Search results for: leaf P contents

Authors: M. Elassaly

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Damage status of RC buildings is greatly influenced by the characteristics of the imposed ground motion. Peak Ground Acceleration and frequency contents are considered the main two factors that affect ground motion characteristics; hence, affecting the seismic response of RC structures and consequently their damage state. A detailed investigation on the combined effects of these two factors on damage assessment of RC buildings is carried out. Twenty one earthquake records are analyzed and arranged into three groups, according to their frequency contents. These records are used in an investigation to define the expected damage state that would be attained by RC buildings, if subjected to varying ground motion characteristics. The damage assessment is conducted through examining drift ratios and damage indices of the overall structure and the significant structural components of RC building. Base and story shear of RC building model, are also investigated, for cases when the model is subjected to the chosen twenty one earthquake records. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are performed on a 2-dimensional model of a 12-story RC building.

Keywords: Damage, frequency content, ground motion, PGA, RC building, seismic.

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Authors: Fátima Gonçalves, Joaquim Brigas, Jorge Gonçalves

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The proliferation of mobile devices in society enables the media to disseminate information and knowledge more rapidly. Higher education students access these contents and share them with each other, in the most diverse platforms, allowing the ubiquity in access to information. This article presents the results and respective quantitative analysis of a survey applied to communication students of two higher education institutions: one in Portugal and another in Spain. The results show that, in this sample, higher education students regularly access news content believing traditional news sources to be more credible. Regarding online sources, it was verified that the access was mostly to free news contents. This study intends to promote the knowledge about the changes that occur in the relationship of higher education students with the media, characterizing how news consumption is processed by these students, considering the resulting effects of the digital media evolution. It is intended to present not only the news sources they use, but also to know some of their habits and relationship with the news media.

Keywords: Students’ perceptions, communication design, mass media, higher education, digital media.

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Authors: Ayub V. O. Ofulla, Jackson H. O. Onyuka, Samuel Wagai, Douglas Anyona, Gabriel O. Dida, John Gichuki

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This study was set to determine the antimicrobial activities of brine salting, chlorinated solution, and oil frying treatments on enteric bacteria and fungi in Rastrineobola argentea fish from fish landing beaches within L. Victoria basin of western Kenya. Statistical differences in effectiveness of the different treatment methods was determined by single factor ANOVA, and paired two-tail t-Test was performed to compare the differences in moisture contents before and after storage. Oil fried fish recorded the lowest microbial loads, sodium chloride at 10% concentration was the second most effective and chlorinated solution even at 150ppm was the least effective against the bacteria and fungi in fish. Moisture contents of the control and treated fish were significantly lower after storage. These results show that oil frying of fish should be adopted for processing and preserving Rastrineobola argentea which is the most abundant and affordable fish species from Lake Victoria.

Keywords: Fish landing beaches, Lake Victoria, oil frying, preservatives.

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Authors: G. Blázquez, A. Gálvez-Pérez, M. Calero, I. Iáñez-Rodríguez, M. A. Martín-Lara, A. Pérez

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The production of olive oil is considered as one of the most important agri-food industries. However, some of the by-products generated in the process are potential pollutants and cause environmental problems. Consequently, the management of these by-products is currently considered as a challenge for the olive oil industry. In this context, several technologies have been developed and tested. In this sense, the autohydrolysis of these by-products could be considered as a promising technique. Therefore, this study focused on autohydrolysis treatments of a solid residue from the olive oil industry denominated olive cake. This one comes from the olive pomace extraction with hexane. Firstly, a water washing was carried out to eliminate the water soluble compounds. Then, an experimental design was developed for the autohydrolysis experiments carried out in the hydrothermal pressure reactor. The studied variables were temperature (30, 60 and 90 ºC) and time (30, 60, 90 min). On the other hand, aliquots of liquid obtained fractions were analysed by HPLC to determine the fructose and sucrose contents present in the liquid fraction. Finally, the obtained results of sugars contents and the yields of the different experiments were fitted to a neuro-fuzzy and to a polynomial model.

Keywords: ANFIS, olive cake, polyols, saccharides.

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Authors: Lan Luo

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In China’s construction industry, it is a normal practice to separately subcontract the decoration engineering part from construction engineering, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) is also done separately. Application of BIM in decoration engineering should be integrated with other disciplines, but Chinese current practice makes this very difficult and complicated. Currently, there are three barriers in the auditing of BIM application in decoration engineering in China: heavy workload; scarcity of qualified professionals; and lack of literature concerning audit contents, standards, and methods. Therefore, it is significant to perform research on what (contents) should be evaluated, in which phase, and by whom (professional qualifications) in BIM application in decoration construction so that the application of BIM can be promoted in a better manner. Based on this consideration, four principles of BIM auditing are proposed: Comprehensiveness of information, accuracy of data, aesthetic attractiveness of appearance, and scheme optimization. In the model audit, three methods should be used: Collision, observation, and contrast. In addition, BIM auditing at six stages is discussed and a checklist for work items and results to be submitted is proposed. This checklist can be used for reference by decoration project participants.

Keywords: Audit, evaluation, dimensions, methods, standards, building information modeling application, decoration engineering projects.

