Distinguishing Carrot's Characteristics by Near Infrared (NIR) Reflectance and Multivariate Data Analysis

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 6 (2004): N. Abu-Khalaf, B. Bennedsen and G. Bjorn. Distinguishing Carrot's Characteristics by Near Infrared (NIR) Reflectance and Multivariate Data Analysis. (March 2004

Heterogeneous formic acid production by hydrogenation of CO₂ catalyzed by Ir‐bpy embedded in polyphenylene porous organic polymers

Heterogeneous immobilized molecular catalysis has gained significant attention as a platform for creating more efficient and selective catalysts. A promising type of immobilized molecular catalysts are made from porous organic polymers (POPs) due to their high stability, porosity, and ability to mimic the catalytic activity and selectivity of homogeneous organometallic catalysts. These properties of the POP-based systems make them very attractive as heterogeneous catalysts for hydrogenation of CO2 to formate, where predominately homogeneous systems have been applied. In this study, five POPs were synthesized and assessed in the hydrogenation of CO2 where the active catalysts were made in-situ by mixing IrCl3 and the POPs. One of the Ir/POP catalysts provided a turn-over number (TON) >20,000, which is among the highest for POP-based systems. Thorough characterization (CO2- and N2-physisorption, TGA, CHN-analysis, XRD, XPS, SEM, STEM and TEM) was performed. Notably, the developed Ir/POP system also showed catalytic activity for the decomposition of formic acid into H2 enabling the use of formic acid as a renewable energy carrier

Performance of LED-Based Fluorescence Microscopy to Diagnose Tuberculosis in a Peripheral Health Centre in Nairobi.

Sputum microscopy is the only tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic available at peripheral levels of care in resource limited countries. Its sensitivity is low, particularly in high HIV prevalence settings. Fluorescence microscopy (FM) can improve performance of microscopy and with the new light emitting diode (LED) technologies could be appropriate for peripheral settings. The study aimed to compare the performance of LED-FM versus Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) microscopy and to assess feasibility of LED-FM at a low level of care in a high HIV prevalence country

New Policies, New Technologies: Modelling the Potential for Improved Smear Microscopy Services in Malawi

Background To quantify the likely impact of recent WHO policy recommendations regarding smear microscopy and the introduction of appropriate low-cost fluorescence microscopy on a) case detection and b) laboratory workload.Methodology/Principal Findings An audit of the laboratory register in an urban hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi, and the application of a simple modelling framework. The adoption of the new definition of a smear-positive case could directly increase case detection by up to 28%. Examining Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) sputum smears for up to 10 minutes before declaring them negative has previously been shown to increase case detection (over and above that gained by the adoption of the new case definition) by 70% compared with examination times in routine practice. Three times the number of staff would be required to adequately examine the current workload of smears using ZN microscopy. Through implementing new policy recommendations and LED-based fluorescence microscopy the current laboratory staff complement could investigate the same number of patients, examining auramine-stained smears to an extent that is equivalent to a 10 minutes ZN smear examination.Conclusions/Significance Combined implementation of the new WHO recommendations on smear microscopy and LED-based fluorescence microscopy could result in substantial increases in smear positive case-detection using existing human resources and minimal additional equipment

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

How a firm can induce legislators to adopt a bad policy

This paper shows why a majority of legislators may vote for a policy that benefits a firm but harms all legislators. The firm may induce legislators to support the policy by suggesting that it is more likely to invest in a district where voters or their representative support the policy. In equilibrium, no one vote may be decisive, so each legislator who seeks the firm’s investment votes for the policy, though all legislators would be better off if they all voted against the policy. And when votes reveal information about the district, the firm’s implicit promise or threat can be credible. Unlike influence mechanisms based on contributions or bribes, the behavior considered is time consistent and in line with the low campaign contributions by special interests