Search results for: breast support conditions

Authors: Bianca Schweiger, Lucile Bahnweg, Barbara Palm, Ute Steinfeld

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The occurrence and removal of trace organic contaminants in the aquatic environment has become a focus of environmental concern. For the selective removal of carbamazepine from loaded waters molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized with carbamazepine as template. Parameters varied were the type of monomer, crosslinker, and porogen, the ratio of starting materials, and the synthesis temperature. Best results were obtained with a template to crosslinker ratio of 1:20, toluene as porogen, and methacrylic acid (MAA) as monomer. MIPs were then capable to recover carbamazepine by 93% from a 10-5 M landfill leachate solution containing also caffeine and salicylic acid. By comparison, carbamazepine recoveries of 75% were achieved using a nonimprinted polymer (NIP) synthesized under the same conditions, but without template. In landfill leachate containing solutions carbamazepine was adsorbed by 93-96% compared with an uptake of 73% by activated carbon. The best solvent for desorption was acetonitrile, with which the amount of solvent necessary and dilution with water was tested. Selected MIPs were tested for their reusability and showed good results for at least five cycles. Adsorption isotherms were prepared with carbamazepine solutions in the concentration range of 0.01 M to 5*10-6 M. The heterogeneity index showed a more homogenous binding site distribution.

Keywords: Carbamazepine, landfill leachate, removal, reuse

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Authors: M. Mojaddam, M. Araei, T. Saki Nejad, M. Soltani Howyzeh

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In order to study the effect of different levels of triple super phosphate chemical fertilizer and biological phosphate fertilizer (fertile 2) on some morphological traits of corn this research was carried out in Ahvaz in 2002 as a factorial experiment in randomized complete block design with 4 replications). The experiment included two factors: first, biological phosphate fertilizer (fertile 2) at three levels of 0, 100, 200 g/ha; second, triple super phosphate chemical fertilizer at three levels of 0, 60, 90 kg/ha of pure phosphorus (P2O5). The obtained results indicated that fertilizer treatments had a significant effect on some morphological traits at 1% probability level. In this regard, P2B2 treatment (100 g/ha biological phosphate fertilizer (fertile 2) and 60 kg/ha triple super phosphate fertilizer) had the greatest plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and ear length. It seems that in Ahvaz weather conditions, decrease of consumption of triple superphosphate chemical fertilizer to less than a half along with the consumption of biological phosphate fertilizer (fertile 2) is highly important in order to achieve optimal results. Therefore, it can be concluded that biological fertilizers can be used as a suitable substitute for some of the chemical fertilizers in sustainable agricultural systems.

Keywords: Biological phosphate fertilizer, corn (SC704), morphological, triple super phosphate.

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Authors: P. Abhishesh, B. S. Ryuh, Y. S. Oh, H. J. Moon, R. Akanksha

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This paper discusses about the conceptual design and development of the control system software using Programmable logic controller (PLC) for autonomous driving and agricultural operations of Multipurpose Agricultural Robot Platform (MARP). Based on given initial conditions by field analysis and desired agricultural operations, the structural design development of MARP is done using modelling and analysis tool. PLC, being robust and easy to use, has been used to design the autonomous control system of robot platform for desired parameters. The robot is capable of performing autonomous driving and three automatic agricultural operations, viz. hilling, mulching, and sowing of seeds in the respective order. The input received from various sensors on the field is later transmitted to the controller via ZigBee network to make the changes in the control program to get desired field output. The research is conducted to provide assistance to farmers by reducing labor hours for agricultural activities by implementing automation. This study will provide an alternative to the existing systems with machineries attached behind tractors and rigorous manual operations on agricultural field at effective cost.

Keywords: Agricultural operations, autonomous driving, MARP, PLC.

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Authors: Cigdem Yangin-Gomec, Aigerim Jaxybayeva, Orhan Ince

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In this study, the anaerobic treatability of chicken manure diluted with tap water (with an influent feed ratio of 1 kg of fresh chicken manure to 6 liter of tap water) was investigated in a lab-scale anaerobic sludge bed (ASB) reactor inoculated with the granular sludge already adapted to chicken manure. The raw waste digested in this study was the manure from laying-hens having average total solids (TS) of about 30% with ca. 60% volatile content. The ASB reactor was fed semi-continuously at ambient operating temperature range (17-23^◦C) at a HRT of 13 and 26 days for about 6 months, respectively. The respective average total and soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals were ca. 90% and 75%, whereas average biomethane production rate was calculated ca. 180 lt per kg of COD_removed from the ASB reactor at an average HRT of 13 days. Moreover, total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) in the influent were reduced more than 97%. Hence, high removals of the organic compounds with respective biogas production made anaerobic stabilization of the diluted chicken manure by ASB reactor at ambient operating temperatures viable. By this way, external heating up to 35^◦C (i.e. anaerobic processes have been traditionally operated at mesophilic conditions) could be avoided in the scope of this study.

