Weir-Baffled Culvert Hydrodynamics Evaluation for Fish Passage Using Particle Image Velocimetry and Computational Fluid Dynamic Techniques

Due to a recent increase in environmental awareness regarding fish passage through hydraulic constructions including culverts, an evaluation for the passage of wild brown trout through a weir-baffled prototype-scale culvert was performed under a variety of culvert slopes and discharge conditions. The influence of the sample fish population and the length of the individual fish on passage rates were investigated; the data showed that the brown trout fish passage sample size evaluated in this study (25 per test) was sufficiently large to minimize sample size dependency. Fish behavior while traversing the culvert was observed and reported, including resting/staging zone locations. Turbulent flow through weir baffled-culvert was also simulated numerically using three-dimensional numerical model employing the (k-Є) model, Renormalized Group k-Є model (RNG), and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model. Experimental data measured with the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) were used to assess the accuracy and the applicability of these turbulence models in predicting the turbulent flow characteristics of the flow through a weir-baffled culvert at different spatial locations inside the culvert for variety of culvert slopes and flow rates. The influence of flow rates and culvert slopes on the forward velocities and reverse velocities was evaluated. It was noted that the influence of the flow rates on the flow velocities depends on the culvert slopes. Turbulent kinetic energy and flow direction effects on flow characteristic were also evaluated. Validation of Manning’s equation and Manning’s roughness coefficient for the tested culvert were reported

Rapid detection of the avian influenza virus H5N1 subtype in Egypt

Influenza A virus continue to cause widespread morbidity and mortality. The unprecedented spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 in Egypt is threatening poultry and public health systems. Effective diagnosis and control management are needed to control the disease. To this end, polyclonal antibodies (PAbs) were developed against the H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) and implemented an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the H5 viral antigen. A group of rabbits was immunized with viral vaccine (H5N1) therefore, purified antibodies from rabbit serum, which secrete immunoglobulin G (IgG) was served as the detector antibody after conjugation with horse radish peroxidase and fluorescent isothiocyanate (FITC). The reactivity of the obtained peroxidase and fluorescent conjugated PAb of influenza virus revealed that they are specifically recognized H5N1 virus antigen. Specimens containing AIV subtypes collected from different Governments in Egypt yielded specific and strong signals with hemagglutination test. The detection limit of ELISA using the prepared peroxidae conjugated PAbs was 1:100000, while using fluorescent conjugated PAb was 1:10000. Reconstituted clinical samples consisting of H5 AIVs mixed with pharyngeal-tracheal mucus from healthy chickens also yielded positive signals in ELISA, and the results were confirmed using reference virus antigens. This investigation enhanced the usage of these PAbs in the surveillance and diagnosis of H5N1 AIV in Egypt.Keywords: Avian influenza virus, H5N1, fluorescent antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)technique, polyclonal antibodiesAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2748-275

Role of Evolutionary Algorithms in Construction Projects Scheduling

Due to the increase in the stakeholders and their objectives the construction projects have significantly been affected by the ongoing demands leading to increase in complexity of scheduling problems, research in the field of Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) have increased significantly. Through their population-based search methodologies, Evolutionary Algorithms drove attention to their efficiency in addressing scheduling problems involving two or three objectives. Genetic Algorithms (GA) particularly have been used in most of the construction optimization problems due to their ability to provide near-optimal Pareto solutions in a reasonable amount of time for almost all objectives. However, when optimizing more than three objectives, the efficiency of such algorithms degrades and trade-offs among conflicting objectives must be made to obtain an optimal Pareto Frontier. To address that, this paper aims to provide a comparative analysis on four evolutionary algorithms (Genetic algorithms – Memetic algorithms – Particle Swarm – Ant colony) in the field of construction scheduling optimization, gaps are addressed, and recommendations are proposed for future research development

Approaching Biophilia in Designing Children´s Educational Environment

In recent decades, several studies started to focus on enhancing connectivity with nature and nurture children´s biophilia to improve their mental health and wellbeing especially in their early formative years. However, in design practice, architects involved in designing children educational environment need to have better understanding on how to enhance this tendency for biophilia. this paper begins to explore this growing body of research and emerging biophilic design dimensions, and attributes in architectural terms, which could help in drawing connections between fields of study, highlight potential avenues for future research, evolve understanding of biophilic design patterns, and capture the cognitive benefits afforded by biophilia in designing educational spaces for childhood. A research methodology consisting of a literature review, analysis of worldwide case studies and a one-to-one interview was conducted with a sample of children (3-7 years old) attending a nature-based nursery in Egypt, was designed to accomplish intended objectives. Findings of this study indicated that early childhood have a positive attraction for all-natural environment and features. Results showed that children enjoy being in, which provides a glimpse into the potentials of integrating nature within architectural context, including offering beauty, freedom, efficient learning, relaxation, and a critical life support system

