Abstract: The electrokinetic flow resistance (electroviscous
effect) is predicted for steady state, pressure-driven liquid flow at
low Reynolds number in a microfluidic contraction of rectangular
cross-section. Calculations of the three dimensional flow are
performed in parallel using a finite volume numerical method. The
channel walls are assumed to carry a uniform charge density and the
liquid is taken to be a symmetric 1:1 electrolyte. Predictions are
presented for a single set of flow and electrokinetic parameters. It is
shown that the magnitude of the streaming potential gradient and the
charge density of counter-ions in the liquid is greater than that in
corresponding two-dimensional slit-like contraction geometry. The
apparent viscosity is found to be very close to the value for a
rectangular channel of uniform cross-section at the chosen Reynolds
number (Re = 0.1). It is speculated that the apparent viscosity for the
contraction geometry will increase as the Reynolds number is
reduced.
Abstract: A game animals – elk (Alces alces), deer (Cervus
elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) or wild boar (Sus scrofa
scrofa) - every autumn and winter period provide an excellent
investment, diversification of many consumer meals. In last years
consumption and assortiment of game meat products significantly
increase. Investigations about biochemical composition of game meat
are not very much. The meat of wild animals is more favourable for
human health because it has lower saturated fatty acids content, but
higher content of protein. Therefore the aim of investigations was to
compare biochemical composition of ungulates obtained in
Latvia.Investigations were carried out in wild animals different
regions of Latvia. In the studied samples protein, intramuscular fat,
fatty acids and cholesterol were determined. The biochemical
analysis of 54 samples were done. Results of analysis showed that
protein content 22.36 – 22.92% of all types of meat samples is not
different statistically, significantly lower fat content 1.33 ± 0.88%
had elk meat samples and 1.59 ± 0.59% roe deer samples. Content of
cholesterol was various 64.41 – 95.07% in the ruminant meat
samples of different species. From the dietetic point of view the best
composition of fatty acids has meat samples of roe deer.
Abstract: Aim of this work was to compare the efficacy of two
loading methods of proteins onto polymeric nanocarriers: adsorption
and encapsulation methods. Preliminary studies of protein loading
were done using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as model protein.
Nanocarriers were prepared starting from polylactic co-glycolic acid
(PLGA) polymer; production methods used are two different variants
of emulsion evaporation method. Nanoparticles obtained were
analyzed in terms of dimensions by Dynamic Light Scattering and
Loading Efficiency of BSA by Bradford Assay. Loaded
nanoparticles were then submitted to in-vitro protein dissolution test
in order to study the effect of the delivery system on the release rate
of the protein.
Abstract: Twenty four New Zealand white rabbits (12 does and
12 bucks) and twenty four Flanders (12 does and 12 bucks) rabbits,
allotted into two feeding regime (6 for each breed, 3 males and 3
females) first one fed commercial ration and second one fed
commercial diet plus sodium butyrate (300 g/ton). The obtained
results showed that at end of 8th week experimental period New
Zealand white rabbits were heavier body weight than Flanders rabbits
(1934.55+39.05 vs. 1802.5+30.99 g); significantly high body weight
gain during experimental period especially during 8th week
(136.1+3.5 vs. 126.8+1.8 g/week); better feed conversion ratio during
all weeks of experiment from first week (3.07+0.16 vs. 3.12+0.10)
till the 8th week of experiment (5.54+0.16 vs. 5.76+0.07) with
significantly high dressing percentages (0.54+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01).
Also all carcass cuts were significantly high in New Zealand white
rabbits than Flanders. Females rabbits (at the same age) were lower
body weight than males from start of experiment (941.1+39.8
vs.972.1+33.5 g) till the end of experiment (1833.64+37.69 vs.
1903.41+36.93 g); gained less during all weeks of experiment except
during 8th week (132.1+2.3 vs. 130.9+3.4 g/week), with lower
dressing percentage (0.52+0.01 vs. 0.53+0.01) and lighter carcass
cuts than males, however, they had better feed conversion ratio
during 1st week, 7th week and 8th week of experiment. Addition of
300g sodium butyrate/ton of rabbit increased the body weight of
rabbits at the end of experimental period (1882.71+26.45 vs.
