Strangeness production at finite temperature and baryon density in an effective relativistic mean field model

We study the strangeness production in hot and dense nuclear medium, by requiring the conservation of the baryon density, electric charge fraction and zero net strangeness. The hadronic equation of state is investigated by means of an effective relativistic mean field model, with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons and kaon mesons. Kaons are considered taking into account of an effective chemical potential depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. The obtained results are compared with a minimal coupling scheme, calculated for different values of the anti-kaon optical potential and with non-interacting kaon particles. In this context, we also consider the possible onset of the kaon condensation for a wide range of temperatures and baryon densities.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Prediction of Flow Duration Curve for Seasonal Rivers in Iraq

This paper presents a new method to estimate the flow duration curves [FDCs] for ungauged river basins whose natural and meterological characteristics are known. This study highlights the modeling of the lower three-quarters of the section of the flow duration curves [FDCs]. Eight sub-catchments were used to develop and evaluate the proposed flow duration model in the north of Iraq. The logarithmic type function has been found appropriate for the lower three-quarters of the section of [FDCs] for all river sub-catchments located in the study area. Parameter values of the logarithmic function model were calculated using topographic, hydrological and climatic characteristics of the basins under study by two regional regression models: first CA-MAP (catchment area-mean annual precipitation) model and second MAF-PE (mean annual flowpotential evapotranspiration) model. Generally, it is found that both models used were predicting a good estimate at the end of the flow duration curve (low-flows). In most cases, the statistics and graphical results showed that the agreement between observed and estimated FDCs is very good by using MAF-PE model as compared to CA-MAP model

A piecewise-linear reduced-order model of squeeze-film damping for deformable structures including large displacement effects

This paper presents a reduced-order model for the Reynolds equation for deformable structure and large displacements. It is based on the model established in [11] which is piece-wise linearized using two different methods. The advantages and drawbacks of each method are pointed out. The pull-in time of a microswitch is determined and compared to experimental and other simulation data.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

Effect of tannery effluents on seed germination and growth of two sunflower cultivars

The wastewater of a tannery in Multan, Pakistan, was alkaline with high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) values along with much higher concentrations of total settle able salts and suspended solids, sodium adsorption ratio and high amount of sodium having the water quality class C3S1. Effluent was examined for its chemical constituents and the effect of its various dilutions was examined in greenhouse on two newly recommended sunflower cultivars (FH-330 and FH- 245) during their whole growth period. Percentage of germination, chlorophyll, carbohydrates and protein contents of both the sunflower cultivars showed significant (p = 0.05) decreasing trend with increasing effluent concentrations. Vegetative growth parameters like plant height and number of leaves per plant were significantly (p = 0.05) reduced with the increasing levels of effluents. Rate of leaf senescence of both cultivars was higher under higher effluent concentrations. Yield of sunflower crop in both cultivars was significantly (p = 0.05) reduced due to effluent concentrations. Seeds per capitulum were decreased to 49%, seeds weight per plant to 61 - 66% and 100-seed weight to 49 - 59%. The appearance of pale yellowish color of the affected plants was due to reduction in photosynthetic material under higher effluent concentration. Full strength effluent concentration caused the reduction in biomass accumulation and reproductive growth of sunflower cultivars. The results revealed that cultivar FH-330 was relatively resistant to varying effluent concentrations as compared to the cultivar FH- 245. However, the tannery effluents due to the presence of chemicals are not suitable for inclusion in irrigation system.Key words: Tannery effluents, sunflower, seed germination, growth, adverse effect, reduced yield

Stellar Image Interpretation System using Artificial Neural Networks: Unipolar Function Case

An artificial neural network based system for interpreting astronomical images has been developed. The system is based on feed-forward Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with error back-propagation learning. Knowledge about images of stars, cosmic ray events and noise found in images is used to prepare two sets of input patterns to train and test our approach. The system has been developed and implemented to scan astronomical digital images in order to segregate stellar images from other entities. It has been coded in C language for users of personal computers. An astronomical image of a star cluster from other objects is undertaken as a test case. The obtained results are found to be in very good agreement with those derived from the DAOPHOTII package, which is widely used in the astronomical community. It is proved that our system is simpler, much faster and more reliable. Moreover, no prior knowledge, or initial data from the frame to be analysed is required

Efficient Excitation of Micro/Nano Resonators and Their Higher Order Modes

We demonstrate a simple and flexible technique to efficiently activate micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) resonators at their fundamental and higher order vibration modes. The method is based on the utilization of the amplified voltage across an inductor, L, of an LC tank resonant circuit to actuate the MEMS/NEMS resonator. By matching the electrical and mechanical resonances, significant amplitude amplification is reported across the resonators terminals. We show experimentally amplitude amplification up to twelve times, which is demonstrated to efficiently excite several vibration modes of a microplate MEMS resonator and the fundamental mode of a NEMS resonator

Microstructure and Firmness of Processed Cheese Manufactured from Cheddar Cheese and Skim Milk Powder Cheese Base

