Search results for: Seed Yield.

Authors: Inderjeet Kaur, M. Kulkarni, Daya Gupta, Kamal Thakur, Janki Arora

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In this paper, a block code to minimize the peak-toaverage power ratio (PAPR) of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals is proposed. It is shown that cyclic shift and codeword inversion cause not change to peak envelope power. The encoding rule for the proposed code comprises of searching for a seed codeword, shifting the register elements, and determining codeword inversion, eliminating the look-up table for one-to-one correspondence between the source and the coded data. Simulation results show that OFDM systems with the proposed code always have the minimum PAPR.

Keywords: Wireless communications, OFDM, peak-to averagepower ratio, peak envelope power, block codes.

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Authors: Isabel Brás, Artur Figueirinha, Bruno Esteves, Luísa P. Cruz-Lopes

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The agriculture lignocellulosic by-products are receiving increased attention, namely in the search for filter materials that retain contaminants from water. These by-products, specifically almond and hazelnut shells are abundant in Portugal once almond and hazelnuts production is a local important activity. Hazelnut and almond shells have as main constituents lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses, water soluble extractives and tannins. Along the adsorption of heavy metals from contaminated waters, water soluble compounds can leach from shells and have a negative impact in the environment. Usually, the chemical characterization of treated water by itself may not show environmental impact caused by the discharges when parameters obey to legal quality standards for water. Only biological systems can detect the toxic effects of the water constituents. Therefore, the evaluation of toxicity by biological tests is very important when deciding the suitability for safe water discharge or for irrigation applications.

The main purpose of the present work was to assess the potential impacts of waters after been treated for heavy metal removal by hazelnut and almond shells adsorption systems, with short term acute toxicity tests.

To conduct the study, water at pH 6 with 25 mg.L^-1 of lead, was treated with 10 g of shell per litre of wastewater, for 24 hours. This procedure was followed for each bark. Afterwards the water was collected for toxicological assays; namely bacterial resistance, seed germination, Lemna minor L. test and plant grow. The effect in isolated bacteria strains was determined by disc diffusion method and the germination index of seed was evaluated using lettuce, with temperature and humidity germination control for 7 days. For aquatic higher organism, Lemnas were used with 4 days contact time with shell solutions, in controlled light and temperature. For terrestrial higher plants, biomass production was evaluated after 14 days of tomato germination had occurred in soil, with controlled humidity, light and temperature.

Toxicity tests of water treated with shells revealed in some extent effects in the tested organisms, with the test assays showing a close behaviour as the control, leading to the conclusion that its further utilization may not be considered to create a serious risk to the environment.

Keywords: Acute toxicity tests, adsorption, lignocellulosic wastes, risk assessment.

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Authors: H. M. Nanjundaswamy, S. K. Nath, S. Ray

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TiO₂ particles have been added in molten aluminium to result in aluminium based cast Al/Al₃Ti-Al₂O₃ composite, which has been added then to molten magnesium to synthesize magnesium based cast Mg-Al/Al₃Ti-Al₂O₃ composite. The nominal compositions in terms of Mg, Al, and TiO₂ contents in the magnesium based composites are Mg-9Al-0.6TiO₂, Mg-9Al-0.8TiO₂, Mg-9Al-1.0TiO₂ and Mg-9Al-1.2TiO₂ designated respectively as MA6T, MA8T, MA10T and MA12T. The microstructure of the cast magnesium based composite shows grayish rods of intermetallics Al₃Ti, inherited from aluminium based composite but these rods, on hot forging, breaks into smaller lengths decreasing the average aspect ratio (length to diameter) from 7.5 to 3.0. There are also cavities in between the broken segments of rods. β-phase in cast microstructure, Mg₁₇Al₁₂, dissolves during heating prior to forging and re-precipitates as relatively finer particles on cooling. The amount of β-phase also decreases on forging as segregation is removed. In both the cast and forged composite, the Brinell hardness increases rapidly with increasing addition of TiO₂ but the hardness is higher in forged composites by about 80 BHN. With addition of higher level of TiO₂ in magnesium based cast composite, yield strength decreases progressively but there is marginal increase in yield strength over that of the cast Mg-9 wt. pct. Al, designated as MA alloy. But the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) in the cast composites decreases with the increasing particle content indicating possibly an early initiation of crack in the brittle inter-dendritic region and their easy propagation through the interfaces of the particles. In forged composites, there is a significant improvement in both yield strength and UTS with increasing TiO₂ addition and also, over those observed in their cast counterpart, but at higher addition it decreases. It may also be noted that as in forged MA alloy, incomplete recovery of forging strain increases the strength of the matrix in the composites and the ductility decreases both in the forged alloy and the composites. Initiation fracture toughness, J_IC, decreases drastically in cast composites compared to that in MA alloy due to the presence of intermetallic Al₃Ti and Al₂O₃ particles in the composite. There is drastic reduction of J_IC on forging both in the alloy and the composites, possibly due to incomplete recovery of forging strain in both as well as breaking of Al₃Ti rods and the voids between the broken segments of Al₃Ti rods in composites. The ratio of tearing modulus to elastic modulus in cast composites show higher ratio, which increases with the increasing TiO₂ addition. The ratio decreases comparatively more on forging of cast MA alloy than those in forged composites.

