Search results for: absorption abilities

Authors: Mohd Ariff Admon, Abdul Rahman Mohd Kasim, Sharidan Shafie

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This paper considers the effect of heat generation proportional l to (T - T∞ )p , where T is the local temperature and T∞ is the ambient temperature, in unsteady free convection flow near the stagnation point region of a three-dimensional body. The fluid is considered in an ambient fluid under the assumption of a step change in the surface temperature of the body. The non-linear coupled partial differential equations governing the free convection flow are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference method for different values of the governing parameters entering these equations. The results for the flow and heat characteristics when p ≤ 2 show that the transition from the initial unsteady-state flow to the final steadystate flow takes place smoothly. The behavior of the flow is seen strongly depend on the exponent p.

Keywords: Free convection, Boundary layer flow, Stagnationpoint, Heat generation

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Authors: Aeslina Binti Abdul Kadir, Ahmad Shayuti Bin Abdul Rahim

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Brick is one of the most common masonry units used as building material. Due to the demand, different types of waste have been investigated to be incorporated into the bricks. Many types of sludge have been incorporated in fired clay brick for example marble sludge, stone sludge, water sludge, sewage sludge, and ceramic sludge. The utilization of these waste materials in fired clay bricks usually has positive effects on the properties such as lightweight bricks with improved shrinkage, porosity, and strength. This paper reviews on utilization of different types of sludge wastes into fired clay bricks. Previous investigations have demonstrated positive effects on the physical and mechanical properties as well as less impact towards the environment. Thus, the utilizations of sludge waste could produce a good quality of brick and could be one of alternative disposal methods for the sludge wastes.

Keywords: Fired Clay Brick, Sludge waste, Compressive strength, Shrinkage, Water absorption.

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Authors: N. O. Omaka, I. F. Offor, R.C. Ehiri

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The health and environmental risk of eating mushrooms grown in Abakaliki were evaluated in terms of heavy metals accumulation. Mushroom samples were collected from four different farms located at Izzi, Amajim, Amana and Amudo and analyzed for (iron, lead, manganese and cadmium) using Bulk Scientific Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer 205. Results indicates mean range of concentrations of the trace metals in the mushrooms were Fe (0.22-152. 03), Mn (0.74-9.76), Pb (0.01.0.80), Cd (0.61-0.82) mg/L respectively. Accumulation of Cd on the four locations under investigation was higher than the UK Government Food Science Surveillance and World Health Organization maximum recommended levels in mushroom for human consumption. The Fe and Mn contaminants of Amudo were significant and show the impact of anthropogenic/atmospheric pollution. The potential sources of the heavy metals in the mushrooms were from urban waste, dust from mining and quarrying activities, natural geochemistry of the area, and use of inorganic fertilizers

Keywords: Agaricus campestris, edible, health implication heavy metal, mushroom.

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Authors: Shrinivas P. Mahajan, Aarti C. Kshirsagar

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Wireless communication technology is rapidly changing with recent developments in portable devices and communication protocols. This has generated demand for more advanced and compact antenna structures and therefore, proposed work focuses on Meander Line Antenna (MLA) design. Here, Pentaband MLA is designed on a FR4 substrate (85 mm x 40 mm) with dielectric constant (ϵr) 4.4, loss tangent (tan ) 0.018 and height 1.6 mm with coplanar feed and open stub structure. It can be operated in LTE (0.670 GHz-0.696 GHz) GPS (1.564 GHz-1.579 GHz), WCDMA (1.920 GHz-2.135 GHz), LTE UL frequency band 23 (2-2.020 GHz) and 5G (3.10 GHz-3.550 GHz) application bands. Also, it gives good performance in terms of Return Loss (RL) which is < -10 dB, impedance bandwidth with maximum Bandwidth (BW) up to 0.21 GHz and realized gains with maximum gain up to 3.28 dBi. Antenna is simulated with open stub and without open stub structures to see the effect on impedance BW coverage. In addition to this, it is checked with human hand and head phantoms to assure that it falls within specified Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) limits.

