Influence of palm oil fuel ash on physico-mechanical properties of prepacked aggregate concrete

Prepacked aggregate concrete (PAC) is a special type of concrete which is made by placing coarse aggregate in a formwork and injecting a grout either by pump or under gravity force to fill the voids. Utilization of pozzolanic materials in traditional concrete has become increasingly extensive, and this trend is expected to continue in prepacked concrete as well. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is one of the pozzolanic ashes, which has been recognized as a good pozzolanic material. This paper presents the results of some experimental tests on the performance behavior of POFA in developing physical and mechanical properties of prepacked aggregate concrete. Four concrete mixes namely prepacked concrete with 100% OPC as control, and PAC with 10%, 20% and 30% POFA were cast, and the temperature growth due to heat of hydration in all the mixtures was recorded. It has been found that POFA significantly reduced the temperature rise in prepacked concrete. The compressive and tensile strength, however, increased with replacement of POFA. The results obtained and the observation made in this study suggest that the replacement of OPC by POFA is beneficial, particularly for prepacked mass concrete where thermal cracking due to extreme heat rise is of great concern

Performance comparison of heuristic algorithms for task scheduling in IaaS cloud computing environment

Cloud computing infrastructure is suitable for meeting computational needs of large task sizes. Optimal scheduling of tasks in cloud computing environment has been proved to be an NP-complete problem, hence the need for the application of heuristic methods. Several heuristic algorithms have been developed and used in addressing this problem, but choosing the appropriate algorithm for solving task assignment problem of a particular nature is difficult since the methods are developed under different assumptions. Therefore, six rule based heuristic algorithms are implemented and used to schedule autonomous tasks in homogeneous and heterogeneous environments with the aim of comparing their performance in terms of cost, degree of imbalance, makespan and throughput. First Come First Serve (FCFS), Minimum Completion Time (MCT), Minimum Execution Time (MET), Maxmin, Min-min and Sufferage are the heuristic algorithms considered for the performance comparison and analysis of task scheduling in cloud computing

Solid State Fermentation of Orange Pomace for Bioethanol Production

This study is aimed at studying the effect of process variables on solid state fermentation of orange pomace for bioethanol production using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The effect of substrate concentrations (100 - 350 g), fermentation period (24 - 72 hours) and inoculum amount (2.0 - 4.5 g) on solid state fermentation of orange pomace for bioethanol production was investigated. Characterization of the resulting bioethanol was carried out to determine its fuel properties (viscosity, flash point, density, refractive index, specific gravity, pH and boiling point). Experimental results revealed increase in the process variables (substrate concentration, fermentation period and inoculum amount) led to a corresponding increase in bioethanol yield until an optimum condition was reached (substrate loading of 200 g, pH of 4.5, fermentation temperature of 35°C, inoculum amount of 3 g and fermentation period of 72 hours) after which a decline in yield was observed. The maximum ethanol yield of 32.32 % v/v was obtained at these condition. Characterization of the bioethanol sample showed that the ethanol has satisfactory fuel properties that establishes its suitability as an alternative renewable fuel that can be blended with gasoline

Methodology for reliability assessment of steel wire ropes under fretting fatigue conditions

This paper describes a newly-developed damage-based fatigue life model for the long-Term reliability assessment of drawn steel wires and wire ropes. The methodology is based on the computed local stress field in the critical trellis contact zone of a stranded wire rope by FE simulations and the estimated fretting damage of the drawn wire material. A case study using a single strand (1x7) steel wire rope with 5.43 mm-dia. drawn wires is employed to demonstrate the damage-based fatigue life prediction procedures. Under applied tensile loading with peak stress corresponding to 50%MBL (ΔP = 145 kN, R = 0.1), the von Mises stress cycles in-phase and with an identical stress ratio to the applied axial load. The damage initiation life at the trellis contact along the core wire is No = 673 cycles with an additional 589 load cycles to reach the first separation of the material point. The threshold load cycle for the fretting fatigue damage is predicted to be 12.3%MBL. An improved data set of the damage model parameters of the drawn steel wires is indispensable in achieving an accurate and validated life prediction model

Erratum to: Recent developments in immobilizing titanium dioxide on supports for degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater-A review

The name of the author S.I. Mustapha contains errors in the original article. © 2017, Islamic Azad University (IAU)

Identification and quantification of phenolic compounds in bambangan (Mangifera pajang Kort.) peels and their free radical scavenging activity.

Phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of acidified methanolic extract prepared from fully ripe bambangan (Mangifera pajang K.) peel cultivated in Sarawak, Malaysia, were analyzed. The total phenolic content (98.3 mg GAE/g) of bambangan peel powder (BPP) was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. BPP showed a strong potency of antioxidant activity and was consistent with that of BHT and vitamin C as confirmed by the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity and FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power) assays. Gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, ellagic acid, protocatechuic acid, and mangiferin were the major compounds among the 16 phenolics that have been identified and quantified in M. pajang peels with 20.9, 12.7, 7.3, 5.4, and 4.8 mg/g BPP, respectively. Peak identities were confirmed by comparing their retention times, UV-vis absorption spectra, and mass spectra with authentic standards. The 16 phenolic compounds identified in M. pajang K. using HPLC-DAD and TSQ-ESI-MS are reported here for the first time

Performance characteristics and costs of serological tests for brucellosis in a pastoralist community of northern Tanzania

The control of brucellosis across sub-Saharan Africa is hampered by the lack of standardized testing and the use of tests with poor performance. This study evaluated the performance and costs of serological assays for human brucellosis in a pastoralist community in northern Tanzania. Serum collected from 218 febrile hospital patients was used to evaluate the performance of seven index tests, selected based on international recommendation or current use. We evaluated the Rose Bengal test (RBT) using two protocols, four commercial agglutination tests and a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Youden’s index, diagnostic accuracy, and per-sample cost of each index test were estimated. The diagnostic accuracy estimates ranged from 95.9 to 97.7% for the RBT, 55.0 to 72.0% for the commercial plate tests, and 89.4% for the cELISA. The per-sample cost range was $0.69–$0.79 for the RBT, $1.03–$1.14 for the commercial plate tests, and $2.51 for the cELISA. The widely used commercial plate tests performed poorly and cost more than the RBT. These findings provide evidence for the public health value of discontinuing the use of commercial agglutination tests for human brucellosis in Tanzania

Azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum jets at next-to-leading order in the parton branching method

AbstractThe azimuthal correlation, $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 , of high transverse momentum jets in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s = 13  TeV is studied by applying PB-TMD distributions to NLO calculations via MCatNLO together with the PB-TMD parton shower. A very good description of the cross section as a function of $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 is observed. In the back-to-back region of $${\Delta \phi _{12}}\rightarrow \pi$$ Δ ϕ 12 → π , a very good agreement is observed with the PB-TMD Set 2 distributions while significant deviations are obtained with the PB-TMD Set 1 distributions. Set 1 uses the evolution scale while Set 2 uses transverse momentum as an argument in $$\alpha _\mathrm {s}$$ α s , and the above observation therefore confirms the importance of an appropriate soft-gluon coupling in angular ordered parton evolution. The total uncertainties of the predictions are dominated by the scale uncertainties of the matrix element, while the uncertainties coming from the PB-TMDs and the corresponding PB-TMD shower are very small. The $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 measurements are also compared with predictions using MCatNLO together Pythia8, illustrating the importance of details of the parton shower evolution.</jats:p

Azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum jets at next-to-leading order in the parton branching method

AbstractThe azimuthal correlation, $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 , of high transverse momentum jets in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s = 13  TeV is studied by applying PB-TMD distributions to NLO calculations via MCatNLO together with the PB-TMD parton shower. A very good description of the cross section as a function of $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 is observed. In the back-to-back region of $${\Delta \phi _{12}}\rightarrow \pi$$ Δ ϕ 12 → π , a very good agreement is observed with the PB-TMD Set 2 distributions while significant deviations are obtained with the PB-TMD Set 1 distributions. Set 1 uses the evolution scale while Set 2 uses transverse momentum as an argument in $$\alpha _\mathrm {s}$$ α s , and the above observation therefore confirms the importance of an appropriate soft-gluon coupling in angular ordered parton evolution. The total uncertainties of the predictions are dominated by the scale uncertainties of the matrix element, while the uncertainties coming from the PB-TMDs and the corresponding PB-TMD shower are very small. The $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 measurements are also compared with predictions using MCatNLO together Pythia8, illustrating the importance of details of the parton shower evolution.</jats:p