1851.5+49.82 g); improve body weight gain at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and
7th week of experiment and significantly improve feed conversion
ratio during all weeks of the experiment from 1st week (2.85+0.07
vs. 3.30+0.15) till the 8th week of the experiment (5.51+0.12 vs.
5.77+0.12). Also the dressing percentage was higher in Sodium
butyrate fed groups than control one (0.53+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01) and
the most important results of feeding sodium butyrate is the reducing
of the mortality percentage in rabbits during 8 week experiment to
zero percentage as compared with 16% in control group.
Abstract: The scattering effect of light in fog improves the
difficulty in visibility thus introducing disturbances in transport
facilities in urban or industrial areas causing fatal accidents or public
harassments, therefore, developing an enhanced fog vision system
with radio wave to improvise the way outs of these severe problems
is really a big challenge for researchers. Series of experimental
studies already been done and more are in progress to know the
weather effect on radio frequencies for different ranges. According to
Rayleigh scattering Law, the propagating wavelength should be
greater than the diameter of the particle present in the penetrating
medium. Direct wave RF signal thus have high chance of failure to
work in such weather for detection of any object. Therefore an
extensive study was required to find suitable region in the RF band
that can help us in detecting objects with proper shape. This paper
produces some results on object detection using 912 MHz band with
successful detection of the persistence of any object coming under the
trajectory of a vehicle navigating in indoor and outdoor environment.
The developed images are finally transformed to video signal to
enable continuous monitoring.
Abstract: Fuzzy random variables have been introduced as an imprecise concept of numeric values for characterizing the imprecise knowledge. The descriptive parameters can be used to describe the primary features of a set of fuzzy random observations. In fuzzy environments, the expected values are usually represented as fuzzy-valued, interval-valued or numeric-valued descriptive parameters using various metrics. Instead of the concept of area metric that is usually adopted in the relevant studies, the numeric expected value is proposed by the concept of distance metric in this study based on two characters (fuzziness and randomness) of FRVs. Comparing with the existing measures, although the results show that the proposed numeric expected value is same with those using the different metric, if only triangular membership functions are used. However, the proposed approach has the advantages of intuitiveness and computational efficiency, when the membership functions are not triangular types. An example with three datasets is provided for verifying the proposed approach.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity
of a range of EEG indices to time-on-task effects and to a workload
manipulation (cueing), during performance of a resource-limited
vigilance task. Effects of task period and cueing on performance and
subjective state response were consistent with previous vigilance
studies and with resource theory. Two EEG indices – the Task Load
Index (TLI) and global lower frequency (LF) alpha power – showed
effects of task period and cueing similar to those seen with correct
detections. Across four successive task periods, the TLI declined and
LF alpha power increased. Cueing increased TLI and decreased LF
alpha. Other indices – the Engagement Index (EI), frontal theta and
upper frequency (UF) alpha failed to show these effects. However, EI
and frontal theta were sensitive to interactive effects of task period
and cueing, which may correspond to a stronger anxiety response to
the uncued task.
Abstract: FW4 is a newly developed hot die material widely
used in Forging Dies manufacturing. The right selection of the
machining conditions is one of the most important aspects to take
into consideration in the Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) of
FW4. In this paper an attempt has been made to develop
mathematical models for relating the Material Removal Rate (MRR),
Tool Wear Ratio (TWR) and surface roughness (Ra) to machining
parameters (current, pulse-on time and voltage). Furthermore, a study
was carried out to analyze the effects of machining parameters in
respect of listed technological characteristics. The results of analysis
of variance (ANOVA) indicate that the proposed mathematical
models, can adequately describe the performance within the limits of
the factors being studied.
Abstract: Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) are defined as
simple or multiple span bridges in which the bridge deck is cast
monolithically with the abutment walls. This kind of bridges are
becoming very popular due to different aspects such as good
response under seismic loading, low initial costs, elimination of
bearings, and less maintenance. However the main issue related to
the analysis of this type of structures is dealing with soil-structure
interaction of the abutment walls and the supporting piles. Various
soil constitutive models have been used in studies of soil-structure
interaction in this kind of structures by researchers. This paper is an
effort to review the implementation of various finite elements model
which explicitly incorporates the nonlinear soil and linear structural
response considering various soil constitutive models and finite
element mesh.
