Search results for: Rich Burton

Authors: N. Meziou-Chebouti, A. Merabet, N. Behidj, F-Z. Bissaad

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The Algeria by its location offers a rich and diverse vegetation. A large number of aromatic and medicinal plants grow spontaneously. The interest in these plants has continued to grow in recent years. Their particular properties due to the essential oil fraction can be utilized to treat microbial infections. To this end, and in the context of the valuation of the Algerian flora, we became interested in the species of the family Lamiaceae which is one of the most used as a global source of spices. The plant on which we have based our choice is a species of sage "Salvia officinalis" from the Isser localized region within the province of Boumerdes. This work focuses on the study of the antimicrobial activity of essential oil extracted from the leaves of Salvia officinalis. The extraction is carried out by essential oil hydrodistillation and reveals a yield of 1.06℅. The study of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil by the method of at aromatogramme shown that Gram positive bacteria are most susceptible (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) with a strong inhibition of growth. The yeast Candida albicans fungus Aspergillus niger and have shown moderately sensitive.

Keywords: Aromatogram, anti-microbial activity, essential oil, Salvia officinalis.

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Authors: S. N. Hosseini, M. H. Enayati, F. Karimzadeh, N. M. Sammes

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The synthesis of CuFe2O4 spinel powders by an optimized combustion-like process followed by calcination is described herein. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dilatometry and 4-probe DC methods. Different glycine to nitrate (G/N) ratios of 1 (fuel-deficient), 1.48 (stoichiometric) and 2 (fuel-rich) were employed. Calcining the asprepared powders at 800 and 1000°C for 5 hours showed that the G/N ratio of 2 results in the formation of the desired copper spinel single phase at both calcination temperatures. For G/N=1, formation of CuFe2O4 takes place in three steps. First, iron and copper nitrates decompose to iron oxide and pure copper. Then, copper transforms to copper oxide and finally, copper and iron oxides react with each other to form a copper ferrite spinel phase. The electrical conductivity and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the sintered pelletized samples were 2 S.cm-1 (800°C) and 11×10-6 °C-1 (25-800°C), respectively.

Keywords: SOFC interconnect coatings, Copper ferrite, Spinels, Electrical conductivity, Glycine–nitrate process.

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Authors: Aimilia P. Doukeli, Athanasios S. Lioumpas, George K. Karagiannidis, Panayiotis V. Frangos, P. Takis Mathiopoulos

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In diversity rich environments, such as in Ultra- Wideband (UWB) applications, the a priori determination of the number of strong diversity branches is difficult, because of the considerably large number of diversity paths, which are characterized by a variety of power delay profiles (PDPs). Several Rake implementations have been proposed in the past, in order to reduce the number of the estimated and combined paths. To this aim, we introduce two adaptive Rake receivers, which combine a subset of the resolvable paths considering simultaneously the quality of both the total combining output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the individual SNR of each path. These schemes achieve better adaptation to channel conditions compared to other known receivers, without further increasing the complexity. Their performance is evaluated in different practical UWB channels, whose models are based on extensive propagation measurements. The proposed receivers compromise between the power consumption, complexity and performance gain for the additional paths, resulting in important savings in power and computational resources.

Keywords: Adaptive Rake receivers, diversity techniques, fading channels, UWB channel.

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Authors: D. Plikynas, S. Masteika, A. Budrionis

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This interdisciplinary research aims to distinguish universal scale-free and field-like fundamental principles of selforganization observable across many disciplines like computer science, neuroscience, microbiology, social science, etc. Based on these universal principles we provide basic premises and postulates for designing holistic social simulation models. We also introduce pervasive information field (PIF) concept, which serves as a simulation media for contextual information storage, dynamic distribution and organization in social complex networks. PIF concept specifically is targeted for field-like uncoupled and indirect interactions among social agents capable of affecting and perceiving broadcasted contextual information. Proposed approach is expressive enough to represent contextual broadcasted information in a form locally accessible and immediately usable by network agents. This paper gives some prospective vision how system-s resources (tangible and intangible) could be simulated as oscillating processes immersed in the all pervasive information field.

