Coupled neutronic-hydrodynamic treatment of fast reactor disassembley

Imperial Users onl

Mathematical model for a heat pump dryer for aromatic plant

A mathematical model was developed to evaluate the performance of heat pump dryer for drying of aromatic plants. The model consists of three sub-models; namely, drying model, heat pump model, and performance model. Drying model was developed based on mass balance, heat balance, heat transfer and drying rate equations. Heat pump sub-model consists of some theoretical and empirical equations for estimating the parameters of evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve. The performance sub-model was the equations for prediction of drying efficiency, COP (coefficient of performance), MER (moisture evaporating rate) and SMER (specific moisture evaporating rate). The model was validated with the experimental data. The experiments was conducted in a fixed bed drying of valerian roots (Valeriana officinalis L.) in cooperation with a agricultural company (Agrargenossenschaft Nöbdenitz e.G., Thüringen) in Thüringen, Germany. Data logger was used to record the temperature, relative humidity, humidity ratio and enthalpy of air at different positions of the dryer equipped with different types of sensors. The average drying air temperature was 36.84°C and relative humidity was about 20%. About 89 hours were required to reduce the moisture content of valerian roots from 89 to 9% (wb). The simulated results (temperature, relative humidity and moisture content) agreed well with the experimental results. The average COP, MER and SMER and drying efficiency were 5.45, 140.03 kg/h, 0.038 kg/kWh, and 78.23%, respectively. This model may be used for design data for heat pump dryer for drying of aromatic plants as well as other heat sensitive crops

HARMONIZATION OF ASEAN LAWS ON PROTECTION OF MIGRANT WORKERS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The realization of ASEAN Community 2015 opens a hope of a new era for migrant workers amongst its member countries. The hope is on the comprehensive legal protection for migrant workers against injustice as well as trafficking in the ASEAN Communities. This article aims to looks into the legal framework within few ASEAN countries that provides protection for migrant workers against injustice and human trafficking, and the available recourse to justice for them in case they become the victim of human trafficking. Malaysia becomes the case study as lesson learnt. Doctrinal methodology is adopted in this article. It is found that, in regards to protection of migrant workers, despite the establishment of ASEAN Community 2015, the laws on this regard are scattered. A few members of ASEAN Community are reluctant to embed the protection of migrant workers into their national laws. Also, it is found that ASEAN country like Malaysia has the laws at national level to curb human trafficking of migrant workers. However, though the laws seem to be comprehensive, the effectiveness of its implementation and enforcement of the laws are yet to be seen. It is suggested that the laws on protection of migrant workers to be harmonized and standardised between members of ASEAN Community and the cooperation within members of ASEAN should be enhanced at every level

Deep Transfer Learning Networks for Brain Tumor Detection: The Effect of MRI Patient Image Augmentation Methods

The exponential growth of deep learning networks has enabled us to handle difficult tasks, even in the complex field of medicine with small datasets. In the sphere of treatment, they are particularly significant. To identify brain tumors, this research examines how three deep learning networks are affected by conventional data augmentation methods, including MobileNetV2, VGG19, and DenseNet201. The findings showed that before and after utilizing approaches, picture augmentation schemes significantly affected the networks. The accuracy of MobileNetV2, which was originally 85.33%, was then enhanced to 96.88%. The accuracy of VGG19, which was 77.33%, was then enhanced to 95.31%, and DenseNet201, which was originally 82.66%, was then enhanced to 93.75%. The models' accuracy percentage engagement change is 13.53%, 23.25%, and 23.25%, respectively. Finally, the conclusion showed that applying data augmentation approaches improves performance, producing models far better than those trained from scratch

Pelvi-Ureteric Junction Obstruction In A Malrotated Ectopic Kidney With Concomitant Lithiasis – A Rare Clinical Scenario

Kidney lying outside renal fossa is referred as ectopic kidney. Hereby we are presenting a rare case of Pelviureteric junction obstruction in a malrotated ectopic kidney with concomitant lithiasis in a 16 year male. He presented with pain in lower abdomen intermittently. On CT scan, a left malrotated ectopic kidney was located in the pelvis near the midline with a 10 mm stone in the lower pole, and having obstructed pattern drainage with moderate hydronephrosis. Open Anderson-Hynes dismembered pyeloplasty was done. Thorough clinical approach with delineating aberrant anatomy of ectopic kidneys and their vascular supply with consideration of unusual functional data on conventional functional renogram is necessary for intervening in malrotated ectopic kidney with concomitant lithiasis

