Willingness to Pay for the Preservation of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park in Vietnam

Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park has great value in terms of biodiversity but preserving the park is a great challenge for the Vietnamese government. This study estimated the willingness to pay of households to preserve Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park, using the contingent valuation method. We employed the single-bounded dichotomous choice question format to estimate how much households in Ho Chi Minh City were willing to contribute towards a preservation plan for the park. This plan comprised twelve preservation activities and compensating the local communities for their foregone income. The study found that households in Ho Chi Minh City were willing to pay at least VND 6,209 per month for three years for the preservation of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park. With protest votes included, factors strongly affecting households' willingness to pay were bid amount and the amount of their monthly electricity bill. The education level of the respondents and the number of working people in the household had significant but lesser impact on their willingness to pay. Without protest votes, the bid amount, monthly electricity bill amount and education level of respondents significantly affected willingness to pay. We found that the annualized benefit value of the project was larger than its annualized cost. This indicated that the preservation plan was economically viable. This study does not provide the total value of Lo Go - Xa Mat National Park, but it shows the great value of the park in terms of local households' willingness to pay for its preservation and this is important information for policy-makers in deciding how to protect the park efficiently.willingness to pay, Vietnam

Analyzing surface EMG signals to determine relationship between jaw imbalance and arm strength loss

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the relationship between dental occlusion and arm strength; in particular, the imbalance in the jaw can cause loss in arm strength phenomenon. One of the goals of this study was to record the maximum forces that the subjects can resist against the pull-down force on their hands while biting a spacer of adjustable height on the right or left side of the jaw. Then EMG measurement was used to determine the EMG-Force relationship of the jaw, neck and arms muscles. This gave us useful insights on the arms strength loss due to the biomechanical effects of the imbalance in the jaw mechanism. METHODS: In this study to determine the effects of the imbalance in the jaw to the strength of the arms, we conducted experiments with a pool of 20 healthy subjects of both genders. The subjects were asked to resist a pull down force applied on the contralateral arm while biting on a firm spacer using one side of the jaw. Four different muscles – masseter muscles, deltoid muscles, bicep muscles and trapezoid muscles – were involved. Integrated EMG (iEMG) and Higuchi fractal dimension (HFD) were used to analyze the EMG signals. RESULTS: The results showed that (1) Imbalance in the jaw causes loss of arm strength contra-laterally; (2) The loss is approximately a linear function of the height of the spacers. Moreover, the iEMG showed the intensity of muscle activities decreased when the degrees of jaw imbalance increased (spacer thickness increased). In addition, the tendency of Higuchi fractal dimension decreased for all muscles. CONCLUSIONS: This finding indicates that muscle fatigue and the decrease in muscle contraction level leads to the loss of arm strength

Availability of Free-Space Laser Communication Link with the Presence of Clouds in Tropical Regions

Free-space laser communication (lasercom), a great application of using free-space optics (FSO) for satellite communication, has been gaining significant attraction. However, despite of great potential of lasercom, its performance is limited by the adverse effects of atmospheric turbulence and cloud attenuation, which directly affect the quality and availability of lasercom links. The paper, therefore, concentrates on evaluating the cloud attenuation in the FSO downlinks between satellite and ground stations in tropical regions. The meteorological ERA-Interim database provided by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) from 2015 to 2020 is used to get the cloud database in several areas in tropical regions. This study proposed a novel probability density function of cloud attenuation, which is validated by using a well-known curve-fitting method. Moreover, we derive a closed-form of satellite-based FSO link availability by applying the site diversity technique to improve the system performance. Numerical results, which demonstrate the urgency of the paper, reveal that the impact of clouds on tropical regions is more severe than in temperate regions

Preparation of antibacterial polypropylene grafted acrylic acid and immobilized silver nanoparticles by γ-irradiation method

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are now being widely used as antibacterial agents due to their strong bactericidal properties and low toxicity on mammalian cells. In this study, γ-rays irradiation method was used to synthesize AgNPs from silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution and to graft acrylic acid (AAc) onto porous polypropylene (PP). Porous PP grafted with AAc (PP-g-AAc) was then immobilized with AgNPs for preparing the antimicrobial materials (PP-g-AAc/AgNPs). The results demonstrated that the grafting yield of AAc onto PP increased by the increasing of irradiation dose as well as AAc concentration. The PP-g-AAc samples with grafting degrees from 1.2 to 29.8% were immobilized with AgNPs (d ~ 10 nm, 500 ppm) to obtain antimicrobial properties. The immobilized Ag contents were from 132 to 392 ppm and corresponded to the PP-g-AAc samples at grafting degrees from 1.2 to 29.8%. The in vitro antibacterial properties of PP-g-AAc/AgNPs materials on E. coli were evaluated and the results indicated that the bactericidal efficiency (η) increased by the increase of Ag contents in the tested materials. The germicidal activities against E. coli of PP-g-AAc/AgNPs containing 363 ppm Ag were found to be nearly 100% after treating in 30 min. In addition, the inhibition zone of this PP-g-AAc/AgNPs on E. coli was also found up to 28 mm in diameter. Thus, γ-rays radiation demonstrated a strong capability in grafting functional groups (AAc) onto porous PP. Furthermore, the porous PP grafted with AAc and immobilized with AgNPs might potentially be used for elimination of bacteria in water filtering