Keywords: Coplanar feed, L shaped ground, MLA, phantom, SAR, stub.

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Authors: Valeri A. Makarov, Nazareth P. Castellanos, Manuel G. Velarde

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In order to answer the general question: “What does a simple agent with a limited life-time require for constructing a useful representation of the environment?" we propose a robot platform including the simplest probabilistic sensory and motor layers. Then we use the platform as a test-bed for evaluation of the navigational capabilities of the robot with different “brains". We claim that a protocognitive behavior is not a consequence of highly sophisticated sensory–motor organs but instead emerges through an increment of the internal complexity and reutilization of the minimal sensory information. We show that the most fundamental robot element, the short-time memory, is essential in obstacle avoidance. However, in the simplest conditions of no obstacles the straightforward memoryless robot is usually superior. We also demonstrate how a low level action planning, involving essentially nonlinear dynamics, provides a considerable gain to the robot performance dynamically changing the robot strategy. Still, however, for very short life time the brainless robot is superior. Accordingly we suggest that small organisms (or agents) with short life-time does not require complex brains and even can benefit from simple brain-like (reflex) structures. To some extend this may mean that controlling blocks of modern robots are too complicated comparative to their life-time and mechanical abilities.

Keywords: Neural network, probabilistic control, robot navigation.

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Authors: Young-Jin Baik, Minsung Kim, Young-Soo Lee, Ki-Chang Chang, Seong-Ryong Park

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The compression-absorption heat pump (C-A HP), one of the promising heat recovery equipments that make process hot water using low temperature heat of wastewater, was evaluated by computer simulation. A simulation program was developed based on the continuity and the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Both the absorber and desorber were modeled using UA-LMTD method. In order to prevent an unfeasible temperature profile and to reduce calculation errors from the curved temperature profile of a mixture, heat loads were divided into lots of segments. A single-stage compressor was considered. A compressor cooling load was also taken into account. An isentropic efficiency was computed from the map data. Simulation conditions were given based on the system consisting of ordinarily designed components. The simulation results show that most of the total entropy generation occurs during the compression and cooling process, thus suggesting the possibility that system performance can be enhanced if a rectifier is introduced.

Keywords: Waste heat recovery, Heat Pump.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Ahmed, Lydia J. Campbell

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The fortified of soft wheat flour with cowpea flour in bread making was investigated. The Soft wheat flour (SWF) was substituted by cowpea flour at levels of 5, 15 and 20%. The protein content of composite breads ranged from 6.1 – 9.9%. Significant difference was observed in moisture, protein and crude fibre contents of control (wheat bread) and composite bread at 5% addition of cowpea. Water absorption capacities of composite flours increased with increasing levels of cowpea flour in the blend. The specific loaf volume decreased significantly with increased cowpea content of blends. The overall acceptability of the 5% cowpea flour content of composite bread was not significantly different from the control (Soft Wheat-bread) but there is significantly different with increasing the levels of cowpea flour in the blend more than 5%.

Keywords: Cowpea flour, wheat flour, baking properties, sensory quality.

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Authors: Maha ALjohani, James Blustein

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Communicating users' needs, goals and problems help designers and developers overcome challenges faced by end users. Personas are used to represent end users’ needs. In our research, creating personas allowed the following questions to be answered: Who are the potential user groups? What do they want to achieve by using the service? What are the problems that users face? What should the service provide to them? To develop realistic personas, we conducted a focus group discussion with undergraduate and graduate students and also interviewed a university librarian. The personas were created to help evaluating the Institutional Repository that is based on the DSpace system. The profiles helped to communicate users' needs, abilities, tasks, and problems, and the task scenarios used in the heuristic evaluation were based on these personas. Four personas resulted of a focus group discussion with undergraduate and graduate students and from interviewing a university librarian. We then used these personas to create focused task-scenarios for a heuristic evaluation on the system interface to ensure that it met users' needs, goals, problems and desires. In this paper, we present the process that we used to create the personas that led to devise the task scenarios used in the heuristic evaluation as a follow up study of the DSpace university repository.

