Abstract: The present explanatory study concerns with the
relation between Diabetes Mellitus and Food Balance in the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia during 2005-2010, using published data. Results illustrated that Saudi citizen daily protein consumption
(DPC) during 2005-2007 (g/capita/day) is higher than the average
global consumption level of protein with 15.27%, daily fat
consumption (DFC) with 24.56% and daily energy consumption
(DEC) with 16.93% and increases than recommended level by
International Nutrition Organizations (INO) with 56% for protein,
60.49% for fat and 27.37% for energy. On the other hand, DPC per
capita in Saudi Arabia decreased during the period 2008-2010 from
88.3 to 82.36 gram/ day. Moreover, DFC per capita in Saudi Arabia
decreased during the period 2008-2010 from 3247.90 to 3176.43
Cal/capita/ day, and daily energy consumption (DEC) of Saudi
citizen increases than world consumption with 16.93%, whereas
increases with 27.37% than INO. Despite this, DPC, DFC and DEC
per capita in Saudi Arabia still higher than world mean. On the other
side, results illustrated that the number of diabetic patients in Saudi
Arabia during the same period (2005-2010). The curve of diabetic
patient’s number in Saudi Arabia during 2005-2010 is regular
ascending with increasing level ranged between 7.10% in 2005 and
12.44% in 2010. It is essential to devise Saudi National programs to educate the
public about the relation of food balances and diabetes so it could be
avoided, and provide citizens with healthy dietary balances tables.
Abstract: Objectives: To determine the nutritional status and
risk factors associated with women practicing geophagia in QwaQwa,
South Africa. Materials and Methods: An observational epidemiological study
design was adopted which included an exposed (geophagia) and nonexposed
(control) group. A food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and blood sampling were applied to
determine nutritional status of participants. Logistic regression
analysis was performed in order to identify factors that were likely to
be associated with the practice of geophagia. Results: The mean total energy intake for the geophagia group (G)
and control group (C) were 10324.31 ± 2755.00 kJ and 10763.94 ±
2556.30 kJ respectively. Both groups fell within the overweight
category according to the mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of each
group (G= 25.59 kg/m2; C= 25.14 kg/m2). The mean serum iron
levels of the geophagia group (6.929 μmol/l) were significantly lower
than that of the control group (13.75 μmol/l) (p = 0.000). Serum
transferrin (G=3.23g/l; C=2.7054g/l) and serum transferrin saturation
(G=8.05%; C=18.74%) levels also differed significantly between
groups (p=0.00). Factors that were associated with the practice of
geophagia included haemoglobin (Odds ratio (OR):14.50), serumiron
(OR: 9.80), serum-ferritin (OR: 3.75), serum-transferrin (OR:
6.92) and transferrin saturation (OR: 14.50). A significant negative
association (p=0.014) was found between women who were wageearners
and those who were not wage-earners and the practice of
geophagia (OR: 0.143; CI: 0.027; 0.755). These findings seem to
indicate that a permanent income may decrease the likelihood of
practising geophagia. Key Findings: Geophagia was confirmed to be a risk factor for
iron deficiency in this community. The significantly strong
association between geophagia and iron deficiency emphasizes the
importance of identifying the practice of geophagia in women,
especially during their child bearing years.
Abstract: Processing of high-silicon bauxite on the base of the
traditional clinkering method is related to high power consumption
and capital investments, which makes production of alumina from
those ores non-competitive in terms of basic economic showings. For
these reasons, development of technological solutions enabling to
process bauxites with various chemical and mineralogical structures
efficiently with low level of thermal power consumption is important.
Flow sheet of the studies on washability of ores from the Timanskoe
and the Severo-Onezhskoe deposits is on the base of the flotation
method.
Abstract: Zinc borate is an important inorganic hydrate borate
material, which can be used as a flame retardant agent and corrosion
resistance material. This compound can loss its structural water
content at higher than 290°C. Due to thermal stability; Zinc Borate
can be used as flame retardant at high temperature process of plastic
and gum. In this study, the ultrasonic reaction of zinc borates were
studied using hydrozincite (Zn5(CO3)2·(OH)6) and boric acid
(H3BO3) raw materials. Before the synthesis raw materials were
characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). Ultrasonic method is a new
application on the zinc borate synthesis. The synthesis parameters
were set to 90°C reaction temperature and 55 minutes of reaction
time, with 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5 molar ratio of starting materials
(Zn5(CO3)2·(OH)6 : H3BO3). After the zinc borate synthesis, the
products were analyzed by XRD and FT-IR. As a result, optimum
molar ratio of 1:5 is determined for the synthesis of zinc borates with
ultrasonic method.
