Search results for: high critical temperature

Authors: Sergio N. P. Laitón, Paulo G. P. Toro, João F. Martos

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A numerical study has been carried out to investigate the flow characteristics and performance of the 14-X B inlet with blunted cowl-lip. The Brazilian aerospace hypersonic vehicle 14-X B is a technology demonstrator of a hypersonic air-breathing propulsion system, based on supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet). It is designed for Earth's atmospheric flight at Mach number of 6 and an altitude of 30 km. Currently, it is under development in the aerothermodynamics and hypersonic Professor Henry T. Nagamatsu laboratory at Advanced Studies Institute (IEAv). Numerical simulations were conducted at nominal freestream Mach number and altitude for two cowl-lip blunting radius and several angles of attack close to horizontal flight. The results show that the shock interference behavior on the blunted cowl-lip change with the angle of attack and blunted radius. The type VI or V together with III shock interferences are more likely to occur simultaneously at small negative angles of attack. When the inlet operates in positive angles of attack higher to 1, no shock interference occurs, only the bow shock conditions. The results indicate a high air pressure at beginning of the combustor and higher pressure recovery with 2 mm radius and positives angles of attack.

Keywords: blunted cowl-lip, hypersonic inlet, inlet unstart, shock interference

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Authors: Emmy Pratiwi, Ketut B. Artana, A. A. B. Dinariyana

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Madura Strait is considered as one of the busiest shipping channels in Indonesia. High vessel traffic density in Madura Strait gives serious threat due to navigational safety in this area, i.e. ship collision. This study is necessary as an attempt to enhance the safety of marine traffic. Fuzzy inference system (FIS) is proposed to calculate risk collision of ships. Collision risk is evaluated based on ship domain, Distance to Closest Point of Approach (DCPA), and Time to Closest Point of Approach (TCPA). Data were collected by utilizing Automatic Identification System (AIS). This study considers several ships’ domain models to give the characteristic of marine traffic in the waterways. Each encounter in the ship domain is analyzed to obtain the level of collision risk. Risk level of ships, as the result in this study, can be used as guidance to avoid the accident, providing brief description about safety traffic in Madura Strait and improving the navigational safety in the area.

Keywords: automatic identification system, collision risk, DCPA, fuzzy inference system, TCPA

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Authors: Sagarjyoti Roy

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Dengue is an arboviral infection, belonging to family flaviviridae, comprising of four serotypes; DENV1, DENV2, DENV3 and DENV4. All four serotypes are capable of causing full-spectrum of clinical features, ranging from self-limiting fever to severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Complications may affect any organ system, including those involving gastrointestinal system and serositis. We report a case, of a 28 years, non-alcoholic male, presenting with a 7 day history of fever and malaise followed by abdominal pain and distension, from 4th day of fever. He was admitted in medicine department of RG KAR medical college hospital. Dengue fever was confirmed by NS1 and dengue IgM positivity. Platelet count was 30,000/cc (1.5- 4 lac/cc) and haematocrit was 52% (38- 50% for men). Clinicoradiological findings revealed bilateral pleural effusion, ascites and splenomegaly. Ascitic fluid was hemorrhagic in nature, with a high protein and RBC content. Liver function tests revealed mild transaminitis with normal coagulation profile. Patient was managed conservatively. A diagnosis of dengue fever complicated by serositis and spontaneous haemoperitoneum was made. The symptoms subsided after a hospital stay of 10 days. The case highlights haemorrhage into peritoneal cavity as a possible complication of dengue fever. Although a definite explanation requires more detailed studies, platelet or endothelial cell dysfunction might be contributory.

Keywords: ascites, dengue, haemoperitoneum, serositis

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Authors: R. Pérez Castells, J. M. Carbajo

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Sepiolite is used as a processing aid in the manufacture of fibre cement from the start of the replacement of asbestos in the 80s. Sepiolite increases the inter-laminar bond between cement layers and improves homogeneity of the slurries. A new type of sepiolite processed product, Wollatrop TF/C, has been checked as a retention agent for fine particles in the production of fibre cement in a Hatschek machine. The effect of Wollatrop T/FC on filtering and fine particle losses was studied as well as the interaction with anionic polyacrylamide and microsilica. The design of the experiments were factorial and the VDT equipment used for measuring retention and drainage was modified Rapid Köethen laboratory sheet former. Wollatrop TF/C increased the fine particle retention improving the economy of the process and reducing the accumulation of solids in recycled process water. At the same time, drainage time increased sharply at high concentration, however drainage time can be improved by adjusting APAM concentration. Wollatrop TF/C and microsilica are having very small interactions among them. Microsilica does not control fine particle losses while Wollatrop TF/C does efficiently. Further research on APAM type (molecular weight and anionic character) is advisable to improve drainage.

