Search results for: high quality salt

Authors: Aysenur Ozturk, Aysen Yildiz, Hilal Yilmaz, Pinar Ergenekon, Melek Ozkan

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Water scarcity is one of the most important environmental problems of the World today. Desalination process is regarded as a promising solution to solve drinking water problem of the countries facing with water shortages. Reverse osmosis membranes are widely used for desalination processes. Nano structured biomimetic membrane production is one of the most challenging research subject for improving water filtration efficiency of the membranes and for reducing the cost of desalination processes. There are several researches in the literature on the development of novel biomimetic nanofiltration membranes by incorporation of aquaporin Z molecules. Aquaporins are cell membrane proteins that allow the passage of water molecules and reject all other dissolved solutes. They are present in cell membranes of most of the living organisms and provide high water passage capacity. In this study, GST (Glutathione S-transferas) tagged E. coli aquaporinZ and H. elongate aquaporin proteins, which were previously cloned and characterized, were purified from E. coli BL21 cells and used for fabrication of modified Polysulphone Membrane (PS). Aquaporins were incorporated on the surface of the membrane by using 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) phospolipids as carrier liposomes. Aquaporin containing proteoliposomes were immobilized on the surface of the membrane with m-phenylene-diamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) rejection layer. Water flux, salt rejection and glucose rejection performances of the thin film composite membranes were tested by using Dead-End Reactor Cell. In this study, effect of proteoliposome concentration, and filtration pressure on water flux and salt rejection rate of membranes were investigated. Type of aquaporin used for membrane fabrication, flux and pressure applied for filtration were found to be important parameters affecting rejection rates. Results suggested that optimization of concentration of aquaporin carriers (proteoliposomes) on the membrane surface is necessary for fabrication of effective composite membranes used for different purposes.

Keywords: aquaporins, biomimmetic membranes, desalination, water treatment

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Authors: Othman Ali Alghtani, Yahya Abdul-Ekhalq Ali, Abdullah Abdul-Ekhalq Ali, Ahmed Al Sadiq Abdul Majeed, Najwa Attian Al-Mohammadi, Obead Mozel Alharbi, Sabri Mohamed Ismail, Omar Ibrahim Asiri

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This study assessed the curricula of secondary schools given requirements to enhance the quality of life of students. The components of quality of life were described to build a list of standards and indicators. A questionnaire assessing the dimensions of mental (cognitive and emotional), physical, digital, and social health, and environmental awareness was prepared. A descriptive-analytical approach was used on a sample of 258 teachers and educational supervisors in Tabuk. The results indicated shortcomings in the secondary school curricula regarding developing standards and indicators of components of quality of life. Results also indicated that secondary school curricula incorporated few practices to improve student’s quality of life. No significant differences were found regarding the core subject, job, gender, and years of experience.

Keywords: assessing curricula, teacher practices, quality of life, teaching practices

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Authors: Rahman Mofidi, Sina Rahimi, Farnoosh Darban

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Communication plays a key role in today’s world, and to support it, the quality of service has the highest priority. It is very important to differentiate between traffic based on priority level. Some traffic classes should be a higher priority than other classes. It is also necessary to give high priority to customers who have more payment for better service, however, without influence on other customers. So to realize that, we will require effective quality of service methods. To ensure the optimal performance of the network in accordance with the quality of service is an important goal for all operators in the mobile network. In this work, we propose an algorithm based on control parameters which it’s based on user feedback that aims at minimizing the access to system transmit power and thus improving the network key performance indicators and increasing the quality of service. This feedback that is known as channel quality indicator (CQI) indicates the received signal level of the user. We aim at proposing an algorithm in control parameter criterion to study improving the quality of service and throughput in a cellular network at the simulated environment. In this work we tried to parameter values have close to their actual level. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the system throughput and thus satisfies users' throughput and improves service to set up a successful call.