Keywords: Ambient anaerobic digestion, biogas recovery, poultry manure.

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Authors: M. M. Shabani, O. J. Nydal, R. Larsen

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Gas hydrates can agglomerate and block multiphase oil and gas pipelines when water is present at hydrate forming conditions. Using "Cold Flow Technology", the aim is to condition gas hydrates so that they can be transported as a slurry mixture without a risk of agglomeration. During the pipeline shut down however, hydrate particles may settle in bends and build hydrate plugs. An experimental setup has been designed and constructed to study the flow of such plugs at start up operations. Experiments have been performed using model fluid and model hydrate particles. The propagations of initial plugs in a bend were recorded with impedance probes along the pipe. The experimental results show a dispersion of the plug front. A peak in pressure drop was also recorded when the plugs were passing the bend. The evolutions of the plugs have been simulated by numerical integration of the incompressible mass balance equations, with an imposed mixture velocity. The slip between particles and carrier fluid has been calculated using a drag relation together with a particle-fluid force balance.

Keywords: Cold Flow Technology, Gas Hydrate Plug Flow Experiments, One Dimensional Incompressible Two Fluid Model, Slurry Flow in Inclined Pipes and Bends, Transient Slurry Flow.

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Authors: Ngono Mindzeng Terencia

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Community based tourism, as a sustainable tourism approach, has been adopted as a tool for development among local communities in third world countries with income generation as the main driver. However, an analysis of community based tourism and development brings to light another driving force which is paramount to development strategies in the difficult conditions of third world countries: this driving force is “place revitalization”. This paper seeks to assess the relevance of “place revitalization” to the enhancement of development within the challenging context of developing countries. The research provides a community based tourism model to development in third world countries through a three step process based on awareness, mentoring and empowerment at the local level. It also tries to examine how effectively this model can address the development problems faced by the local communities of third world countries. The case study for this research is the Bamiléké region of Cameroon, the breeding ground of community based tourism initiatives and a region facing the difficulties of third world countries that are great impediments to community based tourism.

Keywords: Awareness, empowerment, local communities, mentoring, place revitalization, third world countries.

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

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The use of sloping lands is increasing due to the reduction of suitable lands for the construction of buildings. In the design and construction of buildings on sloping lands, the foundation has special loading conditions that require the designer and executor to use the slopped foundation. The creation of underground cavities, including urban and subway tunnels, sewers, urban facilities, etc., inside the ground, causes the behavior of the foundation to be unknown. In the present study, using Abacus software, a 45-degree stepped foundation on the ground is designed. The foundations are placed on the ground in a cohesive (no-hole) manner with circular cavities that show the effect of increasing the cross-sectional area of ​​the underground cavities on the foundation's performance. The Kobe earthquake struck the foundation and ground for two seconds. The underground cavities have a circular cross-sectional area with a radius of 5 m, which is located at a depth of 22.54 m above the ground. The results showed that as the number of underground cavities increased, von Mises stress (in the vertical direction) increased. With the increase in the number of underground cavities, the plastic strain on the ground has increased. Also, with the increase in the number of underground cavities, the change in location and speed in the foundation has increased.

Keywords: Stepped foundation, sloping ground, Kobe earthquake, Abaqus software, underground excavations.

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Authors: E. Binaeian, SH. Soroushnia

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Acute toxicity of nano SiO2, ZnO, MCM-41 (Meso pore silica), Cu, Multi Wall Carbon Nano Tube (MWCNT), Single Wall Carbon Nano Tube (SWCNT) , Fe (Coated) to bacteria Vibrio fischeri using a homemade luminometer , was evaluated. The values of the nominal effective concentrations (EC), causing 20% and 50% inhibition of biouminescence, using two mathematical models at two times of 5 and 30 minutes were calculated. Luminometer was designed with Photomultiplier (PMT) detector. Luminol chemiluminescence reaction was carried out for the calibration graph. In the linear calibration range, the correlation coefficients and coefficient of Variation (CV) were 0.988 and 3.21% respectively which demonstrate the accuracy and reproducibility of the instrument that are suitable. The important part of this research depends on how to optimize the best condition for maximum bioluminescence. The culture of Vibrio fischeri with optimal conditions in liquid media, were stirring at 120 rpm at a temperature of 150C to 180C and were incubated for 24 to 72 hours while solid medium was held at 180C and for 48 hours. Suspension of nanoparticles ZnO, after 30 min contact time to bacteria Vibrio fischeri, showed the highest toxicity while SiO2 nanoparticles showed the lowest toxicity. After 5 min exposure time, the toxicity of ZnO was the strongest and MCM-41 was the weakest toxicant component.