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Authors: Yung-Tan Lee, Ren-Yi Huang, Ju-Chin Chen, Jyh-Yi Shih, Wen-Feng Chang, Yen-Tsui Hu, Chih-Cheng Chen

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Twenty seven tektites from the Wenchang area, Hainan province (south China) and five tektites from the Khon Kaen area (northeast Thailand) were analyzed for major and trace element contents and Rb-Sr isotopic compositions. All the samples studied are splash-form tektites. Tektites of this study are characterized by high SiO2 contents ranging from 71.95 to 74.07 wt% which is consistent with previously published analyses of Australasian tektites. The trace element ratios Ba/Rb (avg. 3.89), Th/Sm (avg. 2.40), Sm/Sc (avg. 0.45), Th/Sc (avg. 0.99) and the rare earth elements (REE) contents of tektites of this study are similar to the average upper continental crust. Based on the chemical composition, it is suggested that tektites in this study are derived from similar parental material and are similar to the post-Archean upper crustal rocks. The major and trace element abundances of tektites analyzed indicate that the parental material of tektites may be a terrestrial sedimentary deposit. The tektites from the Wenchang area, Hainan Island have high positive εSr(0) values-ranging from 184.5~196.5 which indicate that the parental material for these tektites have similar Sr isotopic compositions to old terrestrial sedimentary rocks and they were not dominantly derived from recent young sediments (such as soil or loess). Based on Rb-Sr isotopic data, it has been suggested by Blum (1992) [1]that the depositional age of sedimentary target materials is close to 170Ma (Jurassic). According to the model suggested by Ho and Chen (1996)[2], mixing calculations for various amounts and combinations of target rocks have been carried out. We consider that the best fit for tektites from the Wenchang area is a mixture of 47% shale, 23% sandstone, 25% greywacke and 5% quartzite, and the other tektites from Khon Kaen area is a mixture of 46% shale, 2% sandstone, 20% greywacke and 32% quartzite.

Keywords: Geochemistry, Hainan Island, Northeast Thailand, Tektites.

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Authors: G. Arabaci

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Heavy metals are one of the major groups of contaminants in the environment and many of them are toxic even at very low concentration in plants and animals. However, some metals play important roles in the biological function of many enzymes in living organisms. Metals such as zinc, iron, and cooper are important for survival and activity of enzymes in plants, however heavy metals can inhibit enzyme which is responsible for defense system of plants. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is a copper-containing metalloenzyme which is responsible for enzymatic browning reaction of plants. Enzymatic browning is a major problem for the handling of vegetables and fruits in food industry. It can be increased and effected with many different futures such as metals in the nature and ground. In the present work, PPO was isolated and characterized from green leaves of red poppy plant (Papaverr hoeas). Then, the effect of some known antibrowning agents which can form complexes with metals and metals were investigated on the red poppy PPO activity. The results showed that glutathione was the most potent inhibitory effect on PPO activity. Cu(II) and Fe(II) metals increased the enzyme activities however, Sn(II) had the maximum inhibitory effect and Zn(II) and Pb(II) had no significant effect on the enzyme activity. In order to reduce the effect of heavy metals, the effects of metal-antibrowning agent complexes on the PPO activity were determined. EDTA and metal complexes had no significant effect on the enzyme. L-ascorbic acid and metal complexes decreased but L-ascorbic acid-Cu(II)-complex had no effect. Glutathione–metal complexes had the best inhibitory effect on Red poppy leaf PPO activity.

Keywords: Inhibition, metal, red poppy, Polyphenol oxidase (PPO).

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Authors: Lebari B. Gboeloh

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Ficus exasperata is a plant used in the traditional management of malaria in south-south Nigeria. An investigation into the effects of the ethanolic extract of the leaf of the plant on some biochemical indices in albino mice infected with Plasmodium berghei (NK 65) was conducted. 48 mice with weight range of 13-23 g were grouped into six (A, B, C, D, E, and F). Each group contained 8 mice. Groups A, B, C, D and E were infected with blood containing the parasite. Group F was not infected and served as the normal control. On the 6^th day after infection, 4 mice from each group were sacrificed and blood samples are collected for investigation. The remaining mice in each group were treated. Mice in Groups A, B and C were administered orally with 200, 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight of Ficus exasperata respectively for six days. Group D was not treated while Group F was given distilled water. Group E was treated with 5 mg/kg body weight of chloroquine. On the 6^th day post treatment, these mice were sacrificed and blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. The results indicated that on the 6^th day post inoculation, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in all the mice infected with the parasite were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated. However, on the 6^th day post administration of extract, the increased levels of AST, ALP and ALT were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in groups administered with 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight of the extract compared with groups D and F. The reduction in the levels of these enzymes is an indication that F. exasperata have no hepatotoxic effect on the mice at the dose levels administered.

Keywords: Ficus exasperata, albino mice, Plasmodium berghei, biochemical parameters.

