Search results for: crop root zone

Authors: Yaşar Önal, Aydın Akın

Abstract:

This study was conducted Ismailoglu grape type (Vitis vinifera L.) and its vine which was aged 15 was grown on its own root in a vegetation period of 2013 in Nevşehir province in Turkey. In this research, it was investigated whether the applications of Control (C), 1/3 cluster tip reduction (1/3 CTR), shoot tip reduction (STR), 1/3 CTR + STR, TKI-HUMAS (TKI-HM) (Soil) (S), TKIHM (Foliar) (F), TKI-HM (S + F), 1/3 CTR + TKI-HM (S), 1/3 CTR + TKI-HM (F), 1/3 CTR + TKI-HM (S+F), STR + TKI-HM (S), STR + TKI-HM (F), STR + TKI-HM (S + F), 1/3 CTR + STR+TKI-HM (S), 1/3 CTR + STR + TKI-HM (F), 1/3 CTR + STR + TKI-HM (S + F) on yield and yield components of Ismailoglu grape type. The results were obtained as the highest fresh grape yield (16.15 kg/vine) with TKI-HM (S), as the highest cluster weight (652.39 g) with 1/3 CTR + STR, as the highest 100 berry weight (419.07 g) with 1/3 CTR + STR + TKI-HM (F), as the highest maturity index (44.06) with 1/3 CTR, as the highest must yield (810.00 ml) with STR + TKI-HM (F), as the highest intensity of L* color (42.04) with TKIHM (S + F), as the highest intensity of a* color (2.60) with 1/3 CTR + TKI-HM (S), as the highest intensity of b* color (7.16) with 1/3 CTR + TKI-HM (S) applications. To increase the fresh grape yield of Ismailoglu grape type can be recommended TKI-HM (S) application.

Keywords: 1/3 cluster tip reduction, shoot tip reduction, TKIHumas application, yield and yield Components.

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Authors: Taegyoo Woo, Jong Kang Park, Jong Tae Kim

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Visible Light Communication (VLC) provides wireless communication features in illumination systems. One of the key applications is to recognize the user location by indoor illuminators such as light emitting diodes. For localization of individual receivers in these systems, we usually assume that receivers and transmitters are placed in parallel. However, it is difficult to satisfy this assumption because the receivers move randomly in real case. It is necessary to analyze the case when transmitter is not placed perfectly parallel to receiver. It is also important to identify changes on optical gain by the tilted angles and distances of them against the illuminators. In this paper, we simulate optical gain for various cases where the tilt of the receiver and the distance change. Then, we identified changing patterns of optical gains according to tilted angles of a receiver and distance. These results can help many VLC applications understand the extent of the location errors with regard to optical gains of the receivers and identify the root cause.

Keywords: Visible light communication, optical channel, indoor positioning, Lambertian radiation.

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Authors: Hesham A. Elkaranshawy, Amr M. Abdelrazek, Hosam M. Ezzat

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The system of ordinary nonlinear differential equations describing sliding velocity during impact with friction for a three-dimensional rigid-multibody system is developed. No analytical solutions have been obtained before for this highly nonlinear system. Hence, a power series solution is proposed. Since the validity of this solution is limited to its convergence zone, a suitable time step is chosen and at the end of it a new series solution is constructed. For a case study, the trajectory of the sliding velocity using the proposed method is built using 6 time steps, which coincides with a Runge- Kutta solution using 38 time steps.

Keywords: Impact with friction, nonlinear ordinary differential equations, power series solutions, rough collision.

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Authors: Stephanie Hollanda, Nathalie Bodin, Carine Churlaud, Paco Bustamante

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Total mercury (Hg), selenium (Se) and Hg-Se ratios were analyzed in the white muscle, liver and gonads of swordfish, in order to compare concentration between the different tissues and sex, and also the effect of size (fork length). The results show significant difference between tissue types, with the liver having the highest concentration of both Hg and Se. Positive significant correlations between moles of Hg and Se were obtained in the liver and white muscle, but no relationship was obtained in the gonads. No difference in the concentration of Hg and Se was obtained between the sexes in the tissue types, except for Hg in the gonads, which were found to be higher in males. Significant negative relationships were obtained when the Hg-Se ratio was plotted against fork length in all three tissue types.

Keywords: Bioaccumulation, large pelagic fish, mercury, selenium, Western Indian Ocean.

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Authors: Wang liguo, Wang zongmin, Kong ying

Abstract:

A novel interpolation scheme to extend usable spectrum and upconvert in high performance D/A converters is addressed in this paper. By adjusting the pulse width of cycle and the production circuit of code, the expansion code is a null code or complementary code that is interpolation process. What the times and codes of interpolation decide DAC works in one of a normal mode or multi-mixer mode so that convert the input digital data signal into normal signal or a mixed analog signal having a mixer frequency that is higher than the data frequency. Simulation results show that the novel scheme and apparatus most extend the usable frequency spectrum into fifth to sixth Nyquist zone beyond conventional DACs.

Keywords: interpolation, upconversion, modulation, switching function, duty cycle.

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Authors: A. Nabhan, Mohamed R. El-Sharkawy, A. Rashed

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The main aim of this paper is to dedicate the belt drive system faults like cogs missing, misalignment and belt worm using vibration analysis technique. Experimentally, the belt drive test-rig is equipped to measure vibrations signals under different operating conditions. Finite element 3D model of belt drive system is created and vibration response analyzed using commercial finite element software ABAQUS/CAE.  Root mean square (RMS) and Crest Factor will serve as indicators of average amplitude of envelope analysis signals. The vibration signals pattern obtained from the simulation model and experimental data have the same characteristics. It can be concluded that each case of the RMS is more effective in detecting the defect for acceleration response. While Crest Factor parameter has a response with the displacement and velocity of vibration signals. Also it can be noticed that the model has difficulty in completing the solution when the misalignment angle is higher than 1 degree.

Keywords: Simulation model, misalignment, cogs missing and vibration analysis.

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Authors: Qurbanov Huseyn Nuraddin

Abstract:

The results of scientific research on a machine that pours an equal amount of mineral fertilizer under the soil to increase the productivity of grain in mountain farming and obtain quality grain are substantiated. The average yield of the crop depends on the nature of the distribution of fertilizers in the soil. Therefore, the study of effective energy-saving methods for the application of mineral fertilizers is the actual task of modern agriculture. Depending on the type and variety of plants in mountain farming, there is an optimal norm of mineral fertilizers. Applying an equal amount of fertilizer to the soil is one of the conditions that increase the efficiency of the field. One of the main agro-technical indicators of the work of mineral fertilizing machines is to ensure equal distribution of mineral fertilizers in the field. Taking into account the above-mentioned issues, a combined plough has been improved in our laboratory.

Keywords: Combined plough, mineral fertilizers, sprinkle fluently, fertilizer rate, cereals.

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Authors: Seyed Alireza Valadabadi, Hossein Aliabadi Farahani

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This experiment was carried out to study the effect of AMF, drought stress and phosphorus on physiological growth indices of basil at Iran using by a split-plot design with three replications. The main-plot factor included: two levels of irrigation regimes (control=no drought stress and irrigation after 80 evaporation= drought stress condition) while the sub-plot factors included phosphorus (0, 35 and 70 kg/ha) and application and non-application of Glomus fasciculatum. The results showed that total dry matter (TDM), life area index (LAI), relative growth rate (RGR) and crop growth rate (CGR) were all highly significantly different among the phosphorus, whereas drought stress had effect of practical significance on TDM, LAI, RGR and CGR. The results also showed that the highest TDM, LAI, RGR and CGR were obtained from application of Glomus fasciculatum under no-drought condition.

Keywords: Drought stress, Glomus fasciculatum, physiological growth indices

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Authors: Emmanuel U. Ingwu

Abstract:

The study examined the influence of pay differentials on employee retention in the State Colleges of Education in the South-South Region of Nigeria. 275 subjects drawn from members of the wage negotiating teams in the Colleges were administered questionnaires constructed for study. Analysis of Variance revealed that the observed pay differentials significantly influenced retainership, f(5,269 = 6.223, P< 0.05). However, the Multiple Classification Analysis and Post-Hoc test indicated that employees in two of the Colleges with slightly lower and higher pay levels may probably remain with their employers while employees in other Colleges with the least and highest pay levels suggested quitting. Based on these observations, the influence of pay on employee retention seems inconclusive. Generally, employees in the colleges studied are dissatisfied with current pay levels. Management should confront these challenges by improving pay packages to encourage employees to remain and be dedicated to duty.

Keywords: Employee, Influence, Pay differentials, Retention.

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Authors: Emrah Bulut, Okan Duru, Shigeru Yoshida

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In this study, a fuzzy integrated logical forecasting method (FILF) is extended for multi-variate systems by using a vector autoregressive model. Fuzzy time series forecasting (FTSF) method was recently introduced by Song and Chissom [1]-[2] after that Chen improved the FTSF method. Rather than the existing literature, the proposed model is not only compared with the previous FTS models, but also with the conventional time series methods such as the classical vector autoregressive model. The cluster optimization is based on the C-means clustering method. An empirical study is performed for the prediction of the chartering rates of a group of dry bulk cargo ships. The root mean squared error (RMSE) metric is used for the comparing of results of methods and the proposed method has superiority than both traditional FTS methods and also the classical time series methods.

Keywords: C-means clustering, Fuzzy time series, Multi-variate design

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Authors: Mateus N. Esperança, Marcel O. Cerri, Alberto C. Badino

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The performance of airlift bioreactors are closely related with their geometry, especially the gas-liquid separator design. In this study, the influence of the gas-liquid separator geometry on oxygen transfer and gas hold-up was evaluated in 10-L concentric-tube airlift bioreactor operating with distilled water and xanthan gum solution. The specific airflow rate (ɸ_AIR) exhibited the higher effect on the oxygen transfer coefficient (k_La) for both fluids. While the gas-liquid separator openness angle (α) and liquid volume fraction on the gas-liquid separator (V_GLS) have presented opposite effects on oxygen mass transfer, they affected negatively the global gas hold-up of distilled water system. The best degassing zone geometry corresponded to a 90° openness angle with 10% of the liquid on it.

Keywords: Airlift bioreactor, gas holdup, gas-liquid separator, oxygen transfer.

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Authors: Taewon Seo

Abstract:

The characteristics of physiological blood flow in human carotid arterial bifurcation model have been numerically studied using a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis. This computational model with the fluid-structure interaction is constructed to investigate the flow characteristics and wall shear stress in the carotid artery. As the flow begins to decelerate after the peak flow, a large recirculation zone develops at the non-divider wall of both internal carotid artery (ICA) and external carotid artery (ECA) in FSI model due to the elastic energy stored in the expanding compliant wall. The calculated difference in wall shear stress (WSS) in both Non-FSI and FSI models is a range of between 5 and 11% at the mean WSS. The low WSS corresponds to regions of carotid artery that are more susceptible to atherosclerosis.

Keywords: Carotid artery, Fluid-structure interaction, Hemodynamics, Wall shear stress.

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Authors: Tatyana Boikova

Abstract:

The strong international competition as the factor of rising economic development efficiency should not turn into destructive force for models of social orientation. What result Europe received from the accelerated integration without a long transition period of the accepted countries. Correlative relationship between the research and development expenditure and labor productivity, inflation and the rate economy's growth of the USA and the euro zone, employment and gross value added between Old and New Europe is analyzed in this article. The article estimates the differences in economic growth of Old and New Europe. Correlation rate between cycles of the euro area and the countries of Central and the Eastern Europe very much differs, though some of these countries have high correlation as members of the Economic and Monetary Union. Besides, the majority of the countries of Central and the Eastern Europe does not correspond to criteria of an optimum currency area.