Keywords: Heuristic Evaluation, Institutional Repositories, User Experience, Human Computer Interaction, User Profiles, Personas, Task Scenarios, Heuristics.

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Authors: Réka Sárközi, Péter Iványi, Attila B. Széll

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The aim of this paper is to present the adaptation of the dome construction tool for formex algebra to the parametric design software Grasshopper. Formex algebra is a mathematical system, primarily used for planning structural systems such like truss-grid domes and vaults, together with the programming language Formian. The goal of the research is to allow architects to plan truss-grid structures easily with parametric design tools based on the versatile formex algebra mathematical system. To produce regular structures, coordinate system transformations are used and the dome structures are defined in spherical coordinate system. Owing to the abilities of the parametric design software, it is possible to apply further modifications on the structures and gain special forms. The paper covers the basic dome types, and also additional dome-based structures using special coordinate-system solutions based on spherical coordinate systems. It also contains additional structural possibilities like making double layer grids in all geometry forms. The adaptation of formex algebra and the parametric workflow of Grasshopper together give the possibility of quick and easy design and optimization of special truss-grid domes.

Keywords: Parametric design, structural morphology, space structures, spherical coordinate system.

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Authors: Emad Ali, Inas Alnashef, Abdelhamid Ajbar, Mohamed HadjKali, Sarwono Mulyono

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In this work, ionic liquids (ILs) for CO2 capturing in typical absorption/stripper process are considered. The use of ionic liquids is considered to be cost-effective because it requires less energy for solvent recovery compared to other conventional processes. A mathematical model is developed for the process based on Peng-Robinson (PR) equation of state (EoS) which is validated with experimental data for various solutions involving CO2. The model is utilized to study the sorbent and energy demand for three types of ILs at specific CO2 capturing rates. The energy demand is manifested by the vapor-liquid equilibrium temperature necessary to remove the captured CO2 from the used solvent in the regeneration step. It is found that higher recovery temperature is required for solvents with higher solubility coefficient. For all ILs, the temperature requirement is less than that required by the typical monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent. The effect of the CO2 loading in the sorbent stream on the process performance is also examined.

Keywords: Ionic liquid, CO2 capturing, CO2 solubility, Vaporliquid equilibrium.

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Authors: Hong Seung Kim, Chang Hoi Kim, Lili Yue

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Single-phase, high band gap energy Zn_0.5Mg_0.5O films were grown under oxygen pressure, using pulse laser deposition with a Zn_0.5Mg_0.5O target. Structural characterization studies revealed that the crystal structures of the Zn_X-1Mg_XO films could be controlled via changes in the oxygen pressure. TEM analysis showed that the thickness of the deposited Zn_1-xMg_xO thin films was 50–75 nm. As the oxygen pressure increased, we found that one axis of the crystals did not show a very significant increase in the crystallization compared with that observed at low oxygen pressure. The X-ray diffraction peak intensity for the hexagonal-ZnMgO (002) plane increased relative to that for the cubic-ZnMgO (111) plane. The corresponding c-axis of the h-ZnMgO lattice constant increased from 5.141 to 5.148 Å, and the a-axis of the c-ZnMgO lattice constant decreased from 4.255 to 4.250 Å. EDX analysis showed that the Mg content in the mixed-phase ZnMgO films decreased significantly, from 54.25 to 46.96 at.%. As the oxygen pressure was increased from 100 to 150 mTorr, the absorption edge red-shifted from 3.96 to 3.81 eV; however, a film grown at the highest oxygen pressure tested here (200 mTorr).

Keywords: MgO, UV LED, ZnMgO, ZnO.