Keywords: Bioluminescence, effective concentration, nanomaterials, toxicity, Vibrio fischeri.

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Authors: Alexander Dao, Oscar Wambuguh

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a heterogeneous functional bowel disease that is characterized by chronic visceral abdominal pain and abnormal bowel function and habits. Its multifactorial pathophysiology and mechanisms are still largely a mystery to the contemporary biomedical community, although there are many hypotheses to try to explain IBS’s presumed physiological, psychosocial, genetic, and environmental etiologies. IBS’s symptomatic presentation is varied and divided into four major subtypes: IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS-M, and IBS-U. Given its diverse presentation and unclear mechanisms, diagnosis is done through a combination of positive identification utilizing the “Rome IV Irritable Bowel Syndrome Criteria'' (Rome IV) diagnostic criteria while also excluding other potential conditions with similar symptoms. Treatment of IBS is focused on the management of symptoms using an assortment of pharmaceuticals, lifestyle changes, and dietary changes, with future potential in microbial treatment and psychotherapy as other therapy methods. Its chronic, heterogeneous nature and disruptive gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are negatively impactful on patients’ daily lives, health systems, and society. However, with a better understanding of the gaps in knowledge and technological advances in IBS’s pathophysiology, management, and treatment options, there is optimism for the millions of people worldwide who are suffering from the debilitating effects of IBS.

Keywords: Irritable bowel syndrome, lifestyle, diet, functional gastrointestinal disorder.

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Authors: Sulaiman Al Amro

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There are currently considerable challenges concerning data security and privacy, particularly in relation to modern technologies. This includes the virtual world known as the Metaverse, which consists of a virtual space that integrates various technologies, and therefore susceptible to cyber threats such as malware, phishing, and identity theft. This has led recent studies to propose the development of Metaverse forensic frameworks and the integration of advanced technologies, including machine learning for intrusion detection and security. In this context, the application of first-order logic offers a formal and systematic approach to defining the conditions of cyberattacks, thereby contributing to the development of effective detection mechanisms. In addition, formalizing the rules and patterns of cyber threats has the potential to enhance the overall security posture of the Metaverse and thus the integrity and safety of this virtual environment. The current paper focuses on the primary actions employed by avatars for potential attacks, including Interval Temporal Logic (ITL) and behavior-based detection to detect an avatar’s abnormal activities within the Metaverse. The research established that the proposed framework attained an accuracy of 92.307%, resulting in the experimental results demonstrating the efficacy of ITL, including its superior performance in addressing the threats posed by avatars within the Metaverse domain.

Keywords: Cyberattacks, detection, first-order logic, Metaverse, privacy, security.

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Authors: Mohsen Pirdashti, Masoomeh Omidi, Hemmatollah Pidashti

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Today, advantage of biotechnology especially in environmental issues compared to other technologies is irrefragable. Kimia Gharb Gostar Industries Company, as a largest producer of citric acid in Middle East, applies biotechnology for this goal. Citrogypsum is a by–product of citric acid production and it considered as a valid residuum of this company. At this paper summary of acid citric production and condition of Citrogypsum production in company were introduced in addition to defmition of Citrogypsum production and its applications in world. According to these information and evaluation of present conditions about Iran needing to Citrogypsum, the best priority was introduced and emphasized on strategy selection and proper programming for self-sufficiency. The Delphi technique was used to elicit expert opinions about criteria for evaluating the usages. The criteria identified by the experts were profitability, capacity of production, the degree of investment, marketable, production ease and time production. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (ARP) and Expert Choice software were used to compare the alternatives on the criteria derived from the Delphi process.

Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process, ARP, Delphi, Multi- criteria decision making, Citrogypsum

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Authors: A. Udayakumar, M. Rizvan Basha, M. Stalin, V.V Bhanu Prasad