Keywords: drainage, fibre-reinforced cement, fine particle losses, flocculation, microsilica, sepiolite

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Authors: Syazreen N. Shair, Saiful A. Ishak, Aida Y. Yusof, Azizah Murad

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In this paper, we forecast age-specific Malaysian mortality rates and life expectancy at births by gender and ethnic groups including Malay, Chinese and Indian. Two mortality forecasting models are adopted the original Lee-Carter model and its recent modified version, the product ratio coherent model. While the first forecasts the mortality rates for each subpopulation independently, the latter accounts for the relationship between sub-populations. The evaluation of both models is performed using the out-of-sample forecast errors which are mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) for mortality rates and mean forecast errors (MFE) for life expectancy at births. The best model is then used to perform the long-term forecasts up to the year 2030, the year when Malaysia is expected to become an aged nation. Results suggest that in terms of overall accuracy, the product ratio model performs better than the original Lee-Carter model. The association of lower mortality group (Chinese) in the subpopulation model can improve the forecasts of high mortality groups (Malay and Indian).

Keywords: coherent forecasts, life expectancy at births, Lee-Carter model, product-ratio model, mortality rates

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Authors: Wendy Kramer

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How and when a donor-conceived person (DCP) learns about their conception significantly affects their experiences and choices, including whether they'd consider using a donor or donating their own gametes. Objective: We sought to identify factors that positively and negatively impact the experience of being a DCP. We sought to determine if DCP would consider utilizing donor gametes themselves, if unable to conceive spontaneously and if DCP were likely to be donors themselves. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of adult DCP was disseminated to members of the Donor Sibling Registry. The survey consisted of 31 items, including whether experience as DCP was positive or negative, the willingness to use donor gametes if spontaneous conception was not an option, and questions regarding donating gametes. Results: 529 people (81.7% female) completed the survey, the median age was 28 years (range 18-77 years), and 94.7% were conceived via donor sperm. Most felt "neutral" (31.6%), "positive" (26.3%) or "very positive" (20.8%) about being a DCP regardless of donor type. While most found out about being a DCP after age 18 (63.4%), those with a positive experience were more likely to "have always known" (40.7%). Conclusions: People conceived by donor-assisted reproduction are more likely to have neutral to overall positive feelings surrounding their conception if they are told at a very young age about their donor-conceived origins by a family member. The majority of DCPs are willing to adopt but would not consider using donated gametes themselves if unable to conceive spontaneously. DCPs are not likely to become donors themselves despite the majority of DCP having a high positive feeling regarding being donor-conceived.

Keywords: donor conception, sperm donation, oocyte donation, donor-conceived people, infertility

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Authors: Laszlo Szerb, Zsofia Voros

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In this article, we seek to answer why many attempts to empirically link entrepreneurial self-efficacy to growth expectations have failed. While doing so, we reconcile the literature on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and overconfidence. By analyzing GEM APS (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey) data, we show that early-stage entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy statements are systematically inflated. Our results also indicate that entrepreneurial overconfidence is fading and its form changes as business owners learn and gather experience. In addition, by using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (2006) as a modeling framework, we illustrate that early stage business owners’ overconfidence results in overly high firm growth expectations. However, the changes in the form of overconfidence and the adjustments of expectations on market conditions as a venture ages alter the relationship between overconfidence and growth expectations across the business life-cycle stages. Overall, our study empirically links young entrepreneurs’ overconfidence to their growth expectations at the firm level. This link is important to establish as expected growth was linked to realized growth both on micro and macro levels. Moreover, we detected several moderators of this relationship providing a potential answer to why many studies failed to link entrepreneurial self-efficacy to growth expectations.

Keywords: self-efficacy, overconfidence, entrepreneurship, expected growth

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Authors: Littlelet N. Scarlet, Kamaluddin Abdur-Rashid, Paul T. Maragh, Tara Dasgupta

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Aminophosphines are a privileged class of ancillary ligands with emerging importance in homogeneous catalysis. The unique combination of soft phosphorus (P) and hard nitrogen (N) centres affords a variety of transition metal complexes as potential pre-catalysts for synthetically useful reactions. Herein three ligand systems will be reported; two bidentate ligands - (S)-8-(diphenyl-phosphino)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen-1-amine, (S)THNANH2, and (Rc)-1-((Sp)-2-diphenylphosphino) ferrocenylethylamine, (RcSp)PPFNH2 - and a tridentate (Rc)-1-((Sp)-2-diphenylphosphino) ferrocenylimino-pyridine, (RcSp)PPFNNH2 ligand; the latter prepared from the condensation of selected ferrocene aminophosphines with pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde. Suitable combinations of these aminophosphine ligands with ruthenium precursors have afforded highly efficient systems for the asymmetric hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of selected ketones in 2-propanol. The Ru-(S)THNANH2 precatalyst was the most efficient in the asymmetric hydrogenation of selected ketones with 100% conversions within 4 hours at a catalyst loading of 0.1 mol%. The Ru-(RcSp)PPFNNH2 precatalyst was the most efficient in the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of the ketones with conversions as high as 98% with 0.1 mol% catalyst. However, the enantioselectivities were generally low.

