Processing of an East Mediterranean phosphate ore sample by an integrated attrition scrubbing/classification scheme (part one)

ABSTRACT

In this study, an Egyptian siliceous/calcareous sedimentary phosphorite was subjected to beneficiation by unsophisticated economic means. The mineralogical and chemical examination showed that the ore sample is a typical example for the East Mediterranean phosphorites with 21.80% P₂O₅, 10.93% acid insoluble and 16.61% loss on ignition. The primary crushed sample was classified into three size fractions without any milling and they were separately subjected to an integrated attrition scrubbing study. Screening and classification on the 2.30 mm and 0.071 mm sieves were sequentially introduced with the attrition process. The effect of solid%, attrition speed and time were studied and optimized for each size fraction. Results showed that three products were produced and could be categorized according to their P₂O₅ content into the coarse tailing (+2.30 mm), the attrition concentrate (?2.30 + 0.071 mm) and the phosphate fines (?0.071 mm). The P₂O₅ contents of these products reached 12.24%, 28.72% and 18.77%, with P₂O₅ distribution reached 6.74%, 51.75% and 41.51%, respectively. A global P₂O₅ of 28.72% was obtained with a recovery of about 52%. A tentative flow-sheet for the whole process was postulated.     

Creating a reference data set for the summarization of discussion forum threads

In this paper we address extractive summarization of long threads in online discussion fora. We present an elaborate user evaluation study to determine human preferences in forum summarization and to create a reference data set. We showed long threads to ten different raters and asked them to create a summary by selecting the posts that they considered to be the most important for the thread. We study the agreement between human raters on the summarization task, and we show how multiple reference summaries can be combined to develop a successful model for automatic summarization. We found that although the inter-rater agreement for the summarization task was slight to fair, the automatic summarizer obtained reasonable results in terms of precision, recall, and ROUGE. Moreover, when human raters were asked to choose between the summary created by another human and the summary created by our model in a blind side-by-side comparison, they judged the model’s summary equal to or better than the human summary in over half of the cases. This shows that even for a summarization task with low inter-rater agreement, a model can be trained that generates sensible summaries. In addition, we investigated the potential for personalized summarization. However, the results for the three raters involved in this experiment were inconclusive. We release the reference summaries as a publicly available dataset.     

Do ozone and boric acid affect microleakage in class V composite restorations?

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of chlorhexidine gluconate (2%), sodium hypochloride (2.5%), ozone gas, and boric acid at different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) on microleakage from composite restorations.

In a total of 80 extracted human canine teeth, a class V cavity was opened on the buccal surface and the samples were separated into eight groups. In the control group, no procedure was applied for cavity disinfection, then composite restoration (Z250, 3M) was made using single-stage, self-etch adhesive (Single Bond 3M). In the other groups, seven different disinfectants were used, then the cavity was restored. The teeth were split into two in the buccolingual direction, parallel to the long axes. Stain penetration was examined under stereomicroscope and scored. Examination with SEM was made on one sample from each group, selected at random. Statistical evaluations were made using Dunnett C Post Hoc Comparison and Kruskal–Wallis H tests.

In the occlusal region evaluation, the groups with the lowest level of leakage were the 3% and 5% boric acid groups, and the highest levels of microleakage were determined in the chlorhexidine group and the 1% boric acid group. In the gingival region, the lowest level of microleakage was in the 5% boric acid group and the highest levels were determined in the 1% and 7% boric acid groups.

Boric acid disinfectants used at suitable concentrations were not seen to create a risk in respect of microleakage.     

