Is there an effect of electromagnetic waves from base stations on the breeding success of Ciconia ciconia ciconia in Algeria?

New nest supports used by the white stork Ciconia ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus, 1775) are mobile phone network relay antennas, which are not without danger because they emit electromagnetic waves that can have a major, although insidious, impact on the species. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of electromagnetic waves from mobile phone network base stations on white stork reproduction. We monitored the breeding phenology of the storks as a function of the distance of their nests from the base stations over 2 consecutive seasons, 2020 and 2021. The work took place in the North-East of Algeria, in Annaba and El-Tarf provinces. The nests were counted and divided into 3 distinct groups. The first is located on the relay antennae, the second less than 200 m and the third more than 300 m from the antennae. We calculated nest occupancy, number of young in the nest and number of nests without young. The results show that nests located directly on base stations have a reduced clutch size, not exceeding two storks and a low reproductive success since the majority of nests (51.9%) remained without young. The number of young storks tends to increase in nests far from base stations. Broods with 3 and 4 young are generally those located more than 300 m from relay antennas

Numerical study of effect of elastomeric stress absorbers on stress reduction in bone-dental implant interface

Objective This paper focused on optimal stress distribution in the mandibular bone surrounding a dental implant and is devoted to the development of a modified Osteoplant® implant type in order to minimize stress concentration in the bone-implant interface. Material and Methods This study investigated 0.4 mm thick layers of two elastomeric stress barriers incorporated into the dental implant using 3-D finite element analysis. Results Overall, this proposed implant provoked lower load transfer in bone-implant interface due to the effect of the elastomers as stress absorbers. The stress level in the bone was reduced between 28% and 42% for three load cases: 75 N, 60 N and 27 N in corono-apical, linguo-buccal and disto-mesial direction, respectively. Conclusion The proposed model provided an acceptable solution for load transfer reduction to the mandible. This investigation also permitted to choose how to incorporate two elastomers into the Osteoplant® implant system

Prediction of thermal conductivity of liquid and vapor refrigerants for pure and their binary, ternary mixtures using artificial neural network

International audienceThe determination of thermophysical properties of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS) is very important, especially the thermal conductivity. The present work investigated the potential of an artificial neural network (ANN) model to correlate the thermal conductivity of (HFCS) at (169.87-533.02) K, (0.047-68.201) MPa, and (0.0089-0.1984) W/(m·K) temperature, pressure, and thermal conductivity ranges, respectively, of 11 systems from 3 different categories including five pure systems (R32, R125, R134a, R152a, R143a), four binary mixtures systems (R32 + R125, R32 + R134a, R125 + R134a, R125 + R143a), and two ternary mixtures systems (R32 + R125 + R134a, R125 + R134a + R143a). Each one received 1817, 794 and 616 data points, respectively. The application of this model for these 3227 data points of liquid and vapor at several temperatures and pressures allowed to train, validate and test the model. This study showed that ANN models represent a good alternative to estimate the thermal conductivity of different refrigerant systems with a good accuracy. The squared correlation coefficients of thermal conductivity predicted by ANN were R2 = 0.998 with an acceptable level of accuracy of RMSE = 0.0035 and AAD = 0.002 %. The results of applying the trained neural network model to the test data indicate that the method has a highly significant prediction capability

Frequency tunable antennas based on innovative materials

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Adsorptive removal of amoxicillin from wastewater using wheat grains: equilibrium, kinetic, thermodynamic studies and mass transfer

International audienceWheat grains are natural products which grow in the north of Algeria. In this study, they were used as adsorbent to remove amoxicillin antibiotic from wastewater. Adsorption isotherm of amoxicillin on both crude and modified wheat grains with 20% tartaric acid was investigated in batch tests. A model was developed regarding both the kinetic partitioning and the mechanism governing the forward transfer of amoxicillin. Results were interpreted in terms of a two-film theory for flat interface. The percentage of maximum adsorption capacity of amoxicillin was found to be 84% for the following optimal conditions: amoxicillin concentration of 4 mg/L, 5 min contact time, pH 7, temperature 25°C, and 0.24 g/L initial amoxicillin concentration and 150 μg particle size. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order kinetic models and the intraparticle diffusion model were used to describe the kinetic data, and the rate constants were evaluated. It was found that the pseudo-second-order model provides the most adequate correlation of experimental data. The rate parameters of the intraparticle diffusion model for adsorption were also evaluated and to identify the adsorption mechanisms. The adsorption constants were evaluated by using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) adsorption isotherm models. The results showed that Temkin isotherm agrees with experimental data better than other adsorption models for the adsorption of amoxicillin. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS) showed that the process was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic. © 2016 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved

Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm based on sliding mode and fuzzy logic for photovoltaic sources under variable environmental conditions

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Pulsed laser deposition of Ba(2/3)Sr(1/3)TiO3 high permittivity thin films for highly-tunable capacitors with applications in RF / MW devices

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Antibacterial activity of mother tinctures of cholistan desert plants in Pakistan

The mother tinctures of desert were screened for antibacterial activity against bacterial strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Mother tinctures were prepared by maceration process and antibacterial activity of different plants was evaluated and compared by measuring their zones of inhibition. The results indicated that Boerrhavia diffusa mother tincture had excellent activity only against Escherichia coli. Mother tincture of Chorozophora plicata showed highly effective results against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, whereas Echinops echinatus mother tincture showed highly effectiveness only against Salmonella typhi. Heliotropium europaeum mother tincture exhibited highly effective results against Bacillus subtilis in all concentrations. Tamrix aphylla presented maximum activity only against Bacillus subtilis in all three concentrations. Among the selected species Heliotropium europaeum, Chorozophora plicata and Tamrix aphylla were more effective plants against many microorganisms. However, Boerrhavia diffusa and Echinops echinatus were less effective plants against tested pathogenic bacteria