Keywords: aminophosphine, asymmetric hydrogenation, homogeneous catalysis, ruthenium (II), transfer hydrogenation

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Authors: Shashi Arya, Nand L. Singh, Samiksha Singh, Pradeep K. Mishra, Siddh N. Upadhyay

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The enormous generation of E- waste and its recycling have greater environmental concern especially in developing countries like India. A major part of this waste comprises printed circuit boards (PCBs). Edge trims of PCBs have high copper content ranging between 25-60%. The extraction of various metals out of these PCBs is more or less a proven technology, wherein various hazardous chemicals are being used in the resource recovery, resulting into secondary pollution. The current trend of extracting of valuable metals is the utilization of microbial strains to eliminate the problem of a secondary pollutant. Keeping the above context in mind, this work aims at the enhanced recovery of copper from edge trims, through bioleaching using bacterial strain Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. The raw material such as motherboards, hard drives, floppy drives and DVD drives were obtained from the warehouse of the University. More than 90% copper could be extracted through bioleaching using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Inoculate concentration has merely insignificant effect over copper recovery above 20% inoculate concentration. Higher concentration of inoculation has the only initial advantage up to 2-4 days. The complete recovery has been obtained between 14- 24 days.

Keywords: acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, bioleaching, e-waste, printed circuit boards

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Authors: Hanife Genç

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The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), is an economically important and endemic pest in olive (Oleae europae) orchards in Turkey. The aim of this study was to determine olive fruit fly infestation in different olive cultivars in the laboratory. Olive fly infested fruits were collected in Çanakkale province to establish wild fly population. After having reproductive olive fly colonies, 14 olive cultivars were tested in the controlled laboratory conditions, at 23±2 °C, 65% RH and 16:8 h (light: dark) photoperiod. The olive samples from 14 different olive cultivars were collected in October 2015, in Campus of Dardanos, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Observations were carried out detecting some biological parameters such as the number of oviposition stings, active infestation, total infestation, the number of pupae and the adult emergence. The results indicated that oviposition stings were not associated with pupal yield. A few pupae were found within olive fruits which were not able to exit. Screening of the varieties suggested that less susceptible cultivar to olive fruit fly attacks was Arbequin while Gemlik-2M 2/3 showed significant susceptibility. Ovipositional preference of olive fly females and the success of larval development in different olive varieties are crucial for establishing new olive orchards to prevent high olive fruit fly infestation.

Keywords: infestation, olive fruit fly, olive cultivars, oviposition sting

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Authors: Fawad Ali, Muhammad Ateeq, Ikhtiar Khan

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Ground water, a major source of drinking water supply in Peshawar has been severely contaminated by leather tanning industry. Effluents from the tanneries contain high concentration of chromium besides several other chemical species. Release of untreated effluents from the tanning industry has severely damaged surface and ground water, agriculture soil as well as vegetables and crops. Chromium is a well-known carcinogenic and mutagenic agent. Once in the human food chain, it causes multiple problems to the exposed population including various types of cancer, skin dermatitis, and DNA damage. In order to assess the extent of chromium and other heavy metals contamination, water samples were analyzed for heavy metals using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (GFAAS, Analyst 700, Perkin Elmer). Total concentration of chromium was above the permissible limit (0.048 mg/l) in 85% of the groundwater (drinking water) samples. The concentration of cobalt, manganese, cadmium, nickel, lead, zinc and iron was also determined in the ground water, surface water, agriculture soil, and vegetables samples from the affected area.

Keywords: heavy metals, soil, groundwater, tannery effluents, food chain

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Authors: S. Oladoyinbo, A. A. Tijani

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Multilevel inverters (MLI) are used at high power application based on their operation. There are 3 main types of multilevel inverters (MLI); diode clamped, flying capacitor and cascaded MLI. A cascaded MLI requires the least number of components to achieve same number of voltage levels when compared to other types of MLI while the flying capacitor has the minimum harmonic distortion. However, maximizing the advantage of cascaded H-bridge MLI and flying capacitor MLI, an improved MLI can be achieved with fewer components and better performance. In this paper an improved MLI is presented by asymmetrically integrating a flying capacitor to a cascaded H-bridge MLI also integrating an auxiliary transformer to the main transformer to decrease the total harmonics distortion (THD) with increased number of output voltage levels. Furthermore, the system is incorporated with a hybrid time and climate based solar panel cleaner and power selector which intelligently manage the input of the MLI and clean the solar panel weekly ensuring the environmental factor effect on the panel is reduced to minimum.

Keywords: multilevel inverter, total harmonics distortion, cascaded h-bridge inverter, flying capacitor

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Authors: Mohamed Sadek Bachene, Soraya Temim, Hassina Ainbaziz, Asma Bachene

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Coccidiosis has an economic impact for poultry and livestock. The current study examined the prevalence ofEimeria infections in domestic rabbits in Medea province, North of Algeria. A total of 414 faecal samples were collected from 50 farms in six regions of the province. Each faecal sample was subjected to oocyst counting andisolation. The Eimeria species from samples containing isolated and sporulatedoocysts were morphologically identified microscopically. The overall prevalence of coccidial infections was 47.6% (197/414). Weaners had the highest prevalence (77%, 77/100, p<0.0001), followed by growing rabbits (46.8%, 30/64), and the adult rabbits showed the lowest prevalence (36 %, 18/50). In breeding rabbits, females were more infected with a prevalence of40% (p<0.0001). Eleven rabbit Eimeria’s species were present and identified from oocyst positive samples. Eimeriamagna and Eimeria media were the most prevalent species (47.6% and 47.3%). Sulfonamides showed a better protection against rabbit coccidiosis than colistin and trimethoprim association (p< 0.0001, the prevalence of 23.3% vs.65.3%, respectively). These results indicated that the prevalence of coccidiosis is high among the rabbit population inMedea province, North of Algeria. As a conclusion, it seems that the epidemiological situation of rabbit coccidiosisin Medea province must be taken into consideration in order to minimize the economic losses caused by this parasitosis.

