Mitigation of Voltage Sag in Distribution Line using 6 Pulse D-STATCOM

During the ongoing growth of technologies, it’s increasing the power of load demand. These requires system stability and reliability during distribution power to the load. In this paper, study on operation and control of the distribution STATCOM (D-STATCOM) is done. It helps in the better utilization of a network operation under normal and voltage sags condition. This research is proposed by using PSCAD/EMTDC software. Design of 6-pulse D-STATCOM is analyzed and simulated, thus shows its effectiveness in mitigating voltage sags

Persepsi industri hospitaliti terhadap golongan pekerja berkeperluan khas (masalah pendengaran)

Kerjaya merupakan salah satu keperluan bagi setiap manusia samada golongan normal mahupun golongan berkeperluan khas. Kerjaya merupakan laluan bagi manusia untuk mencari sumber pendapatan untuk memastikan kelangsungan hidup. Namun, terdapat isu berkaitan pengangguran terhadap golongan berkeperluan khas. Oleh itu kajian ini dilaksanakan untuk mengenal pasti persepsi industri hospitaliti terhadap golongan berkeperluan khas (masalah pendengaran) serta mengenal pasti cabaran yang dihadapi oleh industri dalam pengambilan pekerja berkeperluan khas (masalah pendengaran). Selain itu kajian ini juga dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti keperluan kriteria yang diharapkan oleh industri hospitaliti. Kajian ini melibatkan 28 syarikat di bawah sektor hospitaliti yang terdapat di sekitar Batu Pahat dan Muar, Johor. Seramai 88 orang majikan yang terdiri daripada pengurus, penyelia, ketua-ketua bahagian dan pekerja yang terlibat dengan pekerja berkeperluan khas (masalah pendengaran) adalah responden dalam kajian ini. Kajian ini menggunakan borang soal selidik sebagai instrument kajian. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis menggunakan kaedah deskriptif menggunakan perisian SPSS (Statistic Package for the Social Science) versi 16.0. Hasil dapatan menunjukkan tahap penerimaan industri hospitaliti terhadap golongan pekerja berkeperluan khas (masalah pendengaran) berada pada tahap sederhana

Response of Pear Fruit Cv. Butirra Precoce Morettini to Kmno4, Bread Yeast at Two Storage Periods.

This study was carried out on fruits of five years old pear trees (Pyrus communis L) in the central laboratory in Agricultural Faculty/ Duhok University / Iraqi Kurdistan Region, during growing season 2012, to investigate the effect of potassium permanganates (KMnO4), bread yeast and storage periods on fruit storage behavior of Butirra Precoce Morettini pear fruit. The results revealed that the fruit treated with 10 g KMnO4 / bag increased significantly the firmness but the weight loss percent was significantly decreased. Also fruit dipped in 4% bread yeast caused a significant increase in weight loss percent, juice volume and juice percent. Whereas TSS, firmness, juice percent, total sugars and total acidity were decreased as storage prolonged from 56 days to 127 days, except weight loss percent which increased significantly during the same storage periods. The effect of the interaction between KMnO4 and bread yeast levels with storage periods was significant. The interaction between 20g KMnO4 /bag and 56 days storage resulted in the highest fruit firmness, but the best interaction in decreasing weight loss was 10g KMnO4 /bag with 56 days storage. On the other hand, the interaction between 20g KMnO4 /bag with 127 days storage gave the lowest acidity. Concerning the increasing of ascorbic acid in fruits, the best interaction was 20g KMnO4 /bag with 127 days storage

A systematic review on prevention of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection by pre-admission screening: the cost effectiveness and practicality

Background: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common source of nosocomial infection, which is spreading through the community and hospitals across the countries. The performance of screening program really needs major effort related to laboratory capacity and ethical consideration, among other costly components. Significant literature research was conducted to review the cost, effectiveness and practicality of different methods of pre-admission MRSA screening in the hospital setting. A systematic literature review was conducted with search strategy using the PubMed Medline, Scopus and the Science Direct databases. The relevant data was abstracted from all studies based on various countries which in line with the finalized eligibility criteria. Results: PCR method was reported to have high sensitivity with low turnaround time as compared to culture method. A review of selected studies found the increasing annual costs of screening from standard culture, chromogenic agar to rapid PCR. In the meantime, other studies reported the total costs for labor and materials was lower for rapid PCR screening compared to culture methods. The culturing method offers a high level of variability due to time consumption and additional costs. Whereas PCR was reported as advantageous in term of saving time to identify MRSA positive patients, which involved isolation, thus increase the effectiveness of screening programs. It can pick up false negative results by conventional methods in the early condition of disease. Conclusion: Most studies verified that PCR is the most accurate method for detection of MRSA with Xpert MRSA having the best performance. Otherwise, oxacillin agar screen was revealed as a good alternative method to PCR. Targeted screening on high risk patients using rapid PCR may be the best choice to be implemented, in order to balance the economic and practicality of screening. We recommend that further clinical studies should be done to provide a sharp evidence of MRSA screening

Changes in the physical properties and specific mechanical energy of corn-mango peel extrudates