Keywords: endogenous economic growth, sustainability, competitiveness, economic development

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Authors: Mohamed Adnan Landolsi, Ali F. Almutairi

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The paper addresses the problem of line-of-sight (LOS) vs. non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation link identification in ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless networks, which is necessary for improving the accuracy of radiolocation and positioning applications. A LOS/NLOS likelihood hypothesis testing approach is applied based on exploiting distinctive statistical features of the channel impulse response (CIR) using parameters related to the “skewness” of the CIR and its root mean square (RMS) delay spread. A log-normal fit is presented for the probability densities of the CIR parameters. Simulation results show that different environments (residential, office, outdoor, etc.) have measurable differences in their CIR parameters’ statistics, which is then exploited in determining the nature of the propagation channels. Correct LOS/NLOS channel identification rates exceeding 90% are shown to be achievable for most types of environments. Additional improvement is also obtained by combining both CIR skewness and RMS delay statistics.

Keywords: Ultra-wideband, propagation, line-of-sight, non-line-of-sight, identification.

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Authors: Victoria A. Okwoche, Benjamin C. Asogwa

Abstract:

This paper analysed the food security situation among Nigerian rural farmers. Data collected on 202 rural farmers from Benue State were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that majority of the respondents (60.83%) had medium dietary diversity. Furthermore, household daily calorie requirement for the food secure households was 10,723 and the household daily calorie consumption was 12,598, with a surplus index of 0.04. The food security index was 1.16. The Household daily per capita calorie consumption was 3,221.2. For the food insecure households, the household daily calorie requirement was 20,213 and the household daily calorie consumption was 17,393. The shortfall index was 0.14. The food security index was 0.88. The Household daily per capita calorie consumption was 2,432.8. The most commonly used coping strategies during food stress included intercropping (99.2%), reliance on less preferred food (98.1%), limiting portion size at meal times (85.8%) and crop diversification (70.8%).

Keywords: Analysis, food security, rural areas, farmers, Nigeria.

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Authors: Chockpisit Thepsithar, Nongnuch Euawong, Nukul Jonghomkajorn

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The in vitro culture procedure of purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) for multiple shoot induction and tuber formation was established. Multiple shoots were significantly induced from a single shoot of about 0.5 – 0.8 cm long, on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 4.44 μM 6- benzyladinine (BA) alone or in combination with 2.85 μM 1- indoleacetic acid (IAA), providing 17.6 and 15.3 shoots per explant with 31.2 and 27.5 leaves per explant, respectively, within 6 weeks of culturing. Moreover, MS medium supplemented with 4.44 μM BA and 2.85 μM IAA was suitable for tuber induction, obtaining 5.9 tubers with 3.4 rhizomes per explant. In combination with ancymidol and higher concentration of sucrose, 11.1 μM BA and 60 g/L sucrose or 11.1 μM BA, 7.8 μM ancymidol and 60 g/L sucrose induced 3.5 tubers with 1.6 rhizomes or 3.5 tubers without rhizome, respectively. However, MS medium containing 3.9 or 7.8 μM ancymidol in combination with either 60 or 80 g/L sucrose enchanced significant root formation at 20.9 – 23.6 roots per explant.

Keywords: Purple nutsedge, Cyperus rotundus, multiple shoot induction, tuber formation

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Authors: Khalid Khan, Atique Ahmad Zafar, Mohammed A. Alnuem, Hashim Khan

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Global Software Development (GSD) projects are passing through different boundaries of a company, country and even in other continents where time zone differs between both sites. Beside many benefits of such development, research declared plenty of negative impacts on these GSD projects. It is important to understand problems which may lie during the execution of GSD project with different time zones. This research project discussed and provided different issues related to time delays in GSD projects. In this paper, authors investigated some of the time delay factors which usually lie in GSD projects with different time zones. This investigation is done through systematic review of literature. Furthermore, the practices to overcome these delay factors which have already been reported in literature and GSD organizations are also explored through literature survey and case studies.