Keywords: quality of service, key performance indicators, control parameter, channel quality indicator

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Authors: Yoshinori Wakatake

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Many defects after the release of software packages are caused due to omissions of sufficient test items in test specifications. Poor test specifications are detected by manual review, which imposes a high human load. The prevention of omissions depends on the end-user awareness of test specification writers. If test specifications were written while envisioning the behavior of end-users, the number of omissions in test items would be greatly reduced. The paper pays attention to the point that writers who can achieve it differ from those who cannot in not only the description richness but also their gaze information. It proposes a method to estimate the degree of user-awareness of writers through the analysis of their gaze information when writing test specifications. We conduct an experiment to obtain the gaze information of a writer of the test specifications. Test specifications are automatically classified using gaze information. In this method, a Random Forest model is constructed for the classification. The classification is highly accurate. By looking at the explanatory variables which turn out to be important variables, we know behavioral features to distinguish test specifications of high quality from others. It is confirmed they are pupil diameter size and the number and the duration of blinks. The paper also investigates test specifications automatically classified with gaze information to discuss features in their writing ways in each quality level. The proposed method enables us to automatically classify test specifications. It also prevents test item omissions, because it reveals writing features that test specifications of high quality should satisfy.

Keywords: blink, eye tracking, gaze information, pupil diameter, quality improvement, specification document, user-awareness

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Authors: Omer Akkaya, Nurullah Ekmekcı, Muammer Zerenler

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Innovation for businesses means a new product and service and sometimes a new implementation. Total Quality Management is a management philosophy which focus on customer, process and system.There is a certain relationship between principles of Total Quality Management and innovation performance. Main aim of this study is to show how the implementation and principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) affect a firm's innovation performance. Also, this paper discusses positive and negative affects of Total Quality Management on innovation performance and demonstrates some examples.

Keywords: innovation, innovation types, total quality management, principles of total quality management

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Askarizadeh

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To meet the challenges of the new global environment, companies have started paying great attention towards quality management as an integral part of their strategic business plans. The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and knowledge management (KM). Successful total quality management implementation throughout the organizations requires major changes in the main four aspects of knowledge management, namely: Creating, storage, sharing and application. Skill, knowledge and productivity are important factors in organization’s success and have important role. Therefore, TQM management system pays special attention to it. However, knowledge as the source is essential for organization’s survival. Our study points out how the quality management and knowledge management have been incorporated into each other for the development of the quality culture within the organization.

Keywords: knowledge management (KM), total quality management (TQM), organizational performance (OP), deming cycle

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Authors: Ramandeep Kaur, Tarsem Singh Dhillon, Rajinder Kumar Dhall, Ruma Devi

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French bean (Phaseolous vulgaris L.) is an economically potential legume vegetable grown at high altitude (>1000 ft.). More recently, its cultivation in Northern Indian plans is gaining popularity but there is severe reduction in its yield and quality due to low temperature during extreme winter conditions of December-January in open field conditions. Therefore, present study was undertaken to evaluate 29 indeterminate French bean genotypes for various yield and quality traits in poly-net house with the objective to identify best performing genotypes during winter conditions. The significant variation was observed among all the genotypes for all the studied traits. The green pod yield was significantly higher in genotype Lakshmi (992.33 g/plant) followed by Star-I (955.50 g/plant) and FBK-4 (911.17 g/plant). However, the genotypes FBK-10 (105.50 days) and Lakshmi (106.83 days) took least number of days to first harvest and were significantly better than all other genotypes (109.00-136.83 days). The maximum numbers of 10 pickings were recorded in genotype Lakshmi whereas maximum harvesting span as also observed in Lakshmi (60.50 days) which was significantly higher than all other genotypes (31.17-56.50 days). Regarding quality traits, maximum dry matter was observed in FBK-13 (13.87%), protein content in FBK-1 (9.67%), sugar content in FBK-5 (9.60%) and minimum fiber content in FBK-12 (0.69%). It is hereby concluded that high productivity and better quality of French bean (genotypes: Lakshmi, Star-I, FBK-4) was produced in poly-net house conditions of Punjab, India and these pods fetches premium price in the market as there is no availability of green pods at that time in high altitudes. Hence, there is a great scope of cultivation of indeterminate French bean under poly-net house conditions in Punjab.

Keywords: earliness, pod, protected environment, quality, yield

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Authors: C. Chhorn, S. H. Han, S. W. Lee

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Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) has been used for decades in many pavement applications due to its economic cost and high construction speed. However, due to the lack of deep researches and experiences, this material has not been widely employed. An RCC mixture with appropriate consistency can induce high compacted density, while high density can induce good aggregate interlock and high strength. Consistency of RCC is mainly known to define its constructability. However, it was not well specified how this property may affect other properties of a constructed RCC pavement (RCCP). This study suggested the possibility of an ideal range of consistency that may provide adequate quality of RCCP. In this research, five sections of RCCP consisted of both 13 mm and 19 mm aggregate sections were investigated. The effects of consistency on compacted depth, strength, international roughness index (IRI), skid resistance are examined. From this study, a new range of consistency is suggested for RCCP application.

