Influence of process variables on the kinetic parameters of a Langmuir-Hinshelwood expression for E.coli inactivation during the photocatalytic disinfection of water

This research describes the effect of the photocatalyst concentration, irradiation power, concentration of inorganic salts and the initial pH on the three parameters of a Langmuir-Hinshelwood-model: inactivation kinetic constant; k, dimensionless interaction coefficient; K*, and inhibition coefficient; n, which was applied to the photocatalytic disinfection of water with TiO2. In general, there is a qualitative finding in the effects on parameters of some variables since an increase in k was always related to a decrease in K*. Such relation was observed for the amount of TiO2, the irradiation power and the increase in concentration of inorganic salts: NaCl and CaCO3. Moreover, increase in MgSO4 concentration do not cause a tendency of change on the described parameters. As for pH of the reaction media, an increasing effect on k is observed when its value promotes proximity between bacteria and TiO2 particles. Finally, small changes were observed for n with the studied variables, but indeed significant for mathematical fitting. Thus, these findings led to the formulation of a mathematical description of the effects of the most important variables and their interactions on the kinetic parameters. This last hypothesis was validated by comparison of experimental and predicted data with high correlations

Ferramentas Tecnológicas Baseadas em Inteligência Artificial na Indústria Açucareira: Uma Análise Bibliométrica e Perspectivas Futuras para Eficiência Energética

Introduction: The application of Artificial Intelligence –AI– in industrial sugar production, particularly in sensor data and systems management, is rapidly evolving towards real-time monitoring programs that offer valuable recommendations and decision-making support within the sugar industry. Methodology: This comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 125 Scopus-indexed articles highlights significant trends in the field, including surges in article production during 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022, accounting for 34% of total publications. Results: Scientific production in this domain grew by 3.93% from 1969 to 2023. Most research (81%) originated from key countries, including Australia, Brazil, India, China, the Philippines, the United States, and France. Prominent journals played a pivotal role, representing 19% of publications. Noteworthy authors include Attard, Everingham, Meng, and Sexton, with four published articles each. Remarkably, 88% of researchers in this field are transitory. This study underscores dynamic growth in artificial intelligence applications in sugar production, emphasizing sustainability in data and systems management. Conclusions: The effective integration of these technologies holds the potential to enhance sustainability practices, optimizing efficiency and quality throughout the sugar production supply chain, thereby contributing to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 9. The utilization of artificial intelligence to optimize industrial sugar production represents technological innovation capable of improving the efficiency and infrastructure of the sugar industry, consequently fostering global sustainable development.Introducción: La aplicación de la Inteligencia Artificial –IA– en la producción industrial de azúcar, particularmente en la gestión de sistemas y datos de sensores, está evolucionando rápidamente hacia programas de monitoreo en tiempo real que ofrecen valiosas recomendaciones y apoyo a la toma de decisiones dentro de la industria azucarera. Metodología: Este análisis bibliométrico integral de 125 artículos indexados en Scopus destaca tendencias significativas en el campo, incluidos aumentos repentinos en la producción de artículos durante 2017, 2018, 2021 y 2022, que representan el 34% del total de publicaciones. Resultados: La producción científica en este ámbito creció un 3.93% entre 1969 y 2023. La mayor parte de la investigación (81%) se originó en países clave, incluidos Australia, Brasil, India, China, Filipinas, Estados Unidos y Francia. Las revistas destacadas desempeñaron un papel fundamental, representando el 19% de las publicaciones. Entre los autores destacables se encuentran Attard, Everingham, Meng y Sexton, con cuatro artículos publicados cada uno. Cabe destacar que el 88% de los investigadores en este campo son transitorios. Este estudio subraya el crecimiento dinámico de las aplicaciones de inteligencia artificial en la producción de azúcar, enfatizando la sostenibilidad en la gestión de datos y sistemas. Conclusiones: La integración efectiva de estas tecnologías puede mejorar las prácticas de sostenibilidad, optimizando la eficiencia y la calidad en toda la cadena de suministro de la producción de azúcar, contribuyendo al logro del Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 9. Esto se debe a que el uso de inteligencia artificial para optimizar la producción industrial de azúcar representa una innovación tecnológica que puede mejorar la eficiencia y la infraestructura de la industria azucarera. Esto, a su vez, puede contribuir a lograr el desarrollo sostenible a escala global.Introdução: A aplicação da Inteligência Artificial –IA– na produção industrial de açúcar, particularmente em dados de sensores e gestão de sistemas, está a evoluir rapidamente para programas de monitorização em tempo real que oferecem recomendações valiosas e apoio à tomada de decisões na indústria açucareira. Metodologia: Esta análise bibliométrica abrangente de 125 artigos indexados pela Scopus destaca tendências significativas na área, incluindo aumentos na produção de artigos durante 2017, 2018, 2021 e 2022, representando 34% do total de publicações. Resultados: A produção científica neste domínio cresceu 3,93% entre 1969 e 2023. A maior parte da investigação (81%) teve origem em países-chave, incluindo Austrália, Brasil, Índia, China, Filipinas, Estados Unidos e França. Periódicos proeminentes desempenharam um papel fundamental, representando 19% das publicações. Autores notáveis incluem Attard, Everingham, Meng e Sexton, com quatro artigos publicados cada. Notavelmente, 88% dos investigadores nesta área são transitórios. Este estudo ressalta o crescimento dinâmico das aplicações de inteligência artificial na produção de açúcar, enfatizando a sustentabilidade na gestão de dados e sistemas. Conclusões: A integração eficaz destas tecnologias pode melhorar as práticas de sustentabilidade, otimizando a eficiência e a qualidade em toda a cadeia de abastecimento da produção de açúcar, contribuindo para a concretização do Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável 9. Isto porque a utilização da inteligência artificial para otimizar a produção industrial de açúcar representa uma inovação tecnológica que pode melhorar a eficiência e a infraestrutura da indústria açucareira. Isto, por sua vez, pode contribuir para alcançar o desenvolvimento sustentável à escala global

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages