Search results for: natural%20environment

Authors: Rishi Saxena

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Cyanobacteria is a photosynthetic prokaryote, and these obtain their energy through photosynthesis. In this paper, we studied the effect of iron on metabolic changes in the diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120. Nowadays, metal contamination due to natural and anthropogenic sources is a global environment concern. Iron induced changes in growth, N2-fixation, CO2 fixation and photosynthetic activity were studied in a diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120. Iron at 50 uM concentration supported the maximum growth, heterocyst frequency, CO2 fixation, photosystem I (PS I), photosystem II (PS II) and nitrogenase activities in the organism. Higher concentration of iron inhibited these processes. Chl a and PS II activities were more sensitive to iron than the protein and PS I activity. Here, it is also mentioned that heavy metal induced altered macromolecules metabolism and changes in the central dogma of life (DNA→ mRNA → Protein). And also recent advances have been made in understanding heavy metal-cyanobacteria interaction and their application for metal detoxification.

Keywords: cyanobacterium anabaena 7120, nitrogen fixation, photosystem I (PS I), photosystem II (PS II)

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Authors: Raghad A. Altowairgi

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With the wide spread of social media platforms, young people tend to use them extensively as the first means of communication due to their ease and modernity. But these platforms often create a fertile ground for bullies to practice their aggressive behavior against their victims. Platform usage cannot be reduced, but intelligent mechanisms can be implemented to reduce the abuse. This is where machine learning comes in. Understanding and classifying text can be helpful in order to minimize the act of cyberbullying. Artificial intelligence techniques have expanded to formulate an applied tool to address the phenomenon of cyberbullying. In this research, machine learning models are built to classify text into two classes; cyberbullying and non-cyberbullying. After preprocessing the data in 4 stages; removing characters that do not provide meaningful information to the models, tokenization, removing stop words, and lowering text. BoW and TF-IDF are used as the main features for the five classifiers, which are; logistic regression, Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, XGboost, and Catboost classifiers. Each of them scores 92%, 90%, 92%, 91%, 86% respectively.

Keywords: cyberbullying, machine learning, Bag-of-Words, term frequency-inverse document frequency, natural language processing, Catboost

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Authors: Bensaid A., Mostephaoui T., Nedjai R.

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A considerable area of Algerian lands are threatened by the phenomenon of wind erosion. For a long time, wind erosion and its associated harmful effects on the natural environment have posed a serious threat, especially in the arid regions of the country. In recent years, as a result of increases in the irrational exploitation of natural resources (fodder) and extensive land clearing, wind erosion has particularly accentuated. The extent of degradation in the arid region of the Algerian Mécheriadepartment generated a new situation characterized by the reduction of vegetation cover, the decrease of land productivity, as well as sand encroachment on urban development zones. In this study, we attempt to investigate the potential of remote sensing and geographic information systems for detecting the spatial dynamics of the ancient dune cords based on the numerical processing of PlanetScope PSB.SB sensors images by September 29, 2021. As a second step, we prospect the use of a multi-scale geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) approach to segment the high spatial resolution images acquired on heterogeneous surfaces that vary according to human influence on the environment. We have used the fractal net evolution approach (FNEA) algorithm to segment images (Baatz&Schäpe, 2000). Multispectral data, a digital terrain model layer, ground truth data, a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) layer, and a first-order texture (entropy) layer were used to segment the multispectral images at three segmentation scales, with an emphasis on accurately delineating the boundaries and components of the sand accumulation areas (Dune, dunes fields, nebka, and barkhane). It is important to note that each auxiliary data contributed to improve the segmentation at different scales. The silted areas were classified using a nearest neighbor approach over the Naâma area using imagery. The classification of silted areas was successfully achieved over all study areas with an accuracy greater than 85%, although the results suggest that, overall, a higher degree of landscape heterogeneity may have a negative effect on segmentation and classification. Some areas suffered from the greatest over-segmentation and lowest mapping accuracy (Kappa: 0.79), which was partially attributed to confounding a greater proportion of mixed siltation classes from both sandy areas and bare ground patches. This research has demonstrated a technique based on very high-resolution images for mapping sanded and degraded areas using GEOBIA, which can be applied to the study of other lands in the steppe areas of the northern countries of the African continent.