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Authors: Bouchmel Mliki, Chaouki Ali, Mohamed Ammar Abbassi

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In this numerical study, natural convection of Cu–water nanofluid in a cavity submitted to different heating modes on its vertical walls is analyzed. Maxwell-Garnetts (MG) and Brinkman models have been utilized for calculating the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluid, respectively. Influences of Rayleigh number (Ra = 10³−10⁶), nanoparticle volume concentration (f = 0-0.04) and Hartmann number (Ha = 0-90) on the flow and heat transfer characteristics have been examined. The results indicate that the Hartmann number influences the heat transfer at Ra = 10⁶ more than other Raleigh numbers, as the least effect is observed at Ra = 10³. Moreover, the results show that the solid volume fraction has a significant influence on heat transfer, depending on the value of Hartmann, heat generation or absorption coefficient and Rayleigh numbers.

Keywords: Heat transfer, linearly/sinusoidally heated, Lattice Boltzmann Method, natural convection, nanofluid.

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Authors: Samira Jebahi, Hassane Oudadesse, Eric Wers, Jiheun Elleuch, Hafedh Elfekih, Hassib Keskes, Xuan Vuong Bui, Abdelfatteh Elfeki

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Chitosan (CH) material reinforced by bioactive glass (46S6) was fabricated. 46S6 containing 17% wt% CH was studied in vitro and in vivo. Physicochemical techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) analysis were used. The behavior of 46S6CH17 was studied by measuring the in situ pH in a SBF solution. The 46S6CH17 was implanted in the rat femoral condyl. In vitro 46S6CH17 gave an FTIR - spectrum in which three absorption bands with the maxima at 565, 603 and 1039cm-1 after 3 days of soaking in physiological solution. They are assigned to stretching vibrations of PO4^3- group in phosphate crystalline. Moreover, the pH measurement was decreased in the SBF solution. The stability of the calcium phosphate precipitation depended on the pH value. In vivo, a rise in the Ca and phosphate P ions concentrations in the implanted microenvironment was determined.

Keywords: Bioglass, Chitosan, pH measurement, Hydroxyapatite Carbonateted Layer.

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Authors: Sallehan Ismail, Mahyuddin Ramli

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This paper presents the experiment results of investigating the effects of adding various types and proportions of fibre on mechanical strength and permeability characteristics of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), which was produced with treated coarse recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Two types of synthetic fibres (i.e., barchip and polypropylene fibre) with various volume fractions were added to the RAC, which was calculated by the weight of the cement. The hardened RAC properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, water absorption and total porosity at the curing ages of 7 and 28 days were evaluated and compared with the properties of the control specimens. Results indicate that the treated coarse RCA enhances the mechanical strength and permeability properties of RAC and adding barchip fibre further optimises the results. Adding 1.2% barchip fibre has the best effect on the mechanical strength performance of the RAC.

Keywords: Barchip fibre, polypropylene fibre, recycled aggregate concrete.

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Authors: Hilary Rutto, John Kabuba

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Sulphur dioxide is a harmful gaseous product that needs to be minimized in the atmosphere. This research work investigates the use of zeolite as a possible additive that can improve the sulphur dioxide capture in wet flue gas desulphurisation dissolution process. This work determines the effect of temperature, solid to liquid ratio, acid concentration and stirring speed on the leaching of zeolite using a pH stat apparatus. The atomic absorption spectrometer was used to measure the calcium ions from the solution. It was found that the dissolution rate of zeolite decreased with increase in solid to liquid ratio and increases with increase in temperature, stirring speed and acid concentration. The activation energy for the dissolution rate of zeolite in hydrochloric acid was found to be 9.29kJ/mol. and therefore the product layer diffusion was the rate limiting step.

Keywords: Calcium ion, pH stat apparatus, wet flue gas desulphurization, zeolite.

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Authors: Fatanah M. Suhaimi, J. Geoffrey Chase, Christopher G. Pretty, Rodney Elliott, Geoffrey M. Shaw

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Microcirculatory dysfunction is very common in sepsis and may results in organ failure and increased risk of death. Analyzing oxygen utilization can potentially assess microcirculation function of an individual. In this study, a modified pulse oximeter is used to extract information signals due to absorption of red (R) and infrared (IR) light. IR and R signal are related to the overall blood volume and reduced hemoglobin, respectively. Differences between these two signals thus represent the amount of oxygenated hemoglobin. Avascular occlusion test has been conducted on healthy individuals to validate the pulse oximeter concept. In this test, both R and IR signals rapidly changed according to the occlusion process. The pulse oximeter concept presented is capable of extracting valuable information to assess microcirculation condition. Implementing this concept on ICU patients has the potential to aid sepsis diagnosis and provide more accurate tracking of patient state and sepsis status.

