Search results for: precipitation concentration index (PCI)

Authors: Vagisha Rawal, Anupam V. Sharma, Tarun Kumar Vats, Ashok Kumar Singh

Abstract:

The antifeedant activity of methanol and hexane extract of leaves and seeds of Datura innoxia (Mill.) (Solanaceae) was evaluated against the 5th instar Spodoptera litura (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae in choice and no-choice leaf disc bioassays under laboratory conditions. These larvae when given a choice between the ‘control’ and ‘treated’ leaf discs in choice bioassays, consumed significantly (p ˂ 0.05) greater area of the ‘control’ leaf discs compared to those treated with the crude extracts of leaves and seeds of D. innoxia. The Antifeedant Index (AFI) for 5% concentration of the hexane extract of Datura seeds (DSHE) was 43.3% and 38.5% for methanol extract of Datura seeds (DSME). On the other hand, these values were 34.1% for the hexane extract of Datura leaves (DLHE), and 31.0% for the methanol extract of Datura leaves (DLME), respectively. In no-choice bioassays also, there was a significant (p˂0.05) reduction in the larval consumption of ‘treated’ leaf discs compared to the ‘control’ leaf discs. Maximum AFI was recorded at 5% concentration of the extracts of both the leaves and seeds with 47.7% for DSHE against 40.0% (DSME) and 39.4% for DLHE compared with 38.4% (DLME). Moreover, DSHE was found to have the maximum antifeedant effect irrespective of its concentration in comparison to the other crude extracts of leaves or seeds of D. innoxia. It is evident from these results that the crude methanol and hexane extracts of leaves and seeds of D. innoxia exhibited potent antifeedant activity against the 5th instar S. litura larvae. Also, the use of the bioactive compound(s) present in these extracts can prove to be an effective, eco-friendly, viable and sustainable component that can be integrated in IPM programs for the management of this economically important polyphagous insect pest in the Indian subcontinent.

Keywords: antifeedant activity, antifeedant index, datura innoxia, spodoptera litura

Procedia PDF Downloads 522

Authors: Zhanfeng Ma, Zhiping Xiong, Hu Yin, Zhengwei She, Aditya P. Gurajada, Tianlun Chen, Ying Li

Abstract:

Many RDBMS vendors use B-tree index to achieve high performance for point queries and range queries, and some of them also employ hash index to further enhance the performance as hash table is more efficient for point queries. However, there are extra overheads to maintain a separate hash index, for example, hash mapping for all data records must always be maintained, which results in more memory space consumption; locking, logging and other mechanisms are needed to guarantee ACID, which affects the concurrency and scalability of the system. To relieve the overheads, Hash Cached B-tree (HCB) index is proposed in this paper, which consists of a standard disk-based B-tree index and an additional in-memory lock-free hash table. Initially, only the B-tree index is constructed for all data records, the hash table is built on the fly based on runtime workload, only data records accessed by point queries are indexed using hash table, this helps reduce the memory footprint. Changes to hash table are done using compare-and-swap (CAS) without performing locking and logging, this helps improve the concurrency and avoid contention. The hash table is also optimized to be cache conscious. HCB index is implemented in SAP ASE database, compared with the standard B-tree index, early experiments and customer adoptions show significant performance improvement. This paper provides an overview of the design of HCB index and reports the experimental results.

Keywords: B-tree, compare-and-swap, lock-free hash table, point queries, range queries, SAP ASE database

Procedia PDF Downloads 288

Authors: Enikő Bene

Abstract:

Our sowing date experiment took place in the Demonstration Garden of Institution of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Center of University of Debrecen, in 2012-2014. The thesis contains data of test year 2014. Our purpose, besides several other examinations, was to observe how sowing date influences leaf area index and activity of photosynthesis of maize hybrids, and how those factors affect fruiting. In the experiment we monitored the change of the leaf area index and the photosynthesis of hybrids with four different growing seasons. The results obtained confirm that not only the environmental and agricultural factors in the growing season have effect on the yield, but also other factors like the leaf area index and the photosynthesis are determinative parameters, and all those factors together, modifying effects of each other, develop average yields

Keywords: sowing date, hybrid, leaf area index, photosynthetic capacity

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: Dongjoo Kim, Chang-Sik Son, Won-Seok Kang

Abstract:

Adequate sleep affects various parts of one’s overall physical and mental life. As one of the methods in determining the appropriate amount of sleep, this research presents a heart rate based sleep quality index. In order to evaluate sleep quality using the heart rate, sleep data from 280 subjects taken over one month are used. Their sleep data are categorized by a three-part heart rate range. After categorizing, some features are extracted, and the statistical significances are verified for these features. The results show that some features of this sleep quality index model have statistical significance. Thus, this heart rate based sleep quality index may be a useful discriminator of sleep.