Abstract: This paper tries to answer to the questions whether or
not trade openness causes economic growth and trade policy changes
are good for Turkey as a developing country in global economy
before and after 1980. We employ Johansen co-integration and
Granger causality tests with error correction modeling based on
vector autoregressive. Using WDI data from the pre-1980 and the
post-1980, we find that trade openness and economic growth are cointegrated
in the second term only. Also the results suggest a lack of
long-run causality between our two variables. These findings may
imply that trade policy of Turkey should concentrate more on extra
complementary economic reforms.
Abstract: The effects of wood ash from five common tropical
woods on the ignition point of four common tropical woods in
Nigeria were investigated. The ash and moisture contents of the wood
sawdust from Mahogany (Khaya ivorensis), Opepe (Sarcocephalus
latifolius), Abura (Mitragyna ciliata), Rubber (Heavea brasilensis)
and Poroporo (Sorghum bicolour) used, were determined using a
furnace (Vecstar furnaces, model ECF2, serial no. f3077) and oven
(Genlab laboratory oven, model MINO/040) respectively. The metal
contents of the five wood sawdust ash samples were determined
using a Perkin Elmer optima 3000 dv atomic absorption spectrometer
while the ignition points were determined using Vecstar furnaces
model ECF2. Poroporo had the highest ash content, 2.263g while
rubber had the least, 0.710g. The results for the moisture content
range from 2.971g to 0.903g. Magnesium metal had the highest
concentration of all the metals, in all the wood ash samples; with
mahogany ash having the highest concentration, 9.196ppm while
rubber ash had the least concentration of magnesium metal, 2.196
ppm. The ignition point results showed that the wood ashes from
mahogany and opepe increased the ignition points of the test wood
samples, Danta (Nesogordonia papaverifera), Ekpaya, Akomu
(Pycnanthus angolensis) and Oleku when coated on them while the
ashes from poroporo, rubber and abura decreased the ignition points
of the test wood samples when coated on them. However, Opepe saw
dust ash decreased the ignition point in one of the test wood samples,
suggesting that the metal content of the test wood sample was more
than that of the Opepe saw dust ash. Therefore, Mahogany and Opepe
saw dust ashes could be used in the surface treatment of wood to
enhance their fire resistance or retardancy. However, the caution to
be exercised in this application is that the metal content of the test
wood samples should be evaluated as well.
Abstract: The photovoltaic (PV) panel with no galvanic
isolation system is well known technique in the world which is
effective and delivers power with enhanced efficiency. The PV
generation presented here is for stand-alone system installed in
remote areas when as the resulting power gets connected to electronic
load installation instead of being tied to the grid. Though very small,
even then transformer-less topology is shown to be with leakage in
pico-ampere range. By using PWM technique PWM, leakage current
in different situations is shown. The results shown in this paper show
how the pico-ampere current is reduced to femto-ampere through use
of inductors and capacitors of suitable values of inductor and
capacitors with the load.
Abstract: Since the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in
digital multimedia, such as high-resolution media files and threedimentional
movies. Hence, there is a need for large digital storage
such as Hard Disk Drive (HDD). As such, users expect to have a
quieter HDD in their laptop. In this paper, a jury test has been
conducted on a group of 34 people where 17 of them are students
who are the potential consumer, and the remaining are engineers who
know the HDD. A total 13 HDD sound samples have been selected
from over hundred HDD noise recordings. These samples are
selected based on an agreed subjective feeling. The samples are
played to the participants using head acoustic playback system, which
enabled them to experience as similar as possible the same
environment as have been recorded. Analysis has been conducted and
the obtained results have indicated different group has different
perception over the noises. Two neural network-based acoustic
annoyance models are established based on back propagation neural
network. Four psychoacoustic metrics, loudness, sharpness,
roughness and fluctuation strength, are used as the input of the
model, and the subjective evaluation results are taken as the output.
