Međudjelovanje četiri-razinskog atoma u impulsnom svojstvenom stanju s jednomodnim poljem

We study the interaction between a four-level atom (ladder type) in a momentum eigenstate with a single mode cavity field in the presence of non-linearities of both the field and the intensity-dependent coupling. The constants of motion and the wave function for the atomic system have been obtained. Special attention is given to discuss some statistical aspects of the considered atomic system such as momentum increment, momentum diffusion and high-order squeezing. The influence of the Kerr-like medium and the intensity dependent coupling on the momentum increment and the high-order squeezing are investigated numerically. It is found that addition of these parameters has an important effect on both the momentum increment and the squeezing phenomenon.Proučavamo međudjelovanje četiri-razinskog atoma (poput ljestvi) u impulsnom svojstvenom stanju s jednomodnim poljem u rezonatoru, uz nelinearnosti polja i vezanja ovisnog o intenzitetu. Izveli smo stalnice gibanja valne funkcije atomskog sustava. Posebnu smo pažnju posvetili raspravi o statističkim odlikama razmatranog atomskog sustava, kao što su povećanje i difuzija impulsa i zbijanje višeg reda. Numerički smo istražili utjecaj Kerrovog sredstva i vezanja ovisnog o intenzitetu na povećanje impulsa i zbijanje višeg reda. Našli smo da dodavanje tih parametara ima snažan učinak na povećanje impulsa i pojavu zbijanja

Isogeometric analysis for functionally graded microplates based on modified couple stress theory

Analysis of static bending, free vibration and buckling behaviours of functionally graded microplates is investigated in this study. The main idea is to use the isogeometric analysis in associated with novel four-variable refined plate theory and quasi-3D theory. More importantly, the modified couple stress theory with only one material length scale parameter is employed to effectively capture the size-dependent effects within the microplates. Meanwhile, the quasi-3D theory which is constructed from a novel seventh-order shear deformation refined plate theory with four unknowns is able to consider both shear deformations and thickness stretching effect without requiring shear correction factors. The NURBS-based isogeometric analysis is integrated to exactly describe the geometry and approximately calculate the unknown fields with higher-order derivative and continuity requirements. The convergence and verification show the validity and efficiency of this proposed computational approach in comparison with those existing in the literature. It is further applied to study the static bending, free vibration and buckling responses of rectangular and circular functionally graded microplates with various types of boundary conditions. A number of investigations are also conducted to illustrate the effects of the material length scale, material index, and length-to-thickness ratios on the responses of the microplates.Comment: 57 pages, 14 figures, 18 table

Deficit irrigation for improving the postharvest quality of lowland tomato fruits

Arable lands are facing serious water scarcity due to climate change and available resources are depleting at an alarming rate which necessitate efficient use of water for agriculture. Deficit irrigation is an on farm strategy which is widely used in many crops to maximise crop productivity in drought prone areas. The present study was initiated to assess the effect of deficit irrigation at different growth stages of tomato (lycopersicon esculentum) on yield and fruit quality traits under greenhouse condition. Four regimes of irrigation: (T1) regular watering to field capacity (as control), (T2) irrigation every four days during vegetative stage, (T3) irrigation every four days throughout flowering stage and (T4) irrigation every four days during fruiting stage were evaluated in this study. The experiment was set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Data were collected from three fruit maturity stages: M3 (stage three, matured green), M4 (stage four, pink) and M6 (stage six, red) for yield, fruit weight, fruit number and the fruit quality parameters viz, firmness, soluble solids concentration, titratable acidity, pH, ascorbic acid and lycopene content. The results showed variable effects of deficit irrigation on most parameters studied. Soluble solids concentration were significantly increased under deficit irrigation at the flowering stage and increased from 5.25 brix (control) to 7.7 brix (fruiting) at stage three maturity index. The pH increased from 3.83 (control) to 3.97 (flowering) and 3.94 (fruiting) when fruits were harvested at stage three maturity index. In addition, the highest fruit firmness (3.4 N) was observed when fruit was harvested at stage three maturity under deficit irrigation (vegetative growth stage). Furthermore, lycopene content increased from 62.06 mg/kg in control plants to 67.91 mg/kg in plants which subjected to DI (vegetative) at stage six maturity index. However, water stress had no significant effect on titratable acidity, ascorbic acid and fruit weight. From the observations of this study, it can be concluded that T3 and T4 were adequately appropriate DI practices for MT1 tomato plants that could be recommended to tomato growers as deficit irrigation strategy for higher yield and quality

An analysis of safety perception in the street of Kuala Lumpur

Urban safety is an important focus area of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and New Urban Agenda (NUA) were developed. Safe City Programme were introduced in Malaysia in 2004 in parallel with DG 11 that aiming on making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for the citizens. Safe street contributes to a better quality of life and have been identified as important factor in contributing to a walkable and sustainable city. A safe, vibrant life initiate an active public realm where streets re seen as urban spaces. Pedestrian are encourage to walk when the environment is safe and accessible. Safety perception is the main focus of this research where case study approach is adopted. A mixed method was designed in order to fully evaluate and assess the phenomenon. 150 questionnaires were distributed randomly among pedestrian at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur and structured observation were performed. Triangulation of both statistical and thematic analysis were conducted and findings from this study revealed that both physical and social elements does contribute to safety perception. Findings demonstrate that as far as sustainable city is concerned, all aspect are crucial and need to be addressed. The aim of this paper is to assess the characteristic of a street in contributing to safety perception

Cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of Annona muricata aqueous leaves extract against dengue virus type 2

In this study, Annona muricata aqueous leaves extract was tested against dengue virus type 2. Firstly, the cytotoxicity of A. muricata was evaluated using a cell viability assay. The cytotoxicity of A. muricata on Vero cells was tested and the value of cytotoxic concentration, CC50 was ~2.5 mg/ml and the 50% Effective Concentration, EC50 was ~ 0.20 mg/ml. Selectivity index of extract against DENV-2 was more than 10 indicating potential as antiviral agent. Cells were pre- and post-treated with the extract and the viral inhibitory effect was investigated by observing the morphological changes, which were further confirmed the cellular viability evaluated by MTT technique. The results revealed that the post-treatment was more effective in inhibiting viral replication compared to pre-treatment. The findings indicated that A. muricata has good potential for prospective nature-based antiviral drug.Keywords: DENV-2, Annona muricata; Vero cells; MTT technique; antiviral dru

Influence of citronella and chlorpyrifos on Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) and Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) infesting rabbit carcasses

Influence of citronella and chlorpyrifos on oviposition and duration for completing life cycles for Chrysomya megacephala and Chrysomya rufifacies infesting decomposing rabbit carcasses was studied. Male rabbit carcasses (n = 12) were equally divided into control, citronella-and chlorpyrifos–treated groups, and left to decompose for 14 consecutive days. C. megacephala was the first necrophagous fly oviposited in all control and citronella-treated carcasses followed by C. rufifacies. Although initial oviposition of C. megacephala was delayed (4-6 hours) in citronella-treated carcasses (P < 0.05), prolongation in completing its life cycle was not observed. Neither delayed initial oviposition nor prolonged life cycle for C. rufifacies in citronella-treated carcasses was observed. Oviposition was delayed for chlorpyrifos-treated carcasses (0.42 g/L), and eclosion of eggs remained unsuccessful. The findings deserve consideration because these chemicals are easily accessible and can be used by cunning criminals to confuse forensic entomologists while estimating minimum postmortem interval

Development of Kaya Slice (coconut jam slice): evaluation of physicochemical, sensory evaluation and macronutrients composition when cooperated with gelatin

Kaya Slice is a nutritious traditional breakfast-on-the-go that was innovated from the traditional kaya. In this study, the traditional kaya was transformed into square shape gelatin to make it a more convenient and ready-to-eat breakfast. A total of six formulations were developed by using commercial and fresh coconut milk together with different percentages of gelatin (2%, 4%, and 6%). This insight was investigated by sensory evaluation using a 9-point hedonic and scoring test in descriptive data set. The best formulation obtained from the evaluation of 35 panellists was then characterized in terms of physicochemical properties (Texture Profile Analysis (firmness), Brix, Protein, Fat, Fiber, and Calories). From the descriptive data, all formulations were accepted by the panellist. Nevertheless, ANOVA analysis indicated that C2 (commercial coconut milk + 4% of gelatin) is the best formulation. In macronutrient analysis, Kaya Slice was found to have good dietary fibre content (0.11 g/100 g), high-fat content (0.49 g/100 g), protein content (0.32 g/100 g) compare to the commercial kaya (0.00 g/100 g), (1.00 g/100 g), and (0.00 g/100 g) respectively. Low-calorie content in Kaya Slice with 45 % of °Brix value is the minimal degree of Brix and the texture was softer (hardness) (significantly different (p<0.05)) to commercially processed cheese slice as standard. Overall, Kaya Slice has a great potential in becoming new emergent of traditional nutritious breakfast on the go

Dynamic mechanical analysis and morphology of petroleum-based and bio-epoxy foams with wood filler

Current challenges highlight the need for polymer research using renewable natural sources as a substitute for petroleum-based polymers. In this study, consequently, the fabrication of green polyurethane (PU) foams and its composites is to be demonstrated dependent on synthesis in the laboratory scale of hydroxylated bio-epoxy (B) and petroleum-based synthetic-epoxy (E), crosslinker and wood fillers. Polyurethane foams were modified with two type of wood fiber fillers, powder (P) and flakes (L) with specific percentage ratios of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 %wt. Bio-epoxy (B) and synthetic-epoxy (E) foam and its composite were exposed to UV irradiation for a period of 2000 hours and 4000 hours by UV Whetherometer apparatus. The morphology structure and viscoelastic properties such as storage modulus, E', damping behavior, ta

Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-Based Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) Stock Forecasting Model

The prediction of stocks in the stock market is important in investment as it would help the investor to time buy and sell transactions to maximize profits. In this paper, a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-based Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) model was used to predict the prices of the Apple Inc. weekly stock prices over a time horizon of 1995 to 2013. The NARX model belongs is a system identification model that constructs a mathematical model from the dynamic input/output readings of the system, and predicts the future behaviour of the system based on the constructed mathematical model. The One Step Ahead (OSA) and correlation tests were used to test validate the model. Results demonstrate the predictive ability of the model while producing Gaussian residuals (indicating the validity of the model)