Abstract: The use of bioindicators plants (lichens, bryophytes
and Sphagnum....) in monitoring pollution by heavy metals has been
the subject of several works. However, few studies have addressed
the impact of specific type-s pollutants (fertilizers, pesticides.) on
these organisms.
We propose in this work to make the highlighting effect of NPKs
(NPK: nitrogen-phosphate-potassium-sulfate (NP2O5K2O) (15,15,15),
at concentrations of 10, 20, 30 , 40 and 50mM/L) on the activity of
detoxification enzymes (GSH/GST, CAT, APX and MDA) of plant
bioindicators (mosses and lichens) after treatment for 3 and 7 days.
This study shows the important role of the defense system in the
accumulation and tolerance to chemical pollutants through the
activation of enzymatic (GST (glutathione-S-transferase, APX
(ascorbat peroxidase), CAT (catalase)) and nonenzymatic biomarkers
(GSH (glutathione), MDA (malondialdehyde)) against oxidative
stress generated by the NPKs.
Abstract: Larval survey was carried out in 6 localities in the
urban areas (Putrajaya) and suburban areas (Kuala Selangor) from
January until December 2010. A total of 520 representative
households in 6 localities were selected. Breeding habitats were
sampled outdoors in the surroundings of housing areas. The study
indicated that the most predominant species found in both areas was
Aedes albopictus with the gardening utensil as a preferred breeding
microhabitat for Putrajaya, in contrast to the artificial containers for
Kuala Selangor. From a total of 1083 mosquito larvae species, 984
were Aedes albopictus larvae, 67 positive larvae of Aedes aegypti
and 32 of Culex larvae. Aedes Index and Container Index were
elevated in Putrajaya with 13% and 11% respectively which is higher
than the standard given by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This
results implicating dengue-sensitive skewed to the urban areas.
Breteau Index result also above the standard in both study locations.
Abstract: A free-trade agreement is found to increase Thailand-s
agricultural imports from New Zealand, despite the short span of
time for which the agreement has been operational. The finding is
described by autoregressive estimates that correct for possible unit
roots in the data. The agreement-s effect upon imports is also
estimated while considering an error-correction model of imports
against gross domestic product.
Abstract: A manufacturing inventory model with shortages with
carrying cost, shortage cost, setup cost and demand quantity as
imprecise numbers, instead of real numbers, namely interval number
is considered here. First, a brief survey of the existing works on
comparing and ranking any two interval numbers on the real line
is presented. A common algorithm for the optimum production
quantity (Economic lot-size) per cycle of a single product (so as
to minimize the total average cost) is developed which works well
on interval number optimization under consideration. Finally, the
designed algorithm is illustrated with numerical example.
Abstract: The mechanical quadrature methods for solving the boundary integral equations of the anisotropic Darcy-s equations with Dirichlet conditions in smooth domains are presented. By applying the collectively compact theory, we prove the convergence and stability of approximate solutions. The asymptotic expansions for the error show that the methods converge with the order O (h3), where h is the mesh size. Based on these analysis, extrapolation methods can be introduced to achieve a higher convergence rate O (h5). An a posterior asymptotic error representation is derived in order to construct self-adaptive algorithms. Finally, the numerical experiments show the efficiency of our methods.
Abstract: There are two common methodologies to verify
signatures: the functional approach and the parametric approach. This
paper presents a new approach for dynamic handwritten signature
verification (HSV) using the Neural Network with verification by the
Conjugate Gradient Neural Network (NN). It is yet another avenue in
the approach to HSV that is found to produce excellent results when
compared with other methods of dynamic. Experimental results show
the system is insensitive to the order of base-classifiers and gets a
high verification ratio.
Abstract: Bones are dynamic and responsive organs, they
regulate their strength and mass according to the loads which they are subjected. Because, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has profound
effects on the regulation of bone mass, we hypothesized that mechanical loading of bone cells stimulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which results in the generation of new bone mass.