The developed models are reasonably accurate in simulating both
training and test samples.
Abstract: Cholera is a disease that is predominately common in
developing countries due to poor sanitation and overcrowding
population. In this paper, a deterministic model for the dynamics of
cholera is developed and control measures such as health educational
message, therapeutic treatment, and vaccination are incorporated in
the model. The effective reproduction number is computed in terms
of the model parameters. The existence and stability of the
equilibrium states, disease free and endemic equilibrium states are
established and showed to be locally and globally asymptotically
stable when R0 < 1 and R0 > 1 respectively. The existence of
backward bifurcation of the model is investigated. Furthermore,
numerical simulation of the model developed is carried out to show
the impact of the control measures and the result indicates that
combined control measures will help to reduce the spread of cholera
in the population.
Abstract: Developing our knowledge of when pineapple roots
grow can lead to improved water, fertilizer applications, and more
precise culture management. This paper presents current
understanding of morphological traits in pineapple roots, highlighting
studies using incubation periods and various solid MS media treated
with different sucrose concentrations and pH, which directly assess in
vitro environmental factors. Rooting parameters had different optimal
sucrose concentrations and incubation periods. All shoots failed to
root in medium supplemented with sucrose at 5 g/L and no roots
formed within the first 45 days in medium enriched with sucrose at
10 g/L. After 75 days, all shoots rooted in medium enriched with 10
and 20 g/L sucrose. Moreover, MS medium supplied with 20 g/L
sucrose resulted in the longest and the highest number of roots with
27.3 mm and 4.7, respectively. Root function, such as capacity for P
and N uptake, declined rapidly with root length. As a result, the
longer the incubation period, the better the rooting responses would
be.
Abstract: Rice Husk (RH) is the major byproduct in the
processing of paddy rice. The management of this waste has become
a big challenge to some of the rice producers, some of these wastes
are left in open dumps while some are burn in the open space, and
these two actions have been contributing to environmental pollution.
This study evaluates an alternative waste management of this
agricultural product for use as a civil engineering material. The RH
was burn in a controlled environment to form Rice Husk Ash (RHA).
The RHA was mix with lateritic clay at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10%
proportion by weight. Chemical test was conducted on the open burn
and controlled burn RHA with the lateritic clay. Physical test such as
particle size distribution, Atterberg limits test, and density test were
carried out on the mix material. The chemical composition obtained
for the RHA showed that the total percentage compositions of Fe2O3,
SiO2 and Al2O3 were found to be above 70% (class “F” pozzolan)
which qualifies it as a very good pozzolan. The coefficient of
uniformity (Cu) was 8 and coefficient of curvature (Cc) was 2 for the
soil sample. The Plasticity Index (PI) for the 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. 10% was
21.0, 18.8, 16.7, 14.4, 12.4 and 10.7 respectively. The work
concluded that RHA can be effectively used in hydraulic barriers and
as a stabilizing agent in soil stabilization.
Abstract: The purpose of this theoretical literature review is to
study the relevant academic literature on lack of cardiorespiratory
fitness and its effects on children. The total of thirty eight relevant
documents were identified and considered for this review which
nineteen of those were original research articles published in peer
reviewed journals. The other nineteen articles were statistical
documents. This literature review is structured to examine 5 effects
in deficiency of cardiorespiratory fitness in school aged children (A)
Relative Age Effect (RAE), (B) Obesity, (C) Inadequate fitness level
(D) Unhealthy life style, and (E) Academics. The categories provide
a theoretical framework for future studies where results are driven
from the literature review. The study discusses that regular physical fitness assists children
and adolescents to develop healthy physical activity behaviors which
can be sustained throughout adult life. Conclusion suggests that
advocacy for increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary
behaviors at school and home are necessary.
Abstract: Cortisol is essential to the regulation of the immune
system and pathological yawning is a symptom of multiple sclerosis
(MS). Electromyography activity (EMG) in the jaw muscles typically
rises when the muscles are moved – extended or flexed; and yawning
has been shown to be highly correlated with cortisol levels in healthy
people as shown in the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis. It is likely
that these elevated cortisol levels are also seen in people with MS.
