Enrichment of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria for short start-up of the anammox process: a review

The application of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reaction in a biological nitrogen removal system to treat wastewater has become of great interest since its discovery. The anammox reaction is performed by anammox bacteria that belong to the Planctomycete phylum. The reaction occurs in the presence of ammonium using nitrite as the substrate under anaerobic conditions. However, the bacteria have an extremely slow growth rate and stringent metabolic conditions that cause difficulty in culturing and applying the system for wastewater treatment. Anammox enrichment has a long start-up period for the anammox process that hinders researchers using laboratory and full-scale systems for the first time. Many attempts have been made to culture anammox to establish a successful anammox culture with a shorter start-up period for the anammox reaction and high nitrogen removal activity. This paper reviews previous studies on anammox enrichment with emphasis on (i) inoculum selection, (ii) enrichment techniques and (iii) factors influencing anammox enrichment. This review will assist researchers in planning and designing an appropriate anammox enrichment. The findings should widen the application of anammox in biological nitrogen removal systems for nitrogenous wastewater

Sensory Substitution for Visual Impairments: A Technological Review

This work shows the study of the people who are deprived of a sensory modality that affects brain organization and cognition. By studying, the blind or visual impaired helps learn about how sensory experience in each sense is required for specific brain systems to develop, and how the technologies help in plasticity change in their absence. The sensory-motor deprivation model serves to assess the roles of critical developmental periods, compensatory cross-modal plasticity, and sensory-independent (a-modal) processes in the human brain. Sensory substitution enables a new era for blind people. Therefore, this research will commit a complete review on the sensory substitution for visual impairments

Real time monitoring system for upper arms rehabilitation exercise

Arm rehabilitation activities necessary to be continuously monitored in order to provide information of rehabilitation results to be examined by physical therapist. The determination of monitoring is to enhancing rehabilitation process. Moreover, a portable and simple home-based rehabilitation device can help patients to improve daily rehabilitation process activity. Some earlier studies regarding home-based rehabilitation process have shown improvement in promoting human movement recovery. This paper focuses on the development of a measurement by using arms guard and Smart Glove or Rehabilitation Glove, to assist stroke patient because of some complications such as accident and disease. This paper concourses on the method and application of mechanical equipment, sensors equipped Rehabilitation Glove measurement gripping activities. The devices will move based on a human operator's finger and arms movement using the Rehabilitation Glove. The system development involves a Microcontroller and HyperTerminal as a core processing for the instrumentation, communication and controlling applications. A series of bend or known as flex force sensors are fitted in a Rehabilitation Glove to get reading from the movement of human fingers. The quality of the force feedback is strongly affected by the maximum torque measurable by the Rehabilitation Glove and the performance of the force controller. Finally, the intelligence, learning and experience aspects of the human can be combined with the strength, endurance and speed of the human arms and Rehabilitation sensor in order to generate proper output of this paper. © 2015 IEEE

Design and fabrication of cost-effective heart-rate pulse monitoring sensor system

A traditional approach of heart rate measurement has always meant that people must go to hospitals to examine the patient disease at Cardiologist and medical officer. Most people have difficult such as no transport and lazy to go to the hospital for the check-ups of their conditions heart rate. This is because, before have a treatment or medical check-up, they should do an appointment. Besides that, demands of works very high nowadays. People busy with their works until forget to do medical check-ups. Additionally, the available portable heart rate monitoring machine is costly to buy for all. In this research, we develop a system which can be accommodate for all while everyone can do their check up at home and do not waste their time by waiting for their turn in the hospital to do the medical check-ups. The prototype is built using low cost electronics components. The prototype can do a self-check-up before seeing a medical practitioner may reduce mortality rate due to the silent killer that is heart attacks

Motion capture sensing techniques used in human upper limb motion: a review

Purpose Motion capture system (MoCap) has been used in measuring the human body segments in several applications including film special effects, health care, outer-space and under-water navigation systems, sea-water exploration pursuits, human machine interaction and learning software to help teachers of sign language. The purpose of this paper is to help the researchers to select specific MoCap system for various applications and the development of new algorithms related to upper limb motion. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides an overview of different sensors used in MoCap and techniques used for estimating human upper limb motion. Findings The existing MoCaps suffer from several issues depending on the type of MoCap used. These issues include drifting and placement of Inertial sensors, occlusion and jitters in Kinect, noise in electromyography signals and the requirement of a well-structured, calibrated environment and time-consuming task of placing markers in multiple camera systems. Originality/value This paper outlines the issues and challenges in MoCaps for measuring human upper limb motion and provides an overview on the techniques to overcome these issues and challenges

