Abstract: Application of synthetic antioxidants such as tertbutylhydroquinon
(TBHQ), in spite of their efficiency, is questioned
because of their possible carcinogenic effect. The purpose of this
study was application of mixtures of natural antioxidants that provide
the best oxidative stability for margarine. Antioxidant treatments
included 10 various mixtures (F1- F10) containing 100-500ppm
tocopherol mixture (Toc), 100-200ppm ascorbyl palmitate (AP), 100-
200ppm rosemary extract (Ros) and 1000ppm lecithin(Lec) along
with a control or F0 (with no antioxidant) and F11 with 120ppm
TBHQ. The effect of antioxidant mixtures on the stability of
margarine samples during oven test (60°C), rancimat test at 110°C
and storage at 4°C was evaluated. Final ranking of natural antioxidant
mixtures was as follows: F2,F10>F5,F9>F8>F1,F3,F4>F6, F7.
Considering the results of this research and ranking criteria,
F2(200ppmAp + 200ppmRos) and F10(200ppmRos + 200ppmToc
+1000ppmLec) were recommended as substitutes for TBHQ to
maintain the quality and increase the shelf-life of margarine.
Abstract: The paper compares different channel models used for
modeling Broadband Power-Line Communication (BPLC) system.
The models compared are Zimmermann and Dostert, Philipps,
Anatory et al and Anatory et al generalized Transmission Line (TL)
model. The validity of each model was compared in time domain
with ATP-EMTP software which uses transmission line approach. It
is found that for a power-line network with minimum number of
branches all the models give similar signal/pulse time responses
compared with ATP-EMTP software; however, Zimmermann and
Dostert model indicates the same amplitude but different time delay.
It is observed that when the numbers of branches are increased only
generalized TL theory approach results are comparable with ATPEMTP
results. Also the Multi-Carrier Spread Spectrum (MC-SS)
system was applied to check the implication of such behavior on the
modulation schemes. It is observed that using Philipps on the
underground cable can predict the performance up to 25dB better
than other channel models which can misread the actual performance
of the system. Also modified Zimmermann and Dostert under
multipath can predict a better performance of about 5dB better than
the actual predicted by Generalized TL theory. It is therefore
suggested for a realistic BPLC system design and analyses the model
based on generalized TL theory be used.
Abstract: The present study was designed to demonstrate the seasonal variations in physico-chemical parameters of fish farm at Govt. Nursery Unit, Muzaffargarh, Department of Fisheries Govt. of Punjab, Pakistan for a period of eight months from January to August 2008. Water samples were collected on fifteen days basis and have been analyzed for estimation of Air temperature, Water temperature, Light penetration, pH, Total dissolved oxygen, Clouds, Carbonates, Bicarbonates, Total carbonates, Total dissolved solids, Chlorides, Calcium and Hardness. Seasonal fluctuations were observed in all the physico-chemical parameters of fish farm. The overall physicochemical parameters of fish pond water remained within the tolerable range throughout the study period.
Abstract: Food borne illnesses have been reported to be a global
health challenge. Annual incidences of food–related diseases involve
76 million cases, of which only 14 million can be traced to known
pathogens. Poor hygienic practices have contributed greatly to this. It
has been reported that in the year 2000 about 2.1 million people died
from diarrheal diseases, hence, there is a need to ensure food safety at
all level. This study focused on the sterility examination and
inhibitory effect of honey samples on selected gram negative and
gram positive food borne pathogen from South West Nigeria. The
laboratory examinations revealed the presence of some bacterial and
fungal contaminations of honey samples and that inhibitory activity
of the honey sample was more pronounced on the gram negative
bacteria than the gram positive bacterial isolates. Antibiotic
sensitivity test conducted on the different bacterial isolates also
showed that honey was able to inhibit the proliferation of the tested
bacteria than the employed antibiotics.
Abstract: Background: Widespread use of chemotherapeutic
drugs in the treatment of cancer has lead to higher health hazards
among employee who handle and administer such drugs, so nurses
should know how to protect themselves, their patients and their work
environment against toxic effects of chemotherapy. Aim of this study
was carried out to examine the effect of chemotherapy safety protocol
for oncology nurses on their protective measure practices. Design: A
quasi experimental research design was utilized. Setting: The study
was carried out in oncology department of Menoufia university
hospital and Tanta oncology treatment center. Sample: A
convenience sample of forty five nurses in Tanta oncology treatment
center and eighteen nurses in Menoufiya oncology department.
