Preparation and Characterization of Urea with Coated-Urea Materials and their Performance to Reduce Ammonia Volatilization and Improve Crop Production

Urea is a widely used N fertilizer in the world. The rapid hydrolysis process of urea is responsible for high microsite pH and accumulation of NH4 in the soil. It caused NH3 emission from surface applied urea, resulting in poor N uptake and hazardous environmental effects. Urea can be more effective if an efficient method is devised to reduce NH3 losses. One of the approaches is to coat urea with biodegradable materials and urease inhibitors. The objectives of the study were; to prepare and characterize coated urea with biodegradable material and urease inhibitors; to evaluate the effects of the coated urea on NH3 losses, nitrogen transformations in soil and crop production. Laboratory, glasshouse and field studies were conducted to evaluate the physical and chemical properties of coated urea; to quantify the N transformation and ammonia volatilization loss on selected soil series and to determine yield and N uptake by plant from coated and uncoated urea. Six treatments of coated urea were prepared for the study labeled as; uncoated urea; palm stearin and Cu coated urea; agar and Cu coated urea; gelatin and Cu coated urea; Cu coated urea and Cu and Zn coated urea. The urea were coated with agar, gelatin, palm stearin, Cu and Zn by using fluidized bed coating machine. The coated urea was characterized for physical and chemical properties by using elemental analysis, FT-IR, TGA and SEM techniques. The results of study revealed that there were no significant changes were occurred in the properties of urea after coating. Laboratory evaluations of coated urea were carried out to quantify the N transformation and ammonia volatilization loss on three soil series named as; Munchong, Serdang and Holyrood. The urea coated treatments coated with combinations of agar, palm stearin and Cu had 20-23, 30-32 and 40 - 38 % lower microsite pH, NH4 and NO3 content in soil as compare to uncoated urea, respectively. In glass house study, Munchong soil series was used to grow the maize variety J-58. The plant were harvested after 8 weeks, followed by second planting on the same pots to determine residual effects of coated urea treatments on soil and plant. The coated and uncoated urea treatments, Triple super phosphate and potassium chloride was applied as fertilizer source of N, P and K at the rate of 100, 50, 100 kg ha-1 before the planting. After first harvesting, the second planting was done without application of N fertilizer. The results of both experiments revealed that 33- 40 % increase in N uptake and 40 - 60 % in dry matter yield of maize in the pot treated by coated urea with as compared to uncoated urea. However, the highest yield 26.50 and 26.45 g pot-1 was obtained from micronutrient coated urea at first harvest and from Agar and Cu coated urea at second harvest, respectively. To evaluate the effects of coated urea treatments under field condition, a pasture site (Guinea grass) was selected, harvested and fenced before application of fertilizer treatments. The duration of experiment was six months. During the experiment, the site was fertilized with urea treatments, TSP and KCl treatments at the rate of 217, 100 and 217 kg ha-1, respectively. And standardized agronomical operations were performed. The grass was cut two times at flowering stage to record dry matter yield. The soil and plant sample were analyzed for N, Cu and Zn content. The results showed 35 and 30 % improvement in N uptakes and crop production in UCuZn treated plots in at both harvestings, respectively. In addition, amendment of urea with multiple coatings has beneficial residual effects. It was concluded that coated urea can improve N uptake and reduce the ammonia losses. The urea coated with Biodegradable polymer and Cu had increased the residual effects of N

Towards A Self-calibrating Video Camera Network For Content Analysis And Forensics

Due to growing security concerns, video surveillance and monitoring has received an immense attention from both federal agencies and private firms. The main concern is that a single camera, even if allowed to rotate or translate, is not sufficient to cover a large area for video surveillance. A more general solution with wide range of applications is to allow the deployed cameras to have a non-overlapping field of view (FoV) and to, if possible, allow these cameras to move freely in 3D space. This thesis addresses the issue of how cameras in such a network can be calibrated and how the network as a whole can be calibrated, such that each camera as a unit in the network is aware of its orientation with respect to all the other cameras in the network. Different types of cameras might be present in a multiple camera network and novel techniques are presented for efficient calibration of these cameras. Specifically: (i) For a stationary camera, we derive new constraints on the Image of the Absolute Conic (IAC). These new constraints are shown to be intrinsic to IAC; (ii) For a scene where object shadows are cast on a ground plane, we track the shadows on the ground plane cast by at least two unknown stationary points, and utilize the tracked shadow positions to compute the horizon line and hence compute the camera intrinsic and extrinsic parameters; (iii) A novel solution to a scenario where a camera is observing pedestrians is presented. The uniqueness of formulation lies in recognizing two harmonic homologies present in the geometry obtained by observing pedestrians; (iv) For a freely moving camera, a novel practical method is proposed for its self-calibration which even allows it to change its internal parameters by zooming; and (v) due to the increased application of the pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, a technique is presented that uses only two images to estimate five camera parameters. For an automatically configurable multi-camera network, having non-overlapping field of view and possibly containing moving cameras, a practical framework is proposed that determines the geometry of such a dynamic camera network. It is shown that only one automatically computed vanishing point and a line lying on any plane orthogonal to the vertical direction is sufficient to infer the geometry of a dynamic network. Our method generalizes previous work which considers restricted camera motions. Using minimal assumptions, we are able to successfully demonstrate promising results on synthetic as well as on real data. Applications to path modeling, GPS coordinate estimation, and configuring mixed-reality environment are explored