Keywords: compacted depth, consistency, international roughness index (IRI), pavement, roller-compacted concrete (RCC), skid resistance, strength

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Authors: Djamil Guettiche, Ahmed Mekki, Tighilt Fatma-Zohra, Rachid Mahmoud

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The aim of this study was to synthesize and characterize conducting polymer composites of polypyrrole and graphene, including pristine and surface-treated graphene (PPy/GO, PPy/rGO, and PPy/rGO-ArCOOH), for use as sensitive elements in a homemade chemiresistive module for on-line detection of nitrogen oxides vapors. The chemiresistive module was prepared, characterized, and evaluated for performance. Structural and morphological characterizations of the composite were carried out using FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and XRD analyses. After exposure to NO and NO₂ gases in both static and dynamic modes, the sensitivity, selectivity, limit of detection, and response time of the sensor were determined at ambient temperature. The resulting sensor showed high sensitivity, selectivity, and reversibility, with a low limit of detection of 1 ppm. A composite of polypyrrole and graphene functionalized with aryl 4-carboxy benzene diazonium salt was synthesized and characterized using FTIR, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV-visible, and X-ray diffraction. The PPy-rGOArCOOH composite exhibited a good electrical resistance response to NO₂ at room temperature and showed enhanced NO₂-sensing properties compared to PPy-rGO thin films. The selectivity and stability of the NO₂ sensor based on the PPy/rGO-ArCOOH nanocomposite were also investigated.

Keywords: conducting polymers, surface treated graphene, diazonium salt, polypyrrole, Nitrogen oxide sensing

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Authors: Dace Grauda, Gunta Cekstere, Inta Belogrudova, Andis Karlsons, Isaak Rashal

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Trifolium repens L. (white or Dutch clover) is a perennial herb, belongs to legume family (Leguminosae Juss.), spread extensively by stolons and seeds. The species is cultivated worldwide and was naturalized in many countries in meadows, yards, gardens, along roads and streets etc., especially in temperate regions. It is widespread also in grasslands throughout Riga, the capital of Latvia. The goal of this study was to investigate genetic structure of white clover population in Riga and to evaluate influence of different salt concentration on plants. For this purpose universal retrotranspozone based IRAP (Inter-Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism) method was used. The plant material was collected in different regions of Riga and in several urban areas of Latvia. Plant DNA was isolated from in silicogel dried leaves of using 1% CTAB (cetyltrimet-ammonium bromide) buffer DNA extraction procedure. Genetic structure of city population and wild populations were compared. Soil salinization is an important issue associated with low water resources and highly urbanized areas in aride and semi-aride climate conditions, as well as de-icing salt application to prevent ice formation on roads in winter. The T. repens variety ‘Daile’ (form giganteum), one of the often used component of urban greeneries, was studied in this investigation. Plants were grown from seeds and cultivated in the light conditions (18-25 C, 16h/8h of day/night, light intensity 3000 lx) in plastic pots (200 ml), filled with commercial neutralized (pH 5.9 ± 0.3) peat substrate with mineral nutrients. To analyse the impact of increased soil salinity treatments with gradually rising NaCl (0; 20; 40; 60; 80; 100 mM) levels were arranged. Plants were watered when necessary with deionised water to provide optimum substrate moisture 60-70%. The experiment was terminated six weeks after establishment. For analysis of mineral nutrients, dry plant material (above ground part and roots) was used. Decrease of Na content can be significant under elevated salinity till 20 mM NaCl. High NaCl concentrations in the substrate increase Na, Cl, Cu, Fe, and Mn accumulation, but reduce S, Mg, K content in the plant above ground parts. Abiotic stresses generally changes the levels of DNA metilation. Several candidate gene for salt tolerance will be analysed for DNA metilation level using Pyromark-Q24 advanced.

