Search results for: Rachel Hasan

Authors: Rachel Y. Zhang, Christopher K. Anderson

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A critical aspect of revenue management is a firm’s ability to predict demand as a function of price. Historically hotels have used simple time series models (regression and/or pick-up based models) owing to the complexities of trying to build casual models of demands. Machine learning approaches are slowly attracting attention owing to their flexibility in modeling relationships. This study provides an overview of approaches to forecasting hospitality demand – focusing on the opportunities created by machine learning approaches, including K-Nearest-Neighbors, Support vector machine, Regression Tree, and Artificial Neural Network algorithms. The out-of-sample performances of above approaches to forecasting hotel demand are illustrated by using a proprietary sample of the market level (24 properties) transactional data for Las Vegas NV. Causal predictive models can be built and evaluated owing to the availability of market level (versus firm level) data. This research also compares and contrast model accuracy of firm-level models (i.e. predictive models for hotel A only using hotel A’s data) to models using market level data (prices, review scores, location, chain scale, etc… for all hotels within the market). The prospected models will be valuable for hotel revenue prediction given the basic characters of a hotel property or can be applied in performance evaluation for an existed hotel. The findings will unveil the features that play key roles in a hotel’s revenue performance, which would have considerable potential usefulness in both revenue prediction and evaluation.

Keywords: hotel revenue, k-nearest-neighbors, machine learning, neural network, prediction model, regression tree, support vector machine

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Authors: Hasan Taherkhani

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The performance of asphalt pavements is highly dependent on the mechanical properties of asphaltic layers. Improving the mechanical properties of asphaltic mixtures by fiber reinforcement is a common method. Randomly distribution of fibers in the bituminous mixtures and placing between the particles develop reinforcing property in all directions in the mixture and improve their engineering properties. In this research, the effects of the nylon fiber length and content on some engineering properties of a typical binder course asphalt concrete have been investigated. The fibers at different contents of 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% (by the weight of total mixture), each at three different lengths of 10, 25 and 40 mm have been used, and the properties of the mixtures, such as, volumetric properties, Marshall stability, flow, Marshall quotient, indirect tensile strength and moisture damage have been studied. It is found that the highest Marshall quotient is obtained by using 0.4% of 25mm long nylon fibers. The results also show that the indirect tensile strength and tensile strength ratio, which is an indication of moisture damage of asphalt concrete, decreases with increasing the length of fibers and fiber content.

Keywords: asphalt concrete, moisture damage, nylon fiber, tensile strength,

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Authors: Ghulam Hasan Abbasi, Moazzam Jamil, M. Anwar-Ul-Haq

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Heavy metals are significant pollutants in environment and their toxicity is a problem for survival of living things while Silicon (Si) is one of the most ubiquitous macroelements, performing an essential function in healing plants in response to environmental stresses. A hydroponic experiment was conducted to investigate the role of exogenous application of silicon under cadmium stress in six different maize hybrids with five treatments comprising of control, 7.5 µM Cd + 5 mM Si, 7.5 µM Cd + 10 mM Si, 15 µM Cd + 5 mM Si and 15 µM Cd + 10 mM Si. Results revealed that treatments of plants with 10mM Si application under both 7.5µM Cd and 15 µM Cd stress resulted in maximum improvement in plant morphological attributes (root and shoot length, root and shoot fresh and dry weight, leaf area and relative water contents) and antioxidant enzymes (POD and CAT) relative to 5 mM Si application in all maize hybrids. Results regarding Cd concentrations showed that Cd was more retained in roots followed by shoots and then leaves and maximum reduction in Cd uptake was observed at 10mM Si application. Maize hybrid 6525 showed maximum growth and least concentration of Cd whereas maize hybrid 1543 showed the minimum growth and maximum Cd concentration among all maize hybrids.

Keywords: antioxidant, cadmium, maize, silicon

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Authors: Kimia Kiaei, Mohammad Hasan Golpayegani

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The extraction of copper from a pregnant leach solution obtained through leaching was investigated in this study. Chemorex CP-150 was utilized as an organic extractant, while kerosene served as a diluent. The study focused on determining the optimal ratios of extractant to diluent, as well as the pH of the aqueous phase. Isotherm curves of extraction were generated, and Mc. Cabe-Thiele diagrams were constructed separately for an optimized experimental pH of 3.17 and a typical industrial pH of 2. Additionally, the sulfuric acid-to-PLS ratio and concentrations of interfering ions comprising Mn²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in the strip solution were evaluated during the stripping stage. The results indicated that the optimized values for the extractant-to-diluent ratio and pH were 5% and 3.17, respectively. The Mc. Cabe-Thiele diagrams revealed that at an aqueous-to-organic ratio of 1, the theoretical stages of solvent extraction at pH levels of 3.17 and 2 were one and two, respectively. Moreover, a sulfuric acid-to-PLS ratio of 20% was employed in the stripping stage, and it was observed that the concentrations of interfering ions fell within the acceptable range.

Keywords: copper, solvent extraction, heap leaching, Chemorex CP-150, pregnant leach solution

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Authors: Rachel Dolan

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Background: Over two thirds of women in prison in England are mothers, and estimates suggest between 100 and 200 women per year give birth during imprisonment. There are currently six mother and baby units (MBUs) in prisons in England which admit women and babies up to the age of 18 months. Although there are only 65 places available, and despite positive impacts, they are rarely full. Mental illness may influence the number of admissions, as may interpretation of admission criteria. They are the only current alternative to separation for imprisoned mothers and their babies. Aims: To identify the factors that affect the decision to apply for/be offered a place in a prison MBU; to measure the impact of a placement upon maternal mental health and wellbeing; To measure the Initial outcomes for mother and child. Methods: A mixed methods approach - 100 pregnant women in English prisons are currently being recruited from prisons in England. Quantitative measures will establish the prevalence of mental disorder, personality disorder, substance misuse and quality of life. Qualitative interviews will document the experiences of pregnancy and motherhood in prison. Results: Preliminary quantitative findings suggest the most prevalent mental disorders are anxiety and depression and approximately half the participants meet the criteria for one or more personality disorders. The majority of participants to date have been offered a place in a prison MBU, and those in a prison with an MBU prior to applying are more likely to be admitted. Those with a previous history of childcare issues, who are known to social services are less likely to be offered a place. Qualitative findings suggest that many women are often hungry and uncomfortable during pregnancy, many have feelings of guilt about having a child in prison and that feelings of anxiety and worry are exacerbated by lack of information.

Keywords: mothers, prison, mother and baby units, mental health

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Authors: Jalal Abdulkareem Sultan, Abdulhakeem Luqman Hasan

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With the development of health care systems competition, hospitals face more and more pressures. Meanwhile, resource allocation has a vital effect on achieving competitive advantages in hospitals. Selecting the appropriate number of beds is one of the most important sections in hospital management. However, in real situation, bed allocation selection is a multiple objective problem about different items with vagueness and randomness of the data. It is very complex. Hence, research about bed allocation problem is relatively scarce under considering multiple departments, nursing hours, and stochastic information about arrival and service of patients. In this paper, we develop a fuzzy multiobjective bed allocation model for overcoming uncertainty and multiple departments. Fuzzy objectives and weights are simultaneously applied to help the managers to select the suitable beds about different departments. The proposed model is solved by using Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), which is a very effective algorithm. The paper describes an application of the model, dealing with a public hospital in Iraq. The results related that fuzzy multi-objective model was presented suitable framework for bed allocation and optimum use.

Keywords: bed allocation problem, fuzzy logic, artificial bee colony, multi-objective optimization

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Authors: Rachel Wachtendonk, John Calambokidis, Kiirsten Flynn

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Large marine mammals can serve as an indicator of the overall state of the environment due to their long lifespan and apex position in marine food webs. Reductions in prey, driven by changes in environmental conditions can have resounding impacts on the trophic system as a whole; this can manifest in reduced fat stores that are visible on large whales. Poor health can lead to reduced survivorship and fitness, both of which can be detrimental to a recovering population. A non-invasive technique was used for monitoring blue whale health and for seeing if it changes with ocean conditions. Digital photographs of blue whales taken in the NE Pacific by Cascadia Research and collaborators from 2005-2018 (n=3,545) were scored for overall body condition based on visible vertebrae and body shape on a scale of 0-3 where a score of 0 indicated best body condition and a score of 3 indicated poorest. The data was analyzed to determine if there were patterns in the health of whales across years and whether overall poor health was related to oceanographic conditions and predictors of prey abundance on the California coast. The year was a highly significant factor in body condition (Chi-Square, p<0.001). The proportion of whales showing poor body condition (scores 2 & 3) overall was 33% but by year varied widely from a low of 18% (2008) to a high of 55% (2015). The only two years where >50% of animals had poor body condition were 2015 and 2017 (no other year was above 45%). The 2015 maximum proportion of whales in poor body condition coincide with the marine heat wave that affected the NE Pacific 2014-16 and impacted other whale populations. This indicates that the scoring method was an effective way to evaluate blue whale health and how they respond to a changing ocean.

