Models for dispersal of vapors in open and confined spaces: Applications to sex pheromone trapping in a warehouse

Methods are presented for mathematically determining dispersal of a vapor in still air, in turbulent air of zero average velocity, and in turbulent or laminar air currents of constant, nonzero average velocity. The methods are combined with several assumptions about insect behavior to derive an insect attraction model that predicts: (1) In a warehouse a searching insect is likely to be attracted to a calling insect if it comes within an attraction sphere, 0.4–2.5 m in radius. (2) The attraction spaces of typical sex pheromone-baited traps that emit pheromone at rates greater than 0.01 ng/sec extend beyond the boundaries of a 10 × 10 × 10-m warehouse. (3) The searching behavior of an attracted insect is likely to be altered from an extensive to an intensive pattern if it comes within an altered-behavior sphere, 6–60 cm from a calling insect or within 10 m of a trap emitting 0.76 ng/sec. (4) Pheromone does not sink unless it is emitted along with a large amount of a high-vapor pressure solvent. The model is used in support of several hypotheses, including: (1) The effect of an adsorptive surface on the vapor concentration after an extended period of emission is negligible except at positions near the surface. (2) Sex pheromone-baited traps with sources of small dimensions have greater trapping efficiency than otherwise identical traps with sources of large dimensions.     

Moisture sorption characteristics of milk<Emphasis Type="Italic"> burfi</Emphasis>, an traditional Indian sweet,using sugar substitutes

Moisture sorption data are useful in choosing suitable packaging material having a desirable water vapour barrier property in addition to determining the stability of the product. The sorption isotherms of milk burfi, one of the important Indian traditional milk-based sweets, using sugar and sugar substitutes were determined. The product was prepared replacing sugar with sorbitol, maltodextrin (MD)+polydextrose (PD), and PD alone, along with aspartame to give an equi-sweetness level compared to sugar. The isotherms followed typical sigmoidal shape, characteristic of sugar-rich products. The curve for burfi with sorbitol shifted to the left compared to that of sugar, whereas for those prepared with MD+PD or PD, the curves are similar to that of burfi made with sugar. Several models were chosen to fit sorption behaviour and the Guggenheim-Anderson-De Boer model showed a better fit compared to other models.     

ISRO spacecraft technology evolution

Evolutionary trends in the technologies related to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellites, both past and present, are outlined. The issues related to the developmental complexities of different spacecraft subsystems are discussed in the context of the needs of the current generation operational spacecraft like the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) and the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) II. Considerations pertinent to reliability and long-life requirements, crucial to operational satellites, are also highlighted.     

Fatty acid compositions of fish oil extracted from different parts of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) using various techniques of supercritical CO2 extraction

Fatty acid compositions of fish oil extracted from different parts of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) using various techniques of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) at optimised conditions (35 MPa, 60 °C, 2 ml/min) were analysed and compared to the results of Soxhlet extraction. The amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) recovered (as a percentage of total extracted fatty acids) were within the ranges of 73.24–74.68% in the skin, 68.36–69.37% in the flesh, 56.20–57.3% in the viscera and 61.21–62.09% in the heads. The greatest amount of the ω-3 fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), were found in fish skin followed by flesh, heads and viscera. The greatest amounts of EPA (9–12%) and DHA (10–14%) were obtained using the soaking and pressure swing techniques. The pressure swing and soaking techniques are the most effective techniques for extracting the ω-3 family of fatty acids from fish samples.     

Enhanced phytoextraction of uranium and selected heavy metals by Indian mustard and ryegrass using biodegradable soil amendments

The applicability of biodegradable amendments in phytoremediation to increase the uptake of uranium (U), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) by Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and ryegrass (Lolium perenne) was tested in a greenhouse experiment. Plants were cultivated during one month on two soils with naturally or industrially increased contaminant levels of U. Treatments with citric acid, NH₄-citrate/citric acid, oxalic acid, S,S-ethylenediamine disuccinic acid (EDDS) or nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) at a rate of 5 mmol kg^− 1 dry soil caused increases in soil solution concentrations that were up to 18 times higher for U and up to 1570 times higher for other heavy metals, compared to the controls. Shoot concentrations increased to a much smaller extent. With EDDS, 19-, 34-, and 37-fold increases were achieved in shoots of Indian mustard for U, Pb and Cu, respectively. The increases in plant uptake of Cd, Cr and Zn were limited to a factor of four at most. Ryegrass generally extracted less U and metals than Indian mustard. Despite a marked increase of U and metal concentrations in shoots after addition of amendments, the estimated time required to obtain an acceptable reduction in soil contaminant concentrations was impractically long. Only for Cu and Zn in one of the studied soils, could the Flemish standards for clean soil theoretically be attained in less than 100 years.     

