Low-level microbial activity due to the production of organic acids is a recognized problem during the initial phase of food waste composting. Increasing such activity levels by adjusting the pH values during the initial composting phase is the primary objective to be investigated. In this study, sodium acetate (NaoAc) was introduced as an amendment to an in-vessel composting system. NaoAc was added when the pH of the compost mixture reached a low level (pH < 5), the addition increased pH to 5.8. This had a positive effect on the degradation of organic materials i.e. the formation of methane gas compared to the results without NaoAc addition.

The results also proved that anaerobic-aerobic in-vessel composting could reduce the

One of the concerns of adopting an e-voting systems in the pooling place of any critical elections is the possibility of compromising the voting machine by a malicious piece of code, which could change the votes cast systematically. To address this issue, different techniques have been proposed such as the use of vote verification techniques and the anonymous ballot techniques, e.g., Code Voting. Verifiability may help to detect such attack, while the Code Voting assists to reduce the possibility of attack occurrence. In this paper, a new code voting technique is proposed, implemented and tested, with the aid of an open source voting. The anonymous ballot improved accordingly the paper audit trail used in this machine. The developed system,

Solar tracking systems used are to increase the efficiency of the solar cells have attracted the attention of
researchers recently due to the fact that the attention has been directed to the renewable energy sources. Solar tracking systems are of two types, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and sun path tracking. Both types are studied briefly in this paper and a simple low cost sun path tracking system is designed using simple commercially available component. Measurements have been made for comparison between fixed and tracking system. The results have shown that the tracking system is effective in the sense of relatively high output power increase and low cost.

Emotion recognition has important applications in human-computer interaction. Various sources such as facial expressions and speech have been considered for interpreting human emotions. The aim of this paper is to develop an emotion recognition system from facial expressions and speech using a hybrid of machine-learning algorithms in order to enhance the overall performance of human computer communication. For facial emotion recognition, a deep convolutional neural network is used for feature extraction and classification, whereas for speech emotion recognition, the zero-crossing rate, mean, standard deviation and mel frequency cepstral coefficient features are extracted. The extracted features are then fed to a random forest classifier. In

Abstract: Microfluidic devices present unique advantages for the development of efficient drug assay and screening. The microfluidic platforms might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative. Fluids are confined in devices that have a significant dimension on the micrometer scale. Due to this extreme confinement, the volumes used for drug assays are tiny (milliliters to femtoliters).

 In this research, a microfluidic chip consists of micro-channels carved on substrate materials built by using Acrylic (Polymethyl Methacrylate, PMMA) chip was designed using a Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) laser machine. The CO2 parameters have influence on the width, depth, roughness of the chip. In order to have regular

Congenital absence of anterior cruciate ligament is highly uncommon occurrence. It has since been documented as a standalone anatomical entity or, more frequently, in conjunction with other congenital anomalies. Surgical treatment for this patient population has only been reported in very few cases. In this article, we share our experience in managing a case of unilateral congenital deficiency of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a 13 years old female patient by physeal sparing arthroscopic ACL reconstruction, using All-inside technique.

A mathematical model constructed to study the combined effects of the concentration and the thermodiffusion on the nanoparticles of a Jeffrey fluid with a magnetic field effect the process of containing waves in a three-dimensional rectangular porous medium canal. Using the HPM to solve the nonlinear and coupled partial differential equations. Numerical results were obtained for temperature distribution, nanoparticles concentration, velocity, pressure rise, pressure gradient, friction force and stream function. Through the graphs, it was found that the velocity of fluid rises with the increase of a mean rate of volume flow and a magnetic parameter, while the velocity goes down with the increasing a Darcy number and lateral walls. Also, t

Objective: To measure the serum levels of Fetuin-A, ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), and ferritin in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19in Baghdad, Iraq. Moreover, to determine these biomarkers' cut-off valuesthat differentiate between severely ill patients and control subjects. Methods: This case-control study was done from 15 September to the end of December 2021 and involved a review of the files and collectionof blood samples from patients (n=45, group1) hospitalized in COVID-19 treatment centersbecause of severe symptoms compared tohealthy subjects as controls (n=44, group2). Results: Fetuin-A serum levels were not statistically different between patients and controls. In contrast, IMA and ferritin levels were significan

An in-depth experimental study of the matrix effect of antifreeze (ethylene glycol) and water contamination of engine oil through FT-IR spectroscopy. With a comparison of the percent by volume concentration of contaminated fresh 15W-40 engine oil, there appeared to be a noticeable reduction in the O–H stretching signal in the infrared spectrum when ethylene glycol based antifreeze was included as a contaminant. The contaminants of distilled water, a 50/50 mixture of water and commercial ethylene glycol antifreeze, and straight ethylene glycol antifreeze were compared and a signal reduction in the O–H stretch was clearly evident when glycol was present. Doubling the volume of the 50/50 mixture as compared to water alone still res

A case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere