the further loss of soil, buildings and other properties.

Keywords: Edo, magnitude, gully, volume, soil, sloss

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Authors: Ahmed Tarek, Ahmed Alveed

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Vehicle routing problem is a well-known re-search avenue in computing. Modern vehicle routing is more focused with the GPS-based coordinate system, as the state-of-the-art vehicle, and trucking systems are equipped with digital navigation. In this paper, a new two dimensional coordinate-based algorithm for addressing the vehicle routing problem for a supply chain network is proposed and explored, and the algorithm is compared with other available, and recently devised heuristics. For the algorithms discussed, which includes the pro-posed coordinate-based search heuristic as well, the advantages and the disadvantages associated with the heuristics are explored. The proposed algorithm is studied from the stand point of a small supermarket chain delivery network that supplies to its stores in four different states around the East Coast area, and is trying to optimize its trucking delivery cost. Minimizing the delivery cost for the supply network of a supermarket chain is important to ensure its business success.

Keywords: coordinate-based optimal routing, Hamiltonian Circuit, heuristic algorithm, traveling salesman problem, vehicle routing problem

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Authors: Jeong Woo Kang, MiYoung Baek, Ki-Suk Kim, Kwang-Jick Lee, ByungJae So

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Introduction: A fast, easy and sensitive detection method was developed and validated by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of marbofloxacin in pig plasma which was further applied to study the pharmacokinetics of marbofloxacin. Materials and Methods: The plasma sample (500 μL) was mixed with 1.5 ml of 0.1% formic acid in MeCN to precipitate plasma proteins. After shaking for 20 min, The mixture was centrifuged at 5,000 × g for 30 min. It was dried under a nitrogen flow at 50℃. 500 μL aliquot of the sample was injected into the LC-MS/MS system. Chromatographic analysis was carried out mobile phase gradient consisting 0.1% formic acid in D.W. (A) and 0.1% formic acid in MeCN (B) with C18 reverse phase column. Mass spectrometry was performed using the positive ion mode and the selected ion monitoring (MRM). Results and Conclusions: The method validation was performed in the sample matrix. Good linearities (R2>0.999) were observed and the quantified average recoveries of marbofloxacin were 87 - 92% at level of 10 ng g-1 -100 ng g-1. The percent of coefficient of variation (CV) for the described method was less than 10 % over the range of concentrations studied. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 2 and 5 ng g-1, respectively. This method has also been applied successfully to pharmacokinetic analysis of marbofloxacin after intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) and oral administration (PO). The mean peak plasma concentration (Cmax) was 2,597 ng g-1at 0.25 h, 2,587 ng g-1at 0.44 h and 2,355 ng g-1at 1.58 h for IV, IM and PO, respectively. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0–t) was 24.8, 29.0 and 25.2 h μg/mL for IV, IM and PO, respectively. The elimination half-life (T1/2) was 8.6, 13.1 and 9.5 for IV, IM and PO, respectively. Bioavailability (F) of the marbofloxacin in pig was 117 and 101 % for IM and PO, respectively. Based on these result, marbofloxacin does not have any obstacles as therapeutics to develop the oral formulations such as tablets and capsules.

Keywords: marbofloxacin, LC-MS/MS, pharmacokinetics, chromatographic

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Authors: Gunalan Vasudevan

Abstract:

The Malaysia construction industry generates a large quantity of construction and demolition waste nowadays. In the handbook for demolition work only comprised small portion of demolition waste management. It is important to study and determine the ways to provide a practical guide for the professional in the building industry about handling the demolition waste. In general, demolition defined as tearing down or wrecking of structural work or architectural work of the building and other infrastructures work such as road, bridge and etc. It’s a common misconception that demolition is nothing more than taking down a structure and carrying the debris to a landfill. On many projects, 80-90% of the structure is kept for reuse or recycling which help the owner to save cost. Demolition contractors required a lot of knowledge and experience to minimize the impact of demolition work to the existing surrounding area. For data collecting method, postal questionnaires and interviews have been selected to collect data. Questionnaires have distributed to 80 respondents from the construction industry in Klang Valley. 67 of 80 respondents have replied the questionnaire while 4 people have interviewed. Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science version 17.0 were used to analyze the data collected.

Keywords: demolition, waste management, construction material, Malaysia

Procedia PDF Downloads 427