Square Meters In Size Research Articles

Use of Vetevera Grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) in a Constructed Wetland to Remove Heavy Metals from Kege Wet Coffee Processing Plant, Dale Woreda, Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia

Conventional methods for removing heavy metals from contaminated water are prohibitively expensive and, more significantly, ineffective, especially when the concentration of heavy metals is low. This paper evaluated the use of vetevera grass in a constructed wetland to remove Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, K, Mn, Na, Pb, and Zn metals from Kege Wet Coffee Processing Plant, Dale Woreda, Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia using a two vertical flows constructed wetland of 132 square meters in size with Eleven meters in length and 12 meters wide. The 11m * 3m * 1m open space between two constructed wetlands is developed. The second wetland was built, and it serves the same purpose as the previous one but discharges water into the river. The construction of the wetland is performed by digging 20 cm wide, and 30 cm apart furrows. vetiveria grasses was planted at 20 cm intervals. Heavy metals (Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, K, Mn, Na, Pb, and Zn) were measured from soil and plant samples from the inlet to the outlet sampling sites using standard procedures from two compartments (soil, and macrophytes) of constructed wetland. Findings indicated that Ca (460.0 ppm) had the highest mean concentration of heavy metals, whereas Ni (0.50 ppm) had the lowest in the soil sample. Metal absorption by vetiver grass is the highest concentration found in plant tissues grown in the following order k > Ca > Na > Mn > Fe > Zn > Cu >Ni >Cr in shoots. The order of the heavy metal contents in the roots of vetiver grass was k > Ca > Na > Mn > Fe > Zn > Cu >Ni >Cr. The plant was found to be effective at transferring Mn and Ni from the roots to the shoots based on translocation and bioconcentration, whereas it served as a potential phytostabilizer for Ca, Cu, Cr, Fe, K, Na, and Zn since the TF values are lower than 1, which show that vetiver grass prefers to accumulate heavy metals in the roots rather than the shoot and so supports its potential for phytostabilization. From the present study, it was evident that vetiver grass is an ideal candidate for wastewater treatment using constructed wetland technology.

Validation of the New Small Wheel Micromegas sectors for the phase 1 upgrade of the muon forward spectrometer of the ATLAS experiment at CERN

The ATLAS experiment is currently upgrading the first muon station in the high-rapidity region with the New Small Wheels (NSW), based on large-size resistive Micromegas (MM) technology and small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC). The NSW system is going to be installed in the ATLAS underground cavern during the LHC long shutdown 2 (2021) to enter in operation for Run3 (starting in the first months of 2022). 128 Micromegas quadruplets, each composed by four measurement layers two to three square meters in size, are needed to build the two New Small Wheels, covering a total active area of about 1280 m2. The construction of all MM modules, carried out in France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Greece, is completed. Their mechanical integration into sectors, the installation of on-detector services and electronics, for the first NSW is also completed, along with all validation and acceptance tests. The preparation of the second NSW is very well advanced. The advanced status of the project, in view of the imminent installation of the two NSW in ATLAS by the fall of 2021 will be reported. Micromegas detector construction and integration into sectors is presented, together with results obtained with cosmic rays data during the validation tests and the impressive steps of the wheel assembly completion.

Indoor Passive Visual Positioning by CNN-Based Pedestrian Detection.

Indoor positioning applications are developing at a rapid pace; active visual positioning is one method that is applicable to mobile platforms. Other methods include Wi-Fi, CSI, and PDR approaches; however, their positioning accuracy usually cannot achieve the positioning performance of the active visual method. Active visual users, however, must take a photo to obtain location information, raising confidentiality and privacy issues. To address these concerns, we propose a solution for passive visual positioning based on pedestrian detection and projection transformation. This method consists of three steps: pretreatment, pedestrian detection, and pose estimation. Pretreatment includes camera calibration and camera installation. In pedestrian detection, features are extracted by deep convolutional neural networks using neighboring frame detection results and the map information as the region of interest attention model (RIAM). Pose estimation computes accurate localization results through projection transformation (PT). This system relies on security cameras installed in non-private areas so that pedestrians do not have to take photos. Experiments were conducted in a hall about 100 square meters in size, with 41 test-points for the localization experiment. The results show that the positioning error was 0.48 m (RMSE) and the 90% error was 0.73 m. Therefore, the proposed passive visual method delivers high positioning performance.

