Supporting adaptive capacity of agropastoralists through fish production and marketing: The case of Tendaho Reservoir

The present study was conducted to share the experience of promoting fish production and marketing from the Tendaho Reservoir of the Afar region, Ethiopia. The study results indicate the reservoir is serving its purpose, namely to generate gainful employment for the pastoralist youth and to create sustainable livelihoods and sources of income for the pastoralist‐fishermen of the Afar region. Further, the reservoir fish production has improved the nutrition and food security status of children. It also created a new business entry for hotels and restaurants in the area. Fishermen in the study areas, however, face problems getting the required support for such efforts, in the form of training in fish post‐harvest practices. The present study also indicates dried catfish marketing should be targeted in the short run to address the substantial fish spoilage observed in the high‐production hot season. Dried catfish marketing is highly recommended for the Afar region since it is well adapted to the climate of the study area, noting the product is less perishable and can be sold throughout the country. Dried catfish marketing is also expected to address the problem of gender inclusiveness, an issue clearly missing in the fish production system in the study areas.     

THD analysis for finite slider bearing with roughness: special reference to load generation in parallel sliders

This paper analyses the thermal and roughness effects on different characteristics of finite rough tilted pad slider bearings. The roughness is assumed to be stochastic, Gaussian randomly distributed. Density and viscosity are assumed to be temperature dependent. In this study, two models of one-dimensional roughness, longitudinal and transverse, are considered. The irregular domain due to roughness is mapped to a regular domain so that the numerical method can be easily applied. The modified Reynolds equation, momentum equation, continuity equation and energy equation are coupled and solved using the finite difference method to yield various bearing characteristics. It is observed that for nonparallel slider bearing the load carrying capacity due to the combined effect is less than the load capacity due to the roughness effect for both longitudinal and transverse roughness models. However, in case of a parallel pad slider bearing, the reverse is true, though the load capacity is not significant. It is also observed that the load carrying capacity due to the combined effect is larger than the load carrying capacity due to the thermal effect for both roughness models.     

Nonepileptic posttraumatic seizures

BACKGROUND: The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the risk of tumor recurrence after laparoscopic cecal resection (LCR) of colonic carcinoma in the rat. METHODS: The experimental cancer consisted of one million cells (DHK/K12), incorporated in an extracellular matrix, placed and secured to the cecal serosa in 110 BD9 rats. Four weeks later, all animals were reoperated through a laparotomy to control tumor growth, and animals with diffuse carcinomatosis were excluded. Eligible animals were randomized either to laparoscopic cecal resection (group LCR, n = 10), to open resection (group OCR, n = 13), or to a control group without resection (group C, n = 13). Resection was always considered as macrocopically complete. All animals were killed 4 weeks after the resection to determine the tumor recurrence and quantify carcinomatosis. RESULTS: We noted diffuse carcinomatosis in 70% of rats in groups C and LCR versus 23% in group OCR (p = 0.038). For tumors noted as S- (not extending outside the serosa), diffuse carcinomatosis was observed in all animals of group C (3 of 3), in 6 of 8 in group LCR, and 0 of 6 in group OCR (p = 0.004). The rate of port site or incisional metastases was not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results demonstrated the deleterious impact of the laparoscopy for resection of large bowel malignancy. LCR increased significantly the incidence of a diffuse carcinomatosis even when performed for locally noninvasive tumors (S-).     

Modelling and optimization of district heating and industrial energy system—an approach to a locally deregulated heat market

Regions with densely concentration of industries and district heating systems (DHS) could be interesting study object from the light of an integrated heat market on local basis. System analysis with a widened system boundary could be used as an approach to evaluate the benefit of an integrated heat supply system. In this study, an energy system model consisting of totally seven different participants is designed and the optimization results of the system analysis are presented. With applied data and assumptions, the study shows that a significant amount of the heat demand within two sub‐systems can be covered by heat supply from the heat market (the entire heat comes from two industries). Shadow prices, which can be used for heat pricing, indicate the advantage of an integrated system. The system cost reduction through integration and the availability of several actors with diverse energy supply system, makes the region under study an interesting area to prove a locally deregulated heat market. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strain-Sensitive Magnetization Reversal of a van der Waals Magnet

