bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Determination of the Soil Water Retention Curve around the Wilting Point: Optimized Protocol for the Dewpoint Method
Authors: Kirste Björn , Iden Sascha C. , Durner W. 
Published: April 2019

Core Ideas
Soil water retention curve over the entire moisture range with high accuracy.
Combination of evaporation method and dewpoint method.
No a priori knowledge on soil texture needed.
Experimental methodology that is reliable, efficient, and easy to use.
Accurate knowledge of the soil water retention curve (WRC) is essential for various hydrological and plant‐physiological studies. Currently, there is a lack of a uniform protocol for measuring the wilting point water content (WP) with the dewpoint method (DP), despite its ecological relevance and frequent use to calculate available water capacity. We present a new protocol for measuring the WP with the dewpoint method. In contrast to existing methods which add or remove specific amounts of water to moist, air‐dry, or oven‐dry soil, we propose to apply the dewpoint method after the evaporation method in which tensiometers measure the pressure head of the soil. We suggest to stop the evaporation experiment when the air‐entry of one tensiometer cup is reached, to slice the soil core into slabs, and to apply the dewpoint method to subsamples of the slabs. We test the method by numerical simulations and laboratory experiments on five soils covering a broad range of texture. We investigate the accuracy, robustness, and practicability of the new method and compare it to the existing protocols for the dewpoint method and the pressure plate technique. We find that the proposed method allows a precise determination of the WP and the WRC across the full moisture range. It is easy to perform, robust, accurate, and does not require any a priori guess about the amount of water to be added or removed. By fitting a retention curve to the measured data, any water content, including the WP, can be obtained with great confidence.
How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
Authors: Valdes-Abellan Javier , Pachepsky Yakov , Martinez Gonzalo , Pla Concepción 
Published: April 2019

Core Ideas
Ensemble Kalman filter data assimilation was used to predict soil water content.
Analyzed data assimilation frequencies were 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 d.
Assimilation of observed data every 7 d or more yielded better results.
Data assimilation (DA) is a promising alternative to infer soil hydraulic parameters from soil water dynamics data. Frequency of measurements and updates are important controls of DA efficiency; however, no strict guidance exists on determining the optimal frequency. In this study, DA was performed with the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) with a state augmentation approach to update both model states and parameters. We analyzed updates every 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 d. Two soil types (sandy loam and loam) and four climates (hot semiarid [Bwh], cold semiarid [Bsk], humid continental [Dfa], and humid subtropical [Cfa]) were considered. Results demonstrate that DA with high update frequencies does not provide better results than results obtained when using low frequencies. For sandy loam soil, assimilation of data every seven or more days yields better results for whatever climate considered. For loam soil, the same is true after 9 mo of assimilation. The chosen performance metric may affect the results, but the general trend of better results with low assimilation frequencies does not change.
Hybrid Design of Isonicotinic Acid Hydrazide Derivatives: Machine Learning Studies, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of their Antituberculosis Activity
Authors: Kovalishyn Vasyl , Hodyna Diana , Sinenko Vitaliy O. , Blagodatny Volodymyr , Semenyuta Ivan , Slivchuk Sergiy R. , Brovarets Volodymyr , Poda Gennady , Metelytsia Larysa 
Published: April 2019

Background:
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Mtb) bacteria. One of the main causes of mortality from TB is the problem of Mtb resistance to known drugs.

Objective:
The goal of this work is to identify potent small molecule anti-TB agents by machine learning,
synthesis and biological evaluation.

Methods:
The On-line Chemical Database and Modeling Environment (OCHEM) was used to build predictive
machine learning models. Seven compounds were synthesized and tested in vitro for their antitubercular
activity against H37Rv and resistant Mtb strains.

