scholarly journals Design, Construction and Operation of Solar Dryer for Granules and Micros Chips of Manihot esculenta crantz Tuberous Roots

This study presents the design details and the performance analyses carried out with Eloumah 1, the solar drier of cassava tuberous roots reduced in granules and microchips. Eloumah 1 is composed by a solar collector, a drying chamber and a box of rectangular section that joins the two previous components. In this solar drier the wet agricultural products are dried on the basis of the heat flux buoyancy that is induced by the difference in temperature and humidity in its compartments. Analyses of masses evaporated water of zizila and Obama (TME 419) granules and microchips tuberous roots varieties have been carried out in order to estimate the drying performance of Eloumah 1 and to know the natural laws of the drying process. The results show that Eloumah 1 is able to dry granules and microchiphs and to reduce their moisture contain to less than 10%. Moreover, it can be established that the drying process is a logistic process because in wet control samples, moisture contain has limited value. Therefore, the drying process cannot extract the free water beyond this limit value. The logistic function adjusts well these data based on the correlation coefficient (R2) and chi square coefficient (χ2).

2020 ◽  
Vol 328 ◽  
pp. 04004
Author(s):  
Ladislav Dzurenda

The paper presents a mode for drying steaming maple timber of thickness h = 38 mm from moisture W1 = 50 % to W2 = 10 %, while preserving the color of wood obtained by the steaming process. The drying process is divided into two parts. Evaporation of free water from wet wood at drying medium temperatures td = 35 - 40 °C and evaporation of water from wood below the hygroscopicity limit W ≤ 25 % at drying medium temperatures td = 70 - 80 °C. Total color difference ΔE* determined by the difference in values on the CIE L*a*b* color space coordinates dried by the proposed mode for steaming maple timber and the reference values ΔE* = 1.03. According to the categorization of wood color changes in thermal processes by work (Cividini et al. (2007), this change belongs to the category of small color changes. A negative aspect of this drying mode is the approx. 25 % increase in timber drying time.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Fatiha Berroug ◽  
Yassir Bellaziz ◽  
Naaila Ouazzani ◽  
Fatima Ait Nouh ◽  
Abdessamad Hejjaj ◽  
...  

Morocco is the leading producer of phosphate and its derivatives in the world with a total production of 35 Mt. However, the extraction and the valorization of this mine generate huge quantities of phosphate washing waste clay (PHWWC) that constitute a main environmental and economic concern. To facilitate this waste clay storage and handling, it is necessary to decrease its moisture content that represents 80% of PHWWC. The present paper is devoted to studying the conductive drying of PHWWC. Drying experiments were conducted in a laboratory pilot. Afterwards, the experiment results were implemented in a one-dimensional numerical model of heat and mass transfer in a porous media to identify the drying parameters and performances. It was found that most of the water contained in PHWWC is free water that is removed with a constant drying rate. The volume reduction with a marked cracks phenomenon attained 65% without any significant effect of drying temperature and sample thickness. The effective moisture diffusivity of the PHWWC for a conductive drying process is ranged between 10−9 and 1.1 × 10−8 m2·s−1. The thermal efficiency of the drying system is up to 86%. The results could be used for the purpose of design and scale-up of the industrial dryer based on laboratory-scale experiments.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A153-A153
Author(s):  
Goeun Kim ◽  
Hyojin Nam ◽  
Huisu Jeon ◽  
Sooyeon Suh

Abstract Introduction Bedtime Procrastination (BP) is defined as the behavior of voluntarily delaying going to bed, without having external reasons for doing so. Recent research on procrastination behavior suggests that when negative emotions are elevated, procrastination behaviors can be triggered in order to find pleasure to avoid and alleviate them. Procrastination can also occur when there is difficulty regulating emotions. In addition, the reason for bedtime procrastination may be different depending on whether the individuals present with insomnia. According to previous studies, patients with insomnia may exhibit more pronounced negative avoidance of bedtime due to prolonged sleeplessness. Therefore, this study compared the difference between of the bedtime procrastination and the emotional regulation strategies between the insomnia group and the healthy group. Methods This study was conducted in 582 adults (mean age 23.06 ±2.16 years), 81.6% females. Individuals scoring higher than 15 on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were classified into the insomnia group (n=375), and those less than 15 were classified into the healthy group (n=207). Participants completed the Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS), Emotional Regulation Strategies Checklist. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi square test, and independent t tests. Results The insomnia group had significantly higher bedtime procrastination scores than the healthy group (t=-6.241, p<.001), and also the avoidant/distractive regulation style score was significantly higher (t=-1.969, p<.05). In addition, the score of active regulation style was significantly lower in the insomnia group than in the healthy group (t=3.050, p<.01). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the support-seeking regulation style. Conclusion Based on these results, it was confirmed that there was a difference in the bedtime procrastination and the emotional regulation strategies between the insomnia group and the healthy group. Support (if any) This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF-2018S1A5A8026807)


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. 3177
Author(s):  
Edyta Szymanska ◽  
Maciej Dadalski ◽  
Joanna Sieczkowska-Golub ◽  
Dorota Jarzebicka ◽  
Monika Meglicka ◽  
...  

