Big Ones Research Articles

Coagulation and capture of fine particles in the coupling system of corona discharge and embedded turbulence

Fine particles with the size below 1 μm are difficult to be captured with the traditional dust removal devices because of their poor charge capacity and filterability. Using the agglomeration pretreatment can realize the fine particles growth, then facilitating the capture process. In this study, a novel system with the combination of corona discharge and embedded turbulence was put forward. The results showed that the device can agglomerate the smaller particles into bigger ones, and the maximum decrease of number concentration for small particles can reach 40% in the bipolar corona discharge condition. The median diameters of fine particles can be improved by 47% maximumly in the condition of arrangement of turbulence bars and loopholes with a lower flow velocity. The simulated calculation and pilot scale test were conducted and the results were consistent with experimental conclusions.

Capturing the Experiences of Samoa: The Changing Food Environment and Food Security in Samoa during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Capturing the Experiences of Samoa: The Changing Food Environment and Food Security in Samoa during the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 Pandemic

Learning Through Mistakes and Praying They’re Not Big Ones

Learning Through Mistakes and Praying They’re Not Big Ones

Discussing about innovation of planification at coal mining companies in Vinacomin in the current context

Planification is the first function of management process. It has important role to guide and coordinate the other works of enterprise. Coal mining companies in Vinacomin are big ones, operating in the parent companies – subsidiary companies model, so the planification is more important. But these companies have operated from planification mechanism to market mechanism, so planification of them also has some weakness which be effected by habit or experience from old mechanism. Furthermore now Vietnamese Coal Market have had lots changes. The Government is also having the guide to establish and develop Vietnamese Coal Market. So it is essential to innovate planification of coal mining companies in Vinacomin to be suitable with the current context. The paper use some research methods such as theoretical research method; statistical method,… to clarifi necessity of innovating planification of coal mining companies in Vinacomin; establishing theoretical frame work about innovation planification of companies; guiding to innovate planification of coal mining companies in Vinacomin in the current context.

The Greek Archipelago: A Unique Representative Case-Study of Differential Legal Status and of Double Insularity

Greece’s insular space results into the birth of a unique case of double insularity in Europe where smaller islands act as satellites of bigger ones and depend upon them much more than on the mainland. Adoption of laws, public policies, the organization of public administration and the issue of administrative acts take into account this condition. The implementation of the principle of insularity is analyzed and clarified through two case-studies, law 4361/2016 on the “Regulation of issues concerning the transfers of soldiers, personnel care and other provisions” as well as law 4551/2018 on the “Implementation mechanism, state supervision, general conditions for the implementation of the transport equivalent. Insularity should not be considered as a reason for providing unjustifiable rights and privileges, but as a principle which should be taken into consideration and respected by the legislator and the administration in order to overcome the vulnerability of the islanders and counterbalance for the harsh conditions suffered due to geographic isolation.

Mantle Partial Melting and Melt‐peridotite Interaction: A Case Study of Peridotite Xenoliths in Cenozoic Basalt of Nanjing, SE China

