Abstract: Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a promising
modern approach to the unused combinatorial optimization. Here
ACO is applied to finding the shortest during communication link
failure. In this paper, the performances of the prim’s and ACO
algorithm are made. By comparing the time complexity and program
execution time as set of parameters, we demonstrate the pleasant
performance of ACO in finding excellent solution to finding shortest
path during communication link failure.
Abstract: Aging infrastructures became a serious social problem.
This brought out the increased need for the legislation of a new strict
guideline for infrastructure management. Although existing guidelines
provided basics of how to evaluate and manage the condition of
infrastructures, they needed improvements for their evaluation
procedures. Most guidelines mainly focused on the structural
condition of infrastructures and did not properly reflect service aspects
of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc.,
which were significantly valuable to public. Regardless of the
importance, these factors were often neglected in infrastructure
evaluations, because they were quite subjective and difficult to
quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposed a framework to
properly identify and evaluate the service indicators. This study
showed that service indicators could be grouped into two categories
and properly evaluated using AHP and Fuzzy. Overall, proposed
framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing
effective investment strategies for infrastructure improvements.
Abstract: Food poisoning and infection by bacteria are of public
health significance to both developing and developed countries.
Samples of ogi (akamu) prepared from white and yellow variety of
maize sold in Uturu and Okigwe were analyzed together with the
laboratory prepared ogi for bacterial quality using the standard
microbiological methods. The analyses showed that both white and
yellow variety had total bacterial counts (cfu/g) of 4.0 ×107 and 3.9 x
107 for the laboratory prepared ogi while the commercial ogi had 5.2
x 107 and 4.9 x107, 4.9 x107 and 4.5 x107, 5.4 x107 and 5.0 x107 for
Eke-Okigwe, Up-gate and Nkwo-Achara market respectively. The
Staphylococcal counts ranged from 2.0 x 102 to 5.0 x102 and 1.0 x
102 to 4.0 x102 for the white and yellow variety from the different
markets while Staphylococcal growth was not recorded on the
laboratory prepared ogi. The laboratory prepared ogi had no Coliform
growth while the commercially prepared ogi had counts of 0.5 x103
to 1.6 x 103 for white variety and 0.3 x 103 to 1.1 x103 for yellow
variety respectively. The Lactic acid bacterial count of 3.5x106 and
3.0x106 was recorded for the laboratory ogi while the commercially
prepared ogi ranged from 3.2x106 to 4.2x106 (white variety) and 3.0
x106 to 3.9 x106 (yellow). The presence of bacteria isolates from the
commercial and laboratory fermented ogi showed that Lactobacillus
sp, Leuconostoc sp and Citrobacter sp were present in all the
samples, Micrococcus sp and Klebsiella sp were isolated from Eke-
Okigwe and ABSU-up-gate markets varieties respectively, E. coli
and Staphylococcus sp were present in Eke-Okigwe and Nkwo-
Achara markets while Salmonella sp were isolated from the three
markets. Hence, there are chances of contracting food borne diseases
from commercially prepared ogi. Therefore, there is the need for
sanitary measures in the production of fermented cereals so as to
minimize the rate of food borne pathogens during processing and
storage.
Abstract: Waste Load Allocation (WLA) strategies usually
intend to find economic policies for water resource management.
Water quality trading (WQT) is an approach that uses discharge
permit market to reduce total environmental protection costs. This
primarily requires assigning discharge limits known as total
maximum daily loads (TMDLs). These are determined by monitoring
organizations with respect to the receiving water quality and
remediation capabilities. The purpose of this study is to compare two
approaches of TMDL assignment for WQT policy in small catchment
area of Haraz River, in north of Iran. At first, TMDLs are assigned
uniformly for the whole point sources to keep the concentrations of
BOD and dissolved oxygen (DO) at the standard level at checkpoint
(terminus point). This was simply simulated and controlled by
Qual2kw software. In the second scenario, TMDLs are assigned
using multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) method
in which the environmental violation at river basin and total treatment
costs are minimized simultaneously. In both scenarios, the equity
index and the WLA based on trading discharge permits (TDP) are
calculated. The comparative results showed that using economically
optimized TMDLs (2nd scenario) has slightly more cost savings rather
than uniform TMDL approach (1st scenario). The former annually
costs about 1 M$ while the latter is 1.15 M$. WQT can decrease
these annual costs to 0.9 and 1.1 M$, respectively. In other word,
these approaches may save 35 and 45% economically in comparison
with command and control policy. It means that using multi objective
decision support systems (DSS) may find more economical WLA,
however its outcome is not necessarily significant in comparison with
uniform TMDLs. This may be due to the similar impact factors of
dischargers in small catchments. Conversely, using uniform TMDLs
for WQT brings more equity that makes stakeholders not feel that
much envious of difference between TMDL and WQT allocation. In
addition, for this case, determination of TMDLs uniformly would be
much easier for monitoring. Consequently, uniform TMDL for TDP
market is recommended as a sustainable approach. However,
economical TMDLs can be used for larger watersheds.
Abstract: Psyllium gum alone and in combination with
sunflower oil was investigated as a possible alternative edible coating
for improvement of quality and shelf life of fresh-cut papaya.
Different concentrations including 0.5, 1 and 1.5 percent of psyllium
gum were used for coating of fresh-cut papaya. In some samples,
refined sunflower oil was used as a lipid component to increase the
effectiveness of coating in terms of water barrier properties. Soya
lecithin was used as an emulsifier in coatings containing oil.
Pretreatment with 1% calcium chloride was given to maintain the
firmness of fresh-cut papaya cubes. 1% psyllium gum coating was
found to yield better results. Further, addition of oil helped to
maintain the quality and acted as a barrier to water vapour, therefore,
minimizing the weight loss.
Abstract: In this study, the feasibility of incorporating ceramic
waste from bricks (perforated brick and double hollow brick) and
extruded polystyrene (XPS) waste, is analysed.
Results show that it is possible to incorporate up to 25% of
ceramic waste and 4% of XPS waste over the weight of gypsum in a
gypsum matrix. Furthermore, with the addition of ceramic waste an
8% of surface hardness increase and a 25% of capillary water
absorption reduction can be obtained. On the other hand, with the
addition of XPS, a 26% reduction of density and a 37% improvement
of thermal conductivity can be obtained.
The obtained results are favorable to use these materials in order to
produce prefabricated gypsum and also as material for interior
cladding walls.
Abstract: Several parameters are established in order to measure
biodiesel quality. One of them is the iodine value, which is an
important parameter that measures the total unsaturation within a
mixture of fatty acids. Limitation of unsaturated fatty acids is
necessary since warming of higher quantity of these ones ends in
either formation of deposits inside the motor or damage of lubricant.
Determination of iodine value by official procedure tends to be very
laborious, with high costs and toxicity of the reagents, this study uses
artificial neural network (ANN) in order to predict the iodine value
property as an alternative to these problems. The methodology of
development of networks used 13 esters of fatty acids in the input
with convergence algorithms of back propagation of back
propagation type were optimized in order to get an architecture of
prediction of iodine value. This study allowed us to demonstrate the
neural networks’ ability to learn the correlation between biodiesel
quality properties, in this caseiodine value, and the molecular
structures that make it up. The model developed in the study reached
a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.99 for both network validation and
network simulation, with Levenberg-Maquardt algorithm.
Abstract: A comparison of activity and stability of the as-formed
Pt/C, Pt-Co and Pt-Pd/C electrocatalysts, prepared by a combined
approach of impregnation and seeding, was performed. According to
the activity test in a single Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel
cell, the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) activity of the Pt-M/C
electrocatalyst was slightly lower than that of Pt/C. The j0.9 V and
E10 mA/cm2 of the as-prepared electrocatalysts increased in the order of
Pt/C > Pt-Co/C > Pt-Pd/C. However, in the medium-to-high current
density region, Pt-Pd/C exhibited the best performance. With regard to
their stability in a 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution, the
electrochemical surface area decreased as the number of rounds of
repetitive potential cycling increased due to the dissolution of the
metals within the catalyst structure. For long-term measurement, Pt-
Pd/C was the most stable than the other three electrocatalysts.