Keywords: blue whale, body condition, environmental variability, photo-identification

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Authors: Hasan Basri Jumin

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The swamp land contains high iron, aluminum, and low pH. Calcium and magnesium in the rice husk ash can reduce plant poisoning so that plant growth increases in fertility. The first factor was the doze of rice husk, and the second factor was 0.0 g rhizobium inoculant /kg seed, 4.0 g rhizobium inoculant/kg seed, 8 g rhizobium inoculant /kg seed, and 12 g l rhizobium inoculant /kg seed. The plants were maintained under light conditions with a + 11.45 – 12.15 hour photoperiod. The combination between rhizobium inoculant and rice husk ash has been an interacting effect on the production of long bean pod fresh weight. The mean relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, and pod fresh weight are increased by a combination of husk rice ash and rhizobium inoculant. Rice husk ash affected increases the availability of nitrogen in the land, albeit in poor condition of nutrition. Rhizobium is active in creating a fixation of nitrogen in the atmosphere because rhizobium increases the abilities of intercellular and symbiotic nitrogen in the long beans. The combination of rice husk ash and rhizobium could be effected to create a thriving in the land.

Keywords: aluminium, calcium, fixation, iron, nitrogen

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Authors: Olivia Rachel Hwang, Yu-Hsuan Joni Shao

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Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) has been a primary treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. However, it is associated with numerous adverse effects related to Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, heart diseases and ischemic strokes. However, complications associated with ADT for prostate cancer in Taiwan is not well documented. The purpose of this study is to utilize the data from NHIRD (National Health Insurance Research Database) to examine the trajectory changes of MetS-related complications in men receiving ADT. The risks of developing complications after the treatment were analyzed with multivariate Cox regression model. Covariates including in the model were the complications before the diagnosis of prostate cancer, the age, and the year at cancer diagnosis. A total number of 17268 patients from 1997-2013 were included in this study. The exclusion criteria were patients with any other types of cancer or with the existing MetS-related complications. Changes in MetS-related complications were observed among two treatment groups: 1) ADT (n=9042), and 2) non-ADT (n=8226). The ADT group appeared to have an increased risk in hypertension (hazard ratio 1.08, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.13, P = 0.001) and hyperlipidemia (hazard ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.17, P = 0.02) when compared with non-ADT group in the multivariate Cox regression analyses. In the risk of diabetes, heart diseases, and ischemic strokes, ADT group appeared to have an increased but not significant hazard ratio. In conclusion, ADT was associated with an increased risk in hypertension and hyperlipidemia in prostate cancer patients in Taiwan. The risk of hypertension and hyperlipidemia should be considered while deciding on ADT, especially those with the known history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

Keywords: androgen deprivation therapy, ADT, complications, metabolic syndrome, MetS, prostate cancer

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Authors: Md. Rashidul Hasan, Atikur Rahman Baizid

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The Bayesian estimation approach is a non-classical estimation technique in statistical inference and is very useful in real world situation. The aim of this paper is to study the Bayes estimators of the parameter of exponential distribution under different loss functions and then compared among them as well as with the classical estimator named maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). In our real life, we always try to minimize the loss and we also want to gather some prior information (distribution) about the problem to solve it accurately. Here the gamma prior is used as the prior distribution of exponential distribution for finding the Bayes estimator. In our study, we also used different symmetric and asymmetric loss functions such as squared error loss function, quadratic loss function, modified linear exponential (MLINEX) loss function and non-linear exponential (NLINEX) loss function. Finally, mean square error (MSE) of the estimators are obtained and then presented graphically.

Keywords: Bayes estimator, maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), modified linear exponential (MLINEX) loss function, Squared Error (SE) loss function, non-linear exponential (NLINEX) loss function

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Authors: Mohammad Shamim Hasan Mandal, Phu Minh, Do Tan Khang, Phung Thi Tuyen, Tran Dang Xuan

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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the major crops of Vietnam which has more than thousands of varieties. Many of the local varieties have greater potentiality but they are in danger of extinct. Rice plant contains many secondary metabolites that are allelopathic to other plants. Seven rice varieties were cultivated in the field condition at Hiroshima University, Japan; stems and leaves from each variety were collected later, they were extracted with methanol, hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water. Total phenolic content and total flavonoid contents were high in ethyl acetate extracts. DPPH antioxidant assay results showed that the ethyl acetate extracts had the higher IC50 value. Therefore, the ethyl acetate extracts were selected for laboratory experimentation through petri dish assay. Results showed that the two-local variety Re nuoc and Nan chon completely inhibited the germination of radish seedlings. Further laboratory bioassay and field experimentation will be conducted to validate the laboratory bioassay findings.

