Abstract: Cortisol is essential to the regulation of the immune
system and yawning is a pathological symptom of multiple sclerosis
(MS). Electromyography activity (EMG) in the jaw muscles typically
rises when the muscles are moved and with yawning is highly
correlated with cortisol levels in healthy people. Saliva samples from
59 participants were collected at the start and after yawning, or at the
end of the presentation of yawning-provoking stimuli, in the absence
of a yawn, together with EMG data and questionnaire data: Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale, Yawning Susceptibility Scale,
General Health Questionnaire, demographic, health details. Exclusion
criteria: chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart condition, high
blood pressure, hormone replacement therapy, multiple sclerosis,
stroke. Significant differences were found between the saliva cortisol
samples for the yawners, t (23) = -4.263, p = 0.000, as compared with
the non-yawners between rest and post-stimuli, which was nonsignificant.
Significant evidence was found to support the Thompson
Cortisol Hypothesis suggesting that rises in cortisol levels are
associated with yawning. Further research is exploring the use of
cortisol as an early diagnostic tool for MS. Ethics approval granted
and professional code of conduct, confidentiality, and safety issues
are approved therein.
Abstract: Investigations on the accumulation of heavy metals in
water and sediments of river Ogbese were carried out between
December 2010 and February 2011 using Atomic Absorption
Spectrophotometer. Etheria elliptica a sessile organism was also used
to determine the concentration of heavy metal in the aquatic
environmental. In water, Cu had the highest concentration (0.55 –
0.13 mg/l ±0.1) while in sediments, the highest value obtained was in
Fe (1.46-3.89mg/l±0.27). The minimum concentrations recorded
were in Pb; which was below detectable level. The result also
revealed that the shell accumulate more heavy metals than the flesh
of the mussel with Cu in the shell exhibiting a negative correlation
with all the metals in the flesh. However, the condition factor (K)
value is 6.44, an indication of good health. The length-weight
relationship is expressed as W = -0.48 x L 1.94 (r2 = 0.29) showing the
growth pattern to be negatively allometric.
Abstract: Lignocellolusic material is a substance that is resistant to be degraded by microorganisms or hydrolysis enzymes. To be used as materials for biofuel production, it needs pretreatment process to improve efficiency of hydrolysis. In this work, chemical pretreatments on rice straw using three diluted organic acids, including acetic acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, were optimized. Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), the effect of three pretreatment parameters, acid concentration, treatment time, and reaction temperature, on pretreatment efficiency were statistically evaluated. The results indicated that dilute oxalic acid pretreatment led to the highest enhancement of enzymatic saccharification by commercial cellulase and yielded sugar up to 10.67 mg/ml when using 5.04% oxalic acid at 137.11 oC for 30.01 min. Compared to other acid pretreatment by acetic acid, citric acid, and hydrochloric acid, the maximum sugar yields are 7.07, 6.30, and 8.53 mg/ml, respectively. Here, it was demonstrated that organic acids can be used for pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials to enhance of hydrolysis process, which could be integrated to other applications for various biorefinery processes.
Abstract: Rice straw is lignocellulosic biomass which can be utilized as substrate for the biogas production. However, due to the property and composition of rice straw, it is difficult to be degraded by hydrolysis enzymes. One of the pretreatment methods that modify such properties of lignocellulosic biomass is the application of lignocellulose-degrading microbial consortia. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of microbial consortia to enhance biogas production. To select the high efficient consortium, cellulase enzymes were extracted and their activities were analyzed. The results suggested that microbial consortium culture obtained from cattle manure is the best candidate compared to decomposed wood and horse manure. A microbial consortium isolated from cattle manure was then mixed with anaerobic sludge and used as inoculum for biogas production. The optimal conditions for biogas production were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The tested parameters were the ratio of amount of microbial consortium isolated and amount of anaerobic sludge (MI:AS), substrate to inoculum ratio (S:I) and temperature. Here, the value of the regression coefficient R2 = 0.7661 could be explained by the model which is high to advocate the significance of the model. The highest cumulative biogas yield was 104.6 ml/g-rice straw at optimum ratio of MI:AS, ratio of S:I, and temperature of 2.5:1, 15:1 and 44°C respectively.