Processed cheese (10 different types) was made from Cheddar cheese and a cheese base produced from reconstituted skim milk powder by blending and melting with commercial emulsifying salts at 9Q\u3c\u3eC. In one experiment, the cheese base was subjected 10 accelerated cheese ripening by added enzyme. The finished products had 50.1- 53.5% total solids, 18.2-19.3% protein, 47.4-49.7% fat in dry matter, and 2.7-3.0% salt in water; pH was 5.3-5.4 after three months of storage at 10 C and 30 C. The experimental cheeses were markedly firmer than the control cheeses. All processed cheeses exhibited a similar pattern of firmness whereby the samples stored at 10 C were firmer than the fresh cheeses and the cheeses stored at 30 C were firmest. Only blends containing a large proportion of a cheese base treated with added enzyme were crumbly and were not satisfactory. Electron microscopy revealed differences in the structures of the raw materials and the processed cheeses. The cheese base, to which a protease was added. had an open structure compared to a compact structure of the untreated cheese base. The microstructures of all the finished processed cheeses stored at 10 C: were similar to each other. Storage of these cheeses for 3 months at 30°C resulted in the development of irregularly shaped fat particles, but differences in their dimensions were statistically not significant

Phylogenetic analyses of some Egyptian genus of Lamiaceae family using rbcL sequences

Six local Egyptian commercial cultivars of family Lamiaceae, two cultivars of genus Ocimum L. (Basil), two cultivars of genus Menthe L. (Mint), and two cultivars of genus Thymus L. (Thyme) were analyzed for ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase Large (rbcL) gene at the level of DNA sequences. All samples successfully amplified the ± 630 bp fragment. Additionally, the results of alignment analysis using BLASTN tools divulged that the sequence of DNA rbcL for the two local basil cultivars (Basil1 & Basil2) has similarities with (Ocimum basilicum, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Ocimum kilimandscharicum and Ocimum gratissimum) 100, 99.69, 99.37 and 99.06 respectively. In addition, two local mint cultivars (Mint 1 and Mint 2) has similarities with Mentha spicata, Mentha_pulegium, Mentha canadensis and Mentha menthaefolia, 99.85, 99.84, 99.69 and 99.53 respectively. For thyme local cultivars (Thyme1 and Thyme2), Thym1 cultivar sample genotype is genetic closely with species, (Thymus alsinoides and Thymus sibthorpii) with 99.69 and 99.84 respectively and they located nearest from the cluster (Thymus genus) members in phylogenetic trees while, Thym2 is located after the cluster with Artemisia genus belonging to family Asteraceae. The reason of this result may be occurring due to that a Thym2 genotype comes from local marketing, which some of them are selling it as a thymus genus however, it is belongs to Artemisia genus and has similarities with with seven species of Artemisia genus (Artemisia absinthium, Artemisia gmelinii, Artemisia selengensis, Artemisia scoparia, Artemisia maritima, Artemisia capillaris and Artemisia fukudo). Using of rbcL DNA barcode proves to be effective in identifying the plants from the family level up to the genus level. This study demonstrates the efficiency of using rbcL barcoding primer to classify family Lamiaceae phylogenetically. It is also concluded that the rbcL gene showed genuine potentials to distinguish the plant Egypt species under investigation into the proper family and genus. s to distinguish the plant Egypt species under investigation into the proper family and genus

A reliability and validity study of the Palliative Performance Scale

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) was first introduced in1996 as a new tool for measurement of performance status in palliative care. PPS has been used in many countries and has been translated into other languages.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study evaluated the reliability and validity of PPS. A web-based, case scenarios study with a test-retest format was used to determine reliability. Fifty-three participants were recruited and randomly divided into two groups, each evaluating 11 cases at two time points. The validity study was based on the content validation of 15 palliative care experts conducted over telephone interviews, with discussion on five themes: PPS as clinical assessment tool, the usefulness of PPS, PPS scores affecting decision making, the problems in using PPS, and the adequacy of PPS instruction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The intraclass correlation coefficients for absolute agreement were 0.959 and 0.964 for Group 1, at Time-1 and Time-2; 0.951 and 0.931 for Group 2, at Time-1 and Time-2 respectively. Results showed that the participants were consistent in their scoring over the two times, with a mean Cohen's kappa of 0.67 for Group 1 and 0.71 for Group 2. In the validity study, all experts agreed that PPS is a valuable clinical assessment tool in palliative care. Many of them have already incorporated PPS as part of their practice standard.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of the reliability study demonstrated that PPS is a reliable tool. The validity study found that most experts did not feel a need to further modify PPS and, only two experts requested that some performance status measures be defined more clearly. Areas of PPS use include prognostication, disease monitoring, care planning, hospital resource allocation, clinical teaching and research. PPS is also a good communication tool between palliative care workers.</p

Therapeutic Properties of Vanadium Complexes

Vanadium is a hard, silver-grey transition metal found in at least 60 minerals and fossil fuel deposits. Its oxide and other vanadium salts are toxic to humans, but the toxic effects depend on the vanadium form, dose, exposure duration, and route of intoxication. Vanadium is used by some life forms as an active center in enzymes, such as the vanadium bromoperoxidase of ocean algae and nitrogenases of bacteria. The structure and biochemistry of vanadate resemble those of phosphate, hence vanadate can be regarded as a phosphate competitor in a variety of biochemical enzymes such as kinases and phosphatases. In this review, we describe the biochemical pathways regulated by vanadium compounds and their potential therapeutic benefits for a range of disorders including type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and microbial pathology