Keywords: sleep, sleep quality, heart rate, statistical analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Sudarat Jiamyangyuen, Tipawan Thongsook, Riantong Singanusong, Chanida Saengtubtim

Abstract:

Rice is a staple food as well as exported commodity of Thailand. Rice bran, a 10.5% constituent of rice grain, is a by-product of rice milling process. Rice bran is normally used as a raw material for rice bran oil production or sold as feed with a low price. Therefore, this study aimed to increase value of defatted rice bran as obtained after extracting of rice bran oil. Conventionally, the protein in defatted rice bran was extracted using alkaline extraction and acid precipitation, which results in reduction of nutritious components in rice bran. Rice bran protein concentrate is suitable for those who are allergenic of protein from other sources eg. milk, wheat. In addition to its hypoallergenic property, rice bran protein also contains good quantity of lysine. Thus it may act as a suitable ingredient for infant food formulations while adding variety to the restricted diets of children with food allergies. The objectives of this study were to compare properties of rice bran protein concentrate (RBPC) extracted from defatted rice bran using enzymes together with precipitation step using polysaccharides (alginate and carrageenan) to those of a control sample extracted using a conventional method. The results showed that extraction of protein from rice bran using enzymes exhibited the higher protein recovery compared to that extraction with alkaline. The extraction conditions using alcalase 2% (v/w) at 50 C, pH 9.5 gave the highest protein (2.44%) and yield (32.09%) in extracted solution compared to other enzymes. Rice bran protein concentrate powder prepared by a precipitation step using alginate (protein in solution: alginate 1:0.006) exhibited the highest protein (27.55%) and yield (6.62%). Precipitation using alginate was better than that of acid. RBPC extracted with alkaline (ALK) or enzyme alcalase (ALC), then precipitated with alginate (AL) (samples RBP-ALK-AL and RBP-ALC-AL) yielded the precipitation rate of 75% and 91.30%, respectively. Therefore, protein precipitation using alginate was then selected. Amino acid profile of control sample, and sample precipitated with alginate, as compared to casein and soy protein isolated, showed that control sample showed the highest content among all sample. Functional property study of RBP showed that the highest nitrogen solubility occurred in pH 8-10. There was no statically significant between emulsion capacity and emulsion stability of control and sample precipitated by alginate. However, control sample showed a higher of foaming and lower foam stability compared to those of sample precipitated with alginate. The finding was successful in terms of minimizing chemicals used in extraction and precipitation steps in preparation of rice bran protein concentrate. This research involves in a production of value-added product in which the double amount of protein (28%) compared to original amount (14%) contained in rice bran could be beneficial in terms of adding to food products eg. healthy drink with high protein and fiber. In addition, the basic knowledge of functional property of rice bran protein concentrate was obtained, which can be used to appropriately select the application of this value-added product from rice bran.

Keywords: alginate, carrageenan, rice bran, rice bran protein

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Nassira Ouslimani

Abstract:

The electronic structure of transition metals gives them many catalytic possibilities in many types of reactions, particularly cobalt and molybdenum. It is in this context that this study is part of the synthesis and characterization of mass catalysts based on cobalt and molybdenum Co1₋xMoO4 (X=0 and X=0.5 and X=1). The two catalysts were prepared by Co-precipitation using ammonia as a precipitating agent and one by precipitation. The samples obtained were analyzed by numerous physic-chemical analysis techniques: ATG-ATD-DSC, DRX-HT, SEM-EDX, and the elemental composition of the catalysts was verified by SAA as well as the FTIR. The ATG-DSC shows a mass loss for all the catalysts of approximately 8%, corresponding to the loss of water and the decomposition of nitrates. The DRX-HT analysis allows the detection of the two CoMoO4 phases with diffraction peaks which increase with the increase in temperature. The results of the FTIR analysis made it possible to highlight the vibration modes of the bonds of the structure of the prepared catalysts. The SEM images of the solids show very different textures with almost homogeneous surfaces with a more regular particle size distribution and a more defined grain shape. The EDX analysis showed the presence of the elements Co, Mo, and O in proportions very close to the nominal proportions. Finally, the actual composition, evaluated by SAA, is close to the theoretical composition fixed during the preparation. This testifies to the good conditions for the preparation of the catalysts by the co-precipitation method.

Keywords: catalytic, molybdenum, coprecipitation, cobalt, ammonia

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Mario Zgela

Abstract:

Application of Benford’s Law is very rarely covered in the field of stock market analysis, especially in percentage change of stock market indices. Deutscher Aktien IndeX (DAX) is very important stock market index of Frankfurt Deutsche Börse which serves as underlying basis for large number of financial instruments. It is calculated for selected 30 German blue chips stocks. In this paper, Benford's Law first digit test is applied on 10 year DAX daily percentage changes in order to check compliance. Deviations of 10 year DAX percentage changes set as well as distortions of certain subsets from Benford's Law distribution are detected. It is possible that deviations are the outcome of speculations; and psychological influence should not be eliminated.

Keywords: Benford's Law, DAX, index percentage changes, stock market

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Majid Javanmard

Abstract:

In this study, the effects of coating with whey protein concentrate (7.5% w/v) alone and/or in combination with rice bran oil (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 g in 100 ml coating solution) and Zataria multiflora extract (1 and 2 μL in 100 ml coating solution) on the quality attributes and egg shelf life were carefully observed and analyzed. Weight loss, Haugh index, yolk index, pH, air cell depth, shell strength and the impact of this coating on the microbial load of the eggs surface were studied at the end of each week (during the 4 weeks of storage in a room environment temperature and humidity). After 4 weeks of storage, it was observed that the weight loss in all of the treated eggs with whey protein concentrate and 0.2 gr of rice bran oil (experimental group) was significantly lower than that of the control group(P < 0/05). With regard to Haugh index and yolk index, egg shelf life increased about 4 weeks compared with the control samples. Haugh Index changes revealed that the coated samples remained at grade A after 3 weeks of storage, while the control samples were relegated from grade AA to B after one week. Haugh and yolk Indices in all coated eggs were more than those of the control group. In the coated groups, Haugh and yolk indices of the coated samples with whey protein concentrate and 0.2 g rice bran oil and with whey protein concentrate and 0.2g of rice bran oil and 1 micro liter of Zataria multiflora extract were more than those of the other coated eggs and the control group eggs. PH values of the control group were higher than those of the coated groups during the storage of the eggs. The shell strength of the coated group was more than that of the control group (uncoated) and in coated samples, whey protein concentrate and 0.2 gr of rice bran oil coated samples had high shell strength. In the other treatments, no significant differences were observed. The depth of the air cell of the coated groups was determined to be less than that of the control group during the storage period. The minimum inhibitory concentration was 1 μL of Zataria multiflora extract. The results showed that 1 μL concentration of Zataria multiflora extract reduces the microbial load of the egg shell surface to 87% and 2 μL reduced total bacterial load to zero. In sensory evaluation, from evaluator point of view, the coated eggs had more overall acceptance than the uncoated group (control), and in the treatment group coated eggs, those containing a low percentage of rice bran oil had higher overall acceptability. In conclusion, coating as a practical and cost effective method can maintain the quality parameters of eggs and lead to durability of supply conditions in addition to the product marketability.

