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Mulatu Liyew Berihun (Ed.)
411
Advances of Science
and Technology
9th EAI International Conference, ICAST 2021
Hybrid Event, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, August 27–29, 2021
Proceedings, Part I
Part 1
Lecture Notes of the Institute
for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics
and Telecommunications Engineering 411
Editorial Board Members

Ozgur Akan
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Paolo Bellavista
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Jiannong Cao
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Geoffrey Coulson
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Falko Dressler
University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
Domenico Ferrari
Università Cattolica Piacenza, Piacenza, Italy
Mario Gerla
UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
Hisashi Kobayashi
Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Sergio Palazzo
University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Sartaj Sahni
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Xuemin (Sherman) Shen
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Mircea Stan
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
Xiaohua Jia
City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Albert Y. Zomaya
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/8197
Mulatu Liyew Berihun (Ed.)
Advances of Science
and Technology
9th EAI International Conference, ICAST 2021
Hybrid Event, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, August 27–29, 2021
Proceedings, Part I
Editor
Mulatu Liyew Berihun
Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Faculty of Civil
and Water Resource Engineering
Bahir Dar University
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
ISSN 1867-8211 ISSN 1867-822X (electronic)

Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics
and Telecommunications Engineering
ISBN 978-3-030-93708-9 ISBN 978-3-030-93709-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93709-6
© ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are
believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors
give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or
omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
We are delighted to introduce the proceedings of the ninth edition of the EAI Interna-
tional Conference on Advancements of Science and Technology (EAI ICAST 2021).
EAI ICAST 2021 is an annual conference that takes place at Bahir Dar Institute of Tech-
nology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The conference covers topical sci-
ence and technology issues and has brought together researchers, engineers, developers,
practitioners, scholars, scientists, and academicians from around the world.
The technical program of EAI ICAST 2021 consisted of seven main tracks: Track
1, Chemical, Food and Bioprocess Engineering; Track 2, Electrical and Electronics
Engineering; Track 3, ICT, Software and Hardware Engineering; Track 4, Civil, Water
Resources, and Environmental Engineering; Track 5, Mechanical and Industrial Engi-
neering; Track 6, Material Science and Engineering; and Track 7, Energy Science, Engi-
neering and Policy. A total of 202 full papers were submitted, from which 102 papers
were accepted in a peer reviewed process. Each paper was reviewed by on average three
reviewers who are experts in the area. After a thorough evaluation process, the technical
program consisted of 80 high quality full research papers in oral presentation sessions
in the seven main conference tracks. The technical program of EAI ICAST 2021 also
featured one invited talk, three keynote speeches, and seven session keynote speeches
along with exhibitions and 12 poster presentations. The three keynote speakers were
Timnit Gebru, the cofounder of Black in Al from the USA; Girma Gebresenbet from the
Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Sweden; and Yilma Sileshi from the Addis
Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
We sincerely appreciate the work of the Steering Committee chair and members, the
Organizing Committee chair, Kibret Mekuanint, the Organizing Committee co-chairs,
Mekuanint Agegnehu and Elias Wagari, and the Technical Program Committee (TPC)
chair, Mulatu Liyew Berihun, for their constant support and guidance which ensured the
success of the conference. It was also a great pleasure to work with such an excellent
Organizing Committee team, we note that their hard work in organizing and supporting
the conference. We are grateful to the Technical Program Committee led by our TPC
chair, Aynadis Molla (Track 1), Hailu Desalegn (Track 2), Mekonnen Wagaw (Track
3), Mitiku Damtie (Track 4), Betsha Tizazu (Track 5), Misganaw Alemu (Track 6), and
Muluken Temsgen (Track 7). They followed and completed the peer-review process for
the technical papers and designed a high-quality technical program. We are also grateful
to the conference manager, Viltare Platzner, for her support, and all the authors who
submitted their papers to the EAI ICAST 2021 conference.
We strongly believe that the EAI ICAST 2021 conference provided a good forum
for all scientific communities and a scientific body of knowledge we could use to dis-
cuss all science and technology aspects relevant to each track. We also expect that
future EAI ICAST conferences will be as successful and stimulating, as indicated by the
contributions presented in this volume.
Mulatu Liyew Berihun
Conference Organization
Steering Committee
Imrich Chlamtac Bruno Kessler Professor, University of Trento,
Italy
Seifu Admassu Tilahun Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
University, Ethiopia
Organizing Committee
General Chair
Kibret Mequanint University of Western Ontario, Canada
General Co-chairs
Mekuanmt Agegnehu Bitew Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Elias Wagari Gabisa Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Solomon Workineh Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Technical Program Committee Chair