AbstractThe peridotite xenoliths are widely distributed in the Cenozoic basalts, Eastern China. However, their petrogenesis is hotly controversial. The peridotite xenoliths of Nanjing are found embedded in Cenozoic alkali basalt. Most of the xenoliths are rounded and small to moderate in size (typically 5∼10 cm in diameter), though larger ones have been found. Nearly all small xenoliths are harzburgite and dunite. However, the big ones have zoned structure: lherzolite core and harzburgite or dunite rim with new growth clinopyroxene (Cpx) as eyeliner along their margins. Petrology, mineralogy, and Major and trace element compositions of the Nanjing peridotite xenoliths in the Cenozoic basalts are measured to provide an insight into the nature of their mantle sources and processes. Our works suggest that they were suffered from a partial melting process and subsequently underwent a process of melt‐peridotite interaction. The evidences of partial melting are as follows. Firstly, the lherzolite core is mostly composed of olivine (Ol) + orthopyroxene (Opx) + Cpx with minor spinel (Spl), however, the harzburgite or dunite rim is mostly complosed of Ol + Opx with minor Cpx. Secondly, from the lherzolite core to the harzburgite or dunite rim, Ol and Opx contents are gradually increased, inversely, Cpx contents are decreased, and the Spl disappears. Thirdly, Mg# values of Ol are increased from the core (∼89.5) to the rim (&gt;92) of the peridotite xenolith, but FeO contents (from 11.0 to 8.1) in Ol are opposite. Forthly, Mg# (from 90 to 93) and Cr# (from 4 to 17) values of the Opx are increased, but its Al2O3 contents (from 5.0 to 2.0) are decreased from the core to the rim. The evidences of melt‐peridotite interaction are mostly from clinopyroxenes. The clinopyroxenes can roughly divided into two groups: original clinopyroxenes of the peridotite and new growth clinopyroxenes generated by melt‐peridotite interaction. The original clinopyroxenes are generally in the inner of peridotite xenoliths such as lherzolite. They are mostly coarse‐grained, euhedral and bottle‐green. However, the new growth clinopyroxenes generally occur as eyeliner along the margin of the peridotite xenoliths. They are generally fine‐grained, irregular and light green. Compared with the original clinopyroxenes, the new growth ones have low Na2O and Al2O3 and high CaO contents. The Nanjing peridotite xenoliths in the Cenozoic alkali basalts suggest that the SCLM beneath eastern China might be a fertile mantle which has had a complex history, and is now a mixture of refractory and fertile mantle domains modified by a number of events.

Correlation functions in mixtures with energetically favoured nearest neighbours of different kind: a size-asymmetric case

Binary mixtures of hard spheres with different diameters and square-well attraction between different particles are studied by theory and Monte Carlo simulations. In our mesoscopic theory, local fluctuations of the volume fraction of the two components are taken into account. Semi-quantitative agreement between the simulation and theoretical results is obtained, except from very small distances. The correlation functions exhibit exponentially damped oscillations, with the period determined by the interaction potential, and both the amplitude and the correlation length increasing significantly with increasing diameter ratio. Increasing size asymmetry leads also to decreasing fluctuations of the number of the smaller particles in the attractive shell of the bigger ones. For small size asymmetry, the strongest correlations occur for comparable volume fraction of the two components. When the size ratio increases, the maximum of the structure factor moves to a larger volume fraction of the bigger particles, and for the size ratio as large as 4, the maximum goes beyond the accessible range of volume fractions. Our results show that when the neighbourhood of different particles is energetically favoured, the particles are much more uniformly distributed than in the random distribution even at relatively high temperature, especially for large size asymmetry.