Keywords: Composite, fracture toughness, forging, tensile properties.

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Authors: É. Vincze

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Demand on plant oils has increased to an enormous extent that is due to the change of human nutrition habits on the one hand, while on the other hand to the increase of raw material demand of some industrial sectors, just as to the increase of biofuel production. Besides the determining importance of sunflower in Hungary the production area, just as in part the average yield amount of rapeseed has increased among the produced oil crops. The variety/hybrid palette has changed significantly during the past decade. The available varieties’/hybrids’ palette has been extended to a significant extent. It is agreed that rapeseed production demands professionalism and local experience. Technological elements are successive; high yield amounts cannot be produced without system-based approach. The aim of the present work was to execute the complex study of one of the most critical production technology element of rapeseed production, that was sowing technology. Several sowing technology elements are studied in this research project that are the following: biological basis (the hybrid Arkaso is studied in this regard), sowing time (sowing time treatments were set so that they represent the wide period used in industrial practice: early, optimal and late sowing time) plant density (in this regard reaction of rare, optimal and too dense populations) were modelled. The multifactorial experimental system enables the single and complex evaluation of rapeseed sowing technology elements, just as their modelling using experimental result data. Yield quality and quantity have been determined as well in the present experiment, just as the interactions between these factors. The experiment was set up in four replications at the Látókép Plant Production Research Site of the University of Debrecen. Two different sowing times were sown in the first experimental year (2014), while three in the second (2015). Three different plant densities were set in both years: 200, 350 and 500 thousand plants ha-1. Uniform nutrient supply and a row spacing of 45 cm were applied. Winter wheat was used as pre-crop. Plant physiological measurements were executed in the populations of the Arkaso rapeseed hybrid that were: relative chlorophyll content analysis (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) measurement. Relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) were monitored in 7 different measurement times.

Keywords: Inner quality, plant density, rapeseed, sowing time.

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Authors: Hongjun Liu, Cunxiao Gao, Jintao Tao, Wei Zhao, Yishan Wang

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A compact tunable 10 W picosecond source based on Yb-doped fiber amplification of gain switch laser diode has been demonstrated. A gain switch semiconductor laser diode was used as the seed source, and a multi-stage single mode Yb-doped fiber preamplifier was combined with two large mode area double-clad Yb-doped fiber main amplifiers to construct the amplification system. The tunable pulses with high stability and excellent beam quality (M2<1.2) of 10 W average power 150 ps pulse duration at 1 MHz repetition rate were obtained. The central wavelength with the line width of 2.5-3 nm was tunable from 1053 nm to 1073 nm.

Keywords: Fiber laser, fiber amplifier, picosecond laser, highpower laser

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Authors: Abimbola M. Enitan, Josiah Adeyemo

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Anaerobic modeling is a useful tool to describe and simulate the condition and behaviour of anaerobic treatment units for better effluent quality and biogas generation. The present investigation deals with the anaerobic treatment of brewery wastewater with varying organic loads. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) of the influent and effluent of the bioreactor were determined at various retention times to generate data for kinetic coefficients. The bio-kinetic coefficients in the modified Stover–Kincannon kinetic and methane generation models were determined to study the performance of anaerobic digestion process. At steady-state, the determination of the kinetic coefficient (K), the endogenous decay coefficient (Kd), the maximum growth rate of microorganisms (μmax), the growth yield coefficient (Y), ultimate methane yield (Bo), maximum utilization rate constant Umax and the saturation constant (KB) in the model were calculated to be 0.046 g/g COD, 0.083 (d¯¹), 0.117 (d-¹), 0.357 g/g, 0.516 (L CH4/gCODadded), 18.51 (g/L/day) and 13.64 (g/L/day) respectively. The outcome of this study will help in simulation of anaerobic model to predict usable methane and good effluent quality during the treatment of industrial wastewater. Thus, this will protect the environment, conserve natural resources, saves time and reduce cost incur by the industries for the discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater. It will also contribute to a sustainable long-term clean development mechanism for the optimization of the methane produced from anaerobic degradation of waste in a close system.