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Authors: Afrasyab Rahnama, Kazem Poustini, Reza Tavakkol-Afshari, Afshin Tavakoli

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Plant growth is affected by the osmotic stress as well as toxicity of salt in leaves. In order to study of salt stress effects on stomatal conductance and growth rate and relationship between them as wells osmotic and Na+-specific effects on these traits, four bread wheat genotypes differing in salt tolerance were selected. Salinity was applied when the leaf 4 was fully expanded. Sodium (Na+) concentrations in flag leaf blade at 3 salinity levels (0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl) were measured. Salt-tolerant genotypes showed higher stomatal conductance and growth rate compared to salt-sensitive ones. After 10 and 20 days exposure to salt, stomatal conductance and relative growth rate were reduced, but the reduction was greater in sensitive genotypes. Growth rate was reduced severely in the first period (1-10 days) of salt commencements and it was due to osmotic effect of salt not Na+ toxicity. In the second period (11-20 days) after salt treatment growth reduced only when salt accumulated to toxic concentrations in the leaves. A positive relationship between stomatal conductance and relative growth rate showed that stomatal conductance can be a reliable indicator of growth rate, and finally can be considered as a sensitive indicator of the osmotic stress. It seems 20 days after salinity, the major effect of salt, especially at low to moderate salinity levels on growth properties was due to the osmotic effect of salt, not to Na+-specific effects within the plant.

Keywords: Osmotic stress, relative growth rate, stomatal conductance, wheat.

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Authors: Adrian Samuel Limanto, Yunli Lee

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Interactive public displays give access as an innovative media to promote enhanced communication between people and information. However, digital public displays are subject to a few constraints, such as content presentation. Content presentation needs to be developed to be more interesting to attract people’s attention and motivate people to interact with the display. In this paper, we proposed idea to implement contents with interaction elements for vision-based digital public display. Vision-based techniques are applied as a sensor to detect passers-by and theme contents are suggested to attract their attention for encouraging them to interact with the announcement content. Virtual object, gesture detection and projection installation are applied for attracting attention from passers-by. Preliminary study showed positive feedback of interactive content designing towards the public display. This new trend would be a valuable innovation as delivery of announcement content and information communication through this media is proven to be more engaging.

Keywords: Digital announcement, digital public display, human-information interaction, interactive media.

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Authors: Su-Ling Li, Qun-Yu Gao

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Mung bean starches were subjected to heat-moisture treatment (HMT) by different moisture contents (15%, 20%, 25%, 30% and 35%) at 120Ôäâ for 12h. The impact on the yields of resistant starch (RS), microstructure, physicochemical and functional properties was investigated. Compared to native starch, the RS content of heat-moisture treated starches increased significantly. The RS level of HMT-20 was the highest of all the starches. Birefringence was displayed clear at the center of native starch. For HMT starches, pronounced birefringence was exhibited on the periphery of starch granules; however, birefringence disappeared at the centre of some starch granules. The shape of HMT starches hadn-t been changed and the integrity of starch granules was preserved for all the conditions. Concavity could be observed on HMT starches under scanning electronic microscopy. After HMT, apparent amylose contents were increased and starch macromolecule was degraded in comparison with those of native starch. There was a reduction in swelling power on HMT starches, but the solubility of HMT starches was higher than that of native starch. Both of native and HMT starches showed A-type X-ray diffraction pattern. Furthermore, there is a higher intensity at the peak of 15.0 and 22.9 Å than those of native starch.

Keywords: Resistant starch, mung bean (Phaseolus radiatus) starch, heat-moisture treatment, physicochemical properties.

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Authors: Ayodeji Fasuyi

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Telfairia occidentalis is a leafy vegetable commonly grown in the tropics for nutritional benefits. The use of enzymes and probiotics is becoming prominent due to the ban on antibiotics as growth promoters in many parts of the world. It is conceived that with enzymes and probiotics additives, fibrous leafy vegetables can be incorporated into poultry feeds as protein source. However, certain antinutrients were also found in the leaves of Telfairia occidentalis. Four broiler starter and finisher diets were formulated for the two phases of the broiler experiments. A mixture of fiber degrading enzymes, Roxazyme G2 (combination of cellulase, glucanase and xylanase) and probiotics (Turbotox), a growth promoter, were used in broiler diets at 1:1. The Roxazyme G2/Turbotox mixtures were used in diets containing four varying levels of Telfairia occidentalis leaf meal (TOLM) at 0, 10, 20 and 30%. Diets 1 were standard broiler diets without TOLM and Roxazyme G2 and Turbotox additives. Diets 2, 3 and 4 had enzymes and probiotics additives. Certain mineral elements such as Ca, P, K, Na, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn were found in notable quantities viz. 2.6 g/100 g, 1.2 g/100 g, 6.2 g/100 g, 5.1 g/100 g, 4.7 g/100 g, 5875 ppm, 182 ppm, 136 ppm and 1036 ppm, respectively. Phytin, phytin-P, oxalate, tannin and HCN were also found in ample quantities viz. 189.2 mg/100 g, 120.1 mg/100 g, 80.7 mg/100 g, 43.1 mg/100 g and 61.2 mg/100 g, respectively. The average weight gain was highest at 46.3 g/bird/day for birds on 10% TOLM diet but similar (P > 0.05) to 46.2 g/bird/day for birds on 20% TOLM. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 2.27 was the lowest and optimum for birds on 10% TOLM although similar (P > 0.05) to 2.29 obtained for birds on 20% TOLM. FCR of 2.61 was the highest at 2.61 for birds on 30% TOLM diet. The lowest FCR of 2.27 was obtained for birds on 10% TOLM diet although similar (P > 0.05) to 2.29 for birds on 20% TOLM diet. Most carcass characteristics and organ weights were similar (P > 0.05) for the experimental birds on the different diets except for kidney, gizzard and intestinal length. The values for kidney, gizzard and intestinal length were significantly higher (P < 0.05) for birds on the TOLM diets. The nitrogen retention had the highest value of 72.37 ± 0.10% for birds on 10% TOLM diet although similar (P > 0.05) to 71.54 ± 1.89 obtained for birds on the control diet without TOLM and enzymes/probiotics mixture. There was evidence of a better utilization of TOLM as a plant protein source. The carcass characteristics and organ weights all showed evidence of uniform tissue buildup and muscles development particularly in diets containing 10% of TOLM level. There was also better nitrogen utilization in birds on the 10% TOLM diet. Considering the cheap cost of TOLM, it is envisaged that its introduction into poultry feeds as a plant protein source will ultimately reduce the cost of poultry feeds.