The possible link between EMG in the jaw muscles and rises in saliva
cortisol levels during yawning were investigated in a randomized
controlled trial of 60 volunteers aged 18-69 years who were exposed
to conditions that were designed to elicit the yawning response.
Saliva samples 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, and EMG data was additionally collected during rest and
yawning phases. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Yawning
Susceptibility Scale, General Health Questionnaire, demographic,
and health details were collected and the following exclusion criteria
were adopted: chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart
condition, high blood pressure, hormone replacement therapy,
multiple sclerosis, and 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 poststimuli,
which was non-significant. There were also significant
differences between yawners and non-yawners for the EMG
potentials with the yawners having higher rest and post-yawning
potentials. Significant evidence was found to support the Thompson
Cortisol Hypothesis suggesting that rises in cortisol levels are
associated with the yawning response. Further research is underway
to explore the use of cortisol as a potential diagnostic tool as an assist
to the early diagnosis of symptoms related to neurological disorders.
Bournemouth University Research & Ethics approval granted:
JC28/1/13-KA6/9/13. Professional code of conduct, confidentiality,
and safety issues have been addressed and approved in the Ethics
submission. Trials identification number: ISRCTN61942768.
http://www.controlled-trials.com/isrctn/
Abstract: This paper presents the result of an experimental
investigation regarding the use of Fe2O3 nanoparticles added to
kerosene as a working fluid, under magnetic field for Copper
Oscillating Heat pipe with inclination angle of 0°(horizontal), 15°,
30°,45°, 60°,75° and 90° (vertical). The following were examined;
measure the temperature distribution and heat transfer rate on
Oscillating Heat Pipe (OHP), with magnetic field under different
angles. Results showed that the addition of Fe2O3 nanoparticles under
magnetic field improved thermal performance of OHP especially in
75°.
Abstract: In this study, it has been studied to determine the
relationship between business performance and strategic flexibility,
which is defined to be the strategic choice that provides the ability of
rapidly responding the changes of the dynamic environment of the
companies, for having competitive advantages. In this context a field
study has been conducted over 56 companies, which are active in
informatics and electronics sectors in TEKNOKENT. As a result of
the study it has been determined that; strategic flexibility has an
effect on business performance and there is a positive and
statistically significant relationship between strategic flexibility and
business performance.
Abstract: Lyophilization, also called freeze-drying, is an
important dehydration technique mainly used for pharmaceuticals.
Food industry also uses lyophilization when it is important to retain
most of the nutritional quality, taste, shape and size of dried products
and to extend their shelf life. Vacuum-Induced during freezing cycle
(VI) has been used in order to control ice nucleation and,
consequently, to reduce the time of primary drying cycle of
pharmaceuticals preserving quality properties of the final product.
This procedure has not been applied in freeze drying of foods. The
present work aims to investigate the effect of VI on the lyophilization
drying time, final moisture content, density and reconstitutional
properties of mango (Mangifera indica L.) slices (MS) and mango
pulp-maltodextrin dispersions (MPM) (30% concentration of total
solids). Control samples were run at each freezing rate without using
induced vacuum. The lyophilization endpoint was the same for all
treatments (constant difference between capacitance and Pirani
vacuum gauges). From the experimental results it can be concluded
that at the high freezing rate (0.4°C/min) reduced the overall process
time up to 30% comparing process time required for the control and
VI of the lower freeze rate (0.1°C/min) without affecting the quality
characteristics of the dried product, which yields a reduction in costs
and energy consumption for MS and MPM freeze drying. Controls
and samples treated with VI at freezing rate of 0.4°C/min in MS
showed similar results in moisture and density parameters.
Furthermore, results from MPM dispersion showed favorable values
when VI was applied because dried product with low moisture
content and low density was obtained at shorter process time
compared with the control. There were not found significant
differences between reconstitutional properties (rehydration for MS
and solubility for MPM) of freeze dried mango resulting from
controls, and VI treatments.
Abstract: Ceramic obtained on the base of aluminum oxide has
wide application range, because it has unique properties, for example,
wear-resistance, dielectric characteristics, and exploitation ability at
high temperatures and in corrosive atmosphere. Low temperature
synthesis of α-Al2O3 is energo-economical process and it is topical
for developing technologies of corundum ceramics fabrication. In the present work possibilities of low temperature transformation
of oxyhydroxides in α-Al2O3, during the presence of small amount of
rare–earth elements compounds (also Th, Re), have been discussed.