Abstract: This work studies the effect of chemical composition
on the activity and selectivity of γ–alumina supported CuO/
MnO2/Cr2O3 catalysts toward deep oxidation of CO, dimethyl ether
(DME) and methanol. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation
of the support with an aqueous solution of copper nitrate, manganese
nitrate and CrO3 under different conditions. Thermal, XRD and TPR
analysis were performed. The catalytic measurements of single
compounds oxidation were carried out on continuous flow equipment
with a four-channel isothermal stainless steel reactor. Flow-line
equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all
compounds under the conditions that mimic closely the industrial
ones was used. The reactant and product gases were analyzed by
means of on-line gas chromatographs.
On the basis of XRD analysis it can be concluded that the active
component of the mixed Cu-Mn-Cr/γ–alumina catalysts consists of at
least six compounds – CuO, Cr2O3, MnO2, Cu1.5Mn1.5O4,
Cu1.5Cr1.5O4 and CuCr2O4, depending on the Cu/Mn/Cr molar ratio.
Chemical composition strongly influences catalytic properties, this
influence being quite variable with regards to the different processes.
The rate of CO oxidation rapidly decrease with increasing of
chromium content in the active component while for the DME was
observed the reverse trend. It was concluded that the best
compromise are the catalysts with Cu/(Mn + Cr) molar ratio 1:5 and
Mn/Cr molar ratio from 1:3 to 1:4.
Abstract: This paper aims to study the effect of cold work
condition on the microstructure of Cu-1.5wt%Ti, and Cu-3.5wt%Ti
and hence mechanical properties. The samples under investigation
were machined, and solution heat treated. X-ray diffraction technique
is used to identify the different phases present after cold deformation
by compression and also different heat treatment and also measuring
the relative quantities of phases present. The metallographic
examination is used to study the microstructure of the samples. The
hardness measurements were used to indicate the change in
mechanical properties. The results are compared with the mechanical
properties obtained by previous workers. Experiments on cold
compression followed by aging of Cu-Ti alloys have indicated that
the most efficient hardening of the material results from continuous
precipitation of very fine particles within the matrix. These particles
were reported to be β`-type, Cu4Ti phase. The β`-β transformation
and particles coarsening within the matrix as well as long grain
boundaries were responsible for the overaging of Cu-1.5wt%Ti and
Cu-3.5wt%Ti alloys. It is well known that plate-like particles are β –
type, Cu3Ti phase. Discontinuous precipitation was found to start at
the grain boundaries and expand into grain interior. At the higher
aging temperature, a classic Widmanstätten morphology forms giving
rise to a coarse microstructure comprised of α and the equilibrium
phase β. Those results were confirmed by X-ray analysis, which
found that a few percent of Cu3Ti, β precipitates are formed during
aging at high temperature for long time for both Cu- Ti alloys (i.e.
Cu-1.5wt%Ti and Cu-3.5wt%Ti).
Abstract: Evidence shows that start-ups success is positively
correlated with the launch of the first product. However, new ventures
are seldom able to acquire abundant resources for new product
development (NPD), which means that entrepreneurs may depend on
personal creativity instead of physical investments to achieve and
accelerate innovation speed. This study accentuates the role of
entrepreneurial bricolage, which defined as making do by applying
combinations of the resources at hand to new problems and
opportunities, in the relations of creative self-efficacy and innovation
speed. This study uses the multiple regression analysis to test the
hypotheses in a sample of 203 start-ups operating in various creative
markets in Taiwan. Results reveal that creative self-efficacy is
positively and directly associated with innovation speed, whereas
entrepreneurial bricolage plays a full mediator. These findings offer
important theoretical and practical implications.
Abstract: Haynes 25 alloy (also known as L-605 alloy) is cobalt
based super alloy which has widely applications such as aerospace
industry, turbine and furnace parts, power generators and heat
exchangers and petroleum refining components due to its excellent
characteristics. However, the workability of this alloy is more
difficult compared to normal steels or even stainless. In present work,
an experimental investigation was performed under cryogenic
cooling to determine cutting tool wear patterns and obtain optimal
cutting parameters in turning of cobalt based superalloy Haynes 25.
