Experimental analysis and exergy efficiency of a conventional solar still with Fresnel lens and energy storage material

This study focuses on the experimental investigation and exergy analysis of a modified solar still (MSS) with convex lenses on glass cover to collect the solar radiation at the focus on surface water. A comparative analysis of the performance and yield of the MSS with convex lenses and the conventional single slope SS were carried out for the same climatic condition of Tanta (Egypt). Similarly, the effect of modification in the SS using convex lenses, with or without black stones, on the freshwater yield is experimentally investigated. The results indicated that the lenses focus the solar radiation to the water placed in the basin and increase the water‐glass temperature difference (T _w – T _g). The yield of freshwater from the MSS with the convex lenses is comparatively higher than that of the conventional SS (26.64%). In addition to convex lenses in the inner cover surface, freshwater yield improved by 35.55% by adding blue stones as energy material inside the basin under constant water mass of 30 kg. The maximum exergy efficiency of the SS with lenses and blue stones was 11.7%, while the SS with lenses alone was 4%. The quality of freshwater produced after desalination was well within the World Health Organization standards. The total dissolved solids and pH after desalination were 22 mg/L and 8.08, respectively.     

Experimental investigation on pyramid solar still with single and double collector cover—Comparative study

Sun radiation is the heat energy source for solar still. That should be utilized maximum for increasing the evaporative rate at the top surface of the brine. The pyramid shape solar still (PSSS) can receive solar input radiation from all four directions. In this research, the top layer of conventional pyramid shape solar still (CPSSS) is covered with air‐packed cover and analysed the effect in the modified still after air packed in between the two glasses, finally, that result is compared with the CPSSS. The air inside the two glasses will be receiving maximum radiation and retain in it. It can be used as top side insulation and which can ensure the maximum insulation for heat energy inside the PSSS. The CPSSS and air‐packed pyramid shape solar still (APPSSS) were fabricated and experimented. The experiments were conducted at an ambient condition of the Chennai, Tamil Nadu (12.9416°N, 80.2362°E). The CPSSS gives good yield at evening when an increase in wind velocity. The APPSSS gives a lower performance as compared to the CPSSS due to the air‐packed cover.     

Personality-targeted persuasive gamified systems: exploring the impact of application domain on the effectiveness of behaviour change strategies

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction - Persuasive gamified systems for health are interventions that promote behaviour change using various persuasive strategies. While research has shown...     

Exploitation of an insulated air chamber as a glazed cover of a conventional solar still

The countries of North Africa suffer from a serious problem that affects a large number of people. The trouble is the provisioning of drinking water. Several techniques are used but solar distillation; which seems to be an appropriate, economical, and easy solution. Conventional solar distiller is used in the Saharan areas but the yield of this device is low, that's why there are several studies that are focused on improving this distiller. The technique of double glazing gives an increase in the efficiency of a solar collector; hence, the idea of using the same technique in a conventional solar distiller. Two covers of glasses separated by 1 cm, isolated from the four sides was put on a distiller of dimensions 0.5 × 0.5 m. The results show that this technique minimizes the distiller's yield by 56.52% when compared with the conventional solar distiller.     

Assessing the cross contamination and transfer rates of Salmonella enterica from chicken to lettuce under different food-handling scenarios

Cross contamination of foodborne pathogens from raw meats to ready-to-eat foods has caused a number of foodborne outbreaks. The cross contamination and transfer rates of Salmonella enterica from chicken to lettuce under various food-handling scenarios were determined. The following scenarios were tested: in scenario 1, cutting board and knife used to cut chicken (10⁶ CFU/g) were also used for cutting lettuce, without washing; in scenario 2, cutting board and knife were washed with water separately after cutting chicken, and subsequently used for cutting lettuce; and in scenario 3, cutting board and knife were thoroughly washed with soap and hot water after cutting chicken, and before cutting lettuce. In each scenario, cutting board, knife, chicken and lettuce were sampled for population of S. enterica. For scenario 1, both before and after cutting lettuce, the cutting board and knife each had about 2 logs CFU/cm² of S. enterica, respectively. The cut lettuce had about 3 logs CFU/g of S. enterica. In scenario 2, fewer organisms (0.5–2.4 logs CFU/g or cm²) were transferred. The transfer rates in both scenarios ranged from 0.02 to 75%. However, in scenario 3, <1 log CFU/g or cm² organisms were detected on lettuce, cutting board or knife, after washing and cutting lettuce. This shows that the FDA recommended practice for cleaning cutting boards is effective in removing S. enterica and preventing cross contamination.     

