Search results for: Concentration ratio

Authors: F. Rahnamay Roodposhti, M. Falah Shams, H. Kordlouie

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The aim of the article is extending and developing econometrics and network structure based methods which are able to distinguish price manipulation in Tehran stock exchange. The principal goal of the present study is to offer model for approximating price manipulation in Tehran stock exchange. In order to do so by applying separation method a sample consisting of 397 companies accepted at Tehran stock exchange were selected and information related to their price and volume of trades during years 2001 until 2009 were collected and then through performing runs test, skewness test and duration correlative test the selected companies were divided into 2 sets of manipulated and non manipulated companies. In the next stage by investigating cumulative return process and volume of trades in manipulated companies, the date of starting price manipulation was specified and in this way the logit model, artificial neural network, multiple discriminant analysis and by using information related to size of company, clarity of information, ratio of P/E and liquidity of stock one year prior price manipulation; a model for forecasting price manipulation of stocks of companies present in Tehran stock exchange were designed. At the end the power of forecasting models were studied by using data of test set. Whereas the power of forecasting logit model for test set was 92.1%, for artificial neural network was 94.1% and multi audit analysis model was 90.2%; therefore all of the 3 aforesaid models has high power to forecast price manipulation and there is no considerable difference among forecasting power of these 3 models.

Keywords: Price Manipulation, Liquidity, Size of Company, Floating Stock, Information Clarity

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Authors: Ying-Ming Su

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Fujian earthen building which was known as a classic for ecological buildings was listed on the world heritage in 2008 (UNESCO) in China. Its design strategy can be applied to modern architecture planning and design. This study chose two different cases (Round Atrium: Er-Yi Building, Double Round Atrium: Zhen-Chen Building) of earthen building in Fu-Jian to compare the ventilation effects of different atrium forms. We adopt field measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of temperature, humidity, and wind environment to identify the relationship between external environment and atrium about comfort and to confirm the relationship about atrium H/W (height/width). Results indicate that, through the atrium convection effect, it makes the natural wind guides to each space surrounded and keeps indoor comfort. It illustrates that the smaller the ratio of the H/W which is the relationship between the height and the width of an atrium is, the greater the wind speed generated within the street valley. Moreover, the wind speed is very close to the reference wind speed. This field measurement verifies that the value of H/W has great influence of solar radiation heat and sunshine shadows. The ventilation efficiency is: Er-Yi Building (H/W =0.2778) > Zhen-Chen Building (H/W=0.3670). Comparing the cases with the same shape but with different H/W, through the different size patios, airflow revolves in the atriums and can be brought into each interior space. The atrium settings meet the need of building ventilation, and can adjust the humidity and temperature within the buildings. It also creates good ventilation effect.

Keywords: Traditional folk houses, Atrium, Earthen building, Ventilation, Building microclimate, PET.

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Authors: R. E. Masto, L. C. Ram, S. K. Verma, V. A. Selvi, J. George, R. C. Tripathi, N. K. Srivastava, D. Mohanty, S. K.Jha, A. K. Sinha, A. Sinha

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There are many sources trough which the soil get enriched and contaminated with REEs. The determination of REEs in environmental samples has been limited because of the lack of sensitive analytical techniques. Soil samples were collected from four sites including open cast coal mine, natural coal burning, coal washery and control in the coal field located in Dhanbad, India. Total concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs) were determined using the inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectrometry in order to assess enrichment status in the coal field. Results showed that the mean concentrations of La, Pr, Eu, Tb, Ho, and Tm in open cast mine and natural coal burning sites were elevated compared to the reference concentrations, while Ce, Nd, Sm, and Gd were elevated in coal washery site. When compared to reference soil, heavy REEs (HREEs) were enriched in open cast mines and natural coal burning affected soils, however, the HREEs were depleted in the coal washery sites. But, the Chondrite-normalization diagram showed significant enrichment for light REEs (LREEs) in all the soils. High concentration of Pr, Eu, Tb, Ho, Tm, and Lu in coal mining and coal burning sites may pose human health risks. Factor analysis showed that distribution and relative abundance of REEs of the coal washery site is comparable with the control. Eventually washing or cleaning of coal could significantly decrease the emission of REEs from coal into the environment.

Keywords: Rare earth elements, coal, soil, factor analysis

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Authors: Y. Suranindyah, A. Astuti

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Twelve lactating Etawah Crossedbred goats were used in this study. Goat feed consisted of Cally andra callothyrsus, Pennisetum purpureum, wheat bran and dried fermented cassava peel. The cassava peels were fermented with a traditional culture called “ragi tape" (mixed culture of Saccharomyces cerevisae, Aspergillus sp, Candida, Hasnula and Acetobacter). The goats were divided into 2 groups (Control and Treated) of six does. The experimental diet of the Control group consisted of 70% of roughage (fresh Callyandra callothyrsus and Pennisetum purpureum 60:40) and 30% of wheat bran on dry matter (DM) base. In the Treated group 30% of wheat bran was replaced with dried fermented cassava peels. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance followed SPSS program. The concentration of HCN in fermented cassava peel decreased to non toxic level. Nutrient composition of dried fermented cassava peel consisted of 85.75% dry matter; 5.80% crude protein and 82.51% total digestible nutrien (TDN). Substitution of 30% of wheat bran with dried fermented cassava peel in the diet had no effect on dry matter and organic matter intake but significantly (P< 0.05) decreased crude protein and TDN consumption as well as milk yields and milk composition. The study recommended to reduced the level of substitution to less than 30% of concentrates in the diet in order to avoid low nutrient intake and milk production of goats.