In experiments, uncoated carbide tool was used and cutting speed (V)
and feed rate (f) were considered as test parameters. Tool wear
(VBmax) were measured for process performance indicators.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the
importance of machining parameters.
Abstract: Amoxicillin is an antibiotic which is widely used to
treat various infections in both human beings and animals. However,
when amoxicillin is released into the environment, it is a major
problem. Amoxicillin causes bacterial resistance to these drugs and
failure of treatment with antibiotics. Liquid membrane is of great
interest as a promising method for the separation and recovery of the
target ions from aqueous solutions due to the use of carriers for the
transport mechanism, resulting in highly selectivity and rapid
transportation of the desired metal ions. The simultaneous processes
of extraction and stripping in a single unit operation of liquid
membrane system are very interesting. Therefore, it is practical to
apply liquid membrane, particularly the HFSLM for industrial
applications as HFSLM is proved to be a separation process with
lower capital and operating costs, low energy and extractant with
long life time, high selectivity and high fluxes compared with solid
membranes. It is a simple design amenable to scaling up for industrial
applications. The extraction and recovery for (Amoxicillin) through
the hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) using
aliquat336 as a carrier were explored with the experimental data. The
important variables affecting on transport of amoxicillin viz.
extractant concentration and operating time were investigated. The
highest AMOX- extraction percentages of 85.35 and Amoxicillin
stripping of 80.04 were achieved with the best condition at 6 mmol/L
[aliquat336] and operating time 100 min. The extraction reaction
order (n) and the extraction reaction rate constant (kf) were found to
be 1.00 and 0.0344 min-1, respectively.
Abstract: Construction projects are information intensive in
nature and involve many activities that are related to each other.
Wireless technologies can be used to improve the accuracy and
timeliness of data collected from construction sites and shares it with
appropriate parties. Nonetheless, the construction industry tends to be
conservative and shows hesitation to adopt new technologies. A main
concern for owners, contractors or any person in charge on a job site
is the cost of the technology in question. Wireless technologies are
not cheap. There are a lot of expenses to be taken into consideration,
and a study should be completed to make sure that the importance
and savings resulting from the usage of this technology is worth the
expenses. This research attempts to assess the effectiveness of using
the appropriate wireless technologies based on criteria such as
performance, reliability, and risk. The assessment is based on a utility
function model that breaks down the selection issue into alternatives
attribute. Then the attributes are assigned weights and single
attributes are measured. Finally, single attribute are combined to
develop one single aggregate utility index for each alternative.
Abstract: We used live E. coli containing synthetic genetic
oscillators to study how the degree of synchrony between the genetic
circuits of sister cells changes with temperature. We found that both
the mean and the variability of the degree of synchrony between the
fluorescence signals from sister cells are affected by temperature.
Also, while most pairs of sister cells were found to be highly
synchronous in each condition, the number of asynchronous pairs
increased with increasing temperature, which was found to be due to
disruptions in the oscillations. Finally we provide evidence that these
disruptions tend to affect multiple generations as opposed to
individual cells. These findings provide insight in how to design
more robust synthetic circuits and in how cell division can affect their
dynamics.
Abstract: The effect of processing on plasma lipid profile and
atherogenic indices of rats fed Artocarpus heterophyllus seed diets at
different concentrations were investigated. Fifty five rats were used
for this study, they were divided into eleven groups of five rats each
(one control group and ten test groups), the test groups were fed raw,
boiled, roasted, fermented and soaked diets at 10% and 40%
concentrations. The study lasted for thirty five days. The diets led to
significant decrease (p
Abstract: This study aims at developing a novel cold asphalt
concrete binder course mixture by using Ordinary Portland Cement
(OPC) as a replacement for conventional mineral filler (0%-100%)
with new by-product material (LJMU-A2) used as a supplementary
cementitious material. With this purpose, cold asphalt concrete binder
course mixtures with cationic emulsions were studied by means of
stiffness modulus whereas water sensitivity was assessed by
measuring the stiffness modulus ratio before and after sample
conditioning.