Keywords: Microcirculation, sepsis, sepsis diagnosis, oxygen extraction.

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Authors: Lijiang Wang, Wei Wang, Yuhong Xu

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Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles which can convert near-infrared lights to visible lights have attracted growing interest because of their great potentials in fluorescence imaging. Upconversion fluorescence imaging technique with excitation in the near-infrared (NIR) region has been used for imaging of biological cells and tissues. However, improving the detection sensitivity and decreasing the absorption and scattering in biological tissues are as yet unresolved problems. In this present study, a novel NIR-reflected multispectral imaging system was developed for upconversion fluorescent imaging in small animals. Based on this system, we have obtained the high contrast images without the autofluorescence when biocompatible UCPs were injected near the body surface or deeply into the tissue. Furthermore, we have extracted respective spectra of the upconversion fluorescence and relatively quantify the fluorescence intensity with the multispectral analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first time to analyze and quantify the upconversion fluorescence in the small animal imaging.

Keywords: Multispectral imaging, near-infrared, upconversion fluorescence imaging, upconversion nanoparticles.

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Authors: Shigeyuki Haruyama, Aidil Khaidir Bin Muhamad, Ken Kaminishi, Dai-Heng Chen

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In this paper, a study on the modes of collapse of compress- expand members are presented. Compress- expand member is a compact, multiple-combined cylinders, to be proposed as energy absorbers. Previous studies on the compress- expand member have clarified its energy absorption efficiency, proposed an approximate equation to describe its deformation characteristics and also highlighted the improvement that it has brought. However, for the member to be practical, the actual range of geometrical dimension that it can maintain its applicability must be investigated. In this study, using a virtualized materials that comply the bilinear hardening law, Finite element Method (FEM) analysis on the collapse modes of compress- expand member have been conducted. Deformation maps that plotted the member's collapse modes with regards to the member's geometric and material parameters were then presented in order to determine the dimensional range of each collapse modes.

Keywords: Axial collapse, compress-expand member, tubular member, finite element method, modes of collapse, thin-walled cylindrical tube.

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Authors: E. Muzenda

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Group contribution methods such as the UNIFAC are of major interest to researchers and engineers involved synthesis, feasibility studies, design and optimization of separation processes as well as other applications of industrial use. Reliable knowledge of the phase equilibrium behavior is crucial for the prediction of the fate of the chemical in the environment and other applications. The objective of this study was to predict the solubility of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in glycol polymers and biodiesel. Measurements can be expensive and time consuming, hence the need for thermodynamic models. The results obtained in this study for the infinite dilution activity coefficients compare very well those published in literature obtained through measurements. It is suggested that in preliminary design or feasibility studies of absorption systems for the abatement of volatile organic compounds, prediction procedures should be implemented while accurate fluid phase equilibrium data should be obtained from experiment.

Keywords: Volatile organic compounds, Prediction, Phaseequilibrium, Environmental, Infinite dilution.

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Authors: Kambiz Tahvildari, Shakila ila Motamedi

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Presently and in line with the United Nations (EPA), human thinking system has shifted towards clean fuels so as to maintain a cleaner environment and to save our planet earth. One of the most successful studies in order to achieve new energies includes the use of animal wastes and their organic residues, and the result of these researches has been represented in the form of very simple and cheap methods called biogas technology. Biogas technology has developed a lot in the recent decades; its reason is the high cost of fossil fuels and the greater attention of countries to the environmental pollutions due to the consumption of this kind of fuels. IRAN is ready for the optimized application of renewable energies, having much enriched resources of this kind of energies; so a special place could be considered for it when making programs. The purpose of biogas technology is the recovery of energy and finally the protection of the environment, which is much appropriate for the third world farmers with respect to their technical abilities and economic potentials. Studies show that the production and consumption of biogas is appropriate and economic in IRAN, because of the high amount of waste in the agriculture sector, the significant amount of animal and human excrement production, the great volume of garbage produced and the most important the specific social, climatic and agricultural conditions in IRAN, in order to proceed towards the reduction of pollution due to the use of fossil fuels.