Keywords: land development, GIS, sand dunes, segmentation, remote sensing

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Authors: Rajasekar Elangopandian, Anand Shanmugam

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Now-a-days for surveillances unmanned aerial vehicle plays a vital role. Not only for surveillances, aerial photography disaster management and the notice of earth behavior UAV1s envisages meticulously. To reduce the maintenance and fuel nuclear powered Vehicles are greater support. The design consideration is much important for the UAV manufacturing industry and Research and development agency. Eventually design is looking like a pentagon shaped fuselage and black rubber coated paint in order to escape from the enemy radar and other targets. The pentagon shape fuselage has large space to keep the mini nuclear reactor inside and the material is carbon – carbon fiber specially designed by the software called cosmol and hyper mesh 14.2. So the weight consideration will produce the positive result for productivity. The walls of the fuselage are coated with lead and protective shield. A double layer of W/Bi sheet is proposed for radiation protection at the energy range of 70 Kev to 90 Kev. The designed W/bi sheet, only 0.14 mm thick and is 36% light. The properties of the fillers were determined from zeta potential and particle size measurements. The Exposes of the radiation can be attenuated by 3 ways such as minimizing exposure time, Maximizing distance from the radiation source and shielding the whole vehicle. The inside reactor will be switched ON when the UAV starts its cruise. The moderators and the control rods can be inserted by automation technique by newly developed software. The heat generated by the reactor will be used to run the turbine which is fixed inside the UAV called mini turbine with natural rubber composite Shaft radiation shield. Cooling system will be in two mode such as liquid and air cooled. Liquid coolant for the heat regeneration is ordinary water, liquid sodium, helium and the walls are made up of regenerative and radiation protective material. The other components like camera and arms bay will be located at the bottom of the UAV high are specially made products in order to escape from the radiation. They are coated with lead Pb and natural rubber composite material. This technique provides the long rang and endurance for eternal flight mission until we need any changeability of parts or product. This UAV has the special advantage of ` land on String` means it`ll land at electric line to charge the automated electronics. Then the fuel is enriched uranium (< 5% U - 235) contains hundreds of fuel pins. This technique provides eternal duty for surveillances and aerial photography. The landing of the vehicle is ease of operation likewise the takeoff is also easier than any other mechanism which present in nowadays. This UAV gives great immense and immaculate technology for surveillance and target detecting and smashing the target.

Keywords: mini turbine, liquid coolant for the heat regeneration, in order to escape from the radiation, eternal flight mission, it`ll land at electric line

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Authors: Ali Heidari, Hany Saleem

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The tailwater requirements are important criteria in the design of the stilling basins as energy dissipation of the spillways. The adequate tailwater level that ensures the hydraulic jump inside the basin should be fulfilled by the river's natural water level and the apron depth downstream of the chute. The requirements of the hydraulic jump should mainly be checked for the design flood, however, the drawn jump condition should not be critical in the discharges lesser than the design flood. The tailwater requirement is not met in Almatti dam, built in 2005 in India, and the jump sweep out from the basin, resulting in significant scour in the apron and end sill of the basin. This paper discusses different hydraulic solutions as sustainable solutions for the rehabilitation program. The deep apron alternative is proposed for the fewer bays of the spillway as the most cost-effective, sustainable solution. The apron level of 15 gates out of 26 gates should decrease by 5.4 m compared to the existing design to ensure a safe hydraulic jump up to the discharge of 10,000 m3/s i.e. 30% of the updated PMF.

Keywords: dam, spillway, stilling basin, Almatti

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Authors: Obaid Algahtani

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An interval may be defined as a convex combination as follows: I=[a,b]={x_α=(1-α)a+αb: α∈[0,1]}. Consequently, we may adopt interval operations by applying the scalar operation point-wise to the corresponding interval points: I ∙J={x_α∙y_α ∶ αϵ[0,1],x_α ϵI ,y_α ϵJ}, With the usual restriction 0∉J if ∙ = ÷. These operations are associative: I+( J+K)=(I+J)+ K, I*( J*K)=( I*J )* K. These two properties, which are missing in the usual interval operations, will enable the extension of the usual linear system concepts to the interval setting in a seamless manner. The arithmetic introduced here avoids such vague terms as ”interval extension”, ”inclusion function”, determinants which we encounter in the engineering literature that deal with interval linear systems. On the other hand, these definitions were motivated by our attempt to arrive at a definition of interval random variables and investigate the corresponding statistical properties. We feel that they are the natural ones to handle interval systems. We will enable the extension of many results from usual state space models to interval state space models. The interval state space model we will consider here is one of the form X_((t+1) )=AX_t+ W_t, Y_t=HX_t+ V_t, t≥0, where A∈ 〖IR〗^(k×k), H ∈ 〖IR〗^(p×k) are interval matrices and 〖W 〗_t ∈ 〖IR〗^k,V_t ∈〖IR〗^p are zero – mean Gaussian white-noise interval processes. This feeling is reassured by the numerical results we obtained in a simulation examples.

