Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Characteristics Of Extreme Precipitation And Their Effect On Bean Yield In Rwanda, Paul Ts Limbu Sr

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This study examines the characteristics of extreme precipitation and its effect on bean yield in Rwanda from 1981 to 2017. Over the study area, two rainy seasons, March to May (MAM) and September to December (SOND), account for approximately 80% of total rainfall. The spatial distribution of rainfall over Rwanda revealed that the first three EOF modes of MAM rainfall vary by 72.72 percent over the study period, while the first three EOF modes of SOND rainfall vary by 57.48 percent. The spatial analysis of extreme precipitation reveals that during wet years, the majority of the country's western regions receive …

Filtering Effect On Rssi-Based Indoor Localization Methods, Kwame S. Ibwe

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Indoor positioning systems are used to locate and track objects in an indoor environment. Distance estimation is done using received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of radio frequency signals. However, RSSI is prone to noise and interference which can greatly affect the accuracy performance of the system. In this paper Internet of Things (IoT) technologies like low energy Bluetooth (BLE), WiFi, LoRaWAN and ZigBee are used to obtain indoor positioning. Adopting the existing trilateration and positioning algorithms, the Kalman, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Particle filtering methods are employed to denoise the received RSSI signals to improve positioning accuracy. Experimental results …

The Metaverse: A Virtual World In The Palm Of Your Hand, Ziad Doughan, Hadi Al Mubasher, Mustafa El Bizri, Ali Haidar

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

This paper explores the actual and future impact of the Metaverse as a virtual space. Thus, it focuses the probe on the technical challenges that face this everlasting emerging technology. Today, the Metaverse presents a digital environment to build collective architecture and historical heritage in a virtual space. In this digital world, the modeling and design methodology is based on individual archetypes that can puzzle new elements. Currently, traditional methods require change and adaptation in both the education and work market, especially due to the remote-work integration in the last few years. For example, many components are required to build …

Structural And Magneto Conductivity Studies Of Nio/Smba2cu3o7-Δ Superconducting Composite, Hadi Basma, Sajida Rmeid, Ramadan Awad, Mohammed Said

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

In this work, we investigate the effect of NiO nanoparticles' addition on the structure, superconductivity, and magneto conductivity for the SmBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ phase. Composite nano/superconductor of (NiO)_x/SmBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (0.00≤x≤0.12 wt.%) were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction technique and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The orthorhombic structure was maintained whereas the lattice parameters showed unsystematic variations with the NiO nanoparticles addition. The superconducting transition temperature T_c, determined from electrical resistivity measurements, showed an enhancement with x up to 0.04wt.% followed by a reduction …

Palladium (Ii)-Catalyzed Selective Reduction Of 4’-(Phenylethynl)Acetophenone In The Presence Of A Formic Acid-Triethylamine Mixture, Suzanne Chayya, Akram Hijazi, Anis Daou, Ali Alaaeddine, Mohamad Sakr, Ghassan Younes, Mohammad El-Dakdouki

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

An efficient and straightforward palladium acetylacetonate-catalyzed hydrogen transfer of 4'- (phenylethynyl)acetophenone was developed in this study. Formic Acid was found to be the best hydrogen source in this catalytic system in the presence of triethylamine. Excellent conversions and selectivity were obtained in reducing the starting internal aromatic alkyne to either (E)-1-(4- styrylphenyl)ethanone or an interesting cyclic product, 1-(phenanthrene-3-yl)ethenone, over the ketone functional group present. Over-reduction was rarely seen. The reaction conditions were optimized in terms of the choice of the palladium catalyst, temperature, solvent, and the H-donor/base combination. Using this catalytic system, a one-step synthetic pathway of the …

Effects Of Bisphenol A And Nicotine On Cytochrome P450s In Brain And Liver Of Pregnant Rats, Mohammad Merii, Manal Fardon, Mahmoud Khalil

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Bisphenol A (BPA), a widely used chemical, is associated with endocrine disruption through its interactions with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). BPA crosses into the human body mostly through migration from plastic packaging into the daily diet. AhR regulates the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs), including numerous CYP450s, and mediates xenobiotic reactions. This study aims at examining how the expression of CYP450s expression is affected, in the brain and liver of pregnant rats, by exposure to BPA and nicotine. Pregnant female Sprague-Dawley dams were exposed to increasing doses of BPA; 0 (control), 50, 500, and 5000 g/kg/day , or in …