Mechanical loading triggers the secretion of the Wnt molecule, which after binding to transmembrane proteins, causes GSK-3β (Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta) to cease the phosphorylation of β-catenin. β-catenin accumulation in the cytoplasm, followed by its
transport into the nucleus, binding to transcription factors (TCF/LEF)
that initiate transcription of genes related to bone formation. To test this hypothesis, we used TOPGAL (Tcf Optimal Promoter
β-galactosidase) mice in an experiment in which cyclic loads were
applied to the forearm. TOPGAL mice are reporters for cells effected
by the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. TOPGAL mice are genetically engineered mice in which transcriptional activation of β-
catenin, results in the production of an enzyme, β-galactosidase. The
presence of this enzyme allows us to localize transcriptional
activation of β-catenin to individual cells, thereby, allowing us to quantify the effects that mechanical loading has on the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and new bone formation. The ulnae of loaded TOPGAL
mice were excised and transverse slices along different parts of the
ulnar shaft were assayed for the presence of β-galactosidase.
Our results indicate that loading increases β-catenin transcriptional
activity in regions where this pathway is already primed (i.e. where basal activity is already higher) in a load magnitude dependent
manner. Further experiments are needed to determine the temporal and spatial activation of this signaling in relation to bone formation.
Abstract: This paper argues that networks, such as the ECN and the American network, are affected by certain small events which are inherent to path dependence and preclude the full evolution towards efficiency. It is advocated that the American network is superior to the ECN in many respects due to its greater flexibility and longer history. This stems in particular from the creation of the American network, which was based on a small number of cases. Such a structure encourages further changes and modifications which are not necessarily radical. The ECN, by contrast, was established by legislative action, which explains its rigid structure and resistance to change. This paper is an attempt to transpose the superiority of the American network on to the ECN. It looks at concepts such as judicial cooperation, harmonisation of procedure, peer review and regulatory impact assessments (RIAs), and dispute resolution procedures.
Abstract: The possibility of using cassava residue containing
49.66% starch, 21.47% cellulose, 12.97% hemicellulose, and 21.86%
lignin as a raw material to produce glucose using enzymatic
hydrolysis was investigated. In the experiment, each reactor
contained the cassava residue, bacteria cells, and production medium.
The effects of particles size (40 mesh and 60 mesh) and strains of
bacteria (A002 and M015) isolated from Thai higher termites,
Microcerotermes sp., on the glucose concentration at 37°C were
focused. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a
refractive index detector was used to determine the quantity of
glucose. The maximum glucose concentration obtained at 37°C using
strain A002 and 60 mesh of the cassava residue was 1.51 g/L at 10 h.
Abstract: Tool Tracker is a client-server based application. It is essentially a catalogue of various network monitoring and management tools that are available online. There is a database maintained on the server side that contains the information about various tools. Several clients can access this information simultaneously and utilize this information. The various categories of tools considered are packet sniffers, port mappers, port scanners, encryption tools, and vulnerability scanners etc for the development of this application. This application provides a front end through which the user can invoke any tool from a central repository for the purpose of packet sniffing, port scanning, network analysis etc. Apart from the tool, its description and the help files associated with it would also be stored in the central repository. This facility will enable the user to view the documentation pertaining to the tool without having to download and install the tool. The application would update the central repository with the latest versions of the tools. The application would inform the user about the availability of a newer version of the tool currently being used and give the choice of installing the newer version to the user. Thus ToolTracker provides any network administrator that much needed abstraction and ease-ofuse with respect to the tools that he can use to efficiently monitor a network.
Abstract: EGOTHOR is a search engine that indexes the Web
and allows us to search the Web documents. Its hit list contains URL
and title of the hits, and also some snippet which tries to shortly
show a match. The snippet can be almost always assembled by an
algorithm that has a full knowledge of the original document (mostly
HTML page). It implies that the search engine is required to store
the full text of the documents as a part of the index.
