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Pilot-scale anaerobic digester for enhanced biogas production from poultry manure using a solar water heating system
No full textA pilot-scale (0.5 m3) anaerobic digester was constructed in a small Palestinian poultry farm. The farm, located in Beit Ur Al Foqa village of Ramallah district, with a total area of 140 m2 and accommodating about 1800 birds every 50 days produces annually about 6.57 tonnes (18 kg/day). The digester was filled with poultry manure and operated to obtain design parameters for a farm-scale biogas plant. The digester contained 20% of poultry manure co-digested with seed materials (70% cow manure and 10% anaerobic sludge) and mixed with the water in (1:1 ratio) to create dry digestion conditions (20% TS). Operated for one year, the feeding sequence of the anaerobic digester was once a day with a loading capacity of the daily produced manure in the farm. A low-cost solar water heating system was installed to enhance the biogas production in the digester under mesophilic process conditions. Poultry manure proved a suitable substrate for the installed biogas digester with total solids: 20%, and C:N ratio: 32:1. Total biogas production was 39.95 m3, and the methane content ranged between 46% and 68%. As substitute to natural gas, the biogas generated (788 MJ) was used for farm heating purposes during the study period. The fresh anaerobically digested slurry showed a nutrient rich fertilizer (NPK ratio of 2:3:3). Sun-drying of digested slurry increased pathogens removal (F. streptococcus) up to 3 log10. Anaerobic digestion of poultry manure constitutes a bio-resource for both energy and nutrients. It is therefore an environmentally sound technology with zero waste emissions.Faculty of Graduate Studies of Birzeit University, Palestine [grant number wesc1115099
الحركة العمالية و النقابية و البحث عن العدالة الإجتماعية في فلسطين المحتلة : دراسة الحالة
Get PDFتفاصيل ورابط الدراسة: http://website.aub.edu.lb/ifi/publications/Documents/research_reports/20170720_palestine_labor_movement.pdfمحاولة البداية لسؤال الدراسة الرئيسي: هل النقابات بواقعها الحالي و أزمتها الداخلية ضمن منظور علاقتها مع السلطة التنفيذية، أو ارتباطها الحزبي و التمويلي – إن جاز التعبير- قادرة على خلق حراك إجتماعي باتجاه تحقيق العدالة الإجتماعية، و التخفيف من حدة الفجوة الطبقية و تبعاتها على الطبقة العاملة و المحرومة في فلسطين المحتلة؟ و كيف للنقابات و الإتحادات العمالية أن ترتبط بمنظومة الحقوق و العدالة الإنسانية خروجا من أزمتها و بأي المسارات، نحو تحقيق عدالة إجتماعية؟ اتسم البحث في طياته جدليا و معرفيا للوقوف على هذه الإشكالية و تساؤلاتها، بهدف الفهم و الخروج بسياسات و رؤى معرفية لخدمة منظور العدالة و الحركة العمالية. حيث لعبت الحركة النقابية دورا ريادياً و نضاليا سواء في تنظيم الحركة العمالية و دفاعا عنها، و في النضال الوطني ضد الاستعمار، هذا الدور واجهه العديد من التحديات عقب أوسلو، حيث باتت النقابات العمالية تعيش واقعاً استثنائياً ما بين ممارسات الاستعمار و سياساته المجحفة و القمعية و ما بين السياسات الليبرالية نتاج النهج الذي تبنته السلطة الفلسطينية.
تطرقت الدراسة و التي نحن بصددها الى العديد من المحاور استهلّها مدخل مفاهيمي حول الإقتصاد السياسي الفلسطيني و منهجية العمل؛ المؤشرات الإقتصادية و سوق العمل الذي تشكل نتاجا للسياسات الاستعمارية و السياسات الليبرالية للمؤسسة الفلسطينية. و تطرقت أيضا إلى دور الحركة النقابية العمالية تاريخا وحاضرا في فلسطين و البنى و السياسات التشريعية و القانونية و الأنظمة الداخلية التي تحكم عملها، كما تضمنت الدراسة واقع العمل النقابي بعيون القيادة النقابية، أعضاء النقابات و المؤثرين، و القاعدة العمالية. و تطرقت في شقها الأخير إلى أهم الاستخلاصات و التوصيات السياساتية.
