Biodiesel: Freedom from Dependence on Fossil Fuels?

In view of the depleting oil reserves and exponential rise in petroleum prices, the search for alternative sources of fuel is very timely and important. The present paper addresses the underlying issues in biodiesel production from biomaterials and sustainable production and supply of first-generation biofuels, especially the one from jatropha. The agencies and research institutions involved in the production of biofuels and the national and international efforts made in this regard are discussed here. There is also a dire need of a step towards large-scale production and supply of second-generation biofuels, although in infant stage, to strengthen the world economy in general and Indian economy in particular. However, the production of biofuels are likely to have serious socio-economic implications especially to the lesser developed societies. This needs serious attention from policy makers and public at large

Cross-country differences in ICT adoption. A consequence of Culture?

The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed a surge in the recent years; nevertheless, the rate of adoption across countries diverges considerably. This divergence is observed regardless of the income levels of countries. In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences in ICT adoption rates across countries using Hofstede?s cultural framework. The results suggest that national culture does influence the ICT adoption rate of a country. The results are robust even after controlling for levels of education and income.

Oral Participation in Class, Problems, and Solutions

In this paper, the focus is on oral participation during lectures. Oral participation refers to the active engagement of learners in the lecture by speaking, asking, giving comments, and participating in pair or group discussions. The students are supposed to participate and practice the language to improve their speaking skills. The main question in this study is: Why students do not speak and engage during lectures? Hence, the aim of the paper is to find out the factors that affect their performance. In this study, the researcher examined the main reason behind the lack of participation of English Foreign Language students in the English department at Cihan University-Erbil to find solutions for improving their speaking skills. A questionnaire was prepared based on the most common reasons affecting class engagement and it was divided into four sections: Personal factors, the role of the teacher, environmental factors, and linguistic factors. The participants were students at the English department at Cihan University-Erbil. After conducting the questionnaire, the researcher had an interview with the students and their teachers. The results showed that there are many reasons and factors that hinder learners from speaking and turn them into passive listeners. The personal factors and the effect of the teachers were the most prominent factors that had an impact on the learner’s performance. &nbsp

Vehicular CO emission prediction using support vector regression model and GIS

© 2018 by the authors. Transportation infrastructures play a significant role in the economy as they provide accessibility services to people. Infrastructures such as highways, road networks, and toll plazas are rapidly growing based on changes in transportation modes, which consequently create congestions near toll plaza areas and intersections. These congestions exert negative impacts on human health and the environment because vehicular emissions are considered as the main source of air pollution in urban areas and can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In this study, we developed a hybrid model based on the integration of three models, correlation-based feature selection (CFS), support vector regression (SVR), and GIS, to predict vehicular emissions at specific times and locations on roads at microscale levels in an urban areas of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The proposed model comprises three simulation steps: first, the selection of the best predictors based on CFS; second, the prediction of vehicular carbon monoxide (CO) emissions using SVR; and third, the spatial simulation based on maps by using GIS. The proposed model was developed with seven road traffic CO predictors selected via CFS (sum of vehicles, sum of heavy vehicles, heavy vehicle ratio, sum of motorbikes, temperature, wind speed, and elevation). Spatial prediction was conducted based on GIS modelling. The vehicular CO emissions were measured continuously at 15 min intervals (recording 15 min averages) during weekends and weekdays twice per day (daytime, evening-time). The model's results achieved a validation accuracy of 80.6%, correlation coefficient of 0.9734, mean absolute error of 1.3172 ppm and root mean square error of 2.156 ppm. In addition, the most appropriate parameters of the prediction model were selected based on the CFS model. Overall, the proposed model is a promising tool for traffic CO assessment on roads