Abstract: The distribution of a single global clock across a chip
has become the major design bottleneck for high performance VLSI
systems owing to the power dissipation, process variability and multicycle
cross-chip signaling. A Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture
partitioned into several synchronous blocks has become a promising
approach for attaining fine-grain power management at the system
level. In a NoC architecture the communication between the blocks is
handled asynchronously. To interface these blocks on a chip
operating at different frequencies, an asynchronous FIFO interface is
inevitable. However, these asynchronous FIFOs are not required if
adjacent blocks belong to the same clock domain. In this paper, we
have designed and analyzed a 16-bit asynchronous micropipelined
FIFO of depth four, with the awareness of place and route on an
FPGA device. We have used a commercially available Spartan 3
device and designed a high speed implementation of the
asynchronous 4-phase micropipeline. The asynchronous FIFO
implemented on the FPGA device shows 76 Mb/s throughput and a
handshake cycle of 109 ns for write and 101.3 ns for read at the
simulation under the worst case operating conditions (voltage =
0.95V) on a working chip at the room temperature.
Abstract: Entrepreneurs face different sort of difficulties
especially with customers, organizations and employees. Emotional
intelligence which is the ability to understand and control the
emotions is an important factor to help entrepreneurs end up
challenges to the result they prefer. So it is assumed that
entrepreneurs especially those who have passed the first challenging
years of starting a new business, have high emotional intelligence. In
this study the Iranian established entrepreneurs have been surveyed.
According to Iran Gem 2014 report the percentage of established
entrepreneur in Iran is 10.92%. So by using Cochran sample formula
(1%) 96 Iranian established entrepreneurs have been selected and
Emotional intelligence appraisal questionnaire distributed to them.
The SPSS19 result shows high emotional intelligence in Iranian
established entrepreneurs.
Abstract: The paper is focused on the identification of limiting
environmental factors of individual industrial floors on which newly
developed polymer protection and repair systems with the use of
secondary raw materials will be used. These mainly include floors
with extreme stresses and special requirements for materials used. In
relation to the environment of a particular industrial floor, it is
necessary to ensure, for example, chemical stability, resistance to
higher temperatures, resistance to higher mechanical stress, etc. for
developed materials, which is reflected in the demands for the
developed material systems. The paper describes individual
environments and, in relation to them, also requirements for
individual components of the developed materials and for the
developed materials as a whole.
Abstract: Control of honey frauds is needed in Ecuador to
protect bee keepers and consumers because simple syrups and new
syrups with eucalyptus are sold as genuine honeys. Authenticity of
Ecuadorian commercial honeys was tested with a vortex emulsion
consisting on one volume of honey:water (1:1) dilution, and two
volumes of diethyl ether. This method allows a separation of phases
in one minute to discriminate genuine honeys that form three phase
and fake honeys that form two phases; 34 of the 42 honeys analyzed
from five provinces of Ecuador were genuine. This was confirmed
with 1H NMR spectra of honey dilutions in deuterated water with an
enhanced amino acid region with signals for proline, phenylalanine
and tyrosine. Classic quality indicators were also tested with this
method (sugars, HMF), indicators of fermentation (ethanol, acetic
acid), and residues of citric acid used in the syrup manufacture. One
of the honeys gave a false positive for genuine, being an admixture of
genuine honey with added syrup, evident for the high sucrose.
Sensory analysis was the final confirmation to recognize the honey
groups studied here, namely honey produced in combs by Apis
mellifera, fake honey, and honey produced in cerumen pots by
Geotrigona, Melipona, and Scaptotrigona. Chloroform extractions of
honey were also done to search lipophilic additives in NMR spectra.
This is a valuable contribution to protect honey consumers, and to
develop the beekeeping industry in Ecuador.