خلصت الدراسة إلى مجموعة من الاستنتاجات لعل أهمها الأزمة التي تعيشها النقابات العمالية في المرحلة الحالية و المرتبطة بالوضع السياسي و الإقتصادي الفلسطيني؛ ارتباطا بالفجوة التمثيلية للقاعدة العمالية و ترهل الأداء النقابي و الذي بدوره أدى إلى تآكل و صراع و تنافس على المصالح على حساب حقوق القاعدة العمالية، مولدا بذلك أزمة ثقة بين النخب النقابية والقاعدة العمالية العريضة.
واستخلصت الدراسة أيضا فجوة السياسات والبرامج القائمة على حساب الأجندة النقابية، حيث ارتهن العمل النقابي نسبيا في سنواته العشرين الأخيرة للأجندة التمويلية ؛ التي حاولت إدخال نماذج على منظور العمل دونما محاولة للتغيير البنيوي في عمل النقابات، حيث جاء ذلك على حساب البرامج التي تؤسس لمنظومة العدالة الاجتماعية و التي تنطلق من منظور تشاركي لتغيير واقع الطبقة العاملة. كما خلق الانقياد للتمويل الدولي ثقافة عمل تستند إلى ردود الأفعال و المصلحة الذاتية للنخب النقابية على حساب العمل التنظيمي الممأسس للعمل النقابي و مصالح الطبقة العاملة.
كما ساهمت راهنية العمل النقابي العمالي الحالي في خلق كادر بشري وظيفي مترف و مترهل، ضمن رؤية مشاريعية بعيدة عن مصالح و اهتمامات القاعدة العمالية، مما أحدث ترهلا – يكاد يكون بنيويا- في العمل النقابي نحو عمل يجاري مؤسسات الأنجزة "المؤسسات غير الحكومية" و يرتبط بالتمويل الدولي، مما رافقه تراجع في التمثيل النقابي و التفاف القاعدة العمالية حولها.
أما على صعيد العلاقات الدولية والإقليمية برزت قضية شائكة من حيث ارتباط بعض الأطر النقابية بالمؤسسة الصهيونية "الهستدروت". كذلك شكلت الإشكاليات التي رافقت الانقسام النقابي ضمن علاقاته الإقليمية و الأممية، حيث ترنحت الإتحادات النقابية الرئيسية الثلاث في دائرة الصراع، سواء بما يتعلق بالرؤى للقضايا العمالية أو القضايا الوطنية الفلسطينية، و ما بين رسمية تلك الأجسام أو أهليتها إقليميا و أمميا.
وفي طيات الصفحات الأخيرة للدراسة ضمن طرح منظور سياساتي، التصقت بمنظومة مبادئ و قيم تقود عمل الإتحادات و الحركة النقابية العمالية و ترتبط بمبدأ العدالة الإجتماعية و منظومة الحقوق، و منظور الصمود و التمكن و تعزيز قيم الإستقلالية المالية، و تعزيز الديمقراطية الداخلية، و النهج التشاركي للعمل مع القاعدة العمالية، و ربط السياسات ببرامج عمل تؤسس لعملية تغيير و ذات صلة بمصالح القواعد العمالية، و بتوزيع الأدوار و تعزيز الشراكة بين الأجسام و الإتحادات النقابية بعيدا عن التشتت و الإزدواجية في العمل، وصولا إلى تعزيز الثقة في العمل النقابي، و تقويته للمساهمة في خلق بيئة مستجيبة للعمل الجمعي التشاركي، و ترسيخ مبادئ الديمقراطية و الانتخابات و التمثيلية، لتبني منظور يستند إلى العدالة الاجتماعية لنضال موحد لمحاربة التمييز و الفقر و الحد من البطالة لتغيير فعلي في حياة الطبقة العاملة و الكادحين
Impact of IPv4/IPv6 Transition Techniques on Applications Performance
No full textDuring the coexistence period between IPv4 and IPv6 networks, it is important to test the effect of using IPv6 transition techniques on applications' performance. We evaluate the performance of specific user's applications over three transition techniques: dual-stack, automatic 6to4 and manual tunneling. A set of experiments have been carried out using OPNET network simulator to evaluate the performance of five applications: web browsing, file transfer, voice, email and database access over these transition techniques and comparing with applications' performance over pure IPv4 and IPv6 networks. The finding results show varying in the applications' performance between dual-stack, automatic 6to4 tunneling, and manual 6to4 tunneling. For most applications, dual-stack performed better than tunneling regarding the response time. In some cases, tunneling performed better than dual-stack regarding other performance parameters, such as throughput and Jitter
Medication adherence in type 2 diabetic patients : a study in Saudi Arabia
No full textArticle in : International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol 9, Issue 11, 2017, pp. 247-250Objective: To assess the extent of antidiabetic drug adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and different factors affecting adherence in outpatient clinics in Alkharj city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methods: Type 2 diabetic patients attending two outpatient clinics in Alkharj city, KSA, were randomly selected and interviewed for information regarding their antidiabetic drug adherence. A six-item questionnaire was used to measure the level of adherence in study participants. Participants scoring six points are categorized as (high adherent), while scores of 4 to 5 puts the participants in the (medium adherence) category, and participants with scores less than 4 are of (Low adherence). Patient’s records were also, reviewed, for relevant lab and clinical data.
