Carbonization of some fast-growing species in Sudan

Four wood species, indigenous Acacia seyal (talh) and exotic fast-growing Conocarpus lancifolius (damas), Eucalyptus microtheca (kafur) and Prosopis chilensis (mesquite) grown in Sudan, were assessed and compared as raw materials for charcoal making. The effects of production method (traditional earth mound and improved metal kiln) and the physical and chemical properties of the wood and bark on the yield and quality of charcoal produced were assessed. Regression analyses of wood properties and heat value data indicated high negative correlations of the wood heat value with holocellulose and ash, and high positive correlations with wood density, lignin, and alcohol-benzene and hot-water solubles. Carbonization with the Tropical Products Institute metal kiln produced higher yields (33%) than the traditional earth mound (27%), although the difference in energy transformation yields was found to be insignificant both between appliances and species. Charcoal produced by the earth mound had a slightly higher density and was more resistant to shatter, but no significant differences were recorded with respect to the water boiling test or the gross heat value. The exotic species studied gave equal or better charcoal, in terms of yield and quality, compared with the traditionally preferred talh.     

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) stimulates adrenocorticotropin release in AtT-20 cells stably expressing a common receptor for PTH and PTH-related peptide

Complementary DNA encoding a rat bone PTH/PTHrP receptor was stably expressed in the murine corticotroph cell line, AtT-20. Several clones, expressing variable numbers of PTH/PTHrP receptors, were developed. In contrast to the relatively low binding affinity (apparent Kd = 15 nM) observed in COS-7 cells transiently expressing the PTH/PTHrP receptor, all AtT-20 stable transfectants bound [Nle8,18,Tyr34]bPTH(1-34)NH2 (NlePTH) with an affinity that was indistinguishable from that observed in ROS 17/2.8 cells expressing native PTH/PTHrP receptors. Additionally, NlePTH dramatically increased cAMP accumulation and ACTH release in AtT-20 cells expressing the PTH/PTHrP receptor with an ED50 of 0.6 +/- 0.3 and 0.3 +/- 0.1 nM, respectively. The high binding affinity and the high efficacy of NlePTH in stimulating cAMP accumulation and ACTH release indicate that the PTH/PTHrP receptor is efficiently coupled to the intracellular signalling system responsible for stimulation of ACTH release in AtT-20 cells. No additivity of cAMP accumulation or of ACTH release was observed when these cells were treated with maximally active concentrations of both NlePTH and CRF. This suggests that the receptors for both of these hormones share the same intracellular effectors, and that intracellular signaling in AtT-20 cells is not compartmentalized. Additionally, the ability of NlePTH to stimulate ACTH release in AtT-20 cells, a function that is normally performed by CRF, demonstrates promiscuity between activated receptors and distal biological functions.     

Detection of cow's milk admixture to buffalo's milk

Gas chromatography was used for the qualitative and quantitative determination of fatty acids of authentic buffalo's milk, cow's milk and buffalo's milk adulterated with cow's milk. The milk fat was separated by fractional crystallization at ?20°C into two distinct fractions, i. e., semi-solid and mother liquor. The concentration of the fatty acids in the mother liquor changed significantly for 14:0, 16:0 and 18:1 as adulteration levels were increased. The fatty acids of the semi-solid fractions changes in the proportion of 16:0, 18:0 and 18:1 when cow's milk is mixed with buffalo's milk. By applying a simple regression equation for these acids, adulteration of buffalo's milk with 5% cow's milk could be distinguished.     

Inhibition of the corrosion of steel by acid dihydrazides

The corrosion inhibitory properties of homologous series of acid dihydrazides were studied. Gasometry, potentiodynamic polarization and impedance measurements were recorded for mild steel specimens immersed in 1.0 M H₂SO₄ or a mixture of 1.0 M H₂SO₄ + 1.0 M Na₂SO₄ having the same ionic strength with a pH range from zero to 7. Effect of presence of different concentrations of oxalic, malonic, succinic or pimelic dihydrazide on the corrosion rate of steel in the above solutions were investigated. The results indicated that the protection efficiency of the acid dihydrazides increased with the increase of the number of the methylene groups in the acid dihydrazide molecule. The results are discussed on the basis of the change of each, of the electron density of the donating atoms, of the inhibitor molecules, and the orientation of the inhibitor at the metal surface with the molecular structure of the inhibitor.     

Manufacturing process performance prediction by integrating crisp and granular information

This study deals with the integration of crisp and granular information for predicting the performance of a manufacturing process. Supporting and computing a set of two If-Then rules is considered the central idea for this integration. In these rules, the antecedent part deals with the recommended ranges of the control variables of the process, while the consequent part deals with the acceptable ranges of the performance measures of the process. The rules specify that if the control variables are kept within their recommended ranges, then it is likely or unlikely to get the performance measures within their acceptable ranges. The rules are supported by using the following conditional probabilities: the probability of getting the performance measures acceptable given that the control variables are within their recommended ranges (which should be likely), and the probability of getting performance measures acceptable given that the control variables are not within their recommended ranges (which should be unlikely). The remarkable thing is that both acceptable ranges and recommended ranges are subjectively defined concepts. So are likelihood perceptions such as likely and unlikely. Therefore, all of them can be defined by using some kind of fuzzy-granular information. The usefulness of this new approach is demonstrated by solving a machining decision-making problem (select cutting conditions and inserts satisfying subjectively defined surface finish requirement in terms of roughness and fractal dimension of machined surface). Further study should be directed toward understanding these rules in the context of predictive process planning.This revised version was published in June 2005 with corrected page numbers.     

Analysis of crowds' movement using Twitter

Over the last decade, the infrastructure supporting the smart city has lived together with and was surpassed by the rise of social media. The tremendous growth of both mobile devices and social media users has unearthed a new kind of services in the so‐called location‐based social networks (LBSNs). In this new scenario, the term crowdsensing refers to sharing data collected by sensing humans with the aim of measuring phenomena of common interest. Crowd‐sourced location data provide the ability to study, for the first time, the movement of individuals in urban environments. In this paper, we address the problem of monitoring crowds, whereabouts and movement, which can assist decision making in education, emergency training, urban planning, traffic engineering, etc. Precisely, two‐phase density‐based analysis for collectives and crowds (2PD‐CC) is a novel methodology over public data in LBSN, which combines density‐based clustering, outlier detection a topic modeling over a region under study to detect, predict, and explain abnormal group behavior. In order to validate the methodology and its potential application to full‐scale problems, an experiment over Twitter data was performed in Madrid city.     

Human gait recognition using GEI-based local multi-scale feature descriptors

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Human gait recognition is a biometric technique for persons identification based on their walking manner. This paper proposes a novel gait recognition approach...     

Magnetocaloric Properties of the Perovskite GdCuO3: Monte Carlo Simulation

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - This work aims to examine the magnetocaloric properties of the Perovskite GdCuO3, such as the total magnetization, the susceptibility, and the...