Abstract: An innovative flooring underlayment was produced
and tested. The composite system is made of common OSB boards
and a layer of eco-friendly non-cement gypsum based material
(GeoGypTM). It was found that the shear bond between the two
materials is sufficient to secure the composite interaction between the
two. The very high compressive strength and relatively high tensile
strength of the non-cement based component together with its high
modulus of elasticity provides enough strength and stiffness for the
composite product to cover wider spacing between the joists. The
initial findings of this study indicate that with joist spacing as wide as
800 mm, the flooring system provides enough strength without
compromising the serviceability requirements of the building codes.
Abstract: Reliability of long-term storage products is related to
the availability of the whole system, and the evaluation of storage life
is of great necessity. These products are usually highly reliable and
little failure information can be collected. In this paper, an analytical
method based on data from accelerated storage life test is proposed to
evaluate the reliability index of the long-term storage products. Firstly,
singularities are eliminated by data normalization and residual
analysis. Secondly, with the preprocessed data, the degradation path
model is built to obtain the pseudo life values. Then by life distribution
hypothesis, we can get the estimator of parameters in high stress levels
and verify failure mechanism consistency. Finally, the life distribution
under the normal stress level is extrapolated via the acceleration model
and evaluation of the actual average life is available. An application
example with the camera stabilization device is provided to illustrate
the methodology we proposed.
Abstract: Propylene self-metathesis to ethylene and butene was
studied over WOx/SiO2 catalysts at 450oC and atmospheric pressure.
The WOx/SiO2 catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness
impregnation of ammonium metatungstate aqueous solution. It was
found that, adding nano-sized extra supports (SiO2 and TiO2) by
physical mixing with the WOx/SiO2 enhanced propylene conversion.
The UV-Vis and FT-Raman results revealed that WOx could migrate
from the original silica support to the extra support, leading to a
better dispersion of WOx. The ICP-OES results also indicate that
WOx existed on the extra support. Coke formation was investigated
on the catalysts after 10 h time-on-stream by TPO. However, adding
nano-sized extra supports led to higher coke formation which may be
related to acidity as characterized by NH3-TPD.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and fabrication of an
optical window for an optical modulator toward image sensing
applications. An optical window consists of micrometer-order SiO2
capillaries (porous solid) that can modulate transmission light
intensity by moving the liquid in and out of porous solid. A high
optical transmittance of the optical window can be achieved due to
refractive index matching when the liquid is penetrated into the
porous solid. Otherwise, its light transmittance is lower because of
light reflection and scattering by air holes and capillary walls. Silicon
capillaries fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process are
completely oxidized to form the SiO2 capillaries. Therefore, high
aspect ratio SiO2 capillaries can be achieved based on silicon
capillaries formed by DRIE technique. Large compressive stress of
the oxide causes bending of the capillary structure, which is reduced
by optimizing the design of device structure. The large stress of the
optical window can be released via thin supporting beams. A 7.2 mm
x 9.6 mm optical window area toward a fully integrated with the
image sensor format is successfully fabricated and its optical
transmittance is evaluated with and without inserting liquids (ethanol
and matching oil). The achieved modulation range is approximately
20% to 35% with and without liquid penetration in visible region
(wavelength range from 450 nm to 650 nm).
Abstract: This study investigates the suitability of using plastic,
such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as a partial replacement of
natural coarse and fine aggregates (for example, brick chips and
natural sand) to produce lightweight concrete for load bearing
structural members. The plastic coarse aggregate (PCA) and plastic
fine aggregate (PFA) were produced from melted polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) bottles. Tests were conducted using three
different water–cement (w/c) ratios, such as 0.42, 0.48, and 0.57,
where PCA and PFA were used as 50% replacement of coarse and
fine aggregate respectively. Fresh and hardened properties of
concrete have been compared for natural aggregate concrete (NAC),
PCA concrete (PCC) and PFA concrete (PFC). The compressive
strength of concrete at 28 days varied with the water–cement ratio for
both the PCC and PFC. Between PCC and PFC, PFA concrete
showed the highest compressive strength (23.7 MPa) at 0.42 w/c ratio
and also the lowest compressive strength (13.7 MPa) at 0.57 w/c
ratio. Significant reduction in concrete density was mostly observed
for PCC samples, ranging between 1977–1924 kg/m³. With the
increase in water–cement ratio PCC achieved higher workability
compare to both NAC and PFC. It was found that both the PCA and
PFA contained concrete achieved the required compressive strength
to be used for structural purpose as partial replacement of the natural
aggregate; but to obtain the desired lower density as lightweight
concrete the PCA is most suited.
