Search results

Mobile robots offer more flexibility and scope than the fixed single arm type. French researchers are putting considerable effort into developing such devices and here results of their efforts are described.

A simple ultrasonic sensor coupled with a colour sensing system has been designed and built in the laboratory of the French National Institute of Applied Science at Rennes, and mounted on the laboratory's VESA mobile robot. It can distinguish simple configurations of obstacles and measure their distance from the robot, and within certain limits of illumination can classify obstacles to eight reference colours.

This study aims to develop a cause-effect relationship between criteria that contribute to water security using the Intuitionistic Fuzzy-Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) method. Differently from the typical DEMATEL which utilizes crisp numbers, this modification introduces intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) to enhance judgments in a group decision-making environment. In particular, the linguistic variables used in IF-DEMATEL are defined using the concept of three-tuple of IFNs.

Data with the linguistic variable “influence” were collected from a group of experts in water security via personal unstructured interviews. Seven water security criteria are considered in this study. Computational software was employed to execute the computational procedures of the IF-DEMATEL method. It is anticipated that by taking into account the hesitation degree of IFNs will reflect the scenario in real life, which could lead to precise decision-making.

The results show that “Over-Abstraction”, “Saltwater Intrusion” and “Limited Infrastructures” are the cause criteria that contribute to water security. In addition, the relationship map of influence shows that “Water Pollution” and “Rapid Urbanization” are the most vulnerable criteria as these two criteria are most easily affected by other criteria in a unidirectional relation.

It is anticipated that these findings will serve as useful references for water security management and policymakers.

The present study makes a noteworthy contribution to the modification of DEMATEL where three-tuple of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers are considered in the computations. The present study also provides additional evidence with respect to factors that contribute to water security.

Le terme de «grands voyages intercontinentaux» est peut‐être condamné dans un proche avenir. Il marquerait la dernière phase d'une exploration de notre planète se situant à la fin du XXe siècle. En effet, lorsqu'on peut aller d'Europe en Amérique en 6 ou 7 heures (par les avions à réaction) ou de Paris au Japon en 30 heures (par les avions classiques et la route arctique) peut‐on encore parler, d'un continent à l'autre, de «grands voyages»?

Studies of the first year of infant psychomotor development in cases of maternal postpartum depression are lacking. The mother and baby unit (MBU) is a healthcare system available to infants and their mothers during the postpartum period in a psychiatric hospital, which provides support and preserves the parent's role in the child's daily care. The aim of the paper is to describe the developmental profile of babies of mothers with severe postpartum depression treated in an MBU through the developmental quotients. Using the Brunet-Lézine scale, we studied six-month-old infants whose mothers were hospitalized. The study population consisted of 15 infants. The mean global developmental quotient score was 96.7. A developmental quotient lower than 80 was not observed for any of the children. We found no global psychomotor developmental delays. Despite this, the posture subscore was the area in which we observed the most difficulties. It is possible that the tonic dialogue between the mother and infant is disrupted by maternal depression.