Keywords: edible coating, chicken egg, whey protein concentrate, rice bran oil, Zataria multiflora extract, shelf life

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Claudeline D. Cellan

Abstract:

Development is multifaceted, and efforts to hasten growth in all these facets have been gaining traction in recent years. Thus, producing a composite index that is reflective of these multidimensional impacts captures the interests of policymakers. The problem lies in going through a mixture of theoretical, methodological and empirical decisions and complexities which, when done carelessly, can lead to inconsistent and unreliable results. This study looks into index computation from a different and less complex perspective. Borrowing the idea of archetypes or ‘pure types’, archetypal analysis looks for points in the convex hull of the multivariate data set that captures as much information in the data as possible. The archetypes or 'pure types' are estimated such that they are convex combinations of all the observations, which in turn are convex combinations of the archetypes. This ensures that the archetypes are realistically observable, therefore achievable. In the sense of composite indices, we look for the best among these archetypes and use this as a benchmark for index computation. Its straightforward and simplistic approach does away with aggregation and substitutability problems which are commonly encountered in index computation. As an example of the application of archetypal analysis in index construction, the country data for the Human Development Index (HDI 2017) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is used. The goal of this exercise is not to replicate the result of the UNDP-computed HDI, but to illustrate the usability of archetypal analysis in index construction. Here best is defined in the context of life, education and gross national income sub-indices. Results show that the HDI from the archetypal analysis has a linear relationship with the UNDP-computed HDI.

Keywords: archetypes, composite index, convex combination, development

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Karina Santos Silvério, Fátima Carvalho, Maria Adelaide Almeida

Abstract:

The impacts caused by anthropogenic actions on the water environment have been one of the main challenges of modern society. Population growth, added to water scarcity and climate change, points to a need to increase the resilience of production systems to increase efficiency regarding the management of wastewater generated in the different processes. Based on this context, the study developed under the NETA project (New Strategies in Wastewater Treatment) aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the Chemical Precipitation Process (CPP), using the hydrated lime (Ca(OH )₂) as a reagent in wastewater from the agroindustry sector, namely swine wastewater, slaughterhouse and urban wastewater, in order to make the productive means 100% circular, causing a direct positive impact on the environment. The purpose of CPP is to innovate in the field of effluent treatment technologies, as it allows rapid application and is economically profitable. In summary, the study was divided into four main stages: 1) Application of the reagent in a single step, raising the pH to 12.5 2) Obtaining sludge and treated effluent. 3) Natural neutralization of the effluent through Carbonation using atmospheric CO₂. 4) Characterization and evaluation of the feasibility of the chemical precipitation technique in the treatment of different wastewaters through the technique of determining the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and other supporting physical-chemical parameters. The results showed an approximate average removal efficiency above 80% for all effluents, highlighting the swine effluent with 90% removal, followed by urban effluent with 88% and slaughterhouse with 81% on average. Significant improvement was also obtained with regard to color and odor removal after Carbonation to pH 8.00.

Keywords: agroindustry wastewater, urban wastewater, natural carbonatation, chemical precipitation technique

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Nasrin Bakhshizadeh, Ashkan Forootan

Abstract:

A major problem that affects the quality control of polymer in the industrial polymerization is the lack of suitable on-line measurement tools to evaluate the properties of the polymer such as melt and density indices. Controlling the polymerization in ordinary method is performed manually by taking samples, measuring the quality of polymer in the lab and registry of results. This method is highly time consuming and leads to producing large number of incompatible products. An online application for estimating melt index and density proposed in this study is a neural network based on the input-output data of the polyethylene production plant. Temperature, the level of reactors' bed, the intensity of ethylene mass flow, hydrogen and butene-1, the molar concentration of ethylene, hydrogen and butene-1 are used for the process to establish the neural model. The neural network is taught based on the actual operational data and back-propagation and Levenberg-Marquart techniques. The simulated results indicate that the neural network process model established with three layers (one hidden layer) for forecasting the density and the four layers for the melt index is able to successfully predict those quality properties.

