Extraction techniques and industrial applications of jatropha curcas

The fact that Jatropha curcas oil cannot be used for nutritional purposes without detoxification makes its useful as energy or fuel source, which will improve the domestic economy and provide job opportunities particularly in rural areas, where mechanical pressing is currently the most extensively used process to extract oil from seed. In this context, the main goal of this study is to provide a summary of several studies dealing with the currently employed oil extraction technologies, the physicochemical properties of bio-oils obtained from J. curcas, and the potential uses of Jatropha oil. The aim is to shed light on the main differences among the four types of oil extraction techniques currently employed and to highlight their most appropriate applications. If tapped efficaciously, then these techniques could prove to be extremely helpful in these days of power and environmental crises

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

From 5G to 6G: Revolutionizing Satellite Networks through TRANTOR Foundation

5G technology will drastically change the way satellite internet providers deliver services by offering higher data speeds, massive network capacity, reduced latency, improved reliability and increased availability. A standardised 5G ecosystem will enable adapting 5G to satellite needs. The EU-funded TRANTOR project will seek to develop novel and secure satellite network management solutions that allow scaling up heterogeneous satellite traffic demands and capacities in a cost-effective and highly dynamic way. Researchers also target the development of flexible 6G non-terrestrial access architectures. The focus will be on the design of a multi-orbit and multi-band antenna for satellite user equipment (UE), as well as the development of gNodeB (gNB) and UE 5G non-terrestrial network equipment to support multi-connectivity

GC-MS vs. GC-MS-MS analysis of pentacyclic terpanes in crude oils from Libya and Serbia - A comparison of two methods

The values of parameters calculated from distribution and abundance of the selected pentacyclic terpanes in crude oils from Libya and Serbia, which were originally derived from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were compared with results of quantification based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry (GC-MS-MS). The parameters analyzed are the most often used terpane source and maturity parameters, which were applied to a large sample set of 70 oils, originating from five oil fields. The aim of the paper was to investigate to which extent the measurements of the selected parameters by these two instrumental techniques agree and to determine the influence of differences between parameter values on geochemical interpretation. For that purpose two methods, concordance correlation coefficient and mean-difference plot were used. The obtained results indicate that calculation of C(27)18 alpha(H)-22,29,30-trisnorneohopane/(C(27)18 alpha(H)-22,29,30-trisnorneohopane +C(27)17 alpha(H)-22,29,30-trisnorhopane), C(29)18 alpha(H)-30-norneohopane/C(29)17 alpha(H) 21 beta(H)-30-norhopane and C(29)17 alpha(H)21 beta(H)-30-norhopane/ C(30)17 alpha(H)21 beta(H)-hopane ratios either by GC-MS or GC-MS-MS do not significantly influence interpretation. On the other hand, the determination of C(30)17 beta(H)21 alpha(H)-moretane/C(30)17 alpha(H)21 beta(H)-hopane ratio, gammacerane index and oleanane index by GC-MS vs. GC-MS-MS could notably affect interpretation. These differences can be explained by the co-elution and the peak overlapping in GC-MS but also by better separation, higher precision and better selectivity of the GC-MS-MS. Deviation of the almost all studied parameters from the line of equality was similar for the oils from the same oil field but some differences were observed for the oils from different oil fields. Therefore, when GC-MS-MS results are to be used in organic geochemical interpretations, a regional calibration of GC-MS vs. GC-MS-MS relationship for each petroleum system is highly recommended

Emerging Advancements in 6G NTN Radio Access Technologies: An Overview

The efforts on the development, standardization and improvements to communication systems towards 5G Advanced and 6G are on track to provide benefits such as an unprecedented level of connectivity and performance, enabling a diverse range of vertical services. The full integration of non-terrestrial components into 6G plays a pivotal role in realizing this paradigm shift towards ubiquitous communication and global coverage. However, this integration into 6G brings forth a set of its own challenges, particularly in Radio Access Technologies (RATs). To this end, this paper comprehensively discusses those challenges at different levels of RATs and proposes the corresponding potential emerging advancements in the realm of 6G NTN. In particular, the focus is on advancing the prospective aspects of Radio Resource Management (RRM), spectral coexistence in terrestrial and non-terrestrial components and flexible waveform design solutions to combat the impediments. This discussion with a specific focus on emerging advancements in 6G NTN RATs is critical for shaping the next generation networks and potentially relevant in contributing the part in standardization in forthcoming releasesComment: accepted in 2024 EuCNC and 6G Summit, Antwerp, Belgium, 3_6 June 202

Worsening of the Cardiovascular Profile in a Developing Country: The Greater Beirut Area Cardiovascular Cohort

Background: Lebanon has no established governmental noncommunicable diseases surveillance and monitoring system to permit reporting on noncommunicable diseases rates. The last World Health Organization-supported surveillance report showed worrying trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Objectives: A cardiovascular cohort was established to permit CVD outcomes studies in an urban sample in the Lebanese capital and the study in hand presents the baseline CVD risk factors of this cohort. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out including 501 Lebanese adults (64.3% women) from the Greater Beirut area using random multistage probability sampling. Interviews, physical exams, and blood withdrawal were conducted to collect information on demographic and lifestyle factors, body mass index, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, blood lipids, as well as history of coronary artery diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, dyslipidemia, and stroke. Means with SD for continuous variables and frequencies and percentages for categorical variables are reported. Results: The prevalence CVD risk factors including obesity, smoking, diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, and dyslipidemia prevalence in the Greater Beirut area was higher than that reported for the general population. Important sex and age differences were also observed, whereby older participants and women had higher rates of obesity, diabetes mellitus type 2, and dyslipidemia and younger participants and men were engaged more in cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Interestingly, water pipe smoking was similarly prevalent among genders. Conclusions: The overall prevalence of CVD risk factors in this urban population is higher than reported in the 2010 World Health Organization Stepwise Approach to Surveillance report on the Lebanese population, indicating that the urban population in the capital carries a higher burden of CVD risk. In addition, sex and age difference rates of CVD risk factors highlight the need for tailored public health measures to tackle the sex- and age-based CVD risk factors. © 2018 World Heart Federation (Geneva

MIS Based on IoT and Cloud Services: Governmental Organizations Perspective

&lt;p&gt;Management information systems (MIS) form an important element in the overall use and leverage of technology by organisations. This article focuses on the impact of management information systems on the performance of governmental organisations. MIS has had significant influence on organisations in general, and has also led to challenges for many organisations. The research provides a review and evaluation of the MIS impact on governmental organisations in general and on the performance of the governmental organisations in particular. A systematic literature review was conducted to determine the impacts of MIS on the performance of governmental organisations. The review in this research showed that there are significant benefits in the use of MIS for governmental organisations. The questionnaire and an online survey by Google forms have been used to gather the data. The primary research conducted on the factors that impact performance identified the key factors as hardware and software, individuals and procedures, network within the organisations, and error reduction. The results indicated the strength of the impact of hardware and software, Individual and procedures and network on the performance of governmental organisations. In addition, the results are significant meaning that the null hypothesis is rejected. Furthermore, the research identified the key mediators of quality of information and quality of service as contributing to the impact of the factors on the performance of governmental organisations. With the advancement of technology and the requirements of governmental organisations to manage and use an extensive volume of data and information on the public, it has become imperative for governmental organisations to have MIS capabilities to have an effective delivery system of public services. Governmental organisations should have a clear evaluation process to understand quantitative and qualitative impacts from MIS capabilities to support decision-making in relation to the investments and costs in having extensive MIS capabilities.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </jats:p