When men still alive to‐day were young, not a single cargo of chilled or frozen meat, of fruit or of dairy produce from the Southern Hemisphere, had been landed in this country. We have, that is, lived in the last generation through a dietetic revolution which has left us to a large and increasing extent dependent on foodstuffs grown at the ends of the earth and consumed weeks or even months after they leave the places of their origin. Fifty years ago Australia was importing butter, and a century ago the first cow was imported into New Zealand—where there are to‐day more cattle than men. This change in the balance of trade has created a series of new problems in practical science. Some of these have been solved in part, others remain impregnable, and all urgently call for solution; for every year, and almost every month, damage to cargoes is suffered that has its origin in our imperfect knowledge of how to submit perishable goods to the ordeal of prolonged ocean carriage. Beef, to take an obvious example, is hard to bring satisfactorily from Australia. There are two methods by which meat may be preserved, freezing and chilling. The same installation is used in both cases, but for the former, the machine requires to be more powerful, since the temperature of the meat must remain well below 32 degrees F. Mutton lends itself perfectly to freezing, but beef, owing to structural and other causes, is deteriorated if frozen. The tissues are ruptured by expansion, and so, when the meat is defrosted, much of the nutritive liquid escapes. It is possible, that this problem of “drip” may be solved. It is also possible that beef from Australia may be transported to Europe in a chilled (not frozen) state. Experimentally this has already been achieved, but much remains to be done before small scale experiment can be converted into current commercial practice. When it is remembered that there is available in Australia land which would feed a further seven to ten million head of cattle, the importance of the investigations now being conducted into means of transport will be understood. The ocean carriage of fruit involves inquiries equally fascinating and, perhaps, less known. An apple or an orange is not killed by being plucked, but continues to live and “breathe,” that is to say, to absorb oxygen from the air and yield in its place carbon dioxide. In consequence, a ship's hold packed with fruit would quickly resemble a Black Hole of Calcutta were not certain precautions taken. The crowded living cargo threatens to suffocate itself, and the remedy lies in lowering the temperature of the fruit so that it may breathe more slowly, and in the provision of adequate ventilation. Cold, and to a certain extent the expired gas, CO2, itself, lower the rate of living—that is to say, the rate of chemical change, so that the fruit ripens more slowly. It is in this state of delayed ripening that apples from Australia or oranges from South Africa can be brought to this country without damage. Stated in this way, the problem sounds simple enough; given some degree of cold and ventilation, all will be well. As a matter of fact, the limits of temperature and of ventilation within which it is permissible to move are narrowed by both engineering and biological considerations. Living matter does not suffer coercion gladly or passively, and the attempt to delay ripening, though it undoubtedly succeeds, does not leave the fruit at the end where it would be if it had ripened normally. The sequence of chemical change is different; flavouring substances abnormal in character or in amount are apt to be produced, and the problem of successful storage is to hit upon that combination of temperature humidity and ventilation, which will in the end present the product to the palate of the consumer in a state as near to the normal as may be. Fruit, moreover, has its recognisable storage diseases, and, though much advance has been recorded in recent years, losses are still suffered regularly. As an example of the tricks that can be played with plants, it may be mentioned that a rose bush, just budding, can be kept at its “freezing” point and its growth arrested. Then, if it is sheltered under a hothouse roof so that light shines upon it continuously, it will bloom to perfection many months later, when its temperature is allowed to rise. Roses in December arc, in fact, a practical proposition. The stowage of fruit naturally requires particular care. On banana boats, for instance, the chambers are subdivided into pens by portable rails supported in special stanchions, and from the air trunk access may be had to the bananas for inspection during the voyage. To check the danger caused by bulging cases it is sometimes the practice to fit battens around the case ends of thickness equal to the amount of bulge, thus preventing pressure on the fruit itself when the ship rolls. Mere ventilation without refrigeration is sometimes found to be adequate. Provided a good, regular circulation of air is secured, fruit can be brought here and even to America in this manner from the Mediterranean. Ingenious precautions are taken to see that rough weather does not affect storage conditions. In the old days one of the popular methods of artificial lowering of temperature was that of the direct expansion cold air machine. The air from the cargo spaces was sucked into the machine, compressed, cooled, expanded and sent back through the cargo spaces. This system proved, however, unsatisfactory, and has virtually been scrapped. The problem of the elimination of loss from fruit cargoes begins not in the cold store but in the orchard. A layman might expect different varieties of apples to vary in their carrying quantities. But experience has shown that apples of the same kind, even when grown near together and showing no difference if eaten as soon as plucked, vary considerably in their keeping power according to the soil on which they are grown. Thus Victoria plums under standard uniform conditions of commercial storage have had a life varying from one to six weeks. In another case Allington Pippin apples of the 1925 crop, taken from two different trees growing in the same garden less than 15 yards apart, showed a commercial storage life in the same cold store until January, 1926, in one instance, and in the other until May, 1926. Evidently growers, shippers and all concerned in the fruit trade dare not allow such results to be possible, for waste has to be paid for, and if the damage is charged to the public the consumption of fruit is liable to be lowered. It may be feasible to vary keeping quality by modifying soils, and this aspect of the matter, which is, of course, extremely complicated, is being strenuously tackled. If the tasks before scientific investigators are hard, the prizes are valuable. For, apart from the desirability of adding to knowledge, huge commercial interests are at stake. Our capacity for consuming fruit imported from the Southern Hemisphere is only beginning to be tested. It is scarcely too much to say that until after the war we had been accustomed to enjoy apples and oranges only in the colder months. The supplies now on the market all through the summer come wholly from the Southern Hemisphere. South Africa only started exporting oranges in the first decade of the present century, and then only in very small quantities. Now she sends nearly a million cases every season, and it is estimated that this figure could be multiplied tenfold in the next fifteen years if the demand were sufficient. It is such considerations that have led the Empire Marketing Board to give a substantial grant to the Low Temperature Research Institute at Cambridge, which is enabling the Institute to build a new and enlarged station, and considerably to extend its activities in all directions. But producers and consumers are alike dependent on workers in the spheres of low temperature research and soil investigation. These scientific inquirers have much ground to cover before we can claim completely to have learnt the art of carrying perishable cargoes half round the world.—(The New Statesman).

Environmental Accounting (EA) practices have developed rapidly in some countries and have a positive impact on their organizations. Sustainability report (SR) as an indicator of EA practices helps company gain a better reputation and it is set by management. However, some ASEAN countries including Indonesia do not have relevant accounting standards on the environment. EA practice is still not widely known in Indonesia, although, internationally there have been standards that provide guidelines for aspect of the environment such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Another aspect in GRI is remuneration. Remuneration is part of personnel cost which is a motivation about the positive effects of EA practices to disclose management concern. This research introduces a tool to evaluate a remuneration structure and the consistency of EA practices in the Sustainability Report.

The purpose of this study to investigate acetaminophen (ACT) degradation efficiencies by using ozone/persulfate oxidation process in a batch reactor. In addition, the effects of various parameters on the ACT removal efficiency toward pathway inference of ACT degradation were investigated.