The results indicate that a substantial enhancement in the stiffness
modulus and a considerable improvement of water sensitivity
resistance is achieved by adding LJMU-A2 to the cold asphalt
mixtures as a supplementary cementitious material. Moreover, the
addition of LJMU-A2 to those mixtures leads to a stiffness modulus
after 2-day curing compared to that obtained with Portland cement,
which occurs after 7-day curing.
Abstract: Mitigating soil erosion, especially in Mediterranean
countries such as Greece, is essential in order to maintain
environmental and agricultural sustainability. In this paper, scientific
publications related to soil erosion studies in Greece were reviewed
and categorized. To accomplish this, the online search engine of
Scopus was used. The key words were “soil”, “erosion” and
“Greece.” An analysis of the published articles was conducted at
three levels: i) type of publication, ii) chronologic and iii) thematic. A
hundred and ten publications published in scientific journals were
reviewed. The results showed that the awareness regarding the soil
erosion in Greece has increased only in the last decades. The
publications covered a wide range of thematic categories such as the
type of studied areas, the physical phenomena that trigger and
influence the soil erosion, the negative anthropogenic impacts on
them, the assessment tools that were used in order to examine the
threat and the proper management. The analysis of these articles was
significant and necessary in order to find the scientific gaps of soil
erosion studies in Greece and help enhance the sustainability of soil
management in the future.
Abstract: Background: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
is the most common symptom when ordinary individuals and athletes
are exposed to unaccustomed physical activity, especially eccentric
contraction which impairs athletic performance, ordinary people
work ability and physical functioning. Multitudes of methods have
been investigated to reduce DOMS. One of the valuable methods to
control DOMS is repeated bout effect (RBE) as a prophylactic
method. Purpose: To compare the repeated bout effect of
submaximal eccentric with maximal isometric contraction on induced
DOMS. Methods: Sixty normal male volunteers were assigned
randomly into three equal groups: Group A (first study group): 20
subjects received submaximal eccentric contraction on non-dominant
elbow flexors as a prophylactic exercise. Group B (second study
group): 20 subjects received maximal isometric contraction on nondominant
elbow flexors as a prophylactic exercise. Group C (control
group): 20 subjects did not receive any prophylactic exercises.
Maximal isometric peak torque of elbow flexors and patient related
elbow evaluation (PREE) scale were measured for each subject 3
times before, immediately after, and 48 hours after induction of
DOMS. Results: Post-hoc test for maximal isometric peak torque and
PREE scale immediately and 48 hours after induction of DOMS
revealed that group (A) and group (B) resulted in significant decrease
in maximal isometric strength loss and elbow pain and disability
rather than control group (C), but submaximal eccentric group (A)
was more effective than maximal isometric group (B) as it showed
more rapid recovery of functional strength and less degrees of elbow
pain and disability. Conclusion: Both submaximal eccentric
contraction and maximal isometric contraction were effective in
prevention of DOMS but submaximal eccentric contraction produced
a greater protective effect against muscle damage induced by
maximal eccentric exercise performed 2 days later.
Abstract: Most of the oil palm plantations have been threatened
by Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease which causes serious economic
impact. This study was conducted to identify the healthy and BSRinfected
oil palm tree using thirteen color indices. Multispectral and
thermal camera was used to capture 216 images of the leaves taken
from frond number 1, 9 and 17. Indices of normalized difference
vegetation index (NDVI), red (R), green (G), blue (B), near infrared
(NIR), green – blue (GB), green/blue (G/B), green – red (GR),
green/red (G/R), hue (H), saturation (S), intensity (I) and thermal
index (T) were used. From this study, it can be concluded that G
index taken from frond number 9 is the best index to differentiate
between the healthy and BSR-infected oil palm trees. It not only gave
high value of correlation coefficient (R=-0.962), but also high value
of separation between healthy and BSR-infected oil palm tree.
Furthermore, power and S model developed using G index gave the
highest R2 value which is 0.985.