Keywords: Telfairia occidentalis leaf meal, enzymes, probiotics, additives.

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Authors: Azleena Mohd Kassim, Muhamad Rashidi A. Rahman, Yu-N. Cheah

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Knowledge-based e-mail systems focus on incorporating knowledge management approach in order to enhance the traditional e-mail systems. In this paper, we present a knowledgebased e-mail system called KS-Mail where people do not only send and receive e-mail conventionally but are also able to create a sense of knowledge flow. We introduce semantic processing on the e-mail contents by automatically assigning categories and providing links to semantically related e-mails. This is done to enrich the knowledge value of each e-mail as well as to ease the organization of the e-mails and their contents. At the application level, we have also built components like the service manager, evaluation engine and search engine to handle the e-mail processes efficiently by providing the means to share and reuse knowledge. For this purpose, we present the KS-Mail architecture, and elaborate on the details of the e-mail server and the application server. We present the ontology mapping technique used to achieve the e-mail content-s categorization as well as the protocols that we have developed to handle the transactions in the e-mail system. Finally, we discuss further on the implementation of the modules presented in the KS-Mail architecture.

Keywords: E-mail rating, knowledge-based system, ontology mapping, text categorization.

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Authors: Kenia Martínez, Geniel Talavera, Juan Alonso

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Moringa oleifera is a plant containing many nutrients that are mostly concentrated within the leaves. Commonly, the separation process of these nutrients involves solid-liquid extraction followed by evaporation and drying to obtain a concentrated extract, which is rich in proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other essential nutrients that can be used in the food industry. In this work, three drying methods were used, which involved very different temperature and pressure conditions, to evaluate the effect of each method on the vitamin C content and the antioxidant efficiency of the extracts. Solid-liquid extractions of Moringa leaf (LE) were carried out by employing an ethanol solution (35% v/v) at 50 °C for 2 hours. The resulting extracts were then dried i) in a convective oven (CO) at 100 °C and at an atmospheric pressure of 750 mbar for 8 hours, ii) in a vacuum evaporator (VE) at 50 °C and at 300 mbar for 2 hours, and iii) in a freeze-drier (FD) at -40 °C and at 0.050 mbar for 36 hours. The antioxidant capacity (EC₅₀, mg solids/g DPPH) of the dry solids was calculated by the free radical inhibition method employing DPPH˙ at 517 nm, resulting in a value of 2902.5 ± 14.8 for LE, 3433.1 ± 85.2 for FD, 3980.1 ± 37.2 for VE, and 8123.5 ± 263.3 for CO. The calculated antioxidant efficiency (AE, g DPPH/(mg solids·min)) was 2.920 × 10^-5 for LE, 2.884 × 10^-5 for FD, 2.512 × 10^-5 for VE, and 1.009 × 10^-5 for CO. Further, the content of vitamin C (mg/L) determined by HPLC was 59.0 ± 0.3 for LE, 49.7 ± 0.6 for FD, 45.0 ± 0.4 for VE, and 23.6 ± 0.7 for CO. The results indicate that the convective drying preserves vitamin C and antioxidant efficiency to 40% and 34% of the initial value, respectively, while vacuum drying to 76% and 86%, and freeze-drying to 84% and 98%, respectively.

Keywords: Antioxidant efficiency, convective drying, freeze-drying, Moringa oleifera, vacuum drying, vitamin C content.

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Authors: A. Abbas Khalaf, L. Issazadeh, Z. Arif Abdullah, J. Hassanpour

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In order to evaluate the growth and yield properties of two Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids under different irrigation levels, an investigation was done in the experiment site of Collage of Agriculture, University of Duhok, Kurdistan region of Iraq (36°5´38^⸗ N, 42°52´02^⸗ E) in the years 2015-16. The experiment was conducted under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications, which main factor was irrigation treatments (I₁₀₀, I₇₅ and I₅₀) according to evaporation pan class A and type of Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids (KH12SU9001, G₁) and (KH12SU9002, G₂) were factors of subplots. The parameters studied were: plant height (cm), number of green leaves per plant; leaf area (m²/m²), stem thickness (mm), percent of protein, fresh and dry biomass (ton.ha^-1) and also crop water productivity. The results of variance analysis showed that KH12SU9001 variety had more amount of leaf area, percent of protein, fresh and dry biomass yield in comparison to KH12SU9002 variety. By comparing effects of irrigation levels on vegetative growth and yield properties, results showed that amount of plant height, fresh and dry biomass weight was decreased by decreasing irrigation level from full irrigation regime to 5 _o% of irrigation level. Also, results of crop water productivity (CWP) indicated that improvement in quantity of irrigation would impact fresh and dry biomass yield significantly. Full irrigation regime was recorded the highest level of CWP (1.28-1.29 kg.m^-3).