Background: Infusion reactions (IRs) are the most common adverse events (AEs) of infliximab (IFX) treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Prophylactic premedication (PM) with corticosteroids or antihistamines prior to IFX infusions has been used in clinical practice, but its efficacy is not known. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of steroid PM on IR incidence in pediatric patients with IBD receiving IFX. Methods: We performed a case–control study that included pediatric patients with IBD receiving IFX. Patients were divided into four subgroups according to the agent and PM they received: Remicade (original drug) + PM, and two biosimilars—Reshma +/− PM, and Flixabi—PM. At our site, until 2018, PM with steroids was used as a part of standard IFX infusion (PM+); however, since then, this method has no longer been administered (PM−). IRs were divided into mild/severe reactions. Differences between subgroups were assessed with the appropriate chi-square test. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess associations between PM and IR incidence, correcting for co-medication usage. Results: There were 105 children (55 PM+, 44 male, mean age 15 years) included in the study who received 1276 infusions. There was no difference between the PM+ and PM− subgroups, either in incidence of IR (18.2% vs. 16.0% of patients, p > 0.05) or in percentage of infusions followed by IR (2.02% vs. 1.02% of infusions, p > 0.5). The OR of developing IR when using PM was 0.34, and the difference in IRs ratio in PM+ and PM− patients was not statistically significant (95% CI, 0.034–1.9). There were 11/18 (61.1%) severe IRs (anaphylactic shock) reported in all patients (both PM+ and PM−). Conclusion: At our site, the incidence of IR was low, and PM did not decrease the incidence of IR in pediatric patients with IBD receiving IFX. These results indicate that PM with steroids should not be a standard part of IFX infusion to prevent IR.


2011 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Erzar ◽  
Pascal Forquin

Concrete is a material used all over the world for civil engineering but the mechanisms governing its dynamic behaviour are still not well understood. In this work, spalling tests and edge-on impact experiments have been used to determine the influence of the free-water contained in pores and micro-cracks on the dynamic strength and on the fragmentation process. Moreover, spalling tests have been also used to identify the main mechanisms leading to the difference of behaviour observed between wet and dry concrete.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Wadii Snaibi

AbstractThe high plateaus of eastern Morocco are already suffering from the adverse impacts of climate change (CC), as the local populations’ livelihoods depend mainly on extensive sheep farming and therefore on natural resources. This research identifies breeders’ perceptions about CC, examines whether they correspond to the recorded climate data and analyses endogenous adaptation practices taking into account the agroecological characteristics of the studied sites and the difference between breeders’ categories based on the size of owned sheep herd. Data on perceptions and adaptation were analyzed using the Chi-square independence and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Climate data were investigated through Mann-Kendall, Pettitt and Buishand tests.Herders’ perceptions are in line with the climate analysis in term of nature and direction of observed climate variations (downward trend in rainfall and upward in temperature). In addition, there is a significant difference in the adoption frequency of adaptive strategies between the studied agroecological sub-zones (χ2 = 14.525, p <.05) due to their contrasting biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, as well as among breeders’ categories (χ2 = 10.568, p < .05) which attributed mainly to the size of sheep flock. Policy options aimed to enhance local-level adaptation should formulate site-specific adaptation programs and prioritise the small-scale herders.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhong Zhao ◽  
Peipei Chen ◽  
Guangrui Shao ◽  
Baijie Li ◽  
Huikun Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: To assess the diagnostic ability of abbreviated protocols of MRI (AP-MRI) compared with unenhanced MRI (UE-MRI) in mammographically occult cancers in patients with dense breast tissue.Materials and Methods: The retrospective analysis consisted of 102 patients without positive findings on mammography who received preoperative MRI full diagnostic protocols (FDP) between January 2015 and December 2018. Two breast radiologists read the UE, AP, and FDP. The interpretation times were recorded. The comparisons of the sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve of each MRI protocol, and the sensitivity of these protocols in each subgroup of different size tumors used the Chi-square test. The paired sample t-test was used for evaluating the difference of reading time of the three protocols.Results: Among 102 women, there were 68 cancers and two benign lesions in 64 patients and 38 patients had benign or negative findings. Both readers found the sensitivity and specificity of AP and UE-MRI were similar (p>0.05), whereas compared with FDP, UE had lower sensitivity (Reader 1/Reader 2: p=0.023, 0.004). For different lesion size groups, one of the readers found that AP and FDP had higher sensitivities than UE-MRI for detecting the lesions ≤10 mm in diameter (p=0.041, p=0.023). Compared with FDP, the average reading time of UE-MRI and AP was remarkably reduced (p < 0.001).Conclusion: AP-MRI had more advantages than UE-MRI to detect mammographically occult cancers, especially for breast tumors ≤10 mm in diameter.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
ghufran adnan ◽  
Osman Faheem ◽  
Maria Khan ◽  
Pirbhat Shams ◽  
Jamshed Ali