Results:
A set of predictive models was built with OCHEM based on a set of previously synthesized isoniazid
(INH) derivatives containing a thiazole core and tested against Mtb. The predictive ability of the
models was tested by a 5-fold cross-validation, and resulted in balanced accuracies (BA) of 61–78% for
the binary classifiers. Test set validation showed that the models could be instrumental in predicting anti-
TB activity with a reasonable accuracy (with BA = 67–79 %) within the applicability domain. Seven designed
compounds were synthesized and demonstrated activity against both the H37Rv and multidrugresistant
(MDR) Mtb strains resistant to rifampicin and isoniazid. According to the acute toxicity evaluation
in Daphnia magna neonates, six compounds were classified as moderately toxic (LD50 in the range of
10−100 mg/L) and one as practically harmless (LD50 in the range of 100−1000 mg/L).

Conclusion:
The newly identified compounds may represent a starting point for further development of
therapies against Mtb. The developed models are available online at OCHEM http://ochem.eu/article/11
1066 and can be used to virtually screen for potential compounds with anti-TB activity.
Synthesis and Preliminary Biological Properties Assessment of Novel 2-S-, 4-, 5-Substituted and Bicyclic Derivatives of 6-Methylpyrimidine-4-ol
Authors: Yengoyan Aleksandr P. , Azaryan Zhermen A. , Pivazyan Vergush A. , Ghazaryan Emma A. , Tamazyan Rafael A. , Ayvazyan Armen G. 
Published: April 2019

:A series of novel 2-S-, 4-, 5-substituted and bicyclic 6-methylpyrimidine-4-ol derivatives including pyrazole, 1,2,4-triazole and pyridazine moieties in the molecule were synthesized by accessible and efficient methods. Thiopyrazolyl derivatives were obtained from 2-mercapto-6-methylpyrimidin-4-ol. 4-Triazolyl and 4-aminotriazolylpyrimidines were synthesized from the quaternary ammonium salt of pyrimidine and 4-chloro-substituted 2-thiomethyl-6-methylpyrimidine, respectively. The reaction of potassium salt of 1-methyl-6-oxo-1,6-dihydropyridazin-3-ole with ethyl 2-chloro-3-oxobutanoate and subsequent treatment with thiourea led to 6-((4-hydroxy-2-mercapto-6-methylpyrimidin-5-yl)oxy)-2- methylpyridazin-3 (2H)-one. The reaction product of the latter with 3-chloropentan-2,4-dione was subjected to heterocyclization, which afforded the target bicyclic derivative of pyrimidine. The synthesized compounds showed a pronounced stimulating action on plants growth. Their growth stimulant activities were in the range of 60-93% compared to heteroauxin.
Functional Nanomaterials-Catalyzed Production of Biodiesel
Authors: Pan Hu , Li Hu , Zhang Heng , Wang Anping , Yang Song 
Published: April 2019

Background:
Biodiesel, as a green and renewable biofuel, has great potential to replace
fossil diesel. The development of efficient and stable heterogeneous catalysts is vital to produce biodiesel
in an efficient and green way. Nanocatalysts provide a high surface-to-volume ratio as well as
high active site loading and can improve mass transfer, which is beneficial to enhance their catalytic
activity.

Objective:
The review focuses on the latest advances in the production of biodiesel using nanostructured
catalysts.

Methods:
Biodiesel is mainly produced through esterification and transesterification reaction using
acids, bases or lipases as catalysts. We mainly review the synthesis methods and physicochemical
properties of various basic, acidic and lipase nanocatalysts. Meanwhile, their catalytic activities in
biodiesel production are also discussed.

Results:
Alkali nanocatalysts are mainly suitable for transformation of oils with low acid values to
biodiesel via transesterification reaction. In contrast, acidic nanocatalysts are not sensitive to water as
well as free fatty acids and can avoid saponification associated with basic nanocatalysts while promote
simultaneous esterification and transesterification reaction. However, acid-catalyzed transesterification
usually requires harsh reaction conditions. In addition, the lipase-catalyzed process is
also suitable for non-edible oils containing high contents of free fatty acids, which possess environmental
and economic advantages.

