Liquid Droplet Impact on a Sonically Excited Thin Membrane

Impacting droplet characteristics on hydrophobic surfaces can be altered by introducing surface oscillations. Impacting water droplet contact duration, spreading, retraction, and rebounding behaviors are examined at various sonic excitation frequencies...

A QoS-aware Fuzzy-based System for Assessment of Edge Computing Resources in SDN-VANETs

Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) face resource management challenges due to their dynamic network topology and massive amount of data generated by the ever-rising number of vehicles. In this paper, we implement a Fuzzy-based System for Assessment of Neighboring Vehicles Processing Capability (FS-ANVPC), in which we consider two models (FS-ANVPC1 and FS-ANVPC2) to assess the available edge computing resources in Software Defined-VANETs. The proposed system determines the processing capability of each neighboring vehicle, and based on the final value, it can be decided whether the edge layer can be used by the vehicles in need of additional resources. FS-ANVPC1 takes into consideration the available resources of the neighboring vehicles and the predicted contact duration between them and the vehicle in need, while FS-ANVPC2 includes in addition the quality of service of the communication link among vehicles. We evaluate the proposed system by computer simulations. From the evaluation results, we see that FS-ANVPC2 shows better results than FS-ANVPC1 although its complexity is higher.

Optimizing modified rice bran for treating aqueous solutions polluted by Cr (VI) ions: isotherm and kinetics analyses

This study investigated the possibility and efficiency of absorbing chromium (VI) (Cr [VI]) ions from the polluted solutions by employing the chemically modified adsorbents (alkali, biochar, and acid rice bran), focusing on the possible impacts of the solution’s pH values, adsorbent’s dosages, concentrations, and contact times. The colori-metric method was used for Cr determination by employing an ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer. The scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to analyze the characteristics of the modified adsorbents. The findings indicated that the optimized acid, biochar, alkali, and unmodified rice bran removal efficiency for Cr (VI) were 94.50%, 94.27%, 88.60%, and 90.18%, respectively. The increase of adsorbent dosage up to 2 g/L led to a rise in removal effectiveness (82.06%). Furthermore, the highest removal efficiency was obtained (94%) at the pH of 2.0, the contact duration of 100 min, Cr (VI) concentration of 50 mg/L, and dosage of 2 g/L, which was statistically the optimal condition for the modified rice bran. The adsorption kinetics was agreeably suited to pseudo-second-order, whereas the Freundlich isotherm equation was also suitably expounded the study’s findings. The findings implied that the acid and biochar rice bran performed remarkably in the reme-diation of the wastewater compared with alkali rice bran for reuse for industrial, agricultural, and environmental purposes.

The Influence of Leachate Water on Corrosion Rate of Mild Steel Plate

<p class="02abstracttext">Leachate water from final waste landfill (Tempat Pembuangan Akhir, TPA) contains harmful substances for the environment and living organisms. Furthermore, the leachate water can deteriorate equipment buried near TPA, e.g. buried water pipe. This work investigated the corrosion rate of mild steel SPCC SD after immersion in leachate water of TPA Gunung Kupang and Cahaya Kencana located in South Kalimantan. The steel plate immersion into leachate water was worked out in 3 different cases. The first case was 2 weeks immersion in leachate water followed by 1 week contact with ambient air. In the second case, steel plate was immersed in leachate water for 1 week and then 2 weeks in direct contact with ambient air. The last one was steel plate immersion in leachate water for 3 weeks without any direct contact with ambient air. The investigation shows that longer contact duration between wet steel surface, after immersion in leachate water, with ambient air increases the corrosion rate. The investigation shows also that the corrosion rate due to leachate water from Gunung Kupang landfill is higher than that of Cahaya Kencana landfill. Corrosion rate for TPA Gunung Kupang case varies from 0.441 to 0.718 mmpy. Meanwhile, corrosion rate for TPA Cahaya Kencana varies from 0.131 to 0.495 mmpy. This is due to lower pH of leachate water from TPA Mount Kupang.</p>

On the ocean beach—why elliptic pebbles do not become spherical

Among pebbles strewn across a sandy ocean beach, one can find relatively many with a nearly perfect elliptical (ellipsoidal) shape, and one wonders how this shape was attained and whether, during abrasion, the pebbles would remain elliptical or eventually become spherical. Mainly the latter question was addressed in a previous publication which identified frictional sliding and rotation of an elliptic pebble as main abrasion processes in the surf waves. In particular, it was predicted that the ellipticity $$\varepsilon = \left\{ {1 - b^{2} /a^{2} } \right\}^{1/2}$$ ε = 1 - b 2 / a 2 1 / 2 (a > b, principal ellipse axes) converges to a common equilibrium value for elliptic-like pebbles. Unfortunately, the derivation was based on an invalid force expression and a dimensionally unsuitable curvature. In this paper, not only force and curvature but also the contact duration with the sand surface during rotations is taken into account by fairly simple physical arguments, and it is shown that elliptic pebbles neither approach the same ellipticity and nor become more spherical nor more disk-like but rather that the ellipticity $$\varepsilon$$ ε increases.