Keywords: Fermented Cassava Peel, Milk Production, Composition, Etawah Crossedbred Goat.

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Authors: Nerguè Kassahan Kone, Souleymane Oumtanaga

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The third generation (3G) of cellular system adopted the spread spectrum as solution for the transmission of the data in the physical layer. Contrary to systems IS-95 or CDMAOne (systems with spread spectrum of the preceding generation), the new standard, called Universal Mobil Telecommunications System (UMTS), uses long codes in the down link. The system is conceived for the vocal communication and the transmission of the data. In particular, the down link is very important, because of the asymmetrical request of the data, i.e., more remote loading towards the mobiles than towards the basic station. Moreover, the UMTS uses for the down link an orthogonal spreading out with a variable factor of spreading out (OVSF for Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor). This characteristic makes it possible to increase the flow of data of one or more users by reducing their factor of spreading out without changing the factor of spreading out of other users. In the current standard of the UMTS, two techniques to increase the performances of the down link were proposed, the diversity of sending antenna and the codes space-time. These two techniques fight only fainding. The receiver proposed for the mobil station is the RAKE, but one can imagine a receiver more sophisticated, able to reduce the interference between users and the impact of the coloured noise and interferences to narrow band. In this context, where the users have long codes synchronized with variable factor of spreading out and ignorance by the mobile of the other active codes/users, the use of the sequences of code pseudo-noises different lengths is presented in the form of one of the most appropriate solutions.

Keywords: DS-CDMA, multiple access interference, ratio Signal / interference + Noise.

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Authors: Jeries J. Abou-Hanna

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Several techniques exist for determining stress-intensity factors in linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis. These techniques are based on analytical, numerical, and empirical approaches that have been well documented in literature and engineering handbooks. However, not all techniques share the same merit. In addition to overly-conservative results, the numerical methods that require extensive computational effort, and those requiring copious user parameters hinder practicing engineers from efficiently evaluating stress-intensity factors. This paper investigates the prospects of reducing the complexity and required variables to determine stress-intensity factors through the utilization of the stress gradient and a weighting function. The heart of this work resides in the understanding that fracture emanating from stress concentration locations cannot be explained by a single maximum stress value approach, but requires use of a critical volume in which the crack exists. In order to understand the effectiveness of this technique, this study investigated components of different notch geometry and varying levels of stress gradients. Two forms of weighting functions were employed to determine stress-intensity factors and results were compared to analytical exact methods. The results indicated that the “exponential” weighting function was superior to the “absolute” weighting function. An error band +/- 10% was met for cases ranging from a steep stress gradient in a sharp v-notch to the less severe stress transitions of a large circular notch. The incorporation of the proposed method has shown to be a worthwhile consideration.

Keywords: Fracture mechanics, finite element method, stress intensity factor, stress gradient.

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Authors: Yasufumi Yoshimoto, Enkhjargal Tserenochir, Eiji Kinoshita, Takeshi Otaka

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Next generation bio-alcohols produced from non-food based sources like cellulosic biomass are promising renewable energy sources. The present study investigates engine performance, combustion characteristics, and emissions of a small single cylinder direct injection diesel engine fueled by four kinds of next generation bio-alcohol isomer and diesel fuel blends with a constant blending ratio of 3:7 (mass). The tested bio-alcohol isomers here are n-butanol and iso-butanol (C₄ alcohol), and n-pentanol and iso-pentanol (C₅ alcohol). To obtain simultaneous reductions in NOx and smoke emissions, the experiments employed supercharging combined with EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). The boost pressures were fixed at two conditions, 100 kPa (naturally aspirated operation) and 120 kPa (supercharged operation) provided with a roots blower type supercharger. The EGR rates were varied from 0 to 25% using a cooled EGR technique. The results showed that both with and without supercharging, all the bio-alcohol blended diesel fuels improved the trade-off relation between NOx and smoke emissions at all EGR rates while maintaining good engine performance, when compared with diesel fuel operation. It was also found that regardless of boost pressure and EGR rate, the ignition delays of the tested bio-alcohol isomer blends are in the order of iso-butanol > n-butanol > iso-pentanol > n-pentanol. Overall, it was concluded that, except for the changes in the ignition delays the influence of bio-alcohol isomer blends on the engine performance, combustion characteristics, and emissions are relatively small.

Keywords: Alternative fuel, 　Butanol, Diesel engine, EGR, Next generation bio-alcohol isomer blended fuel, Pentanol, Supercharging.

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Authors: V. G. Cappellesso, D. M. G. da Silva, J. A. Arndt, N. dos Santos Petry, A. B. Masuero, D. C. C. Dal Molin

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Concrete elements are subject to cracking, which can be an access point for deleterious agents that can trigger pathological manifestations reducing the service life of these structures. Finding ways to minimize or eliminate the effects of this aggressive agents’ penetration, such as the sealing of these cracks, is a manner of contributing to the durability of these structures. The cementitious self-healing phenomenon can be classified in two different processes. The autogenous self-healing that can be defined as a natural process in which the sealing of this cracks occurs without the stimulation of external agents, meaning, without different materials being added to the mixture, while on the other hand, the autonomous seal-healing phenomenon depends on the insertion of a specific engineered material added to the cement matrix in order to promote its recovery. This work aims to evaluate the autogenous self-healing of concretes produced with different water/cement ratios and exposed to wet/dry cycles, considering two ages of crack openings, 3 days and 28 days. The self-healing phenomenon was evaluated using two techniques: crack healing measurement using ultrasonic waves and image analysis performed with an optical microscope. It is possible to observe that by both methods, it possible to observe the self-healing phenomenon of the cracks. For young ages of crack openings and lower water/cement ratios, the self-healing capacity is higher when compared to advanced ages of crack openings and higher water/cement ratios. Regardless of the crack opening age, these concretes were found to stabilize the self-healing processes after 80 days or 90 days.