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Three dimensional non-Interlaced carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide (3-D-Cf/SiC) composites with pyrocarbon interphase were fabricated using isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (ICVI) combined with polymer impregnation pyrolysis (PIP) process. Polysilazane (PSZ) is used as a preceramic polymer to obtain silicon carbide matrix. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), Infrared spectroscopic analysis (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were carried out on PSZ pyrolysed at different temperatures to understand the pyrolysis and obtaining the optimum pyrolysing condition to yield β-SiC phase. The density of the composites was 1.94 g cm-3 after the 3-D carbon preform was SiC infiltrated for 280 h with one intermediate polysilazane pre-ceramic PIP process. Mechanical properties of the composite materials were investigated under tensile, flexural, shear and impact loading. The values of tensile strength were 200 MPa at room temperature (RT) and 195 MPa at 500°C in air. The average RT flexural strength was 243 MPa. The lower flexural strength of these composites is because of the porosity. The fracture toughness obtained from single edge notched beam (SENB) technique was 39 MPa.m1/2. The work of fracture obtained from the load-displacement curve of SENB test was 22.8 kJ.m-2. The composites exhibited excellent impact resistance and the dynamic fracture toughness of 44.8 kJ.m-2 is achieved as determined from instrumented Charpy impact test. The shear strength of the composite was 93 MPa, which is significantly higher compared 2-D Cf/SiC composites. Microstructure evaluation of fracture surfaces revealed the signatures of fracture processes and showed good support for the higher toughness obtained.

Keywords: 3-D-Cf/SiC, charpy impact test, composites, dynamic fracture toughness, polysilazane, pyrocarbon, Interphase.

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Authors: Francis Bukola Dada, Samuel Ojo Ajayi, Babatunde Sunday Ewulo, Kehinde Oseni Saani

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A key element in the sustainability of the soil-plant relationship in crop yield and performance is the soil's capacity to support tree crops prior to establishment. With the intention of determining the suitability and limitations of the soils of the locations, the northern and southern portions of Akure, a rainforest in Nigeria, were chosen for the suitability evaluation of land for tree crops. In the study area, 16 pedons were established with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS), the locations were georeferenced and samples were taken from the pedons. The samples were subjected to standard physical and chemical testing. The findings revealed that soils in the research locations were deep to extremely deep, with pH ranging from highly acidic to slightly acidic (4.94 to 6.71). and that sand predominated. The soils had low levels of organic carbon, effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), total nitrogen, and available phosphorus, whereas exchangeable cations were evaluated as low to moderate. The suitability result indicated that only Pedon 2 and Pedon 14 are currently highly suitable (S1) for the production of oil palms, while others ranged from moderately suitable to marginally suitable. Pedons 4, 12, and 16 were not suitable (N1), respectively, but other Pedons were moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for the cultivation of cocoa. None of the study areas are currently highly suitable for the production of oil palms. The poor soil texture and low fertility status were the two main drawbacks found. Finally, sound management practices and soil conservation are essential for fertility sustainability.

Keywords: Cashew, cocoa, land evaluation, oil palm, soil fertility suitability.

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Authors: Miguel A. Gómez , Enrique Hilario , Francisco J. Alvarez , Elena Gastiasoro , Antonia Alvarez, Juan L. Larrabe

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Total liquid ventilation can support gas exchange in animal models of lung injury. Clinical application awaits further technical improvements and performance verification. Our aim was to develop a liquid ventilator, able to deliver accurate tidal volumes, and a computerized system for measuring lung mechanics. The computer-assisted, piston-driven respirator controlled ventilatory parameters that were displayed and modified on a real-time basis. Pressure and temperature transducers along with a lineal displacement controller provided the necessary signals to calculate lung mechanics. Ten newborn lambs (<6 days old) with respiratory failure induced by lung lavage, were monitored using the system. Electromechanical, hydraulic and data acquisition/analysis components of the ventilator were developed and tested in animals with respiratory failure. All pulmonary signals were collected synchronized in time, displayed in real-time, and archived on digital media. The total mean error (due to transducers, A/D conversion, amplifiers, etc.) was less than 5% compared to calibrated signals. Improvements in gas exchange and lung mechanics were observed during liquid ventilation, without impairment of cardiovascular profiles. The total liquid ventilator maintained accurate control of tidal volumes and the sequencing of inspiration/expiration. The computerized system demonstrated its ability to monitor in vivo lung mechanics, providing valuable data for early decision-making.

Keywords: immature lamb, perfluorocarbon, pressure-limited, total liquid ventilation, ventilator; volume-controlled

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Authors: Susana Oguntoye, Naana Otoo-Oyortey, Joanne Hemmings, Kate Norman, Eiman Hussein

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There is inadequate information on the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK, and there are often myths and perceptions within communities that influence the effectiveness of prevention programmes. This means it is difficult to address the trends and changes in the practice in the UK. To this end, FORWARD undertook novel and innovative research using the Participatory Ethnographic and Evaluative Research (PEER) method to explore the views of women from Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia that live in London and Bristol (two UK cities). Women-s views, taken from PEER interviews, reflected reasons for continued practice of FGM: marriageability, the harnessing and control of female sexuality, and upholding traditions from their countries of origin. It was also clear that the main supporters of the practice were believed to be older women within families and communities. Women described the impact FGM was having on their lives as isolating. And although it was clearly considered a private and personal matter, they developed a real sense of connection with their peers within the research process. The women were overwhelmingly positive about combating the practice, although they believed it would probably take a while before it ends completely. They also made concrete recommendations on how to improve support services for women affected by FGM: Training for professionals (particularly in healthcare), increased engagement with, and outreach to, communities, culturally appropriate materials and information made available and accessible to communities, and more consequent implementation of legislation. Finally, the women asked for more empathy and understanding, particularly from health professionals. Rather than presenting FGM as a completely alien and inconceivable practice, it may help for those looking into these women-s lives and working with them to understand the social and economic context in which the practice takes place.

Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation, FemaleCircumcision/Cutting, Participatory Research, PEER method.

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Authors: Gilbert Makanda, Roelf Sypkens

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A mathematical model for knowledge acquisition in teaching and learning is proposed. In this study we adopt the mathematical model that is normally used for disease modelling into teaching and learning. We derive mathematical conditions which facilitate knowledge acquisition. This study compares the effects of dropping out of the course at early stages with later stages of learning. The study also investigates effect of individual interaction and learning from other sources to facilitate learning. The study fits actual data to a general mathematical model using Matlab ODE45 and lsqnonlin to obtain a unique mathematical model that can be used to predict knowledge acquisition. The data used in this study was obtained from the tutorial test results for mathematics 2 students from the Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa in the department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The study confirms already known results that increasing dropout rates and forgetting taught concepts reduce the population of knowledgeable students. Increasing teaching contacts and access to other learning materials facilitate knowledge acquisition. The effect of increasing dropout rates is more enhanced in the later stages of learning than earlier stages. The study opens up a new direction in further investigations in teaching and learning using differential equations.

Keywords: Differential equations, knowledge acquisition, least squares nonlinear, dynamical systems.

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Authors: Shilpy Sharma

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As the web continues to grow exponentially, the idea of crawling the entire web on a regular basis becomes less and less feasible, so the need to include information on specific domain, domain-specific search engines was proposed. As more information becomes available on the World Wide Web, it becomes more difficult to provide effective search tools for information access. Today, people access web information through two main kinds of search interfaces: Browsers (clicking and following hyperlinks) and Query Engines (queries in the form of a set of keywords showing the topic of interest) [2]. Better support is needed for expressing one's information need and returning high quality search results by web search tools. There appears to be a need for systems that do reasoning under uncertainty and are flexible enough to recover from the contradictions, inconsistencies, and irregularities that such reasoning involves. In a multi-view problem, the features of the domain can be partitioned into disjoint subsets (views) that are sufficient to learn the target concept. Semi-supervised, multi-view algorithms, which reduce the amount of labeled data required for learning, rely on the assumptions that the views are compatible and uncorrelated. This paper describes the use of semi-structured machine learning approach with Active learning for the “Domain Specific Search Engines". A domain-specific search engine is “An information access system that allows access to all the information on the web that is relevant to a particular domain. The proposed work shows that with the help of this approach relevant data can be extracted with the minimum queries fired by the user. It requires small number of labeled data and pool of unlabelled data on which the learning algorithm is applied to extract the required data.

Keywords: Search engines; machine learning, Informationretrieval, Active logic.

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Authors: M. Sankari, R. Bremananth, C.Meena

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Localization and Recognition of License registration characters from the moving vehicle is a computationally complex task in the field of machine vision and is of substantial interest because of its diverse applications such as cross border security, law enforcement and various other intelligent transportation applications. Previous research used the plate specific details such as aspect ratio, character style, color or dimensions of the plate in the complex task of plate localization. In this paper, license registration character is localized by Enhanced Weight based density map (EWBDM) method, which is independent of such constraints. In connection with our previous method, this paper proposes a method that relaxes constraints in lighting conditions, different fonts of character occurred in the plate and plates with hand-drawn characters in various aspect quotients. The robustness of this method is well suited for applications where the appearance of plates seems to be varied widely. Experimental results show that this approach is suited for recognizing license plates in different external environments. 