HYPOGLYCEMIC ACTIVITY OF NANOCHROMIUM CITRATE

The study deals with clarification of nanochromium citrate (NCC) effect on glucose level in the blood of animals in a wide range of doses under various regimens (single, repeated) and ways of administration. Objective: to investigate nanochromium citrate effect on glucose level in the blood of normoglycemic animals under various conditions and regimens of administration. Material and methods. The study was conducted on 84 mature male rats with the body weight of 160-180 g. During screening examination glucose concentration in the blood of intact (normoglycemic) rats was determined after NCC single administration through the peritoneum in a wide range of doses (0,22; 0,11; 0,04; 0,02; 0,01 mg/kg), different more than 20 times and were 5; 2,5; 1; 0,5; 0,25% from DL50 respectively. Blood was taken for analysis 2 hours after NCC administration. In other series hypoglycemic activity of NCC was examined after a long (14 days) administration into the peritoneum and intracutaneously. Glucose level in the blood taken from the caudal vein was determined by means of glucometer (Accu-Chek Active New, Germany). Results. After a single NCC administration into the peritoneum in the doses 0,22; 0,11 mg/kg (5; 2,5% from DL50) hypoglycemic effect was not observed, with smaller doses – 0,04; 0,02 mg/kg (1%; 0,5% from DL50) it was unreliable, and with NCC in the still smaller dose – 0,01 mg/kg (0,25% from DL50) glucose concentration in the blood decreased 17.6% (p&lt;0,05) in comparison with the control animals. Thus, from a wide range of the examined doses the most pronounced hypoglycemic effect of NCC was found to occur in the dose of 0,01 mg/kg, which can be considered as conditionally effective. Against a background of repeated (14 days) administrations of NCC in the doses of 0,01 and 0,02 mg/kg glucose level in the blood 47,3% and 44,6% decreased respectively in comparison with the control animals. The bigger the dose of NCC (0,04; 0,11; 0,22 mg/ kg) was, the smaller glucose concentration became, less pronounced – 39,1%, 39,1%; 38,85%; and 36,7%. That is, together with a course dose increase hypoglycemic activity of NCC decreases similar to that of a single administration. Comparison of sugar reducing effect of NCC in intact animals under conditions of a single and long (14 days) administration into the peritoneum in similar doses indicated that hypoglycemic effect of NCC was more pronounced during repeated administrations (on an average 1,5 times, р&lt;0,01). Similar to a single administration an inversely proportional dependence is seen between a sugar reducing effect and the dose given: with smaller doses (0,01 mg/kg) hypoglycemic effect of NCC was more pronounced than with bigger ones and vice-versa. After a long (14 days) administration into the stomach sugar reducing effect of NCC remains and increases analogically to administration into the peritoneum with longer introduction. On the one hand, the obtained results of hypoglycemic activity of NCC with a long administration in different ways (intracutaneously, intraperitoneally) are indicative of the lack of tolerance with repeated NCC administration. On the other hand, hypoglycemic activity is intensified with a reduced dose. Conclusions. 1. NCC demonstrates hypoglycemic action during parenteral (into the peritoneum) and enteral (intracutaneous) administrations and depends on the dose and regimens of use. The most pronounced hypoglycemic effect of NCC is found after a single administration in the dose of 0,01 mg/kg (0,25% from DL50) as conditionally effective. 2. During a long (14 days) administration into the peritoneum and intracutaneously hypoglycemic activity of NCC remains and increases. An inversely proportional dependence is observed between hypoglycemic effect of NCC and the dose given.

Case Study of Cloud Computing Security and Emerging Security Research Challenges

In this technological era, cloud computing is bombarded with immense benefits that includes availability, flexibility, ubiquitary access, and cost effectiveness. Cloud Computing offers its services to different kinds of users with the help of the World Wide Web on the virtual platform regardless of devices. Hence, all the resources kept on the same-shared storage device, which will lead to a considerable rise in various cloud security concerns for both; user and their private information. Data privacy can be compromised with a broad usage of cloud as smaller companies to bigger ones are adapting this versatile system. This paper examines several recent security attacks and proposed solutions of secure cloud computing from the perspective of organizations. Threat action varieties, other attacks with date, information exposed and number of record breach is presented with IT attack at risk. Finally, we have presented research challenges that can be worth noticing.

Do aggressive orders affect liquidity? An evidence from an emerging market

This paper investigates how aggressive orders affect spreads and trading activity measures on the stock market. Based on a sample of stocks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange this study finds that spreads and trading activity measures increase significantly when aggressive orders are executed, but quickly revert to initial levels. The reaction to these orders on the bid and ask side of the market is similar. The effect of aggressive orders differ depending on the size of the firms. Trading activity measures such as volumes or number of transactions increase stronger for bigger than for smaller stocks, while spreads increase more for smaller firms than for bigger ones. These findings enrich the understanding of liquidity dynamics especially on the emerging markets where liquidity is an important price formation factor.

Assessing urban microplastic pollution in a benthic habitat of Patagonia Argentina

Plastic pollution in the oceans has become a global problem, but its documentation is disparate around the world. We assess the abundance and type of microplastics in three benthic matrices: mussels, small fishes, and bottom water; in three sites nearby Puerto Madryn city (Patagonia, Argentina). Microplastics were present in the three matrices for all sites sampled. The average amounts of items observed were 1.6 and 0.3 per total wet weight in fishes and mussels, respectively, and 10.5 per liter in bottom water. Mussels and fishes presented a difference of microplastics size comparing with the surrounding bottoms waters; fishes also presented color discrimination, suggesting the necessity of more than one bioindicator to perform microplastic pollution monitoring. Moreover, small fishes had more MPs in their gastrointestinal tracts than bigger ones. The present study is the first one about the interaction between MPs and small aquatic organisms in coastal marine environments from Patagonia.

