Smedcostello8782

Characteristics and deposition pattern of clogging material on cylindrical drip emitters was studied using non-destructive methods of evaluation. Two sets of four cylindrical emitter samples were collected from farm lands. One set of sample emitters was analyzed using Computed Tomography (CT). Other set was dissected and the clogging material extracted was analyzed using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). CT scans revealed the geometric properties of emitters and the spread of clogging material on the emitter surface. EDXRF analysis found statistically significant inverse relationship between the proportion of physical clogging and chemical clogging materials. XRD analysis indicated presence of physical and chemical clogging materials in their crystalline forms. Emitters having transverse flow path and the boundary optimized with curvature found with the least deposition of physical clogging materials. Corresponding proportion of chemical clogging (as Ca) was found to be much higher. All the samples were found with more clogging material closer to the outlets. Efforts to optimize emitter geometry shall also take into account the outlet area optimization and chemical clogging for obtaining best results.Aluminum (Al)-copper (Cu)-nickel (Ni) alloy is a versatile material with lightweight and excellent strength. It also possesses properties such as superior corrosion resistance, fatigue strength. These alloys are essential in sectors viz. automobile, aerospace, defense, aerospace, etc. In this research work, the authors have presented the prediction and analysis of tool wear rate (TWR). The impact of electrical discharge machining (EDM) on process parameters viz. input current (IP), pulse on time (TON), pulse off time (TOFF)/for Al/Cu/Ni alloy with the composition 91/4/5 and 87/8/5 (weight %) is analyzed. Taguchi's L18 (21∗33) mixed plan is employed to plan the experimentation. A mathematical model develops to correlate these process parameters. A soft computing technique known as an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) utilizes to predict TWR. Taguchi analysis reveals that input current is the most influencing parameter followed by pulse on time. TWR decreases with a decrease in the amount of Aluminium. It increases in the amount of copper in the alloy. TWR firstly decreases with an increase in pulse on time and then starts to grow after the median value of 25 micro-sec. The confirmation experiments have conducted using optimum process parameters to validate the obtained results. The experimental finding shows the superior capability of ANFIS to predict the TWR with acceptable accuracy. The optimized TWR obtained was 0.1238 mm3/min based on the optimal settings of input parameters.Swelling of normal corn starch granules through heating in water leads to enlargement of the starch particles and a corresponding increase in internal cavity size. Through control of the swelling extent, it is possible to tune the size of the internal cavity for the starch microcapsules (SMCs). The swelling extent can be controlled through regulation of the swelling time and the swelling temperature. Since the swelling extent is correlated with particle size and solubility, these aspects may also be controlled. Imaging the SMCs at increasing levels of swelling extent using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) allowed for the internal cavity swelling process to be clearly observed. Brightfield and polarizing light microscopy validated the SEM observations. Confocal laser scanning microscopy provided further validation and indicated that it is possible to load the SMCs with large molecules through diffusion. The highly tunable SMCs are novel microparticles which could have applications in various industries.A magnetic molecularly imprinted silica solid was obtained by sol-gel polymerization for the separation of domoic acid. The solid showed rapid adsorption kinetics with an adsorption equilibrium time of 5 min. The solid showed affinity to domoic acid under the interference of tryptophan and could be repeatedly used for 5 times at least. The solid was used as a solid-phase-extraction sorbent for the extraction of domoic acid from clam samples before measurement with liquid chromatography. The detection limit of 0.20 mg kg-1 was lower than the allowable limits in several countries or areas. The recoveries in the spiked samples were 88% approximately.Although indigenous forest management practices have been used effectively by local people in the management and conservation of forest resources, these practices are eroding, causing negative consequences on the welfare of the people and their forests. To stem the erosion of the indigenous practices and instead stimulate, preserve, or improve their use, this study determines the socioeconomic factors that drive the household's use of the practices in the management and conservation of plant species of non-wood forest products (NWFPs). The study was carried out in Nigeria derived savannah. Data was collected from 200 randomly selected households in 10 randomly selected forest communities. Multivariate probit model was used to estimate the socioeconomic factors that influence the simultaneous use of indigenous forest management practices by households. Given multiple use of the practices, the result shows that the indigenous forest management practices used by the households are selective weeding (82.98%), conrolled harvesting and selective weeding. The study recommends the provision of support for young people who are more likely to be involved in the indigenous forest management practices; support to farmers who simultaneously use the practices, for example, through the provision of credit facilities; and a proper definition of user rights in community forests.Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal disease characterized by an abnormal activation of lung epithelium and fibroblasts, as well as an excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix. Pirfenidone was introduced as a therapeutic option for IPF and chronic hypersensitive pneumonitis (cHP), a related disease. However, high plasma concentrations, which can be achieved even at recommended doses, are frequently associated with adverse events. Hence, an extended release formulation (XP), yielding lower peak plasma concentrations, has been developed. The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetic properties of XP with those of the immediate (IR) formulation in patients with IPF or cHP. Data were analyzed using two pharmacokinetic approaches, conventional non compartmental analysis and a population analysis using the nonlinear mixed effects model technique. Results observed with both approaches were consistent. Drug exposure was similar with both formulations. However, XP exhibited less concentration fluctuations and a longer mean resident time. These results suggest that XP could be a feasible option to reduce adverse events associated to pirfenidone elevated concentrations. Nevertheless, efficacy studies are required to fully document the therapeutic potential of XP.The main intension of this paper is to extract new and further general analytical wave solutions to the (2 + 1)-dimensional fractional Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur (AKNS) equation in the sense of conformable derivative by implementing the advanced exp ( - ϕ ( ξ ) ) -expansion method. This method is a particular invention of the generalized exp ( - ϕ ( ξ ) ) -expansion method. By the virtue of the advanced exp ( - ϕ ( ξ ) ) -expansion method, a series of kink, singular kink, soliton, combined soliton, and periodic wave solutions are constructed to our preferred space time-fractional (2 + 1)- dimensional AKNS equation. An extensive class of new exact traveling wave solutions are transpired in terms of, hyperbolic, trigonometric, and rational functions. To express the underlying propagated features, some attained solutions are exhibited by making their three-dimensional (3D), two-dimensional (2D) combined, and 2D line plot with the help of computational packages MATLAB. All plots are given to show the proper wave features through the founded solutions to the studied equation with particular preferring of the selected parameters. Moreover, it may conclude that the attained solutions and their physical features might be helpful to comprehend the water wave propagation in water wave mechanics.The unprecedented application of pesticides in Punjab, India during green revolution has lead to an environmental crisis due to the accumulation of persistent organic and pesticide pollutants in the environment and biota of this region. The present study aimed at estimating the abundance of pesticide contaminants in three biological matrices of 36 dogs suffering from malignant canine mammary tumor (mCMT) and 6 tumor free control dogs from Punjab, India. Presence of individual and total pesticides in canine biological samples, age and bodyweight of canine patients was assessed as a potential risk factor for mCMT using logistic regression analysis. Chi-square test was employed to determine tissue-specific accumulations of individual pesticides. Spearman's correlation coefficient was estimated to determine the association between the levels of total pesticides in different tissue matrices and with age and bodyweight of mCMT cases. Gas chromatography-ECD analysis of serum, mammary tissue and adjoining mammary adiof total pesticides in different matrices and age and bodyweight of canine subjects was found.The main aim of this research was to assess the use of mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy and geostatistical model for the evaluation and mapping of the spatial variability of some selected soil properties across a field. It is with the view of aiding site-specific soil management decisions. The performance of the model for the prediction of the components (soil parameters) was reported using the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) values of the validation data set. Results revealed that least square regression model performed better in predicting cation exchange capacity-CEC (R2 = 0.88 and RMSE = 8.98), soil organic carbon-OC (R2 = 0.88, RMSE = 0.55), and total nitrogen-TN (R2 = 0.91 and RMSE = 0.04). The first five principal components (PC) accounted for 78.17% of the total variance (PC1 = 25.75%, PC2 = 18.06%, PC3 = 13.85%, PC4 = 11.12%, and PC5 = 9.39%) and represented most of the variation within the data set. The coefficient of variation ranged from 6.73% for soil pH to 57.02% for available phosphorus (av. P). The soil pH values ranged from 4.21 to 6.57. The mean soil OC density was 2.14 kg m-2 within 50 cm soil depth. Brincidofovir Nearly 96-97% of the soils contained av. P and sulfur ( SO 4 2 - -S) below the critical levels. The overall results revealed that soil properties varied spatially. Hence, we suggest that mapping the spatial variability of soils across a field is a cost-effective solution for soil management.Accurate, robust and reproducible delineation of tumour in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is essential for diagnosis, treatment planning and response assessment. Since standardized uptake value (SUV) - a normalized semiquantitative parameter used in PET is represented by the intensity of the PET images and related to the radiotracer uptake, a SUV based threshold method is a natural choice to delineate the tumour. However, determination of an optimum threshold value is a challenging task due to low spatial resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) along with finite image sampling constraint. The aim of the review is to summarize different fixed and adaptive threshold-based PET image segmentation approaches under a common mathematical framework Advantages and disadvantages of different threshold based methods are also highlighted from the perspectives of diagnosis, treatment planning and response assessment. Several fixed threshold values (30%-70% of the maximum SUV of the tumour (SUVmaxT)) have been investigated.