基于视觉图像的鲅鱼新鲜程度的检测方法

鲅鱼新鲜程度是评价其质量好坏的重要因素。为提高鲅鱼检测新鲜程度准确性,研究基于视觉图像的鲅鱼新鲜程度的检测方法。研究对象是某地海鲜市场中的30条鲅鱼,通过鲅鱼视觉图像采集系统采集鲅鱼视觉图像,利用区域填充算法及形态学开运算对采用大津法分割的鱼体二值图像进行填充及去噪,融合上山法与区域生长方法分割鱼眼区域,通过全局动态阈值分割方法分割鱼鳃图像;提取图像特征时,利用图像的R、G、I分量灰度均值提取鱼体、鱼眼及鱼鳃图像颜色特征,采用G分量提取鱼眼中心区域面积。将图像特征输入到NeuroShell 2神经网络判别模型中,实现鲅鱼新鲜程度的有效检测。经实验验证,该方法检测鲅鱼新鲜程度的准确率平均高达98.28%,依据鱼眼中心区域面积+颜色灰度均值特征进行鲅鱼新鲜程度检测的准确率最高,且检测不同死亡时间的鲅鱼新鲜度的检测准确率高达95%,说明鲅鱼新鲜度的检测为海鲜检测提供了理论基础。     

Estimating posterior inference quality of the relational infinite latent feature model for overlapping community detection

Overlapping community detection has become a very hot research topic in recent decades, and a plethora of methods have been proposed. But, a common challenge in many existing overlapping community detection approaches is that the number of communities K must be predefinedmanually. We propose a flexible nonparametric Bayesian generative model for count-value networks, which can allow K to increase as more and more data are encountered instead of to be fixed in advance. The Indian buffet process was used to model the community assignment matrix Z, and an uncollapsed Gibbs sampler has been derived.However, as the community assignment matrix Z is a structured multi-variable parameter, how to summarize the posterior inference results and estimate the inference quality about Z, is still a considerable challenge in the literature. In this paper, a graph convolutional neural network based graph classifier was utilized to help to summarize the results and to estimate the inference quality about Z. We conduct extensive experiments on synthetic data and real data, and find that empirically, the traditional posterior summarization strategy is reliable.     

Dissecting culture at work: Conversation with Indian immigrant scientists & engineers in the US industrial sector

Scientists and engineers’ social background, cultural upbringing, educational training, and world outlook influence how they perform the work and interact with their colleagues. We conducted a study on Indian immigrant scientists and engineers employed in the US industrial sector. We interviewed 40 Indian immigrant scientists and engineers, some of whom came for higher studies and found employment after graduation, while others came directly from India to work. Findings show that the overwhelming majority of interviewees (n = 35) noted significant cultural differences with their colleagues in the workplace; only a small number of interviewees (n = 5), believed that their foundation in professionalism eliminated significant impacts from cultural dissimilarities. Interviewees identified cultural differences in the areas of social interactions, work-related practices, intercultural communication, and management. When immigrant scientists and engineers from developing countries join industrial organizations, they do not leave their cultural practices at home. A conversation with Indian immigrant scientists and engineers shows how Indian culture manifests itself in the workplace.     

Oxidative stability of sardine and mackerel lipids with reference to synergism between phospholipids and α-tocopherol

Relationships between oxidative stability and the compositions of sardine and mackerel lipids were investigated in view of possible synergism between phospholipids andα-tocopherol (α-Toc). The total lipids extracted from viscera were highly susceptible to autoxidation, compared with lipids of white and red muscles and of skin. This seemed to be due to lower concentrations ofα-Toc and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in the tissue, but not to the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The synergistic effect of PE withα-Toc seemed to be slightly affected by the degree of unsaturation of its fatty acyl chains. The synergistic ability ofO-phosphoethanolamine, the base moiety of PE, was higher than that ofO-phosphoserine.O-Phosphocholine was only slightly effective. During the induction period of autoxidation, theα-Toc level decreased rapidly, and rapid lipid oxidation began only afterα-Toc was almost exhausted.