Study of dielectric particles motion in traveling and standing electrostatic waves using particle tracking velocimetry

The accumulation of dust and airborne particles on solar panels drastically reduces the quality of the produced energy. A promising solution consists of using traveling and standing electric waves to clean the solar panels or to avoid particle deposition on their surface. This work aims to better understand the motion mechanisms of micrometer-sized particles under the effect of electrostatic traveling and standing waves, by characterizing their displacement velocity using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV). In this experimental work, the particles motion is recorded using a high speed camera. Then, a PTV based post-processing has been carried out to get velocity vectors of individual particles based on Lagrangian approach. The velocity profiles in both and axis have been studied as a function of voltage, frequency, and particle size. The results show that the particles pass through levitation, falling, and acceleration phases during their motion. Increasing the voltage leads to a higher velocity. The small particles are more likely to be trapped in the electric potential wave because they are less affected by gravitational and drag forces. That makes their velocity higher than the bigger ones. The average velocity of particles goes through a maximum as a function of frequency in the forward direction of the traveling wave conveyor, and in both directions of the standing wave conveyor. The maximum displacement velocity in the traveling wave conveyor is higher than that obtained in standing wave one.

Dual sensitivity enhancement in gold nanoparticle-based lateral flow immunoassay for visual detection of carcinoembryonic antigen.

In this work, we presented the development of cost-effectivedual sensitivity enhancement in gold nanoparticle-based lateral flow test strip for detection of carcinoembryonic antigen. On the one hand, we employed protein G as a host matrix for oriented immobilization of antibodies within the nitrocellulose membrane. On the other hand, we utilized gold enhancement approach to visualize the final signals effectively. Primary examinations revealed that the smaller sized nanoparticles have greater signal enhancement compared to bigger ones. So, mono-dispersed gold nanoparticles with average diameters of 11.40 ± 1.40nm were utilized as tags. The measurement of fluorescent intensity of FITC-tagged secondary antibody attached to the polyclonal antibody, in the presence/absence of protein G as a host matrix on microplate wells, showed the successful oriented immobilization of antibodies via the host matrix. The FESEM images confirmed the attachment and growth of nanoparticles within the porous nitrocellulose membrane, after gold enhancement. Finally, under the optimized conditions, the developed strip could quantify the standard values of target within 2-50ng/mL range with a limit of detection of 0.35ng/mL. This strategy enabled the reduction of antibody consumption from a conventional amount of 0.6µg/strip down to 0.012µg/strip. The serum samples containing carcinoembryonic antigen were also successfully analyzed by the developed strip with a visual detection limit of 10ng/mL, which confirms favorable characteristics of the developed test strip for point-of-care applications.

Deep learning for EEG-based Motor Imagery classification: Accuracy-cost trade-off.

Electroencephalography (EEG) datasets are often small and high dimensional, owing to cumbersome recording processes. In these conditions, powerful machine learning techniques are essential to deal with the large amount of information and overcome the curse of dimensionality. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have achieved promising performance in EEG-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) applications, but they involve computationally intensive training algorithms and hyperparameter optimization methods. Thus, an awareness of the quality-cost trade-off, although usually overlooked, is highly beneficial. In this paper, we apply a hyperparameter optimization procedure based on Genetic Algorithms to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNNs), and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), all of them purposely shallow. We compare their relative quality and energy-time cost, but we also analyze the variability in the structural complexity of networks of the same type with similar accuracies. The experimental results show that the optimization procedure improves accuracy in all models, and that CNN models with only one hidden convolutional layer can equal or slightly outperform a 6-layer Deep Belief Network. FFNN and RNN were not able to reach the same quality, although the cost was significantly lower. The results also highlight the fact that size within the same type of network is not necessarily correlated with accuracy, as smaller models can and do match, or even surpass, bigger ones in performance. In this regard, overfitting is likely a contributing factor since deep learning approaches struggle with limited training examples.

