bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enhanced-efficiency phosphate fertilisers, diffusive flux of phosphorus and matric potential in Acrudox
Authors: Stauffer E. , Andrade F. V. , Mendonça E. S. , Polidoro J. C.
Published: January 2020

Enhanced-efficiency phosphate fertilisers may play an important role in phosphorus (P) availability in tropical soils by increasing their concentration in solution and enhancing the diffusive flux of P (DFP). This work evaluated the DFP in soil influenced by polymer-coated phosphate fertilisers and organophosphates (enhanced-efficiency phosphate fertilisers) applied to soil, at two matric potentials. The experiment was conducted using a 4 × 2 × 4 + 2 factorial design in which four phosphate fertilisers (conventional monoammonium phosphate (MAP), polymer-coated monoammonium phosphate (POL), pelletised monoammonium phosphate with filter cake (FC) and granulated monoammonium phosphate with swine compost (SC)), two soil water contents corresponding to two matric potentials (–10 and –50 kPa), four anion exchange resin insertion distances (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 cm from the phosphate fertiliser granules) and two control treatments (matric potential of –10 and –50 kPa without fertiliser) were studied across four replicates. Enhanced-efficiency phosphate fertilisers increased the release of P into the soil solution. The values of DFP (nmol m–2 15 days–1) for MAP were in the range of 0.18–48.69, for POL were 0.19–32.20, for FC were 0.17–19.74 and for SC were 0.17–18.50. For –10 and –50 kPa matric potentials, the values ranged within 0.18–43.07 and 0.17–48.69 nmol m–2 15 days–1 respectively. In relation to the distances 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 cm, DFP (nmol m–2 15 days–1) ranged within 17.56–48.69, 0.42–11.39, 0.22–0.57 and 0.17–0.22 respectively. The decrease in the soil water matric potential decreased DFP in the short term for fertilisers with coating technologies compared to MAP. This result indicates that coating technologies hold promise for maintaining DFP over time.
Remethylation of
Dnmt3a
−/−
hematopoietic cells is associated with partial correction of gene dysregulation and reduced myeloid skewing
Authors: Ketkar Shamika , Verdoni Angela M. , Smith Amanda M. , Bangert Celia V. , Leight Elizabeth R. , Chen David Y. , Brune Meryl K. , Helton Nichole M. , Hoock Mieke , George Daniel R. , Fronick Catrina , Fulton Robert S. , Ramakrishnan Sai Mukund , Chang Gue Su , Petti Allegra A. , Spencer David H. , Miller Christopher A. , Ley Timothy J.
Published: January 2020

Mutations in the DNA methyltransferase 3A (
DNMT3A
) gene are the most common cause of age-related clonal hematopoiesis (ARCH) in older individuals, and are among the most common initiating events for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The most frequent
DNMT3A
mutation in AML patients (R882H) encodes a dominant-negative protein that reduces methyltransferase activity by ∼80% in cells with heterozygous mutations, causing a focal, canonical DNA hypomethylation phenotype; this phenotype is partially recapitulated in murine
Dnmt3a

−/−

bone marrow cells. To determine whether the hypomethylation phenotype of
Dnmt3a
−/−
hematopoietic cells is reversible, we developed an inducible transgene to restore expression of
DNMT3A
in transplanted bone marrow cells from
Dnmt3a
−/−
mice. Partial remethylation was detected within 1 wk, but near-complete remethylation required 6 mo. Remethylation was accurate, dynamic, and highly ordered, suggesting that differentially methylated regions have unique properties that may be relevant for their functions. Importantly, 22 wk of
DNMT3A
addback partially corrected dysregulated gene expression, and mitigated the expansion of myeloid cells. These data show that restoring
DNMT3A
expression can alter the epigenetic “state” created by loss of Dnmt3a activity; this genetic proof-of-concept experiment suggests that this approach could be relevant for patients with ARCH or AML caused by loss-of-function
DNMT3A
mutations.
Daily protein and energy intakes of infants fed a commercial infant formula with a reduced protein concentration of 2.2 g/100 kcal: an impact of feeding interval on energy intake
Authors: Jinno Shinji , Yamazaki Kae , Nakamura Yoshitaka , Kinouchi Toshi
Published: January 2020

We evaluated the protein and energy intakes of infants fed commercial infant Formula A (protein, 2.2 g/100 kcal; energy, 68 kcal/100 mL) and examined whether changes in feeding intervals are involved in constant energy intake. Daily nutritional intake of 378 Formula A-fed infants was assessed using reference values and compared to that of infants fed Formulas B (protein: 2.3 g/100 kcal, energy: 68 kcal/100 mL) and C (protein: 2.4 g/100kcal, energy: 70 kcal/100 mL). From 15 to 149 days of age, the mean formula volume and protein intake were 758–887 mL/day and 11.4–13.3 g/day, respectively, higher than the protein intake of breast-fed infants. Daily energy intake (86–129 kcal/kg/day) was comparable to the estimated energy requirements. Feeding intervals were shorter in infants fed Formulas A and B than in those fed Formula C, whereas energy intake was similar. The protein intake of infants decreased as the protein concentration per energy in infant formula was reduced, and accordingly the protein intake of Formula A-fed infants was significantly lower than that of Formula C-fed infants. In conclusion, the new composition of Formula A is suitable in protein and energy intake of infants, and daily energy intake remains constant by shortening in feeding intervals when the energy concentration in infant formula is reduced.