Isolation And Characterization Of Cellulose Degrading Microorganisms Generating Electricity Using Microbial Fuel Cell, Lama Fayad, Rania Amer, Ahmad Abd El Nabi, Ali Hammoud, Hoda Yusef

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Global warming and the accumulation of organic waste constitute a serious environmental problem. Therefore, microbial fuel cells (MFC) are an eco-friendly device that have significant capability for the production of electricity using biodegradable waste as fuel. Microorganisms used as catalysts in the anode compartment, execute a principal function in operating MFCs. The present study was conducted to isolate and to screen potential bioelectricity generating microorganisms from dumpsite soil samples and also to construct a domestic dual-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC). Streptomyces fimicarius was found to be the best isolate for the degradation of cellulose and the production of bioelectricity. The …

Concrete Mix Design Using Abrams And Bolomey Methods, Salem Abdelgader, Marzena Kurpinska, Hakim Abdelgader, Jamal Khatib

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

This research studied concrete design methods. To design concrete using two methods, including the Abrams law and the modified Bolomey method. Concrete with assumed compressive strength 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 MPa was researched. The research was conducted in the laboratory using two types of samples: cubic 15x15x15cm for compressive strength tests and cylinders ϕ-15cm, h-30cm for the splitting strength tests using the Brazilian method.

The analysis of the cement content in the composition of 1m3 of the mixture showed very large differences depending on the calculation method used. The cement content calculated according to the Abrams method ranged …

Famaid: A Tool For Aiding People With Disability, Mohamad Maad, Ahmad Owaydate, Mohammad Kojok, Firas Aboudaher, Layal Abu Daher, May Itani

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

People with disabilities suffer from discrimination and obstacles that restrict them from participating in society on an equal basis with others every day. They are deprived of their rights to be included in ordinary school systems and even in the work market. In the process of raising awareness, facilitating dailyroutines, and developing guidance, the idea of assisting such people with handy tools/software arose and was implemented in the FamAid tool. FamAid offers people with hearing disability the opportunity to be engaged in the society through many facilities. In this work, we implemented a web application that serves as a community …

Historical Tsunami Observability For Izu–Bonin–Mariana Sources, Walter Szeliga, Rachelle Reisinger, Breanyn T. Macinnes

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The Izu–Bonin–Mariana Subduction System (IBM) is one of the longest subduction zones in the world with no instrumental history of shallow focus, great earthquakes (Mw > 8). Over the last 50 years, researchers have speculated on the reason for the absence of large magnitude, shallow seismicity on this plate interface, exploring factors from plate age to convergence rate. We approach the question from a different point of view: what if the IBM has hosted great earthquakes and no documentable evidence was left? To address the question of observability, we model expected tsunami wave heights from nine great earthquake scenarios on the …

Feasibility Studies For Use Of Copper Slag In Clinker Manufacture, Suresh Vanguri, Suresh Palla, Gonthi Prasad, Sanjeev Kumar Chaturvedi, Bibekananda Mohapatra

Makara Journal of Science

This study investigated the feasibility of using copper slag (CS-C) as a raw material in the production of Portland cement (PC). The effect of addition of 0%-3.5% CS-C on the clinkerization process, mineralogy, microstructure, and compressive strength development was studied. The Presence of CS-C in the raw mix resulted in the reduced temperature of clinkerization by about 50 °C. The quality of clinker prepared from the raw mix containing 3% CS-C and burned at 1400 °C was comparable to that of clinker prepared from the raw mix containing no CS-C and burned at 1450 °C. Gradual polymorphic modification of alite …

Parton Distribution Functions For Pseudoscalar Mesons In The Confining Effective Chiral Quark Theory, Parada Tobel Paraduan Hutauruk, Seung-Il Nam

Makara Journal of Science

This review paper presents the gluon, sea, and valence quark distributions of the pseudoscalar (PS) mesons. The calculations of the parton structure of PS mesons are performed using the Bethe-Salpeter equation—Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (BSE-NJL) model, which offers a clear description of the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (D SB) of the low-energy non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD), with the help of the Schwinger proper-time regularization scheme that simulates the color QCD confinement. Our results for the dynamical quark mass—which emerged from the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking (S SB)—are generated via the chiral condensate in the chiral limit and beyond. Results for the valence parton …

