Enhancing the evaporative cooling performance of fan-pad system using alternative pad materials and water film over the greenhouse roof

Greenhouse technology is a viable option for sustainable crop production in the regions of adverse climatic conditions.  During hot seasons the heat input to a greenhouse causes the internal temperature to exceed its optimal value.  The present study was devoted to construct an evaporative cooling system to reduce heat stress inside a greenhouse.  Two identical small-scale greenhouses were designed, constructed, and installed on an open roof of a domestic house.  The two greenhouses were cooled using fan-pad system.  In addition, a thin water film was applied on the roof of one greenhouse to study the effect of roof water film and fan-pad (combined system) on the cooling performance.  The two cooling systems were compared under the same condition.  Three new evaporative cooling pads represented by Cryperus Alopecuroides Rottb (Samar), Cyerus Alternifolius (Purdy) and Cyperus Rotundus l (Nut-grass or Se'd) were adapted and evaluated.  Three pad face air velocities ranged between 0.45 and 1.01 m s-1 and two thicknesses of 10 and 15 cm were used in the investigation of the cooling performance criteria.  Results showed that the proposed cooling pads in the suggested evaporative cooling systems were able to maintain acceptable microclimatic conditions for greenhouse models.  Se'd pad material proved more efficiency in temperature reduction.  It was revealed that the temperature inside the greenhouse operated under the combination of roof water flow and fan-pad system was less than that for fan-pad greenhouse by about 1.1 to 5.44° C in the morning and afternoon respectively.  The air relative humidity was increased due to humid effect provided by cooling system which protects crops from excessive transpiration and crop damage.  The daily average cooling efficiencies of 88.4, 83.1 and 79.6% were obtained for Se'd, Purdy and Samar, respectively during testing days inside the combined system at 15 cm pad thickness and 0.45 m s-1 pad face air velocity.  The Se'd pad material showed the highest efficiency as compared to other pad materials and could be used as an alternative pad material.   Keywords: greenhouse, evaporative cooling, fan-pad system, pad material, roof water flo

Graphene as a transparent conductive support for studying biological molecules by transmission electron microscopy

We demonstrate the application of graphene as a support for imaging individual biological molecules in transmission electron microscope (TEM). A simple procedure to produce free-standing graphene membranes has been designed. Such membranes are extremely robust and can support practically any sub-micrometer object. Tobacco mosaic virus has been deposited on graphene samples and observed in a TEM. High contrast has been achieved even though no staining has been applied

Gait recognition using kinect and locally linear embedding

This paper presents the use of locally linear embedding (LLE) as feature extraction technique for classifying a person’s identity based on their walking gait patterns. Skeleton data acquired from Microsoft Kinect camera were used as an input for (1). Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and (2). LLE with MLP. The MLP classification accuracy result was used for comparison between both. Several MLP and LLE properties were tested to find the optimal number of setting that can improve the MLP performance. Based on the two methods used, the neural network implemented with LLE showed the better accuracy compared to the neural network alone.Keywords: locally linear embedding; neural network; multilayer perceptron

Graphene re-knits its holes

Nano-holes, etched under an electron beam at room temperature in singlelayer graphene sheets as a result of their interaction with metalimpurities, are shown to heal spontaneously by filling up with either non-hexagon, graphene-like, or perfect hexagon 2D structures. Scanning transmission electron microscopy was employed to capture the healing process and study atom-by-atom the re-grown structure. A combination of these nano-scale etching and re-knitting processes could lead to new graphene tailoring approaches.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Gene conversion in human rearranged immunoglobulin genes

Over the past 20 years, many DNA sequences have been published suggesting that all or part of the V<sub>H</sub> segment of a rearranged immunoglobulin gene may be replaced in vivo. Two different mechanisms appear to be operating. One of these is very similar to primary V(D)J recombination, involving the RAG proteins acting upon recombination signal sequences, and this has recently been proven to occur. Other sequences, many of which show partial V<sub>H</sub> replacements with no addition of untemplated nucleotides at the V<sub>H</sub>–V<sub>H</sub> joint, have been proposed to occur by an unusual RAG-mediated recombination with the formation of hybrid (coding-to-signal) joints. These appear to occur in cells already undergoing somatic hypermutation in which, some authors are convinced, RAG genes are silenced. We recently proposed that the latter type of V<sub>H</sub> replacement might occur by homologous recombination initiated by the activity of AID (activation-induced cytidine deaminase), which is essential for somatic hypermutation and gene conversion. The latter has been observed in other species, but not in human Ig genes, so far. In this paper, we present a new analysis of sequences published as examples of the second type of rearrangement. This not only shows that AID recognition motifs occur in recombination regions but also that some sequences show replacement of central sections by a sequence from another gene, similar to gene conversion in the immunoglobulin genes of other species. These observations support the proposal that this type of rearrangement is likely to be AID-mediated rather than RAG-mediated and is consistent with gene conversion

Managing Change and Master Plans: Machu Picchu Between Conservation and Exploitation

Machu Picchu is among the world\u2019s most controversial heritage sites. It represents a case where raising money through ticket sales and other activities, rather than an opportunity to fund site preservation, in fact constitutes a major threat to the survival of the site through overexploitation. Unesco has been very critical in recent decades about the management of Machu Picchu. International pressure resulted in the establishment of two master plans, in 1998 and in 2005. In this paper we investigate in depth the contents and rhetoric of the two plans, comparing changes in the two different versions, and linking the change in planning attitude to actual changes taking place in the site. This is also an opportunity to open a discussion on the interdisciplinarity of master plans in heritage sites

Participatory action research to identify a package of interventions to promote postpartum family planning in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: The YAM DAABO study ("your choice" in Mooré) takes place in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has the objective to identify a package of postpartum family planning (PPFP) interventions to strengthen primary healthcare services and determine its effectiveness on contraceptive uptake during the first year postpartum. This article presents the process of identifying the PPFP interventions and its detailed contents. Methods: Based on participatory action research principles, we adopted an inclusive process with two complementary approaches: a bottom-up formative approach and a circular reflective approach, both of which involved a wide range of stakeholders. For the bottom-up component, we worked in each country in three formative sites and used qualitative methods to identify barriers and catalysts to PPFP uptake. The results informed the package design which occurred during the circular reflective approach - a research workshop gathering service providers, members of both country research teams, and the WHO coordination team. Results: As barriers and catalysts were found to be similar in both countries and with the view to scaling up our strategy to other comparable settings, we identified a common package of six low-cost, low-technology, and easily-scalable interventions that addressed the main service delivery obstacles related to PPFP: (1) refresher training of service providers, (2) regularly scheduled and strengthened supportive supervision of service providers, (3) enhanced availability of services 7 days a week, (4) a counseling tool, (5) appointment cards for women, and (6) invitation letters for partners. Conclusions: Our research strategy assumes that postpartum contraceptive uptake can be increased by supporting providers, enhancing the availability of services, and engaging women and their partners. The package does not promote any modern contraceptive method over another but prioritizes the importance of women's right to information and choice regarding postpartum fertility options. The effectiveness of the package will be studied in the experimental phase. If found to be effective, this intervention package may be relevant to and scalable in other parts of Burkina Faso and the DRC, and possibly other Sub-Saharan countries

Probing defects and impurity-induced electronic structure changes in single and double-layer hexagonal boron nitride sheets with STEM-EELS

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 - August 2, 201