Keywords: Agriculture, Biogas, Energy, Environment.

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Authors: G. S. Walia, H. P. Singh, Padma D.

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The integration of wide variety of communication services is made possible with invention of 3G technology. Code Division Multiple Access 2000 operates on various RF channel bandwidths 1.2288 or 3.6864 Mcps (1x or 3x systems). It is a 3G system which offers high bandwidth and wireless broadband services but its efficiency is lowered due to various factors like fading, interference, scattering, absorption etc. This paper investigates the effect of diversity (MRC), roll off factor in Root Raised Cosine (RRC) filter for the BPSK and QPSK modulation schemes. It is possible to transmit data with minimum Inter symbol Interference and within limited bandwidth with proper pulse shaping technique. Bit error rate (BER) performance is analyzed by applying diversity technique by varying the roll off factor for BPSK and QPSK. Roll off factor reduces the ISI and diversity reduces the Fading.

Keywords: CDMA2000, Diversity, Root Raised Cosine, Roll off factor.

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Authors: R. Kaur, J. K. Katnoria

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Diverse contaminants released into the environment through progress of urbanization and industrialization adversely affect human health. Among various sources of contaminants, especially, in big cities, automobiles play a significant role in aggravating the pollution. Various pollutants viz., heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, Cd) and Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Benzo-a-pyrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-b-anthracene, benzo-b-fluoranthene, acenaphthylene, fluorine, phenantherene, anthracene, chrysene, benzo-k-fluoranthene, benzo-e-pyrene, indenol-1,2,3-cd-pyrene, dibenzo-a,h-anthracene, benzo-ghi-perylene) are released by vehicles. Further, these pollutants are expected to cause severe mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Considering this, many authors monitored the levels of pollution in roadside soil, water and plants. The present review focuses upon the analysis and effects of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the roadside samples.

Keywords: Automobiles, Carcinogenicity, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectroscopy, Soil pollution.

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Authors: N. Chetty, K. Singh

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In this work, the relationship between the melanin content in a tissue and subsequent absorption of light through that tissue was determined using a digital camera. This technique proved to be simple, cost effective, efficient and reliable. Tissue phantom samples were created using milk and soy sauce to simulate the optical properties of melanin content in human tissue. Increasing the concentration of soy sauce in the milk correlated to an increase in melanin content of an individual. Two methods were employed to measure the light transmitted through the sample. The first was direct measurement of the transmitted intensity using a conventional lux meter. The second method involved correctly calibrating an ordinary digital camera and using image analysis software to calculate the transmitted intensity through the phantom. The results from these methods were then graphically compared to the theoretical relationship between the intensity of transmitted light and the concentration of absorbers in the sample. Conclusions were then drawn about the effectiveness and efficiency of these low cost methods.

Keywords: Tissue phantoms, scattering coefficient, albedo, low-cost method.

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Authors: Paki Turgut, Mehmet Gumuscu

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In this study, artificial limestone brick samples are produced by using wood sawdust wastes (WSW) having different grades of sizes and limestone powder waste (LPW). The thermo-elastic properties of produced brick samples in various WSW amounts are investigated. At 30% WSW replacement with LPW in the brick sample the thermal conductivity value is effectively reduced and the reduction in the thermal conductivity value of brick sample at 30% WSW replacement with LPW is about 38.9% as compared with control sample. The energy conservation in buildings by using LPW and WSW in masonry brick material production having low thermal conductivity reduces energy requirements. A strong relationship is also found among the thermal conductivity, unit weight and ultrasonic pulse velocity values of brick samples produced. It shows a potential to be used for walls, wooden board substitute, alternative to the concrete blocks, ceiling panels, sound barrier panels, absorption materials etc.