Keywords: Self-healing, autogenous, water/cement ratio, curing cycles, test methods.

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Authors: S. Jaramillo, Y. Montoya, W. Agudelo, J. Bustamante

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Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are related to affectations of the heart and blood vessels, within these are pathologies such as coronary or peripheral heart disease, caused by the narrowing of the vessel wall (atherosclerosis), which is related to the accumulation of Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL) in the arterial walls that leads to a progressive reduction of the lumen of the vessel and alterations in blood perfusion. Currently, the main therapeutic strategy for this type of alteration is drug treatment with statins, which inhibit the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), responsible for modulating the rate of cholesterol production and other isoprenoids in the mevalonate pathway. This enzyme induces the expression of LDL receptors in the liver, increasing their number on the surface of liver cells, reducing the plasma concentration of cholesterol. On the other hand, when the blood vessel presents stenosis, a surgical procedure with vascular implants is indicated, which are used to restore circulation in the arterial or venous bed. Among the materials used for the development of vascular implants are Dacron® and Teflon®, which perform the function of re-waterproofing the circulatory circuit, but due to their low biocompatibility, they do not have the ability to promote remodeling and tissue regeneration processes. Based on this, the present research proposes the development of a hydrolyzed collagen and polyethylene oxide electrospun membrane reinforced with medium and high-intensity statins, so that in future research it can favor tissue remodeling processes from its microarchitecture.

Keywords: atherosclerosis, medium and high-intensity statins, microarchitecture, electrospun membrane

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Authors: B. R. O. Omidiwura, A. F. Agboola, E. A. Iyayi

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Pure form of L-Dopa is used to enhance muscular development, fat breakdown and suppress Parkinson disease in humans. However, the L-Dopa in mucuna seed, when present with other antinutritional factors, causes nutritional disorders in monogastric animals. Information on the utilisation of pure L-Dopa in monogastric animals is scanty. Therefore, effect of L-Dopa on growth performance and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens was investigated. Two hundred and forty one-day-old chicks were allotted to six treatments, which consisted of a positive control (PC) with standard energy (3100Kcal/Kg) and negative control (NC) with high energy (3500Kcal/Kg). The rest 4 diets were NC+0.1, NC+0.2, NC+0.3 and NC+0.4% L-Dopa, respectively. All treatments had 4 replicates in a completely randomized design. Body weight gain, final weight, feed intake, dressed weight and carcass characteristics were determined. Body weight gain and final weight of birds fed PC were 1791.0 and 1830.0g, NC+0.1% L-Dopa were 1827.7 and 1866.7g and NC+0.2% L-Dopa were 1871.9 and 1910.9g respectively, and the feed intake of PC (3231.5g), were better than other treatments. The dressed weight at 1375.0g and 1357.1g of birds fed NC+0.1% and NC+0.2% L-Dopa, respectively, were similar but better than other treatments. Also, the thigh (202.5g and 194.9g) and the breast meat (413.8g and 410.8g) of birds fed NC+0.1% and NC+0.2% L-Dopa, respectively, were similar but better than birds fed other treatments. The drum stick of birds fed NC+0.1% L-Dopa (220.5g) was observed to be better than birds on other diets. Meat to bone ratio and relative organ weights were not affected across treatments. L-Dopa extract, at levels tested, had no detrimental effect on broilers, rather better bird performance and carcass characteristics were observed especially at 0.1% and 0.2% L-Dopa inclusion rates. Therefore, 0.2% inclusion is recommended in diets of broiler chickens for improved performance and carcass characteristics.

Keywords: Broilers, Carcass characteristics, L-Dopa, performance.

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Authors: S. Vignesh, N. Vishnu, S. Vigneshwaran, M. Vishnu Anand, Dinesh Kumar Babu, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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Numerical studies have been carried out using a validated two-dimensional standard k-omega turbulence model for the design optimization of a thrust vector control system using shock induced self-impinging supersonic secondary double jet. Parametric analytical studies have been carried out at different secondary injection locations to identifying the highest unsymmetrical distribution of the main gas flow due to shock waves, which produces a desirable side force more lucratively for vectoring. The results from the parametric studies of the case on hand reveal that the shock induced self-impinging supersonic secondary double jet is more efficient in certain locations at the divergent region of a CD nozzle than a case with supersonic single jet with same mass flow rate. We observed that the best axial location of the self-impinging supersonic secondary double jet nozzle with a given jet interaction angle, built-in to a CD nozzle having area ratio 1.797, is 0.991 times the primary nozzle throat diameter from the throat location. We also observed that the flexible steering is possible after invoking ON/OFF facility to the secondary nozzles for meeting the onboard mission requirements. Through our case studies we concluded that the supersonic self-impinging secondary double jet at predesigned jet interaction angle and location can provide more flexible steering options facilitating with 8.81% higher thrust vectoring efficiency than the conventional supersonic single secondary jet without compromising the payload capability of any supersonic aerospace vehicle.

