Field evaluation of two bait delivery systems for the oral immunization of dogs against rabies in Tunisia

In a study of the relation between foot pain and disability, a cross-sectional analysis was performed using baseline data (1992-1995) from the Women's Health and Aging Study, a population-based study of 1,002 disabled women aged 65 years and older living in Baltimore, Maryland. Chronic and severe foot pain, defined as pain lasting 1 month or longer in the previous year, plus pain in the previous month rated severe (7-10 on a scale of 0 to 10), was reported by 14% of the women. Severe foot pain was more common in women who were younger (aged 65-74 years), obese, or had hand or knee osteoarthritis. Walking speed and five repeated chair stands were slower in women with foot pain. After adjustment for age, body mass index, race, education, self-rated health, smoking status, comorbidities, and number of other pain sites, severe foot pain was independently associated with increased risk for walking difficulty (adjusted odds ratio = 1.69, 95% confidence interval 1.10-2.59) and disability in activities of daily living (adjusted odds ratio = 1.91, 95% confidence interval 1.21-3.01). These findings suggest that severe foot pain may play a key role in disability in older women. Further studies are warranted to confirm these results longitudinally and to determine whether interventions to alleviate foot pain could reduce or prevent disability in older women.     

Changes in fatty acid and essential oil composition of sage (Salvia officinalis L.) leaves under NaCl stress

Fatty acids and essential oils from hydroponically cultivated Salvia officinalis leaves were analyzed by GC and GC–MS. Four different levels of NaCl (25, 50, 75 and 100 mM) were applied. The first results showed that salt treatment reduced significantly the plant growth by 61% and the total fatty acids (TFA) content by 32% at 100 mM NaCl. Alpha-linolenic, gadoleic, palmitic and oleic acids were the major fatty acids. Moreover, the polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased, while the monounsaturated ones increased with respect to increasing salinity. Regarding the essential oil composition, the main compounds were α-and β-thujone, 1,8-cineole, camphor, α-humulene, viridiflorol and manool at all salt treatments. The yield had a maximum increase at 75 mM NaCl. Hence, sage can be considered as moderately salt sensitive.     

Advances in reduction of NOx and N2O1 emission formation in an oxy-fired fluidized bed boiler

Fossil fuel combustion is one of the major means to meet the mounting global energy demand. However, the increasing NO_x and N₂O emissions arising from fossil fuel combustion process have hazardous effects. Thus, mitigating these gases is vital to attain a sustainable environment. Interestingly, oxy-fuel combustion in fluidized bed for carbon capture and minimized NO_x emissions is strongly sustainable compare to the other approaches. It was assessed that NO_x formation and fuel-N conversion have significant limitation under oxy-fluidized bed compared to air mode and the mechanism of NO_x formation is still deficient and requires further development. In addition, this review paper discussed the potential of primary measure as low emission process with others supplementary techniques for feasible NO_x reduction. The influences of combustion mode, operating parameters, and reduction techniques such as flue gas recirculation, oxygen staging, biomass co-firing, catalyst, influence of fluidized bed design and structure, decoupling combustion and their merges are respectively evaluated. Findings show that significant minimization of NO_x emission can be achieved through combination of primary and secondary reduction techniques.     

Data‐driven model for river flood forecasting based on a Bayesian network approach

Uncertainty analysis of hydrological models often requires a large number of model runs, which can be time consuming and computationally intensive. In order to reduce the number of runs required for uncertainty prediction, Bayesian networks (BNs) are used to graphically represent conditional probability dependence between the set of variables characterizing a flood event. Bayesian networks (BNs) are relevant due to their capacity to handle uncertainty, combine statistical data and expertise and introduce evidences in real‐time flood forecasting. In the present study, a runoff–runoff model is considered. The discharge at a gauging station located is estimated at the outlet of a basin catchment based on discharge measurements at the gauging stations upstream. The BN model shows good performances in estimating the discharges at the basin outlet. Another application of the BN model is to be used as a reverse method. Knowing discharges values at the outlet of the basin, we can propagate back these values through the model to estimate discharges at upstream stations. This turns out to be a practical method to fill the missing data in streamflow records which are critical to the sustainable management of water and the development of hydrological models.     