A corn-mango peel blend was processed using a laboratory-scale single-screw extruder, which led to the determination of the apparent density, yellowness, and specific mechanical energy of the extrudate. The effects of the extrusion variables (barrel temperature from 75–175°C, screw speed from 76–100 rpm, feed moisture from 15–21%, and mango peel powder addition from 0–33.33%) were analyzed, and predictive models were obtained using the response surface methodology (RSM). At elevated barrel temperature and screw speed, the extrudates’ apparent density decreased but then increased when the feed moisture and mango peel powder addition increased. At increasing barrel temperature but decreasing mango peel powder addition, the yellowness intensity decreased, and the same response was observed at a low barrel temperature and high mango peel powder addition. The calculated specific mechanical energy (SME) for the production of corn-mango peel extrudate was decreased as the barrel temperature increased

Effects of extrusion variables on corn-mango peel extrudates properties, torque and moisture loss

Effects of extruder parameters (barrel temperature: 75–175°C; screw speed: 76–100 rpm) and feed formulations (feed moisture: 15–21%; mango peel powder: 0–33.33%) on the extrudate properties, moisture loss, and the mixing torque during extrusion was studied. Feed formulations containing high moisture and mango peel powder produced less expand and hard extrudates. The torque decreased as the barrel temperature, screw speed and mango peel powder content increased. Low temperature extrusion increased the moisture loss of extrudates. Increasing the mango peel powder reduced the extrudate expansion, but the post-drying subjected to the extrudate produced improved texture

Preparation and characterization of calcium hydroxyphosphate (hydroxyapatite) from tilapia fish bones and scales via calcination method

Calcium hydroxyphosphate (hydroxyapatite) is a calcium phosphate that is widely used in biomedical application. Hydroxyapatite is an excellent component for bone substitutes for their chemical and structural similarity to natural bone component. In this research, hydroxyapatite was synthesized from tilapia fish bones and scales using calcination method with 3 different temperatures namely 1000 °C, 900 °C and 800 °C. The obtained hydroxyapatite powder was characterized using several techniques such as Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy Attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), proximate analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that temperature 1000 °C has the highest weight loss with 21.825 g compared to the temperature 800 °C and 900 °C. From FTIR-ATR analysis, the presence of characteristic peaks for hydroxyl group, phosphate groups and water molecule indicated that the powder were hydroxyapatite. SEM results showed that increasing temperature had led to more dense structure. The hydroxyapatite powder were further analysed for their proximate analysis. The results proved that the highest contents of ash, fat, moisture and crude protein were observed at 1000 °C as compared to 900 °C and 800 °C. Based on this study, it revealed that produced pure hydroxyapatite from natural resources could be a potential candidate for food industry as protein enhancer

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. METHODS: We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30-79 years from population-representative studies with measurement of blood pressure and data on blood pressure treatment. We defined hypertension as having systolic blood pressure 140 mm Hg or greater, diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg or greater, or taking medication for hypertension. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the prevalence of hypertension and the proportion of people with hypertension who had a previous diagnosis (detection), who were taking medication for hypertension (treatment), and whose hypertension was controlled to below 140/90 mm Hg (control). The model allowed for trends over time to be non-linear and to vary by age. FINDINGS: The number of people aged 30-79 years with hypertension doubled from 1990 to 2019, from 331 (95% credible interval 306-359) million women and 317 (292-344) million men in 1990 to 626 (584-668) million women and 652 (604-698) million men in 2019, despite stable global age-standardised prevalence. In 2019, age-standardised hypertension prevalence was lowest in Canada and Peru for both men and women; in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and some countries in western Europe including Switzerland, Spain, and the UK for women; and in several low-income and middle-income countries such as Eritrea, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Solomon Islands for men. Hypertension prevalence surpassed 50% for women in two countries and men in nine countries, in central and eastern Europe, central Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. Globally, 59% (55-62) of women and 49% (46-52) of men with hypertension reported a previous diagnosis of hypertension in 2019, and 47% (43-51) of women and 38% (35-41) of men were treated. Control rates among people with hypertension in 2019 were 23% (20-27) for women and 18% (16-21) for men. In 2019, treatment and control rates were highest in South Korea, Canada, and Iceland (treatment >70%; control >50%), followed by the USA, Costa Rica, Germany, Portugal, and Taiwan. Treatment rates were less than 25% for women and less than 20% for men in Nepal, Indonesia, and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. Control rates were below 10% for women and men in these countries and for men in some countries in north Africa, central and south Asia, and eastern Europe. Treatment and control rates have improved in most countries since 1990, but we found little change in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. Improvements were largest in high-income countries, central Europe, and some upper-middle-income and recently high-income countries including Costa Rica, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, and Iran. INTERPRETATION: Improvements in the detection, treatment, and control of hypertension have varied substantially across countries, with some middle-income countries now outperforming most high-income nations. The dual approach of reducing hypertension prevalence through primary prevention and enhancing its treatment and control is achievable not only in high-income countries but also in low-income and middle-income settings. FUNDING: WHO