Keywords: DNA metilation, IRAP, soil salinization, white clover

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Authors: Yameen Ahmed, Jamshid Hussain, Farman Ullah, Sohaib Asif

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The investigation aims at the synthesis of copper oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles using Spinacia oleracea leaf extract. These nanoparticles have many properties and applications. They possess antimicrobial catalytic properties and also they can be used in energy storage materials, gas sensors, etc. The Spinacia oleracea leaf extract behaves as a reducing agent in nanoparticle synthesis. The plant extract was first prepared and then treated with copper and cobalt salt solutions to get the precipitate. The salt solutions used for this purpose are copper sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO₄.5H₂O) and cobalt chloride hexahydrate (CoCl₂.6H₂O). The UV-Vis, XRD, EDX, and SEM techniques are used to find the optical, structural, and morphological properties of copper oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles. The UV absorption peaks are at 326 nm and 506 nm for copper oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles.

Keywords: cobalt oxide, copper oxide, green synthesis, nanoparticles

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Authors: Pankaj Negi

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Nowadays the demand for receiving the high quality electrical energy is being increasing as consumer wants not only reliable but also quality power. Custom power instruments are of the most well-known compensators of power quality in distributed network. This paper present a comprehensive review of compensating custom power devices mainly DSTATCOM (distribution static compensator),DVR (dynamic voltage restorer), and UPQC (unified power quality compensator) and also deals with sliding mode control and its applications to custom power devices. The sliding mode control strategy provides robustness to custom power device and enhances the dynamic response for compensating voltage sag, swell, voltage flicker, and voltage harmonics. The aim of this paper is to provide a broad perspective on the status of compensating devices in electric power distribution system and sliding mode control strategies to researchers and application engineers who are dealing with power quality and stability issues.

Keywords: active power filters(APF), custom power device(CPD), DSTATCOM, DVR, UPQC, sliding mode control (SMC), power quality

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Authors: Rafla Hchaichi

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The public administration is currently experiencing in the field of quality unprecedented effervescence. However, in a globalized world more and more competitive, public services are confronted with the need to improve their performances which push public companies to implement quality approaches. Quality approaches have taken diverse forms such as service commitment, labels, certifications and the Common Assessment Framework. This paper provides an overview on the strategy for administrative development in Tunisia since the Carthaginian civilization until today. It outlines the evolution of quality management in the Tunisian public context while focusing on the National Referential of Quality of Administrative Services.

Keywords: quality approach, the common assessment framework, service commitment, label, certification, quality of public service, performance of public service, Tunisian Public Service

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Authors: Fekadu Melak, Tsegaye Girma Asere

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Trace element ions, such as Cr(VI) and F−, are of particular interest due to their environmental impact. Both ions exhibit an anionic nature in water that can show similar removal tendencies except for their significant differences in ionic radius. Accordingly, partial freezing was performed to examine freeze separation efficiencies of Cr(VI) and F– from aqueous solutions. Real groundwater and simulated wastewater were included to test effeciency of F– and Cr(VI), respectively. Parameters such as initial ion concentration, salt addition, and freeze duration were explored. Under optimal operating conditions, freeze separation efficiencies of 90 ± 0.12 to 97 ± 0.54% and 58 ± 0.23% to 60 ± 0.34% from 5 mg/L of Cr(VI) and F–, respectively, were demonstrated. The F– ion intercalation into the ice, initiating the decrement of freeze separation efficiency was observed in the salt addition processes. The influences of structuring-destructuring (kosmotropicity-chaotropicity) and the size-exclusion nature of ice crystals were used to explain the plausible mechanism in freeze separation efficiency trace elemental ions.

Keywords: Cr(VI), F-, partial freezing, size exclusion

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Authors: Mario Pérez-Won, Anais Palma-Acevedo, Luis González-Cavieres, Roberto Lemus-Mondaca, Gipsy Tabilo-Munizaga

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The Chilean abalone (Concholepas Concholepas) is a gastropod mollusk; it has a high commercial value due to the qualities of its meat, especially hardness, as a critical acceptance parameter. However, its main problem is its short shelf-life which is usually extended using traditional technologies with high energy consumption. Therefore, applying different technologies for the pre-treatment and drying process is necessary. In this research, pulsed electric field (PEF) was used as a pre-treatment for vacuum microwave drying (VMD), freeze-drying (FD), and hot-air drying (HAD). Drying conditions and characteristics were set according to previous experiments. The Drying samples were analyzed in terms of physical quality (color, texture, microstructure, and rehydration capacity), protein quality (degree of hydrolysis and computer protein efficiency ratio), and energy parameters. Regarding quality, the treatment that obtained lower harness was PEF+FD (195 N ± 10), the lowest change of color was for treatment PEF+VMD (ΔE: 17 ± 1.5), and the best rehydration capacity was for treatment PEF+VMD (1.2 h for equilibrium). For protein quality, the highest Computer-Protein Efficiency Ratio was the sample 2.0 kV/ cm of PEF (index of 4.18 ± 0.26 at the end of the digestion). Moreover, about energetic consumption, results show that VMD decreases the drying process by 97% whether PEF was used or not. Consequently, it is possible to conclude that using PEF as a pre-treatment for VMD and FD treatments has advantages that must be used following the consumer’s needs or preferences.