Effect of Tree Size, Topography and Shoot age on Pest Infestation and Tree Growth of Palas (&lt;i&gt;Butea monosperma&lt;/i&gt;)

A bench mark survey was conducted in March, 2017 to generate information about health status of palas trees ( Butea monosperma ), the most important host tree of rangeeni lac insect ( Kerria lacca Kerr.). The principal objective of the study was to identify factors responsible for poor growth of this important tree. Infestation of termite and trunk borer is perennial problem for palas trees. Therefore, information was generated under three different conditions (i) tree size i.e. small and big (mean trunk girth 74.3 cm and 151 cm) (ii) land topography i.e. upland/ lowland and (iii) tree with old/ new shoots i.e. trees having shoots of &gt;2 year or one year old. Land topography was found to have effect on termite infestation. In upland condition, termite galleries covered 50 per cent of the tree length, while the same value was merely 5.8 per cent in case of lowland. Smaller trees were 43 per cent less infested in comparison to big ones. Similarly, upland trees were 2.5 times more infested than lowland. Number of live shoot and additive shoot diameter per prune point were also found to be higher in case of relatively smaller trees. Number of live shoot per prune point was recorded to be 3.6 and 3.1 in small and big sized trees, respectively and additive live shoot diameter was 52.4 and 43.2 mm per prune point on small and big trees. But, in contrast, average number of dead shoots were found higher in big sized trees. Only variation was observed in case of trees with old and new shoots, where 19.2 per cent increase in average diameter was observed in newly emerged shoots i.e. pruned one year back. Better performance of smaller sized trees in terms of growth and pest resistance could be attributed to better rejuvenation power and vitality for being younger in age. Similarly, higher attack of pest in upland soils could be attributed to maintenance of poor health on relatively less fertile uplands.

Nouvelle stratégie chirurgicale dans les mastectomies bilatérales prophylactiques avec reconstruction par prothèses chez les patientes présentant une mutation du gène BRCA

For the past decades, number of prophylactic bilateral mastectomies using reconstruction with implants increases. We describe a new surgical strategy and analyse its safety and feasability. It is a retrospective, descriptive and monocentric study. The first step of surgery consisted in obteining a peri-prosthetic capsule with implants and if there was a mammary hypertrophy and/or ptosis, it was corrected at the same time. The second step of surgery was the nipple-sparing mastectomy with change of implants for bigger ones. Third step consisted in a lipofilling. Seven patients were included. 6 women had a BRCA1 gene mutation. Mean age was 35.6 year-old [29.6; 41.6], mean BMI was 23.8kg/m2 [20.6; 27], mean chest circumference was 93.7cm [87.4; 100], mean cup was C- [B-; D-]. 4 women had mammary hypertrophy and/or ptosis. Mean number of procedure per woman was 3.6 [2.5; 4.7]. Mean volume of implants used at the first step was 248.6ml [211.3; 285.9]. The second step was performed mean 33.9 weeks [22.3; 45.5] later. Mean increase of implants volume was 120ml [80.4; 159.6]. 4 patients had complicationsincluding 1 who had implant exposure. Six patients had lipofilling of mean volume per breast of 175ml [116; 234]. This new strategy could decrease complication rate, improve aesthetic outcome and decrease psychological impact of surgery.

Femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery in a cataract patient with a \u201c0 vaulted\u201d ICL: a case report

BackgroundFemtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) combined with implantable collamer lenses (ICLs) extraction has been shown to be a feasible method for patients developing cataracts after the ICL implantation. All reported cases had shallow vaults, ranging from 47 μm (μm) to 100 μm. We report for the first time, a case in which the FLACS was performed on the “0” vault eye.Case presentationA 38-year-old man with anterior subcapsular cataracts underwent the FLACS combined with ICLs extraction 6 years after ICLs implantation in both eyes. In his left eye, the ICL touched the anterior capsule, existing “0” vault. During the capsulotomy, cavitation bubbles were trapped in the shallow space beneath the ICL, developing from small bubbles into big ones, which resulted in the incomplete capsulotomy. Comparatively, in the right eye, the ICL vault was measured 72 μm, and the capsulotomy was complete and no big cavitation bubbles formed. In both eyes, capsulotomy zones were manually assigned to the anterior capsule surface in the process of laser identification. However, the nuclear pre-fragmentations were unsuccessful in both eyes. Other steps of surgeries were performed uneventfully. Depending on the design of monovision, the uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) was 20/32, and the near uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was 20/25 in both eyes postoperatively.ConclusionsThis case suggested that the surgeon should pay attention to the incomplete laser capsulotomy when using a femtosecond laser in cataractous cases with “0” vaulted ICLs, and manual adjustment was required in the process of laser identification.

Adverse Drug Reactions: What Every Psychologist Should Know

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are undesirable, unwanted, and harmful side effects to a medication. There are currently over 2 million reported ADRs per year in the United States. ADRs in the mental health area can be divided into “big ones” (that require immediate attention) and “common ones” (warranting attention but generally not a crisis). This article describes the warning signs of five major ADRs and five common ADRs. How psychologists should address situations where a patient is experiencing one of these ADRs is described and discussed.

X-Ray computed tomography and traditional analysis of a capillary absorption test in cement pastes

Water absorption testing has the attraction of being simple, relatively quick and use water as a fluid which is the key substance in the possible concrete deterioration. However, in spite of the advantages its application has remained empirical, except for the testing of resistance to frost, through the identification of the critical degree of saturation. Rilem TC-116 studied this test, among others, for the characterization of concrete resistance against transport through the concrete pore network. Results indicated a low discriminating ability of the absorbency for qualifying concrete resistance and then, it seemed necessary to try to move forward by making the link between the absorption testing and the concrete pore microstructure. In the present work, thanks to the X-Ray computed tomography, it is described the evolution of the water front in three paste-specimen with different w/c ratios (different pore radius distributions). The observations allowed us to deduce that all the pores start to fill simultaneously, but the bigger ones fill quicker and rise less. The saturation degree is measured along the height of the sample, showing that each pore size has a different rate which becomes constant after the first hour. Washburn's equation was applied to the progressive advance of the water front, resulting in a pore radius much smaller than the one expected.

Compagnie iberiche a Milano nel secondo Quattrocento

L'étude de la présence des marchands étrangers dans l'Europe du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance doit considérer leurs liens avec le pouvoir politique: ainsi, quand on trouve mention à Milan de marchands du Roya­me d'Aragon, même si elles sont peu importantes, si on peut analyser l'appui politique dont ils ont joui. Quelques marchands de Majorque étaient à Milan durant le milieu du XIVe siècle, quand le roi d'Aragon était allié avec Milan et Venise contre Gênes, mais les Catalans, engagés dans les trafics maritimes, ne semblent pas s’être intéressés à l'intérieur de l'Italie du Nord jusqu’à la deuxième moitié du XVe siècle, quand la conquête du Royaume de Naples par Alfonso el Magnánimo permit la pénétration de plusieurs marchands-banquiers catalans. Certaines parmi les plus grandes firmes eurent des rapports d'affaires avec des maisons marchandes de Milan et envoyèrent aussi sur place des représentants. Elles étaient favori­sées en cela par l'alliance, renforcée par les liens de mariage, entre Ferdi­nando I et les Sforza ducs de Milan. Un exemple bien documenté est celui de la firme valencienne des héritiers de Martin Ruiz: les Ruiz obtinrent le privilegium civilitatis de Milan en 1486 par l'intervention de Simonot Bell-prat, qui avait été trésorier du roi de Naples et était en ce temps-là ambas­sadeur à Milan. Ils s'étaient enfuis de Valence parce qu'ils étaient conver­sos et s’établirent à Milan.