Characteristics and impact of environmental shaking in the Taipei metropolitan area

Examining continuous seismic data recorded by a dense broadband seismic network throughout Taipei shows for the first time, the nature of seismic noise in this highly populated metropolitan area. Using 140 broadband stations in a 50 km × 69 km area, three different recurring, strong noise signals characterized by dominant frequencies of 2–20 Hz, 0.25–1 Hz, and < 0.2 Hz are explored. At frequencies of 2–20 Hz, the seismic noise exhibits daily and weekly variations, and a quiescence during the Chinese New Year holidays. The largest amplitude occurred at a station located only 400 m from a traffic-roundabout, one of the busiest intersections in Taipei, suggesting a possible correlation between large amplitude and traffic flow. The median daily amplitude for the < 0.2 Hz and 0.2–1.0 Hz frequency bands is mostly synchronized with high similarity between stations, indicating that the sources are persistent oceanic or atmospheric perturbations across a large area. The daily amplitude for the > 2 Hz band, however, is low, indicating a local source that changes on shorter length scales. Human activities responsible for the 2–40 Hz energy in the city, we discovered, are able to produce amplitudes approximately 2 to 1500 times larger than natural sources. Using the building array deployed in TAIPEI 101, the tallest building in Taiwan, we found the small but repetitive ground vibration induced by traffic has considerable effect on the vibration behavior of the high-rise building. This finding urges further investigation not only on the dynamic and continuous interaction between vehicles, roads, and buildings, but also the role of soft sediment on such interaction.

Effect of Calmodulin-like Gene (CML) Overexpression on Stilbene Biosynthesis in Cell Cultures of Vitis amurensis Rupr.

Stilbenes are plant phenolics known to rapidly accumulate in grapevine and other plants in response to injury or pathogen attack and to exhibit a great variety of healing beneficial effects. It has previously been shown that several calmodulin-like protein (CML) genes were highly up-regulated in cell cultures of wild-growing grapevine Vitis amurensis Rupr. in response to stilbene-modulating conditions, such as stress hormones, UV-C, and stilbene precursors. Both CML functions and stilbene biosynthesis regulation are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of overexpression of five VaCML genes on stilbene and biomass accumulation in the transformed cell cultures of V. amurensis. We obtained 16 transgenic cell lines transformed with the VaCML52, VaCML65, VaCML86, VaCML93, and VaCML95 genes (3–4 independent lines per gene) under the control of the double CaMV 35S promoter. HPLC-MS analysis showed that overexpression of the VaCML65 led to a considerable and consistent increase in the content of stilbenes of 3.8–23.7 times in all transformed lines in comparison with the control calli, while biomass accumulation was not affected. Transformation of the V. amurensis cells with other analyzed VaCML genes did not lead to a consistent and considerable effect on stilbene biosynthesis in the cell lines. The results indicate that the VaCML65 gene is implicated in the signaling pathway regulating stilbene biosynthesis as a strong positive regulator and can be useful in viticulture and winemaking for obtaining grape cultivars with a high content of stilbenes and stress resistance.

Effect of Grain Size on Change in Surface Roughness of Carbon Steels Through Polishing Processes

A mirror-like reflecting surface is an important characteristic in many industrial metallic parts. Polishing is done to form a mirror surface on metals. However, the effect of the grain size of metals on surface roughness through polishing processes is not clear. Specifically, mirror surface formation of ultrafine grained materials is still unknown. Ultrafine grained steels and coarse grained steels with 0.02, 0.10, and 0.60 wt% carbon contents were prepared by warm caliber rolling and annealing. Average grain sizes were 1–2 μm and 4–40 μm. The changes in surface roughness, Sa, were measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM) via eight polishing steps, using emery papers of type #600, #1000, #1500, #2000, #2500, #4000, and free abrasive grains of 3 μm and 1 μm diamond. As the polishing process progressed, the surface unevenness was removed and the surface roughness, Sa, decreased in all steels. The differences of Sa at each polishing step were analyzed from the point of carbon content, Vickers hardness, and grain size. Carbon contents and Vickers hardness have little effect on Sa. However, grain size has a considerable effect on Sa in all steels. Ultrafine grained steels have smaller Sa in all polishing steps in all steels. This is because ultrafine grained steels have very small work hardening rate. After final polishing, Sa is 2.5–3.6 nm in coarse grained steels and 2.0–2.6 nm in ultrafine grained steels. To obtain a mirror surface with smaller Sa, grain size control is important.

Investigating the Effect of Noise Elimination on LSTM Models for Financial Markets Prediction Using Kalman Filter and Wavelet Transform

Predicting financial markets is of particular importance for investors who intend to make the most profit. Analysing reasonable and precise strategies for predicting financial markets has a long history. Deep learning techniques include analyses and predictions that can assist scientists in discovering unknown patterns of data. In this project, application of noise elimination techniques such as Wavelet transform and Kalman filter in combination of deep learning methods were discussed for predicting financial time series. The results show employing noise elimination techniques such as Wavelet transform and Kalman filter, have considerable effect on performance of LSTM neural network in extracting hidden patterns in the financial time series and can precisely predict future actions in these markets.