Keywords: Fluidic thrust vectoring, rocket steering, self-impinging secondary supersonic jet, TVC in aerospace vehicles.

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Authors: C. C. Okafor, E. E. Ugwu

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A comparative study on the feasibility of producing instant high fibre plantain flour for diabetic fufu by blending soy residence with different plantain (Musa spp) varieties (Horn, false Horn and French), all sieved at 60 mesh, mixed in ratio of 60:40 was analyzed for their passing properties using standard analytical method. Results show that VIIIS60 had the highest peak viscosity (303.75 RVU), Trough value (182.08 RVU), final viscosity (284.50 RVU), and lowest in breakdown viscosity (79.58 RVU), set back value (88.17 RVU), peak time (4.36min), pasting temperature (81.18°C) and differed significantly (p <0.05) from other samples. VIS60 had the lowest in peak viscosity (192.25 RVU), Trough value (112.67 RVU), final viscosity (211.92 RVU), but highest in breakdown viscosity (121.61 RVU), peak time (4.66min) pasting temperature (82.35°C), and differed significantly (p <0.05), from other samples. VIIS60 had the medium peak viscosity (236.67 RVU), Trough value (116.58 RVU), Break down viscosity (120:08 RVU), set back viscosity (167.92 RVU), peak time (4.39min), pasting temp (81.44°C) and differed significantly (p <0.05) from other samples. High final viscosity and low set back values of the French variety with soy residue blended at 60 mesh particle size recommends this french variety and fibre composition as optimum for production of instant plantain soy residue flour blend for production of diabetic fufu. 

Keywords: Plantain, soy residue pasting properties particle size.

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Authors: Cornelia-Eugenia Munteanu

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From a psychological perspective, psychopathology is the area of clinical psychology that has at its core psychological assessment and psychotherapy. In day-to-day clinical practice, psychodiagnosis and psychotherapy are used independently, according to their intended purpose and their specific methods of application. The paper explores how the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and Mini Mental State Examination-2 (MMSE-2) psychological tools contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy (CBT). This combined approach, psychotherapy in conjunction with assessment of personality and cognitive functions, is illustrated by two cases, a severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms and a mixed anxiety-depressive disorder. The order in which CBT, MMPI-2, and MMSE-2 were used in the diagnostic and therapeutic process was determined by the particularities of each case. In the first case, the sequence started with psychotherapy, followed by the administration of blue form MMSE-2, MMPI-2, and red form MMSE-2. In the second case, the cognitive screening with blue form MMSE-2 led to a personality assessment using MMPI-2, followed by red form MMSE-2; reapplication of the MMPI-2 due to the invalidation of the first profile, and finally, psychotherapy. The MMPI-2 protocols gathered useful information that directed the steps of therapeutic intervention: a detailed symptom picture of potentially self-destructive thoughts and behaviors otherwise undetected during the interview. The memory loss and poor concentration were confirmed by MMSE-2 cognitive screening. This combined approach, psychotherapy with psychological assessment, aligns with the trend of adaptation of the psychological services to the everyday life of contemporary man and paves the way for deepening and developing the field.

Keywords: Assessment, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, MMPI-2, MMSE-2, psychopathology.

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Authors: Anthony Wachs, Guillaume Vinay, Gilles Ferrer, Jacques Kouakou, Calin Dan, Laurence Girolami

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An original Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) method to tackle the problem of particulate flows at moderate to high concentration and finite Reynolds number is presented. Our method is built on the framework established by Glowinski and his coworkers [1] in the sense that we use their Distributed Lagrange Multiplier/Fictitious Domain (DLM/FD) formulation and their operator-splitting idea but differs in the treatment of particle collisions. The novelty of our contribution relies on replacing the simple artificial repulsive force based collision model usually employed in the literature by an efficient Discrete Element Method (DEM) granular solver. The use of our DEM solver enables us to consider particles of arbitrary shape (at least convex) and to account for actual contacts, in the sense that particles actually touch each other, in contrast with the simple repulsive force based collision model. We recently upgraded our serial code, GRIFF 1 [2], to full MPI capabilities. Our new code, PeliGRIFF 2, is developed under the framework of the full MPI open source platform PELICANS [3]. The new MPI capabilities of PeliGRIFF open new perspectives in the study of particulate flows and significantly increase the number of particles that can be considered in a full DNS approach: O(100000) in 2D and O(10000) in 3D. Results on the 2D/3D sedimentation/fluidization of isometric polygonal/polyedral particles with collisions are presented.

Keywords: Particulate flow, distributed lagrange multiplier/fictitious domain method, discrete element method, polygonal shape, sedimentation, distributed computing, MPI

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Authors: Anil Bhandari, Imran Khan Pathan, Peeyush K. Sharma, Rakesh K. Patel, Suresh Purohit

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The purpose of this study was to prepare time and pH dependent release tablets of Ayurvedic Churna formulation and evaluate their advantages as colon targeted drug delivery system. The Vidangadi Churna was selected for this study which contains Embelin and Gallic acid. Embelin is used in Helminthiasis as therapeutic agent. Embelin is insoluble in water and unstable in gastric environment so it was formulated in time and pH dependent tablets coated with combination of two polymers Eudragit L100 and ethyl cellulose. The 150mg of core tablet of dried extract and lactose were prepared by wet granulation method. The compression coating was used in the polymer concentration of 150mg for both the layer as upper and lower coating tablet was investigated. The results showed that no release was found in 0.1 N HCl and pH 6.8 phosphate buffers for initial 5 hours and about 98.97% of the drug was released in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer in total 17 Hours. The in vitro release profiles of drug from the formulation could be best expressed first order kinetics as highest linearity (r²= 0.9943). The results of the present study have demonstrated that the time and pH dependent tablets system is a promising vehicle for preventing rapid hydrolysis in gastric environment and improving oral bioavailability of Embelin and Gallic acid for treatment of Helminthiasis.