Keywords: polyethylene, polymerization, density, melt index, neural network

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Shokofeh Ebrtahimi

Abstract:

Let G be the chemical graph of a molecule. The matrix D = [dij ] is called the detour matrix of G, if dij is the length of longest path between atoms i and j. The sum of all entries above the main diagonal of D is called the detour index of G.Chemical graph theory is the topology branch of mathematical chemistry which applies graph theory to mathematical modelling of chemical phenomena.[1] The pioneers of the chemical graph theory are Alexandru Balaban, Ante Graovac, Ivan Gutman, Haruo Hosoya, Milan Randić and Nenad TrinajstićLet G be the chemical graph of a molecule. The matrix D = [dij ] is called the detour matrix of G, if dij is the length of longest path between atoms i and j. The sum of all entries above the main diagonal of D is called the detour index of G. In this paper, a new program for computing the detour index of molecular graphs of nanotubes by heptagons is determineded. Some Conjectures about detour index of Molecular graphs of nanotubes is included.

Keywords: chemical graph, detour matrix, Detour index, carbon nanotube

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: Flavia Cordeiro, Fabio Silva, Alvaro Eiras, Jose Luiz Acebal

Abstract:

Aedes aegypti is present in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is a vector of several diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika etc. The growth in the number of arboviruses cases in the last decades became a matter of great concern worldwide. Meteorological factors like mean temperature and precipitation are known to influence the infestation by the species through effects on physiology and ecology, altering the fecundity, mortality, lifespan, dispersion behaviour and abundance of the vector. Models able to describe the dynamics of the vector population size should then take into account the meteorological variables. The relationship between meteorological factors and the population dynamics of Ae. aegypti adult females are studied to provide a good set of predictors to model the dynamics of the mosquito population size. The time-series data of capture of adult females of a public health surveillance program from the city of Lavras, MG, Brazil had its association with precipitation, humidity and temperature analysed through a set of statistical methods for time series analysis commonly adopted in Signal Processing, Information Theory and Neuroscience. Cross-correlation, multicollinearity test and whitened cross-correlation were applied to determine in which time lags would occur the influence of meteorological variables on the dynamics of the mosquito abundance. Among the findings, the studied case indicated strong collinearity between humidity and precipitation, and precipitation was selected to form a pair of descriptors together with temperature. In the techniques used, there were observed significant associations between infestation indicators and both temperature and precipitation in short, mid and long terms, evincing that those variables should be considered in entomological models and as public health indicators. A descriptive model used to test the results exhibits a strong correlation to data.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, cross-correlation, multicollinearity, meteorological variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Varangkana Thaotumpitak, Jarukorn Sripradite, Saharuetai Jeamsripong

Abstract:

Environmental contamination from wastewater discharges originated from anthropogenic activities introduces the accumulation of enteropathogenic bacteria in aquatic animals, especially in oysters, and in shellfish harvesting areas. The consumption of raw or partially cooked oysters can be a risk for seafood-borne diseases in human. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the presence of Salmonella in oyster meat samples, and environmental factors (ambient air temperature, relative humidity, gust wind speed, average wind speed, tidal condition, precipitation and season) by using the principal component analysis (PCA). One hundred and forty-four oyster meat samples were collected from four oyster harvesting areas in Phang Nga province, Thailand from March 2016 to February 2017. The prevalence of Salmonella of each site was ranged from 25.0-36.11% in oyster meat. The results of PCA showed that ambient air temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation were main factors correlated with Salmonella detection in these oysters. Positive relationship was observed between positive Salmonella in the oysters and relative humidity (PC1=0.413) and precipitation (PC1=0.607), while the negative association was found between ambient air temperature (PC1=0.338) and the presence of Salmonella in oyster samples. These results suggested that lower temperature and higher precipitation and higher relative humidity will possibly effect on Salmonella contamination of oyster meat. During the high risk period, harvesting of oysters should be prohibited to reduce pathogenic bacteria contamination and to minimize a hazard of humans from Salmonellosis.

Keywords: oyster, Phang Nga Bay, principal component analysis, Salmonella

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: M. Mydlárová Blaščáková, J. Bernasovská, J. Poráčová, I. Boroňová

Abstract:

Obesity is frequent attendant phenomenon of patients with endocrinological disease. Between BMI and endocrinological diseases is close correlation. In thesis we focused on the allocation of hormone concentration – PTH and TSH, CHOL a mineral element Ca in a blood serum. The examined group was formed by 100 respondents (women) aged 36 – 83 years, who were divided into two groups – control group (CG), group with diagnosed endocrine disease (DED). The concentration of PTH and TSH, Ca and CHOL was measured through the medium of analyzers Cobas e411 (Japan); Cobas Integra 400 (Switzerland). At individuals was measured body weight as well as stature and thereupon from those data we enumerated BMI. On the basis of Student T-test in biochemical parameter of PTH and Ca we found out significantly meaningful difference (p<0,05) between CG and DED. In CG we made a founding the association between BMI and PTH by means of correlation analysis.

Keywords: biochemical markers, hormones, obesity, women

Procedia PDF Downloads 420

Authors: Natasha Correa Vitória Bandeira, Lais Cordeiro Soares, Claudineia Brazil, Luciane Teresa Salvi

Abstract:

The intense rain event that occurred between February 16 and 18, 2018, in the city of Barcarena in Pará, located in the North region of Brazil, demonstrates the importance of analyzing this type of event. The metropolitan mesoregion of Belem was severely punished by rains much above the averages normally expected for that time of year; this phenomenon affected, in addition to the capital, the municipalities of Barcarena, Murucupi and Muruçambá. Resulting in a great flood in the rivers of the region, whose basins were affected with great intensity of precipitation, causing concern for the local population because in this region, there are located companies that accumulate ore tailings, and in this specific case, the dam of any of these companies, leaching the ore to the water bodies of the Murucupi River Basin. This article aims to characterize this phenomenon through a special analysis of the distribution of rainfall, using data from atmospheric soundings, satellite images, radar images and data from the GPCP (Global Precipitation Climatology Project), in addition to rainfall stations located in the study region. The results of the work demonstrated a dissociation between the data measured in the meteorological stations and the other forms of analysis of this extreme event. Monitoring carried out solely on the basis of data from pluviometric stations is not sufficient for monitoring and/or diagnosing extreme weather events, and investment by the competent bodies is important to install a larger network of pluviometric stations sufficient to meet the demand in a given region.