Abstract: The phylogenetic analysis using the most conservative
portions of 18S rRNA gene revealed the phylogenetic relationship
among the two populations where DNA divergence showed that the
nucleotides diversity value were -0.00838 for the Tanjung Dawai,
Kedah and -0.00708 for the Cherating, Pahang populations
respectively. The net nucleotide divergence among populations (Da)
was -0.0073 indicating a low polymorphism among the populations
studied. Total number of mutations in the Tanjung Dawai, Kedah
samples was higher than Cherating, Pahang samples, which are 73 and
59 respectively while shared mutations across the populations were 8,
and reveal the evolutionary in the genome of Malaysian T. gigas. The
tree topology of both populations inferred using Neigbour-joining
method by comparing 1791 bp of partial 18S rRNA sequence revealed
that T. gigas haplotypes were clustered into seven clades, suggesting
that they are genetically diverse among populations which derived
from a common ancestor.
Abstract: The effect of phosphorus supplementation of ammoniated rice straw was studied. The in vitro experiment was carried out following the first stage of Tilley and Terry method. The treatments consisting of four diets were A = 50% ammoniated rice straw + 50% concentrate (control), B = A + 0.2% Phosphor (P) supplement, C = A + 0.4% Phosphor (P) supplement, and D = A + 0.6% Phosphor (P) supplement of dry matter. Completely randomized design was used as the experimental design with differences among treatment means were examined using Duncan multiple range test. Variables measured were total bacterial and cellulolytic bacterial population, cellulolytic enzyme activity, ammonia (NH3) and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations, as fermentability indicators and synthesized microbial protein, as well as degradability indicators including dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and cellulose. The results indicated that fermentability and degradability of diets consisting ammoniated rice straw with P supplementation were significantly higher than the control diet (P< 0.05). It is concluded that P supplementation is important to improve fermentability and degradability of rations containing ammoniated RS and concentrate. In terms of the most effective level of P supplementation occurred at a supplementation rate of 0.4% of dry matter.
Abstract: The colonic tissue is a complicated dynamic system
and the colonic activities it generates are composed of irregular
segmental waves, which are referred to as erratic fluctuations or spikes.
They are also highly irregular with subunit fractal structure. The
traditional time-frequency domain statistics like the averaged
amplitude, the motility index and the power spectrum, etc. are
insufficient to describe such fluctuations. Thus the fractal
box-counting dimension is proposed and the fractal scaling behaviors
of the human colonic pressure activities under the physiological
conditions are studied. It is shown that the dimension of the resting
activity is smaller than that of the normal one, whereas the clipped
version, which corresponds to the activity of the constipation patient,
shows with higher fractal dimension. It may indicate a practical
application to assess the colonic motility, which is often indicated by
the colonic pressure activity.
Abstract: The practice of burying the solid waste under the ground is one of the waste disposal methods and dumping is known as an ultimate method in the fastest-growing cities like Rasht city in Iran. Some municipalities select the solid waste landfills without feasibility studies, programming, design and management plans. Therefore, several social and environmental impacts are created by these sites. In this study, the suitability of solid waste landfill in Rasht city, capital of Gilan Province is reviewed using Regional Screening Method (RSM), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results indicated that according to the suitability maps, the value of study site is midsuitable to suitable based on RSM and mid-suitable based on AHP.
Abstract: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a severe
cardiovascular disorder characterized by progressive systolic
dysfunction due to cardiac chamber dilatation and inefficient
myocardial contractility often leading to chronic heart failure.
Recently, a genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on DCM
indicate that the ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 single nucleotide
polymorphism is associated with DCM. The aim of the study was to
identify the distribution of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism
in 50 Slovak patients with DCM and 80 healthy control subjects
using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Risk factors
detected at baseline in each group included age, sex, body mass
index, smoking status, diabetes and blood pressure. The mean age of
patients with DCM was 52.9±6.3 years; the mean age of individuals
in control group was 50.3±8.9 years. The distribution of investigated
genotypes of rs10927875 polymorphism within ZBTB17 gene in the
cohort of Slovak patients with DCM was as follows: CC (38.8%), CT
(55.1%), TT (6.1%), in controls: CC (43.8%), CT (51.2%), TT
(5.0%). The risk allele T was more common among the patients with
dilated cardiomyopathy than in normal controls (33.7% versus
30.6%). The differences in genotype or allele frequencies of ZBTB17
gene rs10927875 polymorphism were not statistically significant
(p=0.6908; p=0.6098). The results of this study suggest that ZBTB17
gene rs10927875 polymorphism may be a risk factor for
susceptibility to DCM in Slovak patients with DCM. Studies of
numerous files and additional functional investigations are needed to
fully understand the roles of genetic associations.
