A Lab-on-a-Chip Based Automatic Platform for Continuous Nitrites Sensing in Aquaculture

In aquaculture, the density of fish stock, use of feeding, and surrounding environmental conditions can easily result in an excessive concentration of harmful compounds that require continuous monitoring. Chemical sensors are available for most of these compounds, however, operative conditions and continuous monitoring in water make the development of sensors suitable for long and unattended deployments difficult. A possible solution is the development of engineered automatic labs where the uptake of sample and the contact with water is reduced and the use of a minimal quantity of reagents enables the implementation of reliable chemical assays. In this paper, a platform for automatic chemical assays is presented. The concept is demonstrated with the detection of nitrites based on the well-known colorimetric Griess reaction. The platform is centered around a lab-on-a-chip where reagents and water samples are mixed. The color of the reaction product is measured with low-cost optoelectronic components. Results show the feasibility of the approach with a minimum detectable concentration of about 0.1 mg/L which is below the tolerance level for aquaculture farms.

FAILURE TOLERANT SYNCHRONOUS AND SELT-TIED CIRCUITS COMPARISON

The article considers the problem of developing synchronous and self-timed (ST) digital circuits that are tolerant to soft errors. Synchronous circuits traditionally use the 2-of-3 voting principle to ensure single failure, resulting in three times the hardware costs. In ST circuits, due to dual-rail signal coding and two-phase control, even duplication provides a soft error tolerance level 2.1 to 3.5 times higher than the triple modular redundant synchronous counterpart. The development of new high-precision software simulating microelectronic failure mechanisms will provide more accurate estimates for the electronic circuits' failure tolerance

Honey Mead Fermentation from Thai Stingless Bee (Tetragonula leaviceps) Honey using Ethanol Tolerant Yeast

Honey mead is a well-known conventional alcoholic beverage made by microbial fermentation of diluted honey. The selection of prospective yeasts for inoculation of honey-must with regard to honey mead quality determines the quality of mead production. The yeast consortium tolerant to ethanol stress was selected for this study using an enrichment technique. The activity of the invertase enzyme and the level of ethanol tolerance have been investigated. Thai stingless bee honey was used as a substrate, and the selected ethanol tolerant yeast consortium was used for mead fermentation. The results revealed that the PP03 had the highest invertase activity of 75.13±9.16 U/mL and the highest ethanol tolerance level of 12%. This is the first study using an ethanol tolerant yeast consortium to ferment honey mead from Thai stingless bee honey.

Soybean varieties tolerance to intercropping with maize

There is no available information in determining soybean varieties that shows tolerant when intercropped with maize. The objective of this study was to determine soybean varieties suitable for intercropping, based on changes in plant growth and yield when intercropped. The field experiment was conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 based on RCBD with 2 factors. The first factor was soybean with 16 national varieties. The second was cropping systems i.e., monoculture and intercropping. Morphology and yield data were observed and subsequently analysed based on performance difference (D) of each parameter between intercropping and monoculture. Tolerance level to cropping systems with maize was grouped based on the yield-based and selection index calculations. The results showed that different cropping systems affected morphological and yield parameters on 16 tested soybean varieties. Seven varieties i.e., Derap 1, Devon 1, Devon 2, Demas 1, Dena 1, Dena 2, and Wilis were grouped as tolerant to intercropping with maize. Among these, Derap 1 was the most tolerant variety.

Annoyance due to road traffic noise: an attempt to describe the effects of non-acoustic factors

The annoyance response is traditionally presented as the percentage of people highly annoyed as a function of the noise exposure, DNL, or similar. It is, however, a well-known fact that the noise level per se only explains about one-third of the variance of the annoyance response. An analysis based on the Community Tolerance Level, CTL, quantifies the combined effect of all non-acoustic factors, but does not explain the effect of each individual one. The paper is an attempt to separately quantify the effect of different non-acoustic factors.

Evaluating Suppliers for Healthcare Centre using Ordinal Priority Approach

Supplier selection is one of the most critical problems in the industry. In the healthcare sector, where the tolerance level for mistakes and errors is low, the need to improve the supplier evaluation system is ever increasing. Earlier, the cardinal data-based mathematical models played an important role in supplier selection however since last few decades, the emphasis on the decision-making methods that can handle ordinal relations is gaining exceeding attention. The development of the Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) is an essential milestone in this regard that is being used in the current study to evaluate the suppliers of a Chinese healthcare facility. The study confirms that the OPA is convenient and powerful approach that can single-handedly estimate the weights of suppliers, criteria and experts. The results demonstrated the feasibility and validity of the approach for healthcare supplier selection problems.

Personality Traits Leads to Investor’s Financial Risk Tolerance: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

In today’s scenario, investors’ preferences towards different investment avenues depend upon their risk tolerance level and return associated with investment plan. The tolerance level of investors for risk is influenced by many demographic and psychological factors. Personality traits (PTs) are one of the important factors that impact the tolerance levels of investors for risk. Thus, the existing study focuses on whether (a) the direct effect of Big Five PTs on financial risk tolerance (FRT) or (b) PTs as a second-order (higher-order) factor leads to FRT. Data are cross-sectional in nature, which were collected from 599 investors who invested through Angel Broking Co. (Securities co.) in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) by using online structured questionnaire. To examine the strength of the relationship between variables’ correlation and regression tests were applied using the structural equation modelling approach. The study found that among Big Five personality dimensions, only agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness are significantly associated with FRT, whereas PTs as a second-order (higher-order) factor have a strong association with FRT of investors. Thus, the PT as a second order is the preferred model. JEL Code: G02

A DC Scheme to Maximize the Benefits of the Public Sector Employees Based on Behavioral Finance

This paper introduces DB and DC pension plans, reviews the literature of DC pension plans, and puts forward three application strategies: automatic registration default contribution rate and annual automatic growth contribution rate, the risk tolerance level of different employees was evaluated by questionnaire survey, and individual investment choice of employees with different risk tolerance.

A Study on the Presence of Aflatoxin M1 in Cow’s Milk in Jiroft

Background and Aims: Cow's milk is a daily staple food for many individuals that can be contaminated with many toxins such as aflatoxin M1 (AFM1). AFM1 is a chemical form of the aflatoxin B1 produced by some species of Aspergillus genus like A. ochraceus, A. flavus, A. nomius, and A. parasiticus that can contaminate feed and forage cattle. This toxin enters into the milk after eating contaminated feed by cows. AFM1 can cause various dangerous diseases such as cancer and immune deficiency in humans. The present study is aimed to investigate the level of AFM1 in cow's milk in Jiroft, Kerman Province, Iran. Materials and Methods: A total of 90 cow’s milk samples were collected in spring and summer 2019 from available stores in Jiroft city. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure AFM1 in all cow’s milk samples.Results: In the present study, AFM1 was found in 88 (97.8%) milk samples with a range of 0.2-90.62 ppt (mean, 20.07±24.46 ppt). AFM1 concentrations exceeded 50 ppt (maximum tolerance level of AFM1 in the European Union) was seen in 12 (13.3%) samples. Conclusions: The results of this study showed the presence of AFM1 in cow's milk in Jiroft city. So, in this region, many people are exposed to dangerous diseases such as cancer due to the consumption of milk contaminated with AFM1.