Analysis of companion animal clinics in Istanbul in terms of some physical structures, technical equipment, patients and management

With the increasing in companion animal (pet) adoption in the recent years, clinics are now becoming businesses enterprises. In parallel with this increase in ownership, a significant number of veterinarians have started to choose companion animal area. According to records there is a total of 7915 ministry licensed enterprises in Turkey (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 2021a) and 749 of them are established in Istanbul (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 2021b). For this reason, Istanbul has been determined as the study site. In this research, it is aimed to determine the physical structures, technical equipment, patient distribution and to analyze the business activities and problems encountered of the companion animal veterinary clinics in Istanbul. Survey studies were conducted mostly face-to-face (96%) in 225 clinics in Istanbul between April 2019 and April 2021. At the end of the research, it was determined that the majority of the clinics in Istanbul were 100-200 square meters in size, single storey, with 1 examination room. In addition, 96,0% of the clinics are rental and 74,2% of which are sole corporation. In terms of investment, all clinics has a microscopic examination set. Vast majority (95.0%) have X-ray devices and 87.0% analysers. In terms of patient distribution, cats represents 61.9% and dogs represents 33.0%. In the age distribution, those between the ages of 2-5 constitute the largest group for both cats and dogs. The most common reason for the first visit is vaccination with 39.6%. With the research, it has been observed that clinics are generally small-medium in size (81,3%) and independent clinics. The fact that large and chain enterprises are almost non-existent causes both the amount of investment and the expenditure required for promotional activities to be high. From this point of view, it is clearly seen that clinics should become more professional enterprises. In order to do that veterinarians always try to improve business and administrative capabilities by attending to training events.

Filtration membranes - Scavengers for leachables?

This publication describes the development of an experimental set-up and testing protocol to test the hypothesis that filters used for sterile filtration can act as scavengers of leachables. The filter materials polyethersulfone (PESU) and cellulose acetate (CA) were tested. These membrane materials are used commonly in downstream operations during biopharmaceutical manufacturing. A solution containing a mixture of eight typical leachables was filtered through the respective filter and the eluate was monitored by HPLC-UV in order to quantify these leachables model compounds (LMC). The results show that substances are efficiently scavenged from an aqueous solution depending on their molecular structure and the filter type used. A mass balance was established by recovering the LMCs from the filters by rinsing the membranes with an organic solvent. Breakthrough curves were determined experimentally and substance specific filter capacities for the individual LMCs are presented. The surface specific filter capacity for the different LMCs range from <0.7 to 45 μg/cm2. An extrapolation of these filter scavenging capacities to process conditions, where the filtration areas can be many square-meters in size, gives indication that the potential removal of expectable process-related leachables during filtration in downstream processing should not be underestimated. The capacity of a filter for the leachable bDtBPP, which is known to inhibit cell growth, was determined in samples after a buffer sterile-filtration using a standardized cell-culture test with CHO cells. The specific filter capacity of bDtBPP obtained with the cell-culture test was nearly identical to the analytically derived result. As outlook, the scavenger effect of a filter is demonstrated for media solutions containing buffer and model proteins.