Keywords: Limestone dust, masonry brick, thermo-elastic properties, wood sawdust.

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Authors: Ghulam Mueen-ud-Din, Salim-ur-Rehman, Faqir M. Anjum, Haq Nawaz, Mian A. Murtaza

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The effect of wheat flour extraction rates on flour composition, farinographic characteristics and the quality of sourdough naans was investigated. The results indicated that by increasing the extraction rate, the amount of protein, fiber, fat and ash increased, whereas moisture content decreased. Farinographic characteristic like water absorption and dough development time increased with an increase in flour extraction rate but the dough stabilities and tolerance indices were reduced with an increase in flour extraction rates. Titratable acidity for both sourdough and sourdough naans also increased along with flour extraction rate. The study showed that overall quality of sourdough naans were affected by both flour extraction rate and starter culture used. Sensory analysis of sourdough naans revealed that desirable extraction rate for sourdough naan was 76%.

Keywords: Extraction rates, Farinographic characteristics, Flour composition, Sourdough naans, Wheat flour.

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Authors: M. S. M. Yusof, R. Ramli, S. K. C. Soh, N. Ismail, N. Ngah

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This study presents the synthesis of a series of methoxybenzoylthiourea amino acid derivatives. The compounds were obtained from the reactions between 2/3/4-methoxybenzoyl isothiocyanate with threonine. All of the compounds were characterized via mass spectrometry, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectrometry, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and FT-IR spectroscopy. Mass spectra for all of the compounds showed the presence of molecular ion [M]⁺ peaks at m/z 312, which are in agreement to the calculated molecular weight. For ¹H NMR spectra, the presence of OCH₃, C=S-NH and C=O-NH protons were observed within range of δ_H 3.8-4.0 ppm, 11.1-11.5 ppm and 10.0-11.5 ppm, respectively. ¹³C NMR spectra in all compounds displayed the presence of OCH₃, C=O-NH, C=O-OH and C=S carbon resonances within range of δ_C 55.0-57.0 ppm, 165.0-168.0 ppm, 170.0-171.0 ppm and 180.0-182.0 ppm, respectively. In UV spectra, two absorption bands have been observed and both were assigned to the n-π* and π-π* transitions. Six vibrational modes of v(N-H), v(O-H), v(C=O-OH), v(C=O-NH), v(C=C) aromatic and v(C=S) appeared in the FT-IR spectra within the range of 3241-3467 cm^-1, 2976-3302 cm^-1, 1720-1768 cm^-1, 1655-1672 cm^-1, 1519-1525 cm^-1 and 754-763 cm^-1, respectively. The antibacterial activity for all of the compounds was screened against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. However, no activity was observed.

Keywords: Methoxybenzoyl isothiocyanate, amino acid, threonine, antibacterial.

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Authors: Baghdasaryan Marinka, Ulikyan Azatuhi

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The efficient usage of the compensation abilities of the electrical drive synchronous motors used in production processes can essentially improve the technical and economic indices of the process.  Reducing the flows of the reactive electrical energy due to the compensation of reactive power allows to significantly reduce the load losses of power in the electrical networks. As a result of analyzing the scientific works devoted to the issues of regulating the excitation of the synchronous motors, the need for comprehensive investigation and estimation of the excitation mode has been substantiated. By means of the obtained transmission functions, in the Simulink environment of the software package MATLAB, the transition processes of the excitation mode have been studied. As a result of obtaining and estimating the graph of the Nyquist plot and the transient process, the necessity of developing the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) regulator has been justified. The transient processes of the system of the PID regulator have been investigated, and the amplitude–phase characteristics of the system have been estimated. The analysis of the obtained results has shown that the regulation indices of the developed system have been improved. The developed system can be successfully applied for regulating the excitation voltage of different-power synchronous motors, operating with a changing load, ensuring a value of the power coefficient close to 1.

Keywords: Transient process, synchronous motor, excitation mode, regulator, reactive power.