Keywords: eimeria, oryctolagus cuniculus, rabbit, sulfonamides

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Authors: Pongsiri Kingkan

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This research aims to study the Readiness of Thai Restaurant in Bangkok in Applying for Certification of Halal Food Services Standard for Tourism. This research was conduct by using mix methodology; both quantitative and qualitative data were used. 420 questionnaires were used as tools to collected data from the samples, the restaurant employees. The results were divided into two parts, the demographic data and the Readiness of Thai Restaurant in Bangkok in Applying for Certification of Halal Food Services Standard for Tourism. The majority of samples are single female age between 18–30 years old, who earn about 282.40 US dollars a month. The result of Thai restaurant readiness study demonstrated that readiness in foods and restaurant operating processes were scored at the lowest level. Readiness in social responsibility, food contact persons and food materials were rated at the low level. The readiness of utensils and kitchen tools, waste management, environmental management, and the availability of space to implement the establishment of halal food were scored at the average level. Location readiness, foods service safety and the relationship with the local community were rated at high level. But interestingly there is none of them rated at the highest level.

Keywords: availability, Bangkok, halal, Thai restaurant, readiness

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Authors: Daniel Rosero, Johan S. Arana, Sebastian Arango, Alejandro Cruz, Isabel Gomez-Gutierrez, Peter Thomson

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Santiago de Cali is located in the southwestern Colombia in a high seismic hazard zone. About 50% of the city is on the banks of the Cauca River, which is the second most important hydric affluent in the country and whose alluvial deposits contain potentially liquefiable sands. Among the methods used to study a site's liquefaction potential is the finite elements method which use constitutive models to simulate the soil response for different load types. Among the different constitutive models, the Modified UBCSand stands out to study the seismic behavior of sands, and especially the liquefaction phenomenon. In this paper, the dynamic behavior of a potentially liquefiable sand of Santiago de Cali is studied by cyclic triaxial and CPTu tests. Subsequently, the behavior of the sand is simulated using the Modified UBCSand constitutive model, whose parameters are calibrated using the results of cyclic triaxial and CPTu tests. The above with the aim of analyze the constitutive model applicability for studying the geotechnical problems associated to liquefaction in the city.

Keywords: constitutive model, cyclic triaxial test, dynamic behavior, liquefiable sand, modified ubcsand

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Authors: N. Boukabcha, Y. Megrouss, N. Benhalima, S. Yahiaoui, A. Chouaih, F. Hamzaoui

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We present the electron density analysis of organic compound 4-methyl-N-[(5- nitrothiophen-2-ylmethylidene)] aniline with chemical formula C12H10N2O2S. Indeed, determining the electrostatic properties of nonlinear optical organic compounds requires knowledge of the distribution of the electron density with high precision. On the other hand, a structural analysis is performed. Two methods are used to obtain the structure, X-ray diffraction and theoretical calculation with density functional theory (DFT). The electron density study is performed using the Mopro program1503 based on the multipolar model of Hansen and Coppens. Electron density analysis allows determination of the value and orientation of the dipole moment. The net atomic charges, electrostatic potential and the molecular dipole moment have been determined in order to understand the nature of inter- and intramolecular charge transfer. The study reveals the nature of intermolecular interactions including charge transfer and hydrogen bonds in the title compound. Crystallographic data: monoclinic system - space group P21 / n. Celle parameters: a = 4.7606 (4) Å, b = 22.415 (2) Å, c = 10.7008 (15) Å, β = 92.566 (13) 0, V = 1140.7 (2) Å3, Z = 4, R = 0.0034 for 2693 observed reflections.

Keywords: electron density, dipole moment, electrostatic potential, DFT, Mopro

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Authors: D. Sengani, N. Potgieter, P. E. L. Mojapelo

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Three bacteria species which comprise of Gram negative and Gram positive microorganisms were isolated and identified on the basis of morpho-cultural study, catalase tests, oxidase tests and biochemical characteristics were found belonging to different genera including Burkholderia cepacia, Pasteurella pneumotropica and Enterococcus faecalis. The main objective of this study was to isolate and identify PCB degrading bacteria from PCB contaminated soils and test them for their degradation ability of PCBs in natural habitat conditions. The results indicated an overall decrease of PCB concentration level with the gradient average ranging from 1.5 to 1.8 respectively. Enterococcus faecalis removed as much as 32% of PCBs in the contaminated soil samples. Whereas Pasteurella pneumotropica could remove 24% of PCBs, Burkholderia cepacia 21% of PCBs and the mixed culture removed 23%. Data showed that the three bacterial strains could tolerate high concentration of PCBs. The results provided the evidence that naturally occurring bacteria in soil contaminated with PCBs have the potential to degrade PCBs. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between bacteria growth and treatment with a coefficient of (r) =0.1459 and p value < 0.001.