Review: Metabolism: The City of the Future

Metabolism: The City of the Future . Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. 17 September 2011–15 January 2012. Today we often regard Japan’s Metabolists as young dreamers proffering technologically advanced, audaciously overscaled schemes. A show at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo—the first retrospective dedicated to the group—underscored instead Metabolism’s ideological origins and, more importantly, unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts. The exhibition opened with a single image: a 1953 photograph of Kenzo Tange’s celebrated central structure at Hiroshima’s Peace Park. The Metabolists’ debut was still seven years away, via a booklet distributed at the 1960 World Design Congress in Tokyo that featured four architects—Masato Otaka, Kiyonori Kikutake, Fumihiko Maki, and Kisho Kurokawa—and others from related disciplines: author and editor Noboru Kawazoe, industrial designer Genji Ekuan, and graphic designer Kyoshi Awazu.1 Adjacent Japanese and English wall text used to isolate this image argued that Tange, though not a member of the movement, was its progenitor; the point was then followed by additional photographs of Peace Park interspersed with rarely seen construction and presentation documents from the Tange office, many now held by Harvard’s Frances Loeb Library. A public housing complex designed by Masato Otaka, built on an adjacent plot, was served up subsequently on the same wall. The Mori exhibition thus presented its first Metabolist with a subtlety that was untypical of the movement itself, via a grouping of residential towers overshadowed by Tange’s masterwork—an unappreciated complex not completed until the 1970s, designed by the only Metabolist architect who was more interested in Japan’s proletariat and never established an international reputation. The opposite wall of this opening gallery offered a historical preamble to the exhibition: on a panel some 45 feet long, a timeline tracked Japan’s population and economic growth from 1905 through 1960. Set against the data were computer animations, reproductions of photographs, and recently built models related to a period long ignored in polite circles: …

Satellite sub-pixel rainfall variability

Rain gauge networks are used to calibrate and validate quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) methods based on remote sensing, which may be used as data sources for hydrologic models. The typical approach is to adjust (calibrate) or compare (validate) the rainfall in the QPE pixel with the rain gauge located within the pixel. The QPE result represents a mean rainfall over the pixel area, whereas the rainfall from the gauge represents a point, although it is normally assumed to represent some area. In most cases the QPE pixel area is millions of square meter in size. We hypothesize that some rain gauge networks in environments similar to this study (i.e., tropical coastal), which provide only one rain gauge per remote sensing pixel, may lead to error when used to calibrate/validate QPE methods, and that consequently these errors may be propagated throughout hydrologic models. The objective of this paper is to describe a ground-truth rain gauge network located in western Puerto Rico which will be available to test our hypothesis. In this paper we discuss observations from the rain gauge network, but do not present any QPE validation results. In addition to being valuable for validating satellite and radar QPE data, the rain gauge network is being used to test and calibrate atmospheric simulation models and to gain a better understanding of the sea breeze effect and its influence on rainfall. In this study, a large number of storms (> 60) were evaluated between August 2006 and August 2008. The area covered by the rain gauge network was limited to a single GOES-12 pixel (4 km × 4 km). Five-minute and total storm rainfall amounts were spatially variable at the sub-pixel scale. The average storm rainfall from 20% of the 120 possible rain gauge-pairs was found to be significantly different at the 5% of significance level, indicating significant rainfall variation at the sub-pixel scale. The average coefficient of determination (r2), describing the goodness of fit of a linear model relating rain gauge pairs, was 0.365, further suggesting a significant degree of variability at the satellite sub-pixel scale. Although there were several different storm types identified (localized, upper westerly trough, tropical easterly wave, tropical westerly trough, cold front and localized with cold front), there did not appear to be any relationship between storm type and the correlation patterns among the gauges.

A STUDY ON THE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY BASED FACILITIES

The purpose of this paper is to study the community based facilities (CBFs) in the Yahatahigashi ward of Kitakyushu City, and analyze processes of function, scale and layout.The conclusions of this paper are as followings: 1. Even though all CBFs have different names and originations, they have functions that satisfy the requirements of twenty article of the Social Education Law. 2. The process of the CBFs in the Yahatahigashi ward result in the conclusion of the ward center facility (2000 square meter in size) and the local facilities (700 square meter in size) in each elementary school district. 3. The CBFs create the connection between the citizen hall that has 2000 seat in ward, and the city center facility (lifelong learning promotion division).

Bionomia de Monoeca xanthopyga Harter-Marques, Cunha &amp; Moure (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Tapinotaspidini) no Planalto das Araucárias, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

