The big risk now for the US is not hyperinflation, but long-term elevated inflation rates

Inflation is back. Although rates are expected to recede during 2022, write Martin Pažický (Institute for Financial Policy, Slovakia) and Juraj Falath (National Bank of Slovakia), there is considerable uncertainty and the Fed needs to act now to avoid having to reverse course later

New Stenographic method to hiding information in digital image

Steganography is the art of hiding information in different cover media, then sending & displaying the hidden information especially in public places, Therefore, different methods have been proposed so far for hiding information. In this paper new method was proposed called keyboard method because it works in manner like the keyboard. It is insure that no change on image which must send to another side

Performance Testing Technique for Applied Programs

In this paper, software was preparedto use for measuring the programs performance because of the importance of measuring the programs performance. The performance of any program basically depends on spent time and storing area needed to implement any program. This work implemented manually is based on trusted rules to guess the executive time. In this research we used the same rules of complexity through a program to give the same manual results automatically and speedily. In addition to the time and storing area, the prepared software uses other standards to analyze the performance of a program like reliability, documentation and others as shown later. All these standards help in taking the appropriate decision about performance.This research was accomplished the performance test of program samples written with Pascal language as easy to understand with simple structures which is provide clear and easy start to test the performance of programs in other languages like c + +

Multidecadal Analysis of Beach Loss at the Major Offshore Sea Turtle Nesting Islands in the Northern Arabian Gulf

Undocumented historical losses of sea turtle nesting beaches worldwide could overestimate the successes of conservation measures and misrepresent the actual status of the sea turtle population. In addition, the suitability of many sea turtle nesting sites continues to decline even without in-depth scientific studies of the extent of losses and impacts to the population. In this study, multidecadal changes in the outlines and area of Jana and Karan islands, major sea turtle nesting sites in the Arabian Gulf, were compared using available Kodak aerographic images, USGS EROS Declassified satellite imagery, and ESRI satellite images. A decrease of 5.1% and 1.7% of the area of Jana and Karan islands, respectively, were observed between 1965 and 2017. This translated to 14,146 m2 of beach loss at Jana Is. and 16,376 m2 of beach loss at Karan Is. There was an increase of island extent for Karan Is. from 1965 to 1968 by 9098 m2 but comparing 2017 with 1968, Karan Is. lost as much as 25,474 m2 or 2.6% of the island extent in 1968. The decrease in island aerial extent was attributed to loss of beach sand. The southern tips of the island lost the most significant amount of sand. There was also thinning of beach sand along the middle and northern sections that exposed the rock outcrops underneath the beach. The process of beach changes of both islands was tracked by the satellite imagery from Landsat 1,3,5,7 and Sentinel-2 during 1972 to 2020. Other factors including the distribution of beach slope, sea level changes, as well as wind & current from both northward and eastward components were analyzed to show its impact on the beach changes. The loss of beach sand could potentially impact the quality and availability of nesting beach for sea turtles utilizing the islands as main nesting grounds. Drivers of beach loss at the offshore islands are discussed in the context of sea level rise, dust storms, extreme wave heights and island desertification

Hyperbranched polyethyleneimine induced polycationic membranes for improved fouling resistance and high RO performance

The study shows a new method for hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (HPEI) induced polycation membranes with an objective of achieving better fouling resistance and high reverse osmosis (RO) performance. Chemically crosslinked composite membrane (CCCM) was prepared with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), maleic acid (MA) and Pluronic F127 via chemical crosslinking methodology. Polycation induced membranes were fabricated by surface coating of HPEI onto the CCCM (PVA/MA/PluronicF127) RO membranes. Functional group analysis, morphology and surface roughness of CCCM and HPEI-RO membranes were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy respectively. The hydrophilicity and water permeability of CCCM and HPEI-RO were examined with water contact angle measurement and RO performance test. Optimum RO performance was obtained for HPEI-RO3 membrane with NaCl and MgSO4, as for RNaCl = 96.1%, JNaCl = 58.2 L m�2 h�1 and RMgSO4 = 99.6%, JMgSO4 = 15.8 L m�2 h�1 (testing with 3.28 wt.% aqueous NaCl and MgSO4 solution at 25 �C and 55 bar). Moreover, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as standard foulants presented a smaller fouling tendency for the modified HPEI-RO3 membrane. HPEI-RO3 compared to the unmodified membrane, was able to decrease the stickiness of charged bacteria, Gram negative Escherichia coli and Gram positive Staphylococcus epidermidis. Therefore, the permeation flux, salt rejection and fouling resistant property of membrane (HPEI-RO3) were significantly improved with polycation induction into the membranes