Keywords: Deficit irrigation, growth, Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrid, yield.

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Authors: Min Ye Koo, Gyo Woo Lee

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In this study, epoxy composite specimens reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotube filler were fabricated using shear mixer and ultra-sonication processor. The mechanical and thermal properties of the fabricated specimens were measured and evaluated. From the electron microscope images and the results from the measurements of tensile strengths, the specimens having 0.6 wt% nanotube content show better dispersion and higher strength than those of the other specimens. The Young’s moduli of the specimens increased as the contents of the nanotube filler in the matrix were increased. The specimen having a 0.6 wt% nanotube filler content showed higher thermal conductivity than that of the other specimens. While, in the measurement of thermal expansion, specimens having 0.4 and 0.6 wt% filler contents showed a lower value of thermal expansion than that of the other specimens. On the basis of the measured and evaluated properties of the composites, we believe that the simple and time-saving fabrication process used in this study was sufficient to obtain improved properties of the specimens.

Keywords: Carbon Nanotube Filler, Epoxy Composite, Ultra-Sonication, Shear Mixer, Mechanical Property, Thermal Property.

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Authors: Yun-Husan Huang

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Many English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks are distributed globally as the content development is often obliged to compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands. Therefore, the issue of regional application and usefulness of globally published ESP textbooks has received much debate. For ESP instructors, textbook selection is definitely a priority consideration for curriculum design. An appropriate ESP textbook can facilitate teaching and learning, while an inappropriate one may cause a disaster for both teachers and students. This study aims to investigate the regional application and usefulness of an ESP textbook for information technology (IT). Participants were 51 sophomores majoring in Applied Informatics and Multimedia at a university in Taiwan. As they were non-English majors, their English proficiency was mostly at elementary and elementary-to-intermediate levels. This course was offered for two semesters. The textbook selected was Oxford English for Information Technology. At class end, the students were required to complete a survey comprising five choices of Very Easy, Easy, Neutral, Difficult, and Very Difficult for each item. Based on the content design of the textbook, the survey investigated how the students viewed the difficulty of grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials of the textbook. In terms of difficulty, results reveal that only 22% of them found the grammar section difficult and very difficult. For listening, 71% responded difficult and very difficult. For general reading, 55% responded difficult and very difficult. For speaking, 56% responded difficult and very difficult. For writing, 78% responded difficult and very difficult. For advanced reading, 90% reported difficult and very difficult. These results indicate that, except the grammar section, more than half of the students found the textbook contents difficult in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Such contradictory results between the easy grammar section and the difficult four language skills sections imply that the textbook designers do not well understand the English learning background of regional ESP learners. For the participants, the learning contents of the grammar section were the general grammar level of junior high school, while the learning contents of the four language skills sections were more of the levels of college English majors. Implications from the findings are obtained for instructors and textbook designers. First of all, existing ESP textbooks for IT are few and thus textbook selections for instructors are insufficient. Second, existing globally published textbooks for IT cannot be applied to learners of all English proficiency levels, especially the low level. With limited textbook selections, third, instructors should modify the selected textbook contents or supplement extra ESP materials to meet the proficiency level of target learners. Fourth, local ESP publishers should collaborate with local ESP instructors who understand best the learning background of their students in order to develop appropriate ESP textbooks for local learners. Even though the instructor reduced learning contents and simplified tests in curriculum design, in conclusion, the students still found difficult. This implies that in addition to the instructor’s professional experience, there is a need to understand the usefulness of the textbook from learner perspectives.

Keywords: ESP textbooks, ESP materials, ESP textbook design, learner perspectives on ESP textbooks.

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Authors: Yasemin Gülşen Yılmaz, Süleyman Hakan Yılmaz, Muhammet Erbay

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Social media is among the most important means of communication. Social media offers individuals and groups with an opportunity for participatory socialization over the internet, which is free of any time and place restrictions. Social media is a kind of interactive communication and bilateral social network. Various communication contents can be shared and put into mass circulation easily and quickly through social media. These sharings are not only limited to individuals but also happen to groups, institutions, and different constitutions. Their contents consist of any type of written message, audio and video files. We are living in the social media era now. It is not surprising that social media which has extensive communication facilities and massive prevalence is used in politics. Therefore, the use of social media (Facebook) by political parties during the Turkish general elections held on June 7, 2015, has been chosen as our research subject. Four parties namely, AKP, CHP, MHP and HDP who have the majority of votes in Turkey and participate in elections in Konya have been selected for our study. Their provincial centers’ and parliamentary candidates` use of social media (Facebook) on the last three days prior to the election have been examined and subjected to a qualitative analysis by means of content analysis.