Mulatu Liyew Benhun Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Technical Program Committee

Aynaddis Molla Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Misganaw Alemu Department of Materials Science and
Engineering, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
Mitiku Damtie Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Betsha Tizazu Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Mokonnen Wagaw Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
viii Conference Organization
Muluken Temesgen Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar

Hailu Desalegn Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Sponsorship and Exhibits Chair

Bantelay Sintayehu Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Local Chair
Alganesh Ygzaw Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Workshops Chair
Bezawork Tilahun Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Publicity and Social Media Chair

Temesgen Getnet Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Bezawork Tilahun Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Publications Chair
Addisu Negash Ali Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Web Chair
Samuel Ashagirie Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Posters and PhD Track Chair

Fasikaw Atenaw Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Panels Chair
Dagnachew Aklog Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Conference Organization ix
Demos Chair
Melkamu Binle Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Tutorials Chairs
Abreham Debasu Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar
Co-Technical Program Committee

Elefelious Getachew School of Information Technology and Scientific
Computing, Addis Ababa Institute of
Technology, Ethiopia
Mesfin Abebe School of Electrical Engineering & Computing,
Adama Science and Technology,Ethiopia
Abdulkadir Aman Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT),
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Sisay Addis Debre Markos University, Ethiopia
Tadele Mamo Mettu University, Ethiopia
Wuletawu Abera International Center for Tropical Agriculture
(CIAT), Zambia
Wubshet Mekonnen Department of Chemistry, Wollo University,
Ethiopia
Mulugeta Atlabachew Jimma University, Ethiopia
Contents – Part I
Chemical, Food and Bioprocess Engineering
Synthesis, Optimization and Characterization of Pulp from Banana Pseudo

Stem for Paper Making via Soda Anthraquinone Pulping Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tesfaye Kassaw Bedru and Beteley Tekola Meshesha
Effect of Toasting and Natural Fermentation on the Phytochemical

and Functional Properties of Oats Grown in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Getaneh Firew Alemayehu, Sirawdink Fikreyesus Forsido,
Yetenayet B. Tola, Minbale Adimas Teshager,
Addisu Alemayehu Assegie, and Endale Amare
Correlation of UV Assisted Fenton Process and Fenton Process

for Removal of Reactive Red 2(RR2) Dye Color from Wastewater . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Gemechu Kassaye Abera, Fikiru Temesgen Hangarasa,
and Nigus Gabbiye Habtu
Isolation and Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose

from Eragrostesis Teff Straw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Ebise Getacho Bacha, Lema Deme Shumi,
and Tsigab Tekleab Teklehaimanot
Process Revamping of H2 SO4 Plant to Double Contact Double Absorption

(DCDA) Using ASPEN HYSYS to Reduce SO2 Emission: Case of Awash
Melkassa Sulfuric Acid Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Addis Lemessa, Melkamu Birlie, Metadel Kassahun, and Yared Mengistu
Effect of Blend Ratio on Physico-Mechanical Properties of Agro Stone

Composite Caulking Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Tadelle Nigusu Mekonnen, Tewekel Mohammed Belay,
Tinsae Tsega Beyene, Yenehun Gidyelem Andualem,
Mulugeta Admasu Delele, Sissay Wondmagegn Molla,
and Aregash Mamo Gizaw
Assessment of Nutrients and Heavy Metals in the Groundwater

and Surface Water in the Zeber Watershed: The Case of the Bahir - Dar
City Waste Disposal Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dargie Haile and Nigus Gabbiye
Manufacturing of Tiles from Kieselguhr Sludge /Diatomaceous Earth/ . . . . . . . . 106

Dargie Haile
xii Contents – Part I
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Optimal Transmit Antenna Selection for Massive MIMO Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Shenko Chura Aredo, Yalemzewd Negash, Yihenew Wondie,
Feyisa Debo, Rajaveerappa Devadas, and Abreham Fikadu
Design and Performance Analysis of Enhanced Directional MAC

Protocols for Cognitive Radio Wireless Mesh Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Mulugeta Atlabachew, Jordi Casademont, and Yalemzewd Negash
Performance Analysis of Hybrid Beamforming Techniques in Large MU