Keywords: allelopathy, bioassay, Oryza sativa, Raphanus sativus

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Authors: Nadya Inda Syartanti

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This research aims to identify, classify, and analyze descriptively the aspects of grammatical and lexical cohesion in the speech text of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe entitled Nihon wa Modotte kimashita delivered in Washington DC, the United States on February 23, 2013, as a research data source. The method used is qualitative research, which uses descriptions through words that are applied by analyzing aspects of grammatical and lexical cohesion proposed by Halliday and Hasan (1976). The aspects of grammatical cohesion consist of references (personal, demonstrative, interrogative pronouns), substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction. In contrast, lexical cohesion consists of reiteration (repetition, synonym, antonym, hyponym, meronym) and collocation. Data classification is based on the 6 aspects of the cohesion. Through some aspects of cohesion, this research tries to find out the frequency of using grammatical and lexical cohesion in Shinzo Abe's speech text entitled Nihon wa Modotte kimashita. The results of this research are expected to help overcome the difficulty of understanding speech texts in Japanese. Therefore, this research can be a reference for learners, researchers, and anyone who is interested in the field of discourse analysis.

Keywords: cohesion, grammatical cohesion, lexical cohesion, speech text, Shinzo Abe

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Authors: Ahmed Kamil Hasan Al-Ali, Bouchra Senadji, Ganesh Naik

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We propose a system to real environmental noise and channel mismatch for forensic speaker verification systems. This method is based on suppressing various types of real environmental noise by using independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. The enhanced speech signal is applied to mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) or MFCC feature warping to extract the essential characteristics of the speech signal. Channel effects are reduced using an intermediate vector (i-vector) and probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) approach for classification. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by using an Australian forensic voice comparison database, combined with car, street and home noises from QUT-NOISE at a signal to noise ratio (SNR) ranging from -10 dB to 10 dB. Experimental results indicate that the MFCC feature warping-ICA achieves a reduction in equal error rate about (48.22%, 44.66%, and 50.07%) over using MFCC feature warping when the test speech signals are corrupted with random sessions of street, car, and home noises at -10 dB SNR.

Keywords: noisy forensic speaker verification, ICA algorithm, MFCC, MFCC feature warping

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Authors: Md. Hasan Zahir

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Y2O3-doped silica membranes were synthesized with the sol-gel method by using a tetraethyl orthosilicate-derived sol mixed with yttrium nitrate hexahydrate. These solutions were used to fabricate hydrogen separation microporous membranes with a sandwich-type structure on γ-Al2O3 supported by tubular α-Al2O3. Pore size distribution measurements were conducted directly on the membranes before and after hydrothermal treatment with a nano-permporometer. The gas permeance properties of the membranes were measured in the temperature range 100–500°C. The Y-doped SiO2 membrane (Si/Y = 3/1) was found to exhibit asymptotically stable permeances of 2.39×10-7 mol m-2 s -1 Pa-1 for He and 6.19 ×10-10 mol m-2 s -1 Pa-1 for CO2, with a high selectivity of 386 (He/CO2) at 500°C for 20 h in the presence of steam. The Y-doped silica membranes exhibit very high gas permeances for molecules with smaller kinetic diameters. The apparent activation energies of the H2 permeance at 400°C were 24.2±0.2 and 21.3±0.7 kJ mol−1 for SiO2 and Si/Y, respectively. Very high permeances were obtained for N2 and O2, 2.2 and 5 × 10-8 mol m-2 s -1 Pa-1 respectively, which demonstrates that these materials are promising air purification and/or separation systems that block larger impurity molecules by molecular sieving effects. Y-doped SiO2 exhibits greater hydrothermal stability at high temperatures and higher selectivity than SiO2 membranes.

Keywords: ceramic membrane, gas separation, hydrothermal stability, rare earth doped-Silica

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Authors: Emad M.Abdullat, Hasan A. Ader-Rahman, Rayyan Al Ali, Arwa.A.Hudaib

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This retrospective study aims to determine the epidemiological features of such deaths in one of the general teaching hospitals in Jordan with a focus on weaning practices and its relation to sucking as major factors underlying the mechanism of choking in infants and young children. The study utilized a retrospective design to review the records of forensic cases due to foreign body aspiration examined at the forensic department at the Jordan University Hospital. A total of 27 cases of choking in the pediatric age group were retrieved from the reports of the autopsy cases dissected. All cases of children who died due to chocking by foreign bodies were under 11 years old. Choking by food materials constituted (44.4%) of cases under 3 years of age while choking by non-food material were less prevalent under 3 years of age and comprising 18.5% of the cases. Health care personnel and parents need to be aware that introduction of solid food, unlike exclusive breast or formula-milk feeding, can have serious consequences if occurring in inappropriate timing or consistency during early childhood physical and functional development. Parents need to be educated regarding the appropriate timing and process of weaning.