Investigation on the effect of CuO nanoparticles on the IFT and wettability alteration at the presence of [C12mim][Cl] during enhanced oil recovery processes

In the current study, the effect of CuO nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) at the presence of dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C12mim][Cl]) is investigated on the interfacial tension (IFT) reduction, wettability alteration, and even tertiary oil recovery. Since the prepared solutions with CuO-NPs are completely dark and it is impossible to measure the IFT of these solutions in the presence of crude oil using the pendant drop method (since one of the phases must be transparent for IFT measurement using the pendant drop method), n-heptane (representative of saturates) and toluene (representative of aromatics) are used only for IFT measurement of solutions prepared by CuO-NPs, while rest of the experiments are performed using crude oil. The obtained results reveal that CuO-NPs are not stable in the aqueous solution in the absence of surfactant which means fast precipitation of CuO-NPs and a high risk of pore plugging. In this way, the stability of CuO-NPs is investigated at the presence of dodecyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride ([C12mim][Cl]) as an effective surfactant for stabilizing the CuO-NPs in the aqueous solution (more than 1 month without precipitation using 1000 ppm of IL). Further measurements reveal that although the presence of IL in the aqueous solution can reduce the IFT of oil/aqueous solution system, especially for the aqueous solutions prepared by formation brine (0.65 mN.m−1), the presence of CuO-NPs has no considerable effect on the IFT. On the other hand, not only the contact angle (CA) measurements reveal the considerable effect of IL on the wettability alteration toward water-wet condition (68.3° for IL concentration of 1000 ppm) but also the addition of CuO-NPs can significantly boost the wettability alteration toward strongly water-wet condition (23.4° for the concentration of 1000 ppm of CuO-NPs). Finally, several core flooding experiments are performed using different combinations of chemicals to find the effect of these chemicals on the tertiary oil recovery factor. The results reveal that the presence of CuO-NPs can enhance the oil recovery of injected chemical slug (aqueous solution prepared by dissolution of IL with an oil recovery factor of 10.1% based on Original oil in place (OOIP)) to 13.8, %, 16.9%, and 21.2% based on OOIP if 500, 1000, 2000 ppm of CuO-NPs existed in the solution concomitant with 1000 ppm of [C12mim][Cl].

Materializing the Agency of Design in Innovation Practices

This article critically reviews how we think about design in technology and service innovation. Human-centered design has emerged in this science-driven field as a way to include the interests of humans and their needs in production processes. As such, design has a considerable effect on the development of new technologies and services. Making visible the agency of design in these practices thus is of immense importance. A gap remains in the ability of current concepts of design to visualize and conceptualize design agency. Therefore, drawing on concepts of materiality in design and practice, this article proposes a framework that makes design agency visible.

How CSR activities affect students attitudinal and behavioral loyalty in the Lebanese educational sector?

The success of any organization is settled on its ability of initiating, sustaining, and retaining a good customer relationship based on loyalty. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) turned out to be considered as an efficient marketing tool. However, the impact of CSR on loyalty is still uncultivated. The present paper investigates the influence of CSR activities on both loyalty constructs: attitudinal loyalty as well as behavioral loyalty. Based on a sample of 203 Lebanese students, results revealed a considerable effect of ethical, legal and philanthropy social responsibility on both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Conversely, the effect of economic responsibility on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty was insignificant.

Evaluation of Drying Air Conditions for Antiozonant Wax Drying Process in the Spray Drying Tower

The drying technique of Antiozonant Wax (AOW) using drying air in the spray drying tower has a considerable effect on the produced AOW powder. In this study, the drying air flow rate was measured in such a way that AOW can transform into a powder with a size of 800 mesh. The diameter and height of the spray drying tower are 1 and 6 m, respectively. Meanwhile, the AOW flow rate to the spray drying tower varies from 100 kg/hour to 500 kg/hour. The intake AOW temperature was 70 °C and at the outlet was 40 °C, while the drying air temperatures in and out of the spray drying tower were 30 and 55 °C, respectively. From the calculation results, the flow rate of the drying air is directly proportional to the flow rate of the AOW into the spray drying tower but inversely proportional to the speed of the AOW powder down the spray drying tower. In the meantime, the drying period for AOW to become a powder is between 1.033 – 1.279 s, not significantly different. It gives insight into the need to dry air in the spray drying tower configuration so that the findings will conform to the predetermined requirements.

A critical analysis about the supposed role of azithromycin in the treatment of covid-19

After over one year, the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) has still affected millions of people. For this reason, global efforts to promote better treatment of covid-19 have been undertaken focused on the repurposing of existing medications.In Brazil, azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, has been used in association with other drugs as an immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral agent, regardless of bacterial co-infection. Indeed, data from experimental studies have demonstrated the capacity of this drug in reducing the production of infection-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-8, IL-6, and TNF-alpha. However, observational studies revealed conflicting results regarding its effect, whereas well-conducted clinical trials have not shown a considerable effect of this agent on the improvement of clinical outcomes. This narrative review addressed the possible role of this antibiotic in the management of covid-19, based on data from clinical and preclinical studies.

Analysis of Energy Harvesting Enhancement in Piezoelectric Unimorph Cantilevers

Environmental energy harvesting is a major operation in research and industries. Currently, researchers have started analyzing small-scale energy scavengers for the supply of energy in low-power electrical appliances. One area of interest is the use of piezoelectric materials, especially in the presence of mechanical vibrations. This study analyzed a unimorph cantilever beam in different modes by evaluating the effects of various parameters, such as geometry, piezoelectric material, lengths of layers, and the proof mass to the energy harvesting process. The finite element method was employed for analysis. The proposed model was designed and simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics, and the output parameters, i.e., natural frequencies and the output voltage, were then evaluated. The results suggested a considerable effect of geometrical and physical parameters on the energy harvesters and could lead to designing devices with a higher functional efficiency.