Trustee: A Trust Management System for Fog-enabled Cyber Physical Systems

In this paper, we propose a lightweight trust management system (TMS) for fog-enabled cyber physical systems (Fog-CPS). Trust computation is based on multi-factor and multi-dimensional parameters, and formulated as a statistical regression problem which is solved by employing random forest regression model. Additionally, as the Fog-CPS systems could be deployed in open and unprotected environments, the CPS devices and fog nodes are vulnerable to numerous attacks namely, collusion, self-promotion, badmouthing, ballot-stuffing, and opportunistic service. The compromised entities can impact the accuracy of trust computation model by increasing/decreasing the trust of other nodes. These challenges are addressed by designing a generic trust credibility model which can countermeasures the compromise of both CPS devices and fog nodes. The credibility of each newly computed trust value is evaluated and subsequently adjusted by correlating it with a standard deviation threshold. The standard deviation is quantified by computing the trust in two configurations of hostile environments and subsequently comparing it with the trust value in a legitimate/normal environment. Our results demonstrate that credibility model successfully countermeasures the malicious behaviour of all Fog-CPS entities i.e. CPS devices and fog nodes. The multi-factor trust assessment and credibility evaluation enable accurate and precise trust computation and guarantee a dependable Fog-CPS system

X-ray based machine vision system for distal locking of intramedullary nails

In surgical procedures for femoral shaft fracture treatment, current techniques for locking the distal end of intramedullary nails, using two screws, rely heavily on the use of two-dimensional X-ray images to guide three-dimensional bone drilling processes. Therefore, a large number of X-ray images are required, as the surgeon uses his/her skills and experience to locate the distal hole axes on the intramedullary nail. The long-term effects of X-ray radiation and their relation to different types of cancer still remain uncertain. Therefore, there is a need to develop a surgical technique that can limit the use of X-rays during the distal locking procedure. A Robotic-Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery System has been developed at Loughborough University named Loughborough Orthopaedic Assistant System (LOAS) to assist orthopaedic surgeons during distal-locking of intramedullary nails. It uses a calibration frame and a C-arm X-ray unit. The system simplifies the current approach as it uses only two near-orthogonal X-ray images to determine the drilling trajectory of the distal-locking holes, thereby considerably reducing irradiation to both the surgeon and patient. The LOAS differs from existing computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery systems, as it eliminates the need for optical tracking equipment which tends to clutter the operating theatre environment and requires care in maintaining the line of sight. Additionally use of optical tracking equipment makes such systems an expensive method for surgical guidance in distal-locking of intramedullary nails. This study is specifically concerned with the improvements of the existing system. [Continues.

HOW DOES ZAKAT EMPOWER SOCIETY? A CASE STUDY OF THE KHAIRPUR DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

Poverty is a worldwide issue of concern to the international community, including Pakistan. Khairpur is a rural region in Pakistan where a significant proportion of the population lives below the poverty threshold. This research aims to describe the practice of zakat and its implications for the residents of the Khairpur district in Pakistan, using qualitative research techniques. The methods employed to collect data in this study involved conducting interviews with Khairpur residents, observations, and reviewing relevant literature. The findings indicated that in Khairpur, the local community perceives the practice of zakat as a means of providing socio-economic security for the elderly by allocating zakat funds to healthcare facilities. Donating Zakat to educational institutions can also provide assistance to economically vulnerable groups of children. Zakat initiatives can aid women's groups in funding their wedding expenses and dowries. Nevertheless, this research also exposed that the transparency of zakat management has been inadequate and requires further improvement to ensure that a larger portion of the Khairpur population can reap the benefits of zakat.Problem global kemiskinan telah lama menjadi perhatian masyarakat dunia, termasuk di Pakistan. Khairpur adalah salah satu daerah pedesaan Pakistan yang memiliki banyak segmen masyarakat yang hidup di bawah garis kemiskinan. Penelitian ini bermaksud untuk menjelaskan praktik zakat dan refleksinya bagi masyarakat di distrik Khairpur Pakistan melalui metode kualitatif.  Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui sejumlah wawancara dengan penduduk Khairpur, observasi, dan telaah pustaka. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa praktik zakat di Khairpur telah dianggap oleh masyarakat setempat dapat memberikan jaminan sosial ekonomi untuk orang lanjut usia melalui zakat yang dialokasi ke dalam fasilitas kesehatan. Zakat yang dialokasikan ke dalam fasilitas pendidikan juga mampu membantu kelompok anak-anak yang memiliki kerentanan ekonomi. Sedangkan bagi bagi kelompok perempuan, program zakat dapat membantu mereka dalam pembiayaan mahar maupun upacara pernikahan. Meski demikian, pada sisi lain, penelitian ini juga mengungkapkan bahwa praktik pengelolaan zakat belum transparan dan masih perlu ditingkatkan lagi jumlahnya agar semakin banyak segmen penduduk Khairpur yang merasakan manfaat zakat tersebut

Privacy Preserving Attribute Based Encryption for Multiple Cloud Collaborative Environment

In a Multiple Cloud Collaborative Environment (MCCE), cloud users and cloud providers interact with each other via a brokering service to request and provision cloud services. The brokering service considers several pieces of data to broker the best deal between users and providers which can subsequently risks the privacy and security of MCCE. In this paper, we propose a Privacy Preserving Attribute-Based Encryption(PPABE) scheme which protects MCCE from a compromised broker. The proposed encryption scheme preserves the privacy by employing data access policy over sets of attributes. The identifying attributes are anonymoized using pseudonyms. The data access policy is further anonymized so as it remain unknown to unauthorized parties. The PP-ABE achieves unlinkability between different data items which flows through the collaborative cloud environment and preserves the privacy of cloud users and cloud providers