Depulping of fruits and soaking the seeds enhances the seed germination and initial growth performance of Terminalia beleria Roxb. seedlings

The study describes the effects of depulping the fruits and soaking the seeds of Terminalia belerica Roxb. on seed germination and seedling growth in nursery condition. Around half of the freshly collected fruits of T. belerica were depulped by rotting the fleshy pulp in water. Depulped seeds or intact fruits were dried in sun following storage in airtight container. Effects pre-sowing treatments were explored by soaking the dry intact fruits or depulped seeds in cold water for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h and sowed in polybags filled with soil mixed with decomposed cow dung. The study revealed that depulping of fruits and soaking the seeds significantly enhanced the seed germination and seedling growth performance in nursery condition. The fastest seed germination was observed in depulped seeds soaked in cold water for 72 h (DT3) and slowest germination was in intact fruits without treatment (IT0). The highest germination percentage (93) was observed in depulped seeds soaked in cold water for 48 h (DT2) followed by 85.6% in depulped seeds soaked in water for 24 h (DT1), which was significantly higher than the other treatments including the control (36.7). Although growth parameters such as shoot length, root length, total height, leaf number, leaf area and collar diameter of the seedlings were maximum in the seedlings developed through DT3, the vigor index was maximum in DT2 and minimum in IT0. Total dry mass per seedling was also maximum in the seedlings developed from the treatment DT3. Considered the imbibition period, germination percentage, growth performance including vigor index and total biomass produced per seedling, depulping the fruits and soaking the dry seeds in cold water for 48 h was recommended for obtaining maximum seed germination and seedling growth performance

Drying performances and milling quality of rice during industrial fluidized bed drying of paddy in Malaysia

Field investigation on the operation of an industrial fluidized bed paddy dryer of 25 t/h capacity available in a processing complex of Padiberas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS) of Malaysia was carried out to assess its drying characteristics, energy consumption and quality of product during two paddy harvesting seasons. A grain drying simulation model was used to predict dryer performance which can be used as a basis for improving drying operations. For the first season (August-September), average drying rate was found to be 538 kg moisture/h to reduce moisture content (mc) from 36.98± 0.89% dry basis (db) to 27.58±0.79% (db) at 100-120°C of drying air temperature with a feed rate (capacity) of 7.75 t/h. In the second season (February-March), average drying rate was found to be 435 kg moisture/h to reduce mc from 28.14 ±0.68% (db) to 22.54 ± 0.69% (db) at 78-90°C drying air temperature with a feed rate of 9.5 t/h. The thermal and electrical energy consumptions were obtained as 7.57 and 0.97 MJ/kg water removed, respectively, for the first season, while 5.92 and 1.2 MJ/kg water removed for the second season. Higher head rice yield and whiteness and lower milling recovery were achieved during the first season than the second season at acceptable milling degree and transparency. Meanwhile, simulation results indicated that the dryer performed better in terms of increased drying capacity during the second than the first season; the dryer could be operated at 150°C to achieve almost double throughput capacity up to 20 t/h for the second season, while for the first season, high mc hindered the capacity to be at or below 7.75 t/h even when using higher a temperature of 160°C to reduce moisture to the desired final moisture of 24-25% (db). proportion of slower vehicles based on users’ opinion poll

Application of simulation in determining suitable operating parameters for industrial scale fluidized bed dryer during drying of high impurity moist paddy

A systematic approach has been developed for selecting the suitable drying parameters to be used for drying of high moisture and high impurity paddy with an industrial fluidized bed paddy dryer (10–20 t h−1 capacity) based on targeted specific air flow rate and residence time during two typical paddy drying seasons. A mathematical model was developed by modifying an existing model and was simulated and validated with observed industrial drying data as well as data reported in the literature. Comparison between the observed and simulated results showed that the mathematical model is capable of predicting outlet paddy moisture content and air temperature well. Suitable operating parameters were determined for reducing any initial paddy moisture content (mc) down to 24–25% dry basis (db), the safe mc level after fluidized bed drying to maintain rice quality, to achieve maximum possible throughput capacity of the dryer with corresponding energy consumption. Based on these criteria, bed thickness at 10 cm, specific air flow rate of 0.05 kg kg−1 s−1 (for corresponding bed air velocity of 2.3 m s−1), air temperature of 150 °C and residence time of 1.0 min were found to be suitable drying conditions for reducing paddy mc from 30 to 24.30% (db) in one season while the maximum throughput capacity of 15.7 tonne per hour (t h−1) might be achieved. The specific electrical and thermal energy were 0.48 and 6.15 MJ kg−1 water evaporated, respectively. On the other hand, the dryer capacity was found to be limited to 7.4 t h−1 during drying paddy of higher initial mc (35% db). This approach might provide easy and comprehensive guidelines for selecting suitable sets of operating parameters for any industrial fluidized bed dryer at its possible maximum throughput capacity for drying of freshly harvested high moist paddy with a high level of impurities

Drying kinetics,energy consumption, and quality of paddy (MAR-219) during drying by industrial inclined bed dryer with or without the fluidized bed dryer.