MIMO Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Fikreselam Gared Mengistu, Yosef Birhanu Malede,
and Amare Kassaw Yimer
Narrow-Linewidth Compound Ring Fiber Laser Using HBF as a Feedback

for Sensing and Communication Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Hailu Dessalegn Ayalew
Design and Performance Analysis of 125 MW Floating Photovoltaic

Power Plant in Ethiopia: Metema vs Lake Tana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Tewodros G. Workineh, Biniyam Z. Taye, and Abraham H. Nebey
Efficiency Analysis of a Solar Photovoltaic DC and Existing AC

Distribution System for Bahirdar University Data Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Tewodros G. Workineh, Tefera T. Yetayew, and Tesfaye B. Sisay
Design of Genetic Algorithm Based Robust LQG Controller for Active

Magnetic Bearing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Enderias Alemayehu Workeye, Tamiru Getahun G/Meskel,
and Yakob Kiros T/Himanot
Pitch Angle Control for Optimal Power of Horizontal Axis Variable Speed
Wind Turbines Using Fuzzy Tuned PID Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Tamiru Getahun G/Meskel, Tefera Terefe Yetayew,
and Endrias Alemayehu Workeye
A Concise Evaluation of Auto-tuned PID and Fuzzy Logic Controllers

for Speed Control of a DC-Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Tefera T. Yetayew, Tamiru G. G/Meskel, and Dawit M. G/michael
Genetic Algorithm Tuned Super Twisted Sliding Mode Controller

(STSMC) for Self-balancing Control of a Two-Wheel Electric Scooter . . . . . . . . 269
Tefera T. Yetayew and Daniel G. Tesfaye
Contents – Part I xiii
Artificial Neural Network Based Rotor Flux Estimation and Fuzzy-Logic

Sensorless Speed Control of an Induction Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Tefera T. Yetayew and Rahel S. Sinta
Performance Analysis of Microstrip Antenna with Semi-eliptical Slotted

Patch and Defected Ground Structure at 28 GHz for 5G Communication
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Ayane Lebeta Goshu, Mulugeta Tegegn Gemeda, and Kinde Anlay Fante
Data-Driven Based Optimal Placement and Performance Evaluation

of FD-MIMO for Enhanced 4G Mobile Networks Under Realistic
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Seifu Girma Zeleke, Beneyam B. Haile, and Ephrem Teshale Bekele
Optimization of Dualband Microstrip mm-Wave Antenna with Improved

Directivity for Mobile Application Using Genetic Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Arebu Dejen, Jeevani Jayasinghe, Murad Ridwan, and Jaume Anguera
ICT, Software and Hardware Engineering
N-Neuron Simulation Using Multiprocessor Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Derara Senay Shanka
A SVM Based Model for COVID Detection Using CXR Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Sudhir Kumar Mohapatra, Beakal Gizachew Assefa,
and Getamesay Belayneh
Simultaneous Indoor Localization Based on Wi-Fi RSS Fingerprints . . . . . . . . . . 382

Nooria Rafie and Bang Wang
Posture Prediction for Healthy Sitting Using a Smart Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Tariku Adane Gelaw and Misgina Tsighe Hagos
Agricultural Domain-Specific Jargon Words Identification in Amharic Text . . . . 412

Melaku Lake and Tesfa Tegegne
Design Event Extraction Model from Amharic Texts Using Deep Learning
Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Amogne Andualem and Tesfa Tegegne
Identification of Nonfunctional Requirement Conflicts: Machine Learning

Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Getasew Abeba and Esubalew Alemneh
xiv Contents – Part I
A Survey of Stroke Image Analysis Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Henok Yared Agizew and Asrat Mulatu Beyene
Amharic Fake News Detection on Social Media Using Feature Fusion . . . . . . . . 468
Menbere Hailu Worku and Michael Melese Woldeyohannis
Early Ginger Disease Detection Using Deep Learning Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Mesay Gemeda Yigezu, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis,
and Atnafu Lambebo Tonja
Towards Predicting the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Using Machine

Learning Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Hanna Teshager Mekonnen and Michael Melese Woldeyohannis
Rainfall Prediction and Cropping Pattern Recommendation Using