Keywords: interval analysis, interval matrices, state space model, Kalman Filter

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Authors: Orisakwe Chimuanya Favour Israel

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In a world filled with the products of scientific inquiry, scientific literacy has become a necessity for everyone because it is indispensable to achieving technological development of any nation. Everyone needs to use scientific information to make choices that arise every day. Everyone needs to be able to engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues that involves science and technology. And everyone deserves to share in the excitement and personal fulfillment that can come from -understanding and learning about the natural world. No doubt that industrialized countries have, through their control of science and technology education, developed the potential to increase production, and to improve the standard of living of their people. The main thrust of this paper therefore, is to present an overview of science education, strategies for achieving application of science in national development, such as teaching science with the right spirit of inquiry. Also, the paper discussed three research models that can help in national development and suggests the best out of the three which is more realistic for a developing country like ours (Nigeria) to follow for a sustainable national development and finally suggests some key ways of solving problems of development.

Keywords: scientific inquiry, scientific literacy, strategies, sustainable national development

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Authors: Md Abdullah Al Faruque, Ram Balachandar

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The present study was carried out to understand the extent of effect of roughness and Reynolds number in open channel flow (OCF). To this extent, four different types of bed surface conditions consisting smooth, distributed roughness, continuous roughness, natural sand bed and two different Reynolds number for each bed surfaces were adopted in this study. Particular attention was given on mean velocity, turbulence intensity, Reynolds shear stress, correlation, higher order moments and quadrant analysis. Further, the extent of influence of roughness and Reynolds number in the depth-wise direction also studied. Increasing Reynolds shear stress near rough beds are noticed due to arrays of discrete roughness elements and flow over these elements generating a series of wakes which contributes to the generation of significantly higher Reynolds shear stress.

Keywords: bed roughness, ejection and sweep, open channel flow, Reynolds shear stress, turbulent boundary layer, velocity triple product

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Authors: Abdur Rosyid, Mohamed El-Madany, Mohanad Alata

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Due to simplicity and low cost, rotordynamic system is often modeled by using lumped parameters. Recently, finite elements have been used to model rotordynamic system as it offers higher accuracy. However, it involves high degrees of freedom. In some applications such as control design, this requires higher cost. For this reason, various model reduction methods have been proposed. This work demonstrates the quality of model reduction of rotor-bearing-support system through substructuring. The quality of the model reduction is evaluated by comparing some first natural frequencies, modal damping ratio, critical speeds and response of both the full system and the reduced system. The simulation shows that the substructuring is proven adequate to reduce finite element rotor model in the frequency range of interest as long as the numbers and the locations of master nodes are determined appropriately. However, the reduction is less accurate in an unstable or nearly-unstable system.

Keywords: rotordynamic, finite element model, timoshenko beam, 3D solid elements, Guyan reduction method

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Authors: Nurcan Tugrul, Funda Demir, Hilal Ozkan, Nur Olgun, Emek Derun

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Geopolymers are aluminosilicate-containing materials. The raw materials of the geopolymerization can be natural material such as kaolinite, metakaolin (calcined kaolinite), clay, diatomite, rock powder or can also be industrial by-products such as fly ash, silica fume, blast furnace slag, rice-husk ash, mine tailing, red mud, waste slag, etc. Reactivity of raw materials in geopolymer production is very important for achieving high reaction grade. Fly ash used in geopolymer production has been calcined to obtain tetrahedral SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ structures. In this study, fly ash calcined at different temperatures (700, 800 and 900 °C), and Al₂O₃ addition (Al₂O₃ at min (0%) and max (100%)) were used to produce geopolymers. HCl dissolution method was applied to determine the geopolymerization percentage of samples and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy was used to find out the optimum calcination temperature for geopolymerization. According to obtained results, the highest geopolymerization percentage (0% alumina added geopolymer equal to 35.789%; 100% alumina added geopolymer equal to 40.546%) was obtained in samples using fly ash calcined at 800 °C.