Keywords: Social media, June 7 general elections, politics, Facebook.

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Authors: Hong-Ren Chen, Fang-Yu Yeh

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In the past, there were more researches of recommendation system in applied electronic commerce. However, because all circles promote information technology integrative instruction actively, the quantity of instruction resources website is more and more increasing on the Internet. But there are less website including recommendation service, especially for teachers. This study established an instruction resource recommendation website that analyzed teaching style of teachers, then provided appropriate instruction resources for teachers immediately. We used the questionnaire survey to realize teacher-s suggestions and satisfactions with the instruction resource contents and recommendation results. The study shows: (1)The website used “Transactional Ability Inventory" that realized teacher-s style and provided appropriate instruction resources for teachers in a short time, it reduced the step of data filter. (2)According to the content satisfaction of questionnaire survey, four styles teachers were almost satisfied with the contents of the instruction resources that the website recommended, thus, the conception of developing instruction resources with different teaching style is accepted. (3) According to the recommendation satisfaction of questionnaire survey, four styles teachers were almost satisfied with the recommendation service of the website, thus, the recommendation strategy that provide different results for teachers in different teaching styles is accepted.

Keywords: Instruction resource, recommendation service, teaching style.

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Authors: Vincent M. Russo

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Salinity level may affect early development of biofuel feedstock crops. The biofuel feedstock crops canola (Brassica napus L.), sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.); and the potential feedstock crop sweet corn (Zea mays L.) were planted in media in pots and treated with aqueous solutions of 0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 M NaCl once at: 1) planting; 2) 7-10 days after planting or 3) first true leaf expansion. An additional treatment (4) comprised of one-half strength of the 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 M (concentrations 0.05, 0.25, 0.5 M at each application) was applied at first true leaf expansion and four days later. Survival of most crops decreased below 90% above 0.5 M; survival of canola decreased above 0.1 M. Application timing had little effect on crop survival. For canola root fresh and dry weights improved when application was at plant emergence; for sorghum top and root fresh weights improved when the split application was used. When application was at planting root dry weight was improved over most other applications. Sunflower top fresh weight was among the highest when saline solutions were split and top dry weight was among the highest when application was at plant emergence. Sweet corn root fresh weight was improved when the split application was used or application was at planting. Sweet corn root dry weight was highest when application was at planting or plant emergence. Even at high salinity rates survival rates greater than what might be expected occurred. Plants that survived appear to be able to adjust to saline during the early stages of development.

Keywords: Canola, Development, Sorghum, Sunflower, Sweetcorn, Survival

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Authors: Ahmad Majdi Bin Abdul-Rani, Mesfin Gizaw, Yusri Yusof

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Researches related to standard product model and development of neutral manufacturing interfaces for numerical control machines becomes a significant topic since the last 25 years. In this paper, a detail description of STEP implementation on turnmill manufacturing has been discussed. It shows requirements of information contents from ISO14649 data model. It covers to describe the design of STEP-NC framework applicable to turn-mill manufacturing. In the framework, EXPRESS-G and UML modeling tools are used to depict the information contents of the system and established the bases of information model requirement. A product and manufacturing data model applicable for STEP compliant manufacturing. The next generation turn-mill operations requirements have been represented by a UML diagram. An object oriented classes of ISO1449 has been developed on Visual Basic dot NET platform for binding the static information model represented by the UML diagram. An architect of the proposed system implementation has been given on the bases of the design and manufacturing module of STEP-NC interface established. Finally, a part 21 file process plan generated for an illustration of turn-mill components.

Keywords: CAPP, ISO14649, Product modeling, STEP-NC

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Authors: U. Pangnakorn, S. Chuenchooklin

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Effect of biopesticide from wood vinegar and extracted substances from 3 medicinal plants such as: non taai yak (Stemona tuberosa Lour), boraphet (Tinospora crispa Mier) and derris (Derris elliptica Roxb) were tested on the age five years of pomelo. The selected pomelo was carried out for insects’ pest control and its quality. The experimental site was located at farmer’s orchard in Phichit Province, Thailand. This study was undertaken during the drought season (December to March). The extracted from plants and wood vinegar were evaluated in 6 treatments: 1) water as control; 2) wood vinegar; 3) S. tuberosa Lour; 4) T. crispa Mier; 5) D. elliptica Roxb; 6) mixed (wood vinegar + S. tuberosa Lour + T. crispa Mier + D. elliptica Roxb). The experiment was RCB with 6 treatments and 3 replications per treatment. The results showed that T. crispa Mier was the highest effectiveness for reduction population of thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) and citrus leaf miner (Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton) at 14.10 and 15.37 respectively, followed by treatment of mixed, D. elliptica Roxb, S. tuberosa Lour and wood vinegar with significance different. Additionally, T. crispa Mier promoted the high quality of harvested pomelo in term of thickness of skin at 12.45 mm and S. tuberosa Lour gave the high quality of the pomelo in term of firmness (276.5 kg/cm2) and brix (11.0%).

Keywords: Wood vinegar, Medicinal plants, Pomelo (Citrus maxima Merr.), Thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood), Citrus leaf miner (Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton).