Artificial Neural Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Yohannes Biadgligne Ejigu and Haile Melkamu Nigatu
The Need for a Novel Approach to Design Derivation Lexicon for Semitic
Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Enchalew Y. Ayalew, Laure Vieu, and Million M. Beyene
A Branching Spatio-Spectral Dimensional Reduction Model

for Hyperspectral Image Classification and Change Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Menilk Sahlu Bayeh, Anteneh Tilaye Bogale, Yunkoo Chung,
Kirubel Abebe Senbeto, and Fetlewerk Kedir Abdu
Shared Syllables for Amharic Tigrigna Text to Speech Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Lemlem Hagos, Million Meshesha, Solomon Atnafu, and Solomon Teferra
OCR System for the Recognition of Ethiopic Real-Life Documents . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Hagos Tesfahun Gebremichael, Tesfahunegn Minwuyelet Mengistu,
Million Mesheha Beyene, and Fikreselam Gared Mengistu
Efficient Architecture for a High Performance Authenticated Encryption

Algorithm on Reconfigurable Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
Abiy Tadesse Abebe, Yalemzewd Negash Shiferaw,
and P. G. V. Suresh Kumar
Design and Development of an Autonomous Smart Stick Framework

for Assisting Visually Impaired People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
Tesfahunegn Minwuyelet Mengistu, Ayalew Belay Habtie,
and Fikreselam Gared Mengistu
Contents – Part I xv
Multi-channel Convolutional Neural Network for Hate Speech Detection

in Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Zeleke Abebaw, Andreas Rauber, and Solomon Atnafu
Automatic Diagnosis of Breast Cancer from Histopathological Images

Using Deep Learning Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Elbetel Taye Zewde and Gizeaddis Lamesgin Simegn
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Contents – Part II
Civil, Water Resources, and Environmental Engineering
Investigation of Properties of Concrete Containing Recycled Concrete

Coarse Aggregate and Waste Glass Powder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Habtamu Melaku Dessie and Denamo Addissie Nuramo
Application of Potential Based Cohesive Model for Analysis of Concrete

Fracture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Habtamu A. Tadesse, Temesgen Wondimu Aure,
and Alemayehu Golla Gualu
Evaluations of Shallow Groundwater Recharges and Water Use Practices

at Robit Watershed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Dagnew Y. Takele, Seifu A. Tilahun, Fasikaw A. Zimale, Petra Schmitter,
Bayu G. Bihonegn, and Daniel G. Eshetie
Experimental Study of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Produced

from Recycled Fine Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Wallelign Mulugeta Nebiyu, Denamo Addissie Nuramo,
and Abel Fantahun Ketema
Prediction of Irrigation Water Supply Using Supervised Machine Learning

Models in Koga Irrigation Scheme, Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Menwagaw T. Damtie, Seifu A. Tilahun, Fasikaw A. Zimale,
and Petra Schmitter
Numerical Investigation on the Effect of Reinforcement Shear Connectors

in Load Bearing Capacity of Partially Encased Composite Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Tamirat Semu, Temesgen Wondimu, and Belay Worku
Lake Level Fluctuation Impact on River Morphology Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Sisay Mengistie Eshetie and Mengistie Abate Meshesha
Analyzing Seasonal Change of Water Quality Characteristics of Finote

Selam Town Drinking Water Sources, Amhara, Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Abayneh Agumass Amogne and Fasikaw Atanaw Zimale
Impact of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics on Stream Flow: A Case

of Borkena Watershed, Awash Basin, Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Metafet Asmare Abebe, Temesgen Enku, and Seid Endris Ahmed
xviii Contents – Part II
Application of in Situ Thermal Imaging to Estimate Crop Water Stress

and Crop Water Requirements for Wheat in Koga Irrigation Scheme,
Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Tewodrose D. Meselaw, Fasikaw A. Zimale, Seifu A. Tilahun,
and Petra Schmitter
Effect of Glass Fiber on Fracture Energy of Plain Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Samuel Demeke Shiferaw, Temesgen Wondimu Aure,
and Alemayehu Golla Gualu
Assessment of Flood Hazard Areas Using Remote Sensing and Spatial

Information System in Bilate River Basin, Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Teshale Tadesse Danbara, Mulugeta Dadi Belete,
and Ayele Getachew Tasew
Torsional Behavior of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Esmael A. Asfaw, Temesgen W. Aure, and Alemayehu G. Gualu
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Performance Analysis of Cotton Seed Biodiesel in Diesel Vehicle

on Chassis Dynamometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Marta Zeleke and Ramesh Babu Nallamothu
Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of the Spray Process of Resin