The performances of industrial dryers, namely the inclined bed dryer (IBD) and the fluidized bed dryer (FBD) combined with IBD, in terms of drying kinetics, energy consumption, and quality of paddy were investigated in this study. Drying parameters used in a single-stage paddy drying using IBD and a two-stage drying using FBD combined with IBD were analyzed to assess the existing performances of the drying techniques. The overall performances of the current drying practices exhibited inconsistent results with the operating parameters, such as drying air temperature, drying time, and air flow rate among the drying process lines. Distinct variations in moisture reduction and energy consumption of the drying systems were identified. Poor performance of the industrial fluidized bed dryer was observed in the case of drying in low capacity that caused higher specific energy consumption. However, the quality of milled rice obtained from both drying systems was found to be almost similar. Minimal process time (i.e., up to 24.5% less) was found in the paddy dried with FBD as the first-stage drying, followed by IBD as the second-stage drying

Optimization of spray drying parameters for pink guava powder using RSM

The optimization of pink guava was executed using central composite face-centred design to optimize the spray drying parameters of inlet temperature, maltodextrin concentration (MDC) and feed flow (FF). The experimental results were significantly (p<0.01) fitted into second-order polynomial models to describe and predict the response quality in terms of the final moisture, particle size and lycopene with R2 of 0.9749, 0.9616, and 0.9505, respectively. The final moisture content significantly (p<0.01) decreased with increasing inlet temperature and MDC, whereas the particle size increased. In contrast, the lycopene content significantly (p<0.01) decreased with the higher temperature and increased with increasing MDC. However, according to multiple response optimization, the optimum conditions of 150°C inlet temperature, 17.12% (w/v) MDC and 350 mL/h FF-predicted 3.10% moisture content, 11.23 μm particle size and 58.71 mg/100 g lycopene content. The experimental observation satisfied the predicted model within the acceptable range of the responses

Effects of Albizia saman (Jacq. Mull) leaf mulch on vegetative growth of maize (Zea mays L.) and soil chemical properties through biomass transfer

The study presents the effects of Albizia saman (Jacq. Mull) leaves in a biomass transfer as a source of organic fertilizer on the soil chemical properties and vegetative growth of maize (Zea mays) compared with NPK (15-15-15) in greenhouse condition. Albizia saman leaves and NPK (15-15-15) were applied at the rate of 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 t/ha or 60, 90 and 120 kg/ha respectively, separately or in combination. The findings revealed that application of 2.5 t/ha A. saman leaves produced the maximum values for mean leaf number, leaf area and stem height (7.77, 212.24 cm2 and 49.67 cm, respectively) among the leaf much treatments but were not significantly different from those obtained by applying 90 kg/ha NPK fertilizer (7.86, 225.55 cm2 and 48.78 cm, respectively). However, the maximum number of leaf (8.4), leaf area (240.5 cm2), plant height (54.64 cm) and biomass (16.17 g) were obtained from the combination of 2.5 t/ha leaves with 90 kg/ha NPK. There was significant improvement in the soil chemical status with the application of 2.5 or 5.0 t/ha A. saman leaves whereas the application of 5.0 t/ha A. saman leaves experienced the highest value for organic carbon (3.56%), total nitrogen (0.23%) and potassium (0.16 mg/kg) and 2.5 t/ha leaves gave the highest value for available phosphorus (22.30 mg/kg). It can, therefore, be inferred that the application of 2.5 t/ha A. saman leaves as source of organic fertilizer will give a better growth of maize and the combination of this quantity with 90 kg/ha of NPK would give better results in crop yield and maintenance of soil fertility

Associations between race, APOE genotype, cognition, and mortality among urban middle-aged white and African American adults