Keywords: bacteria, bioaccumulation, biodegradation, bioremediation, polychlorinated biphenyls

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Authors: Muqaddas Butt, Allah Bakhsh Malik

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The changing educational environment, the diverse educational needs of students, the high expectations from the public, and the policy reports demand a strong change & innovation in the curriculum. Effective change and innovation could not be possible without the involvement of two major tenants i.e. teachers and educational managers. Thus, the locus of this research was to explore the secondary school principals and teachers priorities regarding change and innovation in curriculum. The main research objectives were included to explore the secondary school teachers’ and principals’ views about existing Humanities group curriculum; to identify their priorities regarding change and innovation in curriculum and to make a comparison between the priorities of both (the teachers & principals). A total sample of 150 Secondary school teachers and 24 principals from Federal Government Secondary Schools was drawn. The data was obtained through a five point Likert scale questionnaire. The findings indicated a huge difference between principals and teachers priorities. Related to prevailed curriculum, teachers showed more satisfactory views than principals. It was also found that the principals in comparison with teachers showed more inclination towards change and innovation and emphasized on an interdisciplinary, practical and ICT Integrated curriculum. Inclusion of local environmental issues; creativity based and practical activities based curriculum; and orientation to citizenship education into curriculum were some of the aspects highly prioritized by both teachers and principals.

Keywords: curriculum change, curriculum innovation, humanities curriculum, curriculum priorities

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Authors: Shuai Yuan, Minxia Shi, Xu Zhang, Jianzhi Yang, Kangqi Tian, Yuzheng Ma

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The precise measurement of muscle activities is essential for understanding the function of various body movements. This work aims to develop a muscle magnetic field signal detection system based on mathematical analysis. Medical research has underscored that early detection of muscle atrophy, coupled with lifestyle adjustments such as dietary control and increased exercise, can significantly enhance muscle-related diseases. Currently, surface electromyography (sEMG) is widely employed in research as an early predictor of muscle atrophy. Nonetheless, the primary limitation of using sEMG to forecast muscle strength is its inability to directly measure the signals generated by muscles. Challenges arise from potential skin-electrode contact issues due to perspiration, leading to inaccurate signals or even signal loss. Additionally, resistance and phase are significantly impacted by adipose layers. The recent emergence of optically pumped magnetometers introduces a fresh avenue for bio-magnetic field measurement techniques. These magnetometers possess high sensitivity and obviate the need for a cryogenic environment unlike superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). They detect muscle magnetic field signals in the range of tens to thousands of femtoteslas (fT). The utilization of magnetometers for capturing muscle magnetic field signals remains unaffected by issues of perspiration and adipose layers. Since their introduction, optically pumped atomic magnetometers have found extensive application in exploring the magnetic fields of organs such as cardiac and brain magnetism. The optimal operation of these magnetometers necessitates an environment with an ultra-weak magnetic field. To achieve such an environment, researchers usually utilize a combination of active magnetic compensation technology with passive magnetic shielding technology. Passive magnetic shielding technology uses a magnetic shielding device built with high permeability materials to attenuate the external magnetic field to a few nT. Compared with more layers, the coils that can generate a reverse magnetic field to precisely compensate for the residual magnetic fields are cheaper and more flexible. To attain even lower magnetic fields, compensation coils designed by Biot-Savart law are involved to generate a counteractive magnetic field to eliminate residual magnetic fields. By solving the magnetic field expression of discrete points in the target region, the parameters that determine the current density distribution on the plane can be obtained through the conventional target field method. The current density is obtained from the partial derivative of the stream function, which can be represented by the combination of trigonometric functions. Optimization algorithms in mathematics are introduced into coil design to obtain the optimal current density distribution. A one-dimensional linear regression analysis was performed on the collected data, obtaining a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.9349 with a p-value of 0. This statistical result indicates a stable relationship between the peak-to-peak value (PPV) of the muscle magnetic field signal and the magnitude of grip strength. This system is expected to be a widely used tool for healthcare professionals to gain deeper insights into the muscle health of their patients.

Keywords: muscle magnetic signal, magnetic shielding, compensation coils, trigonometric functions.

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Authors: Nizar Abu-Jaber

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Late Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate crusts in the south of Jordan were studied using a combination of field documentation, petrography, geochemical and isotopic techniques. These surficial crusts and vein deposits appear to have formed as a result of interaction between near-surface groundwater, surficial soil and sediments and rising carbon dioxide. Rising mantle CO2 dissolves in the water to create carbonic acid, which in turn dissolves the calcite in the soil in the sediments. When the pH rises later due to degassing, the carbonate crusts are left in the places where the water was flowing in veins, channels and interfaces between high and low permeability materials. The crusts have the potential for being important records of natural and human agencies on the landscape of the area. They reflect the isotopic composition of the waters in which they precipitated in, and also contain isotopic information about the aeolian calcium fluxes affecting the area (using strontium isotopes). Moreover, changing stream valley base levels can be identified and measured, which can help quantify the rates of tectonic movement. Finally, human activities such and channel construction and terrace building can be identified and traced temporally and spatially using these deposits.