Conclusion:
Nanocatalysts have many advantages such as good accessibility with nanostructure,
high active site loading and reduction of mass transfer resistance. However, most of those materials
undergo deactivation after several cycles. Therefore, the development of more efficient, stable, and
low-cost nanocatalysts is desirable for producing biodiesel.
The Psoriasis Pathogenesis and the Metabolic Risk
Authors: Buquicchio Rosalba , Foti Caterina , Ventura Maria Teresa 
Published: April 2019

Summary
Psoriasis is a multifactorial disease that can be related to genetic, environmental and immunological causes. Therefore, not only a single factor but different aspects contribute to the onset of the disease, varying from individual to individual. It would be characterized by an abnormal proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes, mediated by a dysregulation in the auto-immune T cell response in which several cytokines participate, including Interleukin (IL)-17, IL-17A, IL-12, IL-22, IL-23. These cells and cytokines are responsible for the aggression on skin cells, inflammation and accelerated reproduction of the cells of the epidermis. Due to the chronic inflammation, psoriasis is frequently associated with other concomitant non-dermatological morbid conditions such as arthropathy which can be complicated by a disabling evolution. Psoriasis is also frequently associated with comorbidities such as Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD), hyperlipidemia, diabetes and obesity.
The knowledge of common inflammatory pathways and of the potential links between psoriasis and other diseases should encourage dermatologists to a multidisciplinary approach to psoriasis and to an optimal management also in the light of new therapeutic possibilities.
High Payload SVD Based Audio Watermarking Scheme Inherently Robust to mp3 Compression
Authors: Tewari Tribhuwan Kumar , Thakur Manish Kumar 
Published: April 2019

Background & Objective:
SVD based audio watermarking schemes met the requirements
of imperceptibility, having moderate payload and are robust to most common signal processing attacks.
But, when the watermarked audios are compressed at higher compression i.e. compression at
lower bit rate, the percentage retrieval of the watermark is reduced. Since the audios posted on the
networked environment i.e. world wide web (www) are mostly Mp3 audios compressed at different
compression rate, there is a need to develop a watermarking scheme which is inherently robust to
compression attack at different bit rates.

Methods:
Scheme presented in this paper uses a two phase approach for embedding the watermark. The
proposed scheme is having a high payload and is inherently robust to compression attack. In the proposed
scheme, watermarked audios are made inherently robust to mp3 compression at different bit rates and
common signal processing attacks through selection of embedding frames that resist the attacks fully.

Results & Conclusion:
A preliminary analysis of mp3 attack on the individual frames is done prior
to finally embedding the watermark for ensuring robustness to mp3 compression and other attacks.
Speech Recognition Using Elman Artificial Neural Network and Linear Predictive Coding
Authors: Khajehasani Somayeh , Dehyadegari Louiza 
Published: April 2019

Background:
Today, the automatic intelligent system requirement has caused an increasing consideration
on the interactive modern techniques between human being and machine. These techniques generally
consist of two types: audio and visual methods. Meanwhile, the need for developing the algorithms
that enable the human speech recognition by machine is of high importance and frequently studied by the
researchers.

Objective:
Using artificial intelligence methods has led to better results in human speech recognition, but the
basic problem is the lack of an appropriate strategy to select the recognition data among the huge amount of
speech information that practically makes it impossible for the available algorithms to work.

Method:
In this article, to solve the problem, the linear predictive coding coefficients extraction method is
used to sum up the data related to the English digits pronunciation. After extracting the database, it is utilized
to an Elman neural network to recognize the relation between the linear coding coefficients of an audio
file with the pronounced digit.

Results:
The results show that this method has a good performance compared to other methods. According
to the experiments, the obtained results of network training (99% recognition accuracy) indicate that the
network still has better performance than RBF despite many errors.

