Removal of Phorbol Ester from Jatropha Seedcake Using Ozonation and Solar Irradiation

Jatropha curcas is a well-known source of non-edible vegetable oil that is being promoted as an energy source and high quality feedstock in biodiesel production, especially in developing countries. The potential that the resulting seedcake by-product from jatropha oil extraction (?70% by volume) could also be used as a component in animal feed raises the prospect that a commercially viable jatropha-based industry could be developed. To date, however, the use of jatropha seedcake in livestock feed formulation has been constrained by the presence of phorbol esters (PE), which are known promutagenic and toxic compounds, and by the inability to eliminate PE by cost-effective means. Using seedcake by-product collected from a commercial facility in West Africa that processes jatropha biodiesel, this study demonstrates cost-effective measures of eliminating PE from jatropha seedcake using a combination of solar irradiation and ozonation.     

Towards a Light Weight Routing Security in IoT Using Non-cooperative Game Models and Dempster–Shaffer Theory

Wireless Personal Communications - The internet of things (IoT) has become an emerging technology owing to the rapidly increasing number of devices and their connectivity to the internet. Routing...     

High-order IMEX-WENO finite volume approximation for nonlinear age-structured population model

ABSTRACT

In this article, we design a high-order implicit–explicit weighted non-oscillatory (IMEX-WENO) scheme for the solution of the population age density model with the nonlinear mortality rate as well as fertility rate. The mortality rate is the combination of natural mortality that comes to be unbounded at maximum age and bounded external mortality rate that includes external resources as well as seasonality. The existence of global terms in the mortality function as well as in the boundary condition is the main technical complication which provides high nonlinearity for the model equation. We carefully construct a numerical scheme in such way, that the high-order accuracy is maintained in the global terms and boundary condition. The performance of the designed scheme is shown by comparing with the exact solution of the examples considered.     

ImAge: an extensible agent-based architecture for image retrieval

We present an open and extensible architecture, ImAge, for content-based image retrieval in a distributed environment. The architecture proposes the use of system components with standard public interfaces for implementing retrieval functionality. The standardization of the components and their encapsulation in autonomous software agents result in functional stratification and easy extensibility. Collaboration of the independent retrieval resources in ImAge results in enhanced system capability. Reuse of existing retrieval resources is achieved by encapsulating them in agents with standard interfaces. The addition of independent agents with domain knowledege adds the capability of processing conceptual queries, while reusing the existing system components for feature-based retrieval. A communication protocol allows the declaration of the capabilities of the system components and negotiations for optimal resource selection for solving a retrieval problem. The use of mobile agents alleviates network bottlenecks. This paper describes a prototype implementation that validates the architecture.     

Minimum connection count wavelength assignment strategy for WDM optical networks

In this paper, we have proposed one wavelength assignment strategy for optical networks which assigns the wavelength according to minimum connection count. The performance of proposed strategy is compared with the most commonly used strategy among the existing strategies in terms of number of searches to find the wavelength for connection establishment. The searching takes the time and directly affects the connection establishment time. The simulation is done using different network models. The results show that the proposed strategy is much better than existing strategy in terms of number of searches required to find a wavelength for establishing the connection and hence connection establishment time reduces.     

Accurate CAD-Model Analysis of Multilayer Microstrip Line on Anisotropic Substrate

Computationally efficient equivalent isotropic relative permittivity of the multilayer microstrip line on the uniaxial anisotropic substrate for 0 < w/h ≤ 10, anisotropic ratio0.5 ≤ n ≤ 3.0. Model has accuracy 0.5% against the full-wave method. It computes effective relative permittivity and characteristic impedance of microstrip on composite anisotropic substrates with deviation 4.5% respectively against the EM- software HFSS. Dispersion in multilayer anisotropic substrate microstrip up to mm wave range with high accuracy against the results of HFSS. The proposed models could be incorporated in the computer aided design for development of the components on the uniaxial anisotropic substrates.     