Abstract: All the software engineering researches and best
industry practices aim at providing software products with high
degree of quality and functionality at low cost and less time. These
requirements are addressed by the Component Based Software
Engineering (CBSE) as well. CBSE, which deals with the software
construction by components’ assembly, is a revolutionary extension
of Software Engineering. CBSE must define and describe processes
to assure timely completion of high quality software systems that are
composed of a variety of pre built software components. Though
these features provide distinct and visible benefits in software design
and programming, they also raise some challenging problems. The
aim of this work is to summarize the pertinent issues and
considerations in CBSE to make an understanding in forms of
concepts and observations that may lead to development of newer
ways of dealing with the problems and challenges in CBSE.
Abstract: The purposes of this study are 1) to study the effects
of participatory error correction process and 2) to find out the
students’ satisfaction of such error correction process. This study is a
Quasi Experimental Research with single group, in which data is
collected 5 times preceding and following 4 experimental studies of
participatory error correction process including providing coded
indirect corrective feedback in the students’ texts with error treatment
activities. Samples include 52 2nd year English Major students,
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat
University. Tool for experimental study includes the lesson plan of
the course; Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II,
and tools for data collection include 5 writing tests of short texts and
a questionnaire. Based on formative evaluation of the students’
writing ability prior to and after each of the 4 experiments, the
research findings disclose the students’ higher scores with statistical
difference at 0.00. Moreover, in terms of the effect size of such
process, it is found that for mean of the students’ scores prior to and
after the 4 experiments; d equals 0.6801, 0.5093, 0.5071, and 0.5296
respectively. It can be concluded that participatory error correction
process enables all of the students to learn equally well and there is
improvement in their ability to write short texts. Finally the students’
overall satisfaction of the participatory error correction process is in
high level (Mean = 4.39, S.D. = 0.76).
Abstract: Alone with fast urbanization in world, traffic control
became a big issue in urban construction. Having an efficient and
reliable traffic control system is crucial to macro-traffic control.
Traffic signal is used to manage conflicting requirement by allocating
different sets of mutually compatible traffic movement during distinct
time interval. Many approaches have been made proposed to solve
this discrete stochastic problem. Recognizing the need to minimize
right-of-way impacts while efficiently handling the anticipated high
traffic volumes, the proposed alternative system gives effective
design. This model allows for increased traffic capacity and reduces
delays by eliminating a step in maneuvering through the freeway
interchange. The concept proposed in this paper involves
construction of bridges and ramps at intersection of four roads to
control the vehicular congestion and to prevent traffic breakdown.
Abstract: Microalgae Meyerella planktonica is a potential
biofuel source because it can grow in bulk in either autotrophic or
heterotrophic condition. However, the quantitative growth of this
algal type is still low as it tends to precipitates on the bottom.
Besides, the lipid concentration is still low when grown in
autotrophic condition. In contrast, heterotrophic condition can
enhance the lipid concentration. The combination of autotrophic
condition and agitation treatment was conducted to increase the
density of the culture. On the other hand, a heterotrophic condition
was set up to raise the lipid production. A two-stage experiment
was applied to increase the density at the first step and to increase
the lipid concentration in the next step. The autotrophic condition
resulted higher density but lower lipid concentration compared to
heterotrophic one. The agitation treatment produced higher density
in both autotrophic and heterotrophic conditions. The two-stage
experiment managed to enhance the density during the autotrophic
stage and the lipid concentration during the heterotrophic stage.
The highest yield was performed by using 0.4% v/v glycerol as a
carbon source (2.9±0.016 x 10^6 cells w/w) attained 7 days after the
heterotrophic stage began. The lipid concentration was stable
starting from day 7.
Abstract: In this article, the antibiogram and heavy metal
resistance profile of the bacteria isolated from total 34 studied
animals (Pelophylax ridibundus = 12; Mauremys rivulata = 14;
Natrix natrix = 8) captured around the Biga Stream, are described.