Keywords: Brewery wastewater, methane generation model, environment, anaerobic modeling.

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Authors: N. Boontian

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Biological conversion of biomass to methane has received increasing attention in recent years. Grasses have been explored for their potential anaerobic digestion to methane. In this review, extensive literature data have been tabulated and classified. The influences of several parameters on the potential of these feedstocks to produce methane are presented. Lignocellulosic biomass represents a mostly unused source for biogas and ethanol production. Many factors, including lignin content, crystallinity of cellulose, and particle size, limit the digestibility of the hemicellulose and cellulose present in the lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatments have used to improve the digestibility of the lignocellulosic biomass. Each pretreatment has its own effects on cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, the three main components of lignocellulosic biomass. Solidstate anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) generally occurs at solid concentrations higher than 15%. In contrast, liquid anaerobic digestion (AD) handles feedstocks with solid concentrations between 0.5% and 15%. Animal manure, sewage sludge, and food waste are generally treated by liquid AD, while organic fractions of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and lignocellulosic biomass such as crop residues and energy crops can be processed through SS-AD. An increase in operating temperature can improve both the biogas yield and the production efficiency, other practices such as using AD digestate or leachate as an inoculant or decreasing the solid content may increase biogas yield but have negative impact on production efficiency. Focus is placed on substrate pretreatment in anaerobic digestion (AD) as a means of increasing biogas yields using today’s diversified substrate sources.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Lignocellulosic biomass, Methane production, Optimization, Pretreatment.

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Authors: Azza A. Abou-Arab, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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The influence of microwave drying methods on the nutritional and anti-nutritional composition and physical characteristics of banana peels was investigated. Banana peels were assessed for physical properties such as yield, pH value, bulk density, water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC). The results showed that, the yield of banana peels and pH value was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased by microwave drying (11.20% and pH 5.08, respectively) compared with control. Bulk density was increased by microwave drying and recorded 62.03 g/100 ml. The banana peels flour demonstrated that the highest WHC was 8.65 g water/g dry sample and OHC was 6.73 g oil/g dry sample compared to control. The results observed a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in moisture, fiber and total carbohydrates content of banana peels; whereas, the rates of ash, protein and fat content were increased after drying by microwave compared with control. The lignin content of banana peels was significantly increased (P < 0.05) by microwave drying and the recorded value was 8.31% dw. The results also revealed that the ascorbic acid content was significantly decreased by microwave drying and recorded 18.32 mg/100 g dw vis. 23.51 mg/100 g dw for control. With regarding the anti-nutrients, phytates, alkaloids, oxalates and hydrogen cyanides levels in banana peels, it was in the threshold value mentioned as safety restrict. These results demonstrated that the levels of phytates, alkaloids, oxalates and hydrogen cyanides were decreased by microwave drying methods which recorded 4.07%, 5.45%, 0.85% and 32.15%, respectively.

Keywords: Banana peels, microwave drying, physical characteristics, nutritional composition, anti-nutritional composition.

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Authors: Iracema Machado de Aragão Gomes, Íkaro Daniel Carvalho Barreto, Suzana Leitão Russo

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Policies that support entrepreneurship are keys to the generation of new business. In Brazil, seed capital, installation of technology parks, programs and zero interest financing, economic subsidy as Program First Innovative Company (PRIME) are examples of incentive policies. For the implementation of PRIME, in particular the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) decentralized operationalization so that business incubators could select innovative projects. This paper analyzes the program PRIME Business Incubator Center of the State of Sergipe (CISE) after calculating the mean and standard deviation of the grades obtained by companies in the factors of innovation, market potential, financial return economic, market strategy and staff and application of the Mann-Whitney test.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, innovation, technology parks, business incubators.