Aluminum unstable oxyhydroxides have been obtained by hydrolysis
of aluminium isopropoxide, nitrates, sulphate, and chloride in
alkaline environment at 80-90ºC temperatures. β-Al(OH)3 has been
received from aluminum powder by ultrasonic development. Drying
of oxyhydroxide sol has been conducted with presence of various
types seeds, which amount reaches 0,1-0,2% (mas). Neodymium,
holmium, thorium, lanthanum, cerium, gadolinium, disprosium
nitrates and rhenium carbonyls have been used as seeds and they
have been added to the sol specimens in amount of 0.1-0.2% (mas)
calculated on metals. Annealing of obtained gels is carried out at 70–
1100ºC for 2 hrs. The same specimen transforms in α-Al2O3 at
1100ºC. At this temperature in case of presence of lanthanum and
gadolinium transformation takes place by 70-85%. In case of
presence of thorium stabilization of γ-and θ-phases takes place. It is
established, that thorium causes inhibition of α-phase generation at
1100ºC, and at the time when in all other doped specimens α-phase is
generated at lower temperatures (1000-1050ºC). Synthesis of various
type compounds and simultaneous consolidation has developed in the
furnace of OXY-GON. Composite materials containing oxide and
non-oxide components close to theoretical data have been obtained in
this furnace respectively. During the work the following devices have
been used: X-ray diffractometer DRON-3M (Cu-Kα, Ni filter,
2º/min), High temperature vacuum furnace OXY-GON, electronic
scanning microscopes Nikon ECLIPSE LV 150, NMM-800TRF,
planetary mill Pulverisette 7 premium line, SHIMADZU Dynamic
Ultra Micro Hardness Tester, DUH-211S, Analysette 12 Dyna sizer.
Abstract: Recently, numerous documents including large
volumes of unstructured data and text have been created because of the
rapid increase in the use of social media and the Internet. Usually,
these documents are categorized for the convenience of users. Because
the accuracy of manual categorization is not guaranteed, and such
categorization requires a large amount of time and incurs huge costs.
Many studies on automatic categorization have been conducted to help
mitigate the limitations of manual categorization. Unfortunately, most
of these methods cannot be applied to categorize complex documents
with multiple topics because they work on the assumption that
individual documents can be categorized into single categories only.
Therefore, to overcome this limitation, some studies have attempted to
categorize each document into multiple categories. However, the
learning process employed in these studies involves training using a
multi-categorized document set. These methods therefore cannot be
applied to the multi-categorization of most documents unless
multi-categorized training sets using traditional multi-categorization
algorithms are provided. To overcome this limitation, in this study, we
review our novel methodology for extending the category of a
single-categorized document to multiple categorizes, and then
introduce a survey-based verification scenario for estimating the
accuracy of our automatic categorization methodology.
Abstract: Evaluation of the excavation-induced ground
movements is an important design aspect of support systems in urban
areas. Geological and geotechnical conditions of an excavation area
have significant effects on excavation-induced ground movements and
the related damage. This paper is aimed at studying the performance of
excavation walls supported by nails in jointed rock medium. The
performance of nailed walls is investigated based on evaluating the
excavation-induced ground movements. For this purpose, a set of
calibrated 2D finite element models are developed by taking into
account the nail-rock-structure interactions, the anisotropic properties
of jointed rock, and the staged construction process. The results of this
paper highlight effects of different parameters such as joint
inclinations, anisotropy of rocks and nail inclinations on deformation
parameters of excavation wall supported by nails.
Abstract: Clustering is a process of grouping objects and data
into groups of clusters to ensure that data objects from the same
cluster are identical to each other. Clustering algorithms in one of the
area in data mining and it can be classified into partition, hierarchical,
density based and grid based. Therefore, in this paper we do survey
and review four major hierarchical clustering algorithms called
CURE, ROCK, CHAMELEON and BIRCH. The obtained state of
the art of these algorithms will help in eliminating the current
problems as well as deriving more robust and scalable algorithms for
clustering.