Keywords: Character segmentation, Connectivity checking, Edge detection, Image analysis, license plate localization, license number recognition, Quality frame selection

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Kangavari, Samira Ghandchi, Manak Golpour

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Question answering (QA) aims at retrieving precise information from a large collection of documents. Most of the Question Answering systems composed of three main modules: question processing, document processing and answer processing. Question processing module plays an important role in QA systems to reformulate questions. Moreover answer processing module is an emerging topic in QA systems, where these systems are often required to rank and validate candidate answers. These techniques aiming at finding short and precise answers are often based on the semantic relations and co-occurrence keywords. This paper discussed about a new model for question answering which improved two main modules, question processing and answer processing which both affect on the evaluation of the system operations. There are two important components which are the bases of the question processing. First component is question classification that specifies types of question and answer. Second one is reformulation which converts the user's question into an understandable question by QA system in a specific domain. The objective of an Answer Validation task is thus to judge the correctness of an answer returned by a QA system, according to the text snippet given to support it. For validating answers we apply candidate answer filtering, candidate answer ranking and also it has a final validation section by user voting. Also this paper described new architecture of question and answer processing modules with modeling, implementing and evaluating the system. The system differs from most question answering systems in its answer validation model. This module makes it more suitable to find exact answer. Results show that, from total 50 asked questions, evaluation of the model, show 92% improving the decision of the system.

Keywords: Answer processing, answer validation, classification, question answering, query reformulation.

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Authors: Abdul Wasy, Balakrishnan G., Yi Qi Wang, Atta Ur Rehman, Jung Il Song

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Vickers indentation is used to measure the hardness of materials. In this study, numerical simulation of Vickers indentation experiment was performed for Diamond like Carbon (DLC) coated materials. DLC coatings were deposited on stainless steel 304 substrates with Chromium buffer layer using RF Magnetron and T-shape Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Dual system The objective of this research is to understand the elastic plastic properties, stress strain distribution, ring and lateral crack growth and propagation, penetration depth of indenter and delamination of coating from substrate with effect of buffer layer thickness. The effect of Poisson-s ratio of DLC coating was also analyzed. Indenter penetration is more in coated materials with thin buffer layer as compared to thicker one, under same conditions. Similarly, the specimens with thinner buffer layer failed quickly due to high residual stress as compared to the coated materials with reasonable thickness of 200nm buffer layer. The simulation results suggested the optimized thickness of 200 nm among the prepared specimens for durable and long service.

Keywords: Thin film, buffer layer. Diamond like Carbon, Vickers indentation, Poisson's ratio, Finite element.

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Authors: Benazeer Md. Shahzada, Verelst Jan, Van Grembergen Wim, Mannaert Herwig

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This article is an extension and a practical application approach of Wheeler-s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology. Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler, we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the right economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We found evidences in literature that SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is a promising emerging technology which can deliver the desired economic opportunity through modularity, flexibility and loose-coupling. SOA can also help firms to connect in network which can open a new window of opportunity to collaborate in innovation and right kind of outsourcing. There are many articles and research reports indicates that failure rate in outsourcing is very high but at the same time research indicates that successful outsourcing projects adds tangible and intangible benefits to the service consumer. Business executives and policy makers in the west should not afraid of outsourcing but they should choose the right strategy through the use of emerging technology to significantly reduce the failure rate in outsourcing.

Keywords: Absorptive capacity, Dynamic Capability, Netenabled business innovation cycle, Service oriented architecture.

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Authors: Mustafa Kisa, Fatih Mehmet Botsali

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Recent developments in automotive technology are focused on economy, comfort and safety. Vehicle tracking and collision detection systems are attracting attention of many investigators focused on safety of driving in the field of automotive mechatronics. In this paper, a vision-based vehicle detection system is presented. Developed system is intended to be used in collision detection and driver alert. The system uses RGB images captured by a camera in a car driven in the highway. Images captured by the moving camera are used to detect the moving vehicles in the image. A vehicle ahead of the camera is detected in daylight conditions. The proposed method detects moving vehicles by subtracting successive images. Plate height of the vehicle is determined by using a plate recognition algorithm. Distance of the moving object is calculated by using the plate height. After determination of the distance of the moving vehicle relative speed of the vehicle and Time-to-Collision are calculated by using distances measured in successive images. Results obtained in road tests are discussed in order to validate the use of the proposed method.

Keywords: Image possessing, vehicle tracking, license plate detection, computer vision.

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Authors: Eleni Ioanna Levantinou

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Gestures play a major role in comprehension and memory recall due to the fact that aid the efficient channel of the meaning and support listeners’ comprehension and memory. In the present study, the assistance of two kinds of gestures (iconic and beat gestures) is tested in regards to memory and recall. The hypothesis investigated here is whether or not iconic and beat gestures provide assistance in memory and recall in Greek and in Greek speakers’ second language. Two groups of participants were formed, one comprising Greeks that reside in Athens and one with Greeks that reside in Copenhagen. Three kinds of stimuli were used: A video with words accompanied with iconic gestures, a video with words accompanied with beat gestures and a video with words alone. The languages used are Greek and English. The words in the English videos were spoken by a native English speaker and by a Greek speaker talking English. The reason for this is that when it comes to beat gestures that serve a meta-cognitive function and are generated according to the intonation of a language, prosody plays a major role. Thus, participants that have different influences in prosody may generate different results from rhythmic gestures. Memory recall was assessed by asking the participants to try to remember as many words as they could after viewing each video. Results show that iconic gestures provide significant assistance in memory and recall in Greek and in English whether they are produced by a native or a second language speaker. In the case of beat gestures though, the findings indicate that beat gestures may not play such a significant role in Greek language. As far as intonation is concerned, a significant difference was not found in the case of beat gestures produced by a native English speaker and by a Greek speaker talking English.