EVALUATION OF TOTAL ANNUAL COSTS OF HEAT EXCHANGER NETWORKS USING MODIFIED PINCH ANALYSIS

This study presents pinch analysis of some heat exchanger networks (HENs) problems using Hint integration (HINT) software. Three examples reported to have been solved using different approaches by various researchers to obtain the least possible total annual cost (TAC) were solved using the Hint software.  In this work, the use of remaining problem analysis (RPA) contained in the heat integration software was used to carry out matching and the general optimization of the networks for minimum TAC for the three problems solved. The results obtained after solving the first problem using RPA based heat integration gave a minimum total annual cost (TAC) of $237, 510 /yr. which is the fourth when compared with the lowest solution that shows the minimum TAC of$235.400 /yr. in that example. However, the TAC obtained in solving problem  2 and 3 were $562, 333 /yr. and$2.881 M/yr. respectively and they are the least total annual cost obtained when compared with what have been obtained using mathematical programming and non-RPA based Hint software. The overall assessment of the various approaches used to solve these problems when compared with the results obtained in this study shows that HINT software is able to obtain TAC that are within the same range as those obtained using mathematically based technique. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v35i3.1

Urban tree classification using discrete-return LiDAR and an object-level local binary pattern algorithm

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Urban trees have the potential to mitigate some of the harm brought about by rapid urbanization and population growth, as well as serious environmental degradation (e.g. soil erosion, carbon pollution and species extirpation), in cities. This paper presents a novel urban tree extraction modelling approach that uses discrete laser scanning point clouds and object-based textural analysis to (1) develop a model characterised by four sub-models, including (a) height-based split segmentation, (b) feature extraction, (c) texture analysis and (d) classification, and (2) apply this model to classify urban trees. The canopy height model is integrated with the object-level local binary pattern algorithm (LBP) to achieve high classification accuracy. The results of each sub-model reveal that the classification of urban trees based on the height at 47.14 (high) and 2.12 m (low), respectively, while based on crown widths were highest and lowest at 22.5 and 2.55 m, respectively. Results also indicate that the proposed algorithm of urban tree modelling is effective for practical use

The Effect of Using Flipped Class on Teaching Reading Comprehension at Cihan University

Reading comprehension is one of the important skills of language learning. It is believed that teaching with flipped class is more effective and comes out with more positive outcomes than the traditional class teaching. Thus, this study aims to explore the effect of flipped class on improving reading comprehension skills for Kurdish and Arabic EFL at Cihan University-Erbil. The main question of this study is to figure out whether implementing flipped class on EFL will improve their reading comprehension skills? Will it develop the students reading abilities including both levels ‘elementary and intermediate’? In addition, to which level of students is more applicable? According the mentioned questions, it is presupposed that flipped class has more positive results in teaching reading Comprehension skills than the tradition class. This is due to the fact that the student will have access to online facilities and internet to gain further information about the topic before the class. Thus, it is assumed that it will improve Kurdish and Arabic EFL reading comprehension skills including both levels ‘Elementary and intermediate’. However, it is presumed that the flipped class will have a greater impact on intermediate level than on Elementary level

FITTING THE STATISTICAL DISTRIBUTION FOR DAILY RAINFALL IN IBADAN, BASED ON CHI-SQUARE AND KOLMOGOROV- SMIRNOV GOODNESS-OF-FIT TESTS.

This paper presents several types of statistical distributions to describe rainfall distribution in Ibadan metropolis over a period of 30 years.The exponential, gamma, normal and poisson distributions are compared to identify the optimal model for daily rainfall amount based on data recorded at rain guage station at Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Jericho, Ibadan (FRIN). The models are evaluated based on chi- square and kolmogorov-smirnov tests. Overall, this study has shown that the exponential distribution is the best model followed by normal and poisson model that has the same estimated rainfall amount for describing the daily rainfall in Ibadan metropolis. Keywords: scale parameter, asymptotically, exponential distribution, gamma distribution, poisson and kolmogorov-smirnov

Improved Heat FT Induction Leads to Earlier and More Prolific Flowering in Poplar

Trees have a long juvenile phase before reproductive onset. This makes their breeding and studying floral development difficult. Precocious flowering using FT technology has shown promise. However, transgenic FT overexpression has significant negative pleiotropic effects. Hence, there has been interest in inducible FT expression for flower induction. Previously reported heat inducible expression of FT in poplar successfully induced flowering. However, flowering was sporadic and took up to 6 weeks. Here we report improvements in the protocol, which led to faster and more prolific flowering. Specifically, we increased the once to three times daily heat treatment. The repeated heat inductive treatments led to nearly five times higher FT expression, compared to the single daily treatment. The highly increased FT expression led to significant acceleration and abundance of flowering