Abstract: In this paper a new concept of partial complement of a graph G is introduced and using the same a new graph parameter, called completion number of a graph G, denoted by c(G) is defined. Some basic properties of graph parameter, completion number, are studied and upperbounds for completion number of classes of graphs are obtained , the paper includes the characterization also.
Abstract: This paper analyses the non linear properties
exhibited by a drill string system under various un balanced mass
conditions. The drill string is affected by continuous friction in the
form of drill bit and well bore hole interactions. This paper proves
the origin of limit cycling and increase of non linearity with increase
in speed of the drilling in the presence of friction. The spectrum of
the frequency response is also studied to detect the presence of
vibration abnormalities arising during the drilling process.
Abstract: Among neural models the Support Vector Machine
(SVM) solutions are attracting increasing attention, mostly because
they eliminate certain crucial questions involved by neural network
construction. The main drawback of standard SVM is its high
computational complexity, therefore recently a new technique, the
Least Squares SVM (LS–SVM) has been introduced. In this paper we
present an extended view of the Least Squares Support Vector
Regression (LS–SVR), which enables us to develop new
formulations and algorithms to this regression technique. Based on
manipulating the linear equation set -which embodies all information
about the regression in the learning process- some new methods are
introduced to simplify the formulations, speed up the calculations
and/or provide better results.
Abstract: Turbine blade cooling is considered as the most
effective way of maintaining high operating temperature making use
of the available materials, and turbine systems with wet compression
have a potential for future power generation because of high efficiency
and high specific power with a relatively low cost. In this paper
performance analysis of wet-compression gas turbine cycle with
turbine blade cooling is carried out. The wet compression process is
analytically modeled based on non-equilibrium droplet evaporation.
Special attention is paid for the effects of pressure ratio and water
injection ratio on the important system variables such as ratio of
coolant fluid flow, fuel consumption, thermal efficiency and specific
power. Parametric studies show that wet compression leads to
insignificant improvement in thermal efficiency but significant
enhancement of specific power in gas turbine systems with turbine
blade cooling.
Abstract: With previous studies that examined the importance
of functional store image and CSR, this study is aimed at examining
their effects in the self-congruity model in influencing store loyalty.
In particular, this study developed and tested a structural model in the
context of retailing industry on the self-congruity theory. Whilst
much of the self-congruity studies have incorporated functional store
image, there has been lack of studies that examined social
responsibility image of retail stores in the self-congruity studies.
Findings indicate that self-congruity influence on store loyalty was
mediated by both functional store image and social responsibility
image. In influencing store loyalty, the findings have shown that
social responsibility image has a stronger influence on store loyalty
than functional store image. This study offers important findings and
implications for future research as it presents a new framework on
the importance of social responsibility image.
Abstract: Bacterial cellulose, a biopolysaccharide, is produced by the bacterium, Gluconacetobacter xylinus. Static batch fermentation for bacterial cellulose production was studied in sucrose and date syrup solutions (Bx. 10%) at 28 °C using G. xylinus (PTCC, 1734). Results showed that the maximum yields of bacterial cellulose (BC) were 4.35 and 1.69 g/l00 ml for date syrup and sucrose medium after 336 hours fermentation period, respectively. Comparison of FTIR spectrum of cellulose with BC indicated appropriate coincidence which proved that the component produced by G. xylinus was cellulose. Determination of the area under X-ray diffractometry patterns demonstrated that the crystallinity amount of cellulose (83.61%) was more than that for the BC (60.73%). The scanning electron microscopy imaging of BC and cellulose were carried out in two magnifications of 1 and 6K. Results showed that the diameter ratio of BC to cellulose was approximately 1/30 which indicated more delicacy of BC fibers relative to cellulose.