Clinical Trial Registration: UMIN000023110
A manifestly covariant framework for causal set dynamics
Authors: Dowker Fay , Imambaccus Nazireen , Owens Amelia , Sorkin Rafael , Zalel Stav
Published: January 2020

We propose a manifestly covariant framework for causal set dynamics. The framework is based on a structure, dubbed covtree, which is a partial order on certain sets of finite, unlabeled causal sets. We show that every infinite path in covtree corresponds to at least one infinite, unlabeled causal set. We show that transition probabilities for a classical random walk on covtree induce a classical measure on the

-algebra generated by the stem sets.
Rotational UV-lithography using flexible chromium-coated polymer masks for the fabrication of microstructured dental implant surfaces: a proof of concept
Authors: Doll P W , Doll C , Käßer L , Häfner M , Spindler B , Ahrens R , Nahles S , Heiland M , Guber A E
Published: January 2020

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the technical feasibility for the fabrication of microgrooves or micropits on dental implants or dental implant abutment surfaces using a novel fabrication method derived from common UV-lithographic microfabrication. Instead of using a flat and rigid chromium/glass mask to structure a photoresist layer on a small cylindrical part, a flexible chromium-coated polymer mask was introduced into the lithographic setup. Through an elastic deformation of the polymer mask, it was possible to achieve lateral resolutions as small as 1.5 µm on small cylinders and to structure conical parts. By subsequent controlled under-etching of the structured photoresist layer, microgrooves of different cross-sectional geometries can be generated and applied to the implant or implant abutment surface. Such structures can be used for contact guidance of human gingival fibroblasts or endothelia cells to enhance the wound healing process and the overall soft-tissue integration.
Managing erroneous measurements of dynamic brain electrical impedance tomography after reconnection of faulty electrodes
Authors: Li Haoting , Liu Xuechao , Xu Canhua , Yang Bin , Fu Danchen , Dong Xiuzhen , Fu Feng
Published: January 2020

Objective: Electrode detachment may occur during dynamic brain electrical impedance tomography (EIT) measurements. After the faulty electrodes have been reset, EIT can restore to steady monitoring but the corrupted data, which will challenge interpretation of the results, are notoriously difficult to recover. Approach: Here, a piecewise processing method (PPM) is introduced to manage the erroneous EIT data after reattachment of faulty electrodes. In the PPM, we define the three phases before, during and after reconnection of the faulty electrode as PI, PII and PIII, respectively. Using this definition, an empirical mode decomposition-based interpolation method is introduced to compensate the corrupted data in PII, using the valid measurements in PI and PIII. Then, the compensated data in PII are spliced at the end of PI. Thus, there will be a surge at the junction of PII and PIII due to the changes in contact state of the repositioned electrodes. Finally, to ensure all the EIT data are obtained under constant electrode settings, we calculate the above changes and eliminate them from the data after PII. To verify the performance of the PPM, experiments based on head models, with anatomical structures and with human subjects were conducted. Metrics including permutation entropy (PE) and image correlation (IC) were proposed to measure the stability of the signal and the quality of the reconstructed EIT images, respectively. Main results: The results demonstrated that the PE of the processed data was reduced to 0.25 and the IC improved to 0.78. Significance: Without iterative calculations the PPM could efficiently manage the erroneous EIT data after reattachment of the faulty electrodes.
A validated physical model of the thermoelectric drift of Pt-Rh thermocouples above 1200 °C
Authors: Pearce Jonathan V
Published: January 2020

Pt and Rh oxide vapour transport is thought to dominate the thermoelectric drift of Pt-Rh thermocouples above about 1200 °C. A simple model is presented which relates the electromotive force (emf) drift rate of Pt-Rh thermoelements to the vapour pressure of Pt and Rh oxides. The model assumes that the evaporation of these oxides gives rise to a continuously changing concentration of Pt and Rh, at different rates along the length of the wires, which causes a change in the Seebeck coefficient. The model has been tested by comparison with high precision measurements of the thermoelectric drift of a Pt-Rh thermocouple assembly consisting of five thermoelements, repeatedly exposed to the melting of a Co-C high temperature fixed point (1324 °C) for a total duration of 500 h. By considering various thermocouples of different compositions, it is demonstrated that the calculated drift rate is proportional to the measured drift rate, which represents a validation of the model.
A Wearable Flexible antenna integrated on a Smart Watch for 5G Applications
Authors: Ahmed M I , Ahmed M F
Published: January 2020

