Effect of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticle coating on the detection performance of microfiber knot resonator sensors for relative humidity measurement

In this study, the sensitivity and the linearity of the un-coated and TiO2-coated microfiber knot resonator (MKR) have been analyzed. The MKR is very sensitive to humidity changes since its refractive index is strongly humidity dependent. As a result, shifts occur in the resonance wavelength and there are also changes in output power. The un-coated MKR showed a sensitivity of 1.3 pm/%RH, in terms of the resonance wavelength, and a sensitivity of 0.0626 dB/%RH for the transmitted output power. The sensitivity increased greatly after the deposition of a porous TiO2 nanoparticle coating on the MKR. The TiO2-coated MKR showed an improved sensitivity of 2.5 pm/%RH, with respect to the resonance wavelength, and 0.0836 dB/%RH for the transmitted output power. This MKR sensor has the potential for use in a variety of humidity sensing applications

Wheat is an emerging exposure route for arsenic in Bihar, India

In arsenic (As) endemic areas of south-east Asia, where a subsistence rice-based diet is 19 prevalent, As exposure from food is mainly focused on rice intake. However, consumption of 20 wheat is substantial and increasing. We present a probabilistic assessment of increased cancer 21 risk from wheat-based food intake in a study population of rural Bihar, India where As exposure 22 is endemic. Total As in wheat grains (43.64±48.19 μg/kg, n=72) collected from 77 households 23 across 19 villages was found to be lower than reported As in wheat grains from other south-24 east Asian countries but higher than a previous study from Bihar. As concentration in wheat flour was used for risk estimation, bearing in mind that it was the 26 flour obtained after indigenous household processing of the grains that was used for making 27 the home-made bread (chapati) which contributed 95% of wheat intake for the studied 28 population. Interestingly, while 78% of the surveyed participants (n=154) consumed rice every 29 day, chapati was consumed every day by 99.5% of the participants. In contrast to previous 30 studies, where As concentration in wheat grain was found to be lower than the flour due to the 31 removal of the bran on grinding, we did not find any appreciable lowering of arsenic in the 32 wheat flour (49.80±74.08 μg/kg, n=58), most likely due to external contamination during 33 processing and grinding. Estimated gender adjusted excess lifetime cancer risk of 1.23x10-4 for 34 the studied rural population of Bihar indicated risk higher than the 10-4-10-6 range, typically 35 used by the USEPA as a threshold to guide regulatory values. Hence, our findings suggest As 36 exposure from wheat-based food intake to be of concern not only in As endemic areas of rural 37 Bihar but also in non-endemic areas with similar wheat-based diet due to public distribution of 38 the wheat across India

Cloud-To-Ground Lightning Flashes Under The Influence Of Pollution In Malaysia And Some Countries

The effect of air pollution produced from world war, industrial activities and transportation clearly can change the earth ecology system such as the atmospheric conditions. Base on few studies reported from by researcher in USA, Brazil, Spain and South Korea researcher have proven that the pollution effect can enhance the activity of lightning. Those information above motivate Advanced Multidisciplinary System Technology researcher in UTeM to report the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes in Malaysia the influence of pollution. Particulate Matter (PM10) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) concentration were used as gross indicator of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) and examined in relation to the urban increase in CG lightning activity. PM10 concentration recorded in Subang, Ipoh and Bayan Lepas were 51, 50 and 49μgm/m³ respectively. Meanwhile, SO2 concentration recorded were 8, 7.9, 7.7μgm/m³. The three urban areas have average number of CG lightning flashes of 200, 197 and 184. An analysis related number of CG flashes against pollutants show positive correlation in Malaysia with reading of 0.94. This indicates PM10 and SO2 concentration have high influential factor in enhancement of CG lightning activity in Malaysia

QoS-Based Cloud ERP Selection Model for SMEs

The roles played by Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in any organizations in achieving operational excellence and competitive advantage cannot be underestimated. However, the cost of implementing traditional ERP has been observed to be a bane for most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are globally known as the major drivers of most agile economies. Cloud computing is a paradigm technology concept that affords the SMEs opportunities of affordable services in which ERP can be Cloud-hosted and rented on pay-per-use basis, which does not require a great deal of initial capital to ensure business continuity in a highly competitive market. There are a lot of providers offering ERP as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the SMEs therefore is being faced with the challenge of selecting a provider with Quality of Service (QoS) suitable enough to meet the customized requirements of the organizations. A model is presented in this paper which seeks to address this selection challenge. Apart from the suitability efforts, the model also further attempts to select the cheapest among a few selected providers already found suitable for the SMEs