Keywords: extreme precipitation, great flood, GPCP, ore dam

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Stefan W. Kienzle

Abstract:

The increasing number of occurrences of extreme weather and climate events have significant impacts on society and are the cause of continued and increasing loss of human and animal lives, loss or damage to property (houses, cars), and associated stresses to the public in coping with a changing climate. A climate index breaks down daily climate time series into meaningful derivatives, such as the annual number of frost days. Climate indices allow for the spatially consistent analysis of a wide range of climate-dependent variables, which enables the quantification and mapping of historical and future climate change across regions. As trends of phenomena such as the length of the growing season change differently in different hydro-climatological regions, mapping needs to be carried out at a high spatial resolution, such as the 10km by 10km Canadian Climate Grid, which has interpolated daily values from 1950 to 2017 for minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation. Climate indices form the basis for the analysis and comparison of means, extremes, trends, the quantification of changes, and their respective confidence levels. A total of 39 temperature indices and 16 precipitation indices were computed for the period 1951 to 2017 for the Province of Alberta. Temperature indices include the annual number of days with temperatures above or below certain threshold temperatures (0, +-10, +-20, +25, +30ºC), frost days, and timing of frost days, freeze-thaw days, growing or degree days, and energy demands for air conditioning and heating. Precipitation indices include daily and accumulated 3- and 5-day extremes, days with precipitation, period of days without precipitation, and snow and potential evapotranspiration. The rank-based nonparametric Mann-Kendall statistical test was used to determine the existence and significant levels of all associated trends. The slope of the trends was determined using the non-parametric Sen’s slope test. The Google mapping interface was developed to create the website albertaclimaterecords.com, from which beach of the 55 climate indices can be queried for any of the 6833 grid cells that make up Alberta. In addition to the climate indices, climate normals were calculated and mapped for four historical 30-year periods and one future period (1951-1980, 1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2017, 2041-2070). While winters have warmed since the 1950s by between 4 - 5°C in the South and 6 - 7°C in the North, summers are showing the weakest warming during the same period, ranging from about 0.5 - 1.5°C. New agricultural opportunities exist in central regions where the number of heat units and growing degree days are increasing, and the number of frost days is decreasing. While the number of days below -20ºC has about halved across Alberta, the growing season has expanded by between two and five weeks since the 1950s. Interestingly, both the number of days with heat waves and cold spells have doubled to four-folded during the same period. This research demonstrates the enormous potential of using climate indices at the best regional spatial resolution possible to enable society to understand historical and future climate changes of their region.

Keywords: climate change, climate indices, habitat risk, regional, mapping, extremes

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Helen Frialde-Dupale

Abstract:

Critical thinking Index (CTI) of 150 third year college students from five State Colleges and Universities (SUCs) in Region I were determined. Only students with Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 2.0 from four general classification of degree courses, namely: Education, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Agriculture were included. Specific problem No.1 dealt with the profile variables, namely: age, sex, degree course, monthly family income, number of siblings, high school graduated from, grade point average, personality type, highest educational attainment of parents, and occupation of parents. Problem No. 2 determined the critical thinking index among the respondents. Problem No. 3 investigated whether or not there are significant differences in the critical thinking index among the respondents across the profile variables. While problem No.4 determined whether or not there are significant relationship between the critical thinking index and selected profile variables, namely: age, monthly family income, number of siblings, and grade point average of the respondents. Finally, on problem No. 5, the critical thinking instrument which obtained the lowest rates, were used as basis for outlining an intervention program for enhancing critical thinking index (CTI) of students. The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance: there are no significant differences in the critical thinking index of the third college students across the profile variables; there are no significant relationships between the critical thinking index of the respondents and selected variables, namely: age, monthly family income, number of siblings, and grade point average.

Keywords: attitude as critical thinker, critical thinking applied, critical thinking index, self-perception as critical thinker

Procedia PDF Downloads 518

Authors: Yun Chen, David Penton, Fazlul Karim, Santosh Aryal, Shahriar Wahid, Peter Taylor, Susan M. Cuddy

Abstract:

Droughts have severely affected Afghanistan over the last four decades, leading to critical food shortages where two-thirds of the country’s population are in a food crisis. Long years of conflict have lowered the country’s ability to deal with hazards such as drought, which can rapidly escalate into disasters. Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of droughts is needed to be able to respond effectively to disasters and plan for future occurrences. This study used Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at monthly, seasonal, and annual temporal scales to map the spatiotemporal change dynamics of drought characteristics (distribution, frequency, duration, and severity) in Afghanistan. SPEI indices were mapped for river basins, disaggregated into 189 sub-catchments, using monthly precipitation and potential evapotranspiration derived from temperature station observations from 1980 to 2017. The results show these multi-dimensional drought characteristics vary along different years, change among sub-catchments, and differ across temporal scales. During the 38 years, the driest decade and period are the 2000s and 1999–2022, respectively. The 2000–01 water year is the driest, with the whole country experiencing ‘severe’ to ‘extreme’ drought, more than 53% (87 sub-catchments) suffering the worst drought in history, and about 58% (94 sub-catchments) having ‘very frequent’ drought (7 to 8 months) or ‘extremely frequent’ drought (9 to 10 months). The estimated seasonal duration and severity present significant variations across the study area and throughout the study period. The nation also suffered from recurring droughts with varying length and intensity in 2004, 2006, 2008, and, most recently, 2011. There is a trend towards increasing drought with longer duration and higher severity extending all over sub-catchments from southeast to north and central regions. These datasets and maps help to fill the knowledge gap on detailed sub-catchment scale meteorological drought characteristics in Afghanistan. The study findings improve our understanding of the influences of climate change on drought dynamics and can guide catchment planning for reliable adaptation to and mitigation against future droughts.

