Construction Cost Sensitivity of a Lignocellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery

The technology has been developed to convert feedstock with cellulose content into ethanol. However, ethanol produced from cellulosic feedstock is the same as ethanol distilled from grain. The objective of research is to determine the price per gallon of ethanol needed so that producing lignocellulosic based ethanol become economically feasible.Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics,

L\'evy Distribution of Single Molecule Line Shape Cumulants in Low Temperature Glass

We investigate the distribution of single molecule line shape cumulants, $\kappa_1,\kappa_2,...$, in low temperature glasses based on the sudden jump, standard tunneling model. We find that the cumulants are described by L\'evy stable laws, thus generalized central limit theorem is applicable for this problem.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Schistosoma haematobium Infections among Primary School Children in Yola North Local Government, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever or bilharzia, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called Schistosomes. The disease is spread by contact with fresh water contaminated with these schistosomes. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence, in relation to gender, age and risk factors associated with Schistosoma haematobium infections among primary school children in Jimeta-Yola. Each child was administered a semi-structured questionnaire to collect socio-demographic data. Urine samples were collected from 150 pupils for microscopic analysis for the detection of S. haematobium eggs. The prevalence of S. haematobium eggs in Yelwa Primary School, showed that females had the highest prevalence rate with 12 (40.0%) infection while male had a prevalence rate of 8 (17.78%) infection. The infection in relation to age showed that the age range 8-10 years had the highest infection with 11 (44.0%), the age range 14> years had the least prevalence with 2 (10.00%). The prevalence in Limawa Primary School, showed that males had a prevalence rate of 9 (19.15%) infection while female had a prevalence rate of 7 (25.00%) infection. The infection in relation to age showed that the age range <8 years had the highest infection with 7 (28.00%), while nothing was recorded in the age 14 > years. In general, the prevalence rate of urinary schistosomiasis infection among primary school children in jimeta-yola, adamawa state is fairly low with a prevalence of 24.0 % among active school children. No significant difference was found between gender, age, source of water, and urinary schistosomiasi

Selecting stimuli parameters for video quality studies based on perceptual similarity distances

This work presents a methodology to optimize the selection of multiple parameter levels of an image acquisition, degradation, or post-processing process applied to stimuli intended to be used in a subjective image or video quality assessment (QA) study. It is known that processing parameters (e.g. compression bit-rate) or technical quality measures (e.g. peak signal-to-noise ratio, PSNR) are often non-linearly related to human quality judgment, and the model of either relationship may not be known in advance. Using these approaches to select parameter levels may lead to an inaccurate estimate of the relationship between the parameter and subjective quality judgments – the system’s quality model. To overcome this, we propose a method for modeling the relationship between parameter levels and perceived quality distances using a paired comparison parameter selection procedure in which subjects judge the perceived similarity in quality. Our goal is to enable the selection of evenly sampled parameter levels within the considered quality range for use in a subjective QA study. This approach is tested on two applications: (1) selection of compression levels for laparoscopic surgery video QA study, and (2) selection of dose levels for an interventional X-ray QA study. Subjective scores, obtained from the follow-up single stimulus QA experiments conducted with expert subjects who evaluated the selected bit-rates and dose levels, were roughly equidistant in the perceptual quality space - as intended. These results suggest that a similarity judgment task can help select parameter values corresponding to desired subjective quality levels

Time resolution of the plastic scintillator strips with matrix photomultiplier readout for J-PET tomograph

Recent tests of a single module of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomography system (J-PET) consisting of 30 cm long plastic scintillator strips have proven its applicability for the detection of annihilation quanta (0.511 MeV) with a coincidence resolving time (CRT) of 0.266 ns. The achieved resolution is almost by a factor of two better with respect to the current TOF-PET detectors and it can still be improved since, as it is shown in this article, the intrinsic limit of time resolution for the determination of time of the interaction of 0.511 MeV gamma quanta in plastic scintillators is much lower. As the major point of the article, a method allowing to record timestamps of several photons, at two ends of the scintillator strip, by means of matrix of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) is introduced. As a result of simulations, conducted with the number of SiPM varying from 4 to 42, it is shown that the improvement of timing resolution saturates with the growing number of photomultipliers, and that the 2 x 5 configuration at two ends allowing to read twenty timestamps, constitutes an optimal solution. The conducted simulations accounted for the emission time distribution, photon transport and absorption inside the scintillator, as well as quantum efficiency and transit time spread of photosensors, and were checked based on the experimental results. Application of the 2 x 5 matrix of SiPM allows for achieving the coincidence resolving time in positron emission tomography of $\approx$ 0.170 ns for 15 cm axial field-of-view (AFOV) and $\approx$ 0.365 ns for 100 cm AFOV. The results open perspectives for construction of a cost-effective TOF-PET scanner with significantly better TOF resolution and larger AFOV with respect to the current TOF-PET modalities.Comment: To be published in Phys. Med. Biol. (26 pages, 17 figures

How the Kano model contributes to Kansei engineering in services

Recent studies show that products and services hold great appeal if they are attractively designed to elicit emotional feelings from customers. Kansei engineering (KE) has good potential to provide a competitive advantage to those able to read and translate customer affect and emotion in actual product and services. This study introduces an integrative framework of the Kano model and KE, applied to services. The Kano model was used and inserted into KE to exhibit the relationship between service attribute performance and customer emotional response. Essentially, the Kano model categorises service attribute quality into three major groups (must-be [M], one-dimensional [O] and attractive [A]). The findings of a case study that involved 100 tourists who stayed in luxury 4- and 5-star hotels are presented. As a practical matter, this research provides insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their significant impact on customer emotional needs. Statement of Relevance: Apart from cognitive evaluation, emotions and hedonism play a big role in service encounters. Through a focus on delighting qualities of service attributes, this research enables service providers and managers to establish the extent to which they prioritise their improvement efforts and to always satisfy their customer emotions beyond expectation. Keywords: Kansei engineering, emotional feelings, Kano model, service

Phase diagram of the metal-insulator transition in 2D electronic systems

We investigated the interdependence of the effects of disorder and carrier correlations on the metal-insulator transition in two-dimensional electronic systems. We present a quantitative metal-insulator phase diagram. Depending on the carrier density we find two different types of metal-insulator transition - a continuous localization for rs=<8 and a discontinuous transition at higher rs. The critical level of disorder at the transition decreases with decreasing carrier density. At very low carrier densities we find that the system is always insulating. The value of the conductivity at the transition is consistent with recent experimental measurements. The self-consistent method which we have developed includes the effects of both disorder and correlations on the transition, using a density relaxation theory with the Coulomb correlations determined from numerical simulation data.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX + epsf, 5 figures. New comments on conducting phase and on the conductivity. References updated and correcte