Fissure Characterization of Rice Kernels Using Video Microscopy

Fissures are fractures of a rice kernel that can be created during the drying and tempering process. They cause tremendous postharvest losses in milling yield. Understanding why and how rice kernels fissure will lead to optimal drying and tempering operations. This information could also provide input to plant breeders for producing rice cultivars that are more resistant to fissuring. Rice kernels were dried using various air conditions in a controlled environment chamber. The kernels were viewed by video microscopy to observe the occurrence of fissures. A videocassette recorder recorded the images for a 24-hour period after the drying process. The tapes were reviewed to reveal characteristics of the fissures. The rice cultivars used in this experiment were ‘Bengal’, ‘Cypress’, and ‘Drew’. The tests showed that Cypress kernels were more resistant to fissuring than were the other two cultivars. The recorded images from the microscopy chamber showed that fissures begin from the inside of the kernel. Also, fissures were observed to form almost instantaneously

Employment Prospects in the Green Economy: Myth and Reality

The paper examines the concept of the green economy, focusing on its impact on the labour market in terms of employment opportunities. The green economy is often regarded as effective both in environmental and employment terms, creating new jobs while dealing with environment protection issues, for example, climate change, pollution, emission reductions, and so on. In an attempt to identify a shared definition of ‘green jobs’, reference is made to research carried out by international institutions, such as International Labour Organization (ILO) and Cedefop, as the green economy has both political and educational implications. This is particularly true when considering the need for ‘green skills’. The paper calls for a rethinking of green issues, especially with regard to new skills requirements in the green sector. Workers, especially women, should be supported in the process of adaptation and transition, by means of policies providing on-the-job training and retraining, and participation in decision making. Social dialogue and industrial relations can play a key role in this connection, as a catalyst for change, gender equality and the promotion of green policies

Nuovi fasti dei magistri fontani in un frustulo epigrafico opistografo dal piccolo Aventino

Edizione di un nuovo frammento epigrafico, opistografo, rinvenuto a Roma sul piccolo Aventino e contenente liste di personaggi identificati, in base a vari indizi, con magistri Fontani

Simplified first-trimester fetal cardiac screening (four chamber view and ventricular outflow tracts) in a low-risk population

Objectives Our aim was to assess the accuracy of a simplified fetal cardiac study, inclusive of four-chamber view (4CV) and ventricular outflow tracts, performed during the 11–14 week screening by well-trained obstetricians to detect congenital heart diseases (CHDs). Methods A transabdominal ultrasound was performed on 4820 singleton pregnant women at 11–14 weeks to visualize the visceral site, the 4CV, and the outflow tracts. Neonatal outcomes were recorded 6 and 12 months after birth. Results Among the 4820 patients reviewed, 790 were excluded because of loss at prenatal or postnatal follow-up (649 cases), or inability to obtain adequate first-trimester sonographic cardiac evaluation (141 cases). Among the 4030 included cases, 32 CHD cases were detected (20 major and 12 minor); 18 of the major (90%) and five of the minor (42%) were detected or suspected in the first trimester, one major and six minor in the second trimester, and one major and one minor only after birth. Conclusions A simplified protocol is an effective tool to screen for CHD at 11–14 weeks

A fast framework construction and visualization method for particle-based fluid

© 2017, The Author(s). Fast and vivid fluid simulation and visualization is a challenge topic of study in recent years. Particle-based simulation method has been widely used in the art animation modeling and multimedia field. However, the requirements of huge numerical calculation and high quality of visualization usually result in a poor computing efficiency. In this work, in order to improve those issues, we present a fast framework for 3D fluid fast constructing and visualization which parallelizes the fluid algorithm based on the GPU computing framework and designs a direct surface visualization method for particle-based fluid data such as WCSPH, IISPH, and PCISPH. Considering on conventional polygonization or adaptive mesh methods may incur high computing costs and detail losses, an improved particle-based method is provided for real-time fluid surface rendering with the screen-space technology and the utilities of the modern graphics hardware to achieve the high performance rendering; meanwhile, it effectively protects fluid details. Furthermore, to realize the fast construction of scenes, an optimized design of parallel framework and interface is also discussed in our paper. Our method is convenient to enforce, and the results demonstrate a significant improvement in the performance and efficiency by being compared with several examples

Statistiche di scintillazione in cielo chiaro per l'esperimento Italsat (1995)

LAUREA MAGISTRALEQuesta tesi ha il fine di contribuire allo sviluppo e al miglioramento delle comunicazioni via satellite per quanto riguarda gli effetti della propagazione delle onde elettromagnetiche nell’atmosfera, punto chiave per la progettazione dei collegamenti satellitari. A tal fine sono state studiate le scintillazioni ai tre diversi beacon dell’esperimento ITALSAT nei periodi di cielo chiaro dell’anno 1995 e successivamente sono stati confrontati i risultati ottenuti con i modelli di predizione delle scintillazioni esistenti in letteratura ottenendo in questo modo caratterizzazioni statistiche