Phase Structure of Bose - Einstein Condensate in Ultra - Cold Bose Gases

The Bose - Einstein condensation of ultra - cold Bose gases is studied by means of the Cornwall - Jackiw - Tomboulis effective potential approach in the improved double - bubble approximation which preserves the Goldstone theorem. The phase structure of Bose - Einstein condensate associating with two different types of phase transition is systematically investigated. Its main feature is that the symmetry which was broken at zero temperature gets restore at higher temperature

Isothermal models of Chromium (VI) adsorption by using Fe3O4 nanoparticles

The ferromagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles with the average particle size of about 10 nm were used to adsorb chromium (VI) in aqueous solution. The equilibrium of Cr(VI) adsorption can be achieved at the pH value of 2.5, in the contact time of 120 minutes. The mechanisms of Cr(VI) adsorption were evaluated by 4 isothermal adsorption models Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, and Temkin. The results showed that all four models are satisfied; especially, Redlich-Peterson is the most suitable model to describe the adsorption kinetic of Cr(VI) on ferromagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Electronic noses based on metal oxide nanowires: a review

Metal oxides are ideal for the fabrication of gas sensors: they are sensitive to many gases while allowing the device to be simple, tiny, and inexpensive. Nonetheless, their lack of selectivity remains a limitation. In order to achieve good selectivity in applications with many possible interfering gases, the sensors are inserted into an electronic nose that combines the signals from nonselective sensors and analyzes them with multivariate statistical algorithms in order to obtain selectivity. This review analyzes the scientific articles published in the last decade regarding electronic noses based on metal oxide nanowires. After a general introduction, Section 2 discusses the issues related to poor intrinsic selectivity. Section 3 briefly reviews the main algorithms that have hitherto been used and the results they can provide. Section 4 classifies the recent literature into fundamental research, agrifood, health, security. In Section 5, the literature is analyzed regarding the metal oxides, the surface decoration nanoparticles, the features that differentiate the sensors in a given array, the application for which the device was developed, the algorithm used, and the type of information obtained. Section 6 concludes by discussing the present state and points out the requirements for their use in real-world applications

Experiment and FEM Modelling of Bond Behaviors between Pre-stressing Strands and Ultra–High–Performance Concrete

The objective of this paper is to investigate the bond properties of prestressing strands embedded in Ultra–High–Performance Concrete (UHPC).The UHPC was made in laboratory using local materials in Vietnam.Its mixture contains: silica aggregates, portland cement PC40, fly ash, silica fume, polycarboxylate superplasticizer and the micro steel fibers.The experimental process is realized on a pull-out test. The volume fraction of micro steel fibers in UHPC was 2%. The prestressing strand with diameters of 15.2mm was considered. The interface shear strength between strand and UHPC is identified based on the results of force and displacement obtained during the pull-out test. The Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) is implemented in finite element model to study this interface behavior. This model described by a piecewise linear elastic law. The CZM’s parameters are identified based on experimental results of pull-out test.The numerical studies are used the CZM in ANSYS software. Two numerical tests are realized and compared with experimental results: pull-out test and other test to verify the deflection of I girder due to prestressing force

Experiment and FEM Modelling of Bond Behaviors between Pre-stressing Strands and Ultra–High–Performance Concrete

The objective of this paper is to investigate the bond properties of prestressing strands embedded in Ultra–High–Performance Concrete (UHPC).The UHPC was made in laboratory using local materials in Vietnam.Its mixture contains: silica aggregates, portland cement PC40, fly ash, silica fume, polycarboxylate superplasticizer and the micro steel fibers.The experimental process is realized on a pull-out test. The volume fraction of micro steel fibers in UHPC was 2%. The prestressing strand with diameters of 15.2mm was considered. The interface shear strength between strand and UHPC is identified based on the results of force and displacement obtained during the pull-out test. The Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) is implemented in finite element model to study this interface behavior. This model described by a piecewise linear elastic law. The CZM’s parameters are identified based on experimental results of pull-out test.The numerical studies are used the CZM in ANSYS software. Two numerical tests are realized and compared with experimental results: pull-out test and other test to verify the deflection of I girder due to prestressing force

A comparison for donor-acceptor interactions between E(PH3)2 and NHEMe ligands (E = C to Pb) of W(CO)5 complexes using energy decomposition analysis method with natural orbitals for chemical valence theory

Quantum chemical calculations at the BP86/TZ2P+ level of theory are performed for a comparison of density functional theory (DFT) between tetrylones [(CO)5W-{E(PH3)2}] (W5-EP2) and tetrylenes [(CO)5W-{NHEMe}] (W5-NHEMe) when E = C to Pb. The EDA-NOCV results suggest that the W-E bond dissociation energies (BDEs) in tetrylone complexes increase from the lighter to the heavier homologues. The W-E bond dissociation energies (BDEs) trend in W5-EP2 comes from the increase in (CO)5W←E(PH3)2 donation and strong electrostatic attraction, and that the ligands E(PH3)2 (EP2) are strong s-donors and very weak π-donors. The W-E BDEs trend in tetrylene complexes W5-NHEMe is opposite to that of the W5-EP2 complexes which decrease from the lighter to the heavier homologues. The NHEMe ligands are strong s-donors and weak π-acceptors. NOCV pairs were used in a description of the chemical bond between the W(CO)5 fragment and the ligands in the transition-metal complexes and the results indicated that the NOCV pairs lead to very valuable description of the bonding situation of the fragment-ligand bond in complexes. Keywords. Density functional theory; Bond dissociation energies (BDEs); Energy decomposition analysis (EDA); Natural Orbitals for Chemical Valence (NOCV)