This paper presents a design of dual-band flexible wearable antenna for modern 5G applications to integrate on a smartwatch. This antenna is a rectangular antenna which the patch and the ground etched on new flexible material is called “ULTRALAM® 3850HT”. This material is characterized by thin flexible cores with low and stable dielectric constant, which is a key requirement for high frequency and wearable designs. The dielectric constant εr is equal to 3.14, and loss tangent tanδ is equal 0.005 of the ULTRALAM® 3850HT flexible material. The presented antenna is designed to operate at 38 GHz and 60 GHz. The SAR (specific absorption ratio) is also introduced and SAR results will be shown. The presented antenna with and without the smartwatch are simulated using HFSS and CST 2018.
Circularly Polarized Planar Antenna Array Using Linear Polarized Microstrip Antenna with Beamforming for SAR Applications
Authors: Abo El-Hassan M , Hussein K F A , Awadalla K H
Published: January 2020

Circular polarization is so important for satellite and SAR applications. Therefore, a relatively large planar array of 10 × 10 building blocks is proposed to get a high gain and to have the possibility of beamforming for such applications. The individual antenna element used in this array is a linear U-slotted microstrip patch. This allows for simplicity, lightweight and low cost. At first, a subarray of these microstrip antennas is constructed and analyzed to become a building block for the large array. This subarray is formed of four U-slotted microstrip antenna elements arranged in a cross form with 90° sequential rotation in orientation in space, and 90° sequential phase shift between adjacent microstrip elements. The distance between the centers of two opposite microstrip elements is selected to be 0.53λ0. A linear array is formed of ten of these subarrays and analyzed to become one row or one column in the final planar array. The distance between subarray centers is kept to be 0.53λ0, which implies a new arrangement technique using the superposition of elements of the adjacent subarrays. The phase and amplitude relations of this linear array are developed for beamforming using the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Finally, the planar array is formed and simulated. It also implies using the superposition theorem to get the final array form. This planar array has proved to produce a cosecant-squared radiation pattern in the φ = 0° plane normal to the array plane, and a flat-topped pattern in the other perpendicular plane of φ = 90°. This type of array is very suitable for SAR side looking applications.
Design and Implementation of different unit cell elements for reflect arrays
Authors: Fathy Abo Sree Mohamed , Aly Ibrahim Muhammad , Allam A.M.M
Published: January 2020

This paper presents the design and analysis of a unit cell reflect array element using different shapes of radiating elements. A circular split ring and a compliment split ring using different sizes of patches and substrates are proposed. Moreover, a square patch with a varying length stubs is introduced. Each unit cell design is set to operate in the millimetre frequency band to support the 5G standards. In order to conduct those studies, commercially available computer models of CST Microwave studio is used. The scattering properties of the unit cell elements are investigated using Floquet technique based on assumption that the unit cell element is made of infinite periodic structure. For each resonant element, the return loss and the reflection phase graphs are being analysed to obtain the optimum reflection of power and to cover 360 degrees phase shift.
Staging of clear cell renal cell carcinoma using random forest and support vector machine
Authors: Talaat D , Zada F , Kadry R
Published: January 2020

Kidney cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer affecting the human body. It’s regarded as the seventh most common type of cancer affecting men and the ninth affecting women. Early diagnosis of kidney cancer can improve the survival rates for many patients. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) accounts for 90% of renal cancers. Although the exact cause of the kidney cancer is still unknown, early diagnosis can help patients get the proper treatment at the proper time. In this paper, a novel semi-automated model is proposed for early detection and staging of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The proposed model consists of three phases: segmentation, feature extraction, and classification. The first phase is image segmentation phase where images were masked to segment the kidney lobes. Then the masked images were fed into watershed algorithm to extract tumor from the kidney. The second phase is feature extraction phase where gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) method was integrated with normal statistical method to extract the feature vectors from the segmented images. The last phase is the classification phase where the resulted feature vectors were introduced to random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. Experiments have been carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model using TCGA-KRIC dataset which contains 228 CT scans of ccRCC patients where 150 scans were used for learning and 78 for validation. The proposed model showed an outstanding improvement of 15.12% for accuracy from the previous work.
Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Mobile Antenna for Millimeter-Wave Antenna Applications
Authors: Alnemr F I , Ahmed M F , Shaalan A A
Published: January 2020

In this paper, a dual-band circularly polarized truncated corner microstrip antenna is simulated and fabricated to operate over millimeter wave frequencies for modern mobile applications. The propose antenna is designed as monolayer circularly polarized patch antenna fed by single-fed strip-line that has been taken to provide better resonating frequency. Further, this antenna has a high gain to resist the losses in millimeter band. Also, the truncated corners and the L-shaped slots in the proposed antenna have a big effect of the antenna performance. This proposed antenna is simulated by CST 2016. Also, the experimental results are measured by R&S®ZVA67 VNA (Vector Network Analyzer). Finally, the measured and simulated results are more closed to each other.
Image Segmentation and Verification Based on Machine Learning for Vision Inspection of Chicken Slaughtering
Authors: Yusof R , Arfa R , Yunus M R M , Muhammad N A A N , Rosli N R , Ismail N
Published: January 2020