We examined associations between cognition and mortality and how these relationships vary by race and Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, in a longitudinal study of 2346 middle-aged White and African American adults (30-64 years at baseline) from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span cohort study. Baseline cognition spanned global mental status, and several domains obtained using principal components analysis (PCA; PCA1: verbal memory/fluency; PCA2: attention/working memory; PCA3: executive function/visuo-spatial abilities). Cox regression models evaluated associations between cognition and all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-mortality. Interactions between cognition and APOE2 as well as APOE4 allelic dose were tested, and race was a key effect modifier. Higher APOE4 dose was associated with increased CVD-mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per allele = 1.37; 95% CI 1.01-1.86, p = 0.041); APOE2 dosage's association with CVD-mortality was non-significant (HR = 0.60; 95% CI 0.35-1.03, p = 0.065). Higher PCA3 was associated with lower all-cause (HR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.87-0.99, p = 0.030) and CVD (HR = 0.85; 95% CI 0.77-0.95, p = 0.001) mortality risks, the latter association being more pronounced among Whites. PCA2 interacted synergistically with APOE2 dosage, reducing risks for all-cause mortality (PCA2 × APOE2: - 0.33 ± 0.13, p = 0.010) and CVD mortality (PCA2 × APOE2: - 0.73 ± 0.31, p = 0.019). In conclusion, greater executive function/visuo-spatial abilities were associated with reduced CVD-specific mortality, particularly among Whites. Greater "attention/working memory" coupled with higher APOE2 dosage was linked with reduced all-cause and CVD mortality risks

Effects of deforestation on physicochemical properties and microbial population of soils in a South-East Asian tropical forest

The study was conducted in deforested land and adjacent natural forest in Chittagong Forest South Division, Bangladesh, to explore the effects of deforestation on physico-chemical properties of soil and the soil microbial population. Soil samples from surface (0-10 cm depth) or subsurface (10-20 cm depth) of two hill positions (top and bottom) of deforested land and an adjacent natural forest were collected and analysed for their physico-chemical properties and microbial population. The study reveals that there was no significant (p≤0.05) difference in soil texture for soil surfaces or hill positions between the deforested land and natural forest. However, significantly (p≤0.05) low moisture content and high pH was observed in both the surfaces and hill position in deforested land compared to the natural forest. The microbial community i.e., the fungal and bacterial population was also significantly (p≤0.05) lower in both surfaces (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) of hill positions in the deforested land compared to natural forest. Fungal population ranged from 59 to 76 million g-1 and 78 to 153 million g-1 of dry soil in deforested land and in natural forest, respectively, whereas bacterial population ranged from 70 to 146 million g-1 in deforested land and from 127 to 218 million g-1 in natural forest. A total of seven genera of fungi were primarily identified from the soils of natural forest and six from the deforested land. The six common genera of identified fungi in both the land used were Mucor, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Trichoderma and the different one was Colletotrichum from the natural forest. Three genera of bacteria coccus, Streptococcus and Basillus were noticed in natural forest and two genera (coccus and Streptococcus) were recorded from deforested land

Learning experience on career planning for community colleges in Malaysia

This study explored a learning experience in technical and vocational curriculum based on a career planning program. The aspect of career has always been ignored in the community college curriculum as it was considered less important in the education of students. Many studies showed that exposure to career since the early days of schooling are very effective in shaping the career maturity of students. This study has been conducted based on Backward Design curriculum model which used learning outcomes (graduation) as a tool to create a learning experience in the curriculum. This qualitative study was conducted on 15 respondents graduated from community college and are successful in their careers with a high income. Data was collected using Delphi techniques interview and each session had been transcribed. Thematic analysis has been conducted in 1st round Delphi techniques interview and Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) analysis has been used in second round of the Delphi Techniques. Findings indicate that there are three items learning experiences for pre-self-employment information (interests, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation) and four items of learning experiences for pre-employment career that influence the career planning. The item has been ranking base on priority for each items value of threshold (d) in FDM. Finally, in the conclusions and recommendations sectors the data identified by the research are described in detail and analyzed so that to ensure that the chain relationship of market research &gt; curriculum design &gt; vocational education and training will be effective and successful

Treatment of Clinical Solid Waste Using a Steam Autoclave as a Possible Alternative Technology to Incineration

A steam autoclave was used to sterilize bacteria in clinical solid waste in order to determine an alternative to incineration technology in clinical solid waste management. The influence of contact time (0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min) and temperature (111 °C, 121 °C and 131 °C) at automated saturated steam pressure was investigated. Results showed that with increasing contact time and temperature, the number of surviving bacteria decreased. The optimum experimental conditions as measured by degree of inactivation of bacteria were 121 °C for 15 minutes (min) for Gram negative bacteria, 121 °C and 131 °C for 60 and 30 min for Gram positive bacteria, respectively. The re-growth of bacteria in sterilized waste was also evaluated in the present study. It was found that bacterial re-growth started two days after the inactivation. The present study recommends that the steam autoclave cannot be considered as an alternative technology to incineration in clinical solid waste management