Keywords: geopolymer, fly ash, Al₂O₃ addition, calcination

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Authors: Rama Seth, Luise Noring, Pratim Majumdar

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Based on an extensive literature review, this paper presents distinct approaches to value, quantify and trade ecosystem services, with particular emphasis on services provided by mangroves and wetlands. Building on diverse monetary and market-based systems for the improved allocation of natural resources, such trading and exchange-based methods can help tackle the degradation of ecosystem services in a more targeted and structured manner than achievable with stand-alone policy and administrative regulations. Using various threads of literature, the paper proposes a platform that serves as the skeletal foundation for developing an efficient global market for ecosystem services trading. The paper bridges a significant research and practice gap by recommending how to establish an equilibrium in the biosphere via trading mechanisms while also discovering other research gaps and future research potential in the domain of ecosystem valuation.

Keywords: environment, economics, mangroves, wetlands, markets, ESG, global capital, climate investments, valuation, ecosystem services

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Authors: Draou Azeddine, Mazin Alahmadi, Abdulrahmane Alkassem, Alamri Abdullah

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The demand for electric power in Saudi Arabia is steadily increasing with economic growth. More power plants should be installed to increase generation capacity and meet demand. Electricity in Saudi Arabia is mainly dependent on fossil fuels, which are a major problem as they deplete natural resources and increase CO₂ emissions. In this research work, performance and techno-economic analyzes are conducted to evaluate a microgrid system based on hybrid PV/wind diesel power sources as a stand-alone system for rural electrification in Saudi Arabia. The total power flow, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency, effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, and total harmonic distortion (THD) are analyzed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Various simulation studies have been carried out under different irradiation conditions. The sizing, optimization, and economic feasibility analysis were performed using Homer energy software.

Keywords: WIND, solar, microgrid, energy

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Authors: Farrukh Javed, Krzysztof Podgórski

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We propose a new model that accounts for the asymmetric response of volatility to positive ('good news') and negative ('bad news') shocks in economic time series the so-called leverage effect. In the past, asymmetric powers of errors in the conditionally heteroskedastic models have been used to capture this effect. Our model is using the gamma difference representation of the generalized Laplace distributions that efficiently models the asymmetry. It has one additional natural parameter, the shape, that is used instead of power in the asymmetric power models to capture the strength of a long-lasting effect of shocks. Some fundamental properties of the model are provided including the formula for covariances and an explicit form for the conditional distribution of 'bad' and 'good' news processes given the past the property that is important for the statistical fitting of the model. Relevant features of volatility models are illustrated using S&P 500 historical data.

Keywords: heavy tails, volatility clustering, generalized asymmetric laplace distribution, leverage effect, conditional heteroskedasticity, asymmetric power volatility, GARCH models

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Authors: G. Surendra Babu

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We all know the importance of mineral wealth, which has been buried inside the layers of the earth for decades. These are the natural energy sources that are used in our day to day life like fuel, electricity, construction, etc. but the process of extraction causes damage to the nature that can’t be returned back and which are left over after completion of mining we can see these are barren from decades these remain unused degraded land. Most of them are covered with vegetation before the start during mining which damages the native vegetation of the region and disturbs the watershed boundary of the regions and it also disturbs the biodiversity of the reign. The major motto of the study is to understand the various issues that are found and to understand various methods of reclamations process that are suitable for revegetating and also variously practiced which are carried out in the different case studies and government guidelines procedure of lease licenses which includes the environmental clearances and also to study the vegetation pattern according to the major issues identified. And finally suggesting the new guidelines with respect to the old guidelines which helps in the revegetation of the mine-sites which helps in establishing of its own sustainable ecosystem in future.

Keywords: reclamation, open-pit mining, revegetation, reclamation methods

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Authors: Azza A. Al-Ghamdi, Abir S. Abdel-Naby

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Cellulose acetate (CA) is a natural biodegradable polymer. It forms transparent films by the casting technique. CA suffers from high degree of water permeability as well as the low thermal stability at high temperatures. To adjust the CA polymeric films to the manufacture of food packaging, its thermal and mechanical properties should be improved. The modification of CA by grafting it with N-Amino phenyl maleimide (N-APhM) led to the construction of hydrophobic branches throughout the polymeric matrix which reduced its wettability as compared to the parent CA. The branches built onto the polymeric chains had been characterized by UV/Vis, ¹³C-NMR and ESEM. The improvement of the thermal properties was investigated and compared to the parent CA using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), differential thermal analysis (DTA), contact angle and mechanical testing measurements. The results revealed that the water-uptake was reduced by increasing the graft percentage. The thermal and mechanical properties were also improved.