Keywords: Embelin, Gallic acid, Vidangadi Churna, Colon targeted drug delivery.

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Authors: Yanping Liao, Congcong He, Ruigang Zhao

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The application of magnetocardiography signals to detect cardiac electrical function is a new technology developed in recent years. The magnetocardiography signal is detected with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUID) and has considerable advantages over electrocardiography (ECG). It is difficult to extract Magnetocardiography (MCG) signal which is buried in the noise, which is a critical issue to be resolved in cardiac monitoring system and MCG applications. In order to remove the severe background noise, the Total Variation (TV) regularization method is proposed to denoise MCG signal. The approach transforms the denoising problem into a minimization optimization problem and the Majorization-minimization algorithm is applied to iteratively solve the minimization problem. However, traditional TV regularization method tends to cause step effect and lacks constraint adaptability. In this paper, an improved TV regularization method for denoising MCG signal is proposed to improve the denoising precision. The improvement of this method is mainly divided into three parts. First, high-order TV is applied to reduce the step effect, and the corresponding second derivative matrix is used to substitute the first order. Then, the positions of the non-zero elements in the second order derivative matrix are determined based on the peak positions that are detected by the detection window. Finally, adaptive constraint parameters are defined to eliminate noises and preserve signal peak characteristics. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that this algorithm can effectively improve the output signal-to-noise ratio and has superior performance.

Keywords: Constraint parameters, derivative matrix, magnetocardiography, regular term, total variation.

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Authors: Oluyemi O. Awolusi, Abimbola M. Enitan, Sheena Kumari, Faizal Bux

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Nitrification is essential to biological processes designed to remove ammonia and/or total nitrogen. It removes excess nitrogenous compound in wastewater which could be very toxic to the aquatic fauna or cause serious imbalance of such aquatic ecosystem. Efficient nitrification is linked to an in-depth knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the nitrifying community structure within the wastewater treatment systems. In this study, molecular technique was employed for characterizing the microbial structure of activated sludge [ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB)] in a municipal wastewater treatment with intention of linking it to the plant efficiency. PCR based phylogenetic analysis was also carried out. The average operating and environmental parameters as well as specific nitrification rate of plant was investigated during the study. During the investigation the average temperature was 23±1.5oC. Other operational parameters such as mixed liquor suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand inversely correlated with ammonia removal. The dissolved oxygen level in the plant was constantly lower than the optimum (between 0.24 and 1.267 mg/l) during this study. The plant was treating wastewater with influent ammonia concentration of 31.69 and 24.47 mg/L. The influent flow rates (ML/Day) was 96.81 during period. The dominant nitrifiers include: Nitrosomonas spp. Nitrobacter spp. and Nitrospira spp. The AOB had correlation with nitrification efficiency and temperature. This study shows that the specific ammonia oxidizing rate and the specific nitrate formation rates can serve as good indicator of the plant overall nitrification performance.

Keywords: Ammonia monooxygenase α-subunit (amoA) gene, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), specific nitrification rate, PCR.

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Authors: Mohammad Asif

Abstract:

A large number of chemical, bio-chemical and pollution-control processes use heterogeneous fixed-bed reactors. The use of finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellets can enhance conversion levels in such reactors. The absence of the pellet core can significantly lower the diffusional resistance associated with the solid phase. This leads to a better utilization of the catalytic material, which is reflected in the higher values for the effectiveness factor, leading ultimately to an enhanced conversion level in the reactor. It is however important to develop a rigorous heterogeneous model for the reactor incorporating the two-dimensional feature of the solid phase owing to the presence of the finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellet. Presently, heterogeneous models reported in the literature invariably employ one-dimension solid phase models meant for spherical catalyst pellets. The objective of the paper is to present a rigorous model of the fixed-bed reactors containing finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellets. The reaction kinetics considered here is the widely used Michaelis–Menten kinetics for the liquid-phase bio-chemical reactions. The reaction parameters used here are for the enzymatic degradation of urea. Results indicate that increasing the height to diameter ratio helps to improve the conversion level. On the other hand, decreasing the thickness is apparently not as effective. This could however be explained in terms of the higher void fraction of the bed that causes a smaller amount of the solid phase to be packed in the fixed-bed bio-chemical reactor.

Keywords: Fixed-bed reactor, Finite hollow cylinder, Catalyst pellet, Conversion, Michaelis-Menten kinetics.