By virtue of the layered structure, van der Waals (vdW) magnets are sensitive to the lattice deformation controlled by the external strain, providing an ideal platform to explore the one-step magnetization reversal that is still conceptual in conventional magnets due to the limited strain-tuning range of the coercive field. In this study, a uniaxial tensile strain is applied to thin flakes of the vdW magnet Fe₃GeTe₂ (FGT), and a dramatic increase of the coercive field (H_c) by more than 150% with an applied strain of 0.32% is observed. Moreover, the change of the transition temperatures between the different magnetic phases under strain is investigated, and the phase diagram of FGT in the strain–temperature plane is obtained. Comparing the phase diagram with theoretical results, the strain-tunable magnetism is attributed to the sensitive change of magnetic anisotropy energy. Remarkably, strain allows an ultrasensitive magnetization reversal to be achieved, which may promote the development of novel straintronic device applications.     

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Airflow Inside Refrigerated Shipping Containers

During transportation of fruits and vegetables, factors such as temperature, air exchange, humidity levels, packaging design and stacking arrangements in the reefer (refrigerated shipping container) are extremely important to maintain the cold chain. In this study, the airflow distribution inside two types of refrigerated shipping containers (T-bar floor and flat floor) used for transporting fresh fruit handling were investigated. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of airflow was developed and experimentally validated. Measurements of air velocities were taken from 222 sample positions inside a full-size reefer. The validated model was then implemented to study the effects of container designs and operational conditions on airflow pattern and distribution. High and low evaporator speed scenarios of the two reefer designs (T-bar floor and flat floor) were investigated. The result showed that airflow distribution in the two container designs were markedly different. Good agreement was found between measured and predicted values of air velocities. The air exchange rate in the rear part of the reefers for the two designs were compared. For the flat floor reefer, the air exchange was 0.2 m³ h^?1 while for the T-bar floor, it was 0.6 m³ h^?1. Also, in the primary recirculation region, (between 3 and 8 m from the inlet side) the average vertical air velocity was higher in the T-bar floor reefer (0.04 m s^?1) than in the flat floor reefer (0.01 m s^?1). As a result, reefer with T-bar floor design exhibited a noticeable reduction of air recirculation zone and enhanced uniform vertical air movement compared to the reefer with flat floor design.     

Use of porous volcanic rocks for the adsorptive removal of copper

Low‐cost adsorbents, pumice (VPum) and scoria (VSco) were investigated for the removal of Cu(II) as function of various parameters. Batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of Cd(II) and Ni(II) on the adsorptive removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solutions. Kinetic data showed a trend of fast removal at initial stages, thereby achieving maximum adsorption after 1 h agitation. The adsorption process well explained by pseudo‐second‐order kinetics for both adsorbents. Adsorption capacity were found 1.432 and 1.015 mg/g using VPum and VSco, respectively. This work showed the promising nature of pumice and scoria to effectively remove copper from water.     

Agricultural sediment reduction using natural herbaceous buffer strips: a case study of the east African highland

Buffer strips are permanently vegetated areas situated immediately adjacent to streams and provide an efficient and economical way to reduce nutrient loads from agricultural areas, but no studies exist of their effectiveness from the East African highlands. We thus evaluated the sediment filtering capabilities of natural herbaceous buffer strips under tropical highland climatic conditions. Overland flow samples were collected at field edges and at various positions in herbaceous buffers and tested for total suspended sediment, nitrate‐nitrogen and total phosphorus. There was a significant effect (P < 0.05) of distance from field edge on the mean values of nutrients. On average, a 10.0 m herbaceous buffer reduced the total phosphorus by 99%, total suspended sediment by 94% and nitrate‐nitrogen by 85%. Altogether, the results suggest that herbaceous buffer strips are important to include in watershed management in agriculturally dominated tropical highlands in order to control sediment loss, stream siltation and the washout of nutrients.