Eyelid imbrication. An unrecognized cause of chronic ocular irritation

BACKGROUND: Eighteen patients with chronic ocular irritation were examined over a 3-year period. All patients demonstrated papillary conjunctivitis and, occasionally, tarsal ulcers. Six also had floppy eyelid syndrome. Underlying every patient's symptoms was the overriding or imbrication of a lax upper eyelid on an often equally lax lower eyelid, allowing lower eyelid lashes to chronically rub the upper eyelid tarsal conjunctiva. METHODS: Chronic ocular irritation in five patients was managed with ocular lubricants. Two of these patients had floppy eyelid syndrome and required nightime shielding for nocturnal eyelid eversion. Thirteen patients underwent eyelid surgery to correct the overriding upper eyelid. Surgical procedures included full-thickness upper eyelid wedge resection, lateral canthal tendon plication, and lower eyelid horizontal shortening, using a tarsal strip procedure. RESULTS: Follow-up averaged 2.5 years. Symptomatology was adequately controlled in all patients. In addition to the five patients who received medical treatment for their symptoms, two with complicated ocular problems required continued ocular lubrication after surgery. Seven patients were successfully treated with eyelid shortening procedures and lateral canthal tendon plication. The remaining six patients underwent a variety of additional eyelid surgeries. All patients undergoing surgery had complete resolution of eyelid imbrication. CONCLUSIONS: Eyelid imbrication is a previously unrecognized cause of chronic ocular irritation. In this condition, eyelid laxity causes the upper eyelid to override the lower eyelid, allowing the lower eyelid to chronically rub and chafe the upper eyelid tarsal conjunctiva. In some cases, symptoms can be managed medically. More often, surgical intervention is required to correct eyelid laxity and prevent overriding of the upper eyelid.     

Computation of static and frequency‐dependent line parameters of multilayer CPW using static SDA and single layer reduction method

We reformulate the quasi‐static SDA applicable to a lossy multilayer CPW that also incorporates two‐layer model of a conductor thickness and the concept of effective permeability due to magnetic field penetration in an imperfect conductor. The present static SDA formulation accounts for the effect of conductor thickness and low frequency dispersion on computation of quasi‐static effective relative permittivity and characteristic impedance. The paper also presents the single layer reduction (SLR) formulation and circuit model to compute frequency dependent line parameters of a lossy multilayer CPW. The accuracy of formulation is comparable to that of HFSS and CST, without using complex and time consuming full‐wave methods. The results of CST for ε_eff, Z₀, α_d, α_c of multilayer CPW, in the frequency range 1–100 GHz, deviate from results of HFSS up to 1.26%, 2.78%, 11.75%, and 18.7%, respectively; whereas corresponding deviations of present formulation are up to 1.56%, 2.4%, 3.04%, and 7%. The results of the present formulation and HFSS are also compared against the available experimental results. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:18–29, 2014.     

Influence of carrier particle size on prednisone-direct compression vehicle ordered mixes

The influence of material recirculation on the composition of the stream leaving a storage bin in which the amount of the accumulated material fluctuates within certain limits has been considered. Simplifying assumptions have been chosen in such a way that the proposed equation may constitute the basis for a conservative evaluation of the composition of the material at the storage bin outlet when a proportion of the outgoing stream is recycled.     

Modified Calibration Coefficients of Two-Port CPW Standards with Superstrate Effects

Calibration standards are used for the calibration of a vector network analyzer to characterize the microwave components under test. For the direct characterization of coplanar waveguide components, two-port CPW open, short and line are proposed to complement the existing calibration techniques. The developed CPW standards are characterized in the frequency range of 10 MHz to 10 GHz. As these are planar structures, effects of small superstrates on the calibration coefficients of open and short are studied also. The CPW line has shown slight changes in impedance due to superstrates, whereas a few calibration coefficients of open and short standards showed dependence on superstrates. Similar observations are noted by improving the polynomial models of CPW open and short standards up to fifth and sixth order, respectively, which better matches for CPW standards. The reported results are helpful to estimate any change in the measurement uncertainty on using such calibration standards due to superstrates.