The Effect Of Short Circuit Fault On One Winding To Other Windings In FRA

Monitoring and diagnosis of power transformer in power systems have been examined and debated significantly in last few decades. Recently, more researchers have expressed their interest in these issues as the utilities and network operators operating under a rising cost-effecting pressure. Especially, in studying to monitor winding faults which is found to be the most common fault within transformers. This paper addresses the issue of the effect of inter-windings short circuit fault in a Dyn11 connected transformer. The specific aim is to study the effect of fault at winding of other phases to the response of measured phase. Frequency Response Analysis (FRA) which is discovered to be a powerful and sensitive method to examine and evaluate the condition, including the mechanical reliability of the transformer windings is use

Cloud enterprise resource planning selection model for small and medium enterprises

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems automate and integrate business management activities thereby aiding the organization achieve operational excellence and competitive advantage. However, traditional ERP has been observed to be too costly for most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are known to be the economic agents of rural development globally. Emergence of Cloud computing offers the SMEs opportunities of accessing cloud-hosted infrastructure to evade huge initial capital. As there are myriads of providers offering ERP as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), there arises the challenge as per choosing a provider with Quality of Service (QoS) that would be suitable to meet the organizations’ customized requirements. The paper presents a model which not only seeks to address this challenge, the model goes a step further to select the most affordable among a selected few providers that are suitable for the SMEs to keep them agile and competitive

Bioaccessibility and speciation of arsenic in children’s diets and health risk assessment of an endemic area in Bangladesh

This study determines the bioaccessibility of toxic and carcinogenic arsenic (As) in composite food samples and evaluates potential exposure from food intake in Bangladesh children. Total As (tAs), inorganic As (iAs) and bioaccessible As (BAs) in food composite samples consumed by children were compared between an exposed and a control group (based on As in drinking water). Total As concentrations in composite food samples of children exposed to mean As level of 331 µg/l in drinking and cooking water ranged from 586 to 1975 µg/kg, dry weight over 76 to 90 µg/kg in the unexposed group. Average iAs in food composites was 73.9% (range: 49.3 to 90.8%). The fraction of BAs using gastric and gastrointestinal phases was 91±13% and 98±11%, respectively. Daily intake of iAs in exposed group ranged from 0.41 to 6.38 µg per kg body weight (BW), which was much higher than the unexposed group (0.08-0.15 µg per kg BW). High iAs content and BAs in composite food samples indicated elevated risk to exposed children. Further research should include both adult and children using larger sample size to determine overall As exposure from food intake in Bangladesh, attention must be given to lowering of As in food

Cyber security incident handling, warning and response system for the european critical information infrastructures (cyberSANE)

This paper aims to enhance the security and resilience of Critical Information Infrastructures (CIIs) by providing a dynamic collaborative, warning and response system (CyberSANE system) supporting and guiding security officers and operators (e.g. Incident Response professionals) to recognize, identify, dynamically analyse, forecast, treat and respond to their threats and risks and handle their daily cyber incidents. The proposed solution provides a first of a kind approach for handling cyber security incidents in the digital environments with highly interconnected, complex and diverse nature

Cleaner Production Implementation using Extended Value Stream Mapping for Enhancing the Sustainability of Lean Manufacturing

This paper investigated the measures by Cleaner Production (CP) embedded in the modified VSM technique, i.e., Cleaner Production VSM (CPVSM) to be an effective visualisation technique for Lean and promoted the sustainability at 2 local Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) for demonstrating the level to which the CPVSM process can be applied. Our findings showed that the implementation of the CP technique was improved through this CPVSM approach and thus promoted the Lean Manufacturing (LM) sustainability

Influence of the initial chemical conditions on the rational design of silica particles

The influence of the water content in the initial composition on the size of silica particles produced using the Stöber process is well known. We have shown that there are three morphological regimes defined by compositional boundaries. At low water levels (below stoichiometric ratio of water:tetraethoxysilane), very high surface area and aggregated structures are formed; at high water content (>40 wt%) similar structures are also seen. Between these two boundary conditions, discrete particles are formed whose size are dictated by the water content. Within the compositional regime that enables the classical Stöber silica, the structural evolution shows a more rapid attainment of final particle size than the rate of formation of silica supporting the monomer addition hypothesis. The clearer understanding of the role of the initial composition on the output of this synthesis method will be of considerable use for the establishment of reliable reproducible silica production for future industrial adoption