Synthesis, modification and characterization of economical high performance reverse osmosis membranes

Water is becoming increasingly scarce as the demand for fresh water continues to increase in a drastic manner. One potential new water resource is desalination of sea and brackish water. Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes desalination is one of the many processes used to obtain potable water fit for human consumption from seawater. Nevertheless, the membranes used in this process are prone to fouling by microorganisms and Chlorine attack. It has been shown from literature that developing an anti-fouling, Chlorine resistant, highly selective and highly permeable reverse osmosis membrane is a necessity. To develop such a membrane, one should improve the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface, reduce its roughness and make the surface negatively charged. The overall goal of this research was the development of high performance reverse osmosis membranes materials with improved permeability, high salt rejection and superior biofouling and Chlorine resistance. The present research was designed to investigate novel poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) RO membranes with various fillers and combinations and their effectiveness as active RO separation layers with improved biofouling and Chlorine resistance. The uniqueness of this work was that the PVA polymer matrix was utilized as an active RO layer without the use of any polymeric or ceramic substrate. The crosslinked PVA RO membranes incorporated with various fillers were fabricated using dissolution casting method. The fabricated membranes were then characterized and analyzed using various techniques like attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), contact angle measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and mechanical testing. The actual reverse osmosis performance of the membranes, including permeation testing, salt rejection and Chlorine resistance was examined using a reverse osmosis permeation unit. This study showed that the incorporation of Pluronic F127 and MWCNTs into the PVA polymer matrix improved the overall RO performance of the membrane in terms of hydrophilicity, surface roughness, water permeability, salt rejection, Chlorine resistance and biofouling resistance. The membranes that contain 0.08 and 0.1 wt% MWCNTs provided optimal salt rejection, Chlorine and biofouling resistance and mechanical strength. Although the permeation of these two membranes is not the best, they relatively have an excellent water flux. Furthermore, It has been shown that the conjugation of Vanillin and Pluronic F-127 improved the overall RO performance of the membrane in terms of hydrophilicity, surface roughness, salt rejection, Chlorine resistance, biofouling resistance and mechanical strength. Membranes PVA-V4 and PVA-V5 provided optimal salt rejection, Chlorine resistance, mechanical strength and surface hydrophilicity. Although the permeation of these two membranes is not the best, they relatively have an excellent water flux. It has been shown that conjugating PVA with Gum Arabic and Pluronic F127 improved the overall RO performance of the membrane in terms of hydrophilicity, surface roughness, water permeability, salt rejection, Chlorine resistance, biofouling resistance and mechanical strength. The membrane PVA-GA-5 that contains 0.9 wt% Gum Arabic provided optimal salt rejection, Chlorine and biofouling resistance, mechanical strength, permeability, surface roughness and surface hydrophilicity. The incorporation of ZnO-NPs and Pluronic F-127 improved the performance of RO membrane, as well. The improvement was in terms of water permeability, salt rejection and Chlorine resistance by increasing hydrophilicity and affecting the roughness of the membrane. The membrane TFN4, containing 0.08 wt% ZnO-NPs, exhibited superior permeation flux, salt rejection and Chlorine resistance. HPEI-RO membranes having zwitterions were effectively synthesized, as well. FTIR analysis confirmed the HPEI and MA functional group of the membranes. The AFM roughness value of all HPEI-RO membranes decreased with increasing HPEI content in zwitterionic membranes. Both water contact angle and RO performance test measurements demonstrated that HPEI-RO membranes had high permeation flux and could bind high amount of water molecules with zwitterions in membranes. In addition, the HPEI-RO3 exhibited the stability during desalination process and good fouling resistance property. Lastly, the outcomes of this study have shown a great promise for the proposed crosslinked PVA membrane as an active RO separation layer without a substrate. The results of this investigation showed that the fabricated RO membrane overcame PVA drawbacks through appropriate crosslinking and through appropriate selection of fillers. The synthesized membranes had an improved RO performance and an enhanced Chlorine and biofouling resistance.Ph.D