Results: 68 type 2 diabetic patients participated in this study from April 2014 to September 2014. Majority of participants (73.5%) were of 40 to 60y old. Hypertension and/or lipid disorders were encountered in the majority of patients in this study.
26.5% of patients in this study were categorized as (high adherent), 55.9% as (medium adherent), and 17.6% as (low adherent). 72% of patients had an HbA1c level of ≥7% suggesting poor control of their disease. Patients with a longer history of diabetes, and patients with a HbA1c level less than 7% found to achieve better adherence levels (p-value<0.05).
Conclusion: Antidiabetic drug adherence was successfully assessed in the sample under investigation. Subjective information from patients suggested accepted a level of adherence. Nevertheless, objective measurements of HbA1c, suggest poor glycemic control that possibly reflects poor adherence to antidiabetic medications
Hybrid whale optimization algorithm with simulated annealing for feature selection
No full text• Four hybrid feature selection methods for classification task are proposed.
• Our hybrid method combines Whale Optimization Algorithm with simulated annealing.
• Eighteen UCI datasets were used in the experiments.
• Our approaches result a higher accuracy by using less number of features.Hybrid metaheuristics are of the most interesting recent trends in optimization and memetic algorithms. In this paper, two hybridization models are used to design different feature selection techniques based on Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA). In the first model, Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm is embedded in WOA algorithm, while it is used to improve the best solution found after each iteration of WOA algorithm in the second model. The goal of using SA here is to enhance the exploitation by searching the most promising regions located by WOA algorithm. The performance of the proposed approaches is evaluated on 18 standard benchmark datasets from UCI repository and compared with three well-known wrapper feature selection methods in the literature. The experimental results confirm the efficiency of the proposed approaches in improving the classification accuracy compared to other wrapper-based algorithms, which insures the ability of WOA algorithm in searching the feature space and selecting the most informative attributes for classification tasks
Structure of krypton isotopes within the interacting boson model derived from the Gogny energy density functional
No full textThe evolution and coexistence of the nuclear shapes as well as the corresponding low-lying collective states
and electromagnetic transition rates are investigated along the krypton isotopic chain within the framework of the
interacting boson model (IBM). The IBM Hamiltonian is determined through mean-field calculations based on
the several parametrizations of the Gogny energy density functional and the relativistic mean-field Lagrangian.
The mean-field energy surfaces, as functions of the axial β and triaxial γ quadrupole deformations, are
mapped onto the expectation value of the interacting-boson Hamiltonian that explicitly includes the particle-hole
excitations. The resulting boson Hamiltonian is then used to compute low-energy excitation spectra as well as
E2 and E0 transition probabilities for 70–100Kr. Our results point to a number of examples of prolate-oblate shape
transitions and coexistence both on the neutron-deficient and neutron-rich sides. A reasonable agreement with
the available experimental data is obtained for the considered nuclear properties
Carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages induces ghrelin release and increased food consumption in male rats : implications on the onset of obesity
No full textBACKGROUND:
The dangerous health risks associated with obesity makes it a very serious public health issue. Numerous studies verified a correlation between the increase in obesity and the parallel increase in soft drink consumption among world populations. The effects of one main component in soft drinks namely the carbon dioxide gas has not been studied thoroughly in any previous research.
