Hybrid intelligent framework for one-day ahead wind speed forecasting

Neural Computing and Applications - Nowadays wind power is considered as one of the fastest growing alternative energies, that is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the upcoming...     

On business process monitoring using cross-flow coordination

This paper presents an approach for monitoring the execution progress of business processes. The monitoring focuses on the exceptions that could arise during this execution and, hence, could make the processes fail if not handled properly and timely. The approach relies on three flows known as control, communication, and navigation. The control flow connects tasks together with respect to a certain business logic. The communication flow captures the messages exchanged between persons/machines when they perform tasks of processes. Finally, the navigation flow captures the interactions between specialized networks that offer solutions to exceptions. These networks are built upon relations between tasks, between persons, and between machines. The coordination of control, communication, and navigation flows focuses on both the actions that are taken and the messages that are exchanged when handling exceptions. A system demonstrating flow development and coordination is, also, presented in the paper.     

Magnetocaloric effect of polycrystalline La0.5Sm0.2Sr0.3Mn1-xCrxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) compound prepared by glycine-nitrate process

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - This paper reports the effect of chromium’s substitution in magnetic oxides with perovskite structure La0.5Sm0.2Sr0.3Mn1-xCrxO3...     

Properties of Coated Controlled Release Diammonium Phosphate Fertilizers Prepared with the Use of Bio-based Amino Oil

In an effort to enhance the efficiency of fertilizer use and minimize their negative impact on the environment, a novel biomass-based, functional controlled-release fertilizer was used to improve nutrient use efficiency and increase crop production systems for more sustainable agriculture practices. Here, bio-based amino-oil (Priamine) mixtures were proposed as an outer coating with different layers for the control of phosphorus release from diammonium Phosphate (DAP). These hydrophobic coatings conferred excellent barrier properties and flexibility to coatings. The morphological characterization of the coated fertilizer was performed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), electronic diffraction X-ray (EDX) and mapping, and revealed the formation of a cohesive film and a good adhesion between DAP fertilizer and coating film. The release rate of nutrients (phosphate) in water was investigated by UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The effect of coating thickness was investigated on release time and diffusion coefficient of phosphor release in distilled water. Release time increased with the coating thickness. The diffusion coefficient of nutrient release decreased with the coating thickness. Compared with uncoated granule which is totally solubilized after less than 2 hours, the P release profiles of the coated granules reached the equilibrium stage approximately after 98 and 126 hours when the DAP is coated with only Priamine single-layer (1L) and double-layer (2L), respectively. Moreover, the strategy adopted has successfully provided a very slow release and long-term availability of nutrient sources with bio-based coating oil compared to uncoated fertilizer (DAP) and therefore exhibited promising application for sustainable development of modern agriculture and circular economic.     

Decentralized collaborative business process execution using blockchain

World Wide Web - Blockchain technology enables several untrustworthy parties to execute inter-organizational business processes in a tamper-proof manner. Existing approaches are based on smart...     

Transgenerational Tolerance to Salt and Osmotic Stresses Induced by Plant Virus Infection

Following pathogen infection, plants have developed diverse mechanisms that direct their immune systems towards more robust induction of defense responses against recurrent environmental stresses. The induced resistances could be inherited by the progenies, rendering them more tolerant to stressful events. Although within-generational induction of tolerance to abiotic stress is a well-documented phenomenon in virus-infected plants, the transgenerational inheritance of tolerance to abiotic stresses in their progenies has not been explored. Here, we show that infection of Nicotiana benthamiana plants by Potato virus X (PVX) and by a chimeric Plum pox virus (PPV) expressing the P25 pathogenicity protein of PVX (PPV-P25), but not by PPV, conferred tolerance to both salt and osmotic stresses to the progeny, which correlated with the level of virulence of the pathogen. This transgenerational tolerance to abiotic stresses in the progeny was partially sustained even if the plants experience a virus-free generation. Moreover, progenies from a Dicer-like3 mutant mimicked the enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress observed in progenies of PVX-infected wild-type plants. This phenotype was shown irrespective of whether Dicer-like3 parents were infected, suggesting the involvement of 24-nt small interfering RNAs in the transgenerational tolerance to abiotic stress induced by virus infection. RNAseq analysis supported the upregulation of genes related to protein folding and response to stress in the progeny of PVX-infected plants. From an environmental point of view, the significance of virus-induced transgenerational tolerance to abiotic stress could be questionable, as its induction was offset by major reproductive costs arising from a detrimental effect on seed production.     

Influence of Solid-State Acidity on the Decomposition of Sucrose in Amorphous Systems II (Effect of Buffer)

It was of interest to investigate the solid-state acidity using indicator probe molecules and sucrose degradation. Amorphous samples containing lactose, sucrose, buffers (citrate, malate, tartarate, or phosphate) with different pH values, and sodium chloride (to adjust the ionic strength) were prepared by freeze-drying. The lyophiles were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and Karl Fischer titrimetry. The solid-state acidity of all lyophiles was measured using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and suitable indicators (thymol blue or bromophenol blue). Selected lyophiles were subjected to a temperature of 60°C and were analyzed for sucrose degradation using the Trinder kit. The results obtained from this study have shown that good correlation can be obtained between the solid-state acidity and the molar ratio of the salt and the acid in solution. The degradation of sucrose in the lyophiles is extremely sensitive to the solid-state acidity and might be able to provide a better estimate for the acidity than the indicator probe molecules. The Hammett acidity-rate profile for sucrose degradation in the lyophiles (using four different buffers) was also obtained. The profile showed similarity to the pH-rate profile in solution, and no buffer catalysis for sucrose degradation was detected in this study.     

Enhanced decision making in multi-scenarios for autonomous vehicles using alternative bidirectional Q network

Neural Computing and Applications - To further enhance decision making in autonomous vehicles field, grant more safety, comfort, reduce traffic, and accidents, learning approaches were adopted,...     

Modification of α-lactose monohydrate as a direct compression excipient using roller compaction

Abstract

Roller compaction was used to prepare a direct-compressed lactose excipient using crystalline α-lactose monohydrate. The effect of various roller compaction process parameters (compaction pressure, compaction repetition, and speed ratio) on the characteristics of compacted α-lactose monohydrate was investigated. Results were compared with data obtained using industrial spray-dried lactose and lactose samples with different degrees of crystallinity. XRPD analysis revealed that roller compaction reduced the crystallinity of α-lactose monohydrate, and the resulting material is similar to spray-dried lactose in behavior as a direct compression excipient. Roller compaction introduced desirable characteristics to the raw α-lactose monohydrate by inducing changes in crystallinity and particle morphology. Scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the compaction process converted some of the original torpedo-shaped crystals of α-lactose monohydrate into a more cylindrical shape with rounded edges. Compaction pressure and repetition of compaction have a significant effect on the modification of the crystallinity of the processed, raw α-lactose monohydrate.