Keywords: cellulose acetate, food packaging, graft copolymerization, thermal properties

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Authors: Narges Farokhshad, Milad Molazadeh, Saman Jamalabbasi, Hamed Babaei Giglou, Saeed Bibak

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The Persian language is an inflectional subject-object-verb language. This fact makes Persian a more uncertain language. However, using techniques such as Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction will lead us to a more understandable and precise language. In most of the works in Persian, these techniques are addressed individually. Despite that, we believe that for text refinement in Persian, all of these tasks are necessary. In this work, we proposed a ViraPart framework that uses embedded ParsBERT in its core for text clarifications. First, used the BERT variant for Persian followed by a classifier layer for classification procedures. Next, we combined models outputs to output cleartext. In the end, the proposed model for ZWNJ recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction performs the averaged F1 macro scores of 96.90%, 92.13%, and 98.50%, respectively. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is very effective in text refinement for the Persian language.

Keywords: Persian Ezafe, punctuation, ZWNJ, NLP, ParsBERT, transformers

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Authors: Odile Amoncou, Djedje-Kossu Zahui

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The integration of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach within a company appears nowadays as a fundamental system of response to the different problems that threaten our planet. The abusive exploitation of natural resources, social inequalities, discrimination and poverty are some examples. Thus, faced with these different global problems, each company must include in its operating system measures or actions with the aim not only of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also for the improvement of its performance and its brand internationally. The objective of this article is to assess the implementation of CSR by telecommunication companies. It is our belief that given its high energy consumption and proximity to society, the telecom sector must pay particular attention to environmental and social issues. Our study examines the CSR of three Ivorian telecom operators, namely ORANGE CI, MOOV Africa and MTN, by applying a series of performance indicators related to CSR management. We hope that our study will raise awareness about sustainability issues for all other Ivorian companies but also sub-Sahara African companies in general in order to encourage CEOs to make CSR concept a top priority.

Keywords: CSR, telecom, SDGs, cote d’Ivoire

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Authors: Chadi Azoury, Assad Kallassy, Pierre Rahme

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In this paper, we consider the modal analysis of small frames. Firstly, we construct the 3D model using H8 elements and find the natural frequencies of the frame focusing our attention on the modes in the XY plane. Secondly, we construct the 2D model (plane stress model) using Q4 elements. We concluded that the results of both models are very close to each other’s. Then we formulate the stiffness matrix and the mass matrix of the 3-noded Timoshenko beam that is well suited for thick and short beams like in our case. Finally, we model the corners where the horizontal and vertical bar meet with a special matrix. The results of our new model (3-noded Timoshenko beam for the horizontal and vertical bars and a special element for the corners based on the Q4 elements) are very satisfying when performing the modal analysis.

Keywords: corner element, high-order Timoshenko beam, Guyan reduction, modal analysis of frames, rigid link, shear locking, and short beams

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Authors: Vivi Anggraini, Afshin Asadi, Bujang B. K. Huat

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Earth structures constructed of marine clay soils have tendency to crack. In order to improve the flexural strength and brittleness, a technique of mixing short fibers is introduced to the soil lime mixture. Coir fiber was used in this study as reinforcing elements. An experimental investigation consisting primarily of flexural tensile tests was conducted to examine the influence of coir fibers on the flexural behaviour of the reinforced soils. The test results demonstrated that the coir fibers were effective in improving the flexural strength and young’s modulus of all soils were examined and ductility after peak strength for reinforced marine clay soil was treated by lime. 5% lime treated soil and 1% coir fiber reinforced soil specimen’s demonstrated good strength and durability when submerged in water and retained 45% of their air-cured strengths.

Keywords: flexural strength, durabilty, lime, coir fibers, bending force, ductility

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Authors: Igor A. Krichtafovitch