Examining Early Elementary Computer Science Identity Repertoires Within A Curriculum: Implications For Epistemologically Pluralistic Identities, Eleanor Richard, Shakhnoza Kayumova

Journal of Computer Science Integration

As computer science (CS) enters an increasing number of elementary classrooms, researchers must investigate the representations of what kinds of people are presented as doing computer science within CS curricula. In this paper, we explore a widely used, freely accessible, web-based, early elementary CS curriculum to examine the kinds of identity repertoires (behaviors, actions, skills, and socioemotional norms) that are promoted as representative of being/becoming a CS person. More specifically, we draw on identity studies and employ critical discourse analysis to examine how the kinds of norms and repertoires of CS practice made available in the curricular materials might construct …

Hybrid Artificial Bee Colony And Improved Simulatedannealing For The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem, Farhanna Mar'i, Hafidz Ubaidillah, Wayan Firdaus Mahmudy, Ahmad Afif Supianto

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is a type of NP-Hard combinatorial problem that requires a high computational process. In the case of CVRP, there is an additional constraint in the form of a capacity limit owned by the vehicle, so the complexity of the problem from CVRP is to find the optimum route pattern for minimizing travel costs which are also adjusted to customer demand and vehicle capacity for distribution. One method of solving CVRP can be done by implementing a meta-heuristic algorithm. In this research, two meta-heuristic algorithms have been hybridized: Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) with Improved Simulated Annealing …

An Accurate Real-Time Method For Face Mask Detectionusing Cnn And Svm, Shili Hechmi

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

Infectious respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, pose a significant challenge to humanity and a potential threat to life due to their severity and rapid spread. Using a surgical mask is among the most significant safety precautions that can help keep this sort of pandemic from spreading, and manual monitoring of large crowds in public places for face masks is problematic. In this research, we suggest a real-time approach for face mask detection. First, we use a multi-scale deep neural network to extract features. As a result, the attributes are better suited for training the detection system. We employ SVM post-processing in …

Indonesian Language Term Extraction Using Multi-Task Neural Network, Joan Santoso, Esther Irawati Setiawan, Fransiskus Xaverius Ferdinandus, Gunawan Gunawan, Leonel Hernandez Collantes

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

The rapidly expanding size of data makes it difficult to extricate information and store it as computerized knowledge. Relation extraction and term extraction play a crucial role in resolving this issue. Automatically finding a concealed relationship between terms that appear in the text can help people build computer-based knowledge more quickly. Term extraction is required as one of the components because identifying terms that play a significant role in the text is the essential step before determining their relationship. We propose an end-to-end system capable of extracting terms from text to address this Indonesian language issue. Our method combines two …

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System For Waste Prediction, Haviluddin Haviluddin, Herman Santoso Pakpahan, Novianti Puspitasari, Gubtha Mahendra Putra, Rima Yustika Hasnida, Rayner Alfred

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

The volume of landfills that are increasingly piled up and not handled properly will have a negative impact, such as a decrease in public health. Therefore, predicting the volume of landfills with a high degree of accuracy is needed as a reference for government agencies and the community in making future policies. This study aims to analyze the accuracy of the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) method. The prediction results' accuracy level is measured by the value of the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The final results of this study were obtained from the best MAPE test results. The best …

Associated Patterns In Open-Ended Concept Maps Within E-Learning, Didik Dwi Prasetya, Tsukasa Hirasama

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

A concept map is a diagram that visualizes the structure of individual cognitive knowledge. An approach to creating a concept map structure that allows users to contribute concepts and linkages that express their understanding freely is known as an "open-ended concept map." It has been demonstrated that an open-ended concept map accurately depicts student knowledge structures and reveals student differences. However, manually analyzing an open-ended map is difficult, time-consuming, and includes many propositions, especially in a big classroom. Educational data mining could be used to further process and analyze a collection of concept maps. However, many works attempted to employ …

Prevalence And Plasmid Profiles Of Enterobacteriaceae Isolates Obtained From Individuals With Asymptomatic Bacteriuria In Okada, Edo State, Nigeria, Osarumwense Precious Otote, Maureen Uchechukwu Okwu, Osazee Ekundayo Izevbuwa, Happy Ovuerhi Oferiofe

