Banana peel: an effective biosorbent for aflatoxins

This work reports the application of banana peel as a novel bioadsorbent for in vitro removal of five mycotoxins (aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) and ochratoxin A). The effect of operational parameters including initial pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature were studied in batch adsorption experiments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and point of zero charge (pH_pzc) analysis were used to characterise the adsorbent material. Aflatoxins’ adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 15 min, with highest adsorption at alkaline pH (6–8), while ochratoxin has not shown any significant adsorption due to surface charge repulsion. The experimental equilibrium data were tested by Langmuir, Freundlich and Hill isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm was found to be the best fitted model for aflatoxins, and the maximum monolayer coverage (Q₀) was determined to be 8.4, 9.5, 0.4 and 1.1 ng mg^?1 for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 respectively. Thermodynamic parameters including changes in free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) were determined for the four aflatoxins. Free energy change and enthalpy change demonstrated that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. Adsorption and desorption study at different pH further demonstrated that the sorption of toxins was strong enough to sustain pH changes that would be experienced in the gastrointestinal tract. This study suggests that biosorption of aflatoxins by dried banana peel may be an effective low-cost decontamination method for incorporation in animal feed diets.     

An adaptive and efficient buffer management scheme for resource-constrained delay tolerant networks

Provisioning buffer management mechanism is especially crucial in resource-constrained delay tolerant networks (DTNs) as maximum data delivery ratio with minimum overhead is expected in highly congested environments. However, most DTN protocols do not consider resource limitations (e.g., buffer, bandwidth) and hence, results in performance degradation. To strangle and mitigate the impact of frequent buffer overflows, this paper presents an adaptive and efficient buffer management scheme called size-aware drop (SAD) that strives to improve buffer utilization and avoid unnecessary message drops. To improve data delivery ratio, SAD exactly determines the requirement based on differential of newly arrived message(s) and available space. To vacate inevitable space from a congested buffer, SAD strives to avoid redundant message drops and deliberate to pick and discard most appropriate message(s) to minimize overhead. The performance of SAD is validated through extensive simulations in realistic environments (i.e., resource-constrained and congested) with different mobility models (i.e., Random Waypoint and disaster). Simulation results demonstrate the performance supremacy of SAD in terms of delivery probability and overhead ratio besides other metrics when compared to contemporary schemes based on Epidemic (DOA and DLA) and PRoPHET (SHLI and MOFO).     

哈尔滨地区汛期径流量变化趋势与复杂性分析

区域水文要素复杂性研究是当今的热点问题,为了研究哈尔滨地区汛期径流量的复杂性特征及变化趋势,将R/S分析法和等概率粗粒化LZC算法引入到区域径流复杂性分析与变化趋势预测中,对地区内10个水文站点的汛期径流序列的复杂性进行诊断并对其变化趋势进行分析。研究结果表明:哈尔滨、通河、阿城、依兰、烟囱山各站未来的汛期径流量呈减少趋势,岔林河、莲花、西北河、延寿、四平山各站未来的汛期径流量呈增长趋势;各站点汛期径流序列的复杂度由高到低依次为:四平山、烟囱山、岔林河、阿城、西北河、依兰、莲花、通河、哈尔滨、延寿;从河流集水面积对其径流长程相关性和复杂性的影响可以看出,站点的河流集水面积越大,其径流量的长程相关性越强,复杂性指数越小。研究成果揭示了本地区汛期径流量的变化趋势以及复杂性演变特征,该特征可为区域径流预测及水资源优化配置提供科学依据。     

On the magnetic, mechanical and rheological properties of rubber–nickel nanocomposites

Rubber–nickel nanocomposites were synthesized by incorporating freshly prepared nanometric nickel particles in two different matrices namely natural rubber and neoprene rubber according to specific recipes for various loadings of nano nickel and the cure characteristics of these composites were evaluated. The maximum torque values register an increase with the increase in loading of nickel in both composites and this is attributed to the non-interacting nature of nickel nanoparticles with rubber matrices. The cure time of natural rubber composites decreases with increase in the content of nickel, and in neoprene rubber cure, time increases with increase in filler content. In natural rubber, the curing reaction seems to be activated by the presence of nickel particles. The magnetization studies of the composites reveal that the magnetic properties of nickel are retained in the composite samples. The elastic modulus of natural rubber and neoprene rubber are largely improved by the incorporation of nickel particles.     

Hybrid self-inertia weight adaptive particle swarm optimisation with local search using C4.5 decision tree classifier for feature selection problems

ABSTRACT

Feature selection is an important task to improve the classifier’s accuracy and to decrease the problem size. A number of methodologies have been presented for feature selection problems using metaheuristic algorithms. In this paper, an improved self-adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimisation with local search and combined with C4.5 classifiers for feature selection algorithm is proposed. In this proposed algorithm, the gradient base local search with its capacity of helping to explore the feature space and an improved self-adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimisation with its ability to converge a best global solution in the search space. Experimental results have verified that the SIW-APSO-LS performed well compared with other state of art feature selection techniques on a suit of 16 standard data sets.     

In search of intelligence: evolving a developmental neuron capable of learning

A neuro-inspired multi-chromosomal genotype for a single developmental neuron capable of learning and developing memory is proposed. This genotype is evolved so that the phenotype which changes and develops during an agent's lifetime (while problem-solving) gives the agent the capacity for learning by experience. Seven important processes of signal processing and neural structure development are identified from biology and encoded using Cartesian Genetic Programming. These chromosomes represent the electrical and developmental aspects of dendrites, axonal branches, synapses and the neuron soma. The neural morphology that occurs by running these chromosomes is highly dynamic. The dendritic/axonal branches and synaptic connections form and change in response to situations encountered in the learning task. The approach has been evaluated in the context of maze-solving and the board game of checkers (draughts) demonstrating interesting learning capabilities. The motivation underlying this research is to, ab initio, evolve genotypes that build phenotypes with an ability to learn.     

Internal model control structure using adaptive inverse control strategy

In this paper, we propose a new adaptive internal model control scheme based on adaptive finite impulse response filters. This scheme provides the same design procedure for both minimum and nonminimum phase plants. The plants under consideration may contain time delay. The tracking objective is accomplished for both invertible and noninvertible stable plants. The internal model of the plant and its inverse are estimated by recursive least-squares and least-mean-squares algorithms, respectively. The closed loop is designed such that the system from the reference input to the plant output can be approximately represented by a pure delay. The effect of the process zeros on the output is compensated by using adaptive finite impulse response filters. This avoids the cancellation of noncancellable zeros of the plant and forces the plant output to track the reference input with a delay. The stability of the closed loop for both minimum and nonminimum phase systems is guaranteed. Computer simulation and laboratory scale experimental results are included in the paper to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.