Keywords: Case Studies, Global Software Development, Global Software Engineering, Temporal Difference, Time Delay

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Authors: Nguyen Cao Nguyen, Krasimir I. Ivanov, Penka S. Zapryanova

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The present study was carried out to investigate the interaction of foliar applied zinc with other elements in Phyllanthus amarus plants. The plant samples for our experiment were collected from Lam Dong province, Vietnam. Seven suspension solutions of nanosized zinc hydroxide nitrate (Zn₅(OH)₈(NO₃)₂·2H₂O) with different Zn concentration were used. Fertilization and irrigation were the same for all variants. The Zn content and the content of selected micro (Cu, Fe, Mn) and macro (Ca, Mg, P and K) nutrients in plant roots, and stems and leaves were determined. It was concluded that the zinc content of plant roots varies narrowly, with no significant impact of ZnHN fertilization. The same trend can be seen in the content of Cu, Mn, and macronutrients. The zinc content of plant stems and leaves varies within wide limits, with the significant impact of ZnHN fertilization. The trends in the content of Cu, Mn, and macronutrients are kept the same as in the root, whereas the iron trends to increase its content at increasing the zinc content.

Keywords: Zinc fertilizers, micro and macro elements, Phyllanthus amarus.

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Authors: M.R. Mustafa, M.H. Isa, R.B. Rezaur

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Prediction of highly non linear behavior of suspended sediment flow in rivers has prime importance in the field of water resources engineering. In this study the predictive performance of two Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) namely, the Radial Basis Function (RBF) Network and the Multi Layer Feed Forward (MLFF) Network have been compared. Time series data of daily suspended sediment discharge and water discharge at Pari River was used for training and testing the networks. A number of statistical parameters i.e. root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of efficiency (CE) and coefficient of determination (R2) were used for performance evaluation of the models. Both the models produced satisfactory results and showed a good agreement between the predicted and observed data. The RBF network model provided slightly better results than the MLFF network model in predicting suspended sediment discharge.

Keywords: ANN, discharge, modeling, prediction, suspendedsediment,

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Authors: Tsutomu Ichikawa

Abstract:

The Kumamoto area, Kyushu, Japan has 1,041km2 in area and about 1milion in population. This area is a greatest area in Japan which depends on groundwater for all of drinking water. Quantity of this local groundwater use is about 200MCM during the year. It is understood that the main recharging area of groundwater exist in the rice field zone which have high infiltrate height ahead of 100mm/ day of the irrigated water located in the middle area of the Shira-River Basin. However, by decrease of the paddy-rice planting area by urbanization and an acreage reduction policy, the groundwater income and expenditure turned worse. Then Kumamoto city and four companies expended financial support to increase recharging water to underground by ponded water in the field from 2004. In this paper, the author reported the situation of recovery of groundwater by recharge and estimates the efficiency of recharge by statistical method.

Keywords: Groundwater recharge, groundwater level, spring water, paddy field.

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Authors: K. M. Shahot. I. A. Ekhmaj

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The research study is carried out to determine the efficiency of the Biofilm sewage treatment plant which is located at the Engineering Complex-s. Wastewater analyses have been carried out at the Environmental Engineering laboratory to study the six parameters: Biochemical Oxygen Demand BOD, Chemical Oxygen Demand COD l, and Total Suspended Solids TSS, Ammoniac Nitrogen NH3-N and Phosphorous P which have been selected to determine the wastewater quality. The plant was designed to treat 750 Pe (population equivalent) at hydraulic retention time of 5 hours in the aerobic zone. The results show that Biofilm wastewater treatment plant was able to treat sewage successfully at different flow condition. The discharge has fulfilled the Malaysia Environmental of Standard A water quality. The achieved BOD removal is more than 85%, COD is more than 80%, TSS is more than 80%, NH3-N is more than 70%, and P was more than 70%. The Biofilm system provides a very efficient process for sewage treatment and it is compact in structure thus minimizes the required land area.