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Authors: A. van Onselen, C. M. Walsh, F. J. Veldman, C. Brand

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Objectives: To determine the nutritional status and risk factors associated with women practicing geophagia in QwaQwa, South Africa. Materials and Methods: An observational epidemiological study design was adopted which included an exposed (geophagia) and nonexposed (control) group. A food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and blood sampling were applied to determine nutritional status of participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed in order to identify factors that were likely to be associated with the practice of geophagia. Results: The mean total energy intake for the geophagia group (G) and control group (C) were 10324.31 ± 2755.00 kJ and 10763.94 ± 2556.30 kJ respectively. Both groups fell within the overweight category according to the mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of each group (G= 25.59 kg/m2; C= 25.14 kg/m2). The mean serum iron levels of the geophagia group (6.929 μmol/l) were significantly lower than that of the control group (13.75 μmol/l) (p = 0.000). Serum transferrin (G=3.23g/l; C=2.7054g/l) and serum transferrin saturation (G=8.05%; C=18.74%) levels also differed significantly between groups (p=0.00). Factors that were associated with the practice of geophagia included haemoglobin (Odds ratio (OR):14.50), serumiron (OR: 9.80), serum-ferritin (OR: 3.75), serum-transferrin (OR: 6.92) and transferrin saturation (OR: 14.50). A significant negative association (p=0.014) was found between women who were wageearners and those who were not wage-earners and the practice of geophagia (OR: 0.143; CI: 0.027; 0.755). These findings seem to indicate that a permanent income may decrease the likelihood of practising geophagia. Key Findings: Geophagia was confirmed to be a risk factor for iron deficiency in this community. The significantly strong association between geophagia and iron deficiency emphasizes the importance of identifying the practice of geophagia in women, especially during their child bearing years.

Keywords: Anaemia, anthropometry, dietary intake, geophagia, iron deficiency.

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Authors: Prima Luna, Afroditi Chatzifragkou, Dimitris Charalampopoulos

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Sorghum byproducts, namely bran, stalk, and panicle are examples of lignocellulosic biomass. These raw materials contain large amounts of polysaccharides, in particular hemicelluloses, celluloses, and lignins, which if efficiently extracted, can be utilised for the development of a range of added value products with potential applications in agriculture and food packaging sectors. The aim of this study was to characterise fractions extracted from sorghum bran and stalk with regards to their physicochemical properties that could determine their applicability as food-packaging materials. A sequential alkaline extraction was applied for the isolation of cellulosic, hemicellulosic and lignin fractions from sorghum stalk and bran. Lignin content, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were also investigated in the case of the lignin fraction. Thermal analysis using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) revealed that the glass transition temperature (T_g) of cellulose fraction of the stalk was ~78.33 ^oC at amorphous state (~65%) and water content of ~5%. In terms of hemicellulose, the T_g value of stalk was slightly lower compared to bran at amorphous state (~54%) and had less water content (~2%). It is evident that hemicelluloses generally showed a lower thermal stability compared to cellulose, probably due to their lack of crystallinity. Additionally, bran had higher arabinose-to-xylose ratio (0.82) than the stalk, a fact that indicated its low crystallinity. Furthermore, lignin fraction had T_g value of ~93 ^oC at amorphous state (~11%). Stalk-derived lignin fraction contained more phenolic compounds (mainly consisting of p-coumaric and ferulic acid) and had higher lignin content and antioxidant capacity compared to bran-derived lignin fraction.

Keywords: Alkaline extraction, bran, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, sorghum, stalk.

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Authors: Justinian Anatory

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power-line networks are promise infrastructure for broadband services provision to end users. However, the network performance is affected by stochastic channel changing which is due to load impedances, number of branches and branched line lengths. It has been proposed that multi-carrier modulations techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), Multi-Carrier Spread Spectrum (MC-SS), wavelet OFDM can be used in such environment. This paper investigates the performance of different indoor topologies of power-line networks that uses MC-SS modulation scheme.It is observed that when a branch is added in the link between sending and receiving end of an indoor channel an average of 2.5dB power loss is found. In additional, when the branch is added at a node an average of 1dB power loss is found. Additionally when the terminal impedances of the branch change from line characteristic impedance to impedance either higher or lower values the channel performances were tremendously improved. For example changing terminal load from characteristic impedance (85 .) to 5 . the signal to noise ratio (SNR) required to attain the same performances were decreased from 37dB to 24dB respectively. Also, changing the terminal load from channel characteristic impedance (85 .) to very higher impedance (1600 .) the SNR required to maintain the same performances were decreased from 37dB to 23dB. The result concludes that MC-SS performs better compared with OFDM techniques in all aspects and especially when the channel is terminated in either higher or lower impedances.

Keywords: Communication channel model; Broadband Powerlinecommunication; Branched network; OFDM; Delay Spread, MCSS;impulsive noise; load impedance

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Authors: Sara Zamani, Mojtaba Fazeli, Abdollah Rashidi Mehrabadi

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In a world worried about water resources with the shadow of drought and famine looming all around, the quality of water is as important as its quantity. The source of all concerns is the constant reduction of per capita quality water for different uses. Iran With an average annual precipitation of 250 mm compared to the 800 mm world average, Iran is considered a water scarce country and the disparity in the rainfall distribution, the limitations of renewable resources and the population concentration in the margins of desert and water scarce areas have intensified the problem. The shortage of per capita renewable freshwater and its poor quality in large areas of the country, which have saline, brackish or hard water resources, and the profusion of natural and artificial pollutant have caused the deterioration of water quality. Among methods of treatment and use of these waters one can refer to the application of membrane technologies, which have come into focus in recent years due to their great advantages. This process is quite efficient in eliminating multi-capacity ions; and due to the possibilities of production at different capacities, application as treatment process in points of use, and the need for less energy in comparison to Reverse Osmosis processes, it can revolutionize the water and wastewater sector in years to come. The article studied the different capacities of water resources in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea watershed basins, and processes the possibility of using nanofiltration process to treat brackish and non-conventional waters in these basins.

Keywords: Membrane processes, saline waters, brackish waters, hard waters, zoning water quality in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea Watershed area, nanofiltration.