Keywords: anthropogenic change, carbonate crusts, environmental change, Jordan

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Authors: Shahriar Farzam, Maryam Rastgarpour

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Image denoising plays extremely important role in digital image processing. Enhancement of clinical image research based on Curvelet has been developed rapidly in recent years. In this paper, we present a method for image contrast enhancement for cone beam CT (CBCT) images based on fast discrete curvelet transforms (FDCT) that work through Unequally Spaced Fast Fourier Transform (USFFT). These transforms return a table of Curvelet transform coefficients indexed by a scale parameter, an orientation and a spatial location. Accordingly, the coefficients obtained from FDCT-USFFT can be modified in order to enhance contrast in an image. Our proposed method first uses a two-dimensional mathematical transform, namely the FDCT through unequal-space fast Fourier transform on input image and then applies thresholding on coefficients of Curvelet to enhance the CBCT images. Consequently, applying unequal-space fast Fourier Transform leads to an accurate reconstruction of the image with high resolution. The experimental results indicate the performance of the proposed method is superior to the existing ones in terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Effective Measure of Enhancement (EME).

Keywords: curvelet transform, CBCT, image enhancement, image denoising

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Authors: Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh, Maryam Erfanmanesh, Sousan Ghasemi, Farzaneh Mohammadi

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Background: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), a public health problem, is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus and a member of the Hepacivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family. Liver cancer, cirrhosis, and end-stage liver are the outcomes of chronic infection with HCV. HCV isolates show significant heterogeneity in genetics around the world. Therefore, determining HCV genotypes is a vital step in determining prognosis and planning therapeutic strategies. Materials and Methods: Serum samples of 136 patients were collected and analyzed for anti-HCV antibodies using ELISA (The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method. Then, positive samples were exposed to RT-PCR, which was performed under standard condition. Afterwards, they investigated for genotyping using allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR), and HCV genotype 2.0 line probe assay (LiPA). Results: Samples indicated 216 bp bands on 2% agarose gel. Analyses of the results demonstrated that the most dominant subtype was 3a with frequency of 38.26% in Zanjan Province followed by subtypes of 1b, 1a, 2, and 4 with frequencies of 25.73%, 22.05%, 5.14%, and 4.41%, respectively. The frequency of unknown HCV genotypes was 4.41%. Conclusions: According to the results, it was found that HCV high prevalent genotype in Zanjan is subtype 3a. Analysis of the results provides identification of certain HCV genotypes, and these valuable findings could affect the type and duration of the treatment.

Keywords: anti-HCV antibody, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), genotype, RT-PCR, AS-PCR

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Authors: A. Brahma

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Drying is a phenomenon that accompanies the hardening of hydraulic materials. It can, if it is not prevented, lead to significant spontaneous dimensional variations, which the cracking is one of events. In this context, cracking promotes the transport of aggressive agents in the material, which can affect the durability of concrete structures. Drying shrinkage develops over a long period almost 30 years although most occurred during the first three years. Drying shrinkage stabilizes when the material is water balance with the external environment. The drying shrinkage of cementitious materials is due to the formation of capillary tensions in the pores of the material, which has the consequences of bringing the solid walls of each other. Knowledge of the shrinkage characteristics of concrete is a necessary starting point in the design of structures for crack control. Such knowledge will enable the designer to estimate the probable shrinkage movement in reinforced or prestressed concrete and the appropriate steps can be taken in design to accommodate this movement. This study is concerned the modelling of drying shrinkage of the hydraulic materials and the prediction of the rate of spontaneous deformations of hydraulic materials during hardening. The model developed takes in consideration the main factors affecting drying shrinkage. There was agreement between drying shrinkage predicted by the developed model and experimental results. In last we show that developed model describe the evolution of the drying shrinkage of high performances concretes correctly.

Keywords: drying, hydraulic concretes, shrinkage, modeling, prediction

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Authors: Angie M. Wolf, DeVone Boggan

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This paper highlights an innovative and nontraditional violence prevention program that is making a noticeable impact in what was once one of the country’s most violent communities. With unique and tailored strategies, the Operation Peacemaker Fellowship, established in Richmond, California, combines components of evidence-based practices with a community-oriented focus on relationships and mentoring to fill a gap in services and increase community safety. In an effort to highlight these unique strategies and provide a blueprint for other communities with violent crime problems, the authors of this paper hope to clearly delineate how one community is moving forward with vanguard approaches to invest in the lives of young men who once were labeled the communities’ most violent, even the most deadly, youth. The impact of this program is evidenced through the fellows’ own voices as they illuminate the experience of being in the Fellowship. In interviews, fellows’ describe how participating in this program has transformed their lives, and the lives of those they love. The authors of this article spent more than two years researching this Fellowship program in order to conduct an evaluation of it and, ultimately, to demonstrate how this program is a testament to the power of relationship and love combined with evidence-based practices, consequently enriching the lives of youth and the community that embraces them.