Tools: 1. an interviewing questionnaire that covering sociodemographic
data, assessment of unit and nurses' knowledge about
chemotherapy. II: Obeservational check list to assess nurses' actual
practices of handling and adminestration of chemotherapy. A base
line data were assessed before implementing Chemotherapy Safety
protocol, then Chemotherapy Safety protocol was implemented, and
after 2 monthes they were assessed again. Results: reveled that 88.9%
of study group I and 55.6% of study group II improved to good total
knowledge scores after educating on the safety protocol, also 95.6%
of study group I and 88.9% of study group II had good total practice
score after educating on the safety protocol. Moreover less than half
of group I (44.4%) reported that heavy workload is the most barriers
for them, while the majority of group II (94.4%) had many barriers
for adhering to the safety protocol such as they didn’t know the
protocol, the heavy work load and inadequate equipment.
Conclusions: Safety protocol for Oncology Nurses seemed to have
positive effect on improving nurses' knowledge and practice.
Recommendation: chemotherapy safety protocol should be instituted
for all oncology nurses who are working in any oncology unit and/ or
center to enhance compliance, and this protocol should be done at
frequent intervals.
Abstract: Quality control charts are very effective in detecting
out of control signals but when a control chart signals an out of
control condition of the process mean, searching for a special cause
in the vicinity of the signal time would not always lead to prompt
identification of the source(s) of the out of control condition as the
change point in the process parameter(s) is usually different from the
signal time. It is very important to manufacturer to determine at what
point and which parameters in the past caused the signal. Early
warning of process change would expedite the search for the special
causes and enhance quality at lower cost. In this paper the quality
variables under investigation are assumed to follow a multivariate
normal distribution with known means and variance-covariance
matrix and the process means after one step change remain at the new
level until the special cause is being identified and removed, also it is
supposed that only one variable could be changed at the same time.
This research applies artificial neural network (ANN) to identify the
time the change occurred and the parameter which caused the change
or shift. The performance of the approach was assessed through a
computer simulation experiment. The results show that neural
network performs effectively and equally well for the whole shift
magnitude which has been considered.
Abstract: Clean air in subway station is important to passengers. The Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) can improve indoor air quality in the subway station; however the air quality in the subway tunnel is degraded. The subway tunnel has high CO2 concentration and indoor particulate matter (PM) value. The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) level in subway environment degrades by increasing the frequency of the train operation and the number of the train. The ventilation systems of the subway tunnel need improvements to have better air-quality. Numerical analyses might be effective tools to analyze the performance of subway twin-track tunnel ventilation systems. An existing subway twin-track tunnel in the metropolitan Seoul subway system is chosen for the numerical simulations. The ANSYS CFX software is used for unsteady computations of the airflow inside the twin-track tunnel when the train moves. The airflow inside the tunnel is simulated when one train runs and two trains run at the same time in the tunnel. The piston-effect inside the tunnel is analyzed when all shafts function as the natural ventilation shaft. The supplied air through the shafts is mixed with the pollutant air in the tunnel. The pollutant air is exhausted by the mechanical ventilation shafts. The supplied and discharged airs are balanced when only one train runs in the twin-track tunnel. The pollutant air in the tunnel is high when two trains run simultaneously in opposite direction and all shafts functioned as the natural shaft cases when there are no electrical power supplies in the shafts. The remained pollutant air inside the tunnel enters into the station platform when the doors are opened.
Abstract: Overcurrent (OC) relays are the major protection
devices in a distribution system. The operating time of the OC relays
are to be coordinated properly to avoid the mal-operation of the
backup relays. The OC relay time coordination in ring fed
distribution networks is a highly constrained optimization problem
which can be stated as a linear programming problem (LPP). The
purpose is to find an optimum relay setting to minimize the time of
operation of relays and at the same time, to keep the relays properly
coordinated to avoid the mal-operation of relays.
This paper presents two phase simplex method for optimum time
coordination of OC relays. The method is based on the simplex
algorithm which is used to find optimum solution of LPP. The
method introduces artificial variables to get an initial basic feasible
solution (IBFS). Artificial variables are removed using iterative
process of first phase which minimizes the auxiliary objective
function. The second phase minimizes the original objective function
and gives the optimum time coordination of OC relays.
Abstract: Grid networks provide the ability to perform higher throughput computing by taking advantage of many networked computer-s resources to solve large-scale computation problems. As the popularity of the Grid networks has increased, there is a need to efficiently distribute the load among the resources accessible on the network. In this paper, we present a stochastic network system that gives a distributed load-balancing scheme by generating almost regular networks. This network system is self-organized and depends only on local information for load distribution and resource discovery. The in-degree of each node is refers to its free resources, and job assignment and resource discovery processes required for load balancing is accomplished by using fitted random sampling. Simulation results show that the generated network system provides an effective, scalable, and reliable load-balancing scheme for the distributed resources accessible on Grid networks.
