Post-harvest technology change in cassava processing: a choice paradigm

Open Access Article; Available online: 27 Jan 2020This study employed a choice model to examine the factors influencing the choice of post-harvest technologies in cassava starch processing, using a sample of five hundred and seventy (570) processors in the forest and guinea savanna zones of Nigeria. In addition, the profitability of various post-harvest technologies in the study area was assessed using the budgetary technique while the impact of improved post-harvest technology on processors’ revenue and output was analysed using the average treatment effect model. Sex of the processor, processing experience, income, and cost of post-harvest technology, the capacity of post-harvest technology and access to credit amongst others significantly influence the choice of post-harvest technologies. Although the use of improved post-harvest technology comes with a high cost, the net income from its use was higher than the other types of post-harvest technologies, suggesting that the use of improved techniques was more beneficial and profitable. In addition, using improved post-harvest technology had a positive and significant effect on output and income. These findings shows that investment in improved post-harvest technologies by cassava starch processors and other stakeholders would increase income, thus, improving welfare

Origin of stabilization of macrotwin boundaries in martensites

The origin of stabilization of complex microstructures along macrotwin boundaries in martensites is explained by comparing two models based on Ginzburg-Landau theory. The first model incorporates a geometrically nonlinear strain tensor to ensure that the Landau energy is invariant under rigid body rotations, while the second model uses a linearized strain tensor under the assumption that deformations and rotations are small. We show that the approximation in the second model does not always hold for martensites and that the experimental observations along macrotwin boundaries can only be reproduced by the geometrically nonlinear (exact) theory

Evaluating a ZigBee Network with SMC for Hard and Concurrent Parameter Variations

One of the main issues concerning a wireless networked control system is the variable delay associated with the communicating network used to join its dispersed components.  This paper presents a variable structured Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) designed for a ZigBee wireless networked control system (WNCS) in addition to the design of a standard PID controller. WNCS can improve the reliability and the effectiveness of the control system by eliminating time and costs of installation and maintenance. Presence of time delays between sensors, actuators and controllers of the controlled system can degrade the performance and destabilize the whole system. To reduce the effect of the network delay, simulation tools for WNCS are developed to help designers in studying the influence of network on performance of the control system. The TrueTime toolbox is used to analyze the effects of network delays and to evaluate the effects of ZigBee parameters on control systems such as packet loss, ACK. Timeout limit, and traffic load. It is clear from the results that SMC is superior to PID control. Keywords: NCS, SMC, PID, ZigBee, TrueTim

The Nonlinear Cosmological Matter Power Spectrum with Massive Neutrinos I: The Halo Model

Measurements of the linear power spectrum of galaxies have placed tight constraints on neutrino masses. We extend the framework of the halo model of cosmological nonlinear matter clustering to include the effect of massive neutrino infall into cold dark matter (CDM) halos. The magnitude of the effect of neutrino clustering for three degenerate mass neutrinos with m_nu=0.9 eV is of order ~1%, within the potential sensitivity of upcoming weak lensing surveys. In order to use these measurements to further constrain--or eventually detect--neutrino masses, accurate theoretical predictions of the nonlinear power spectrum in the presence of massive neutrinos will be needed, likely only possible through high-resolution multiple particle (neutrino, CDM and baryon) simulations.Comment: v2: matches PRD versio

The Inflationary Perturbation Spectrum

Motivated by the prospect of testing inflation from precision cosmic microwave background observations, we present analytic results for scalar and tensor perturbations in single-field inflation models based on the application of uniform approximations. This technique is systematically improvable, possesses controlled error bounds, and does not rely on assuming the slow-roll parameters to be constant. We provide closed-form expressions for the power spectra and the corresponding scalar and tensor spectral indices.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Quantum criticality in Kondo quantum dot coupled to helical edge states of interacting 2D topological insulators

We investigate theoretically the quantum phase transition (QPT) between the one-channel Kondo (1CK) and two-channel Kondo (2CK) fixed points in a quantum dot coupled to helical edge states of interacting 2D topological insulators (2DTI) with Luttinger parameter $0<K<1$. The model has been studied in Ref. 21, and was mapped onto an anisotropic two-channel Kondo model via bosonization. For K<1, the strong coupling 2CK fixed point was argued to be stable for infinitesimally weak tunnelings between dot and the 2DTI based on a simple scaling dimensional analysis[21]. We re-examine this model beyond the bare scaling dimension analysis via a 1-loop renormalization group (RG) approach combined with bosonization and re-fermionization techniques near weak-coupling and strong-coupling (2CK) fixed points. We find for K -->1 that the 2CK fixed point can be unstable towards the 1CK fixed point and the system may undergo a quantum phase transition between 1CK and 2CK fixed points. The QPT in our model comes as a result of the combined Kondo and the helical Luttinger physics in 2DTI, and it serves as the first example of the 1CK-2CK QPT that is accessible by the controlled RG approach. We extract quantum critical and crossover behaviors from various thermodynamical quantities near the transition. Our results are robust against particle-hole asymmetry for 1/2<K<1.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, more details added, typos corrected, revised Sec. IV, V, Appendix A and

(2E)-1-(2,5-Dimethyl­thio­phen-3-yl)-3-(3-nitro­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

In the title compound, C15H13NO3S, the benzene ring and the five-membered heterocyclic ring are oriented at a dihedral angle of 12.00 (6)°. In the crystal, C—H⋯O inter­actions generate two types of cyclic motifs, R 2 2(14) and R 2 2(26), connecting the mol­ecules into tapes extending along [101]. In addition, there are π–π stacking inter­actions between the benzene and thio­phene rings with centroid-centroid distances of 3.7263 (14) and 3.7487 (14) Å

N-[(E)-Anthracen-9-yl­methyl­idene]-3,4-dimethyl-1,2-oxazol-5-amine

In the title compound, C20H16N2O, an intra­molecular C—H⋯N forms an S(6) ring motif. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are stacked with their anthracene ring planes in sheets along [100]