Keywords: chilean abalone, freeze-drying, proteins, pulsed electric fields

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Authors: Lazhar Belkhiri, Ammar Tiri, Lotfi Mouni

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Water resources present to the public order of the world a very important problem for the protection and management of water quality given the complexity of water quality data sets. In this study, the water quality index (WQI) and irrigation water quality index (IWQI) were calculated in order to evaluate the surface water quality for drinking and irrigation purposes based on nine hydrochemical parameters. In order to separate the variables that are the most responsible for the spatial differentiation, the discriminant analysis (DA) was applied. The results show that the surface water quality for drinking is poor quality and very poor quality based on WQI values, however, the values of IWQI reflect that this water is acceptable for irrigation with a restriction for sensitive plants. Consequently, the discriminant analysis DA method has shown that the following parameters pH, potassium, chloride, sulfate, and bicarbonate are significant discrimination between the different stations with the spatial variation of the surface water quality, therefore, the results obtained in this study provide very useful information to decision-makers

Keywords: surface water quality, drinking and irrigation purposes, water quality index, discriminant analysis

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Authors: Kankurize Josiane, Nizigama Mediatrice

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Introduction: Burundi records a still high infant mortality rate. Despite efforts to reduce it, prematurity is still the leading cause of death in the neonatal period. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of care for premature babies hospitalized in the neonatology unit of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kamenge. Method: This was a descriptive and evaluative prospective carried out in the neonatology unit of the CHUK (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kamenge) from December 1, 2016, to May 31, 2017, including 70 premature babies, 65 mothers of premature babies and 15 providers including a pediatrician and 14 nurses. Using a tool developed by the World Health Organization and adapted to the local context by national experts, the quality of care for premature babies was assessed. Results: Prematurity accounted for 44.05% of hospitalizations in neonatology at the University Hospital of Kamenge. The assessment of the quality of care for premature babies was of low quality, with an average global score of 2/5 (50%), indicating that there is a considerable need for improvement to reach the standards. Conclusion: Efforts must be made to have infrastructures, materials, and human resources sufficient in quality and quantity so that the neonatology unit of the CHUK can be efficient and optimize the care of premature babies.

Keywords: quality of care, evaluation, premature, standards

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Authors: Vita Strazdina, Aleksandrs Jemeljanovs, Vita Sterna

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Not all proteins have the same nutritional value, since protein quality strongly depends on its amino acid composition and digestibility. The meat of game animals could be a high protein source because of its well-balanced essential amino acids composition. Investigations about biochemical composition of game meat such as wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and beaver (Castor fiber) are not very much. Therefore, the aim of the investigation was evaluate protein composition of game meat hunted in Latvia. The biochemical analysis, evaluation of connective tissue and essential amino acids in meat samples were done, the amino acids score were calculate. Results of analysis showed that protein content 20.88-22.05% of all types of meat samples is not different statistically. The content of connective tissue from 1.3% in roe deer till 1.5% in beaver meat allowed classified game animal as high quality meat. The sum of essential amino acids in game meat samples were determined 7.05–8.26g100g-1. Roe deer meat has highest protein content and lowest content of connective tissues among game meat hunted in Latvia. Concluded that amino acid score for limiting amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine is high and shows high biological value of game meat.

Keywords: dietic product, game meat, amino acids, scores

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Authors: Benjamin Kuester, Bjoern Eilert, Malte Stonis, Ludger Overmeyer

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Increasing quality requirements make reliable and effective quality management indispensable. This includes the complaint handling in which the 8D method is widely used. The 8D report as a written documentation of the 8D method is one of the key quality documents as it internally secures the quality standards and acts as a communication medium to the customer. In practice, however, the 8D report is mostly faulty and of poor quality. There is no quality control of 8D reports today. This paper describes the use of natural language processing for the automated evaluation of 8D reports. Based on semantic analysis and text-mining algorithms the presented system is able to uncover content and formal quality deficiencies and thus increases the quality of the complaint processing in the long term.