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The evolutionary processes are not linear. Long periods of quiet and slow development turn to rather rapid emergences of new species and even phyla. During Cambrian explosion, 22 new phyla were added to the previously existed 3 phyla. Contrary to the common credence the natural selection or a survival of the fittest cannot be accounted for the dominant evolution vector which is steady and accelerated advent of more complex and more intelligent living organisms. Neither Darwinism nor alternative concepts including panspermia and intelligent design propose a satisfactory solution for these phenomena. The proposed hypothesis offers a logical and plausible explanation of the evolutionary processes in general. It is based on two postulates: a) the Biosphere is a single living organism, all parts of which are interconnected, and b) the Biosphere acts as a giant biological supercomputer, storing and processing the information in digital and analog forms. Such supercomputer surpasses all human-made computers by many orders of magnitude. Living organisms are the product of intelligent creative action of the biosphere supercomputer. The biological evolution is driven by growing amount of information stored in the living organisms and increasing complexity of the biosphere as a single organism. Main evolutionary vector is not a survival of the fittest but an accelerated growth of the computational complexity of the living organisms. The following postulates may summarize the proposed hypothesis: biological evolution as a natural life origin and development is a reality. Evolution is a coordinated and controlled process. One of evolution’s main development vectors is a growing computational complexity of the living organisms and the biosphere’s intelligence. The intelligent matter which conducts and controls global evolution is a gigantic bio-computer combining all living organisms on Earth. The information is acting like a software stored in and controlled by the biosphere. Random mutations trigger this software, as is stipulated by Darwinian Evolution Theories, and it is further stimulated by the growing demand for the Biosphere’s global memory storage and computational complexity. Greater memory volume requires a greater number and more intellectually advanced organisms for storing and handling it. More intricate organisms require the greater computational complexity of biosphere in order to keep control over the living world. This is an endless recursive endeavor with accelerated evolutionary dynamic. New species emerge when two conditions are met: a) crucial environmental changes occur and/or global memory storage volume comes to its limit and b) biosphere computational complexity reaches critical mass capable of producing more advanced creatures. The hypothesis presented here is a naturalistic concept of life creation and evolution. The hypothesis logically resolves many puzzling problems with the current state evolution theory such as speciation, as a result of GM purposeful design, evolution development vector, as a need for growing global intelligence, punctuated equilibrium, happening when two above conditions a) and b) are met, the Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, happening when more intelligent species should replace outdated creatures.

Keywords: supercomputer, biological evolution, Darwinism, speciation

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Authors: Alena Cejkova, Martina Paldrychova, Jana Michailidu, Olga Matatkova, Jan Masak

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Increasing the resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to many antibiotics is a serious threat to the treatment of infectious diseases and cleaning medical instruments. It should be added that the resistance of microbial populations growing in biofilms is often up to 1000 times higher compared to planktonic cells. Biofilm formation in a number of microorganisms is largely influenced by the quorum sensing regulatory mechanism. Finding external factors such as natural substances or physical processes that can interfere effectively with quorum sensing signal molecules should reduce the ability of the cell population to form biofilm and increase the effectiveness of antibiotics. The present work is devoted to the effect of chitosan as a representative of natural substances with anti-biofilm activity and non- thermal plasma (NTP) alone or in combination with polymyxin B on biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Particular attention was paid to the influence of these agents on the level of quorum sensing signal molecules (acyl-homoserine lactones) during planktonic and biofilm cultivations. Opportunistic pathogenic strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (DBM 3081, DBM 3777, ATCC 10145, ATCC 15442) were used as model microorganisms. Cultivations of planktonic and biofilm populations in 96-well microtiter plates on horizontal shaker were used for determination of antibiotic and anti-biofilm activity of chitosan and polymyxin B. Biofilm-growing cells on titanium alloy, which is used for preparation of joint replacement, were exposed to non-thermal plasma generated by cometary corona with a metallic grid for 15 and 30 minutes. Cultivation followed in fresh LB medium with or without chitosan or polymyxin B for next 24 h. Biofilms were quantified by crystal violet assay. Metabolic activity of the cells in biofilm was measured using MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) colorimetric test based on the reduction of MTT into formazan by the dehydrogenase system of living cells. Activity of N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) compounds involved in the regulation of biofilm formation was determined using Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain harboring a traG::lacZ/traR reporter gene responsive to AHLs. The experiments showed that both chitosan and non-thermal plasma reduce the AHLs level and thus the biofilm formation and stability. The effectiveness of both agents was somewhat strain dependent. During the eradication of P. aeruginosa DBM 3081 biofilm on titanium alloy induced by chitosan (45 mg / l) there was an 80% decrease in AHLs. Applying chitosan or NTP on the P. aeruginosa DBM 3777 biofilm did not cause a significant decrease in AHLs, however, in combination with both (chitosan 55 mg / l and NTP 30 min), resulted in a 70% decrease in AHLs. Combined application of NTP and polymyxin B allowed reduce antibiotic concentration to achieve the same level of AHLs inhibition in P. aeruginosa ATCC 15442. The results shown that non-thermal plasma and chitosan have considerable potential for the eradication of highly resistant P. aeruginosa biofilms, for example on medical instruments or joint implants.