According to the Islamic Law, one of the procedures in halal slaughtering of chicken is the step of severing the trachea, esophagus and both the carotid arteries and jugular veins to accelerate the chicken’s bleeding and death. Syariah Compliance Automated Chicken Processing System (SYCUT) uses the Vision Inspection Technology to detect and classify whether a chicken is halal or not. The lack of quality and halal assurance in chicken processing industry made it a need to produce such technology. The system implements image processing techniques and artificial intelligence approach, particularly the Viola and Jones object detection framework for esophagus detection. The results of the experiment from two different sites are 81.8% and 55% respectively. The detection module shows a result of 95.6% and 93.5% also from two different sites which are accuracy as good as a human personnel.
Performance Assessment for Energy Efficient NOMA over Nakagami Fading Channel
Authors: Al-Masry Ahmed , ElBadawy Hesham , Ibrahim Fawzy
Published: January 2020

Nowadays, the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) has become the most candidate as the multiple access technique for the Fifth Generation (5G). Although, the massive increase in traffic usage is necessary, but it must not come on the account of Energy Efficiency (EE). Therefore, Green Radio (GR) which one of its main points is energy efficiency (EE) gained a lot of attention in last few years in both academic and industrial fields. In this paper, the Energy-Efficiency in the NOMA downlink system under the effect of the Nakagami-m fading channel is studied. Moreover, the Nakagami-m fading channel can tackle several fading cases according to the parameter m. The system has been solved via an iterative algorithm to investigate the required power level for maximum energy efficiency. Different channel models will be investigated such as: one-sided Gaussian faded channel, Rayleigh faded channel, Raician (Nakagami-n) faded channel, and LOS.
Enhanced Ontology Matching for Big Data Integration
Authors: Mahmoud Nesma , Abdlkader Hatem M
Published: January 2020

ontology matching (OM) is a critical process for many disciplines. It aims at identifying the semantic correspondences among different ontologies that are merged for data integration. Unfortunately, OM still faces challenges, especially, in the big data integration (BDI) area. The high degree of semantic heterogeneity problem prevents the integration of relevant data and increased with large-scale ontologies of BDI. The quality of OM still needs more improvements to cope with BDI applications. So, this paper proposes a semantic OM approach called semantic matcher. It achieves the goals of semantic heterogeneity resolving and the quality improvement. It exploits the semantic similarity based on the word embedding model. The word embedding model provides efficient distribution semantic representation of domain words as vectors based on their context. The applicability of the proposed semantic matcher is evaluated through an experiment. The conference and anatomy gold standard datasets are evaluating the experimental results. Accuracy evaluates the quality through the precision, recall, and F-measure measures. Based on the experimental results evaluation, the proposed semantic matcher is promising and efficient in the semantic OM for BDI.
A Reliable Gait Analysis Using Fuzzy Logic
Authors: Ahmed Abouel Kassem Taher , Tamazin Mohamed E. , Aly Moustafa H.
Published: January 2020

In this paper, an artificial intelligence technique which is fuzzy logic is used as an online prediction of a patient (especially Alzheimer patient) motion status. It depends on the input variables: GPS, GPRS, accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature, heartbeat rate, and the motion status (standing, walking, and running) as an output variable. Fuzzy logic can detect the motion status based on 385 rules for all inputs and output variables. A low-cost smart shoe with embedded positioning tracking is implemented based on sensors and microcontrollers to help Alzheimer patients. The first phase of the experimental work is based on GPS, GPRS, GSM, accelerometer, heartbeat rate sensor, temperature sensor, and a microcontroller, mounted on the shoe side to navigate according to the pedestrian or patient movement. All sensors data are collected by the microcontroller and are transmitted to the GSM receiver in SMS message. The GSM module is connected to the PC via a USB serial port. Transmitting data is periodically sent upon a specific time. The detected data is stored in the database as a function of time. The data includes the position of the patient (latitude and longitude) located on the Google map software, health status (heartbeat rate), gyroscope and accelerometer (x, y, z) of movement as a function of time.
Sparse Indexed OFDM Modulation Technique For Visible Light Communication (VLC) With reduced Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR)
Authors: Aziz Amgad F. , Aly Omar A. M. , Mohammed Usama S.
Published: January 2020

In this paper, diversity sparse activated subcarriers OFDM index modulation (DSASOFDM-IM) is proposed to improve the Energy Efficiency (EE) of interpolated sparse activated subcarriers OFDM index modulation (ISAS-OFDM-IM), which was proposed to improve spectrum efficiency (SE) and bite error rate (BER) of the OFDM modulation technique in visible light communication (VLC) systems. The EE improvement using DSAS-OFDM-IM resulted from improving the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) for the transmitted signal. DSAS-OFDM-IM and ISAS-OFDM-IM are considered as time domain interpolated version of the sparse activated subcarriers OFDM index modulation (SAS-OFDM-IM). SAS-OFDM-IM, improves the SE of the classical index modulation OFDM (IM-OFDM). Unfortunately this is done on the cost of degrading the BER due to burst errors. ISAS-OFDM-IM solves for the problem of burst errors by introducing zeros between samples in the time domain signal, which leads to a good improvements in BER at low values of signal to noise ratio (SNR). ISAS-OFDM-IM solves for the problem of the burst errors but degrading the PAPR due to the reduction in the average power. The proposed DSAS-OFDM-IM solves for the problem of burst errors and reducing the BER without affecting the PAPR of the SAS-OFDM-IM as was occurred by ISAS-OFDM-IM. Results indicate good improvements in SE, EE and BER of OFDM, which are considered as important requirements for VLC as a new trend in optical wireless communication. An improvement about 6 dB in BER was achieved by using DSAS-OFDM-IM technique.
FWM Mitigation in DWDM Optical Networks
Authors: Ullah Manzoor Habib , Manzoor Tareq , Hussain Ashiq , Aly Moustafa H.
Published: January 2020