Keywords: field-based coordination, multi-agent systems, information-rich social networks, pervasive information field

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Authors: Imanda H. Pradana, Tillana Adilaviana, Christine Pretty Ballerena

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Ever since industrial revolution began, our ecosystem has changed. And indeed, the negatives outweigh the positives. Industrial waste usually released into all kinds of body of water, such as river or sea. Tempeh waste is one example of waste that carries many hazardous and unwanted substances that will affect the surrounding environment. Tempeh is a popular fermented food in Asia which is rich in nutrients and active substances. Tempeh liquid waste- in particular- can cause an air pollution, and if penetrates through the soil, it will contaminates ground-water, making it unavailable for the water to be consumed. Moreover, bacteria will thrive within the polluted water, which often responsible for causing many kinds of diseases. The treatment used for this chemical waste is biological treatment such as constructed wetland and activated sludge. These kinds of treatment are able to reduce both physical and chemical parameters altogether such as temperature, TSS, pH, BOD, COD, NH3-N, NO3-N, and PO4-P. These treatments are implemented before the waste is released into the water. The result is a comparation between constructed wetland and activated sludge, along with determining which method is better suited to reduce the physical and chemical subtances of the waste.

Keywords: activated sludge, constructed wetland, waste, watertreatment

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Authors: Zakaria Hamdi, Mariyamni Awang

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For the past decades, CO₂ flooding has been used as a successful method for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). However, high mobility ratio and fingering effect are considered as important drawbacka of this process. Low temperature injection of CO₂ into high temperature reservoirs may improve the oil recovery, but simulating multiphase flow in the non-isothermal medium is difficult, and commercial simulators are very unstable in these conditions. Furthermore, to best of authors’ knowledge, no experimental work was done to verify the results of the simulations and to understand the pore-scale process. In this paper, we present results of investigations on injection of low temperature CO₂ into a high-pressure high-temperature micromodel with injection temperature range from 34 to 75 °F. Effect of temperature and saturation changes of different fluids are measured in each case. The results prove the proposed method. The injection of CO₂ at low temperatures increased the oil recovery in high temperature reservoirs significantly. Also, CO₂ rich phases available in the high temperature system can affect the oil recovery through the better sweep of the oil which is initially caused by penetration of LCO₂ inside the system. Furthermore, no unfavorable effect was detected using this method. Low temperature CO₂ is proposed to be used as early as secondary recovery.

Keywords: Enhanced oil recovery, CO2 flooding, micromodel studies, miscible flooding.

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Authors: Chonlada Bennett, Phumon Sookwong, Sakul Moolkam, Sivapong Naruebal Sugunya Mahatheeranont

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The cultivation of black glutinous rice rich in anthocyanins can provide great benefits to both farmers and consumers. Total anthocyanins content and yield component data of black glutinous rice cultivar (KHHK) grown with the addition of mineral elements (Ca, Mg, Cu, Cr, Fe and Se) under soilless conditions were studied. Ca application increased seed anthocyanins content by three-folds compared to controls. Cu application to rice plants obtained the highest number of grains panicle, panicle length and subsequently high panicle weight. Se application had the largest effect on leaf anthocyanins content, the number of tillers, number of panicles and 100-grain weight. These findings showed that the addition of mineral elements had a positive effect on increasing anthocyanins content in black rice plants and seeds as well as the heightened development of black glutinous rice plant growth.

Keywords: Anthocyanins, black glutinous rice, mineral elements, soilless culture.

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Authors: Omaymah AlAzhari

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Nomadic tribes have always had the need to relocate and build shelters, moving from one site to another in search of food, water, and natural resources. They are affected by weather and seasonal changes and consequently started innovating textiles to build better shelters. Their solutions came from the observation of their natural environment, material, and surroundings. ‘AlRahala’ Nomadic Bedouin tribes from the Middle East and North African region have used textiles as a fundamental architectural element in their tent structure, ‘Bayt AlShar’ (House of Hair). The nomadic tribe has innovated their textile to create a fabric that is more suited to change in climatic and weather conditions. They used sheep, goat, or camel hair to weave the textiles to make their shelters. The research is based on existing literature on the weaving technicalities used by these tribes, based on their available materials encountered during travel. To conclude how they create the traditional textiles and use in the tents are a rich source of information for designers to create innovative solutions of modern-day textiles and environmentally responsive products.