Keywords: anti-biofilm activity, chitosan, non-thermal plasma, opportunistic pathogens

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Authors: Yonghun Ro, Joo-Wan Cha, Sanghee Chae, Areum Ko, Woonseon Jung, Jong-Chul Ha

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National Institute of Meteorological Science (NIMS) in South Korea has performed the cloud seeding to support the field of cloud physics. This is to determine the precipitation occurrence analyzing the changes in the microphysical schemes of clouds. NIMS conducted 12 times of cloud seeding in the lower height of the troposphere at Kangwon and Kyunggi provinces throughout 2018. The change in the reflectivity of the weather radar was analyzed to verify the enhancement of precipitation according to the cloud seeding in this study. First, the natural system in the near of the target area was separated to clear the seeding effect. The radar reflectivity in the point of ground gauge station was extracted in every 10 minutes and the increased values during the reaction time of cloud particles and seeding materials were estimated as a seeding effect considering the cloud temperature, wind speed and direction, and seeding line that the aircraft had passed by. The radar reflectivity affected by seeding materials was showed an increment of 5 to 10 dBZ, and enhanced precipitation cloud was also detected in the 11 cases of cloud seeding experiments.

Keywords: cloud seeding, reflectivity, weather radar, seeding effect

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Authors: Muizz Sanni-Anibire

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The 21st century has witnessed growing concerns for the protection of built facilities against natural and man-made disasters. Studies in earthquake resistant buildings, fire, and explosion resistant buildings now dominate the arena. To protect people and facilities from the effects of the explosion, reinforced concrete walls have been designed to be blast resistant. Understanding the performance of these walls is a key step in ensuring the safety of built facilities. Blast walls are mostly designed using simple techniques such as single degree of freedom (SDOF) method, despite the increasing use of multi-degree of freedom techniques such as the finite element method. This study is the first stage of a continuous research into the safety and reliability of blast walls. It presents the SDOF approach applied to the analysis of a concrete wall panel under three representative bomb situations. These are motorcycle 50 kg, car 400kg and also van with the capacity of 1500 kg of TNT explosive.

Keywords: blast wall, safety, protection, explosion

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Authors: Ezzaddin Rashid Hussein

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This research investigates the viability of mango seed extract (MSE) using a surfactant to improve oil recovery (EOR). This research examines MSE-based surfactant solutions and compares them to more traditional synthetic surfactants in terms of phase behaviour and interfacial tension. The phase behaviour and interfacial tension of five samples of surfactant solutions with different concentrations were measured. Samples 1 (2.0 g) and 1 (1.5 g) performed closest to the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and displayed the greatest decrease in surface tension, according to the results. In addition, the measurement of IFT, contact angle, and pH, as well as comparison with prior research, highlights the potential environmental benefits of MSMEs as an eco-friendly alternative. It is recommended that additional research be conducted to assess their stability and behaviour under reservoir conditions. Overall, mango seed extract demonstrates promise as a natural and sustainable surfactant for enhancing oil recovery, paving the way for eco-friendly enhanced oil recovery techniques.

Keywords: oil and gas, mango seed powder, surfactants, enhanced oil recovery, interfacial tension IFT, wettability, contacts angle, phase behavior, pH

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Authors: M. Rehan, H. Mashaly, H. Emam, A. Abou El-Kheir, S. Mowafi

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In this work, we will study a simple highly efficient technique to impart multi functional properties to different fabric substrates by in situ Ag NPs incorporation into fabric matrix. Ag NPs as a coloration and antimicrobial agent were prepared in situ incorporation into fabric matrix (Cotton and Wool) by using trisodium citrate as reducing and stabilizing agent. The Ag NPs treated fabric (Cotton and Wool) showed different color because of localized surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) property of Ag NPs. The formation of Ag NPs was confirmed by UV/Vis spectra for the supernatant solutions and The Ag NPs treated fabric (Cotton and Wool) were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). The dependence of color properties characterized by colorimetric, fastness and antibacterial properties evaluated by Escherichia coli using counting method and the reaction parameters were studied. The results indicate that, the in situ Ag NPs incorporation into fabric matrix approach can simultaneously impart colorant and antimicrobial properties into different fabric substrates.