In this paper, three optical communication systems have been proposed to mitigate Four Wave Mixing (FWM). Three techniques are used, namely; low input power with high gain amplifier, a collective Optical Time Division Multiplexing (OTDM) and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system, and the use of alternative circular polarization. The first technique involves reduction in input power to -20 dBm and then amplifying it 40 dB before demultiplexing. The second technique divides the input signal into four time slots and then combine them with a power combiner. In the third technique, the polarization of light coming from input channels is changed after modulation into right and left handed circular polarization. Exhaustive sets of simulations are performaed using Optisys. The performance analysis includes Q-factor, Optical Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR), received optical power, minmum Bit Error Rate (BER) and eye diagram.
A Study on Biological Sample Preparation for High Resolution Imaging of Scanning Electron Microscope
Authors: Rahmah Aid Siti , Nur Anis Awadah Nik Zain Nik , Nadhirah Mohd Rashid Nur , Hara Hirofumi , Shameli Kamyar , Koji Iwamoto
Published: January 2020

Green chemistry has drawn attention for synthesizing nanoparticles as it utilizes an eco-friendly nontoxic chemical in the synthesis protocol. In addition, researchers start looking into the potential of organism such as bacteria, fungi and plants for synthesizing nanoparticles. Synthesis of nanoparticles requires details on structural analysis before/after synthesis in order to evaluate and control the quality of nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been widely used as an imaging instrument to structurally characterize nanoparticles before/after synthesis process. Maintaining the vacuum level in SEM system and controlling contamination originated from the sample are crucially important to enable high resolution imaging. In addition, sample surface need to be conductive to prevent image distortion due to the electron charging effect. Hence, raise the importance to study the method in preparing biological sample for SEM imaging. This work focuses on the three approaches of drying process for plant, bacteria and algae samples. Proper selection of preparation method on each samples involving air-drying using HMDS, CPD and FD methods have been done in order to prevent surface tension effect during drying process, which will result in the modification of the original structure. Comparison was made to get insight on the suitable sample preparation method for the specific biological sample. It is found that air-drying or CPD methods are suitable for the liquid-rich biological sample, while FD method can be a preference for biological sample that contains less liquid.
Efficient Linearized Model of Pressurizer System in Pressurized Water Reactors for Control Purposes
Authors: Sheta A A , Ali E H , Fikry R M , Mahmoud T A , El-Araby S M , Mahmoud M I
Published: January 2020

The pressurizer has an important role to ensure the protected operation of pressurized water reactor (PWR) by keeping the reactor coolant system pressure among allowed tolerances. In this paper, a non-equilibrium two-region nonlinear pressurizer (PZR) model was linearized using Taylor technique to introduce the linear models of pressurizer transients for the controller design purposes. Taylor series expansion of functions around an equilibrium point was calculated. The same assumptions of the reference model are considered in linearized model. The linearized model consists of five states; rate of changes for: mass of steam &water in the PZR, mass of water in the PZR, mass of water in the PC, steam temperature in PZR, and water temperature in PZR. The nonlinear and linear PZR models was implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. The linearized model of PZR is verified. The performance of linearized model of PZR and nonlinear model is consistent with small and acceptable errors. The closed-loop of the linearized model of PZR pressure and water level is implemented and investigated using standard Proportion-Integration-Differentiation (PID) controllers. Simulation results and the evaluation performance indicate that the proposed linear model of PZR is efficient, and it can be used for control purposes.
Self-Cleaning and Hydrophobic Pineapple Peel Fibre based Biocomposite
Authors: Rasit Ali Roshafima , Mohd Raffae Solehah , Wahyuny Che Jusoh Nurfatehah , Kaur J , Ibrahim Norazana , Md Kasmani Rafiziana , Hasbullah Hasrinah
Published: January 2020

Biocomposite has been widely used as plastics replacement for its biodegradability. However, the water absorptivity defeats its purpose as food packaging. The water absorption analysis for pineapple peel fiber (PAPF) was done according to ASTM D570-98 and it has been proven that the water content increases to 7.2% with the 50% content of PAPF in the bio-composite (50% PAPF). For that matter, hydrophobic coating was synthesized and applied on PAPF based bio-composite. The bio-composite was produced using Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), pineapple peel fibre (PAPF), Linear LDPE grafted maleic anhydride (LLDPE-g-MA) as compatibilizer and Refined, Bleached Deodorized Olein (RBDOL) as plasticizer. The coating was synthesized by using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane as hydrophobic component, silica nano-particles as nanostructured particles and non-organic solvent and non-ionic surfactant p-octyl polyethylene glycol phenyl ether as surfactant. The emulsion was homogenized and after that sprayed onto the surface of PAPF bio-composite and dried in the oven at 50-60˚C for 24 hours. Through the 100µm magnification using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), the hydrophobic coating was proven to conform the Cassie-Baxter hydrophobic property. C-O bond from the PAPF disintegrates after the production of bio-composite from the Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR FTIR) spectrometry transmittance. The application of the coating onto the surface of PAPF bio-composite gave the surface hydrophobic property where the contact angle changes from 82.27±2.66˚ which is hydrophilic to 122.63±2.17˚ which is hydrophobic. The bio-composite with the highest PAPF content will also exhibit self-cleaning ability which makes it suitable for the usage of hydrophobic food packaging material.
Dynamic modelling and simulation of clean coal power generation
Authors: Abdul Manaf N , Abbas A
Published: January 2020