Keywords: 8D report, complaint management, evaluation system, text-mining

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Authors: Rubijesmin Abdul Latif

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This paper focuses on evaluating what are quality components of university websites in Malaysia especially the private universities. It is believed that with websites that prioritize quality, the websites will serve its intended users satisfactory. From the compiled analysis of other studies, quality components were identified and tested among 30 randomly selected respondents. Four Malaysia private university websites were compared and the highlights were better understanding of what users want for a quality university website.

Keywords: website evaluation, criteria, quality, usability, user experience, university website

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Authors: Jeremy Faludi, Zhongyin Hu, Shahd Alrashed, Christopher Braunholz, Suneesh Kaul, Leulekal Kassaye

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Environmental impacts of six 3D printers using various materials were compared to determine if material choice drove sustainability, or if other factors such as machine type, machine size, or machine utilization dominate. Cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessments were performed, comparing a commercial-scale FDM machine printing in ABS plastic, a desktop FDM machine printing in ABS, a desktop FDM machine printing in PET and PLA plastics, a polyjet machine printing in its proprietary polymer, an SLA machine printing in its polymer, and an inkjet machine hacked to print in salt and dextrose. All scenarios were scored using ReCiPe Endpoint H methodology to combine multiple impact categories, comparing environmental impacts per part made for several scenarios per machine. Results showed that most printers’ ecological impacts were dominated by electricity use, not materials, and the changes in electricity use due to different plastics was not significant compared to variation from one machine to another. Variation in machine idle time determined impacts per part most strongly. However, material impacts were quite important for the inkjet printer hacked to print in salt: In its optimal scenario, it had up to 1/38th the impacts coreper part as the worst-performing machine in the same scenario. If salt parts were infused with epoxy to make them more physically robust, then much of this advantage disappeared, and material impacts actually dominated or equaled electricity use. Future studies should also measure DMLS and SLS processes / materials.

Keywords: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, sustainability, life-cycle assessment, design for environment

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Authors: Nazim Uddin, Yohiko Nakaura, Kazutaka Yamamoto

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Compote (fruit in syrup) of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merrill) is expected to have a high market potential as one of convenient ready-to-eat (RTE) foods worldwide. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) in combination with low temperature (LT) was applied to the processing of pineapple compote as well as medium HHP (MHHP) in combination with medium-high temperature (MHT) since both processes can enhance liquid impregnation and inactivate microbes. MHHP+MHT (55 or 65 °C) process, as well as the HHP+LT process, has successfully inactivated the microbes in the compote to a non-detectable level. Although the compotes processed by MHHP+MHT or HHP+LT have lost the fresh texture as in a similar manner as those processed solely by heat, it was indicated that the texture degradations by heat were suppressed under MHHP. Degassing process reduced the hardness, while calcium (Ca) contributed to be retained hardness in MHT and MHHP+MHT processes. Electrical impedance measurement supported the damage due to degassing and heat. The color, Brix, and appearance were not affected by the processing methods significantly. MHHP+MHT and HHP+LT processes may be applicable to produce high-quality, safe RTE pineapple compotes. Further studies on the optimization of packaging and storage condition will be indispensable for commercialization.

Keywords: compote of pineapple, RTE, medium high hydrostatic pressure, postharvest loss, texture

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Authors: Dina L. DiSantis

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Development and implementation of a place-based watershed science course for high school students will prove to be a valuable experience for both student and teacher. By having students study and assess the watershed dynamics of a local stream, they will better understand how human activities affect this valuable resource. It is important that students gain tangible skills that will help them to have an understanding of water quality analysis and the importance of preserving our Earth's water systems. Having students participate in real world practices is the optimal learning environment and can offer students a genuine learning experience, by cultivating a knowledge of place, while promoting education for sustainability. Additionally, developing a watershed science course for high school students will give them a hands-on approach to studying science; which is both beneficial and more satisfying to students. When students conduct their own research, collect and analyze data, they will be intimately involved in addressing water quality issues and solving critical water quality problems. By providing students with activities that take place outside the confines of the indoor classroom, you give them the opportunity to gain an appreciation of the natural world. Placed-based learning provides students with problem-solving skills in everyday situations while enhancing skills of inquiry. An overview of a place-based watershed science course and its impact on student learning will be presented.