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Authors: M. G. Papoutsidakis, G. Chamilothoris, F. Dailami, N. Larsen, A Pipe

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Due to their high power-to-weight ratio and low cost, pneumatic actuators are attractive for robotics and automation applications; however, achieving fast and accurate control of their position have been known as a complex control problem. A methodology for obtaining high position accuracy with a linear pneumatic actuator is presented. During experimentation with a number of PID classical control approaches over many operations of the pneumatic system, the need for frequent manual re-tuning of the controller could not be eliminated. The reason for this problem is thermal and energy losses inside the cylinder body due to the complex friction forces developed by the piston displacements. Although PD controllers performed very well over short periods, it was necessary in our research project to introduce some form of automatic gain-scheduling to achieve good long-term performance. We chose a fuzzy logic system to do this, which proved to be an easily designed and robust approach. Since the PD approach showed very good behaviour in terms of position accuracy and settling time, it was incorporated into a modified form of the 1st order Tagaki- Sugeno fuzzy method to build an overall controller. This fuzzy gainscheduler uses an input variable which automatically changes the PD gain values of the controller according to the frequency of repeated system operations. Performance of the new controller was significantly improved and the need for manual re-tuning was eliminated without a decrease in performance. The performance of the controller operating with the above method is going to be tested through a high-speed web network (GRID) for research purposes.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, gain scheduling, leaky integrator, pneumatic actuator.

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Authors: Somayeh Komeylian

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The direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is the crucial aspect of the radar technologies for detecting and dividing several signal sources. In this scenario, the antenna array output modeling involves numerous parameters including noise samples, signal waveform, signal directions, signal number, and signal to noise ratio (SNR), and thereby the methods of the DoA estimation rely heavily on the generalization characteristic for establishing a large number of the training data sets. Hence, we have analogously represented the two different optimization models of the DoA estimation; (1) the implementation of the decision directed acyclic graph (DDAG) for the multiclass least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM), and (2) the optimization method of the deep neural network (DNN) radial basis function (RBF). We have rigorously verified that the LS-SVM DDAG algorithm is capable of accurately classifying DoAs for the three classes. However, the accuracy and robustness of the DoA estimation are still highly sensitive to technological imperfections of the antenna arrays such as non-ideal array design and manufacture, array implementation, mutual coupling effect, and background radiation and thereby the method may fail in representing high precision for the DoA estimation. Therefore, this work has a further contribution on developing the DNN-RBF model for the DoA estimation for overcoming the limitations of the non-parametric and data-driven methods in terms of array imperfection and generalization. The numerical results of implementing the DNN-RBF model have confirmed the better performance of the DoA estimation compared with the LS-SVM algorithm. Consequently, we have analogously evaluated the performance of utilizing the two aforementioned optimization methods for the DoA estimation using the concept of the mean squared error (MSE).

Keywords: DoA estimation, adaptive antenna array, Deep Neural Network, LS-SVM optimization model, radial basis function, MSE.

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Authors: Satyanadh Gundimada, Vijayan K Asari

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A novel feature selection strategy to improve the recognition accuracy on the faces that are affected due to nonuniform illumination, partial occlusions and varying expressions is proposed in this paper. This technique is applicable especially in scenarios where the possibility of obtaining a reliable intra-class probability distribution is minimal due to fewer numbers of training samples. Phase congruency features in an image are defined as the points where the Fourier components of that image are maximally inphase. These features are invariant to brightness and contrast of the image under consideration. This property allows to achieve the goal of lighting invariant face recognition. Phase congruency maps of the training samples are generated and a novel modular feature selection strategy is implemented. Smaller sub regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are arranged in the order of increasing distance between the sub regions involved in merging. The assumption behind the proposed implementation of the region merging and arrangement strategy is that, local dependencies among the pixels are more important than global dependencies. The obtained feature sets are then arranged in the decreasing order of discriminating capability using a criterion function, which is the ratio of the between class variance to the within class variance of the sample set, in the PCA domain. The results indicate high improvement in the classification performance compared to baseline algorithms.

Keywords: Discriminant analysis, intra-class probability distribution, principal component analysis, phase congruency.

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Authors: Kuvshinov, D., Siswanto, A., Lozano-Parada, J., Zimmerman, W. B.

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Ozone is well known as a powerful, fast reacting oxidant. Ozone based processes produce no by-product residual as non-reacted ozone decomposes to molecular oxygen. Therefore an application of ozone is widely accepted as one of the main approaches for a Sustainable and Clean Technologies development.

There are number of technologies which require ozone to be delivered to specific points of a production network or reactors construction. Due to space constraints, high reactivity and short life time of ozone the use of ozone generators even of a bench top scale is practically limited. This requires development of mini/micro scale ozone generator which can be directly incorporated into production units.

Our report presents a feasibility study of a new micro scale rector for ozone generation (MROG). Data on MROG calibration and indigo decomposition at different operation conditions are presented.

At selected operation conditions with residence time of 0.25 s the process of ozone generation is not limited by reaction rate and the amount of ozone produced is a function of power applied. It was shown that the MROG is capable to produce ozone at voltage level starting from 3.5kV with ozone concentration of 5.28*10^-6 (mol/L) at 5kV. This is in line with data presented on numerical investigation for a MROG. It was shown that in compare to a conventional ozone generator, MROG has lower power consumption at low voltages and atmospheric pressure.

The MROG construction makes it applicable for both submerged and dry systems. With a robust compact design MROG can be used as an integrated module for production lines of high complexity.