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the healthcare system of Pakistan. There has been observation regarding changes in pattern of patient presentation to emergency department (ED) for all diseases particularly cardiovascular. The aim of the study is to investigate these changes in cardiology consultations and compare pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 era. Hypothesis: There is a significant difference in cardiology consultations during COVID era as compared to non-COVID era. Method: We collected data retrospectively of consecutive patients who visited emergency department (ED) during March-April 2019 (non-COVID era) and March-April 2020 (COVID era). Comparison has been made to quantify the differences in clinical characteristics, locality, admission, type, number, and reason of Cardiology consults generated. Results: We calculated the difference of 1351 patients between COVID and non-COVID era in terms of cardiology consults generated from Emergency department, using Chi-square test. Out of which 880 (59%) are male with mean age of 61(SD=15). Analysis shows pronounced augmentation in number of comorbidities [Hypertension(6%), Chronic kidney disease (6%), Diabetes (5%)] but there was 36% drop in total cardiology consultations and 43% reduction rate in patient’s ED visit from other cities during COVID era. There was 60% decrease in acute coronary syndrome presentation in COVID era, but fortuitously drastic increase (30%) in type II myocardial injury has been noted. Conclusion: There is a remarkable decline observed in patients presenting with cardiac manifestations during COVID era. Lack in timely care could have a pernicious impact on outcomes, global health care organizations should issue directions to adopt telemedicine services in underprivileged areas to provide timely care to cardiac patients.


Author(s):  
Liman Du ◽  
Wenguo Yang ◽  
Suixiang Gao

The number of social individuals who interact with their friends through social networks is increasing, leading to an undeniable fact that word-of-mouth marketing has become one of the useful ways to promote sale of products. The Constrained Profit Maximization in Attribute network (CPMA) problem, as an extension of the classical influence maximization problem, is the main focus of this paper. We propose the profit maximization in attribute network problem under a cardinality constraint which is closer to the actual situation. The profit spread metric of CPMA calculates the total benefit and cost generated by all the active nodes. Different from the classical Influence Maximization problem, the influence strength should be recalculated according to the emotional tendency and classification label of nodes in attribute networks. The profit spread metric is no longer monotone and submodular in general. Given that the profit spread metric can be expressed as the difference between two submodular functions and admits a DS decomposition, a three-phase algorithm named as Marginal increment and Community-based Prune and Search(MCPS) Algorithm frame is proposed which is based on Louvain algorithm and logistic function. Due to the method of marginal increment, MPCS algorithm can compute profit spread more directly and accurately. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of MCPS algorithm.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Abolfazl Zolfaghari

<p>Cheating and academic dishonesty is a moral anomaly in the field of scientific research and reflecting, i.e., academic environment and studies show that this phenomenon in many of the worlds is important problem.</p><p>This study measured the dishonesty of students in a quasi-experimental design. For this purpose, features lack of integrity by manipulating the facts were examined and meanwhile first, basic English language test coordination between the strict terms of the 280 students come to practice and after correction of examination papers by teachers, without leaving any traces on them instead, the plates are returned to students and provide them with answers to their paper to correct their score Master announced. The difference between the actual score (score of master) and score of the students to have their own, amount of honesty or lack of integrity appointed them and its relationship with some demographic and socio-ethical characteristics have been studied.</p><p>The results showed that more than 62 percent of the students in your grade to master completely honest with 26.6 percent have low honesty and the rest did not have the necessary integrity and the mean difference of scores announced by the professors and students have been about two score. Also results of chi-square tests and gamma, about the relationship between students’ evaluation of amount of sincerity with sincerity in the declared objective amount of the master score was not significant, this finding means that between demonstrators and people of integrity and honesty in practice, there are gaps.</p>


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