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Authors: N.H. Abdurahman, Y. M. Rosli, N. H. Azhari, S. F. Tam

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The direct discharge of palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastewater causes serious environmental pollution due to its high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Traditional ways for POME treatment have both economical and environmental disadvantages. In this study, a membrane anaerobic system (MAS) was used as an alternative, cost effective method for treating POME. Six steady states were attained as a part of a kinetic study that considered concentration ranges of 8,220 to 15,400 mg/l for mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and 6,329 to 13,244 mg/l for mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS). Kinetic equations from Monod, Contois and Chen & Hashimoto were employed to describe the kinetics of POME treatment at organic loading rates ranging from 2 to 13 kg COD/m3/d. throughout the experiment, the removal efficiency of COD was from 94.8 to 96.5% with hydraulic retention time, HRT from 400.6 to 5.7 days. The growth yield coefficient, Y was found to be 0.62gVSS/g COD the specific microorganism decay rate was 0.21 d-1 and the methane gas yield production rate was between 0.25 l/g COD/d and 0.58 l/g COD/d. Steady state influent COD concentrations increased from 18,302 mg/l in the first steady state to 43,500 mg/l in the sixth steady state. The minimum solids retention time, which was obtained from the three kinetic models ranged from 5 to 12.3 days. The k values were in the range of 0.35 – 0.519 g COD/ g VSS • d and values were between 0.26 and 0.379 d-1. The solids retention time (SRT) decreased from 800 days to 11.6 days. The complete treatment reduced the COD content to 2279 mg/l equivalent to a reduction of 94.8% reduction from the original.

Keywords: COD reduction, POME, kinetics, membrane, anaerobic, monod, contois equation.

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Authors: Lalita Saeaeh, Sirirat Jitkarnka

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Pyrolysis of waste tire is one of alternative technique to produce petrochemicals, such as light olefins, mixed C4, and monoaromatics. Noble metals supported on acid zeolite catalysts were reported as potential catalysts to produce the high valuable products from waste tire pyrolysis. Especially, Pd supported on HBeta gave a high yield of olefins, mixed C4, and mono-aromatics. Due to the high prices of noble metals, the objective of this work was to investigate whether or not a non-noble Ni metal can be used as a substitute of a noble metal, Pd, supported on HBeta as a catalyst for waste tire pyrolysis. Ni metal was selected in this work because Ni has high activity in cracking, isomerization, hydrogenation and the ring opening of hydrocarbons Moreover, Ni is an element in the same group as Pd noble metal, which is VIIIB group, aiming to produce high valuable products similarly obtained from Pd. The amount of Ni was varied as 5, 10, and 20% by weight, for comparison with a fixed 1 wt% Pd, using incipient wetness impregnation. The results showed that as a petrochemical-producing catalyst, 10%Ni/HBeta performed better than 1%Pd/HBeta because it did not only produce the highest yield of olefins and cooking gases, but the yields were also higher than 1%Pd/HBeta. 5%Ni/HBeta can be used as a substitute of 1%Pd/HBeta for similar crude production because its crude contains the similar amounts of naphtha and saturated HCs, although it gave no concentration of light mono-aromatics (C6-C11) in the oil. Additionally, 10%Ni/HBeta that gave high olefins and cooking gases was found to give a fairly high concentration of the light mono-aromatics in the oil.

Keywords: Catalytic pyrolysis; Waste tire; Pd; Ni; HBeta

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Authors: Letizia Marchetti, Federica Annunzi, Federico Fiorini, Cristiano Nicolella

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Automotive shredder residue (ASR) is a mixture of waste that makes up 20-25% of end-of-life vehicles. For many years, ASR was commonly disposed of in landfills or incinerated, causing serious environmental problems. Nowadays, thermochemical treatments are a promising alternative, although the heterogeneity of ASR still poses some challenges. One of the emerging thermochemical treatments for ASR is pyrolysis, which promotes the decomposition of long polymeric chains by providing heat in the absence of an oxidizing agent. In this way, pyrolysis promotes the conversion of ASR into solid, liquid, and gaseous phases. This work aims to improve the performance of a two-step pyrolysis process. After the characterization of the analysed ASR, the focus is on determining the effects of residence time on product yields and gas composition. A batch experimental setup that reproduces the entire process was used. The setup consists of three sections: the pyrolysis section (made of two reactors), the separation section, and the analysis section. Two different residence times were investigated to find suitable conditions for the first sample of ASR. These first tests showed that the products obtained were more sensitive to residence time in the second reactor. Indeed, slightly increasing residence time in the second reactor managed to raise the yield of gas and carbon residue and decrease the yield of liquid fraction. Then, to test the versatility of the setup, the same conditions were applied to a different sample of ASR coming from a different chemical plant. The comparison between the two ASR samples shows that similar product yields and compositions are obtained using the same setup.

Keywords: Automotive shredder residue, experimental tests, heterogeneity, product yields, two-step pyrolysis.