Keywords: gun violence prevention, high risk youth, law, policing justice

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Authors: Dionisios Panagiotaras, Dimitrios Papoulis, Elias Stathatos

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Microfibrous palygorskite and tubular halloysite clay mineral combined with nanocrystalline TiO2 are incorporating in the preparation of nanocomposite films on glass substrates via sol-gel route at 450 °C. The synthesis is employing nonionic surfactant molecule as pore directing agent along with acetic acid-based sol-gel route without addition of water molecules. Drying and thermal treatment of composite films ensure elimination of organic material lead to the formation of TiO2 nanoparticles homogeneously distributed on the palygorskite or halloysite surfaces. Nanocomposite films without cracks of active anatase crystal phase on palygorskite and halloysite surfaces are characterized by microscopy techniques, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and porosimetry methods in order to examine their structural properties. The composite palygorskite-TiO2 and halloysite-TiO2 films with variable quantities of palygorskite and halloysite were tested as photocatalysts in the photo-oxidation of Basic Blue 41 azo dye in water. These nanocomposite films proved to be most promising photocatalysts and highly effective to dye’s decoloration in spite of small amount of palygorskite -TiO2 or halloysite- TiO2 catalyst immobilized onto glass substrates mainly due to the high surface area and uniform distribution of TiO2 on clay minerals avoiding aggregation.

Keywords: halloysite, palygorskite, photocatalysis, titanium dioxide

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Authors: D. Pazder

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The main assumption of the study is to examine the coherence between two aspects of spatial planning important in Poland. The first one is the need to realize a participatory planning paradigm, and the second is a global trend of the pro-ecological orientation of city development. The aim of the research is the verification of the possibility of finding the right balance between economic and socio-spatial dimensions of urban redefinition, especially within public green areas. The significance of the examination lies in the fact that there are a huge anthropopressure and overinvestment in downtown areas of big Polish cities. The methodology used in the research of a case study was the three-layered comparative analyses of spatial planning documents, participatory planning undertakings, soft and hard actions concerning a given area in the period of 2008-2020. The main findings are that there is a lack of satisfactory cooperation between the municipality and local communities, a connection between soft actions and investment in green public space, inhabitants are of high ecological consciousness but not so concerned about spatial planning legislation. The conclusion is that it is needed to provide real participation in spatial planning processes so as to take advantage of local communities’ activity and to combine more top-down and bottom-up actions so as to integrate people and educate them on how to act in favor of a common good in democratic citizenship.

Keywords: placemaking, participatory planning, anesthetization, public greenery

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Authors: Mansoor Aslamzai, Delaqa Del, Sayed Azam Sajid

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Introduction: Though moral disorders have a high burden, there is no separate topic regarding this problem in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Along with the modification of WHO ICD-11, spirituality can prevent the rapid progress of such derangement as well. Objective: This study evaluated the effects of bad moral characters on health, as well as carried out the role of spirituality in the improvement of immorality. Method: This narrative article review was accomplished in 2020-2021 and the articles were searched through the Web of Science, PubMed, BMC, and Google scholar. Results: Based on the current review, most experimental and observational studies revealed significant negative effects of unwell moral characters on the overall aspects of health and well-being. Nowadays, a lot of studies established the positive role of spirituality in the improvement of health and moral disorder. The studies concluded, facilities must be available within schools, universities, and communities for everyone to learn the knowledge of spirituality and improve their unwell moral character world. Conclusion: Considering the negative relationship between unwell moral characters and well-being, the current study proposes the addition of moral disorder as a separate topic in the WHO International Classification of Diseases. Based on this literature review, spirituality will improve moral disorder and establish excellent moral traits.

Keywords: bad moral characters, effect, health, spirituality and well-being

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Authors: Kusno Kamil, Andi Asni, Sungkono

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According to a report of the World Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO): the post-harvest fish losses in Indonesia reaches 30 percent from 170 trillion rupiahs of marine fisheries reserves, then the potential loss reaches 51 trillion rupiahs (end of 2016 data). This condition is caused by traditionally vulnerable fish catches damaged due to disruption of the cold chain of preservation. The physical and chemical changes in fish flesh increase rapidly, especially if exposed to the scorching heat in the middle of the sea, exacerbated by the low awareness of catch hygiene; many unclean catches which contain blood are often treated without special attention and mixed with freshly caught fish, thereby increasing the potential for faster fish spoilage. This background encourages research on traditional fisherman catch preservation methods that aim to find the best and most affordable methods and/or combinations of fish preservation methods so that they can help fishermen increase their fishing duration without worrying that their catch will be damaged, thereby reducing their economic value when returning to the beach to sell their catches. This goal is expected to be achieved through experimental methods of treatment of fresh fish catches in containers with the addition of anti-bacterial copper, liquid smoke solution, and the use of vacuum containers. The other three treatments combined the three previous treatment variables with an electrically powered cooler (temperature 0~4 ᵒC). As a control specimen, the untreated fresh fish (placed in the open air and in the refrigerator) were also prepared for comparison for 1, 3, and 6 days. To test the level of freshness of fish for each treatment, physical observations were used, which were complemented by tests for bacterial content in a trusted laboratory. The content of copper (Cu) in fish meat (which is suspected of having a negative impact on consumers) was also part of the examination on the 6th day of experimentation. The results of physical observations on the test specimens (organoleptic method) showed that preservation assisted by the use of coolers was still better for all treatment variables. The specimens, without cooling, sequentially showed that the best preservation effectiveness was the addition of copper plates, the use of vacuum containers, and then liquid smoke immersion. Especially for liquid smoke, soaking for 6 days of preservation makes the fish meat soft and easy to crumble, even though it doesn't have a bad odor. The visual observation was then complemented by the results of testing the amount of growth (or retardation) of putrefactive bacteria in each treatment of test specimens within similar observation periods. Laboratory measurements report that the minimum amount of putrefactive bacteria achieved by preservation treatment combining cooler with liquid smoke (sample A+), then cooler only (D+), copper layer inside cooler (B+), vacuum container inside cooler (C+), respectively. Other treatments in open air produced a hundred times more putrefactive bacteria. In addition, treatment of the copper layer contaminated the preserved fresh fish more than a thousand times bigger compared to the initial amount, from 0.69 to 1241.68 µg/g.