Keywords: AlRahala Nomadic Tribes, Bayt AlShar, tent structure, textile innovation.

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Authors: A. Bahar Ganiyeva, M. Sabuhi Tanriverdiyev

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The article analyzes state support and policy mechanisms aimed at driving tourism as one of the vibrant and rapidly developing economies. State programs and long-range strategic roadmaps and previous programs execution, results and their impact on the particular countries economy have been raised during the research. This theme provides a useful framework for discussions with a wider range of stakeholders as the implications arising are of importance both for academics and practitioners engaged in hospitality and tourism development and research. The impact that tourism has on sustainable regional development in emerging markets is highly substantial. For Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Russia, with their rich natural resources and cultural heritage, tourism can be an important basis for economic expansion, and a way to form an acceptable image of the countries as safe, open, hospitable, and complex.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, hospitality, destination, strategic roadmap, tourism, economy, growth, state support, mechanism, policy formation, state program.

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Authors: Ollie Hall, Salma ElSayed

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Affective adaptation is a creative way for game designers to add an extra layer of engagement to their productions. When player’s emotions are an explicit factor in mechanics design, endless possibilities for imaginative gameplay emerge. Whilst gaining popularity, existing affective game research mostly runs controlled experiments in restrictive settings and rely on one or more specialist devices for measuring player’s emotional state. These conditions albeit effective, are not necessarily realistic. Moreover, the simplified narrative and intrusive wearables may not be suitable for players. This exploratory study investigates delivering an immersive affective experience in the wild with minimal requirements, in an attempt for the average developer to reach the average player. A puzzle game is created with rich narrative and creative mechanics. It employs both explicit and implicit adaptation and only requires a web camera. Participants played the game on their own machines in various settings. Whilst it was rated feasible, very engaging and enjoyable, it remains questionable whether a fully immersive experience was delivered due to the limited sample size.

Keywords: affective games, dynamic adaptation, emotion recognition, game design

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Authors: I. Alberdi, H. Iribas, A. Martin, N. Aginako

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This paper describes a platform that faces the main research areas for e-learning educational contents. Reusability tackles the possibility to use contents in different courses reducing costs and exploiting available data from repositories. In our approach the production of educational material is based on templates to reuse learning objects. In terms of interoperability the main challenge lays on reaching the audience through different platforms. E-learning solution must track social consumption evolution where nowadays lots of multimedia contents are accessed through the social networks. Our work faces it by implementing a platform for generation of multimedia presentations focused on the new paradigm related to social media. The system produces videos-courses on top of web standard SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) ready to be published and shared. Regarding interfaces it is mandatory to satisfy user needs and ease communication. To overcome it the platform deploys virtual teachers that provide natural interfaces while multimodal features remove barriers to pupils with disabilities.

Keywords: Collaborative, multimedia e-learning, reusability, SMIL, virtual teacher

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Authors: J. Carlos Kuri, Varun Vij, Raymond J. Turner, Orly Yadid-Pecht

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Celiac disease (CD) is an immune system disorder that is related to eating gluten. As gluten-free (GF) diet has become a concern of many people for health reasons, a gold standard had to be nominated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has taken the seat of this role. However, multiple limitations were discovered, and with that, the desire for an alternative method now exists. Nucleic acid based aptamers have become of great interest due to their selectivity, specificity, simplicity, and rapid-testing advantages. However, fluorescence-based aptasensors have been tagged as unstable, but lifespan details are rarely stated. In this work, the lifespan stability of a fluorescence-based aptasensor is shown over a 8-week long study displaying the accuracy of the sensor and false negatives. This study follows 22 different samples, including GF and gluten-rich (GR) and soy sauce products, off-the-shelf products, and reference material from laboratories; giving a total of 836 tests. The analysis shows an accuracy of correctly classifying GF and GR products of 96.30% and 100%, respectively, when the protocol is augmented with molecular sieves. The overall accuracy remains around 94% within the first 4 weeks and then decays to 63%.

