This special issue on Ambient Semantic Computing (ASC) of the International Journal of Semantic Computing proposes a particular approach to the much debated new era of IT and computing, where computers leave the desktop and surround us everywhere. ASC is related to the terms Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing, and Ambient Intelligence – each of these terms is claimed by their protagonist...

Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of international concern, with mounting evidence of disturbance and impacts on animal behaviour and physiology. However, empirical studies measuring survival consequences are rare. We use a field experiment to investigate how repeated motorboat-noise playback affects parental behaviour and offspring survival in the spiny chromis (Acanthochromis polyacanthus), ...

A large amount of oyster mushrooms is wasted every year due to post-harvest losses/decays. An experiment was conducted to observe the effect of low temperature to extend shelf life and nutritional quality of oyster mushroom. The experiment consisted of two treatments including: mushrooms stored at ambient (25 °C) temperature or stored at 3 °C temperature. The experiment wa...

The terms of Power, influence and authority could be heard in political world vastly, but using these terms is not leaving only to this realm. Despite its visual simplicity, generally there is not similar and equal perception about term of Power among people. Understanding about by politicians differs from lawyer perception about this term.  What people takes about Power, totally differ from wh...

Objective: This study was designed to develop and validate a new reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method based on Q2 (R1) International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline for determination of curcumin in pharmaceutical samples. Materials and Methods: The HPLC instrument method was optimized with isocratic elution with acetonitrile: ammonium acetate (45:55...

Background: Benzene has been classified as group 1 human carcinogens in the environment by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) mainly because of its ability to cause acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This study was conducted to detect any probable association between urban benzene pollution concentration and occurrence of AML in different regions of Tehran.  Methods: In thi...

cold hardiness is one of the most common adaptations of insects at low temperatures. to understand the cold hardiness strategy of beet armyworm, spodoptera exigua (hübner), six temperature treatments were tested on the last instar larvae. supercooling points of treatments were not significantly different. two sugars, glucose and trehalose, as well as three polyols, myo-inositol, glycerol and so...

the effect of hydraulic retention time in a range from 1.0-5.5 days was evaluated in a laboratoryscaleanaerobic fixed bed reactor packed with a hybrid material composed of tire rubber and zeolite. underthese conditions, cod removal efficiencies varied from 28.3% to 82.1%, respectively. over the more than 6months of operation, no clogging was observed. the results obtained demonstrated that this...