Improved Inpatient Care through Greater Patient–Doctor Contact under the Hospitalist Management Approach: A Real-Time Assessment

Objective: To examine the difference between hospitalist and non-hospitalist frequency of patient–doctor contact, duration of contact, cumulative contact time, and the amount of time taken by the doctor to resolve an issue in response to a medical call. Research Design and Measures: Data from 18 facilities and 36 wards (18 hospitalist wards and 18 non-hospitalist wards) were collected. The patient–doctor contact slip and medical call response slips were given to each inpatient ward to record. A total of 28,926 contacts occurred with 2990 patients, and a total of 8435 medical call responses occurred with 3329 patients. Multivariate logistic regression analyses and regression analyses were used for statistical analyses. Results: The average frequency of patient–doctor contact during a hospital stay was 10.0 times per patient for hospitalist patients. Using regression analyses, hospitalist patients had more contact with the attending physician (β = 5.6, standard error (SE) = 0.28, p < 0.0001). Based on cumulative contact time, hospitalists spent significantly more time with the patient (β = 32.29, SE = 1.54, p < 0.0001). After a medical call to resolve the issue, doctors who took longer than 10 min were 4.14 times (95% CI 3.15–5.44) and those who took longer than 30 min were 4.96 times (95% CI 2.75–8.95) more likely to be non-hospitalists than hospitalists. Conclusion: This study found that hospitalists devoted more time to having frequent encounters with patients. Therefore, inpatient care by a hospitalist who manages inpatient care from admission to discharge could improve the care quality.

Relationship between Exposure to Cigarette Smoke in Houses and The Incidence of Hypertension in Housewives

Background: Hypertension is still a major health problem in the world. One of the factors causing hypertension is exposure to cigarette smoke. Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between cigarette smoke exposure and the incidence of hypertension in housewives in houses in Dampit village. Methods: This research adopted an analytical observational approach. This was a cross-sectional design study. The population for this study was all housewives in Dampit village in March 2020. A total number of 115 housewives was selected using the cluster proportional random sampling technique. The dependent variable was the incidence of hypertension; the independent variables were the duration of cigarette smoke exposure in houses, the number of instances contact was made by being in close proximity to smokers, and the contact duration with smokers. Data collection was done by interviewing respondents using a questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using frequency tables and Epi Info. Results: The study indicated that there was a relationship between the duration of cigarette smoke exposure (over 33 years) in houses with the incidence of hypertension in housewives (p=0.01; OR=3.52; 95%CI=1.53–8.05). Similarly, there was a relationship established between the number of occasions contact was made by being in close proximity to smokers every day (over three times every day) (p=0.01; OR=36; 95%CI=7.64–168.76) and the contact duration with smokers (p=0.01; OR=8.09; 95%CI=3.13–20.87) with the incidence of hypertension in housewives. Conclusion: There was a link between the duration of cigarette smoke exposure in houses, the number of instances of being in close proximity to smokers every day, and the contact duration with smokers with the incidence of hypertension in housewives in Dampit village.

Oestrus Analysis of Sows Based on Bionic Boars and Machine Vision Technology

This study proposes a method and device for the intelligent mobile monitoring of oestrus on a sow farm, applied in the field of sow production. A bionic boar model that imitates the sounds, smells, and touch of real boars was built to detect the oestrus of sows after weaning. Machine vision technology was used to identify the interactive behaviour between empty sows and bionic boars and to establish deep belief network (DBN), sparse autoencoder (SAE), and support vector machine (SVM) models, and the resulting recognition accuracy rates were 96.12%, 98.25%, and 90.00%, respectively. The interaction times and frequencies between the sow and the bionic boar and the static behaviours of both ears during heat were further analysed. The results show that there is a strong correlation between the duration of contact between the oestrus sow and the bionic boar and the static behaviours of both ears. The average contact duration between the sows in oestrus and the bionic boars was 29.7 s/3 min, and the average duration in which the ears of the oestrus sows remained static was 41.3 s/3 min. The interactions between the sow and the bionic boar were used as the basis for judging the sow’s oestrus states. In contrast with the methods of other studies, the proposed innovative design for recyclable bionic boars can be used to check emotions, and machine vision technology can be used to quickly identify oestrus behaviours. This approach can more accurately obtain the oestrus duration of a sow and provide a scientific reference for a sow’s conception time.

Profiling Children Sexual Abuse in a Sample of University Students: A Study on Characteristic of Victims, Abusers, and Abuse Episodes

Because of its prevalence and its potential negative consequences, child sexual abuse (CSA) is a public health problem in every country in the world. Knowledge of the characteristics of abuse episodes (victim, abuser, relationship between them, type of sexual contact, duration, threat and/or use of force) is essential to specify the contents of intervention programs for the detection and reduction of the negative consequences of CSA. Starting with an initial sample of 1605 university students of both sexes (70.9% women, 29.1% men), aged between 18 and 26 years (M = 21.1, SD = 2.2), 90 participants who had suffered an episode of CSA up to age 16 were selected (84.4% women, 15.6% men; Mage = 21.1, SD = 2.2). It was found that: (1) there was a higher prevalence of CSA among women and that the victims’ average age when they suffered abuse was around 11 years; (2) the abusers were mostly male, close to the victims, and with an average of slightly less than 30 years; and (3) there was a significant proportion (25.6%) of CSA cases with penetration and in which force was used or threatened. These results are relevant, as they show that there is still a noteworthy prevalence of CSA cases on university campuses that needs to be addressed. Knowing the characteristics of these episodes is critical to implementing more effective interventions.