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Authors: Mete Kazaz

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Despite the internet, which is one of the mass media that has become quite common in recent years, the relationship of Advertisement with Television and Cinema, which have always drawn attention of researchers as basic media and where visual use is in the foreground, have also become the subject of various studies. Based on the assumption that the known fundamental effects of advertisements on consumers are closely related to the creative process of advertisements as well as the nature and characteristics of the medium where they are used, these basic mass media (Television and Cinema) and the consumer motivations of the advertisements they broadcast have become a focus of study. Given that the viewers of the mass media in question have shifted from a passive position to a more active one especially in recent years and approach contents of advertisements, as they do all contents, in a more critical and “pitiless" manner, it is possible to say that individuals make more use of advertisements than in the past and combine their individual goals with the goals of the advertisements. This study, which aims at finding out what the goals of these new individual advertisement use are, how they are shaped by the distinct characteristics of Television and Cinema, where visuality takes precedence as basic mass media, and what kind of places they occupy in the minds of consumers, has determined consumers- motivations as: “Entertainment", “Escapism", “Play", “Monitoring/Discovery", “Opposite Sex" and “Aspirations and Role Models". This study intends to reveal the differences or similarities among the needs and hence the gratifications of viewers who consume advertisements on Television or at the Cinema, which are two basic media where visuality is prioritized.

Keywords: Cinema, Television, Viewers of Advertisements.

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Authors: Zarmina Gillani, Nuzhat Huma, Aysha Sameen, Mulazim Hussain Bukhari

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Whey is an excellent food ingredient owing to its high nutritive value and its functional properties. However, composition of whey varies depending on composition of milk, processing conditions, processing method, and its whey protein content. The aim of this study was to prepare a whey powder from raw whey and to determine the influence of different processing temperatures (160 and 180 °C) on the physicochemical, functional properties during storage of 180 days and on whey protein denaturation. Results have shown that temperature significantly (P < 0.05) affects the pH, acidity, non-protein nitrogen (NPN), protein total soluble solids, fat and lactose contents. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher foaming capacity (FC), foam stability (FS), whey protein nitrogen index (WPNI), and a lower turbidity and solubility index (SI) were observed in whey powder processed at 160 °C compared to whey powder processed at 180 °C. During storage of 180 days, slow but progressive changes were noticed on the physicochemical and functional properties of whey powder. Reverse phase-HPLC analysis revealed a significant (P < 0.05) effect of temperature on whey protein contents. Denaturation of β-Lactoglobulin is followed by α-lacalbumin, casein glycomacropeptide (CMP/GMP), and bovine serum albumin (BSA).

Keywords: Whey powder, temperature, denaturation, reverse phase – HPLC.

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Authors: Kaan Yamanturk, Cihan Dogruoz

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Seismic isolators have been utilized around the world to protect the structures, nonstructural components and contents from the damaging effects of earthquakes. In Structural Engineering, seismic isolation is used for protecting buildings and its vibration-sensitive contents from earthquakes. Seismic isolation is a passive control system that lowers effective earthquake forces by utilizing flexible bearings. One of the most significant isolation systems is seismic isolators. In this paper, double pendulum type Teflon coated seismic isolators utilized in a city hospital project by Guris Construction and Engineering Co. Inc, located in Kutahya, Turkey, have been investigated. Totally, 498 seismic isolators were applied in the project. These isolators are double friction pendulum type seismic isolation devices. The review of current practices is also examined in this study. The focus of this study is related to the application of passive seismic isolation systems for buildings as practiced in Kutahya City Hospital Project. Based on the study, the acceleration at the top floor will be 0.18 g and it will decrease 0.01 g in every floor. Therefore, seismic isolators are very important for buildings located in earthquake zones.

Keywords: Maximum considered earthquake, moment resisting frame, seismic isolator, seismic design.

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Authors: Shahrinaz Ismail, Roslina Abdul Latif

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Social media has led to paradigm shifts in ways people work and do business, interact and socialize, learn and obtain knowledge. So much so that social media has established itself as an important spatial extension of this nation-s historicity and challenges. Regardless of the enabling reputation and recommendation features through social networks embedded in the social media system, the overflow of broadcasted and publicized media contents turns the table around from engendering trust to doubting the trust system. When the trust is at doubt, the effects include deactivation of accounts and creation of multiple profiles, which lead to the overflow of 'ghost' contents (i.e. “the abundance of abandoned ships"). In most literature, the study of trust can be related to culture; hence the difference between Western-s “openness" and Eastern-s “blue-chip" concepts in networking and relationships. From a survey on issues and challenges among Malaysian social media users, 'authenticity' emerges as one of the main factors that causes and is caused by other factors. The other issue that has surfaced is credibility either in terms of message/content and source. Another is the quality of the knowledge that is shared. This paper explores the terrains of this critical space which in recent years has been dominated increasingly by, arguably, social networks embedded in the social media system, the overflow of broadcasted and publicized media content.

Keywords: Authenticity, credibility, knowledge quality and social media.