Such a requirement leads us to pick up an appropriate compression
algorithm which would reduce the space demand. One of the solutions
could be to use common compression methods, for instance gzip or
bzip2, but it might be preferable if we develop a new method which
would take advantage of the document structure, or rather, the textual
character of the documents.
There already exist a special compression text algorithms and
methods for a compression of XML documents. The aim of this
paper is an integration of the two approaches to achieve an optimal
level of the compression ratio
Abstract: Air pollution is a major environmental health
problem, affecting developed and developing countries around the
world. Increasing amounts of potentially harmful gases and
particulate matter are being emitted into the atmosphere on a global
scale, resulting in damage to human health and the environment.
Petroleum-related air pollutants can have a wide variety of adverse
environmental impacts. In the crude oil production sectors, there is a
strong need for a thorough knowledge of gaseous emissions resulting
from the flaring of associated gas of known composition on daily
basis through combustion activities under several operating
conditions. This can help in the control of gaseous emission from
flares and thus in the protection of their immediate and distant
surrounding against environmental degradation.
The impacts of methane and non-methane hydrocarbons emissions
from flaring activities at oil production facilities at Kuwait Oilfields
have been assessed through a screening study using records of flaring
operations taken at the gas and oil production sites, and by analyzing
available meteorological and air quality data measured at stations
located near anthropogenic sources. In the present study the
Industrial Source Complex (ISCST3) Dispersion Model is used to
calculate the ground level concentrations of methane and nonmethane
hydrocarbons emitted due to flaring in all over Kuwait
Oilfields.
The simulation of real hourly air quality in and around oil
production facilities in the State of Kuwait for the year 2006,
inserting the respective source emission data into the ISCST3
software indicates that the levels of non-methane hydrocarbons from
the flaring activities exceed the allowable ambient air standard set by
Kuwait EPA. So, there is a strong need to address this acute problem
to minimize the impact of methane and non-methane hydrocarbons
released from flaring activities over the urban area of Kuwait.
Abstract: In this paper, a one-dimensional numerical approach is
used to study the effect of applying electrohydrodynamics on the
temperature and species mass fraction profiles along the microcombustor.
Premixed mixture is H2-Air with a multi-step chemistry
(9 species and 19 reactions). In the micro-scale combustion because
of the increasing ratio of area-to-volume, thermal and radical
quenching mechanisms are important. Also, there is a significant heat
loss from the combustor walls. By inserting a number of electrodes
into micro-combustor and applying high voltage to them corona
discharge occurs. This leads in moving of induced ions toward
natural molecules and colliding with them. So this phenomenon
causes the movement of the molecules and reattaches the flow to the
walls. It increases the velocity near the walls that reduces the wall
boundary layer. Consequently, applying electrohydrodynamics
mechanism can enhance the temperature profile in the microcombustor.
Ultimately, it prevents the flame quenching in microcombustor.
Abstract: The aim of the present study is to analyze empirical
researches on the social resources dimension of occupational status
attainment process and relate them to the rational choice approach.
The analysis suggests that the existing data on the strength of ties
aspect of social resources is insufficient and does not allow any
implication concerning rational actor-s behavior. However, the results
concerning work relation aspect are more encouraging.
Abstract: Representing objects in a dynamic domain is essential
in commonsense reasoning under some circumstances. Classical logics
and their nonmonotonic consequences, however, are usually not
able to deal with reasoning with dynamic domains due to the fact that
every constant in the logical language denotes some existing object
in the static domain. In this paper, we explore a logical formalization
which allows us to represent nonexisting objects in commonsense
reasoning. A formal system named N-theory is proposed for this
purpose and its possible application in computer security is briefly
discussed.
Abstract: The present paper considers the steady free convection
boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid on solid sphere with
Newtonian heating. The boundary layer equations are an order higher
than those for the Newtonian (viscous) fluid and the adherence
boundary conditions are insufficient to determine the solution of
these equations completely. Thus, the augmentation an extra
boundary condition is needed to perform the numerical
computational. The governing boundary layer equations are first
transformed into non-dimensional form by using special
dimensionless group and then solved by using an implicit finite
difference scheme. The results are displayed graphically to illustrate
the influence of viscoelastic K and Prandtl Number Pr parameters on
skin friction, heat transfer, velocity profiles and temperature profiles.