Distributed channel selection in CRAHNs: A non-selfish scheme for mitigating spectrum fragmentation

In this paper, we consider the problem of spectrum sharing in CRAHNs and propose a distributed channel selection scheme. The key functionality of our proposal, best-fit channel selection (BFC) is that it accounts both the primary channel traffic activity and CR traffic activity in channel selection. We assume CR nodes have the capability of estimating the primary channel traffic activities. In BFC, each CR selects a channel among the primary user (PU) channels for transmission that best fits to its transmission time requirement. We compare the performance of BFC to the widely known longest idle time channel selection (LITC) scheme. In LITC, a CR selects the channel that has the longest expected idle time independent of its transmission needs. In a multi-user CRN, this may degrade the network performance compared to the non-selfish BFC approach. LITC is considered selfish since each CR aims to maximize its own benefit and thus wastes resources that may be utilized by other nodes in the network. BFC providing an efficient spectrum sharing mechanism implicitly mitigates the effect of spectrum fragmentation which is a significant issue degrading the CR spectrum utilization. In CRNs, spectrum may be fragmented in various dimensions, e.g. time and frequency, such that some parts of the spectrum can not be used although being idle. Our proposal provides a solution to the spectrum fragmentation issue in time dimension at the medium access control (MAC) layer. By a set of simulations, we highlight the performance improvement by BFC over the conventional LITC under various CR/PU traffic, number of CRs, estimation accuracy and buffering capability. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed BFC is significantly superior to that of LITC in terms of probability of successful transmission, spectrum opportunity utilization and fragmentation.     

Bilaterally Microstructured Thin Polydimethylsiloxane Film Production

Thin PDMS films with complex microstructures are used in the manufacturing of dielectric electro active polymer (DEAP) actuators, sensors and generators, to protect the metal electrode from large strains and to assure controlled actuation. The current manufacturing process at Danfoss Polypower A/S produces films with a one-sided microstructured surface only. It would be advantageous to produce a film with both surfaces microstructured, as this increases the film’s performance efficiency. The new technique introduced herein produces bilaterally microstructured film by combining an embossing method with the existing manufacturing process. In employing the new technique, films with microstructures on both surfaces are successfully made with two different liquid silicone rubber (LSR) formulations: 1) pure XLR630 and 2) XLR630 with titanium dioxide (TiO₂). The LSR films (～70 µm) are cast on a carrier web substrate using a coating blade. The carrier web, which has a sinusoidal corrugation with wave height of 7 µm and a wave period of 7 µm on its surface, imparts corrugations to the bottom surface of the film. The elastomer film on the carrier web is preheated to the gel point, where the elastomer film can retain an imprint made on it. The preheated film at gel point is embossed between the rolls of a gravure lab coater, which corrugates the top surface of the film. The films are then heated, in order to cure completely. For the LSR systems used in this process, the optimum conditions for preheating are 110°C for 4–7 s, while for embossing the temperature is 110°C with 25 psi pressure between the rolls at a speed of 1.4 rpm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images confirm the formation of microstructures on both the surfaces of the film.     

Poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid-co-3-hydroxyvaleric acid) based tissue engineering matrices

In this study, the aim was to produce tissue-engineered bone using osteoblasts and a novel matrix material, poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid-co-3-hydroxyvaleric acid) (PHBV). In order to prepare a porous PHBV matrix with uniform pore size, sucrose crystals were loaded in the foam and then leached leaving pores behind. The surface of the PHBV matrix was treated with rf-oxygen plasma to increase the surface hydrophilicity. SEM examination of the PHBV matrices was carried out. Stability of PHBV foams in aqueous media was studied. The pH decrease is an indication of the degradation extent. The weight and density were unchanged for a period of 120 days but then a significant decrease was observed for the rest of the study. Osteoblast cells were then isolated from rat bone marrow and seeded onto PHBV matrices. The metabolization and proliferation on the foams was determined with MTS assay which showed that osteoblasts proliferated on PHBV. It was also found that cells proliferated better on large pore size foams (300–500 m) than on the small pore size foams (75–300 m). Production of ALP was measured spectrophotometrically. The present study demonstrated that PHBV matrices are suitable substrates for osteoblast proliferation and differentiation.     