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Authors: Ahmad Zahran, Ahmed Herzallah, Ahmad Ahmad, Mahran Quraan

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Generation of high DC voltages is necessary for testing the insulation material of high voltage AC transmission lines with long lengths. The harmonic and ripple contents of the output DC voltage supplied by high voltage DC circuits require the use of costly capacitors to smooth the output voltage after rectification. This paper proposes a new modular multiplier high voltage DC generator with embedded Cockcroft-Walton circuits that achieve a negligible harmonic and ripple contents of the output DC voltage without the need for costly filters to produce a nearly constant output voltage. In this new topology, Cockcroft-Walton modules are connected in series to produce a high DC output voltage. The modules are supplied by low input AC voltage sources that have the same magnitude and frequency and shifted from each other by a certain angle to eliminate the harmonics from the output voltage. The small ripple factor is provided by the smoothing column capacitors and the phase shifted input voltages of the cascaded modules. The constituent harmonics within each module are determined using Fourier analysis. The viability of the proposed DC generator for testing purposes and the effectiveness of the cascaded connection are confirmed by numerical simulations using MATLAB/Simulink.

Keywords: Cockcroft-Walton circuit, Harmonics, Ripple factor, HVDC generator.

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Authors: W. I. Wan Rosli, M. S. Aishah

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The grey oyster mushroom, Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC), is a common edible mushroom and is now grown commercially around the world for food. This fungus has been broadly used as food or food ingredients in various food products for a long time. To enhance the nutritional quality and sensory attributes of bakery-based products, PSC powder is used in the present study to partially replace wheat flour in baked product formulations. The nutrient content and sensory properties of rice-porridge and unleavened bread (paratha) incorporated with various levels of PSC powder were studied. These food items were formulated with either 0%, 2%, 4% or 6% of PSC powder. Results show PSC powder recorded β-glucan at 3.57g/100g. In sensory evaluation, consumers gave higher score to both rice-porridge and paratha bread containing 2-4% PSC compared to those that are not added with PSC powder. The paratha containing 4% PSC powder can be formulated with the intention in improving overall acceptability of paratha bread. Meanwhile, for rice-porridge, consumers prefer the formulated product added with 4% PSC powder. In conclusion, the addition of PSC powder to partially wheat flour can be recommended for the purpose of enhancing nutritional composition and maintaining the acceptability of carbohydrate-based products.

Keywords: Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC), nutrient contents, sensory evaluation

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Authors: D. Dannehl, Z. Taylor, J. Suhl, L. Miranda, R., Ulrichs, C., Salazar, E. Fitz-Rodriguez, I. Lopez-Cruz, A. Rojano-Aguilar, G. Navas-Gomez, U. Schmidt

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Growing environmental and sustainability concerns have driven continual modernization of horticultural practices, especially for urban farming. Controlled environment and soilless production methods are increasing in popularity because of their efficient resource use and intensive cropping capabilities. However, some popular substrates used for hydroponic cultivation, particularly rock wool, represent a large environmental burden in regard to their manufacture and disposal. Substrate-less hydroponic systems are effective in producing short cropping cycle plants such as lettuce or herbs, but less information is available for the production of plants with larger root-systems and longer cropping times. Here, we investigated the viability of a hybrid aeroponic/nutrient film technique (AP/NFT) system for the cultivation of greenhouse tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum ‘Panovy’). The plants grown in the AP/NFT system had a more compact phenotype, accumulated more Na⁺ and less P and S than the rock wool grown counterparts. Due to forced irrigation interruptions, we propose that the differences observed were cofounded by the differing severity of water-stress for plants with and without substrate. They may also be caused by a higher root zone temperature predominant in plants exposed to AP/NFT. However, leaf area, stem diameter, and number of trusses did not differ significantly. The same was found for leaf pigments and plant photosynthetic efficiency. Overall, the AP/NFT system appears to be viable for the production of greenhouse tomato, enabling the environment to be relieved by way of lessening rock wool usage.

Keywords: Aeroponic/nutrient film technique, greenhouse, nutrient dynamic, soilless culture, urban farming, waste reduction.

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Authors: Hyo-Nam Song

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The changes in quality properties and nutritional components in two fermented mugworts (Artemisia capillaries Thumberg, Artemisiaeasiaticae Nakai) were characterized followed by the rapid pattern analysis of volatile flavor compounds by Electric Nose based on SAW(Surface Acoustic Wave) sensor in GC system. There were remarkable decreases in the pH and small changes in the total soluble solids after fermentation. The L (lightness) and b (yellowness) values in Hunter's color system were shown to be decreased, whilst the a (redness) value was increased by fermentation. The HPLC analysis demonstrated that total amino acids were increased in quantity and the essential amino acids were contained higher in A. asiaticaeNakai than in A. capillaries Thumberg. While the total polyphenol contents were not affected by fermentation, the total sugar contents were dramatically decreased. Scopoletinwere highly abundant in A. capillarisThumberg, however, it was not detected in A. asiaticaeNakai. Volatile flavor compounds by Electric Nose showed that the intensity of several peaks were increased much and seven additional flavor peaks were newly produced after fermentation. The flavor differences of two mugworts were clearly distinguished from the image patterns of VaporPrintTM which indicate that the fermentation enables the two mugworts to have subtle flavor differences.

Keywords: Mugwort, Fermentation, Electric Nose, SAW sensor, Flavor.

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