Keywords: Aptasensor, PEG, rGO, FAM, RM, ELISA.

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Authors: Antonio Espingardeiro

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It is likely that robots will cross the boundaries of industry into households over the next decades. With demographic challenges worldwide, the future ageing populations will require the introduction of assistive technologies capable of providing, care, human dignity and quality of life through the aging process. Robotics technology has a high potential for being used in the areas of social and healthcare by promoting a wide range of activities such as entertainment, companionship, supervision or cognitive and physical assistance. However such close Human Robotics Interaction (HRI) encompass a rich set of ethical scenarios that need to be addressed before Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) reach the global markets. Such interactions with robots may seem a worthy goal for many technical/financial reasons but inevitably require close attention to the ethical dimensions of such interactions. This article investigates the current HRI benchmark of social success. It revises it according to the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice aligned with social care ethos. An extension of such benchmark is proposed based on an empirical study of HRIs conducted with elderly groups.

Keywords: HRI, SARs, Social Success, Benchmark, Elderly care.

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Authors: Yağmur Karakuş, Fatih Aynacı, Ekin Kıpçak, Mesut Akgün

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Hydrogen is an important chemical in many industries and it is expected to become one of the major fuels for energy generation in the future. Unfortunately, hydrogen does not exist in its elemental form in nature and therefore has to be produced from hydrocarbons, hydrogen-containing compounds or water. Above its critical point (374.8oC and 22.1MPa), water has lower density and viscosity, and a higher heat capacity than those of ambient water. Mass transfer in supercritical water (SCW) is enhanced due to its increased diffusivity and transport ability. The reduced dielectric constant makes supercritical water a better solvent for organic compounds and gases. Hence, due to the aforementioned desirable properties, there is a growing interest toward studies regarding the gasification of organic matter containing biomass or model biomass solutions in supercritical water. In this study, hydrogen and biofuel production by the catalytic gasification of 2-Propanol in supercritical conditions of water was investigated. Pt/Al2O3and Ni/Al2O3were the catalysts used in the gasification reactions. All of the experiments were performed under a constant pressure of 25MPa. The effects of five reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C) and five reaction times (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 s) on the gasification yield and flammable component content were investigated.

Keywords: 2-Propanol, Gasification, Ni/Al2O3, Pt/Al2O3, Supercritical water.

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Authors: Fatma Kürüm Varolgüneş, Fatih Canan

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Mardin is one of the unique cities in Turkey with its rich cultural and historical heritage. Mardin’s traditional dwellings have been affected both by natural data such as climate and topography and by cultural data like lifestyle and belief. However, in the new settlements, housing is formed with modern approaches and unsuitable forms clashing with Mardin’s culture and environment. While the city is expanding, traditional textures are ignored. Thus, traditional settlements are losing their identity and are vanishing because of the rapid change and transformation. The main aim of this paper is to determine the physical and social data needed to define the characteristic features of Mardin’s old and new settlements. In this context, based on social and cultural data, old and new settlement formations of Mardin have been investigated from various aspects. During this research, the following methods have been utilized: observations, interviews, public surveys, literature review, as well as site examination via maps, photographs and questionnaire methodology. In conclusion, this paper focuses on how changes in the physical forms of cities affect the typology and the identity of cities, as in the case of Mardin.

Keywords: Urban and local identity, historical city center, traditional settlements, Mardin, Turkey.

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Authors: Viktor Achter, Sebastian Breuers, Marc Seifert, Ulrich Lang, Joachim Götze, Bernd Reuther, Paul Müller

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Within the last years, several technologies have been developed to help building e-learning portals. Most of them follow approaches that deliver a vast amount of functionalities, suitable for class-like learning. The SuGI project, as part of the D-Grid (funded by the BMBF), targets on delivering a highly scalable and sustainable learning solution to provide materials (e.g. learning modules, training systems, webcasts, tutorials, etc.) containing knowledge about Grid computing to the D-Grid community. In this article, the process of the development of an e-learning portal focused on the requirements of this special user group is described. Furthermore, it deals with the conceptual and technical design of an e-learning portal, addressing the special needs of heterogeneous target groups. The main focus lies on the quality management of the software development process, Web templates for uploading new contents, the rich search and filter functionalities which will be described from a conceptual as well as a technical point of view. Specifically, it points out best practices as well as concepts to provide a sustainable solution to a relatively unknown and highly heterogeneous community.

Keywords: D-Grid, e-learning, e-science, Grid computing, SuGI.

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Authors: Jafar Ahmadi, Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh

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Wheat is the first and the most important grain of the world and its bakery property is due to glutenin and gliadin qualities. Wheat seed proteins were divided into four groups according to solubility including albumin, globulin, glutenin and prolamin or gliadin. Gliadins are major components of the storage proteins in wheat endosperm. It seems that little information is available about gliadin genes in Iranian wild relatives of wheat. Thus, the aim of this study was the evaluation of the wheat wild relatives collected from different origins of Zagros Mountains in Iran, in terms of coding gliadin genes using specific primers. For this, forty accessions of Triticum boeoticum and Triticum urartu were selected for this study. For each accession, genomic DNA was extracted and PCRs were performed in total volumes of 15 μl. The amplification products were separated on 1.5% agarose gels. In results, for Gli-2A locus three allelic variants were detected by Gli-2As primer pairs. The sizes of PCR products for these alleles were 210, 490 and 700 bp. Only five (13%) and two accessions (5%) produced 700 and 490 bp fragments when their DNA was amplified with the Gli.As.2 primer pairs. However, 93% of the accessions carried allele 210 bp, and only 8% did not any product for this marker. Therefore, these germplasm could be used as rich gene pool to broaden the genetic base of bread wheat.

Keywords: Diploied wheat, gliadin, Triticum boeoticum, Triticum urartu.

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Authors: Ibrahim A. Akasha, Lydia Campbell, Stephen R. Euston

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Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) seeds are waste streams which are considered a major problem to the food industry. They contain potentially useful protein (10-15% of the whole date-s weight). Global production, industrialisation and utilisation of dates are increasing steadily. The worldwide production of date palm fruit has increased from 1.8 million tons in 1961 to 6.9 million tons in 2005, thus from the global production of dates are almost 800.000 tonnes of date palm seeds are not currently used [1]. The current study was carried out to convert the date palm seeds into useful protein powder. Compositional analysis showed that the seeds were rich in protein and fat 5.64 and 8.14% respectively. We used several laboratory scale methods to extract proteins from seed to produce a high protein powder. These methods included simple acid or alkali extraction, with or without ultrafiltration and phenol trichloroacetic acid with acetone precipitation (Ph/TCA method). The highest protein content powder (68%) was obtained by Ph/TCA method with yield of material (44%) whereas; the use of just alkali extraction gave the lowest protein content of 8%, and a yield of 32%.

Keywords: Date palm seed, Phoenix dactylifera L., extraction of date palm seed protein

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Authors: Bashar Mudhaffar Abdullah, Rahimi M. Yusop, Jumat Salimon, Emad Yousif, Nadia Salih

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A study on the physicochemical properties of Jatropha curcas seed oil for industrial applications were carried out. Physicochemical properties of J. curcas seed oil (59.32% lipids) showed high content of LA (36.70%), iodine value (104.90 mg/g) and saponification value (203.36 mg/g). The present study shows that, J. curcas seed oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acids. The J. curcas seed oil with the highest amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid) can find an application in surface coating industries and biolubricant base oil applications, whereas the high amount of monounsaturated fatty acid can find an application as a biodiesel feed stock. J. curcas seed oil contains major TAG of monounsaturated OLL, POL, SLL, PLL, OOL, OOO and POP followed by LLL. J. curcas seed oil can be classified as unsaturated oil with an unsaturated fat level of 80.42%. Hence the J. curcas seed oil has great potential for industrial applications such as in paint and surface coatings, production of biodiesel and biolubricant. Therefore, it is crucial to have more research on J. curcas seed oil in the future to explore its potential as a future industrial oilseed crop.

Keywords: Physical, chemical, Jatropha curcas seed oil, industrial applications.

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Authors: Manuela Nayantara Jeyaraj

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Information Technology (IT) is considered to be the prime contributor towards most of the energy releases and hence recursively impacting on the environmental Carbon Footprint on a major scale. The hostile effects brought about due to this massive carbon release such as global warming and ecosystem wipe-outs are currently being realized in Sri Lanka due to the rapid development and merging of computer based technologies. Sri Lanka, being a nature-rich island, has the undying need to preserve its natural environment hence resolving to better ‘Green IT’ practices in all possible spheres. Green IT implies the IT related practices for environmental sustainability. But the industrial divisions in Sri Lanka are still hesitant to fully realize the benefits of applying better “Green IT” principles due to considerations related to costs and other issues. In order to bring about a positive awareness of Green IT, the use of Smart Grids, which is yet a conceptualized principle within the Sri Lankan context, can be considered as a feasible proof in hand. This paper tends to analyze the feasibility of utilizing Smart Grids to ensure minimized cost and effects in preserving the environment hence ensuring Sustainable Green IT practices in an economically and technologically viable manner in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: Green IT, industry, smart grid, Sri Lanka, sustainability.

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Authors: L. F. Amaro, M. T. Soares, C. Pinho, I. F. Almeida, I. M. P. L. V. O. Ferreira, O. Pinho

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The strawberry jam is rich in bioactive compounds. It is economically and commercially important and widely consumed. Different strawberries cultivars can be used for its preparation, however, a careful selection should be performed to guarantee the preservation of bioactive compounds during jam storage. Two strawberry cultivars (Camarosa and American 13) were analyzed by HPLC, three anthocyanins: cyanidin-3-glucoside, pelargonidin-3- glucoside and pelargonidin-3-rutinoside were quantified. Camarosa strawberries presented significantly higher concentration of anthocyanins (p<0.05), and greater radical-scavenging activity. During jam storage period significant changes occurred regarding anthocyanin composition, at 15 and 60 days. Jams stored in dark presented slightly higher levels of anthocyanins. No significant changes were observed in jam-s radical-scavenging activity between 15 and 60 days of storage under dark and light conditions. Camarosa cultivar is more appropriate for strawberry jam preparation because it contains higher levels of anthocyanins and higher radical-scavenging activity.

Keywords: American 13, Anthocyanin, Camarosa, Radical- Scavenging Activity, Strawberry Jams

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Authors: Mehran Bakhshi, Mohammad Raouf Hosseini, Mohammadhosein Rahimi

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The cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized from the nickel-cadmium cake of a hydrometallurgical zinc producing plant and sodium sulfide as Cd²⁺ and S^-2 sources, respectively. Also, the synthesis process was performed by using the secretions of Bacillus licheniformis as bio-surfactant. Initially, in order to obtain a cadmium rich solution, two following steps were carried out: 1) Alkaline leaching for the removal of zinc oxide from the cake, and 2) acidic leaching to dissolve cadmium from the remained solid residue. Afterward, the obtained CdSO₄ solution was used for the nanoparticle biosynthesis. Nanoparticles were characterized by the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to confirm the formation of CdS crystals with cubic structure. Also, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to determine the particle sizes which were in 2-10 nm range. Moreover, the presence of the protein containing bio-surfactants was approved by using infrared analysis (FTIR). In addition, the absorbance below 400 nm confirms quantum particles’ size. Finally, it was shown that valuable CdS quantum dots could be obtained from the industrial waste products via environment-friendly biological approaches.

Keywords: Biosynthesis, cadmium cake, cadmium sulfide, nanoparticle, zinc smelter.

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Authors: Sahar Y. Al-Okbi, Doha A. Mohamed, Thanaa E. Hamed, Ahmed Ms Hussein

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In the present research, two nutraceuticals made from red grape and walnut that showed previously to improve kidney dysfunction were incorporated separately into functional foods' bread made from barley and rice bran. The functional foods were evaluated in rats in which chronic renal failure was induced through feeding diet rich in adenine and phosphate (APD). The evaluation based on assessing kidney function, oxidative stress, inflammatory biomarkers and body weight gain. Results showed induction of chronic kidney failure reflected in significant increase in plasma urea, creatinine, malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor- α and low density lipoprotein cholesterol along with significant reduction of plasma albumin, and total antioxidant and creatinine clearance and body weight gain on feeding APD compared to control healthy group. Feeding the functional foods produced amelioration in the different biochemical parameters and body weight gain indicating improvement in kidney function.

Keywords: Functional food, kidney dysfunction, rats.

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Authors: S. Al-Enezi, J. Samuel, A. Al-Banna

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Polymer based membranes are one of the low-cost technologies available for the gas separation. Three major elements required for a commercial gas separating membrane are high permeability, high selectivity, and good mechanical strength. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a commercially available fluoropolymer and a widely used membrane material in gas separation devices since it possesses remarkable thermal, chemical stability, and excellent mechanical strength. The PVDF membrane was chemically modified by soaking in different ionic liquids and dried. The thermal behavior of modified membranes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA), and the results clearly show the best affinity between the ionic liquid and the polymer support. The porous structure of the PVDF membranes was clearly seen in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The CO₂ permeability of blended membranes was explored in comparison with the unmodified matrix. The ionic liquid immobilized in the hydrophobic PVDF support exhibited good performance for separations of CO₂/N₂. The improved permeability of modified membrane (PVDF-IL) is attributed to the high concentration of nitrogen rich imidazolium moieties.

Keywords: PVDF, gas permeability, polymer membrane, ionic liquid.

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Authors: Ferial M. Abu-Salem, Hayam M. Ibrahim

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Plants are rich sources of bioactive compounds. In this study the photochemical screening of hexane, ethanolic and aqueous extracts of roots and latex of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) plant revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, alkaloids, steroids and glycosides. Ethanolic extract was found to be richer in these metabolites than hexane, aqueous extracts and latex. The extracts and latex displayed effective antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The increase in volume of the extracts and latex caused more activity, as shown by zones of inhibition. Candida albicans growth was inhibited only by hexane extract. Jojoba latex was not effective against Candida albicans at 0.1 and 0.5 ml extracts concentration but showed 5mm zone of inhibition at (1.0 ml). Lower volume (0.1ml) of latex encouraged Aspergillus flavus growth, while at (1.00 ml) reduced its mycelial growth. Thus, jojoba root extracts and latex can be of potential natural antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), latex, photochemical, root Extracts.

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Authors: H. H. Goh, K. C. Goh, T. W. Seow, N. S. Said, S. E. P. Ang

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Malaysia is rich with historic buildings, particularly in Penang and Malacca states. Restoration activities are increasingly important as these states are recognized under UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Restoration activities help to maintain the uniqueness and value of a heritage building. However, increasing in restoration activities has resulted in large quantities of waste. To cope with this problem, the 3R concept (reduce, reuse and recycle) is introduced. The 3R concept is one of the waste management hierarchies. This concept is still yet to apply in the building restoration industry compared to the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to promote the 3R concept in the heritage building restoration industry. This study aims to examine the importance of 3R concept and to identify challenges in applying the 3R concept in the heritage building restoration industry. This study focused on contractors and consultants who are involved in heritage restoration projects in Penang. Literature review and interviews helps to reach the research objective. Data that obtained is analyzed by using content analysis. For the research, application of 3R concept is important to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution problems. However, limited space to organise waste is the obstruction during the implementation of this concept. In conclusion, the 3R concept plays an important role in promoting environmental conservation and helping in reducing the construction waste.

Keywords: 3R Concept, Heritage building, Restoration activities.