Retrofitting coal-fired power plant (PP) with carbon capture technology can be used as an effective transition solution towards clean coal-based energy production. Thus, this study analyses the operational/behavioural performance of retrofitting carbon capture to a coal-fired power plant (PP-PCC plant). A real-time data-driven model representing PP-PCC plant is developed in Matlab/Simulink software facility. The model simulates the dynamic response of integrated plant subjected to operational uncertainty and unprecedented perturbation. A positive variation (increment of flowrate) of air, coal and lean solvent flowrates exhibit significant dynamic responses toward the power plant load, carbon capture efficiency (CC) and energy performance (EP). Where, variation of these variables contribute to the elevation of capture percentage and improvement of energy performance. This study is beneficial for preliminary understanding of the transient variable behaviours of clean coal power generation as one of the mitigation measure to ensure proposed integration is feasible in term of environmental and economic performances.
LNA Design Optimization Using DNA Computing
Authors: AbdelRassoul Roshdy , IEEE SM , Abd El-Bary Abd El-Menem , El-Ebshihy Aya
Published: January 2020

A noise model for heterojunction transistors using a new technique for prediction was introduced using a neural network model, and was applied to get higher accuracy for transistor noise parameters. The new model is employed in designing of a wideband Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA), which resulted higher accuracy for the four noise parameters required, using only one neural network for simulation of noise figure parameters. The accuracy of this model has been demonstrated by coordinating anticipated and estimated values of heterojunction transistors for a specific data set of noise parameters at various frequencies, temperatures and bias points.

DNA computing was used to design a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA). The DNA computing method demonstrates good and very accurate results and also shows a very high accurate results in prediction of the noise parameters by using it as FFNN to determine a threshold level value, which consequently increased the gain leading to higher bandwidth.

Comparison of the new method (DNANN) to other classical optimization techniques shows that the DNA computing method results in optimized noise parameters, which consequently leads to higher LNA gain which consequently leads to improved bandwidth. Copyright © 2017 Penerbit Akademia Baru - All rights reserved.
Feedback Recommendation System Based on Structured Feedback Acquisition
Authors: Hassan E , Sherief N , Abdelmoez W M , Saad A A
Published: January 2020

Users’ feedback are increasingly becoming a vital factor during the software evolution process. Users’ feedback are widely considered to be an indication of how satisfied are the system’s users. It was found that large percentage of feedback represents problems reported by users who face problems in using the system. Users’ feedback are usually communicated in an ad-hoc manner with no defined structure. The ad-hoc nature of the feedback makes it difficult to study and analyse feedback. Also, it usually happens that similar problems are reported by different users, so engineers spend wasted time and effort in duplicate issues. In this paper we propose a recommendation system which recommends to the user reported problems that are similar to his from prevoius feedback threads to reuse existing solutions. We based our work on a structured feedback system to ensure we get better results. Structured feedback ensures minimum level of useful and meanigful information that helps enhance the analysis results. Initial evaluation was conducted and the results are promising.
Transmission of 128 Gb/s Optical QPSK Signal over FSO Channel under Different Weather Conditions and Pointing Errors
Authors: Adel M. , Seleem H. , Nasr M. , El-Khobby H.
Published: January 2020

Free space optics (FSO) is a promising technology for high data rate transmission where data is transmitted wirelessly from one place to another. It has a variety of applications nowadays including indoor, outdoor, underwater, and deep space communications. However, the availability of link under various atmospheric conditions is a major concern. In this study, we evaluate the transmission of 128 Gb/s optical quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal under different weather conditions and pointing errors. Simulation parameters such as FSO link range, atmospheric attenuation, pointing loss, and wavelength are taken into consideration. The system performance evaluation parameters including eye diagram, constellation, and received signal to noise ratio (SNR) are compared to find the best performance under different weather conditions. Numerical simulations show that the pointing errors up to 10 µrad and bad weather conditions up to 15 dB attenuation has sever effects on the system performance and we should use digital signal processing and equalization to enhance it.
Solar cell performance enhancement with optimized CIGS absorber bandgap and buffer layer
Authors: Osman Yasmina , Fedawy Mostafa , Abaza Mohamed , Aly Moustafa H.
Published: January 2020