Keywords: First language, gestures, memory, second language acquisition.

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Authors: Cheng Zhang, James Marco, Walid Allafi, Truong Q. Dinh, W. D. Widanage

Abstract:

Equivalent circuit models (ECMs) are widely used in battery management systems in electric vehicles and other battery energy storage systems. The battery dynamics and the model parameters vary under different working conditions, such as different temperature and state of charge (SOC) levels, and therefore online parameter identification can improve the modelling accuracy. This paper presents a way of online ECM parameter identification using a continuous time (CT) estimation method. The CT estimation method has several advantages over discrete time (DT) estimation methods for ECM parameter identification due to the widely separated battery dynamic modes and fast sampling. The presented method can be used for online SOC estimation. Test data are collected using a lithium ion cell, and the experimental results show that the presented CT method achieves better modelling accuracy compared with the conventional DT recursive least square method. The effectiveness of the presented method for online SOC estimation is also verified on test data.

Keywords: Equivalent circuit model, continuous time domain estimation, linear integral filter method, parameter and SOC estimation, recursive least square.

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Authors: Michele R. Spier, Denise N. X. Salmon, Renato L. Binati, Luíza C. Piva, Adriane B.P. Medeiros, Carlos R. Soccol

Abstract:

Phytases are enzymes used as an important component in monogastric animals feeds in order to improve phosphorous availability, since it is not readily assimilated by these animals in the form of the phytate presented in plants and grains. As these enzymes are used in industrial activities, they must retain its catalytic activities during a certain storage period. This study presents information about the stability of 4 different phytases, produced by four macromycetes fungi through solid-state fermentation (SSF). There is a lack of data in literature concerning phytase from macromycetes shelf-life in storage conditions at room, cooling and freezing temperatures. The 4 phytases from macromycetes still had enzymatic activities around 100 days of storage at room temperature. At cooling temperature in 146 days of studies, the phytase from G. stipitatum was the most stable with 44% of the initial activity, in U.gds (units per gram of dried fermented substrate). The freezing temperature was the best condition storage for phytases from G. stipitatum and T. versicolor. Each condition provided a study for each mushroom phytase, totalizing 12 studies. The phytases showed to be stable for a long period without the addition of additives.

Keywords: macromycetes, phytase, solid-state fermentation, wheat bran, stability

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Authors: Abbas Maleki, Maryam Pournajaf, Rahim Naseri, Reza Rashnavadi

Abstract:

In order to study the effects of supplemental irrigation, different levels of nitrogen chemical fertilizer and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria on the grain yield of chickpea, an experiment was carried out using split plot arrangement in randomize complete block design with three replication in agricultural researches station of Zanjan, Iran during 2009-2010 cropping season. The factors of experiment consisted of irritation (without irrigation (I1), irrigation at flowering stage (I2), irrigation at flowering and grain filling stages (I3) and full irrigation (I4)) and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer (without using of nitrogen fertilizer (N0), 75 kg.ha^-1 (N75), 150 kg.ha^-1 (N150) and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria (N4). The results of the analysis of variance showed that the effects of irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer levels and bacterial inoculation, were significant affect on number of pods per plant, number grains per plant, grain weight, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index at 1% probability level. Also Results showed that the grain yield in full irrigation treatment and inoculated with rhizobium bacteria was significantly higher than the other treatments.

Keywords: Chickpea, Nitrogen, Supplemental irrigation.

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Authors: Amir Amiri, Naghmeh Morakabati

Abstract:

During the recent years the six-fold growth of cancer in Iran has led the production of healthy products to become a challenge in the food industry. Due to the young population in the country, the consumption of fast foods is growing. The chemical cancer-causing preservatives are used to produce these products more than the standard; so using an appropriate alternative seems to be important. On the one hand, the plant essential oils show the high antimicrobial potential against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and on the other hand they are highly volatile and decomposed under the processing conditions. The study aims to produce the loaded chitosan nanoparticles with different concentrations of savory essential oil to improve the anti-microbial property and increase the resistance of essential oil to oxygen and heat. The encapsulation efficiency was obtained in the range of 32.07% to 39.93% and the particle size distribution of the samples was observed in the range of 159 to 210 nm. The range of Zeta potential was obtained between -11.9 to -23.1 mV. The essential oil loaded in chitosan showed stronger antifungal activity against Rhizopus stolonifer. The results showed that the antioxidant property is directly related to the concentration of loaded essential oil so that the antioxidant property increases by increasing the concentration of essential oil. In general, it seems that the savory essential oil loaded in chitosan particles can be used as a food processor.

