Effective Data Management Enables Intelligent Utility Management

Instrumentation and automation plays a vital role to managing the water industry. These systems generate vast amounts of data that must be effectively managed in order to enable intelligent decision making. Time series data management software, commonly known as data historians are used for collecting and managing real-time (time series) information. More advanced software solutions provide a data infrastructure or utility wide Operations Data Management System (ODMS) that stores, manages, calculates, displays, shares, and integrates data from multiple disparate automation and business systems that are used daily in water utilities. These ODMS solutions are proven and have the ability to manage data from smart water meters to the collaboration of data across third party corporations. This paper focuses on practical, utility successes in the water industry where utility managers are leveraging instantaneous access to data from proven, commercial off-the-shelf ODMS solutions to enable better real-time decision making. Successes include saving $650,000 / year in water loss control, safeguarding water quality, saving millions of dollars in energy management and asset management. Immediate opportunities exist to integrate the research being done in academia with these ODMS solutions in the field and to leverage these successes to utilities around the world

Effects of Different Substrates on the Growth and Nutritional Composition of Pleurotus ostreatus: A Review

Mushrooms are a popular food source as they are highly nutritious and flavorful with a high content of proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Mushrooms could be an alternative solution to the world’s food crisis as they are inexpensive to grow on different types of substrates including waste materials. Pleurotus ostreatus, frequently known as oyster mushrooms, are the second most cultivated mushroom in the world. This species is known for its high protein content and easy cultivation. Oyster mushrooms have the potential to produce protein-rich biomass when grown on various substrates. There is a need to identify substrates that are cost-effective for the commercial production of nutritious oyster mushrooms as the substrates used currently are either costly or inadequate to produce oyster mushrooms in the required quantity or quality. Thus, the effects of 6 different lignocellulosic substrates on the growth and nutritional composition of P. ostreatus were reviewed and analyzed in this article. The substrates included in this review were wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, corncob, softwood sawdust, hardwood sawdust, and general sawdust. Based on the analyzed data, sugarcane bagasse was concluded as the most suitable substrate to grow P. ostreatus. These substrates contain a high amount of nutrients and are also likely to produce a significantly high yield of oyster mushrooms in addition to enhancing the nutritional quality of the mushroom. However, these findings must be evaluated and confirmed through further research in this field

Vaccine hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine among the Malaysian population

COVID-19 is a potentially fatal infectious disease that requires effective vaccines to keep the outbreak under control. Despite the ongoing efforts for an effective vaccine, public hesitancy towards vaccines is now one of the main concerns to the global health in containing this global pandemic. Thus, this preliminary study was carried out to assess the degree of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the general public in Malaysia and to identify the underlying reasons for their hesitancy by using 5C psychological antecedents of vaccination. This study was conducted by carrying out a cross-sectional online survey for approximately two months between January to February 2021, involving 385 participants. The survey contained questions based on the 5C model proffered by WHO. The data from the survey were analyzed using Smart PLS 3 for statistical analysis, with the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). According to the findings, only 62.5 percent out of the 385 participants had planned to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while the remaining 37.5 percent did not. The results also showed that confidence, calculation, collective responsibility, and constraints had a significant influence on vaccine hesitancy but not complacency. There is a degree of vaccine hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccines among the Malaysian population, although the data that we have obtained cannot be used to generalize for the entire Malaysian population due to the small sample size. Thus, for the vaccination campaign to be more effective, it should focus more on addressing the issue relating to confidence, calculation, collective responsibility, and constraints and less on complacency

Characterization of Calcium Phosphate Chitosan Nanocomposite as Plant Growth Promoter

In this study, calcium phosphate-chitosan nanocomposite (CaP-CS NC) was prepared by a convenient and affordable co-precipitation method, and the prepared NC was tested for agriculture application.  Physico-chemicals analyses of the CaP-CS NC were conducted by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) instruments to determine the structural characteristics, surface topology, chemical composition, function group, and optical properties. The XRD pattern of CaP-CS NC revealed that the average crystallite size was 43 nm. The SEM images showed agglomeration of the CaP-CS NC with a rod-like shape. The EDS spectrum of the CaP-CS NC indicated the presence of Ca, P, O, and N elements. FTIR displayed vibrational peaks for the active functional group such as carboxylic (C=O), amines (N-H), hydroxyl (O-H), and alkyne (C-H). Furthermore, the spectrum of CaP-CS NC showed the bending mode of phosphates at 588.37 cm-1 and 508.45 cm-1. The UV-Vis-NIR spectrum of the prepared nanocomposite indicates the anti-reflection properties, which might be useful in solar cell applications to increase the efficiency of the solar cell. In addition, the prepared CaP-CS NC was tested for the plant growth stimulator properties at the lab scale level, wherein it exhibited substantial growth. Accordingly, the current study suggests that the prepared CaP-CS NC could be used as a plant growth promoter