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Authors: İsmail Hakkı Kalyoncu, Nilda Ersoy, Ayşe Yalcın Elidemir, Muhammed Emin Karalı

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Gilaburu (Viburnum opulus L.) grown naturally in Anatolia. In this study, some physico-chemical (sugar, acid, protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash etc.) characteristics and mineral composition of Gilaburu fruit have been investigated. The length, width, thickness, weight, total soluble solid, protein, crude ash, crude fiber and crude oil of fruit were found to be 1.12 cm, 1.58 cm, 1.87 cm, 0.87 g, 14.73 %, 0.2 %, 0.11 %, 6.56 % and 0.4 %, respectively. The seed of fruit mean weight, length, width and thickness were determinated as 0.08 g, 7.76 cm, 7.67 cm and 1.66, respectively. In addition 27 mineral elements (Al, Mg, Na, Ba, Ca, Ni, Cd, P, Cr, Pb, S, Cu, Se, Fe, K, Sr, Li, Z, V, Ag, Bi, Co, Mn, B, Ga, In, Ti) were analyzed. Gilaburu (Viburnum opulus L.) fruit was richest in potassium (10764.764 ppm), Mg (1289.088 ppm) and P (1304.169 ppm).

Keywords: Gilaburu (Viburnum opulus L.), nutritional properties, physico-chemical properties.

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Authors: M. Chňapek, M. Tomka, R. Peroutková, Z. Gálová

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Processes of plant breeding, testing and licensing of new varieties, patent protection in seed production, relations in trade and protection of copyright are dependent on identification, differentiation and characterization of plant genotypes. Therefore, we focused our research on utilization of wheat storage proteins as genetic markers suitable not only for differentiation of individual genotypes, but also for identification and characterization of their considerable properties. We analyzed a collection of 102 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 41 genotypes of spelt wheat (Triticum spelta L.), and 35 genotypes of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), in this study. Our results show, that genotypes of bread wheat and durum wheat were homogenous and single line, but spelt wheat genotypes were heterogenous. We observed variability of HMW-GS composition according to environmental factors and level of breeding and predict technological quality on the basis of Glu-score calculation.

Keywords: Genotype identification, HMW-GS, wheat quality.

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Authors: Yinggan Tang, Xinping Guan

Abstract:

Color image segmentation can be considered as a cluster procedure in feature space. k-means and its adaptive version, i.e. competitive learning approach are powerful tools for data clustering. But k-means and competitive learning suffer from several drawbacks such as dead-unit problem and need to pre-specify number of cluster. In this paper, we will explore to use competitive and cooperative learning approach to perform color image segmentation. In competitive and cooperative learning approach, seed points not only compete each other, but also the winner will dynamically select several nearest competitors to form a cooperative team to adapt to the input together, finally it can automatically select the correct number of cluster and avoid the dead-units problem. Experimental results show that CCL can obtain better segmentation result.

Keywords: Color image segmentation, competitive learning, cluster, k-means algorithm, competitive and cooperative learning.

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Authors: Nilda Ersoy, Ismail Hakki Kalyoncu, Ayse Yalcin Elidemir, Inci Tolay

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In this research, several physical and chemical properties and mineral contents of Russion olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) fruit grown in Turkey were determined. In the fruit, length, width, thickness, weight were determined as 2.866cm, 1.880cm, 1.870cm, 2.90g; total soluble solids and colour were determined as 13.14% and S33O60Y99, respectively. In the seed, mean length, width, thickness, and weight were found to be 2.420cm, 0.508cm, 0.503cm, and 0.38g, respectively. In the fruit, 28 minerals (K, P, Ca, Na, Mg, S, Pb, Ba, Ga, As, In, Ti, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, B, Cd, Se, Li, Sr, Al, Ni, Ag, V, Cr, Bi) were analyzed and 19 minerals were present at detectable levels. Russion olive fruit was richest in potassium (10296.906ppm), Mg (762.314ppm), P (609.694ppm), Ca (547.647ppm), and Na (222.749ppm).

Keywords: Nutritional properties, Physico-chemical properties, Russion olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.)

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Authors: Kyoung-Jae Kim, Hyunchul Ahn

Abstract:

This study proposes novel hybrid social network analysis and collaborative filtering approach to enhance the performance of recommender systems. The proposed model selects subgroups of users in Internet community through social network analysis (SNA), and then performs clustering analysis using the information about subgroups. Finally, it makes recommendations using cluster-indexing CF based on the clustering results. This study tries to use the cores in subgroups as an initial seed for a conventional clustering algorithm. This model chooses five cores which have the highest value of degree centrality from SNA, and then performs clustering analysis by using the cores as initial centroids (cluster centers). Then, the model amplifies the impact of friends in social network in the process of cluster-indexing CF.