Slangsh: a Dictionary of Worldwide Slangs

Currently, people use different online services (i.e., websites and mobile applications) for different language learning purposes. On the hand, online businesses use usually use different approaches and techniques to process a massive amount of text in different languages, in order to analyze users’ feedback and opinions regarding different entities such as products, movies, or pictures. Although the available online language learning platforms and opinion mining techniques are useful in different cases, they still suffer from some limitations related to slangs in different languages. Slangs (plural of slang) are any informal words or idioms used by people in different languages and countries. These slangs are continuously developed, especially in dense social networks and communities. In addition, people also use slangs to communicate on online services (e.g., Facebook a ) as well as to write reviews on different websites. Accordingly, learning about specific language’s slangs would be useful for many people. The current problems related to slangs are twofold: with people, and with online businesses. For people, there is no any comprehensive online dictionary to learn about worldwide slangs. On the other hand, online businesses have some challenges to understand the semantics (e.g., sentiments and contexts) behind the texts being exchanged on their platforms. Both people and online businesses face the problem of inaccurate translation of slang using current available online translation services. Therefore, in this thesis we propose, design, and develop a novel solution with main objective and vision to build the largest online knowledge base of slangs. In order to achieve this objective, we used different approaches and methodologies both theoretical and empirical. We conducted a literature review in the sentiment analysis domain. In addition, we made different personal interviews as well as an online survey to validate our assumptions and facts about slang development in different languages and countries. Moreover, we followed the action research approach and developed an Android application to evaluate our proposed solution (Slangsh). We found out that Slangsh would have a good potential to build a comprehensive knowledge base of worldwide slang as well as to address the problem of the inaccurate translation of slangs in different languages. The main contribution of this thesis is to design, develop, and propose a novel solution that is based on crowdsourcing and collaborative learning to collect slangs from different languages and countries

Challenges around automotive shredder residue production and disposal

The challenge for the automotive industry is how to ensure they adopt the circular economy when it comes to the disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELV). According to the European Commission the UK achieved a total reuse and recovery rate of 88%. This is short of the revised ELV directive target of 95% materials recovery, which requires a minimum of 85% of materials to be recycled or reused. A significant component of the recycling process is the production of automotive shredder residue (ASR). This is currently landfilled across Europe. The additional 10% could be met by processing ASR through either waste-to-energy facilities or Post shredder technology (PST) to recover materials. The UK auto and recycling sectors claimed there would need to be a massive investment by their members in both new capacity and new technology for PST to recover additional recycle materials. It has been shown that 50% of the ASR contains valuable recoverable materials which could be used to meet the Directive target. It is expected in the next 5years that technological innovation in car design will change the composition from easily recoverable metal to difficult polymers. This change in composition will impact on the current drive to integrate the European Circular Economy Package. A positive factor is that main driver for using ASR is coming from the metals recycling industry itself. They are looking to develop the infrastructure for energy generation from ASR and subsequent material recovery. This is driven by the economics of the process rather than meeting the Directive targets. The study undertaken has identified potential pathways and barriers for commercial thermal treatment of ASR. The results of ASR characterisation were used to assess commercial plants from around the world. Whilst there were many claiming that processing of ASR was possible none have so far shown both the technological capability and economic justification. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automotive shredder residue (ASR) for clean energy systems (pyrolysis and gasification) to produce sustainable green energy

One of the major challenges facing the automotive industry is meeting the recycling and recovery targets set by the revised European End-of-life Vehicles directive (which has set a target of 95%wt for recovery from vehicles by 2015). The remaining non-recovered material is 20–25%wt (known as automotive shredder residue (ASR)). It is this material which must be processed to meet the higher targets. Currently, the residue is disposed of, which in many cases is landfill. The option to recover material to meet European target is currently limited to mechanical sorting via post-shredder technologies (PST). Thermal treatments options for ASR in within new emerging waste to energy plants is debatable. This is making it difficult to fully implement the requirements of the directive and the future application of the circular economy package. This work has investigated the detailed syngas compositions and solid residue (char) characteristics produced from ASR thermal treatment (pyrolysis) in a pilot-scale rotary kiln at 800-1000oC. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the toxicity levels in the char were determined. New data on critical factors for the processing of char and its subsequent use are presented. In addition, the results of raw ASR (obtained from UK shredder plant) characterisation were used to assess commercial thermal plants from around the world. The assessment study undertaken has identified potential pathways and barriers for commercial thermal treatment of ASR. Whilst there were many claiming that processing of ASR was possible none have so far shown both the technological capability and economic justification. High pyrolysis efficiency was maintained throughout the operating/experimental conditions and varying process temperatures. The results of pyrolysis by-products analyses suggest that thermal treatment may represent a viable process for ASR waste and allow the char or syngas to contribute to meeting the EU Directive targets. PST for the reduction of cables and wiring in the raw ASR will need to be employed in order to achieve the required energy recovery efficiency by the removal of both chlorine and catalytic metals which lead to dioxins and furan production

The Future of Arabic Music: No sound without silence

For centuries, Arabic music has been intrinsically linked to Arab culture and by extension bonded to the environmental landscape of the region, reflecting their emotions, moods, and behaviors. Numerous technological advancements in the latter half of the twentieth century, have greatly affected the rich legacy of Arabic music, significantly impacting the natural progression of traditional Arabic musical genres, scales, and instrumentation. This thesis serves as an introduction to generative methods of music production, specifically music generated through gestures. Through generative music, and its unique ability to map gestures to different musical parameters, music can be produced using computer algorithms. The outcome of this thesis aims to demystify the intricacies of recent technological advancements to enable the musician and the audience to incorporate responsive technology into their ensembles. This approach aims to further evolve Arabic music, using the concepts of Arabic music creativity while addressing international accessibility through integration. The intention of this thesis is to bridge between the contemporary and the traditional Arabic audiences and provides insight into a possible future of Arabic music based on its own fundamental principles

Oscillation of Second-Order Nonlinear Delay Dynamic Equations with Damping on Time Scales

We use the generalized Riccati transformation and the inequality technique to establish some new oscillation criteria for the second-order nonlinear delay dynamic equation with damping on a time scale T(r(t)g(x(t), xΔ(t)))Δ+p(t)g(x(t), xΔ(t))  + q(t)f(x(τ(t)))=0, where r(t), p(t), and q(t) are positive right dense continuous (rd-continuous) functions on T. Our results improve and extend some results established by Zhang et al., 2011. Also, our results unify the oscillation of the second-order nonlinear delay differential equation with damping and the second-order nonlinear delay difference equation with damping. Finally, we give some examples to illustrate our main results