The experiments were in the 2 L glass vessels. Ozone gas with flow rate at 70 L.h⁻¹ was produced by ozone generator. After the adjustment of the pH, various dosages of persulfate (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 mmol.L⁻¹) were then added to the 500 mL ACT-containing solution with 150 mg.L⁻¹ of concentration. Afterward, ozone gas was diffused in glass vessels. The solution after reaction flowed into the storage tank for the detection. The investigated parameters included pH and the amount of ozone and persulfate addition. For comparison of the ACT degradation efficiency, ozone/persulfate, ozone and persulfate oxidation in reactor was carried out. The ACT concentration using a HPLC system equipped with 2998 PDA detector was determined at an absorbance of 242 nm.

ACT degradation percentage by using ozone or persulfate in the process were at 63.7% and 22.3%, respectively, whereas O₃/persulfate oxidation process achieved degradation percentage at 91.4% in 30 min. Degradation efficiency of ACT was affected by different parameter like pH and addition of ozone or persulfate, and highest degradation obtained when pH and concentrations of persulfate and ozone was 10 and 3 mmol.L⁻¹ and 60 mg.L⁻¹, respectively. O₃, OH^• and SO⁴⁻ were evidenced to be the radicals for degradation of ACT through direct and indirect oxidation. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometer analysis showed intermediates including N-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) formamide, hydroquinone, benzoic acid, 4-methylbenzene-1,2-diol, 4-aminophenol.

This study provided a simple and effective way for degradation of activated ACT as emerging contaminants from aqueous solution. This way was conducted to protect environment from one of the most important and abundant pharmaceutical and personal care product in aquatic environments.

There are two main innovations. One is that the novel process is performed successfully for pharmaceutical degradation. The other is that the optimized conditions are obtained. In addition, the effects of various parameters on the ACT removal efficiency toward pathway inference of ACT degradation were investigated.

The amount of food wasted every year is 1.3 billion metric tonne (MT), out of which 0.5 billion MT is contributed by the fruits processing industries. The waste includes by-products such as peels, pomace and seeds and is a good source of bioactive compounds like phenolic compounds, flavonoids, pectin lipids and dietary fibres. Hence, the purpose of the present study is to review the novel extraction techniques used for the extraction of the bio active compounds from food waste for the selection of suitable extraction method.

Novel extraction techniques such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, enzyme-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, pulsed electric field extraction and pressurized liquid extraction have emerged to overcome the drawbacks and constraints of conventional extraction techniques. Hence, this study is focussed on novel extraction techniques, their limitations and optimization for the extraction of bioactive compounds from fruit and vegetable waste.

This study presents a comprehensive review on the novel extraction processes that have been adopted for the extraction of bioactive compounds from food waste. This paper also summarizes bioactive compounds' optimum extraction condition from various food waste using novel extraction techniques.

Food waste is rich in bioactive compounds, and its efficient extraction may add value to the food processing industries. Hence, compressive analysis is needed to overcome the problem associated with the extraction and selection of suitable extraction techniques.

Selection of a suitable extraction method will not only add value to food waste but also reduce waste dumping and the cost of bioactive compounds.

This paper presents the research progress on the extraction of bioactive active compounds from food waste using novel extraction techniques.

The purpose of this study is to prepare various CeO₂-based carbon material (CNT, CB, GO) nanocomposites through a wet chemical process for the development of a sensor probe to detect various environmental toxins by using an electrochemical approach under room temperature conditions. A comparative study on sensitive and selective phenolic sensor (4-methoxyphenol; 4-MP) has been fabricated by modifying a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with various nanocomposites (NCs) such as CeO₂, CeO₂–CNT (carbon nanotubes), CeO₂–CB (carbon black) and CeO₂–GO (graphene oxide) NCs.

The CeO₂–CNT NCs were prepared by the wet chemical method at low temperature. NCs were characterized by various methods such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR), ultra-violet/visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and XRD (X-ray diffraction). CeO₂–CNT NCs were immobilized as a film on the flat surface of the GCE by using binders (5% Nafion). The electrochemical measurements of the 4-MP detection with the CeO₂–CNT NCs/Nafion/GCE sensor were studied by the current-voltage method.

In the optimal conditions, the sensitivity, detection limit and limit of quantification of 4-MP sensor probe were found to be 47.56 µAcm-2 µM⁻¹, 12.0 ± 0.2 nM and 40.0 ± 0.5 nM (S/N of 3), respectively.

This electrochemical sensor showed an acceptable analytical performance in the detection of 4-MP with higher sensitivity, lower detection limit, large dynamic concentration range, good reproducibility and fast response time.

This electrochemical approach can be applied practically for the determination of selective 4-MP in real environmental and extracted samples.

CeO₂–CNT NCs/Nafion/GCE sensor probe was used for the safety of environmental and health-care fields at larger scales.

This electrochemical approach is a significant achievement on the development of sensor probe. The results are indicated as being technically detailed with an up-to-date account of recent chemical sensor research studies.