Keywords: SPEI, precipitation, evapotranspiration, climate extremes

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Rania Kassir, Christophe Dos Santos, Halim Abboud, Olivier Godefroy

Abstract:

The ability to communicate in at least two different languages is shared by a growing number of humans. Recently, many researchers have been studying the elderly bilingual population around the world in neuroscience, and yet, until today there’s no accurate nor universal measure or methodology used to examine bilingualism across these studies which constitute a real challenge for results generalization. This study contributes to the quest of a multidimensional bilingualism index and language proficiency literature by investigating a new bilingualism index from a reliable subjective questionnaire the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), multi-linguistic tests, and a diverse bilingual population all featured in one analysis and one index. One hundred Lebanese subjects aged between 55 and 92 years old divided into three different bilingualism subgroups (Arabic prominent, balanced, and French prominent) were recruited and underwent the LEAP-Q with a set of linguistic and cognitive tests. The analysis of the collected data led to the creation of a robust bilingualism index from speaking and oral understanding scores that underline specifically bilingualism subtype according to cutoffs scored. The practice implications of this index, particularly its use within bilingual populations, are addressed in the conclusion of this work.

Keywords: bilingualism, language dominance, bilingualism index, balanced bilingualism, Arabic first language, Lebanese, Arabic-French bilingualism

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Hoda Zolfagharnejad, Behnam Kamkar, Omid Abdi

Abstract:

Crop coefficient (Kc) is an important factor contributing to estimation of evapotranspiration, and is also used to determine the irrigation schedule. This study investigated and determined the monthly Kc of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using five vegetation indices (VIs): Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Difference Vegetation Index (DVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Infrared Percentage Vegetation Index (IPVI), and Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI) of four basins in Golestan province, Iran. 14 Landsat-8 images according to crop growth stage were used to estimate monthly Kc of wheat. VIs were calculated based on infrared and near infrared bands of Landsat 8 images using Geographical Information System (GIS) software. The best VIs were chosen after establishing a regression relationship among these VIs with FAO Kc and Kc that was modified for the study area by the previous research based on R² and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The result showed that local modified SAVI with R²= 0.767 and RMSE= 0.174 was the best index to produce monthly wheat Kc maps.

Keywords: crop coefficient, remote sensing, vegetation indices, wheat

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: V. Jafari, M. Jafari

Abstract:

When long-term changes in normal weather patterns happen in a certain area, it generally could be identified as climate change. Concentration of principal's greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and water vapor will cause climate change and perhaps climate variability. Main climate factors are temperature, precipitation, air pressure, and humidity. Extreme events may be the result of the changing of carbon dioxide concentration levels in the atmosphere which cause a change in temperature. Extreme events in some ways will affect the productivity of crop and dairy livestock. In this research, the correlation of milk production and temperature as the main climate factor in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province in Iran has been considered. The methodology employed for this study consists, collect reports and published national and provincial data, available recorded data on climate factors and analyzing collected data using statistical software. Milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province is in the same pattern as national milk production in Iran. According to the current study results, there is a significant negative correlation between milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari provinces and temperature as the main climate change factor.

Keywords: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, climate change, impacts, Iran, milk production

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Ahmed Arkoazi, Hussein Znad, Ranjeet Utikar

Abstract:

The synergistic impact and optimization of gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity on CO₂ biofixation rate were investigated using wastewater as a medium to cultivate Chlorella vulgaris under different conditions (gas flow rate 1-8 L/min), CO₂ concentration (0.03-7%), and light intensity (150-400 µmol/m².s)). Response Surface Methodology and Box-Behnken experimental Design were applied to find optimum values for gas flow rate, CO₂ concentration, and light intensity. The optimum values of the three independent variables (gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity) and desirability were 7.5 L/min, 3.5%, and 400 µmol/m².s, and 0.904, respectively. The highest amount of biomass produced and CO₂ biofixation rate at optimum conditions were 5.7 g/L, 1.23 gL^-1d^-1, respectively. The synergistic effect between gas flow rate and concentration of CO₂, and between gas flow rate and light intensity was significant on the three responses, while the effect between CO₂ concentration and light intensity was less significant on CO₂ biofixation rate. The results of this study could be highly helpful when using microalgae for CO₂ biofixation in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: bubble column reactor, gas holdup, hydrodynamics, sparger

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Amol Lanke, Hadi Hoseinie, Behzad Ghodrati

Abstract:

OEE has been used in many industries as measure of performance. However due to limitations of original OEE, it has been modified by various researchers. OEE for mining application is special version of classic equation, carries these limitation over. In this paper it has been aimed to modify the OEE for mining application by introducing the weights to the elements of it and termed as Mine Production index (MPi). As a special application of new index MPi shovel has been developed by team of experts and researchers for evaluating the shovel effectiveness. Based on analysis, utilization followed by performance and availability were ranked in this order. To check the applicability of this index, a case study was done on four electrical and one hydraulic shovel in a Swedish mine. The results shows that MPishovelcan properly evaluate production effectiveness of shovels and determine effectiveness values in optimistic view compared to OEE. MPi with calculation not only give the effectiveness but also can predict which elements should be focused for improving the productivity.