Three-body decay of the d* dibaryon

Under certain circumstances, a three-body decay width can be approximated by an integral involving a product of two off-shell two-body decay widths. This ``angle-average'' approximation is used to calculate the $\pi NN$ decay width of the $d^*(J^\pi=3^+, T=0)$ dibaryon in a simple $\Delta^2$ model for the most important Feynman diagrams describing pion emissions with baryon-baryon recoil and meson retardation. The decay width is found to be about 0.006 (0.07, 0.5) MeV at the $d^*$ mass of 2065 (2100, 2150) MeV for input dynamics derived from the Full Bonn potential. The smallness of this width is qualitatively understood as the result of the three-body decay being ``third forbidden''. The concept of $\ell$ forbiddenness and the threshold behavior of a three-body decay are further studied in connection with the $\pi NN$ decay of the dibaryon $d'(J^\pi=0^-, T=0 or 2)$ where the idea of unfavorness has to be introduced. The implications of these results are briefly discussed.Comment: 15 pages, RevTeX, two-column journal style, six figure

Extension of the sum rule for the transition rates between multiplets to the multiphoton case

The sum rule for the transition rates between the components of two multiplets, known for the one-photon transitions, is extended to the multiphoton transitions in hydrogen and hydrogen-like ions. As an example the transitions 3p-2p, 4p-3p and 4d-3d are considered. The numerical results are compared with previous calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 4 table

From Lurker to Active Participant

The original publication is available from www.springerlink.com. Sloep, P. B., & Kester, L. (2009). From Lurker to Active Participant. In R. Koper (Ed)., Learning Network Services for Professional Development (pp. 17-26). Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag.In this chapter we will specifically go into the question of how prospective Learning Network users may be convinced of these benefits, for that is likely to be the necessary condition for their active participation in any Learning Network. Their question would be ‘Why should I participate?’, this chapter inventories an-swers to that question, which are then translated into a few guidelines for those contemplating to set up a particular, topic-bound Learning Network. Two kinds of answer are distinguished. Proximate answers, which affect the decision to partici-pate here and now; and ultimate answers, which motivate participation, but only in the long run, after the decision to participate has already been taken. Both are im-portant, the former to persuade people to participate, the latter to persuade people to keep participating. Before going into them, we’ll introduce a concrete example to add some realism to the discussion.The work on this publication has been sponsored in part by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

How parents perceive and feel about participation in community activities: The comparison between parents of preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorders

The present study compared how parents of preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) perceived and felt about participation in community activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 380 Hong Kong parents of preschoolers with ASD and 214 Hong Kong parents of preschoolers without ASD. The two groups were not different in their willingness and frequency of participation in community activities. However, the psychological processes underneath their willingness were very different. Among the parents of preschoolers with ASD, their willingness was associated with how they perceived the difficulty and importance of the participation and what emotions they experienced during the activities. This pattern of association was not evident among the parents of preschoolers without ASD. Copyright © The Author(s), 2010.published_or_final_versio

Improving the power-delay performance in subthreshold source-coupled logic circuits

Subthreshold source-coupled logic (STSCL) circuits can be used in design of low-voltage and ultra-low power digital systems. This article introduces and analyzes new techniques for implementing complex digital systems using STSCL gates with an improved power-delay product (PDP) based on source-follower output stages. A test chip has been manufactured in a conventional digital 0.18$\mu$m CMOS technology to evaluate the performance of the proposed STSCL circuit, and speed and PDP improvements by a factor of up to 2.4 were demonstrated

A contingent model of network utilization in early financing of technology ventures

Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social network ties as opposed to market methods in early venture finance, but it has largely understated the potential limitations and costs of doing so. Specifically, very sparse research has examined the factors that influence entrepreneurs' choice between using networks versus market methods. In this study, we propose a contingent model of network utilization when approaching initial investors, based on the dimensions of human capital of the entrepreneurs. We test this model with primary field survey data from 226 new high-tech ventures in Singapore and Beijing. The results show that high occupational status and relevant industrial work experience are positively associated with the entrepreneurs' propensity to utilize existing networks by enhancing the resourcefulness of their network ties (social capital); however, such influences are alleviated by entrepreneurs' marketing or managerial experience, which increases the entrepreneurs' ability to interact with strangers (an aspect of social competence)