Over a Laid Up Fiber Stack for the Purpose of Fiber Impregnation
and Composite Materials Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Amare Demelie Zegeye, Mulugeta Ademasu Delele,
and Aart Willem Van Vuure
Performance Evaluation of Locally Fabricated Public Water Cooler . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Atrsaw Jejaw and Aschale Getnet
Recycled Polymer for FDM 3D Printing Filament Material: Circular

Economy for Sustainability of Additive Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Menberu Zeleke Shiferaw and Hailu Shimels Gebremedhen
Integrating Sustainability Measures and Practices in the Ethiopian

Industrial Parks: From Review to Conceptual Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Fitsum Getachew Bayu, Frank Ebinger, and Eshetie Berhan
Reducing Long-Run Average Planned Maintenance Cost Using Markov

Decision Modelling Based on Shifting Paradigm and Penalty Model . . . . . . . . . . 277
Gedefaye Achamu Meretie, Eshetie Berhan Atanew,
and Sisay Geremaw Gebeyehu
Contents – Part II xix
Development and Performance Testing of Rice Thresher for Fogera Hub

Farmers in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Fetene Teshome Teferi, Eyob Messele Sefene,
Sisay Geremew Gebeyehu, and Kishor Purushottam Kolhe
Metal Injection Molding (MIM) Process and Potential Remedies for Its
Defects: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Fetene Teshome Teferi and Assefa Asmare Tsegaw
The Advancement of Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite Reinforced

with Silicon Carbide Particles (Al-6061/SiCp ): A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Fetene Teshome Teferi, Kishor Purushottam Kolhe,
Assefa Asmare Tsegaw, Tafesse G. Borena, and Muralidhar Avvari
Material Science and Engineering
Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Ballistic Impact on Sandwich

Composite Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Tibebu Merde Zelelew, Ermias Gebrekidan Koricho,
and Addisu Negashe Ali
Investigate the Effects of Fiber Surface Chemical Treatment

on the Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Polyester
Resin Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Sewale Yasabu Enyew and Addisu Negash Ali
Investigation of Halide Ion Release Tunnels of Haloalcohol Dehalogenase

from Agrobacterium Radiobacter AD1; Computational Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Aweke Mulu Belachew and Tang Laxia
Effect of Annealing on the Photoluminescence Intensity of Gehlenite:Eu

Doped Phosphor Prepared in Different Gas Atmospheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Fetene Fufa Bakare, Abadi Hadush Tesfay, and Shao-Ju Shih
Energy Science, Engineering and Policy
Investigation of Solar Chimney Power Plant and Experimental Analysis

of Energy Yield from Small Size Draft Tube and Solar Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Ashenafi Tesfaye Bicks, Solomon Tesfamariam Teferi,
and Tewodros Walle Mekonnen
Design and Manufacturing of an Institutional Mirt Stove with Waste Heat

Recovery System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Tesfaye Wondatir Mihretie and Nigusse Mulugeta
xx Contents – Part II
Experimental Investigation of Double Exposure Solar Cooker

with an Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Concentrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Lamesgin Addisu Getnet and Bimrew Tamrat Admassu
Exergy and Economic Analysis of Modified Mixed Mode Solar Injera Dryer . . . 443
Senay Teshome Sileshi, Abdulkadir Aman Hassen, and Kamil Dino Adem
Energy Management Control System for Hybrid Renewable Energy Power

Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Sintayehu Alemnew Hailu, Getachew Biru Worku,
and Minyamer Gelawe Wase
Comparison of Thermal and Emissions Performance on Three Stoves

for Distilling Areke, A Traditional Ethiopian Beverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
Temesgen Assefa Minale and Kamil Dino Adem
Challenges and Prospects of Hydro-Pumps for Small Scale Irrigation . . . . . . . . . 492

Dessie Tarekegn Bantelay, Girma Gebresenbet,
and Bimrew Tamerat Admassu
Numerical and Experimental Performance Investigation of Vertical-Axis

Hydrokinetic Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Muluken Temesgen Tigabu, D. H. Wood, and Bimrew Tamrat Admasu
Artificial Intelligence Based Security Constrained Economic Dispatch

of Ethiopian Renewable Energy Systems: A Comparative Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Shewit Tsegaye, Fekadu Shewarega, and Getachew Bekele
Facile Preparation and Electrochemical Investigations of Copper-Ion