Keywords: Chitosan, encapsulation, essential oil, nanogel.

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Authors: Kumara Jayapathma J. H. M. S. S., Dampegama S. D. P. J.

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Lands are valuable & limited resource which constantly changes with the growth of the population. An efficient and good land management system is essential to avoid conflicts associated with lands. This paper aims to design the prototype model of a Mobile GIS Land use and Land Information System in real-time. Homagama Divisional Secretariat Division situated in the western province of Sri Lanka was selected as the study area. The prototype model was developed after reviewing related literature. The methodology was consisted of designing and modeling the prototype model into an application running on a mobile platform. The system architecture mainly consists of a Google mapping app for real-time updates with firebase support tools. Thereby, the method of implementation consists of front-end and back-end components. Software tools used in designing applications are Android Studio with JAVA based on GeoJSON File structure. Android Studio with JAVA in GeoJSON File Synchronize to Firebase was found to be the perfect mobile solution for continuously updating Land use and Land Information System (LIS) in real-time in the present scenario. The mobile-based land use and LIS developed in this study are multiple user applications catering to different hierarchy levels such as basic users, supervisory managers, and database administrators. The benefits of this mobile mapping application will help public sector field officers with non-GIS expertise to overcome the land use planning challenges with land use updated in real-time.

Keywords: Android, Firebase, GeoJSON, GIS, JAVA, JSON, LIS, mobile GIS, real-time, REST API.

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Authors: A. A. Amer, H. M. Gad, I. A. Ibrahim, S. I. Abdel-Mageed, T. M. Farag

Abstract:

This paper represents an experimental study of LPG diffusion flame at elevated preheated air temperatures. The flame is stabilized in a vertical water-cooled combustor by using air swirler. An experimental test rig was designed to investigate the different operating conditions. The burner head is designed so that the LPG fuel issued centrally and surrounded by the swirling air issues from an air swirler. There are three air swirlers having the same dimensions but having different blade angles to give different swirl numbers of 0.5, 0.87 and 1.5. The combustion air was heated electrically before entering the combustor up to a temperature about 500 K. Five air to fuel mass ratios of 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50 were also studied. The effect of preheated air temperature, swirl number and air to fuel mass ratios on the temperature maps, visible flame length, high temperature region (size) and exhaust species concentrations are studied. Some results show that as the preheated air temperature increases, the volume of high temperature region also increased but the flame length decreased. Increasing the preheated air temperature, EINOx, EICO2 and EIO2 increased, while EICO decreased. Increasing the preheated air temperature from 300 to 500 K, for all air swirl numbers used, the highest increase in EINOx, EICO2 and EIO2 are 141, 4 and 65%, respectively.

Keywords: Preheated air temperature, air swirler, flame length, emission index.

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Authors: D. Lepe-Cervantes, E. Leon-Becerril, J. Gomez-Romero, O. Garcia-Depraect, A. Lopez-Lopez

Abstract:

In this study, raw coffee wastewater (CWW) was used as a complex substrate for anaerobic digestion. The inoculum adaptation stage, microbial diversity analysis and biomethane potential (BMP) tests were performed. A fast inoculum adaptation stage was used by the replacement of vinasse to CWW in an anaerobic sequential batch reactor (AnSBR) operated at mesophilic conditions. Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to analyze the microbial diversity. While, BMP tests using inoculum adapted to CWW were carried out at different inoculum to substrate (I/S) ratios (2:1, 3:1 and 4:1, on a VS basis). Results show that the adaptability percentage was increased gradually until it reaches the highest theoretical value in a short time of 10 d; with a methane yield of 359.10 NmL CH₄/g COD-removed; Methanobacterium beijingense was the most abundant microbial (75%) and the greatest specific methane production was achieved at I/S ratio 4:1, whereas the lowest was obtained at 2:1, with BMP values of 320 NmL CH₄/g VS and 151 NmL CH₄/g VS, respectively. In conclusion, gradual replacement of substrate was a feasible method to adapt the inoculum in a short time even using complex raw substrates, whereas in the BMP tests, the specific methane production was proportional to the initial amount of inoculum.

Keywords: Fast inoculum adaptation, coffee wastewater, biomethane potential test, anaerobic digestion.

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