A study of the life history of the solitary bee Monoeca xanthopyga, was conducted at the Araucaria Plateau, at the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The study focused the seasonality, sexual behavior, females activity during nest building, the exploited plant resources and the associated parasitoids. Three nest aggregations of M. xanthopyga built in clay soil with few plant cover or none at all, were studied on the Parque Nacional dos Aparados da Serra, located in Cambara do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul State. The nests were randomly distributed in areas up to eight square meters in size and reach a maximum density of 57 nests per square meter. The only one generation occurred from January to April. The immature stayed in diapausa in the prepupa stage during eight to 11 months. Males emerged a few days before females, and disappeared from the aggregations four days before the end of females activities. The search for females to mate occurred at nests from the previous year, where many males struggled for a single emergent female. It is suggested that males perceive smells emitted by females. Copulation's lasted, on average, 26 seconds and, immediately after it, the couple separated. Nest building females were not attractive to males. Mating tests, at artificial environments showed the occurrence of copulation with both virgin and fertilized females. After mating, the females returned to the aggregations and established new nests by digging new tunnels, or by using abandoned nests. The bee's flying activities began around 6 A.M. and lasted up to 6 P.M. The females did, on average, eight trips per day, each one lasting 31,4 minutes. They returned from the trips carrying pollen and/or floral oils. These resources were obtained from flowers of Malpighiaceae and Fabaceae species. Pollinaria from orchids of the genus Oncidium Sw. were carried accidentally by males and females. Mutilid parasitoids were present at the aggregations of M. xanthopyga during all the period of the activities. One species of Traumatomutilla Andre, 1903 was related to the immature of these bees, composing the first registration of inhabitant of this Mutillidae.

Landscape fragmentation and soil cover changes on south- and north-facing slopes during ecosystems recovery: an analysis from multi-date air photographs

A quantitative analysis is presented, of soil and vegetation patch patterns from air photographs of three dates (1956, 1976 and 1990). Relationships between changes in soil cover and landscape fragmentation are assessed for north- and south-facing slope units in the semi-arid zone of Israel undergoing recovery following severe overgrazing and woodcutting phases. Soil loss accompanied by an increase in rock fragment exposure, and an increase in soil erodibility due to a decrease in aggregate size and organic matter content are the two main characteristics of soil changes in this area. Changes in both of these characteristics are highly correlated with soil brightness properties as recorded from aerial photographs. The methodology developed combines image processing techniques, enabling differentiation between soil and vegetation patches, with raster Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques, allowing patch distribution, fragmentation and form to be analyzed. Expansion of vegetation patches and contraction of soil patches were found to follow similar lines of spatial pattern evolution when parameterized according to their size, form and density. Assessment of temporal changes in soil and vegetation patch composition indicated that there is a phase difference of 12 years between the processes taking place on the two slope units. Hypothetical descriptions of soil patch fragmentation and vegetation patch expansion processes between 1920 and 2010 were formulated following the analysis of data between 1956 and 1990. Evidence of soil brightness changes provided indications for the continuation of soil loss, mainly in large patches (a few thousands of square meters in size) undergoing relatively slow fragmentation.

A Study of Mutual Occurrence of Plant Species

The floristic basis of community classification, both European and American, is dependent upon the fact that certain species tend to occur together. Efforts to determine degree of mutual occurrence have led to the development of objective, quantitative methods which are based upon the recognition of three major spatial levels of biotic relationship: (1) geographic, (2) communal, and (3) interspecific. On the first level, evolutionary and historic factors determine the geographic distribution of species and their mutual occurrence within the same geographic area. The second level considers within a common geographic area, the interaction of species with the community as a whole. Joint occurrence on this level is determined by the ability of species to enter the community and to survive in it by successfully meeting the conditions which are present as the result of interaction between the community and its external environment. Mutual community occurrence has usually been sampled within stands whose areal extent is limited only by the criterion of homogeneity. The third level is that of the direction reaction within communities of species with each other. On this level, species have been considered to be either more or less indifferent, with their mutual occurrences determined by chance juxtaposition, or to be not at all indifferent with an active attraction or repulsion of members of their own or other species. Most of these direct reactions take place within relatively small areas and can only be discovered, for herbs and shrubs, with the use of quadrats of less than a few square meters in size. Measurements of community similarity on the basis of the total species composition have been extensively utilized since the development of the first coefficient of community by Jaccard (1902). These measurements, which include the papers of Gleason (1920), Kulczyn'ski (1927), Katz (1930), S6renson (1948), Motyka, et al. (1950), Odum (1950), Webb (1950), Whittaker (1952), Culberson (1955), and Hanson (1955), have attempted to order stands by a consideration of