Graphene-nanocrystalline metal sulphide composites produced by a one-pot reaction starting from graphite oxide

Graphene-nanocrystalline metal sulphide composites were prepared by a one-pot reaction. A dispersion of graphite oxide layers in an aqueous solution of metal ions (Cd²⁺/Zn²⁺) was reacted with H₂S gas, which acts as a sulphide source as well as a reducing agent, resulting in the formation of metal sulphide nanoparticles and simultaneous reduction of graphite oxide sheets to graphene sheets. The surface defect related emissions shown by free metal sulphide particles are quenched in the composites due to the interaction of the surface of the nanoparticles with graphene sheets.     

Nutritional evaluation of processing discards from tiger tooth croaker, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Otolithes ruber</Emphasis>

Processing discards from tiger tooth croaker, such as head, viscera, and swim bladder, were analyzed for proximate, biochemical, fatty acid, and mineral composition. The proximate analysis showed high protein content (21.04%) in the swim bladder and high fat content (4.10%) and ash content (2.26%) in the head. The biochemical quality indices such as non-protein nitrogen, total volatile base, trimethylamine, free fatty acids, peroxide value, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in the viscera were higher than those in the head and swim bladder. Gas chromatographymass spectrometry analysis of fatty acids composition showed high polyunsaturated fatty acids in the head (58.82%), followed by the viscera (45.80%) and the swim bladder (35.57%). The major available saturated fatty acid, i.e., palmitic acid, was higher in the swim bladder (30.49%). Mineral and heavy metals analyzed via inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer showed high calcium, sodium, and magnesium contents in the head region (346.80, 62.55, and 14.89 mg/kg respectively). Heavy metal levels were within the permissible limit.     

Intellectual property rights in computer software: Issues at stake for developing countries

Abstract

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) have become important in the discourse amongst nations as it may have substantial bearing on the wealth of nations in the future. Computer software is an important component of these new types of property. Since developing countries have some of the factors of production in software and certain developing countries have made significant investments in education, it has become critical to study the impact of IPR on developing countries. In this paper, we investigate IPR in computer software and their implications for developing countries (sometimes with specific reference to India), especially in the context of the GATT/TRIPs agreement that was recently concluded at Marrakesh.     

Constructive protocol specification using Cicero

This paper describes Cicero, a set of language constructs to allow constructive protocol specifications. Unlike other protocol specification languages, Cicero gives programmers explicit control over protocol execution, and facilitates both sequential and parallel implementations, especially for protocols above the transport-layer. It is intended to be used in conjunction with domain-specific libraries, and is quite different in philosophy and mode of use from existing protocol specification languages. A feature of Cicero is the use of event patterns to control synchrony, asynchrony, and concurrency in protocol execution, which helps programmers build robust protocol implementations. Event-pattern driven execution also enables implementers to exploit parallelism of varying grains in protocol execution. Event patterns can also be translated into other formal models, so that existing verification techniques may be used     

Unsupervised segmentation with dynamical units.

In this paper, we present a novel network to separate mixtures of inputs that have been previously learned. A significant capability of the network is that it segments the components of each input object that most contribute to its classification. The network consists of amplitude-phase units that can synchronize their dynamics, so that separation is determined by the amplitude of units in an output layer, and segmentation by phase similarity between input and output layer units. Learning is unsupervised and based on a Hebbian update, and the architecture is very simple. Moreover, efficient segmentation can be achieved even when there is considerable superposition of the inputs. The network dynamics are derived from an objective function that rewards sparse coding in the generalized amplitude-phase variables. We argue that this objective function can provide a possible formal interpretation of the binding problem and that the implementation of the network architecture and dynamics is biologically plausible.