In the past years, record efficiency of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) based solar cells has improved reaching 22.6%. This result shows that CIGS absorbent is idealistic for thin-film solar cells. The most attractive feature in CIGS is the tunable bandgap of the absorber layer that varies from 1.06 eV to 1.7 eV depending on the gallium fraction. This feature leads to best match the solar spectrum. In the present work, the influence of the bandgap of the absorber is investigated using solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS). An optimum bandgap of 1.39 eV results in a maximum efficiency of 24.288%. In order to get a Cd-free CIGS based thin film solar cell the CdS buffer layer is replaced by In2S3. The results show that In2S3 is a proper alternative that does not degrade th
3
e cell performance.
Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance in Li Doped SnS via Carrier Concentration Optimization
Authors: Niu Yi , Chen Yide , Jiang Jing , Pan Yan , Yang Chengcheng , Wang Chao
Published: January 2020

Tin sulfide (SnS) has attracted increasing attentions due to its similar band structure and crystal structure to tin selenide (SnSe). The layered structure and strong anharmonicity of these materials result in an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity, which is advantageous for the thermoelectric performance. Further enhancement in thermoelectric properties is expected to improve the carrier concentration and power factor by band structure optimization. In this work, lithium (Li) is proved to be an efficient dopant for SnS and the carrier concentration is increased to 1.3 × 1018 cm-3 at room temperature for Sn0.98Li0.02S. Calculations show that Li doping flattens the edge of the valence band and increases the number of carrier pockets in SnS, which collectively enhance the electronic transport properties. Moreover, the phonon scattering was enhanced by the nano-precipitates and increased boundaries in Sn1-xLixS, resulting in 40% reduction in thermal conductivity at room temperature. Combined with the enhanced power factor (∼3 μW cm-1 K-2 at 848 K) and low thermal conductivity (0.36 W m-1 K-1 at 848 K), the maximum ZT of 0.66 is achieved in Sn1-xLixS bulk samples at 848 K.
Synthesis of Fe3O4/PAM Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles by Using Electrostatic Interaction
Authors: Huang Qingyu , Wang Shuzhi
Published: January 2020

In the study, two kinds of emulsions were prepared, respectively containing nano water droplets (NWDs) with positive and negative charges on the surface. The positive charges nano water droplets, called Fe-NWDs contained Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions and negative charges nano water droplets, called OH-NWDs, contained OH- ions. After the above two kinds of emulsions were mixed, Fe3O4/PAM superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SMNPs) were synthesized in the integrated NWDs by means of electric interaction, co-precipitation and polymerization reaction. The shapes of Fe3O4/AM SMNPs were spherical or ellipsoid ranged in diameter from 80nm to 360nm tested by TEM and the Fe3O4/AM SMNPs had superparamagnetic character tested by VSM. The magnetic saturation value of Fe3O4/PAM SMNPs was 27.38emu/g. The XRD graph indicated Fe3O4 was contained in the SMNPs. The infrared spectrum proved that Fe3O4 was coated by PAM exactly.
Study on Feed Processing and Application of Renewable Plant Humulus Scandens
Authors: Zhou Guangjiao , Feng Xuehua
Published: January 2020

In order to study the feed processing and development technology of the renewable plant Humulus scandens, Humulus scandens were collected, dried and comminuted at the stage of leaf unfolding, flower opening, flower blooming and yellow withering, and processed into direct raw material group, silage natural fermentation group and silage plus bacteria fermentation group. The contents of main nutrients and total flavonoids in Humulus scandens feed were determined and compared. The microbial quantity and fermentation quality of Humulus scandens in withered and yellow period in silage natural fermentation group and silage plus bacteria fermentation group were detected. The results showed that there was no significant change in calcium and phosphorus content in the three groups. The other nutrients in silage natural fermentation group and silage plus bacteria fermentation group were slightly lower than those in direct raw material group. The content of total flavonoids in silage plus bacteria fermentation group was significantly higher than that in other groups. In terms of fermentation quality and microbial quantity, the fermentation of silage natural fermentation group was not obvious, the pH value was on the high side, the fermentation of silage plus bacteria group was obvious, and the quality was also higher. In conclusion, if Humulus scandens is directly used as feedstuff, the best collection time is the blooming period of flowers. If silage and lactobacillus fermentation are used, the value of feedstuff is the highest, but the value of silage natural fermentation is the lowest, so it is not recommended to choose.
Research on Short-term Power Load Forecasting Method Based on Temperature Accumulation Effect Embedded in Time Series
Authors: Jinchang Duan , Zhiyong Li , Haicheng Yao , Bao Li , qiang Zhou
Published: January 2020

Short-term power load forecasting is an important link in power grid dispatching, which has an important impact on unit combination, economic dispatching, optimal power flow, etc. As meteorological factors have great influence on load, the influence of meteorological factors should be considered reasonably in short-term load forecasting. The accuracy of short-term electric charge prediction results can help senior personnel of the power system to make accurate and feasible power operation methods. In order to ensure the safe and stable operation of power grid in various special periods and to ensure the economic benefits of related power enterprises to the greatest extent, it is imperative to establish a highly accurate prediction model. The accuracy of power load forecasting will directly affect the position of each power enterprise in the market. Based on the function of time series embedding, this paper analyzes the rule of cumulative effect on load. The correlation between temperature and load is greatly improved after considering the cumulative effect to deal with temperature correction.
Calculations of factors that affect thermal conductivity in epoxy composites with hybrid carbon nanotube and graphene nano platelet
Authors: Wang Han , Xiao Ercong , Fan Taotao , Li Xiaotuo , Xiao Wenkai
Published: January 2020