Keywords: Social network analysis, Recommender systems, Collaborative filtering, Customer relationship management

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Authors: M. Safa, S. Samarasinghe

Abstract:

An artificial neural network (ANN) approach was used to model the energy consumption of wheat production. This study was conducted over 35,300 hectares of irrigated and dry land wheat fields in Canterbury in the 2007-2008 harvest year.1 In this study several direct and indirect factors have been used to create an artificial neural networks model to predict energy use in wheat production. The final model can predict energy consumption by using farm condition (size of wheat area and number paddocks), farmers- social properties (education), and energy inputs (N and P use, fungicide consumption, seed consumption, and irrigation frequency), it can also predict energy use in Canterbury wheat farms with error margin of ±7% (± 1600 MJ/ha).

Keywords: Artificial neural network, Canterbury, energy consumption, modelling, New Zealand, wheat.

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Authors: Mohammad-Eghbal Ghobadi, Mokhtar Ghobadi

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Coriander is an annual and herbaceous plant, belong to the apiaceae family. This plant is cultivated world widely. It is well known for having medicinal properties. The aim of this experiment was to study seed quality of species grown in Kermanshah conditions. The experiment was carried out in research farm, Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. Coriander (local type) was grown in late spring May (5th and 20th) and Jun (4th and 19th), and plant density (10, 30, 50 and 70 plants m-2) in 2009. The experimental plots were laid out in a factorial according to a randomized complete block design with three replications. The fruits were harvest between 83.5 – 106.5 days after sowing. The essential oil and oil content was extracted by Clevenger and Soxhlet apparatuses, respectively. Results showed that delay at planting date increased the oil content. Also, with the increase at plant density was decreased oil content and essential oil.

Keywords: coriander, late sowing, plant density, oil content, essential oil

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Authors: M. T. Asadollahzadeh, A. Ghasemian, A. R. Saraeian, H. Resalati, P. R. Lennartsson, M. J. Taherzadeh

Abstract:

Since filamentous fungi are capable of assimilating several types of sugars (hexoses and pentoses), they are potential candidates for bioconversion of spent sulfite liquor (SSL). Three filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus oryzae, Mucor indicus, and Rhizopus oryzae were investigated in this work. The SSL was diluted in order to obtain concentrations of 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90% and supplemented with two types of nutrients. The results from cultivations in shake flask showed that A. oryzae and M. indicus were not able to grow in pure SSL and SSL90% while R. oryzae could grow only in SSL50% and SSL60%. Cultivation with A. oryzae resulted in the highest yield of produced fungal biomass, while R. oryzae cultivation resulted in the lowest fungal biomass yield. Although, the mediums containing yeast extract, (NH₄)₂SO₄, KH₂PO₄, CaCl₂∙2H₂O, and MgSO₄∙7H₂O as nutrients supplementations produced higher fungal biomass compared to the mediums containing NH₄H₂PO₄ and ammonia, but there was no significant difference between two types of nutrients in terms of sugars and acetic acid consumption rate. The sugars consumption in M. indicus cultivation was faster than A. oryzae and R. oryzae cultivation. Acetic acid present in SSL was completely consumed during cultivation of all fungi. M. indicus was the best and fastest ethanol producer from SSL among the fungi examined, when yeast extract and salts were used as nutrients supplementations. Furthermore, no further improvement in ethanol concentration and rate of sugars consumption was obtained in medium supplemented with NH₄H₂PO₄ and ammonia compared to medium containing yeast extract, (NH₄)₂SO₄, KH₂PO₄, CaCl₂∙2H₂O, and MgSO₄∙7H₂O. On the other hand, the higher dilution of SSL resulted in a better fermentability, and better consumption of sugars and acetic acid.

Keywords: Ethanol, filamentous fungi, fungal biomass, spent sulfite liquor.

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Authors: Ahmad I. Ayesh

Abstract:

This work reports on the fabrication of tin nanoclusters by sputtering and inert-gas condensation inside an ultra-high vacuum compatible system. This technique allows to fine tune the size and yield of nanoclusters by controlling the nanocluster source parameters. The produced nanoclusters are deposited on SiO₂/Si substrate with pre-formed electrical electrodes to produce a nanocluster device. Those devices can be potentially used for gas sensor applications.

Keywords: Tin, nanoclusters, inert-gas condensation.