METHODS:
Male rats were subjected to different categories of drinks and evaluated for over a year. Stomach ex vivo experiments were undertaken to evaluate the amount of ghrelin upon different beverage treatments. Moreover, 20 male students were tested for their ghrelin levels after ingestion of different beverages.
RESULTS:
Here, we show that rats consuming gaseous beverages over a period of around 1 year gain weight at a faster rate than controls on regular degassed carbonated beverage or tap water. This is due to elevated levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and thus greater food intake in rats drinking carbonated drinks compared to control rats. Moreover, an increase in liver lipid accumulation of rats treated with gaseous drinks is shown opposed to control rats treated with degassed beverage or tap water. In a parallel study, the levels of ghrelin hormone were increased in 20 healthy human males upon drinking carbonated beverages compared to controls.
CONCLUSIONS:
These results implicate a major role for carbon dioxide gas in soft drinks in inducing weight gain and the onset of obesity via ghrelin release and stimulation of the hunger response in male mammals
Mefenamic acid stability and removal from wastewater using bentonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron and activated charcoal
No full textThe low-cost composite, nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) immobilized on bentonite clay (B), was
prepared by using the NaBH4
reduction method. The morphology, structure, and composition of
B-nZVI were investigated. The use of bentonite as a support material apparently decreased the extent
of aggregation and the size of ZVI nanoparticles, thus increasing their surface reactivity and removal
efficiency. The B-nZVI composite was used to remove a popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
mefenamic acid (MA) from aqueous solution. For the sake of comparison, the removal of aqueous
MA was investigated using activated charcoal and bentonite. Overall, B-nZVI was seen to lead to the
best removal efficiency. Batch experiments showed that various parameters, such as time, initial concentration
of MA, solid phase dosage, and temperature, can affect the removal of MA. Kinetic studies
showed that the removal of MA by B-nZVI correlated well with the pseudo-second-order rate model.
The removal process was seen to be endothermic, and the experimental data correlated well with
Langmuir isotherm with Qmax being 92.6 and 108.7 mg/g for charcoal and B-nZVI, respectively, with a
significantly larger binding affinity of MA by B-nZVI
Transaction costs in an overlapping generations model
No full textWe study the stability properties of a Diamond (1965) overlapping generations
model in which agents have to pay transaction costs related to the capital accumulated.
In particular, these costs depend positively on the amount of individual.s
savings. At .rst, we show that under standard conditions, the feasible
path may be dynamically inefficient (efficient) if there is an over-accumulation
(under-accumulation) of capital with respect to Golden Rule. Namely, the introduction
of transaction costs reduces the Golden Rule level of saving comparing
to the standard model. It is also shown that the stationary equilibrium is determinate.
Further, transaction costs promote the emergence of cycles of period two
and therefore acts as a destabilizing factor. The analytical findings are completed
by a numerical example
Prospects for charged Higgs searches at the LHC
No full textAn article published in : European Physical Journal C (2017) 77 :276, pp. 1-33The goal of this report is to summarize the current situation and discuss possible search strategies for charged scalars, in non-supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model at the LHC. Such scalars appear in Multi-Higgs-Doublet models (MHDM), in particular in the popular Two-Higgs-Doublet model (2HDM), allowing for charged and additional neutral Higgs bosons. These models have the attractive property that electroweak precision observables are automatically in agreement with the Standard Model at the tree level. For the most popular version of this framework, Model~II, a discovery of a charged Higgs boson remains challenging, since the parameter space is becoming very constrained, and the QCD background is very high. We also briefly comment on models with dark matter which constrain the corresponding charged scalars that occur in these models. The stakes of a possible discovery of an extended scalar sector are very high, and these searches should be pursued in all conceivable channels, at the LHC and at future colliders