Abstract: In this paper, we argue that Design research is basic to countries- national productivity and competition agendas at the same time that vagaries of research training presents as one of the barriers faced by Design Higher Degree by Research students in engaging those agendas. We argue that, given industry requirements for research-trained recruits, students have the right to expect that research training will provide the foundations of a successful career on an academic or research pathway or a professional pathway, but that universities have yet to address problems in their provision of research training for Design doctoral students. We suggest that to facilitate this, rigorous research conducted on the provision of Doctoral programs in Design would serve to inform future activities in Design research in productive ways.
Abstract: Post growth annealing of solution grown ZnO
nanowire array is performed under controlled oxygen ambience. The
role of annealing over surface defects and their consequence on
dark/photo-conductivity and photosensitivity of nanowire array is
investigated. Surface defect properties are explored using various
measurement tools such as contact angle, photoluminescence, Raman
spectroscopy and XPS measurements. The contact angle of the NW
films reduces due to oxygen annealing and nanowire film surface
changes from hydrophobic (96°) to hydrophilic (16°). Raman and
XPS spectroscopy reveal that oxygen annealing improves the crystal
quality of the nanowire films. The defect band emission intensity
(relative to band edge emission, ID/IUV) reduces from 1.3 to 0.2 after
annealing at 600 °C at 10 SCCM flow of oxygen. An order
enhancement in dark conductivity is observed in O2 annealed
samples, while photoconductivity is found to be slightly reduced due
to lower concentration of surface related oxygen defects.
Abstract: The social force model which belongs to the
microscopic pedestrian studies has been considered as the supremacy
by many researchers and due to the main feature of reproducing the
self-organized phenomena resulted from pedestrian dynamic. The
Preferred Force which is a measurement of pedestrian-s motivation to
adapt his actual velocity to his desired velocity is an essential term on
which the model was set up. This Force has gone through stages of
development: first of all, Helbing and Molnar (1995) have modeled
the original force for the normal situation. Second, Helbing and his
co-workers (2000) have incorporated the panic situation into this
force by incorporating the panic parameter to account for the panic
situations. Third, Lakoba and Kaup (2005) have provided the
pedestrians some kind of intelligence by incorporating aspects of the
decision-making capability. In this paper, the authors analyze the
most important incorporations into the model regarding the preferred
force. They make comparisons between the different factors of these
incorporations. Furthermore, to enhance the decision-making ability
of the pedestrians, they introduce additional features such as the
familiarity factor to the preferred force to let it appear more
representative of what actually happens in reality.
Abstract: Being creative in an educational environment, such as in the university, has many times been downplayed by bureaucracy, human inadequacy and physical hindrance. These factors control, stifle and subsequently condemn this natural phenomenon which is normally exuded by the tertiary community. If taken in a positive light, creativity has always led to many new discoveries and inventions. These creations are then gradually developed for the university reputation and achievements, in all fields of studies from the sciences to the humanities. This paper attempts to explore, through more than twenty years of observation, issues that stifle the university citizenry – academicians and students- – creativity. It also scrutinizes how enhancement of such creativity can be further supported by bureaucracy simplicity, encouraging and developing human potential and constructing uncompromising physical infrastructure and administrative support. These ideals – all of which can help to promote creativity, increases the productivity of the university community in aspects of teaching, research, publication, innovation and commercialization; be it at national as well as at international arena for the good of human and societal growth and development. This discursive presentation hopes to address another issue on promoting university community creativity through several deliverables which require cooperation from every quarter of the institution so that being creative continues to be promoted for sustainable human capital growth and development of the country, if not, the global community.
Abstract: Recently, Cassava has been the driving force of many
developing countries- economic progress. To attain this level,
prerequisites were put in place enabling cassava sector to become an
industrial and a highly competitive crop. Cameroon can achieve the
same results. Moreover, it can upgrade the living conditions of both
rural and urban dwellers and stimulate the development of the whole
economy. Achieving this outcome calls for agricultural policy
reforms. The adoption and implementation of adequate policies go
along with efficient strategies. To choose effective strategies, an indepth
investigation of the sector-s problems is highly recommended.
This paper uses gap analysis method to evaluate cassava sector in
Cameroon. It studies the present situation (where it is now),
interrogates the future (where it should be) and finally proposes
solutions to fill the gap.
Abstract: Wireless ad hoc nodes are freely and dynamically
self-organize in communicating with others. Each node can act as
host or router. However it actually depends on the capability of
nodes in terms of its current power level, signal strength, number
of hops, routing protocol, interference and others. In this research,
a study was conducted to observe the effect of hops count over
different network topologies that contribute to TCP Congestion
Control performance degradation. To achieve this objective, a
simulation using NS-2 with different topologies have been
evaluated. The comparative analysis has been discussed based on
standard observation metrics: throughput, delay and packet loss
ratio. As a result, there is a relationship between types of topology
and hops counts towards the performance of ad hoc network. In
future, the extension study will be carried out to investigate the
effect of different error rate and background traffic over same
topologies.