Conclusion:
The results of the experiments showed that the Elman memory neural network has had an acceptable
performance in recognizing the speech signal compared to the other algorithms. The use of the linear
predictive coding coefficients along with the Elman neural network has led to higher recognition accuracy
and improved the speech recognition system.
Construction and Characterization of Organic Solar Cell and Study the Operational Properties
Authors: Majeed Majid H. , Kareem Mohamed Abdul , Ali Esraa H. 
Published: April 2019

This article reviews the construction of organic solar cell (OSC) and characterized their optical and electrical properties, where indium tin oxide (ITO) used as a transparent electrode, “Poly (3-hexylthiophene- 2,5-diyl) P3HT / Poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) F8BT” as an active layer and “Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly (styrene sulfonate)” PEDOT: PSS which is referred to the hole transport layer. Spin coating technique was used to prepared polymers thin film layers under ambient atmosphere to make OSC. The prepared samples were characterized after annealing process at (80 ͦ C) for (30 min) under non-isolated circumference. The results show a value of filling factor (FF) of (2.888), (0.233) and (0.28) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of (0.0055), (3.333 10-6) and (0.0004), where these results were obtained by Keithley Electrometer Model 6517B, while spectral response is being utilized by LEOI-94 Monochromator and Keithley 6517B Electrometer.
Experimental Study on Solar Air Heating
Authors: Chaichan Miqdam T , Ali Ali J. , Abass Khaleel I. 
Published: April 2019

Abstract

A new type of solar air heater was designed, fabricated, and tested in Baghdad, Iraq winter conditions. The heater consists of two main parts. The horizontal section was filled with the black colored iron chip while the vertical part has five pipes filled with Iraqi paraffin wax. A fan was fixed at the exit of the air. Two cases were studied: when the air moved by natural convection and when forced convection moved it. The studied air heater has proven its effectiveness as it heated the air passing through it to high temperatures. The results manifest that using little air movement makes the temperatures, stored energies, and efficiencies of the two studied cases converge. The suitable solar intensity of Baghdad city makes the use of solar air heater suitable to reduce the electricity and fossil fuels consumption.
Experimental Evaluation and Finite Element Simulation to Produce Square Cup by Deep Drawing Process
Authors: Younis Karem Muhsin , Jabber Adil Shbeeb , Abdulrazaq Mustafa Mohammed 
Published: April 2019

Deep drawing process to produce square cup is very complex process due to a lot of process parameters which control on this process, therefore associated with it many of defects such as earing, wrinkling and fracture. Study of the effect of some process parameters to determine the values of these parameters which give the best result, the distributions for the thickness and depths of the cup were used to estimate the effect of the parameters on the cup numerically, in addition to experimental verification just to the conditions which give the best numerical predictions in order to reduce the time, efforts and costs for producing square cup with less defects experimentally is the aim of this study. The numerical analysis is used to study the effect of some parameters such as die profile radius, radial clearance between die and punch, blank diameter on the length and thickness distributions on the cup, dynamic-explicit (ANSYS11) code based on finite element method is utilized to simulate the square deep drawing operation. Experiments were done for comparison and verification the numerical predictions. effective square cup with less defects and acceptable thickness distributions were produced in this study. It is concluded the most thinning appear in the corner cup due to excessive stretching occur in this region and also it is found the cup thickness and height prediction by numerical analysis and in general in harmony with experimental analysis.
Conversion of Lignocellulosic Material Into Fermentable Sugars
Authors: Mohammed Asem Hassan , Behrendt Frank Behrendt , Methner Frank Jürgen 
Published: April 2019