Present results are compared with the published papers and are found
to concur very well.
Abstract: To compare Healing Effects of an
Ayurvedic Preparation and Silver Sulfadiazine on burn wounds in
Albino Rats.
Methods: Albino rats– 30 male / female rats weighing between
150-200 g were used in the study. They were individually housed and
maintained on normal diet and water ad libitum. Partial thickness
burn wounds were inflicted, on overnight-starved animals under
pentobarbitone (30mg/kg, i.p.) anaesthesia, by pouring hot molten
wax at 80oC into a plastic cylinder of 300 mm2 circular openings
placed on the shaven back of the animal. Apart from the drugs under
investigation no local/ systemic chemotherapeutic cover will be
provided to animals. All the animals were assessed for the percentage
of wound contraction, signs of infection, scab formation and
histopathological examination.
Results: Percentage of wound healing was significantly better in
the test ointment group compared to the standard. Signs of infection
were observed in more animals in the test ointment group compared
to the standard. Scab formation also took place earlier in the test
ointment group compared to standard. Epithelial regeneration and
healing profile was better in the test ointment compared to the
standard. Moreover the test ointment group did not show any raised
margins in the wound or blackish discoloration as was observed in
silver sulfadiazine group.
Conclusion: The burn wound healing effect of the ayurvedic
ointment under study is better in comparison to standard therapy of
silver sulfadiazine. The problem of infection encountered with the
test ointment can be overcome by changing the concentrations and
proportions of the ingredients in the test ointment which constitutes
the further plan of the study.
Abstract: Dengue disease is an infectious vector-borne viral
disease that is commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions,
especially in urban and semi-urban areas, around the world and
including Malaysia. There is no currently available vaccine or
chemotherapy for the prevention or treatment of dengue disease.
Therefore prevention and treatment of the disease depend on vector
surveillance and control measures. Disease risk mapping has been
recognized as an important tool in the prevention and control
strategies for diseases. The choice of statistical model used for
relative risk estimation is important as a good model will
subsequently produce a good disease risk map. Therefore, the aim of
this study is to estimate the relative risk for dengue disease based
initially on the most common statistic used in disease mapping called
Standardized Morbidity Ratio (SMR) and one of the earliest
applications of Bayesian methodology called Poisson-gamma model.
This paper begins by providing a review of the SMR method, which
we then apply to dengue data of Perak, Malaysia. We then fit an
extension of the SMR method, which is the Poisson-gamma model.
Both results are displayed and compared using graph, tables and
maps. Results of the analysis shows that the latter method gives a
better relative risk estimates compared with using the SMR. The
Poisson-gamma model has been demonstrated can overcome the
problem of SMR when there is no observed dengue cases in certain
regions. However, covariate adjustment in this model is difficult and
there is no possibility for allowing spatial correlation between risks in
adjacent areas. The drawbacks of this model have motivated many
researchers to propose other alternative methods for estimating the
risk.
Abstract: The paper contains an investigation of winding numbers
of paths of zeros of analytic theta functions. We have considered
briefly an analytic representation of finite quantum systems ZN.
The analytic functions on a torus have exactly N zeros. The brief
introduction to the zeros of analytic functions and there time evolution
is given. We have discussed the periodic finite quantum systems. We
have introduced the winding numbers in general. We consider the
winding numbers of the zeros of analytic theta functions.
Abstract: The paper contains an investigation on basic problems
about the zeros of analytic theta functions. A brief introduction to
analytic representation of finite quantum systems is given. The zeros
of this function and there evolution time are discussed. Two open
problems are introduced. The first problem discusses the cases when
the zeros follow the same path. As the basis change the quantum state
|f transforms into different quantum state. The second problem is
to define a map between two toruses where the domain and the range
of this map are the analytic functions on toruses.