Abstract: Delayed wound healing in diabetes is primarily
associated with hyperglycemia, over-expression of inflammatory
marker, oxidative stress and delayed collagen synthesis. This
unmanaged wound is producing high economic burden on the
society. Thus research is required to develop new and effective
treatment strategies to deal with this emerging issue. Our present
study incorporates the evaluation of wound healing effects of 50%
ethanol extract of Ocimum sanctum (OSE) in streptozotocin
(45mg/kg)-induced diabetic rats with concurrent wound ulcer. The
animals showing diabetes (Blood glucose level >140 and
Abstract: Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays were
fabricated onto a pre-treated titanium foil by anodic oxidation with a
voltage of 20V in phosphoric acid/sodium fluoride electrolyte. A pretreatment
of titanium foil involved washing with acetone,
isopropanol, ethanol and deionized water. Carbon doped TiO2
nanotubes (C-TNT) was fabricated 'in-situ' with the same method in
the presence of polyvinyl alcohol and urea as carbon sources. The
affects of polyvinyl alcohol concentration and oxidation time on the
composition, morphology and structure of the C-TN were studied by
FE-SEM, EDX and XRD techniques. FESEM images of the
nanotubes showed uniform arrays of C-TNTs. The density and
microstructures of the nanotubes were greatly affected by the content
of PVA. The introduction of the polyvinyl alcohol into the electrolyte
increases the amount of C content inside TiO2 nanotube arrays
uniformly. The influence of carbon content on the photo-current of
C-TNT was investigated and the I-V profiles of the nanotubes were
established. The preliminary results indicated that the 'in-situ'
doping technique produced a superior quality nanotubes compared to
post doping techniques.
Abstract: The affect of the attendance percentage, the overall
GPA and the number of credit hours the student is enrolled in at
specific semester on the grade attained in specific course has been
studied. This study has been performed on three courses offered in
industrial engineering department at the Hashemite University in
Jordan. Study has revealed that the grade attained by a student is
strongly affected by the attendance percentage and his overall GPA
with a value of R2 of 52.5%. Another model that has been
investigated is the relation between the semester GPA and the
attendance percentage, the number of credit hours enrolled in at
specific semester, and the overall GPA. This model gave us a strong
relationship between the semester GPA and attendance percentage
and the overall GPA with a value of R2 of 76.2%.
Abstract: Cement stabilization has been widely used for
improving the strength and stiffness of soft clayey soils. Cement
treated soil specimens used to investigate the stress-strain behaviour in
the laboratory study are usually cured for 7 days. This paper examines
the effects of curing time on the strength and stress strain behaviour of
cement treated marine clay under triaxial loading condition.
Laboratory-prepared cement treated Singapore marine clay with
different mix proportion S-C-W (soil solid-cement solid-water) and
curing time (7 days to 180 days) was investigated through conducting
unconfined compressive strength test and triaxial test. The results
show that the curing time has a significant effect on the unconfined
compressive strength u q , isotropic compression behaviour and stress
strain behaviour. Although the primary yield loci of the cement treated
soil specimens with the same mix proportion expand with curing time,
they are very narrowly banded and have nearly the same shape after
being normalized by isotropic compression primary stress '
py p . The
isotropic compression primary yield stress '
py p was shown to be
linearly related to unconfined compressive strength u q for specimens
with different curing time and mix proportion. The effect of curing
time on the hardening behaviour will diminish with consolidation
stress higher than isotropic compression primary yield stress but its
damping rate is dependent on the cement content.
Abstract: This study was conducted in order to determine the physical properties and stability of mayonnaise-like emulsions as affected by modified yam starches. Native yam starch was modified via pre-gelatinization and cross-linking phosphorylation procedures. The emulsions (50% oil dispersed phase) were prepared with 0.3% native potato, native yam, pre-gelatinized yam and cross-linking phosphorylation yam starches. The droplet size of surface weighted mean diameter was found to be significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the sample with cross-linking phosphorylation yam starch as compared to other samples. Moreover, the viscosity of the sample with pregelatinized yam starch was observed to be higher than that of other samples. The phase separation stability was low in the freshly prepared and stored (45 days, 5°C) emulsions containing native yam starch. This study thus generally suggested that modified yam starches were more suitable (i.e. better physical properties and stability) to be used as stabilizers in a similar system i.e. light mayonnaises, rather than a native yam starch.