Makara Journal of Science

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is the presence of bacteria in apparently healthy individuals. Although, the prevalence varies widely with age, gender, and the presence or absence of genitourinary abnormalities, the detection of pathogenic bacteria in urine constitutes firm evidence of infection. The objectives of this study were to isolate members of the family Enterobacteriaceae from urine samples of research participants, and to determine the antibacterial susceptibility and plasmid profiles of the isolates. A total of 122 mid-stream urine samples consisting of 72 male and 50 female participants from selected primary and secondary schools were collected. The age of the participants used …

Utilization Of Biopertalite For Fuel Efficiency And Reduction In Co And Co2 Gas Emissions In Four-Wheel Motor Vehicles, Ridwan Iskandar, Hadiyanto Hadiyanto, Suherman Suherman, Zainul Akmar Zakaria

Makara Journal of Technology

Emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) gases are the main problem that must be rectified as they are harmful and contribute to global warming through the greenhouse gas effect. In Indonesia, motor vehicles, especially four wheelers, are one of the biggest contributors with up to 71 million tons of CO2 emissions and energy consumption of 179 million barrel of oil equivalent. Bioethanol has octane rating >100, which is higher than that of gasoline; and emission contribution of only 0.02 kg/L, which is lower than that from gasoline (2.23 kg/L). Accordingly, a mixture of gasoline and bioethanol is …

Influence Of Waist Circumference Measurement Site On Visceral Fat And Metabolic Risk In Youth, Sojung Lee, Yejin Kim, Minsub Han

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although the rate of childhood obesity seems to have plateaued in recent years, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents remains high. Childhood obesity is a major public health concern as overweight and obese youth suffer from many co-morbid conditions once considered exclusive to adults. It is now well demonstrated that abdominal obesity as measured by waist circumference (WC) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and metabolic dysfunction in youth. Despite the strong associations between WC and cardiometabolic risk factors, there is no consensus regarding the optimal WC measurement sites to assess abdominal obesity and obesity-related health …

Ancient Great Wall Building Materials Reveal Environmental Changes Associated With Oases In Northwestern China, Robert Patalano, Jing Hu, Qin Leng, Weiguo Liu, Huanye Wang, Patrick Roberts, Michael Storozum, Lin Yang, Hong Yang

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Plant materials used in the construction of segments and beacon towers of the ancient Great Wall in northwestern China contain untapped potential for revealing local paleoclimatic and environmental conditions. For the first time, we characterize the molecular preservation and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of AMS-dated common reeds (Phragmites) collected from ancient Great Wall fascines in today’s Gansu and Xinjiang using a combination of chromatographic techniques and isotope analyses. Our molecular data, along with Scanning Electron Microscopy, demonstrate excellent preservation of these ancient reeds, which were harvested from nearby habitats during periods of significant expansion of Imperial …

Perspectives On Determinism In Quantum Mechanics: Born, Bohm, And The “Quantal Newtonian” Laws, Viraht Sahni

Publications and Research

Quantum mechanics has a deterministic Schrödinger equation for the wave function. The Göttingen–Copenhagen statistical interpretation is based on the Born Rule that interprets the wave function as a “probability amplitude.” A precept of this interpretation is the lack of determinism in quantum mechanics. The Bohm interpretation is that the wave function is a source of a field experienced by the electrons, thereby attributing determinism to quantum theory. In this paper, we present a new perspective on such determinism. The ideas are based on the equations of motion or “Quantal Newtonian” Laws obeyed by each electron. These Laws, derived from …

Atom-Specific Probing Of Electron Dynamics In An Atomic Adsorbate By Time-Resolved X-Ray Spectroscopy, Simon Schreck, Elias Diesen, Martina Dell'angela, Chang Liu, Matthew Weston, Flavio Capotondi, Hirohito Ogasawara, Jerry Larue, Roberto Costantini, Martin Beye, Piter S. Miedema, Joakim Halldin Stenlid, Jörgen Gladh, Boyang Liu, Hsin-Yi Wang, Fivos Perakis, Filippo Cavalca, Sergey Koroidov, Peter Amann, Emanuele Pedersoli, Denys Naumenko, Ivaylo Nikolov, Lorenzo Raimondi, Frank Abild-Pedersen, Tony F. Heinz, Johannes Voss, Alan C. Luntz, Anders Nilsson