There was no database information on antibiogram and heavy metal
resistance profile of bacteria from these area’s amphibians and
reptiles.
A total of 200 bacteria were successfully isolated from cloaca and
oral samples of the aquatic amphibians and reptiles as well as from
the water sample. According to Jaccard’s similarity index, the degree
of similarity in the bacterial flora was quite high among the
amphibian and reptile species under examination, whereas it was
different from the bacterial diversity in the water sample. The most
frequent isolates were A. hydrophila (31.5%), B. pseudomallei
(8.5%), and C. freundii (7%). The total numbers of bacteria obtained
were as follows: 45 in P. ridibundus, 45 in N. natrix 30 in M.
rivulata, and 80 in the water sample. The result showed that
cefmetazole was the most effective antibiotic to control the bacteria
isolated in this study and that approximately 93.33% of the bacterial
isolates were sensitive to this antibiotic. The multiple antibiotic
resistances (MAR) index indicated that P. ridibundus (0.95) > N.
natrix (0.89) > M. rivulata (0.39). Furthermore, all the tested heavy
metals (Pb+2, Cu+2, Cr+3, and Mn+2) inhibit the growth of the bacterial
isolates at different rates. Therefore, it indicated that the water source
of the animals was contaminated with both antibiotic residues and
heavy metals.
Abstract: In our research we aimed to test a managerial
approach for the fuzzy front end (FFE) of innovation by creating
controlled experiment/ business case in a breakthrough innovation
development. The experiment was in the sport industry and covered
all aspects of the customer discovery stage from ideation to
prototyping followed by patent application. In the paper we describe
and analyze mile stones, tasks, management challenges, decisions
made to create the break through innovation, evaluate overall
managerial efficiency that was at the considered FFE stage.
We set managerial outcome of the FFE stage as a valid product
concept in hand. In our paper we introduce hypothetical construct
“Q-factor” that helps us in the experiment to distinguish quality of
FFE outcomes.
The experiment simulated for entrepreneur the FFE of innovation
and put on his shoulders responsibility for the outcome of valid
product concept. While developing managerial approach to reach the
outcome there was a decision to look on product concept from the
cognitive psychology and cognitive science point of view. This view
helped us to develop the profile of a person whose projection (mental
representation) of a new product could optimize for a manager or
entrepreneur FFE activities. In the experiment this profile was tested
to develop breakthrough innovation for swimmers. Following the
managerial approach the product concept was created to help
swimmers to feel/sense water. The working prototype was developed
to estimate the product concept validity and value added effect for
customers.
Based on feedback from coachers and swimmers there were strong
positive effect that gave high value for customers, and for the
experiment – the valid product concept being developed by proposed
managerial approach for the FFE.
In conclusions there is a suggestion of managerial approach that
was derived from experiment.
Abstract: The material selection in the design of the sandwich
structures is very crucial aspect because of the positive or negative
influences of the base materials to the mechanical properties of the
entire panel. In the literature, it was presented that the selection of the
skin and core materials plays very important role on the behavior of
the sandwich. Beside this, the use of the correct adhesive can make
the whole structure to show better mechanical results and behavior.
In the present work, the static three-point bending tests were
performed on the sandwiches having an aluminum alloy foam core,
the skins made of three different types of fabrics and two different
commercial adhesives (flexible polyurethane and toughened epoxy
based) at different values of support span distances by aiming the
analyses of their flexural performance in terms of absorbed energy,
peak force values and collapse mechanisms. The main results of the
flexural loading are: force-displacement curves obtained after the
bending tests, peak force and absorbed energy values, collapse
mechanisms and adhesion quality. The experimental results presented
that the sandwiches with epoxy based toughened adhesive and the
skins made of S-Glass Woven fabrics indicated the best adhesion
quality and mechanical properties. The sandwiches with toughened
adhesive exhibited higher peak force and energy absorption values
compared to the sandwiches with flexible adhesive. The use of these
sandwich structures can lead to a weight reduction of the transport
vehicles, providing an adequate structural strength under operating
conditions.