Keywords: DBD, micro reactor, ozone, plasma.

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Authors: Krishna Kumar Singh, Praveen Jain

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Collection of storm water runoff and forcing it into the groundwater is the need of the hour to sustain the ground water table. However, the runoff entraps various types of sediments and other floating objects whose removal are essential to avoid pollution of ground water and blocking of pores of aquifer. However, it requires regular cleaning and maintenance due to problem of clogging. To evaluate the performance of filter system consisting of coarse sand (CS), gravel (G) and pebble (P) layers, a laboratory experiment was conducted in a rectangular column. The effect of variable thickness of CS, G and P layers of the filtration unit of the recharge shaft on the recharge rate and the sediment concentration of effluent water were evaluated. Medium sand (MS) of three particle sizes, viz. 0.150–0.300 mm (T1), 0.300–0.425 mm (T2) and 0.425–0.600 mm of thickness 25 cm, 30 cm and 35 cm respectively in the top layer of the filter system and having seven influent sediment concentrations of 250–3,000 mg/l were used for experimental study. The performance was evaluated in terms of recharge rates and clogging time. The results indicated that 100 % suspended solids were entrapped in the upper 10 cm layer of MS, the recharge rates declined sharply for influent concentrations of more than 1,000 mg/l. All treatments with higher thickness of MS media indicated recharge rate slightly more than that of all treatment with lower thickness of MS media respectively. The performance of storm water infiltration systems was highly dependent on the formation of a clogging layer at the filter. An empirical relationship has been derived between recharge rates, inflow sediment load, size of MS and thickness of MS with using MLR.

Keywords: Groundwater, medium sand-mixed storm water filter, inflow sediment load.

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Authors: E. A. Ojoko, G. B. Umbugadu

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This study aims at describing the expenditure pattern of households on millet, maize and sorghum across income groups in Nasarawa State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 316 respondents for the study. The Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model was adopted in this study. Results from the study shows that the average household size was five persons with dependency ratio of 52 %, which plays an important role on the household’s expenditure pattern by increasing the household budget share. On the average 82 % were male headed households with an average age of 49 years and 13 years of formal education. Results on expenditure share show that maize has the highest expenditure share of 38 % across the three income groups and that most of the price effects are significantly different from zero at 5 % significant level. This shows that the low price of maize increased its demand as compared to other cereals. Household size and age of household members are major factors affecting the demand for cereals in the study. This agrees with the fact that increased household population (size) will bring about increase consumption. The results on factors influencing preferences for cereal grains reveals that cooking quality and appearance (65.7 %) were the most important factors affecting the demand for maize in the study area. This study recommends that cereal crop production should be prioritized in government policies and farming activities that help to boost food security and alleviate poverty should be subsidized.

Keywords: Expenditure pattern, AIDS model, budget share, price cereal grains and consumption.

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Authors: I. Szer, J. Szer, K. Czarnocki, E. Błazik-Borowa

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People on construction scaffoldings work in dynamically changing, often unfavourable climate. Additionally, this kind of work is performed on low stiffness structures at high altitude, which increases the risk of accidents. It is therefore desirable to define the parameters of the work environment that contribute to increasing the construction worker occupational safety level. The aim of this article is to present how changes in microclimate parameters on scaffolding can impact the development of dangerous situations and accidents. For this purpose, indicators based on the human thermal balance were used. However, use of this model under construction conditions is often burdened by significant errors or even impossible to implement due to the lack of precise data. Thus, in the target model, the modified parameter was used – apparent environmental temperature. Apparent temperature in the proposed Scaffold Use Risk Assessment Model has been a perceived outdoor temperature, caused by the combined effects of air temperature, radiative temperature, relative humidity and wind speed (wind chill index, heat index). In the paper, correlations between component factors and apparent temperature for facade scaffolding with a width of 24.5 m and a height of 42.3 m, located at south-west side of building are presented. The distribution of factors on the scaffolding has been used to evaluate fitting of the microclimate model. The results of the studies indicate that observed ranges of apparent temperature on the scaffolds frequently results in a worker’s inability to adapt. This leads to reduced concentration and increased fatigue, adversely affects health, and consequently increases the risk of dangerous situations and accidental injuries

Keywords: Apparent temperature, health, safety work, scaffoldings.

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Authors: Raymond Xu, Ashley Hua, Andrew Wang, Yuru Lin

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During COVID-19, the depression rate has increased dramatically. Young adults are most vulnerable to the mental health effects of the pandemic. Lower-income families have a higher ratio to be diagnosed with depression than the general population, but less access to clinics. This research aims to achieve early depression detection at low cost, large scale, and high accuracy with an interdisciplinary approach by incorporating clinical practices defined by American Psychiatric Association (APA) as well as multimodal AI framework. The proposed approach detected the nine depression symptoms with Natural Language Processing sentiment analysis and a symptom-based Lexicon uniquely designed for young adults. The experiments were conducted on the multimedia survey results from adolescents and young adults and unbiased Twitter communications. The result was further aggregated with the facial emotional cues analyzed by the Convolutional Neural Network on the multimedia survey videos. Five experiments each conducted on 10k data entries reached consistent results with an average accuracy of 88.31%, higher than the existing natural language analysis models. This approach can reach 300+ million daily active Twitter users and is highly accessible by low-income populations to promote early depression detection to raise awareness in adolescents and young adults and reveal complementary cues to assist clinical depression diagnosis.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, depression detection, facial emotion recognition, natural language processing, mental disorder.

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