Keywords: Ag NPs, coloration, antibacterial, wool, cotton fabric

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Kebaili Bachir

Abstract:

The reuse of concrete waste as a secondary aggregate could be an efficient solution for sustainable development and long-term environmental protection. The variable nature of waste concrete, with various compressive strengths, can have a negative effect on the final compressive strength of recycled concrete. Accordingly, an experimental test programme was developed to evaluate the effect of parent concrete qualities on the performance of recycled concrete. Three grades with different compressive strengths 10MPa, 20MPa, and 30MPa were considered in the study; moreover, an unknown compressive strength was introduced as well. The trial mixes used 40% secondary aggregates (both course and fine) and 60% of natural aggregates. The compressive strength of the test concrete decrease between 15 and 25% compared to normal concrete with no secondary aggregates. This work proves that the strength properties of the parent concrete have a limited effect on the compressive strength of recycled concrete. Low compressive strength parent concrete when crushed generate a high percentage of recycled coarse aggregates with the less attached mortar and give the same compressive strength as an excellent parent concrete. However, the decrease in compressive strength can be mitigated by increasing the cement content 4% by weight of recycled aggregates used.

Keywords: compressive, concrete, quality, recycled, strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: M. Pepe, S. Ackermann, L. Fregonese, C. Achille

Abstract:

3D models obtained with advanced survey techniques such as close-range photogrammetry and laser scanner are nowadays particularly appreciated in Cultural Heritage and Archaeology fields. In order to produce high quality models representing archaeological evidences and anthropological artifacts, the appearance of the model (i.e. color) beyond the geometric accuracy, is not a negligible aspect. The integration of the close-range photogrammetry survey techniques with the laser scanner is still a topic of study and research. By combining point cloud data sets of the same object generated with both technologies, or with the same technology but registered in different moment and/or natural light condition, could construct a final point cloud with accentuated color dissimilarities. In this paper, a methodology to uniform the different data sets, to improve the chromatic quality and to highlight further details by balancing the point color will be presented.

Keywords: color models, cultural heritage, laser scanner, photogrammetry

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Sallehan Ismail, Mahyuddin Ramli

Abstract:

This study examined the properties of fresh and hardened concretes as influenced by the moisture state of the coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) after surface treatment. Surface treatment was performed by immersing the coarse RCA in a calcium metasilicate (CM) solution. The treated coarse RCA was maintained in three controlled moisture states, namely, air-dried, oven-dried, and saturated surface-dried (SSD), prior to its use in a concrete mix. The physical properties of coarse RCA were evaluated after surface treatment during the first phase of the experiment to determine the density and the water absorption characteristics of the RCA. The second phase involved the evaluation of the slump, slump loss, density, and compressive strength of the concretes that were prepared with different proportions of natural and treated coarse RCA. Controlling the moisture state of the coarse RCA after surface treatment was found to significantly influence the properties of the fresh and hardened concretes.

Keywords: moisture state, recycled concrete aggregate, surface treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: G. Voicu, C. D. Ghitulica, A. Cucuruz, C. Busuioc

Abstract:

In the field of tissue engineering, the compositional and microstructural features of the employed materials play an important role, with implications on the mechanical and biological behaviour of the medical devices. In this context, the development of calcium phosphate-natural biopolymer composites represents a choice of many scientific groups. Thus, tricalcium phosphate powders were synthesized by a wet method, namely co-precipitation, starting from high purity reagents. Moreover, the substitution of calcium with magnesium have been approached, in the 5-10 wt.% range. Afterwards, the phosphate powders were integrated into two types of composites with chitosan, different from morphological point of view. First, 3D porous scaffolds were obtained by a freeze-drying procedure. Second, uniform compact films were achieved by film casting. The influence of chitosan molecular weight (low, medium and high), as well as phosphate powder to polymer ratio (1:1 and 1:2) on the morphological properties, were analysed in detail. In conclusion, the reported biocomposites, prepared by a straightforward route are suitable for bone substitution or repairing applications.

Keywords: bone reconstruction, chitosan, composite scaffolds, tricalcium phosphate

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Viktorija Sabaliauskaitė, Arūnas Balčiūnas, Renata Rubavičiūtė

Abstract:

Research on microplastic pollution in aquatic environments is being conducted worldwide. This presented research focused on the South-Eastern Baltic Sea, where, due to the natural conditions, algae accumulation on beaches is common. The present conditions enabled to apply and integrate of various microplastic extraction techniques: filtration, density separation, and sample aeration in order to investigate the microplastic concentrations within different beach compartments (nearshore water reference zone, nearshore algal scum zone, beach surface sand reference zone, beach wrack zone). This study demonstrates results from a total of 496 collected samples. The comparison of microplastic mean concentrations in water-based (0,016 item/cm³) and land-based (0,29 item/cm³) samples gave a clear insight into the microplastic accumulation hot spots, which pose pollution hazards to marine ecosystems and humans.

Keywords: beach wrack, marine litter, microplastics, pollution

Procedia PDF Downloads 62