Enzymatic hydrolysis process of lignocellulosic biomass materials is difficult because of inherent structural features of biomass, which represents barriers that prevent complete hydrolysis; therefore, pretreatment techniques are necessary to render biomass highly digestible in enzymatic hydrolysis process. In this research, (non?) oxidative short-term lime pretreatment of willow wood was used. A weight of 11.40 g of willow wood was mixed with an excess of calcium hydroxide (0.4 g Ca(OH)2/g raw biomass) and water loading (15 g/g raw biomass). Lime pretreatment was carried out for various periods of time including 1, 2, 3.5, 5 and 6 h, with temperatures at 100, 113, 130, 147 and 1600C, and oxygen pressures as oxidativeagent (6, 9, 13.5, 17.8, 21 bar absolute). The optimization of both pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were depended on the maximum overall yields of glucan and xylan after two processes of lime pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. The optimal conditions of pretreatment were as follow: 1) 1.33 h, 1470C, 17.8 bar absolute, 0.26 g Ca(OH)2/g raw biomass. 2) 1.25 h, 155 0C, 21 bar absolute, 0.26 Ca(OH)2/g raw biomass. Furthermore, the optimal values for low impact factors such as water loading was 15 g/g raw biomass and particle size was less than 3 mm. The optimal conditions of enzymatic hydrolysis were as follow: Cellulase enzymeloading was 0.1 g /g glucan in raw biomass, at substrate concentration of 50 g/L during 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis The yield of enzymatic hydrolysis under these conditions were as follow: 96.00 g glucan/100 g of glucan in raw biomass, and 65.00 g xylan/100 g xylan in raw biomass.
Travel Time Prediction Models and Reliability Indices for Palestine Urban Road in Baghdad City
Authors: Al-Kaissi Zainab Ahmed 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
Travel Time estimation and reliability measurement is an important issues for improving operation efficiency and safety of traffic roads networks. The aim of this research is the estimation of total travel time and distribution analysis for three selected links in Palestine Arterial Street in Baghdad city. Buffer time index results in worse reliability conditions. Link (2) from Bab Al Mutham intersection to Al-Sakara intersection produced a buffer index of about 36% and 26 % for Link (1) Al-Mawall intersection to Bab Al- Mutham intersection and finally for link (3) which presented a 24% buffer index. These illustrated that the reliability get worst for link (2), (1) and (3) respectively during the peak period. Extra delay is observed on link(1), (2) and (3) in terms of 95% percentile travel time of about (301.9, 219.4, and 193.8)sec. for Link (1, 2 and 3) respectively. Higher value for 95% travel time is obtained for link (1). Travel time index (TTI) of 4.2 %, 4.9% and 4% is obtained for Link (1, 2 and 3) respectively. Maximum value for delay per km that obtained for link (1) which is about 266 sec/km and 268 sec./km for link (3) and 244 sec/km for link(2). Different predicted model for the three studied links of Palestine street have been developed based on the obtained field data. A best fit is presented as compared the predicted models with the observed field travel time data for all the models of studied links which illustrated that the predicted model can present the actual field data.
Keywords: Delay, Buffer Index, Travel Time, predicted model, Reliability, Urban Arterial.
Robot Arm Path Planning Using Modified Particle Swarm Optimization based on D* algorithm
Authors: Sadiq Ahmed T. , Raheem Firas A. 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
Much attention has been paid for the use of robot arm in various applications. Therefore, the optimal path finding has a significant role to upgrade and guide the arm movement. The essential function of path planning is to create a path that satisfies the aims of motion including, averting obstacles collision, reducing time interval, decreasing the path traveling cost and satisfying the kinematics constraints. In this paper, the free Cartesian space map of 2-DOF arm is constructed to attain the joints variable at each point without collision. The D*algorithm and Euclidean distance are applied to obtain the exact and estimated distances to the goal respectively. The modified Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm is proposed to find an optimal path based on the local search, D* and Euclidean distances. The quintic polynomial equation is utilized to provide a smooth trajectory path. According to the observe results, the modified PSO algorithm is efficiently performs to find an optimal path even in difficult environments.

Keywords: D*, Free Cartesian Space, Path Planning, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Robot Arm.
Modeling of Monocrystalline PV Cell Considering Ambient Conditions in Baghdad City
Authors: Abd Al-Wahed Mohammed E. , Abdullateef Osamah F. 
Published: April 2019

Abstract

The environmental conditions are important factors, because they affect both the efficiency of a photovoltaic module and the energy load. This research was carried out experimentally and modeling was done in MATLAB –Simulink by monitoring the variation in power output of the system with environmental conditions such as solar radiation, ambient temperature, wind speed, and humidity of Baghdad city. From the results, the ambient temperatures are inversely proportional to humidity and the output power performance of the system, while the wind speed is directly proportional with the output power performance of the system.

Keywords: Ambient temperature, cell temperature, humidity, Photovoltaic, solar radiation, wind speed.