Keywords: chocking, infants, weaning practices, young children

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Authors: Emily Rabe, Stephanie Candelaria, Rachel Malone, Olivia Lenz, Greg Newbloom

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Electrodialysis (ED) is a well-developed technology for ion removal in a variety of applications. However, many industries generate harsh wastewater streams that are incompatible with traditional ion exchange membranes. Membrion® has developed novel ceramic-based ion exchange membranes (IEMs) offering several advantages over traditional polymer membranes: high performance in low pH, chemical resistance to oxidizers, and a rigid structure that minimizes swelling. These membranes are synthesized with our patented silane-based sol-gel techniques. The pore size, shape, and network structure are engineered through a molecular self-assembly process where thermodynamic driving forces are used to direct where and how pores form. Either cationic or anionic groups can be added within the membrane nanopore structure to create cation- and anion-exchange membranes. The ceramic IEMs are produced on a roll-to-roll manufacturing line with low-temperature processing. Membrane performance testing is conducted using in-house permselectivity, area-specific resistance, and ED stack testing setups. Ceramic-based IEMs show comparable performance to traditional IEMs and offer some unique advantages. Long exposure to highly acidic solutions has a negligible impact on ED performance. Additionally, we have observed stable performance in the presence of strong oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide. This stability is expected, as the ceramic backbone of these materials is already in a fully oxidized state. This data suggests ceramic membranes, made using sol-gel chemistry, could be an ideal solution for acidic and/or oxidizing wastewater streams from processes such as semiconductor manufacturing and mining.

Keywords: ion exchange, membrane, silane chemistry, nanostructure, wastewater

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Authors: Ercan Ceyhan, Ali Kahraman, Hasan Dalgıç

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This research was made during the 2011 and 2012 growing periods according to “Randomized Blocks Design” with 3 replications. Research material was the following chickpea genotype: CA119, CA128, CA149, CA150, CA222, CA250, CA254 and other 2 commercial varieties named as Gökçe and Yaşa. Some agronomical characteristics such as plant height (cm), number of pod per plant, number of seed per pod, number of seed per plant, 1000 seed weight (g) and seed yield (kg ha-1) were determined. Statistically significant variations were found amongst the genotypes for all variables except seeds per pod. Means of the two years showed the range for plant height was from 52.83 cm (Gökçe) to 73.00 cm (CA150), number of pod per plant was from 14.00 (CA149) to 26.83 (CA261), number of seed per pod was from 1.10 (Gökçe) to 1.19 (CA149 ve CA250), number of seed per plant was from 16.28 (CA149) to 31.65 (CA261), 1000 seed weight was from 295.85 g (CA149) to 437.80 g (CA261) and seed yield was from 1342.73 kg ha-1 (CA261) to 2161.50 kg ha-1 (CA128). Results of the research implicated that the new developed lines were superior compared with the control (commercial) varieties by means of most of the characteristics.

Keywords: agricultural characters, chickpea, seed yield, genotype variations

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Authors: Rachel Shukrun, Szilvia Baron, Victoria Fidel, Anna Shusterman, Osnat Sher, Netanya Kollender, Dror Levin, Yair Peled, Yair Gortzak, Yoav Ben-Shahar, Revital Caspi, Sagi Gordon, Michal Manisterski, Ronit Elhasid

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Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is a highly aggressive cancer with a survival rate of 70–80% for patients with localized disease and under 30% for those with metastatic disease. Tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TIN) can generate extracellular net-like DNA structures known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). However, little is known about the presence and prognostic significance of tumor-infiltrating NETs in EWS. Herein, we investigated 46 patients diagnosed with EWS and treated in the Tel Aviv Medical Center between 2010 and 2021. TINs and NETs were identified in diagnostic biopsies of EWS by immunofluorescent. In addition, NETs were investigated in neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood samples of EWS patients at diagnosis and following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The relationships between the presence of TINs and NETs, pathological and clinical features, and outcomes were analyzed. Our results demonstrate that TIN and NETs at diagnosis were higher in EWS patients with metastatic disease compared to those with local disease. High NETs formation at diagnosis predicted poor response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, relapse, and death from disease (P < .05). NETs formation in peripheral blood samples at diagnosis was significantly elevated among patients with EWS compared to pediatric controls and decreased significantly following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In conclusion, NETs formation seems to have a role in the EWS immune microenvironment. Their presence can refine risk stratification, predict chemotherapy resistance and survival, and serve as a therapeutic target in patients with EWS.