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Authors: Natarajan Vijayarangan, Prasanna S. Bidare

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Cryptography, Image watermarking and E-banking are filled with apparent oxymora and paradoxes. Random sequences are used as keys to encrypt information to be used as watermark during embedding the watermark and also to extract the watermark during detection. Also, the keys are very much utilized for 24x7x365 banking operations. Therefore a deterministic random sequence is very much useful for online applications. In order to obtain the same random sequence, we need to supply the same seed to the generator. Many researchers have used Deterministic Random Number Generators (DRNGs) for cryptographic applications and Pseudo Noise Random sequences (PNs) for watermarking. Even though, there are some weaknesses in PN due to attacks, the research community used it mostly in digital watermarking. On the other hand, DRNGs have not been widely used in online watermarking due to its computational complexity and non-robustness. Therefore, we have invented a new design of generating DRNG using Pi-series to make it useful for online Cryptographic, Digital watermarking and Banking applications.

Keywords: E-tokens, LFSR, non-linear, Pi series, pseudo random number.

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Authors: M. Yaldagard, S.A. Mortazavi, F. Tabatabaie

Abstract:

In the present study, the effects of ultrasound as emerging technology were investigated on germination stimulation, amount of alpha-amylase activity on dry barley seeds before steeping stage of malting process. All experiments were carried out at 20 KHz on the ultrasonic generator in 3 different ultrasonic intensities (20, 60 and 100% setting from total power of device) and time (5, 10 and 15 min) at constant temperature (30C). For determining the effects of these parameters on enzyme the Fuwa method assay based on the decreased staining value of blue starch–iodine complexes employed for measurement an activity. The results of these assays were analyzed by Qualitek4 software using the Taguchi statistical method to evaluate the factor-s effects on enzyme activity. It has been found that when malting barley is irradiated with an ultrasonic power, a stimulating effect occurs as to the enzyme activity.

Keywords: ultrasound, alpha-amylase activity, stimulationand Taguchi statistical method.

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Authors: İsmail Hakkı Kalyoncu, Nilda Ersoy, Ayşe Yalcın Elidemir, Cansu Dolek

Abstract:

Some physico-chemical characteristics and mineral composition of 'Karayemis' (Prunus laurocerasus L.) fruits which grown naturally in Norteast Turkey was studied. 28 minerals ( Al, Mg, B, Mn, Co, Na, Ca, Ni, Cd, P, Cr, Pb, Cu, S, Fe, Zn, K, Sr, Li, As, V, Ag, Ba, Br, Ga, In, Se, Ti) were analyzed and 19 minerals were present at ascertainable levels. Karayemis fruit was richest in potassium (7938.711 ppm), magnesium (1242.186 ppm) and calcium (1158.853 ppm). And some physico-chemical characteristics of Karayemis fruit was investigated. Fruit length, fruit width, fruit thickness, fruit weight, total soluble solids, colour, protein, crude ash, crude fiber, crude oil values were determined as 2.334 cm, 1.884 cm, 2.112 cm, 5.35 g, 20.1 %, S99M99Y99, 0.29 %, 0.22 %, 6.63 % and 0.001 %, respectively. The seed of fruit mean weight, length, width and thickness were found to be 0.41 g, 1.303 cm, 0.921 cm and 0.803, respectively.

Keywords: Prunus laurocerasus L., physico-chemical properties, nutritional properties.

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Authors: A. Megalingam, M.M.Mayuram

Abstract:

Evaluation of contact pressure, surface and subsurface contact stresses are essential to know the functional response of surface coatings and the contact behavior mainly depends on surface roughness, material property, thickness of layer and the manner of loading. Contact parameter evaluation of real rough surface contacts mostly relies on statistical single asperity contact approaches. In this work, a three dimensional layered solid rough surface in contact with a rigid flat is modeled and analyzed using finite element method. The rough surface of layered solid is generated by FFT approach. The generated rough surface is exported to a finite element method based ANSYS package through which the bottom up solid modeling is employed to create a deformable solid model with a layered solid rough surface on top. The discretization and contact analysis are carried by using the same ANSYS package. The elastic, elastoplastic and plastic deformations are continuous in the present finite element method unlike many other contact models. The Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio of layer is varied in the present work to observe the contact parameters effect while keeping the surface roughness and substrate material properties as constant. The contacting asperities attain elastic, elastoplastic and plastic states with their continuity and asperity interaction phenomena is inherently included. The resultant contact parameters show that neighboring asperity interaction and the Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio of layer influence the bulk deformation consequently affect the interface strength.