Implications of TTIP and TPP on Bangladesh and Nepal

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) could the biggest trade deal in the history. The EU and the USA are in the process of, or contemplating, to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) under TTIP and TPP. As, the European Union (EU) and the USA are the biggest trading partner of all the South Asian countries, such preferential tariff arrangements could lead to significant erosion of preferences enjoyed currently by the South Asian Developing Countries such as, Bangladesh and Nepal. In this backdrop, the main objective of the present study is to investigate the potential economic impacts of tariff eliminations under TPP and TTIP on various macro and trade variables of Bangladesh and Nepal. In this context, a standard computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis has been adopted by using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database to explore the aggregate impact as well as sectoral implications. The analysis evinces that complete integration in terms of tariff elimination under these two mega deals, Bangladesh and Nepal could face tremendous negative impact on their economy. The analysis also suggests that Bangladesh and Nepal may consider joining to the TPP to minimize the negative economic impact due to the mentioned deals

Export Performance of Bangladesh: A Study on Selected Products

Export is one of the major components of global business which secures a country's economic condition to a large extent. Developed as well as developing countries always try to increase their exports for the growth and expansion of their economies. This study indicates the trends of exporting from the early stage of our economic development. For that purpose, tea, raw jute and jute products, fisheries and leather have been chosen to figure out the situation. All the information has been collected from the secondary sources. The findings would be helpful for the government to take necessary strategies and policies for improving the situation

Investment Performance of Islamic Bank: An Empirical Study

The article undertakes an empirical study on investment of Islamic Bank. The aim of the study is to examine and evaluate the performance of investment of Islamic Bank for the time period 2005-2009 in comparison with a conventional Bank. Several financial ratios are applied for this purpose. For the empirical investigation data has been collected from Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and Mutual Trust Bank Limited. The study found that Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) is relatively less profitable and less risky (more solvent) during 2005-2009 compared to a conventional bank (Mutual Trust Bank Limited), however, it is improving considerably over time indicating convergence with the performance of the conventional banks

Awareness of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Hospital Putrajaya

The glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) test is the most widely accepted laboratory test for evaluating long term glycaemic control. Patient’s understanding of HbA1c can lead to better glycaemic control. This study is aimed to determine the awareness and level of understanding of HbA1c among type 2 DM patients and its association with glycaemic control. A cross-sectional descriptive study among Type 2 DM patients undergoing routine follow up in an endocrine clinic of a tertiary centre in Malaysia. Patients were invited to answer a validated questionnaire which assessed their awareness and understanding of HbA1c. Their last HbA1c results were retrieved from the laboratory information system. A total of 92 participants were recruited. Fifty-six (60.9%) were aware of the term HbA1c. Fifty percent were categorised as having good HbA1c understanding, with age, monthly income and level of education between HbA1c understanding and glycaemic control, although more patients with good HbA1c understanding had achieved the target glycaemic control compared to those with poor understanding. The level of HbA1c awareness and understanding was acceptable. Factors associated with understanding were age, income and level of education. Continuing efforts however, must be made to improve patients understanding of their disease and clinical disease biomarkers

Synthesis, characterization of flavone, isoflavone, and 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-3-carboxylate and density functional theory studies

We describe the oxidation of flavanones by employing phenyliodonium diacetate to form the flavone (15), isoflavone (8) and 2,3-dihydrobenzofurane (18) in this study. The oxidative method was found to be regioselective and dependent on the substitution pattern present on the two aromatic rings of the starting flavanone. The structures of products obtained were fully characterized by using IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and Mass spectrometry. X-ray crystallography further confirms the structures of flavones and isoflavone. The density field theory calculations have also been performed to get more insight about the structures, electronic and spectroscopic properties of synthetic flavonoid derivatives. The geometrical parameters such as bond lengths and angels showed a good correlation with the values obtained through X-ray crystallography. Moreover, the theoretically simulated vibrational and UV-vis spectral values are in agreement with the experimental results