Interfacial Strain Gradients Control Nanoscale Domain Morphology in Epitaxial BiFeO3 Multiferroic Films

Domain switching pathways fundamentally control performance in ferroelectric thin film devices. In epitaxial bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃) films, the domain morphology is known to influence the multiferroic orders. While both striped and mosaic domains have been observed, the origins of the latter have remained unclear. Here, it is shown that domain morphology is defined by the strain profile across the film–substrate interface. In samples with mosaic domains, X‐ray diffraction analysis reveals strong strain gradients, while geometric phase analysis using scanning transmission electron microscopy finds that within 5 nm of the film–substrate interface, the out‐of‐plane strain shows an anomalous dip while the in‐plane strain is constant. Conversely, if uniform strain is maintained across the interface with zero strain gradient, striped domains are formed. Critically, an ex situ thermal treatment, which eliminates the interfacial strain gradient, converts the domains from mosaic to striped. The antiferromagnetic state of the BiFeO₃ is also influenced by the domain structure, whereby the mosaic domains disrupt the long‐range spin cycloid. This work demonstrates that atomic scale tuning of interfacial strain gradients is a powerful route to manipulate the global multiferroic orders in epitaxial films.     

The Hysteresis Behavior of a Spin-1 Blume-Capel Nanoisland

The magnetic properties of a spin-1 Blume-Capel nanoisland are investigated by the use of the effective field theory based on the probability distribution technique. The influence of the random crystal field and the system parameters on the hysteresis behavior and on the magnetic properties of the nanoisland is examined. The results show a number of characteristic behaviors, such as the appearance of double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple hysteresis loops for appropriate values of the system parameters.     

Parallel machine scheduling with tool loading: a constraint programming approach

This paper presents constraint programming models that aim to solve scheduling and tool assignment problems in parallel machine environments. There are a number of jobs to be processed on parallel machines. Each job requires a set of tools, but limited number of tools are available in the system due to economic restrictions. The problem is to assign the jobs and the required tools to machines and to determine the schedule so that the makespan is minimised. Three constraint programming models are developed and compared with existing methods described in the literature.     

Theoretical Investigation of Magnetoelectric Coupling in MFe2O4/PbZ0.5T0.5O3/MFe2O4 (M = Ni,Co) Heterostructure

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - Magnetoelectric materials that allow magnetic-field control of electric polarization are promising candidates for high-density data storage and...     

Adaptive high-order sliding mode control based on quasi-time delay estimation for uncertain robot manipulator

This paper presents the design, and validation of a new adaptive control system based on quasi-time delay estimation (Q-TDE) augmented with new integral second-order terminal sliding mode control (ISOTSMC) for a manipulator robot with unknown dynamic uncertainty and disturbances. Contrary to the conventional TDE, the proposed Q-TDE becomes sufficient to invoke a fixed artificial time delay and utilize the past data only of the control input to approximate the unknown system''s dynamic uncertainties. The incorporating of new adaptive reaching law with ISOTSMC augmented with Q-TDE policy ensures the continuous performance tracking of the robot manipulator''s trajectories using output feedback. This combination may achieve high performance with a significant chattering reducing procedure. By utilizing the Lyapunov function theory, it can be demonstrated that the robot system is stable and all signals in closed-loop are converging in finite time. Consequently, Simulation and comparative studies with two degrees of freedom robot manipulator were carried out to validate the effectiveness of the designed control scheme.     

A vibrational study of phase transitions in Fe2P2O7 and Cr2P2O7 under high‐pressures

The vibrational properties of synthetic iron diphosphate (Fe₂P₂O₇) and chromium diphosphate (Cr₂P₂O₇) are studied under high‐pressure conditions between ~22 and ~30 GPa, respectively. Each compound's structural response to pressure and pressure‐induced phase transitions are characterized. The chromium‐bearing sample shows coalescence of infrared bands occurring near 6 and 17 GPa: these may be associated with increases in the local symmetry of the P₂O₇ group. The iron sample undergoes a first‐order phase transition near ~9 GPa, and a possible phase transition near 5.5 GPa. At 9 GPa, the initially single, strong symmetric PO₄ stretching mode splits into four modes, and the sole asymmetric PO₄ stretching mode splits into two bands. These changes indicate the presence of multiple tetrahedral environments within a larger volume unit cell, and the relative frequencies of the split vibrations indicate a P₂O₇ environment with a markedly narrowed P–O–P angle. The difference between the behavior of the iron and chromium compounds is probably generated by the smaller iron ion producing a discontinuous decrease in the P–O–P angle at lower pressures than in the analogous chromium compound. Our results demonstrate that the dimerized P₂O₇ group remains stable under compression to over 20‐30 GPa at 300 K.