Keywords: fish, preservation, traditional, fishermen, boat

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Authors: Hasan Furkan Kurt, Tugba Nur Atabey, Onat Cavit Dereli, Ahmad Salmanogli, H. Selcuk Gecim

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In the article, the main goal is to study the effect of the plasmonic properties on the photocurrent generated by a photodetector. Fundamentally, a typical photodetector is designed and simulated using the finite element methods. To utilize the plasmonic effect, gold nanoparticles with different shape, size and morphology are buried into the intrinsic region. Plasmonic effect is arisen through the interaction of the incoming light with nanoparticles by which electrical properties of the photodetector are manipulated. In fact, using plasmonic nanoparticles not only increases the absorption bandwidth of the incoming light, but also generates a high intensity near-field close to the plasmonic nanoparticles. Those properties strongly affect the generated photocurrent. The simulation results show that using plasmonic nanoparticles significantly enhances the electrical properties of the photodetectors. More importantly, one can easily manipulate the plasmonic properties of the gold nanoparticles through engineering the nanoparticles' size, shape and morphology. Another important phenomenon is plasmon-plasmon interaction inside the photodetector. It is shown that plasmon-plasmon interaction improves the electron-hole generation rate by which the rate of the current generation is severely enhanced. This is the key factor that we want to focus on, to improve the photodetector electrical properties.

Keywords: plasmonic photodetector, plasmon-plasmon interaction, Gold nanoparticle, electrical properties

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Authors: Manish Saha, Manish Kumar Niranjan, Saket Asthana

Abstract:

The K₀.₅Na₀.₅NbO₃ (KNN) system has emerged as one of the most promising lead-free piezoelectric over the years. In this work, we perform a comprehensive investigation of electronic structure, lattice dynamics and dielectric/ferroelectric properties of the room temperature phase of KNN by combining ab-initio DFT-based theoretical analysis and experimental characterization. We assign the symmetry labels to KNN vibrational modes and obtain ab-initio polarized Raman spectra, Infrared (IR) reflectivity, Born-effective charge tensors, oscillator strengths etc. The computed Raman spectrum is found to agree well with the experimental spectrum. In particular, the results suggest that the mode in the range ~840-870 cm-¹ reported in the experimental studies is longitudinal optical (LO) with A_1 symmetry. The Raman mode intensities are calculated for different light polarization set-ups, which suggests the observation of different symmetry modes in different polarization set-ups. The electronic structure of KNN is investigated, and an optical absorption spectrum is obtained. Further, the performances of DFT semi-local, metal-GGA and hybrid exchange-correlations (XC) functionals, in the estimation of KNN band gaps are investigated. The KNN bandgap computed using GGA-1/2 and HSE06 hybrid functional schemes are found to be in excellant agreement with the experimental value. The COHP, electron localization function and Bader charge analysis is also performed to deduce the nature of chemical bonding in the KNN. The solid-state reaction and hydrothermal methods are used to prepare the KNN ceramics, and the effects of grain size on the physical characteristics these ceramics are examined. A comprehensive study on the impact of different synthesis techniques on the structural, electrical, and photocatalytic properties of ferroelectric ceramics KNN. The KNN-S prepared by solid-state method have significantly larger grain size as compared to that for KNN-H prepared by hydrothermal method. Furthermore, the KNN-S is found to exhibit higher dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties as compared to KNN-H. On the other hand, the increased photocatalytic activity is observed in KNN-H as compared to KNN-S. As compared to the hydrothermal synthesis, the solid-state synthesis causes an increase in the relative dielectric permittivity (ε^') from 2394 to 3286, remnant polarization (P_r) from 15.38 to 20.41 μC/cm^², planer electromechanical coupling factor (k_p) from 0.19 to 0.28 and piezoelectric coefficient (d_33) from 88 to 125 pC/N. The KNN-S ceramics are also found to have a lower leakage current density, and higher grain resistance than KNN-H ceramic. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of KNN-H is attributed to relatively smaller particle sizes. The KNN-S and KNN-H samples are found to have degradation efficiencies of RhB solution of 20% and 65%, respectively. The experimental study highlights the importance of synthesis methods and how these can be exploited to tailor the dielectric, piezoelectric and photocatalytic properties of KNN. Overall, our study provides several bench-mark important results on KNN that have not been reported so far.

Keywords: lead-free piezoelectric, Raman intensity spectrum, electronic structure, first-principles calculations, solid state synthesis, photocatalysis, hydrothermal synthesis

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