Keywords: Asperity interaction, finite element method, rough surface contact, single layered solid

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Authors: Aleksandar Dedić, Duško Salemović, Matilda Lazić, Dragan Halas

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The aim of the paper was the thermal balance control of vertical kiln dryer indirect type (VSU-36) for drying sunflower seed, produced by “Cer” - Cacak, capacity 39 [t/h]. The balance control was executed because the dryer was damaged by NATO bombing in 1999, and it was planned for its reconstruction. The structural and geometric characteristics of the dryer were known, and it was necessary to determine the parameters of wet air as a drying agent and the sunflower seeds. The thermal balance control was the basis for the replacement of damaged parts of the dryer during its reconstruction. After that, it was necessary to perform the subsequent calculation of strength. The accuracy of strength had a large influence on the cost-effectiveness and safety of a single drying chamber. Also, the work provides guidelines for the regimes of drying grain crops with an explanation of the specificity of drying sunflowers.

Keywords: Sunflower seeds, regimes of drying, vertical kiln dryer, thermal analysis.

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Authors: Yueying Wu, Fengzhu Lv, Yihe Zhang, Zixian Xu

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Antimosy-doped tin oxide (ATO) particles were prepared via chemical coprecipitation and reverse emulsion. The size and size distribution of ATO particles were obviously decreased via reverse microemulsion method. At the relatively high yield the ATO particles were nearly spherical in shape, meanwhile the crystalline structure and excellent conductivity were reserved, which could satisfy the requirement as composite fillers, such as dielectric filler of polyimide film.

Keywords: ATO particle, Conductivity, Distribution, Reverse emulsion

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Authors: Eric Sitorus, Septian Prahastudhi, Turgod Nainggolan, Erwin Riyanto

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Mining by block or panel caving is a mining method that takes advantage of fractures within an ore body, coupled with gravity, to extract material from a predetermined column of ore. The caving column is weakened from beneath through the use of undercutting, after which the ore breaks up and is extracted from below in a continuous cycle. The nature of this method induces cyclical stresses on the pillars of excavations as stress is built up and released over time, which has a detrimental effect on both the installed ground support and the rock mass itself. Ground support capacity, especially on the production where excavation void ratio is highest, is subjected to heavy loading. Strain above threshold of the elongation of support capacity can yield resulting in damage to excavations. Geotechnical engineers must evaluate not only the remnant capacity of ground support systems but also investigate depth of rock mass yield within pillars, backs and floors. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that has the ability to evaluate rock mass damage using electromagnetic waves. This paper illustrates a case study from the Grasberg mining complex where non-invasive information on the depth of damage and condition of the remaining rock mass was required. GPR with 100 MHz antenna resolution was used to obtain images of the subsurface to determine rehabilitation requirements prior to recommencing production activities. The GPR surveys were used to calibrate the reflection coefficient response of varying rock mass conditions to known Rock Quality Designation (RQD) parameters observed at the mine. The calibrated GPR survey allowed site engineers to map subsurface conditions and plan rehabilitation accordingly.

Keywords: Block caving, ground penetrating radar, reflectivity, RQD.

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Authors: Chun-Yuan Huang, Chiao-Yang Cheng, Chun-Yem Huang, Yan-Kuin Su, James Chin-Lung Fang

Abstract:

ZnO nanostructures including nanowires, nanorods, and nanoneedles were successfully deposited on GaAs substrates, respectively, by simple two-step chemical method for the first time. A ZnO seed layer was firstly pre-coated on the O2-plasma treated substrate by sol-gel process, followed by the nucleation of ZnO nanostructures through hydrothermal synthesis. Nanostructures with different average diameter (15-250 nm), length (0.9-1.8 μm), density (0.9-16×109 cm-2) were obtained via adjusting the growth time and concentration of precursors. From the reflectivity spectra, we concluded ordered and taper nanostructures were preferential for photovoltaic applications. ZnO nanoneedles with an average diameter of 106 nm, a moderate length of 2.4 μm, and the density of 7.2×109 cm-2 could be synthesized in the concentration of 0.04 M for 18 h. Integrated with the nanoneedle array, the power conversion efficiency of single junction solar cell was increased from 7.3 to 12.2%, corresponding to a 67% improvement.

Keywords: Anti-reflection, Chemical synthesis, Solar cells, ZnO nanostructures.

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Authors: M. Keshlaf

Abstract:

Honey bees are the most important insects because of their ecologic and economic impacts. They pollinate more than 200 flowering crop plants resulting in an increased yield. Also, honey bees provide multiple products such as honey, royal jelly, wax, venom, pollen and propolis. Beekeeping has been practiced by Africans in all parts of the continent for many thousands of years. However, there is a little scientific information published worldwide about beekeeping in Libya. This review article aims to shed light on the history and current status of honey bee keeping in Libya.

Keywords: Apis mellifera, Libya, beekeeping.

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