Keywords: mining, overall equipment efficiency (OEE), mine production index, shovels

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Lixin Zhao, Genmao Zhou

Abstract:

Traditional acid in-situ leaching (ISL) is not suitable for the sandstone uranium deposit with low permeability and high content of carbonate minerals, because of the blocking of calcium sulfate precipitates. Another factor influences the uranium acid in-situ leaching is that the pyrite in ore rocks will react with oxidation reagent and produce lots of sulfate ions which may speed up the precipitation process of calcium sulphate and consume lots of oxidation reagent. Due to the advantages such as less chemical reagent consumption and groundwater pollution, CO₂+O₂ in-situ leaching method has become one of the important research areas in uranium mining. China is the second country where CO₂+O₂ ISL has been adopted in industrial uranium production of the world. It is shown that the CO₂+O₂ ISL in China has been successfully developed. The reaction principle, technical process, well field design and drilling engineering, uranium-bearing solution processing, etc. have been fully studied. At current stage, several uranium mines use CO₂+O₂ ISL method to extract uranium from the ore-bearing aquifers. The industrial application and development potential of CO₂+O₂ ISL method in China are summarized. By using CO₂+O₂ neutral leaching technology, the problem of calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate precipitation have been solved during uranium mining. By reasonably regulating the amount of CO₂ and O₂, related ions and hydro-chemical conditions can be controlled within the limited extent for avoiding the occurrence of calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate precipitation. Based on this premise, the demand of CO₂+O₂ uranium leaching has been met to the maximum extent, which not only realizes the effective leaching of uranium, but also avoids the occurrence and precipitation of calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate, realizing the industrial development of the sandstone type uranium deposit.

Keywords: CO₂+O₂ ISL, industrial production, well field layout, uranium processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Pankaj Singh Rawat, Rajeew Kumar, Pradeep Ram, Priyanka Pandey

Abstract:

Wheat is an important cereal crop for food security. Boosting the wheat production and productivity is the major challenge across the nation. Good quality of seed is required for maintaining optimum plant stand which ultimately increases grain yield. Ensuring a good germination is one of the key steps to ensure proper plant stand and moisture assurance during seed germination may help to speed up the germination. The tiny size of nanoparticles may help in entry of water into seed without disturbing their internal structure. Considering above, a laboratory experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India. The completely randomized design was used for statistical analysis. The experiment was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the appropriate concentration of nanoparticles for seed treatment was screened. In second phase seed soaking hours of nanoparticles for better seed germination were standardized. Wheat variety UP2526 was taken as test crop. Four nanoparticles (TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan) were taken for study. The crop germination studies were done in petri dishes and standard package and practices were used to raise the seedlings. The germination studies were done by following standard procedure. In first phase of the experiment, seeds were treated with 50 and 300 ppm of nanoparticles and control was also maintained for comparison. In the second phase of experiment, seeds were soaked for 4 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours with 50 ppm nanoparticles of TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan along with control treatment to identify the soaking time for better seed germination. Experiment revealed that the application of nanoparticles help to enhance seed germination. The study revealed that seed treatment with  nanoparticles at 50 ppm concentration increases root length, shoot length, seedling length, shoot dry weight, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II as compared to seed soaking at 300 ppm concentration. This experiment showed that seed soaking up to 4 hr was better as compared to 6 and 8 hrs. Seed soaking with nanoparticles specially TiO₂, ZnO, and chitosan proved to enhance germination and seedling growth indices of wheat crop.

Keywords: nanoparticles, seed germination, seed soaking, wheat

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Mehmet Tahir Dursun, Hilmi Rafet Yüncü

Abstract:

In social life growing fast, not only people, but also, companies and regions are located in a struggle to provide continuity of life cycles. This struggle brings together an important competitiveness when considering environmental conditions. By emphasizing this point, being able to competitiveness notion comes out as a determiner of the struggle to exist. With the development of technology in tourism industry so as in all branches, it is seen that the companies and regions in different districts are in competitiveness and competitiveness ability is affected in assessing of marketing shares. A condition of competitiveness is to provide sustainability of all structured forms. In addition, environment and sensitiveness of environment are notions affecting directly the competitiveness ability of tourism destinations. It is claimed that providing the sustainability of environment gives competitiveness to tourism destinations. In this study, competitiveness and performances of tourism in Mediterranean countries are going to be compared by examining a variety of indexes related to the sensitiveness of environment. Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (T&TCI) (Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources), Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Ecological Foot Print, Human Development Index (HDI), Climate Risk Index (CRI) will be used in this study. These Index data will be compared with international tourist arrivals, international tourism receives and expenses of per tourist of countries.