Keywords: Ewing sarcoma, tumor microenvironment, neutrophil, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), prognosis

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Authors: Khaled Own Mohaisen, Md. Hasan Zahir, Salah U. Al-Dulaijan, Shamsad Ahmad, Mohammed Maslehuddin

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Shape-stabilized phase change materials (ss-PCMs) for energy storage systems were developed using perlite, scoria, and oil ash as a carrier, with polyethylene glycol (PEG) with a molecular weight of 6000 as phase change material (PCM). Physical mixing using simple impregnation of ethanol evaporation technique method was carried out to fabricate the form stabilized PCM. The fabricated PCMs prevent leakage, reduce the supercooling effect and minimize recalescence problems of the PCM. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that perlite composite (ExPP) has the highest latent heat of melting and freezing values of (141.6 J/g and 143.7 J/g) respectively, compared with oil ash (OAP) and scoria (SCP) composites. Moreover, ExPP has the highest impregnation ratio, energy storage efficiency, and energy storage capacity compared with OAP and SCP. However, OAP and SCP have higher thermal conductivity values compared to ExPP composites which accelerate the thermal storage response in the composite. These results were confirmed with DSC, and the characteristic of the PCMs was investigated by using XRD and FE-SEM techniques.

Keywords: expanded perlite, oil ash, scoria, energy storage material

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Authors: Hasan Ashkanani

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Pottery assemblages from the site of Al-Khidr on Failaka Island, Kuwait, were analysed in order to reconstruct the chemical composition of Bronze Age wares and to build a mineralogical database of Bronze Age pottery dated from Failaka Periods 1–3B (2000–1650 BCE). A total of 145 ceramic sherds from Al-Khidr, as well as reference groups, were analysed by non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry. Preliminarily petrographic thin-section analysis was applied to four samples to reconstruct possible clay paste recipes and to identify raw materials. The results indicate that geochemical analyses can successfully distinguish subgroups within a typological category of ceramic assemblages. The results identified two subgroups within the Al-Khidr typological category: the Dilmun Barbar tradition and the Mesopotamian tradition. Future comparative compositional studies can be conducted to explore other aspects of craft specialisation, such as ceramic technological choices and possibly the influence of sociopolitical units

Keywords: Kuwait archaeology, pottery, pXRF, Dilmun

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Authors: Racha El Kadiri, Mohamed Sultan, Henrique Momm, Zachary Blair, Rachel Schultz, Tamer Al-Bayoumi

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The Mediterranean Basin is a very diverse region of nationalities and climate zones, with a strong dependence on agricultural activities. Predicting long term (with a lead of 1 to 12 months) rainfall, and future droughts could contribute in a sustainable management of water resources and economical activities. In this study, an integrated approach was adopted to construct predictive tools with lead times of 0 to 12 months to forecast rainfall amounts over nine subzones of the Mediterranean Basin region. The following steps were conducted: (1) acquire, assess and intercorrelate temporal remote sensing-based rainfall products (e.g. The CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation [CMAP]) throughout the investigation period (1979 to 2016), (2) acquire and assess monthly values for all of the climatic indices influencing the regional and global climatic patterns (e.g., Northern Atlantic Oscillation [NOI], Southern Oscillation Index [SOI], and Tropical North Atlantic Index [TNA]); (3) delineate homogenous climatic regions and select nine pilot study zones, (4) apply data mining methods (e.g. neural networks, principal component analyses) to extract relationships between the observed rainfall and the controlling factors (i.e. climatic indices with multiple lead-time periods) and (5) use the constructed predictive tools to forecast monthly rainfall and dry and wet periods. Preliminary results indicate that rainfall and dry/wet periods were successfully predicted with lead zones of 0 to 12 months using the adopted methodology, and that the approach is more accurately applicable in the southern Mediterranean region.

Keywords: rainfall, neural networks, climatic indices, Mediterranean

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Authors: Hasan Basri Jumin

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The in vitro flowering of orange jessamine plantlets derived from protoplast was affected by the manipulation of plant growth regulators, sugar and light conditions. MT basal medium containing 5% sucrose and supplemented with 0.001 mg 1-1 indole-acetic-acid was found to be a suitable medium for development of globular somatic embryos derived from protoplasts to form heart-shaped somatic embryos with cotyledon-like structures. The highest percentage (85 %) of flowering was achieved with plantlet on half-strength MT basal medium containing 5% sucrose and 0.001 mg1-1 indole-acetic-acid in light. Exposure to darkness for more than 3 weeks followed by re-exposure to light reduced flowering. Flowering required a 10-day exposure to indole-acetic-acid. Photoperiod with 18 h and 79.4 µmol m-2 s-1 light intensity promoted in vitro flowering in high frequencies. The sucrose treatment affected the flower bud size distribution. Flower buds originating from plantlet derived from protoplasts developed into normal flowers.