Performance of delay‐sensitive traffic in multi‐layered satellite IP networks with on‐board processing capability

In this article, performance of delay‐sensitive traffic in multi‐layered satellite Internet Protocol (IP) networks with on‐board processing (OBP) capability is investigated. With OBP, a satellite can process the received data, and according to the nature of application, it can decide on the transmission properties. First, we present a concise overview of relevant aspects of satellite networks to delay‐sensitive traffic and routing. Then, in order to improve the system performance for delay‐sensitive traffic, specifically Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a novel adaptive routing mechanism in two‐layered satellite network considering the network's real‐time information is introduced and evaluated. Adaptive Routing Protocol for Quality of Service (ARPQ) utilizes OBP and avoids congestion by distributing traffic load between medium‐Earth orbit and low‐Earth orbit layers. We utilize a prioritized queueing policy to satisfy quality‐of‐service (QoS) requirements of delay‐sensitive applications while evading non‐real‐time traffic suffer low performance level. The simulation results verify that multi‐layered satellite networks with OBP capabilities and QoS mechanisms are essential for feasibility of packet‐based high‐quality delay‐sensitive services which are expected to be the vital components of next‐generation communications networks. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Participatory Irrigation Management and Transfer: Setting the Guiding Principles for a Sustaining Monitoring & Evaluation System – a Focus on the Mediterranean

A major shortcoming of Participatory Irrigation Management and Irrigation Management Transfer (PIM/IMT) is the absence of Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) systems that accompany these processes and become a major instrument to correct, improve and learn. Although at the global level some countries have exerted efforts to implement M&E systems, these still present limitations, as the review of the international experiences shows. The Mediterranean situation is even more dramatic since only Tunisia implements an M&E system, whereas Egypt has shyly moved in this direction with a limited practical application. This state of affairs led the authors to develop a set of guiding principles to develop an M&E system to be applied in countries where PIM/IMT is adopted. This paper revises the main international efforts devoted to assess the performance of PIM/IMT and the state of the art of these processes in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries. Moreover, it sets the framework and analyses the main sustaining factors for the development of a new M&E system for these countries.     

Characterization of Biogenic Silica Generated by Thermo Chemical Treatment of Rice Husk

This study presents two routes to produce amorphous silica from an Egyptian rice husk under conditions optimized for least environmental impact and low cost. The first route includes thoroughly washing of the husk sample with water, dry milling and leaching with citric acid. The leaching process was applied in two stages, that is, at 323 K for 180 min and then at 353 K for 60 min. After washing and drying, the leached sample was subjected to a heat treatment in a muffles furnace at four sequential steps. The second route includes all the previously mentioned steps, except the citric acid leaching. The final products were characterized using x-ray fluorescence analysis, carbon content analysis, x-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, nitrogen adsorption, mercury intrusion, and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the citric acid leaching has many advantages with respect to silica yield and porosity as well.     

Adaptive educational hypermedia accommodating learning styles: A content analysis of publications from 2000 to 2011

Implementing instructional interventions to accommodate learner differences has received considerable attention. Among these individual difference variables, the empirical evidence regarding the pedagogical value of learning styles has been questioned, but the research on the issue continues. Recent developments in Web-based implementations have led scholars to reconsider the learning style research in adaptive systems. The current study involved a content analysis of recent studies on adaptive educational hypermedia (AEH) which addressed learning styles. After an extensive search on electronic databases, seventy studies were selected and exposed to a document analysis. Study features were classified under several themes such as the research purposes, methodology, features of adaptive interventions and student modeling, and findings. The analysis revealed that the majority of studies proposed a framework or model for adaptivity whereas few studies addressed the effectiveness of learning style-based AEH. Scales were used for learning style identification more than automatic student modeling. One third of the studies provided a framework without empirical evaluation with students. Findings on concrete learning outcomes were not strong enough; however, several studies revealed that suggested models influenced student satisfaction and success. Current trends, potential research gaps and implications were discussed.