Keywords: ecological foot print, environmental performance index, human development index, sustainability, travel and tourism competitiveness index

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Jeroen Vinkx, Jan A. Delcour, Bart Goderis

Abstract:

Complete aqueous dissolution of starch is notoriously difficult. A high-temperature autoclaving process is necessary, followed by cooling the solution below its boiling point. The cooled solution is inherently unstable over time. Gelation and retrogradation processes, along with aggregation-induced by undissolved starch remnants, result in starch precipitation. We recently observed the spontaneous gelatinization of native maize starch (MS) in aqueous sodium salicylate (NaSal) solutions at room temperature. A hydrotropic mode of solubilization is hypothesized. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM) of starch dispersions in NaSal solution were used to demonstrate the room temperature gelatinization of MS at different concentrations of MS and NaSal. The DSC gelatinization peak shifts to lower temperatures, and the gelatinization enthalpy decreases with increasing NaSal concentration. POM images confirm the same trend through the disappearance of the ‘Maltese cross’ interference pattern of starch granules. The minimal NaSal concentration to induce complete room temperature dissolution of MS was found to be around 15-20 wt%. The MS content of the dispersion has little influence on the amount of NaSal needed to dissolve it. The effect of the NaSal solution on the MS molecular weight was checked with HPSEC. It is speculated that, because of its amphiphilic character, NaSal enhances the solubility of MS in water by association with the more hydrophobic MS moieties, much like urea, which has also been used to enhance starch dissolution in alkaline aqueous media. As such small molecules do not tend to form micelles in water, they are called hydrotropes rather than surfactants. A minimal hydrotrope concentration (MHC) is necessary for the hydrotropes to structure themselves in water, resulting in a higher solubility of MS. This is the case for the system MS/NaSal/H₂O. Further investigations into the putative hydrotropic dissolution mechanism are necessary.

Keywords: hydrotrope, dissolution, maize starch, sodium salicylate, gelatinization

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Zh. Saffari, A. Naeimi, M. S. Ekrami-Kakhki, F. Hamidi

Abstract:

Fe3O4 is one of the important magnetic oxides with spinel structure; it has exhibited unique electric and magnetic properties based on the electron transfer between Fe2+ and Fe3+ in the octahedral sites. Fe3O4 has received considerable attention in various areas such as cancer therapy, drug targeting, enzyme immobilization catalysis, magnetic cell separation, magnetic refrigeration systems and super-paramagnetic materials Fe3O4–TiO2 nanostructures were synthesized by simple, effective and new co-precipitation method assisted by ultrasonic reaction at room temperatures with organic surfactant. The effect of various parameters such as temperature, time, and power on the size and morphology of the product was investigated. Alternating gradient force magnetometer shows that Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibit super-paramagnetic behaviour at room temperature. For preparation of nanocomposite, 1 g of TiO2 nanostructures were dispersed in 100 mL of ethanol. 0.25 g of Fe(NO3)2 and 2 mL of octanoic acid was added to the solution as a surfactant. Then, NaOH solution (1.5 M) was slowly added into the solution until the pH of the mixture was 7–8. After complete precipitation, the solution placed under the ultrasonic irradiation for 30 min. The product was centrifuged, washed with distilled water and dried in an oven at 100 °C for 3 h. The resulting red powder was calcinated at 800 °C for 3 h to remove any organic residue. The photocatalytic behaviour of Fe3O4–TiO2 nanoparticles was evaluated using the degradation of a Methyl Violet (MV) aqueous solution under ultraviolet light irradiation. As time increased, more and more MV was adsorbed on the nanoparticles catalyst, until the absorption peak vanish. The MV concentration decreased rapidly with increasing UV-irradiation time

Keywords: magnetic, methyl violet, nanocomposite, photocatalytic

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Anne Joseph, Yinusa Asiwaju-Bello, Oluwaseun Olabode

Abstract:

Sustainable administration of groundwater resources tapped in Coastal Plain Sands aquifer in Abesan area, Eastern Dahomey Basin, Southwestern Nigeria necessitates the knowledge of the pattern of groundwater flow in meeting a suitable environmental need for habitation. Thirty hand-dug wells were identified and evaluated to study the groundwater flow dynamics and anionic species distribution in the study area. Topography and water table levels method with the aid of Surfer were adopted in the identification of recharge and discharge zones where six recharge and discharge zones were delineated correspondingly. Dissolved anionic species of HCO3-, Cl-, SO42-and NO3- were determined using titrimetric and spectrophotometric method. The trend of significant anionic concentrations of groundwater samples are in the order Cl- > HCO3-> SO42- > NO3-. The prominent anions in the discharge and recharge area are Cl- and HCO3- ranging from 0.22ppm to 3.67ppm and 2.59ppm to 0.72ppm respectively. Analysis of groundwater head distribution and the groundwater flow vector in Abesan area confirmed that Cl- concentration is higher than HCO3- concentration in recharge zones. Conversely, there is a high concentration of HCO3- than Cl- inland towards the continent; therefore, HCO3-concentration in the discharge zones is higher than the Cl- concentration. The anions were to be closely related to the recharge and discharge areas which were confirmed by comparison of activities such as rainfall regime and anthropogenic activities in Abesan area. A large percentage of the samples showed that HCO3-, Cl-, SO42-and NO3- falls within the permissible limit of the W.H.O standard. Most of the samples revealed Cl- / (CO3- + HCO3-) ratio higher than 0.5 indicating that there is saltwater intrusion imprints in the groundwater of the study area. Gibbs plot shown that most of the samples is from rock dominance, some from evaporation dominance and few from precipitation dominance. Potential salinity and SO42/ Cl- ratios signifies that most of the groundwater in Abesan is saline and falls in a water class found to be insuitable for irrigation. Continuous dissolution of these anionic species may pose a significant threat to the inhabitants of Abesan area in the nearest future.

Keywords: Abessan, Anionic species, Discharge, Groundwater flow, Recharge

Procedia PDF Downloads 127