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Authors: Kanakasabha Ramana

Abstract:

The Post colonial society in India has witnessed the turmoil to come out from the widespread control and influence of colonialism. The socio-cultural life of a society with all its dynamics is reflected in realistic forms of literature. The social events and human experience are drawn into a new creative form and are given to the reader as a new understanding and perspective of life. It enables the reader to understand the essence of life and motivates him to prepare for a positive change. After India becoming free from the colonial rule in 1947, systematic efforts were made by central and state governments and institutions to limit the role of English and simultaneously enlarge the function of Indian languages by planning in a strategic manner. The eighteen languages recognized as national languages are having very rich literatures. Telugu language is one among the Dravidian language family and is widely spoken by a majority of people. The post colonial socio-cultural factors were very well reflected in Telugu literature. The anti-colonial, reform oriented, progressive, post modernistic trends in Telugu literature are nothing but creative reflections of the post colonial society. This paper examines the major socio-cultural reflections in Telugu literature of the post colonial period.

Keywords: postcolonialism, culture, progressive movement, Telugu Literature.

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Authors: Suresh Shirgave, Prakash Kulkarni, José Borges

Abstract:

The continuous growth in the size of the World Wide Web has resulted in intricate Web sites, demanding enhanced user skills and more sophisticated tools to help the Web user to find the desired information. In order to make Web more user friendly, it is necessary to provide personalized services and recommendations to the Web user. For discovering interesting and frequent navigation patterns from Web server logs many Web usage mining techniques have been applied. The recommendation accuracy of usage based techniques can be improved by integrating Web site content and site structure in the personalization process.

Herein, we propose semantically enriched Web Usage Mining method for Personalization (SWUMP), an extension to solely usage based technique. This approach is a combination of the fields of Web Usage Mining and Semantic Web. In the proposed method, we envisage enriching the undirected graph derived from usage data with rich semantic information extracted from the Web pages and the Web site structure. The experimental results show that the SWUMP generates accurate recommendations and is able to achieve 10-20% better accuracy than the solely usage based model. The SWUMP addresses the new item problem inherent to solely usage based techniques.

Keywords: Prediction, Recommendation, Semantic Web Usage Mining, Web Usage Mining.

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Authors: Yan Li, Ronald Briggs

Abstract:

Aerial and satellite images are information rich. They are also complex to analyze. For GIS systems, many features require fast and reliable extraction of roads and intersections. In this paper, we study efficient and reliable automatic extraction algorithms to address some difficult issues that are commonly seen in high resolution aerial and satellite images, nonetheless not well addressed in existing solutions, such as blurring, broken or missing road boundaries, lack of road profiles, heavy shadows, and interfering surrounding objects. The new scheme is based on a new method, namely reference circle, to properly identify the pixels that belong to the same road and use this information to recover the whole road network. This feature is invariable to the shape and direction of roads and tolerates heavy noise and disturbances. Road extraction based on reference circles is much more noise tolerant and flexible than the previous edge-detection based algorithms. The scheme is able to extract roads reliably from images with complex contents and heavy obstructions, such as the high resolution aerial/satellite images available from Google maps.

Keywords: Automatic road extraction, Image processing, Feature extraction, GIS update, Remote sensing, Geo-referencing

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Authors: Harald Rojacz, Markus Varga, Horst Winkelmann

Abstract:

Within this work High Temperature Single Impact Studies were performed to evaluate deformation mechanisms at different energy and momentum levels. To show the influence of different microstructures and hardness levels and their response to single impacts four different materials were tested at various temperatures up to 700°C. One carbide reinforced NiCrBSi based Metal Matrix Composite and three different steels were tested. The aim of this work is to determine critical energies for fracture appearance and the materials response at different energy and momenta levels. Critical impact loadings were examined at elevated temperatures to limit operating conditions in impact dominated regimes at elevated temperatures. The investigations on the mechanisms were performed using different means of microscopy at the surface and in metallographic cross sections. Results indicate temperature dependence of the occurrence of cracks in hardphase rich materials, such as Metal Matrix Composites High Speed Steels and the influence of different impact momenta at constant energies on the deformation of different steels.

Keywords: Deformation, High Temperature, Metal Matrix Composite, Single Impact Test, Steel.

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