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Authors: Ali N. Siyal, Saima Q. Memon, Latif Elçi, Aydan Elçi

Abstract:

Polystyrene (PS) was extracted from Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene foam) waste, so called white pollutant. The PS was functionalized with N,N- Bis(2-aminobenzylidene)benzene-1,2-diamine (ABA) ligand through an azo spacer. The resin was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The PS-N=N-ABA resin was used for the enrichment and speciation of Cr(III)/Cr(VI) ions and total Cr determination in aqueous samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The separation of Cr(III)/Cr(VI) ions was achieved at pH 2. The recovery of Cr(VI) ions was achieved ≥ 95.0% at optimum parameters: pH 2; resin amount 300mg; flow rates 2.0mL min^-1 of solution and 2.0mL min^-1 of eluent (2.0mol L^-1 HNO₃). Total Cr was determined by oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) ions using H₂O₂. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of Cr(VI) were found to be 0.40 and 1.20μg L^-1, respectively with preconcentration factor of 250. Total saturation and breakthrough capacitates of the resin for Cr(IV) ions were found to be 0.181 and 0.531mmol g^-1, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the preconcentration/speciation of Cr(III)/Cr(VI) ions and determination of total Cr in industrial effluents.

Keywords: Styrofoam waste, Polymeric resin, Preconcentration, Speciation, Cr(III)/Cr(VI) ions, FAAS.

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Authors: L. Vujičić, Ž. Ivković, Ž. Boneta

Abstract:

There is a widespread belief in everyday discourse that science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are, along with math, the most difficult school subjects in the education of an individual. This assumption is usually justified by the following facts: low GPA in these subjects, the number of pupils who fail these subjects is high in comparison to other subjects, and the number of pupils interested in continuing their studies in the fields with a focus on science subjects is lower compared to non-science-oriented fields. From that perspective, the project: “Could it be different? How do children explore it?” becomes extremely interesting because it is focused on young children and on the introduction of new methods, with aim of arousing interest in scientific literacy development in 10 kindergartens by applying the methodology of an action research, with an ethnographic approach. We define scientific literacy as a process of encouraging and nurturing the research and explorative spirit in children, as well as their natural potential and abilities that represent an object of scientific research: to learn about exploration by conducting exploration. Upon project completion, an evaluation questionnaire was created for the parents of the children who had participated in the project, as well as for those whose children had not been involved in the project. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to examine the level of satisfaction with the project implementation and its outcomes among those parents whose children had been involved in the project (N=142), while the aim of the second questionnaire was to find out how much the parents of the children not involved (N=154) in this activity were interested in this topic.

Keywords: Documenting, early childhood education, evaluation questionnaire for parents, scientific literacy development.

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Authors: Mozhgan Ziaie Bidhendi, Rajab Choukan, Farokh Darvish, Khodadad Mostafavi, Eslam Majidi

Abstract:

The selection of parents and breeding strategies for the successful maize hybrid production will be facilitated by heterotic groupings of parental lines and determination of combining abilities of them. Fourteen maize inbred lines, used in maize breeding programs in Iran, were crossed in a diallel mating design. The 91 F1 hybrids and the 14 parental lines were studied during two years at four locations of Iran for investigation of combining ability of gentypes for grain yield and to determine heterotic patterns among germplasm sources, using both, the Griffing-s method and the biplot approach for diallel analysis. The graphical representation offered by biplot analysis allowed a rapid and effective overview of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects of the inbred lines, their performance in crosses, as well as grouping patterns of similar genotypes. GCA and SCA effects were significant for grain yield (GY). Based on significant positive GCA effects, the lines derived from LSC could be used as parent in crosses to increase GY. The maximum best- parent heterosis values and highest SCA effects resulted from crosses B73 × MO17 and A679 × MO17 for GY. The best heterotic patterns were LSC × RYD, which would be potentially useful in maize breeding programs to obtain high-yielding hybrids in the same climate of Iran.

Keywords: biplot, diallel, Griffing, Heterotic pattern

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