Keywords: Sewage, Bio film, Cosmo-Ball, Activated sludge

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Authors: S. Somaratne, S. R. Weerakoon

Abstract:

Heavy metal pollution is an environmental concern. Phytoremediation is a low-cost, environmental-friendly approach to solve this problem. Mustard has the potential in reducing heavy metal contents in soils. Among mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss) genotypes in Sri Lanka, accessions 7788, 8831 and 5088 give significantly a high yield. Therefore, present study was conducted to quantify the phytoextractive potential among these local mustard accessions and to assess the interaction of heavy metals, Pb, Co, Mn on phytoextraction. A pot experiment was designed with acid washed sand (quartz) and a series of heavy metal solutions of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 μg/g. Experiment was carried out with factorial experimental design. Mustard accessions were tolerant to heavy metals and could be successfully used in removal of Pb, Co and Mn and they are capable of accumulating significant quantities of heavy metals in vegetative and reproductive organs. The order of the accumulative potential of Pb, Co and Mn in mustard accessions is, root > shoot >seed.

Keywords: Brassica juncea, heavy metal hyper-accumulation, phytoremediation

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Authors: Khaing Win Mar, Thinn Thu Naing

Abstract:

Nowadays, precipitation prediction is required for proper planning and management of water resources. Prediction with neural network models has received increasing interest in various research and application domains. However, it is difficult to determine the best neural network architecture for prediction since it is not immediately obvious how many input or hidden nodes are used in the model. In this paper, neural network model is used as a forecasting tool. The major aim is to evaluate a suitable neural network model for monthly precipitation mapping of Myanmar. Using 3-layerd neural network models, 100 cases are tested by changing the number of input and hidden nodes from 1 to 10 nodes, respectively, and only one outputnode used. The optimum model with the suitable number of nodes is selected in accordance with the minimum forecast error. In measuring network performance using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), experimental results significantly show that 3 inputs-10 hiddens-1 output architecture model gives the best prediction result for monthly precipitation in Myanmar.

Keywords: Precipitation prediction, monthly precipitation, neural network models, Myanmar.

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Authors: Khalida Boutemak, Nasssima Benali, Nadji Moulai-Mostefa

Abstract:

Effect of enzyme on the yield and chemical composition of Artemisia campestris essential oil is reported in the present study. It was demonstrated that enzyme facilitated the extraction of essential oil with increase in oil yield and did not affect any noticeable change in flavour profile of the  volatile oil. Essential oil was tested for antibacterial activity using Escherichia coli; which was extremely sensitive against control with the largest inhibition (29mm), whereas Staphylococcus aureus was the most sensitive against essential oil obtained from enzymatic pre-treatment with the largest inhibition zone (25mm). The antioxidant activity of the essential oil with hemicellulase pre-treatment (EO2) and control sample (EO1) was determined through reducing power. It was significantly lower than the standard drug (vitamin C) in this order: vitamin C˃EO2˃EO1.

Keywords: Artemisia campestris, enzyme pre-treatment, hemicellulase, antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity.

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Authors: Roy R. Gu, Mahesh Sahu

Abstract:

The use of contour strips of perennial vegetation with bio-fuel potential can improve surface water quality by reducing NO3-N and sediment outflow from cropland to surface water-bodies. It also has economic benefits of producing ethanol. In this study, The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to a watershed in Iowa, USA to examine the effectiveness of contour strips of switch grass in reducing the NO3-N outflows from crop fields to rivers or lakes. Numerical experiments were conducted to identify potential subbasins in the watershed that have high water quality impact, and to examine the effects of strip size on NO3-N reduction under various meteorological conditions, i.e. dry, average and wet years. Useful information was obtained for the evaluation of economic feasibility of growing switch grass for bio-fuel in contour strips. The results can assist in cost-benefit analysis and decisionmaking in best management practices for environmental protection.

Keywords: ethanol, modeling, water quality, NO3-N, watershed.

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Authors: M. Palizvan, M. T. Abadi, M. H. Sadr

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Due to variations in damage mechanisms in the microscale, the behavior of fiber-reinforced composites is nonlinear and difficult to model. To make use of computational advantages, homogenization method is applied to the micro-scale model in order to minimize the cost at the expense of detail of local microscale phenomena. In this paper, the effective stiffness is calculated using the homogenization of nonlinear behavior of a composite representative volume element (RVE) containing fiber-matrix debonding. The damage modes for the RVE are considered by using cohesive elements and contacts for the cohesive behavior of the interface between fiber and matrix. To predict more realistic responses of composite materials, different random distributions of fibers are proposed besides square and hexagonal arrays. It was shown that in some cases, there is quite different damage behavior in different fiber distributions. A comprehensive comparison has been made between different graphs.