Keywords: education for sustainability, place-based learning, watershed science, water quality

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Authors: Camille Van Eupen, Dirk Maes, Marc Herremans, Kristijn R. R. Swinnen, Ben Somers, Stijn Luca

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In ecology, species distribution models are commonly implemented to study species-environment relationships. These models increasingly rely on opportunistic citizen science data when high-quality species records collected through standardized recording protocols are unavailable. While these opportunistic data are abundant, uncertainty is usually high, e.g., due to observer effects or a lack of metadata. Data quality filtering is often used to reduce these types of uncertainty in an attempt to increase the value of studies relying on opportunistic data. However, filtering should not be performed blindly. In this study, recommendations are built for data quality filtering of opportunistic species occurrence data that are used as input for species distribution models. Using an extensive database of 5.7 million citizen science records from 255 species in Flanders, the impact on model performance was quantified by applying three data quality filters, and these results were linked to species traits. More specifically, presence records were filtered based on record attributes that provide information on the observation process or post-entry data validation, and changes in the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity were analyzed using the Maxent algorithm with and without filtering. Controlling for sample size enabled us to study the combined impact of data quality filtering, i.e., the simultaneous impact of an increase in data quality and a decrease in sample size. Further, the variation among species in their response to data quality filtering was explored by clustering species based on four traits often related to data quality: commonness, popularity, difficulty, and body size. Findings show that model performance is affected by i) the quality of the filtered data, ii) the proportional reduction in sample size caused by filtering and the remaining absolute sample size, and iii) a species ‘quality profile’, resulting from a species classification based on the four traits related to data quality. The findings resulted in recommendations on when and how to filter volunteer generated and opportunistically collected data. This study confirms that correctly processed citizen science data can make a valuable contribution to ecological research and species conservation.

Keywords: citizen science, data quality filtering, species distribution models, trait profiles

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Authors: Adnan Alhathal Alanezi

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The performance of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process for water desalination was investigated utilizing a new design membrane module using two commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat sheet hydrophobic membranes. The membrane module's design demonstrated its suitability for achieving a high heat transfer coefficient of the order of 103 (W/m2K) and a high Reynolds number (Re). The heat and mass transport coefficients within the membrane module were measured using VMD experiments. The permeate flux has been examined in relation to process parameters such as feed temperature, feed flow rate, vacuum degree, and feed concentration. Because the feed temperature, feed flow rate, and vacuum degree all play a role in improving the performance of the VMD process, optimizing all of these parameters is the best method to achieve a high permeate flux. In VMD desalination, the PTFE membrane outperformed the PVDF membrane. When compared to previous studies, the obtained water flux is relatively high, reaching 43.8 and 52.6 (kg/m2h) for PVDF and PTFE, respectively. For both membranes, the salt rejection of NaCl was greater than 99%.

Keywords: desalination, vacuum membrane distillation, PTFE and PVDF, hydrophobic membranes, O-ring membrane module

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Authors: Qingyu Zhang, Mei Cao

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As the environments become increasingly uncertain, firms have attempted to achieve greater supply chain collaboration. Supply chain collaboration can generate significant benefits to its members, e.g., reducing risks and decreasing transaction costs. However, a strong relationship is often related to firm’s culture (e.g., short-term vs. long-term interests). The objective of the study is to explore the effect of long-term oriented culture on product quality in a supply chain. Data was collected through a Web survey of U.S. manufacturing firms. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) was used to analyze the data. The results support the mediating roles of goal congruence and communication in the relationship between long-term orientation and product quality in the supply chain. Goal congruence partially mediates the relationship between long-term orientation and communication; communication completely mediates the relationship between goal congruence and product quality. Without high levels of communication, goal congruence cannot improve product quality in a positive way.