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The electronic excitation occurring on adsorbates at ultrafast timescales from optical lasers that initiate surface chemical reactions is still an open question. Here, we report the ultrafast temporal evolution of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) of a simple well-known adsorbate prototype system, namely carbon (C) atoms adsorbed on a nickel [Ni(100)] surface, following intense laser optical pumping at 400 nm. We observe ultrafast (∼100  fs) changes in both XAS and XES showing clear signatures of the formation of a hot electron-hole pair distribution on the adsorbate. This is followed by slower changes on a few picoseconds …

2022 December 29 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Ecological Protection Alone Is Not Enough To Conserve Ecosystem Carbon Storage: Evidence From Guangdong, China, Lihan Cui, Wenwen Tang, Sheng Zheng, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The increase in atmospheric CO₂ caused by land use and land cover change (LUCC) is one of the drivers of the global climate. As one of the most typical high-urbanization areas, the ecological conflicts occurring in Guangdong Province warrant urgent attention. A growing body of evidence suggests LUCC could guide the future ecosystem carbon storage, but most LUCC simulations are simply based on model results without full consistency with the actual situation. Fully combined with the territorial spatial planning project and based on the land use pattern in 2010 and 2020, we have used the Markov and Patch-generating Land …

Rapid Bacterial And Fungal Successional Dynamics In First Year After Chaparral Wildfire, M. Fabiola Pulido-Chavez, James W. J. Randolph, Cassandra A. Zalman, Loralee Larios, Peter M. Homyak, Sydney I. Glassman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The rise in wildfire frequency and severity across the globe has increased interest in secondary succession. However, despite the role of soil microbial communities in controlling biogeochemical cycling and their role in the regeneration of post-fire vegetation, the lack of measurements immediately post-fire and at high temporal resolution has limited understanding of microbial secondary succession. To fill this knowledge gap, we sampled soils at 17, 25, 34, 67, 95, 131, 187, 286, and 376 days after a southern California wildfire in fire-adapted chaparral shrublands. We assessed bacterial and fungal biomass with qPCR of 16S and 18S and richness and composition …

Brooks' Theorem For 2-Fold Coloring, Jacob A. White

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The two-fold chromatic number of a graph is the minimum number of colors needed to ensure that there is a way to color the graph so that each vertex gets two distinct colors, and adjacent vertices have no colors in common. The Ore degree is the maximum sum of degrees of an edge in a graph. We prove that, for 2-connected graphs, the two-fold chromatic number is at most the Ore degree, unless G is a complete graph or an odd cycle.

Short Term Energy Consumption Forecasting Using Neural Basis Expansion Analysis For Interpretable Time Series, Abdul Khalique Shaikh, Amril Nazir, Imran Khan, Abdul Salam Shah

All Works

Smart grids and smart homes are getting people's attention in the modern era of smart cities. The advancements of smart technologies and smart grids have created challenges related to energy efficiency and production according to the future demand of clients. Machine learning, specifically neural network-based methods, remained successful in energy consumption prediction, but still, there are gaps due to uncertainty in the data and limitations of the algorithms. Research published in the literature has used small datasets and profiles of primarily single users; therefore, models have difficulties when applied to large datasets with profiles of different customers. Thus, a smart …

An Eolian Dust Origin For Clastic Fines Of Devono-Mississippian Mudrocks Of The Greater North American Midcontinent, Austin J. Mcglannan, Alicia Bonar, Lily Pfeifer, Sebastian Steinig, Paul Valdes, Steven Adams, David Duarte, Benmadi Milad, Andrew Cullen, Gerilyn S. Soreghan

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

Upper Devonian and Lower–Middle Mississippian strata of the North American midcontinent are ubiquitously fine-grained and silt-rich, comprising both so-called shale as well as argillaceous limestone (or calcareous siltstone) that accumulated in the Laurentian epeiric sea. Although long recognized as recording marine deposition, the origin and transport of the fine-grained siliciclastic material in these units remains enigmatic because they do not connect to any proximal deltaic feeder systems. Here, we present new data on grain size, whole-rock geochemistry, mineralogy, and U-Pb detrital-zircon geochronology from units across Oklahoma; we then integrate these data with models of surface wind circulation, refined paleogeographic reconstructions, …