Keywords: Homogenization, cohesive zone model, fiber-matrix debonding, RVE.

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Authors: Siti Noorain Roslan, Siti Salmi Ghazali, Norfadhlina Muhamed Asli

Abstract:

The volume of biosolids produced in Malaysia nowadays had increased proportionally to its population size. The end products from the waste treatments were mounting, thus inevitable that in the end the environment will be surrounded by the waste. This study was conducted to investigate the suitability of biosolids to be reused as fertilizer for non-food crop. By varying the concentration of biosolids applied onto the soil, growth of five ornamental plant samples were tested for eight consecutive weeks. The results show that the pH of the soil after the addition of biosolids ranges from 6.45 to 6.56 which is suitable for the plant growth. The soil samples that contains biosolid also show higher amount of macronutrients (N, P, K) and the heavy metals content are significantly increased in the plant however it does not exceed the guidelines drawn by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is also proven that there was only small significant different in the performance of plant growth between biosolids and commercial fertilizer. It can be seen that biosolids was able to perform just as well as commercial fertilizer.

Keywords: Biosolids, fertilizer, R. chinensis, waste sludge.

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Authors: Yanyan Yu, Haiping Ding, Pengjun Chen, Yiou Sun

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Fault depth is an important parameter to be determined in ground motion simulation, and peak ground velocity (PGV) demonstrates good application prospect. Using numerical simulation method, the variations of distribution and peak value of near-fault PGV with different fault depth were studied in detail, and the reason of some phenomena were discussed. The simulation results show that the distribution characteristics of PGV of fault-parallel (FP) component and fault-normal (FN) component are distinctly different; the value of PGV FN component is much larger than that of FP component. With the increase of fault depth, the distribution region of the FN component strong PGV moves forward along the rupture direction, while the strong PGV zone of FP component becomes gradually far away from the fault trace along the direction perpendicular to the strike. However, no matter FN component or FP component, the strong PGV distribution area and its value are both quickly reduced with increased fault depth. The results above suggest that the fault depth have significant effect on both FN component and FP component of near-fault PGV.

Keywords: Fault depth, near-fault, PGV, numerical simulation.

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Authors: Katleho D. Makatjane, Kalebe M. Kalebe

Abstract:

The present paper used time-varying parameters which are based on the score function of a probability density at time t to model volatility of saving rate. We used a scaled likelihood function to update the parameters of the model overtime. Our results revealed high diligence of time-varying since the location parameter is greater than zero. Furthermore, we discovered a leptokurtic condition on saving rate’s distribution. Kapetanios, Shin-Shell Nonlinear Augmented Dickey-Fuller (KSS-NADF) test showed that the saving rate has a nonlinear unit root; therefore, it can be modeled by a generalised autoregressive score (GAS) model. Additionally, value at risk (VaR) and conditional tail expectation (CTE) indicate that 99% of the time people in Lesotho are saving more than spending. This puts the economy in high risk of not expanding. Therefore, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of Lesotho should revise their monetary policies towards this high saving rates risk.

Keywords: Generalized autoregressive score, time-varying, saving rate, Lesotho.

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Authors: Arpiruk Hokpunna, Michael Manhart

Abstract:

We present a Large-Eddy simulation of a vortex cell with circular shaped. The results show that the flow field can be sub divided into four important zones, the shear layer above the cavity, the stagnation zone, the vortex core in the cavity and the boundary layer along the wall of the cavity. It is shown that the vortex core consits of solid body rotation without much turbulence activity. The vortex is mainly driven by high energy packets that are driven into the cavity from the stagnation point region and by entrainment of fluid from the cavity into the shear layer. The physics in the boundary layer along the cavity-s wall seems to be far from that of a canonical boundary layer which might be a crucial point for modelling this flow.

Keywords: Turbulent flow, Large eddy simulations, boundary layer and cavity flow, vortex cell flow.

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