Keywords: communication, long-term orientation, product quality, supply chain

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Authors: Ekramul Hoque, Zinat Ara Eakut Zarin, Ershad Ali

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The growth and development of explants is governed by the effect of nutrient medium. Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) as a major salt of stock solution-1 for the preparation of tissue culture medium. But, it has several demerits on human civilization. It is use for the preparation of bomb and other destructive activities. Hence, it is totally ban in our country. A new chemical was identified as a substitute of ammonium nitrate. The concentrations of the other ingredients of major and minor salt were modified from the MS medium. The formulation of new medium is totally different from the MS nutrient composition. The most widely use MS medium composition was used as first check treatment and MS powder (Duchefa Biocheme, The Netherland) was used as second check treatment. The experiments were carried out at the Department of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Two potato varieties viz. Diamant and Asterix were used as experimental materials. The regeneration potentiality of potato onto new medium was best as compare with the two check treatments. The traits -node number, leaf number, shoot length, root lengths were highest in new medium. The plantlets were healthy, robust and strong as compare to plantlets regenerated from check treatments. Three subsequent sub-cultures were made in the new medium to observe the growth pattern of plantlet. It was also showed the best performance in all the parameter under studied. The regenerated plantlet produced good quality minituber under field condition. Hence, it is concluded that, a new plant tissue culture medium as discovered from the Department of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh under the leadership of Professor Dr. Md. Ekramul Hoque.

Keywords: new medium, potato, regeneration, ammonium nitrate

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Catherine Heyjung Sonu

Abstract:

This paper examines the effect of accounting quality on the process in which stock price is determined by focusing on contribution-in-kind valuations using Korean setting. In Korea, a number of chaebol firms have transformed into holding company system starting in 2003. With an attempt to gain as much voting right, management sold shares of subsidiaries to purchase shares of the holding company. In so doing, management of these firms received share issues for the contribution in kind that has been made to obtain additional shares of the holding company. The price of these share issues against contribution in kind is allowed to be discounted up to 30%. Using this interesting setting in Korea, this paper examines whether accounting quality affects the extent of the discount applied to the share issues. If the accounting quality of the firm for which the management is receiving share issues is poor, the extent of discount is likely to be high. The extent of discount is likely lower for firms with superior accounting quality. Using 24 cases, we find that, on average, the extent of discount is larger for share issues in which the accounting quality, proxied by the absolute value of discretionary accruals, is poor. This paper provides insight by examining the effect of accounting quality on the stock market. It sheds light on the intersection between finance and accounting research and should be of interest to researchers and practitioners.

Keywords: Accounting quality, Contribution-in-kind, discount, holding company

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Anam Noshaba, Mahr Muhammad Saeed Akhtar

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to find out the relationship between quality education and organizational culture. The population of this study was all the teachers of Public Degree Colleges located in Punjab. A sample of 400 teachers was selected by using a simple random sampling technique. Quality Education Assessment Questionnaire (QEAQ) and Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) were used for data collection. Out of all, 90% of teachers responded. Findings showed that quality education and organizational culture are positively correlated. Results indicated that there is no difference in quality education and organizational culture by demographic variables of teachers. Future research is needed to study the viewpoint of other stakeholders of education regarding quality education and organizational culture.

Keywords: quality education, minimum quality standards, organizational culture, college level

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Nesrine Lenchi, Salima Kebbouche-Gana, Laddada Belaid, Mohamed Lamine Khelfaoui, Mohamed Lamine Gana

Abstract:

Saline lakes are extreme hypersaline environments that are considered five to ten times saltier than seawater (150 – 300 g L-1 salt concentration). Hypersaline regions differ from each other in terms of salt concentration, chemical composition and geographical location, which determine the nature of inhabitant microorganisms. In order to explore the diversity of moderate and extreme halophiles Bacteria in Chott Tinsilt (East of Algeria), an isolation program was performed. In the first time, water samples were collected from the saltern during pre-salt harvesting phase. Salinity, pH and temperature of the sampling site were determined in situ. Chemical analysis of water sample indicated that Na +and Cl- were the most abundant ions. Isolates were obtained by plating out the samples in complex and synthetic media. In this study, seven halophiles cultures of Bacteria were isolated. Isolates were studied for Gram’s reaction, cell morphology and pigmentation. Enzymatic assays (oxidase, catalase, nitrate reductase and urease), and optimization of growth conditions were done. The results indicated that the salinity optima varied from 50 to 250 g L-1, whereas the optimum of temperature range from 25°C to 35°C. Molecular identification of the isolates was performed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. The results showed that these cultured isolates included members belonging to the Halomonas, Staphylococcus, Salinivibrio, Idiomarina, Halobacillus Thalassobacillus and Planococcus genera and what may represent a new bacterial genus.

Keywords: bacteria, Chott, halophilic, 16S rRNA

Procedia PDF Downloads 253