Keywords: indole-acetc-acid, light-intensity, Murraya-paniculata, photoperiod, plantlet, Zeatin

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Authors: Baha Hasan, Jan Wikander

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This paper describes a part of the integrating work between assembly design and assembly process planning domains (APP). The work is based, in its first stage, on modelling assembly features to support APP. A multi-layer architecture, based on feature-based modelling, is proposed to establish a dynamic and adaptable link between product design using CAD tools and APP. The proposed approach is based on deriving “specific function” features from the “generic” assembly and form features extracted from the CAD tools. A hierarchal structure from “generic” to “specific” and from “high level geometrical entities” to “low level geometrical entities” is proposed in order to integrate geometrical and assembly data extracted from geometrical and assembly modelers to the required processes and resources in APP. The feature concept, feature-based modelling, and feature recognition techniques are reviewed.

Keywords: assembly feature, assembly process planning, feature, feature-based modelling, form feature, ontology

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Authors: Parvaneh Eskandari, Rachel O'Reilly

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In the last years, controlling the self-assembly behavior of stimuli-responsive nano-objects, including micelles, vesicles, worm-like, etc., at different conditions is considered a pertinent challenge in the polymer community. The aim of the project was to synthesize aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active stimuli-responsive polymeric nano-objects to control the self-assemblies morphologies of the prepared nano-objects. Two types of nanoobjects, micelle and vesicles, including PDMAEMA-b-P(BzMA-TPEMA) [PDMAEMA: poly(N,Ndimethylaminoethyl methacrylate); P(BzMA-TPEMA): poly[benzyl methacrylate-co- tetraphenylethene methacrylate]] were synthesized by using reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT)- mediated polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA), which combines polymerization and self-assembly in a single step. Transmission electron microscope and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis were used to confirm the formed self-assemblies morphologies. The controlled self-assemblies were applied as nitrophenolic compounds (NPCs) adsorbents from wastewater, thanks to their CO2-responsive part, PDMAEMA. Moreover, the fluorescence-active part of the prepared nano-objects, P(BzMA-TPEMA), played a key role in the detection of the NPCs at the aqueous solution. The optical properties of the prepared nano-objects were studied by UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. For responsivity investigations, the hydrodynamic diameter and Zeta-potential (ζ-potential) of the sample's aqueous solution were measured by DLS. In the end, the prepared nano-objects were used for the detection and adsorption of different NPCs.

Keywords: aggregation-induced emission polymers, stimuli-responsive polymers, reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization, polymerization-induced self-assembly, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Hasan Basri Jumin, Henni Rosneti, Agusnimar

Abstract:

Crude palm oil liquid sludge sewage was treated to maize with 400 cc/plant could be increased mean relative growth rates, net assimilation rate, leaf area and dry weight of seed. There are indicated that 400 cc / plant treated to maize significantly increase the average of mean relative growth rates into 0.32 g.day-1. Net assimilation rates increase from 13.5 mg.m-2.day-1 into 34.5 mg.m-2.day-1, leaf area at 50 days after planting increase from 1419 cm-2 into 2458 cm-2 and dry weight of seed from 38 g per plant into 43 g per plant. Crude palm oil liquid sludge waste chemical analysis indicated that, there are no exceed threshold content of dangerous metals and biology effects. Cadmium content as heavy metal is lower than threshold of human healthy tolerance. Therefore, it has no syndrome effect to human health. Biological oxygen demands and chemical oxygen demands as indicators for micro-organism activities, there are under the threshold of human healthy tolerance.

Keywords: crude-palm-oil, fertilizer, liquid-sludge, maize, pollutant, waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 537

Authors: Sallah S. El-Ammari, Mona. S. Hasan

Abstract:

This research is aimed to study allelopathic effects of two wind breakers Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E.gomphocephala on germination and growth of barley using aqueous extracts of leaves at 0.5, 1, 5, and 10% concentrations for treatment of barley caryopsis in petri dishes incubated in growth chamber. Distilled water was used in the experiment as a control. Seed germination was recorded on daily basis for five days. After ten days measurements of root length, shoot length, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot were taken. With the exception of 0.5% E. gomphocephala extract effect on length and dry weight of barley root, all the tested extract concentrations for both eucalyptus species significantly decreased the percent and speed of germination, root and shoot length, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot of barley compared to the control. For both species the allelopathic effect was significantly increasing with the increase of the extract concentration. Although, higher allelopathic effect was shown by E. camaldulensis, the results indicating that both eucalyptus species should not be recommended as wind breakers for barley fields.

