Microbial Source Tracking Approach to Investigate Fecal Waste at the Strawberry Creek Watershed and Clam Beach, California, USA

Clam Beach is located in Northern California, USA, and is listed as an impaired waterway by the federal government. The scope of this study was to investigate this beach and surrounding watershed to determine, if possible, the source of the impairment by conducting an 11-h beach study and 8-week watershed study. We used traditional fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and microbial source tracking (MST) methods to help identify source(s) of the FIB. Our study was focused on four possible contributors: human, ruminant, canine, and bird. A total of 169 samples were collected, analyzed, and compared to the California Department of Health single sample maximum (SSM) objective. In the beach study, 29 (44%) samples exceeded at least one SSM objective, which would have resulted in a resample per state regulations for recreational primary contact use. MST methods showed that the most abundant marker detected was bird, in 65% of the samples, but varied by sample location, which is likely due to a natural population of nearshore birds regularly observed along Clam Beach. The watershed study highlighted the potential influence from ruminants throughout the region, while humans did not appear to be a significant contributor. Health risk to humans appears to be low.

Influence of admixture of Bamboo leaf ash and lime on the Compaction characteristics of lateritic soil

This study investigated the impact of compactive efforts on A-7-5 lateritic soil stabilized with Bamboo Leaf Ash (BLA) mixed with lime. Preliminary tests were conducted on the soil sample for identification and classification. Compaction tests (using British Standard Light (BSL), British Standard Heavy (BSH) and West Africa Standard (WAS) compactive efforts) were performed on the sample in both natural and stabilized states by incorporating 2, 4, 6 and 8% Bamboo Leaf Ash mixed together with 1, 2, and 3% lime by weight of soil sample. Maximum dry density (MDD) increased to 1766 kg/m3 at 3% lime and 6% BLA, 1818 kg/m3 at 3% lime and 8% BLA and 1866 kg/m3 at 3% lime and 2% BLA while the optimum moisture content decreased to 12.70% at 3% and lime 8% BLA, 11.40% at 2% lime 6% BLA and 11.12% at 3% lime and 2% BLA for BSL, WAS and BSH, respectively. Based on these findings, the addition of lime-BLA enhanced the soil and has a promising prospect for stabilization of lateritic soil.

The Weibull Generalized Exponential Distribution with Censored Sample: Estimation and Application on Real Data

This paper is concerned with the estimation of the Weibull generalized exponential distribution (WGED) parameters based on the adaptive Type-II progressive (ATIIP) censored sample. Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), maximum product spacing (MPS), and Bayesian estimation based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have been determined to find the best estimation method. The Monte Carlo simulation is used to compare the three methods of estimation based on the ATIIP-censored sample, and also, we made a bootstrap confidence interval estimation. We will analyze data related to the distribution about single carbon fiber and electrical data as real data cases to show how the schemes work in practice.

Individual variation and the biomechanics of maneuvering flight in hummingbirds

ABSTRACTAn animal's maneuverability will determine the outcome of many of its most important interactions. A common approach to studying maneuverability is to force the animal to perform a specific maneuver or to try to elicit maximal performance. Recently, the availability of wider-field tracking technology has allowed for high-throughput measurements of voluntary behavior, an approach that produces large volumes of data. Here, we show how these data allow for measures of inter-individual variation that are necessary to evaluate how performance depends on other traits, both within and among species. We use simulated data to illustrate best practices when sampling a large number of voluntary maneuvers. Our results show how the sample average can be the best measure of inter-individual variation, whereas the sample maximum is neither repeatable nor a useful metric of the true variation among individuals. Our studies with flying hummingbirds reveal that their maneuvers fall into three major categories: simple translations, simple rotations and complex turns. Simple maneuvers are largely governed by distinct morphological and/or physiological traits. Complex turns involve both translations and rotations, and are more subject to inter-individual differences that are not explained by morphology. This three-part framework suggests that different wingbeat kinematics can be used to maximize specific aspects of maneuverability. Thus, a broad explanatory framework has emerged for interpreting hummingbird maneuverability. This framework is general enough to be applied to other types of locomotion, and informative enough to explain mechanisms of maneuverability that could be applied to both animals and bio-inspired robots.

Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Polyethylene Terephthalate/Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (PET/EPDM) in the Presence of Nanoclay

This research deals with the mechanical properties, microstructure, and interrelations of triple nanocomposite based on PET/EPDM/Nanoclay. These properties were examined in different percentages of PET/EPDM blend with compatibilizer (Styrene-Ethylene/Butylene-Styrene)-G-(Maleic anhydrate) (SEBS-g-MAH). Results showed that the addition of 15% SEBS-g-MAH improved the toughness and impact strength of this nanocomposite. SEM micrographs indicated the most stable fuzzy microstructure in a 50/50 mixture of scattered phases of EPDM/SEBS-g-MAH. The effects of percentages of 1, 3, 5, 7 nanoclay Cloisite 30B (C30B) on the improvement of the properties were evaluated. With the addition of nano clay, the toughness and impact strength was reduced. Thermal destruction of nanoclay in processing temperature led to the decreasing dispersion of clay plates in the matrix and a reduction in the distances of nano clay plates in the composite compared to pure nano clay. XRD and TEM analysis was used to demonstrate the results. By adding 1% of nanoclay to the optimal sample, maximum stiffness, and Impact strength, among other nanocomposites, was achieved.

An Enhanced Classification Based Outlier Detection using Decision Tree for Multi class in Data Stream

Data Stream has continual, unbound, large and unstable records. The processing in data streams involves extracting significantidea in primary data of the kind static and dynamic with one sweep. In streaming, records are generated by thousands of data sources continuously and simultaneously. These data normally won’t have common range. Some data will be deviated from the rest in terms of variant factors. These are considered as outliers and it is tough to find those in data stream as they have multi dimensionality. Outliers, being the most abnormal observations, may include the sample maximum or sample minimum. E-commerce is an application or category of data stream that is generated from millions of sources at a time. It includes multiple products and transactions. Some products are cancelled during transactions and some are infrequent and these are termed as outliers. This paper focus on the challenge in E-Commerce and the objective is to aid the agencies in taking fine decisions in right time by finding the outliers using supervised learning scheme. This work is carried out in two phases. In first phase the outliers are detected and classified as cancelled and delivered products. In the second phase the least transaction is found as an outlier by the enhanced methodology for multi-class classification. The work is implemented in WEKA 3.9.6 and is compared with the existing works with evaluation metrics.

Weibull Inverse Lomax Distribution

A four-parameter lifetime model, named the Weibull inverse Lomax (WIL) is presented and studied. Some structural properties are derived. The estimation of the model parameters is performed based on Type II censored sample. Maximum likelihood estimators along with asymptotic confidence intervals of population parameters and reliability function are constructed. The property of consistency of maximum likelihood estimators has been verified on the basis of simulated samples. Â Further, the results are applied on two real data.

The influence of X chromosome variants on trait neuroticism

Autosomal variants have successfully been associated with trait neuroticism in genome-wide analysis of adequately-powered samples. But such studies have so far excluded the X chromosome from analysis. Here, we report genetic association analyses of X chromosome and XY pseudoautosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and trait neuroticism using UK Biobank samples (N = 405,274). Significant association was found with neuroticism on the X chromosome for 204 markers found within three independent loci (a further 783 were suggestive). Most of these significant neuroticism-related X chromosome variants were located in intergenic regions (n = 713). Involvement of HS6ST2, which has been previously associated with sociability behaviour in the dog, was supported by single SNP and gene-based tests. We found that the amino acid and nucleotide sequences are highly conserved between dogs and humans. From the suggestive X chromosome variants, there were 19 nearby genes which could be linked to gene ontology information. Molecular function was primarily related to binding and catalytic activity; notable biological processes were cellular and metabolic, and nucleic acid binding and transcription factor protein classes were most commonly involved. X-variant heritability of neuroticism was estimated at 0.34% (SE = 0.07). A polygenic X-variant score created in an independent sample (maximum N ≈ 7300) did not predict significant variance in neuroticism, psychological distress, or depressive disorder. We conclude that the X chromosome harbours significant variants influencing neuroticism, and might prove important for other quantitative traits and complex disorders.