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) and Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPs) had been used to enhance the thermal conductivity of the epoxy composites and show a synergistic effect. Complex service conditions also put forward the requirements for the structural design of the composites to get better performance. Researches should be done to further understand the mechanism of enhancement in composites and find ways to assist the design and optimization of the structure. In this research, epoxy composites with CNTs, GNPs and hybrid CNTs-GNPs (5:2) were prepared, whose total content of fillers was kept constant at 0.4 vol%. Test of specific surface area shew the hybrid fillers had less aggregation and the composites with hybrid fillers had the highest thermal conductivity. Observing the microstructure of the composites, CNTs were absorbed on the surface of GNPs, forming a cross-network which could improve aggregation and provide channels for the heat. A series of finite element models were established using scripts to find the factors that affect the forming of network and heat flow. A parameter was created to reflect the distribution of the fillers: distance of non-network(DNN). Positions, orientations, ratios, shapes, and sizes are all factors. The effect of angles depends on the relative positions of the fillers. A proper bending degree of CNTs would have better enhancement. The vertical-structure network was created manually and heat flux on the network was shown: GNPs expanded the area of network for the acceptance and release of heat. CNTs provide efficient channels for the multidirectional heat flow. The combination of the geometry expanded the influence region of the network.
Values, Other-Interest, and Ethical Behavior: The Critical Role of Moral Emotions
Authors: Kautz Jason , Korsgaard M. Audrey , So Young Jeong Sophia
Published: January 2020

Organizations and their agents regularly face ethical challenges as the interests of various constituents compete and conflict. The theory of other-orientation provides a useful framework for understanding how other concerns and modes of reasoning combined to produce different mindsets for approaching ethical challenges. To optimize outcomes across parties, individuals can engage in complex rational reasoning that addresses the interests of the self as well as others, a mindset referred to as collective rationality. But collective rationality is as difficult to sustain as it is cognitively taxing. Thus, individuals are apt to simplify their approach to complex conflicts of interest. One simplifying strategy is to reduce the relevant outcome set by focusing on self-interests to the neglect of other-interest. This approach, referred to as a rational self-interest mindset, is self-serving and can lead to actions that are deemed unethical. At the other extreme, individuals can abandon rational judgment in favor of choices based on heuristics, such as moral values that specify a given mode of prosocial behavior. Because this mindset, referred to as other-oriented, obviates consideration of outcome for the self and other, it can result in choices that harm the self as well as other possible organizational stakeholders. This raises the question: how does one maintain an other-interested focus while engaging in rational reasoning? The resolution of this question rests in the arousal of moral emotions. Moral emotions signal to the individual the opportunity to express, or the need to uphold, moral values. Given that moral values direct behavior that benefits others or society, they offset the tendency to focus on self-interest. At extreme levels of arousal, however, moral emotions may overwhelm cognitive resources and thus influence individuals to engage in heuristic rather than rational reasoning. The effect of moral emotions is bounded by attendant emotions, as individuals are likely to experience multiple hedonic and moral emotions in the same situation. Deontic justice predicts that the arousal of moral emotions will lead individuals to retaliate in response to injustice, regardless of whether they experience personal benefit. However, evidence suggests that individuals may instead engage in self-protecting behavior, such as withdrawal, or self-serving behaviors, such as the contagion of unjust behavior. These alternative responses may be due to strong hedonic emotions, such as fear or schadenfreude, the pleasure derived from others’ misfortunes, overpowering one’s moral emotions. Future research regarding the arousal levels of moral emotions and the complex interplay of emotions in the decision-making process may provide beneficial insight into managing the competing interests of organizational stakeholders.
Whistleblowing and Whistleblowers
Authors: Brennan Niamh M.
Published: January 2020

Whistleblowing (also called good faith reporting, anonymous reporting, protected disclosure) is growing in importance as a corporate governance mechanism. It is increasingly recognized as a key internal control mechanism. Whistleblowing is a term used to describe an act whereby wrongdoing is exposed. It gained impetus following the collapse of Enron in 2001 arising from financial reporting fraud, which culminated in the U.S. Time magazine selecting three whistleblowers (all women) as its person of the year in 2002. The term was first used in 1966. Researchers have invoked a variety of theories and models attempting to explain whistleblowing. Elements that influence the process include the whistleblowers, the type of wrongdoing, the wrongdoers, the decision to blow the whistle, whistleblowing recipients, organizational factors, and finally the consequences of whistleblowing. Organizational processes, alternative to the more extreme step of whistleblowing, include silence (the other side of the coin to whistleblowing), speaking up, and open disclosure. An organizational response resisting an employee speaking up is the trigger that creates a whistleblower. The definition of whistleblowing only includes organizational members. Should it be extended to include external parties as well as organizational members? Social media has had an impact on whistleblowing. Questions remain as to the efficacy of whistleblowing: Is it a substantive or symbolic mechanism of governance?