Keywords: allelopathy, eucalyptus, barley, Libya

Procedia PDF Downloads 310

Authors: Oguzhan Cepni, Doruk Kucuksarac, M. Hasan Yilmaz

Abstract:

Changes in the global risk appetite cause co-movement in emerging market risk premiums. However, the sensitivity of the changes in risk premium to the global risk appetite may vary across emerging markets. In this study, how the global risk appetite affects Credit Default Swap (CDS) premiums in emerging markets are analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and rolling regressions. The PCA results indicate that the first common component derived by the PCA accounts for almost 76 percent of the common variation in CDS premiums. Additionally, the explanatory power of the first factor seems to be high over the sample period. However, the sensitivity to the global risk factor tends to change over time and across countries. In this regard, fixed effects panel regressions are used to identify the macroeconomic factors driving the heterogeneity across emerging markets. The panel regression results point to the significance of government debt to GDP and international reserves to GDP in explaining sensitivity. Accordingly, countries with lower government debt and higher reserves tend to be less subject to the variations in the global risk appetite.

Keywords: credit default swaps, emerging markets, principal components analysis, sovereign risk

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Hasan Şahan Arel

Abstract:

In this study, literature related to the replacement of cement with waste marble and the use of waste marble as an aggregate in concrete production was examined. Workability of the concrete decreased when marble powder was used as a substitute for fine aggregate. Marble powder contributed to the compressive strength of concrete because of the CaCO₃ and SiO₂ present in the chemical structure of the marble. Additionally, the use of marble pieces in place of coarse aggregate revealed that this contributed to the workability and mechanical properties of the concrete. When natural standard sand was replaced with marble dust at a ratio of 15% and 75%, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of the concrete increased by 20%-26% and 10%-15%, respectively. However, coarse marble aggregates exhibited the best performance at a 100% replacement ratio. Additionally, there was a greater improvement in the mechanical properties of concrete when waste marble was used in a coarse aggregate form when compared to that of when marble was used in a dust form. If the cement was replaced with marble powder in proportions of 20% or more, then adverse effects were observed on the compressive strength and workability of the concrete. This study indicated that marble dust at a cement-replacement ratio of 5%-10% affected the mechanical properties of concrete by decreasing the global annual CO₂ emissions by 12% and also lowering the costs from US$40/m³ to US$33/m³.

Keywords: cement production, concrete, CO2 emission, marble, mechanical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 290

Authors: Oguzhan Cepni, Doruk Kucuksarac, M. Hasan Yilmaz

Abstract:

Risk premium of emerging markets are moving altogether depending on the momentum and shifts in the global risk appetite. However, the magnitudes of these changes in the risk premium of emerging market economies might vary. In this paper, we focus on how global risk factor affects credit default swaps (CDS) premiums of emerging markets using principal component analysis (PCA) and rolling regressions. PCA results indicate that the first common component accounts for almost 76% of common variation in CDS premiums of emerging markets. Additionally, the explanatory power of the first factor seems to be high over sample period. However, the sensitivity to the global risk factor tends to change over time and across countries. In this regard, fixed effects panel regressions are employed to identify the macroeconomic factors driving the heterogeneity across emerging markets. There are two main macroeconomic variables that affect the sensitivity; government debt to GDP and international reserves to GDP. The countries with lower government debt and higher reserves tend to be less subject to the variations in the global risk appetite.

Keywords: emerging markets, principal component analysis, credit default swaps, sovereign risk

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Aidan J. Bowes, Reaz Hasan

Abstract:

The automotive industry is continually aiming to develop the aerodynamics of car body design. This may be for a variety of beneficial reasons such as to increase speed or fuel efficiency by reducing drag. However recently there has been a greater amount of focus on wind noise produced while driving. Designers in this industry seek a combination of both simplicity of approach and overall effectiveness. This combined with the growing availability of commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) packages is likely to lead to an increase in the use of RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) based CFD methods. This is due to these methods often being simpler than other CFD methods, having a lower demand on time and computing power. In this investigation the effectiveness of turbulent flow and acoustic noise prediction using RANS based methods has been assessed for different wing mirror geometries. Three different RANS based models were used, standard k-ε, realizable k-ε and k-ω SST. The merits and limitations of these methods are then discussed, by comparing with both experimental and numerical results found in literature. In general, flow prediction is fairly comparable to more complex LES (Large Eddy Simulation) based methods; in particular for the k-ω SST model. However acoustic noise prediction still leaves opportunities for more improvement using RANS based methods.

Keywords: acoustics, aerodynamics, RANS models, turbulent flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 418