Estimating the uniaxial compressive strength of pyroclastic rocks from the slake durability index

Because the preparation of standard samples may not always be possible for weak or soft rocks, the prediction of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) from indirect methods is widely used for preliminary investigations. In this study, the possibility of predicting UCS from the slake durability index (SDI) was investigated for pyroclastic rocks. For this purpose, pyroclastic rocks were collected from 31 different locations in the Cappadocian Volcanic Province of Turkey. The UCS and SDI tests were carried out on the samples in the laboratory. The UCS values were correlated with the SDI values and a very strong exponential relation was found between the two parameters. Since some data were scattered over the UCS values of 20 MPa, the correlation plot was redrawn for above and below the UCS values of 20 MPa, respectively. Very strong linear correlations were developed for two cases. Our concluding remark is that the UCS of pyroclastic rocks can be estimated from the SDI.

     

Electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization of a Benzo[c]cinnoline electrografted platinum surface

In this work, a platinum surface was modified with benzo[c]cinnoline (BCC) to get new insight into the metal modification area. By potential scanning from + 0.4 V to - 0.8 V, the diazotized BCC was reduced electrochemically and grafted onto the platinum electrode surface to form benzo[c]cinnoline modified platinum electrode (Pt-BCC). Electrochemical reduction of benzo[c]cinnoline diazonium salt on the electrode surface yielded a relatively stable organic film. The introduction of BCC molecules onto the platinum surface was verified by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry. The stability and the potential range of the Pt-BCC electrode were also studied.     

Influence of the harvesting year and fertilizer on the fatty acid composition and some physicochemical properties of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Sar? 85 (Linum usitatissimum L.) linseed variety was used in this study. Linseed was cultivated at 2008 (LS-08) and 2009 (LS-09) without fertilizer. In addition, at 2009 diammonium phosphate [(NH₄)₂HPO₄] and ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) were applied (LSF-09). The linseeds were analyzed for protein, ash and oil contents and fatty acid compositions. There were differences among harvesting years for oil, protein and ash contents of the seeds. The greater oil and protein contents were obtained during LS-08 compared with LS-09. There were no significant difference in protein and ash content between LS-09 and LSF-09 while a significant difference was observed in oil content. Seed protein, oil and ash contents were significantly affected by the harvesting year, but only oil content was affected by the fertilizer treatment. There are significant differences in palmitic, stearic, oleic, ??-linolenic and arachidic acid between LS-08 and LS-09. While palmitic, stearic, oleic acid decreased, ??-linolenic and arachidic acid increased during 2009 harvesting year. LSF-09 has the highest amount of ??-linolenic acid. The fertilizing treatment seems to have an increasing effect on the amount of ??-linolenic acid, while it has a decreasing effect on the oleic acid content.     

Biodiversity and technological properties of yeasts from Turkish sourdough

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, yeasts were isolated and characterized from twelve traditional sourdough samples which belongs to Black Sea and Aegean regions of Turkey. Twenty six...     

Cooperative communications with multilevel/AES-SD4-CPFSK in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, a new joint multilevel data encryption and channel coding mechanism is proposed, which is called ??multilevel/advanced encryption standard?Csystematic distance 4?Ccontinuous phase frequency shift keying?? (ML/AES-SD4-CPFSK). In the proposed scheme, we have not only taken advantage of spatial diversity gains but also optimally allocated energy and bandwidth resources among sensor nodes as well as providing high level of security and error protection for cooperative communications in wireless sensor networks. Relay protocols of cooperative communications, such as amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward with/without adversary nodes, have been studied for 4CPFSK, 8CPFSK, and 16CPFSK of ML/AES-SD4-CPFSK. We have evaluated the error performances of multilevel AES for data encryption, multilevel SD-4 for channel coding, and various CPFSK types for modulation utilizing cooperative communications in wireless sensor networks. According to computer simulation results, significant diversity gain and coding gain have been achieved. As an example, bit error rate (BER) performance of 10^?5 value has been obtained at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ?6?dB for SD-4-CPFSK scheme in a compared related journal paper, whereas in our proposed system, we have reached the same BER value at a SNR of ?23?dB with amplify-and-forward with direct path signal protocol in 16-level AES, two-level SD-4 coded 16CPFSK, and at the same time, we have reached the same BER value at a SNR of ?22?dB with amplify-and-forward without direct path signal protocol in 16-level AES, two-level SD-4 coded 16CPFSK.     

Disrupted temporal control in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s disease.

Huntington’s disease is characterized by corticostriatal dysfunction and degeneration of the striatum with progressive loss of the medium spiny neurons. These circuits are important for instrumental responding, interval timing, and temporal control over motor output. We investigated the acquisition of timed operant responding in two R6/2 Huntington’s Disease models, differing in CAG repeat length and genetic background (115 and 250 CAG repeats, and a mixed CBAxC57 or pure C57 background) and their corresponding wild type controls using the peak procedure. Both mouse lines exhibited similar response control deficits. In unreinforced peak trials, mice either did not learn to terminate an ongoing response past reinforcement time or required more trials to acquisition compared to the wild type mice. While transgenic and wild type mice did not exhibit differences in temporal accuracy, response curves were flatter in transgenic mice, suggesting decreased temporal control over operant responding. The results are discussed in terms of the neurobiology of interval timing, instrumental responding, and the neuropathology of HD and R6/2 mice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimated daily intake of pesticide residues exposure by vegetables grown in greenhouses in Al-Qassim region,Saudi Arabia

Residues of 23 pesticides (13 insecticides, 3 fungicides, 3 herbicides, 2 acaricides, 1 rodenticide and 1 nematicide) in 160 different vegetable samples cultivated under greenhouse conditions and collected from 4 major supermarkets located in Al-Qassim region, Saudi Arabia were monitored. A multiresidue method was carried out by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Residues were found in 89 samples. Fifty four samples were found above the maximum residue levels (MRLs). The most frequently found pesticides were carbaryl followed by biphenyl and then carbofuran. MRL values exceeded most often in cabbage (11 samples) followed by squash, green pepper and carrot (7 samples each) followed by cucumber and lettuce (6 samples each), egg-plant (5 samples) and then tomato (4 samples). Also, cabbage showed the highest contamination rates (16 samples), followed by carrot, cucumber and green pepper (12 samples each), squash (11 samples), lettuce and tomato (9 samples each) and egg-plant (8 samples). The highest concentrations were determined in lettuce followed by squash, cabbage and carrot. Al-Qassim region population’s average daily intake (EDI) has been estimated between 2 × 10^?5 and 0.597 μg/kg body weight/day and the hazard index (EDI/acceptable daily intake (ADI)) less than the unity for the tested compounds. The data illustrated that the intakes are much lower than the ADIs and the exposure level to whole pesticides was below the level to produce health risk. The data indicated also the need for regular monitoring programs for pesticide residues in vegetables cultivated under greenhouse conditions, at the national level, to protect consumers’ health.     

Real-time Design Constraints in Implementing Active Vibration Control Algorithms

Although computer architectures incorporate fast processing hardware resources, high performance real-time implementation of a complex control algorithm requires an efficient design and software coding of the algorithm so as to exploit special features of the hardware and avoid associated architecture shortcomings. This paper presents an investigation into the analysis and design mechanisms that will lead to reduction in the execution time in implementing real-time control algorithms. The proposed mechanisms are exemplified by means of one algorithm, which demonstrates their applicability to real-time applications. An active vibration control (AVC) algorithm for a flexible beam system simulated using the finite difference (FD) method is considered to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. A comparative performance evaluation of the proposed design mechanisms is presented and discussed through a set of experiments.     

The design of next generation in-vehicle navigation systems for the older driver

It has been proposed that the current design of in-vehicle displays may not be appropriate for the older driver. This paper describes an empirical, road-based investigation of the benefits to older and younger drivers of providing landmarks within the instructions presented by an in-vehicle navigation system. Thirty two participants navigated a challenging urban route using either landmarks or distance information to identify the location of forthcoming manoeuvres. A range of driver behaviour measures were collected, including visual glance data, driving errors, driver workload, navigation errors, navigation confidence, and pre and post-trial driver attitudinal responses. Results show that, for older and younger drivers, landmarks reduced the time spent glancing to a visual display, reduced navigation and driving errors, and influenced driver confidence. There were some key differences between the older and younger drivers. The wider implications for the design of in-car interfaces for the older driver are discussed.     

Exploiting Narrow Values for Soft Error Tolerance

Soft errors are an important challenge in contemporary microprocessors. Particle hits on the components of a processor are expected to create an increasing number of transient errors with each new microprocessor generation. In this paper we propose simple mechanisms that effectively reduce the vulnerability to soft errors In a processor. Our designs are generally motivated by the fact that many of the produced and consumed values in the processors are narrow and their upper order bits are meaningless. Soft errors canted by any particle strike to these higher order bits can be avoided by simply identifying these narrow values. Alternatively soft errors can be detected or corrected on the narrow values by replicating the vulnerable portion of the value inside the storage space provided for the upper order bits of these operands. We offer a variety of schemes that make use of narrow values and analyze their efficiency in reducing soft error vulnerability of level-1 data cache of the processor