Knowledge lattice approach for web courseware authoring

In this paper, we present the application of knowledge lattice approach in a Web-based courseware authoringsupport system.Knowledge lattice is widely known as ontology in Semantic Web environment.Onlotogy is a formal and declarative representation for knowledge. Knowledge is represented in the form of chunks in several layers. This approach is being used to develop Instructional Management Support System (IMSS).IMSS aims to support students, teachers, courseware developers, administrators, and parents. For example, it supports teachers by managing tasks such as monitoring progress and presenting subject content in a Web-based learning environment. Knowledge lattice is applied as the main interface to navigate the system modules. The lattice is used to represent the subject domain by linking the basic knowledge chunks to more advanced knowledge chunks.To further explain this approach, we define a set of functions related to each knowledge chunks

Effects of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Anaerobic Sludge From 500m3 of Closed Anaerobic Methane Digested Tank on Pressed-Shredded Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Composting Process

In this study, co-composting of pressed-shredded empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from 500 m3 closed anaerobic methane digested tank was carried out. High nitrogen and nutrients content were observed in the POME anaerobic sludge. The sludge was subjected to the pressed-shredded EFB to accelerate the co-composting treatment. In the present study, changes in the physicochemical characteristics of co-composting process were recorded and evaluated. The co-composting treatment was completed in a short time within 40 days with a final C/N ratio of 12.4. The co-composting process exhibited a higher temperature (60 - 67℃) in the thermophilic phase followed by curing phase after four weeks of treatment. Meanwhile, pH of the composting pile (8.1 - 8.6) was almost constant during the process and moisture content was reduced from 64.5% (initial treatment) to 52.0% (final matured compost). The use of pressed-shredded EFB as a main carbon source and bulking agent contributed to the optimum oxygen level in the composting piles (10 - 15%). The biodegradation of composting materials is shown by the reduction of cellulose (34.0%) and hemicellulose (27.0%) content towards the end of treatment. In addition, considerable amount of nutrients and low level of heavy metals were detected in the final matured compost. It can be concluded that the addition of POME anaerobic sludge into the pressed-shredded EFB composting process could produce acceptable and consistent quality of compost product in a short time

Sedative, cognitive impairment and anxiolytic effects of acute Mitragyna speciosa in rodents

Mitragyna speciosa, a plant from Rubiaceae family, was reported to have an opium-like effect and their coca-like stimulative ability to combat fatigue and enhance tolerance to hard work. There are lack of information regarding to the effect of Mitragyna speciosa on cognitive and behavioural performances. Therefore the project was conducted to observe the effect of Mitragyna speciosa on cognitive behavior of rats and mice. Mitragyna speciosa in methanol extract form and aqueous extract form with same dosage distributions were used; 10 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg, and 100 mg/kg. Four tests were conducted to observe the behavioural changes of the animal namely locomotor, cognitive performances, anxiety and rotarod performance. Results showed that all dosage of treatment reduced locomotor and impaired cognitive performance significantly. Study showed that Mitragyna speciosa induce sedative effect in dose dependant manner. Interestingly, Mitragyna speciosa increased the time spent in open arm of plus maze indicating low anxiety level of the rodent. As conclusion, Mitragyna speciosa caused sedative effect, impairment in working memory, and possess anxiolytic properties

The influence of community characteristics towards telecentres success

Telecentres are physical spaces that provide public access to information and communication technology particularly the Internet for educational, personal, social, and economic development. This paper will closely look into the characteristics of the community that influence the success of telecentres. Although there are a number of influential factors in regards to community characteristics, the emphasis will be on groups and networks factor. Survey was conducted to collect data from users regarding their use of telecentres. In the questionnaire, apart from the users’ profiles, items related to the groups and networks were also included.Sampling was done based on a population comprising of telecentres implemented by state governments, non-governmental organizations, and private sectors. The findings suggest that there are some indications showing certain self belonging, as consequences to the usages of telecentres, to a group and establishing networks which can contribute to the success of telecentres

Women contributions to open source software innovation: a social constructivist perspective

The popularity of Open Source Software (OSS) is increasing as a platform for modern software innovation with the prominent concept of “freedom”. Freedom in OSS innovation is similar to freedom of speech not in term of price. However, less than 2% of the contributors are women in OSS innovation. Minorities including women are often ignored in OSS innovation process. The gender issues in OSS innovation might be more complex than what it seems, as female contributors are often experience hybrid discriminations, both from the male dominated OSS community and socio-cultural patriarchy. This paper concerns the questions of how innovation is achieved in open source software communities through social constructionist perspectives focusing on feminist views