Doped α-MnO2 Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Nigus Gabbiye Habtu, Ababay Ketema Worku, Delele Worku Ayele,
Minbale Admas Teshager, and Zerihun Getahun Workineh
Performance and Stability of Halide Perovskite Solar Cells in Bahir Dar

Climatic Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Getnet M. Meheretu, Getasew A. Wubetu, Bart Roose, Amare Kassew,
Hailu Shimels, Seifu A. Tilahun, Elizabeth M. Tennyson,
and Samuel D. Stranks
Numerical Investigations of Variable Pitch Straight-Bladed H-Darrieus

VAWT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Temesgen Abriham Miliket, Mesfin Belayneh Ageze,
and Muluken Temesgen Tigabu
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Chemical, Food and Bioprocess
Engineering
Synthesis, Optimization and Characterization
of Pulp from Banana Pseudo Stem for Paper
Making via Soda Anthraquinone
Pulping Process
Tesfaye Kassaw Bedru1(&) and Beteley Tekola Meshesha2

1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kombolcha Institute of Technology,
Wollo University, P.O. Box 208, Kombolcha, Ethiopia
tesfaye.kassaw@kiot.edu.et
2
School of Chemical and Bio-Engineering, Addis Ababa Institute
of Technology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Beteley.tekola@aau.edu.et
Abstract. The need for pulp and paper currently in the whole world has become
shooting up massively. The generation of the pulp, as well as paper from woody
materials, has a challenge due to deforestation, huge chemical and energy con-
sumptions. Now, another source for pulp and paper is lignocelluloses wastes
materials, because of low cost, low energy, and chemical consumption. Among
them, the pseudo stem was best for the input of pulp and paper production. This
investigation was on the production and characterization of pulp from Banana
Pseudo Stem for Paper Making via Soda Anthraquinone pulping process. The
amount of cellulose (41.45%), ash (12.4%), hemicellulose (23.37%), extractive
(12.72%), and lignin (10.46%) contents were obtained at the initial compositional
evaluation of the pseudo stem. It has excellent fiber length (1.75 mm), fiber
diameter (22.15 µm), an acceptable Runkle ratio (0.55), and flexibility coefficient
(159.64). The effect of temperature (130, 140 and 150 °C), cooking time (45, 60,
and 75 min), the concentration of soda (10, 12.5, and 15%), were examined. The
maximum yield and kappa number of pulp was 36.7% and 22.8 respectively
obtained at 10% of soda concentration, at 150 °C, and 63 min of cooking time
from oven-dried raw material. The produced paper from the pseudo stem has a
tensile index, tearing index, smoothness, and porosity were 78.75 Nm/g, 19.1 mN.
m2/g, 500–530 µm, and 50 s/100ml air respectively. This study indicates that high
strength mechanical property and good surface properties paper can be produced
from pseudo stem pulp with a more environmentally friendly pulping process.
Keywords: Banana pseudo stem Fiber Pulp Paper Temperature

Cooking time Soda concentration
1 Introduction
The pulp and paper sector produces a great number of paper and other cellulose-based
fiber products. The total quantities of cellulose products consumed every year world-
wide exceed 400 million tons. Paper products are integrated into nearly every aspect of
Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All Rights Reserved
M. L. Berihun (Ed.): ICAST 2021, LNICST 411, pp. 3–16, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93709-6_1
4 T. K. Bedru and B. T. Meshesha
our daily lives. It is undeniably important to society [1]. In the pulp manufacturing
sector, the scarcity of raw material is an issue in some regions in the world and is go
with rising wood supply costs. Research on alternative fiber raw materials is well
proceeding and new tree species annul plants and agricultural residual materials have
been suggested for pulping and paper production [2]. Wood pays to about 90% of the
conventional raw material used for pulp and paper production in the world. However,
the reduction of forest resources to obtain wood had made an effect on the environment
and humans. Several agricultural residues including rice husk, corn straw, wheat straw,
corn stalk, plantain stalk, pineapple leaf, and corn husks which do not have abrupt
beneficial applications in many communities have been suggested to prospective
sources of pulp [3]. The production of the non-wood type of pulp has increased more
rapidly than that of pulp from wood in the last two decades, by a factor of about two in
Latin America and three in Africa and the Middle East [4]. Studies have shown that the
production process of paper from non-wood fiber is significantly less expensive than
wood fiber. Wood and non-wood resources are currently browbeaten for the manu-
facturing of pulp, paper, and soft boards [5]. Many non-wood fibers, such as bamboo,
jute, straw, rice, and bagasse, are currently used in small commercial pulping opera-
tions. Other agricultural residues such as banana pseudo stem, wheat straw, cotton stalk
pose a suitable characteristic for papermaking [6]. Ethiopia has an abundance of agro-
waste material that has not been fully utilized to maximum production. Examples of
such agro-waste materials are banana pseudo stem, coffee husk, wheat straw, rice straw,
cotton stalks, corn stalks, etc. Among these agro-wastes, the banana pseudo stem holds
a suitable characteristic for fiber sources suitable for textile, pulp and paper, packaging
material, twines and ropes, and other industrial applications. Every year a massive
amount of banana plant wastes remains leftover creating environmental pollution. For
every 30–40 kg of banana sold in the market, 250 kg of waste is produced in the farm.
The waste is then causing by the emission of toxic gases including CO2 and also gives
growth to the harmful fungi which attack remaining banana trees [7]. The banana plant
is largely divided into three parts: pseudo stem, peduncle, and leaf. The pseudo stem
possesses good physical strength properties. It consists of high cellulose, low lignin,
and higher pentosane content together with gums and mucilage in the sheath of certain
species of banana plant may be a suitable source for producing pulp and paper [8]. This
study aimed to produce and characterization of pulp from the banana pseudo stem for
paper making via the soda anthraquinone pulping process.
2 Materials and Methods
Materials: The banana (Musa Cavendish) pseudo stem was collected from Jimma
agricultural site and the experiment was done in the school of Chemical and Bio-
Engineering Laboratory, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. The 96% Sulfuric acid,
98% Toluene, 98% Ethanol, 96% Nitric acid, Safranin Solution, Sodium hydroxide,
Anthraquinone, 42% Hydrogen peroxide and Potassium permanganate were used
chemicals for experimental investigation.
Synthesis, Optimization and Characterization of Pulp from Banana Pseudo Stem 5
Experimental Procedure: Fresh pseudo stem waste was obtained from Jimma agri-
cultural site. The unwanted portions of the plant were discarded and only the needed
portion; pseudo stem was used in the study. The sample was washed with water to
remove all debris and unwanted particles. To measure fiber morphologic properties of
the specimens, the pseudo stem was cut into the 0.5 mm thickness and 2 cm long in
parallel to fiber [8]. To determine the chemical composition of the pseudo stem sample
was first oven-dried and crushed to 60 meshes [9]. The ash content, moisture content,
and extractive content was determined. For moisture content, the pseudo stem dried at
105 ± 3 °C for 24 h until getting a constant weight. After 24 h dried the yield was
determined by using the TAPPI T 413 om-93 approach. The ash content of the pseudo
stem sample was ignited at 525 °C for 4 h. After 4 h, the crucible was carefully
withdrawn and cooled in a desiccator then weighed and the percentage was determined
via TAPPI T 262 om-02. The content of extractive of the pseudo stem was done via
Soxhlet extractor 200 mL of ethanol/toluene (1:2 (v/v)) used as a solvent for extraction
for 8 h. After extraction, the sample was air-dried at 25 °C for few minutes and the
percentage was determined via TAPPI T 204 cm-97. The content of cellulose was
determined by using Kurschner–Hoffner approach and 5-g extractive free sample was
cooking with 125 ml of alcoholic nitric acid solutions with a reflux during four cycles of
1 h. After each cycle, the alcoholic nitric acid solution is isolated and a fresh volume is
added. The alcoholic nitric acid solution contained of mixing one volume of 65% (w/w)
solution of nitric acid with four volumes of 96% purity ethanol [10]. At the termination
of the four cycles, the cellulose was washed, dried, and weighed. The hemicellulose
content was determined by taking 2 gr. of extracted dried biomass was transferred into a
250 mL Erlenmeyer flask. 150 mL of 500 mol/m3 NaOH was added. The mixture was
boiled for 3.5 h with distilled water [11]. The lignin content was determined by standard
TAPPI procedure, 1.8 g of the dried extracted raw pseudo stem was weighted in glass
test tubes and 18 mL of 72% H2SO4 was added. The sample was kept at 25 °C for 2 h
with carefully shaking at 30 min intervals to allow for complete hydrolysis. After the
first hydrolysis, 504 mL of distilled water was added. The next step of hydrolysis was
made to occur in an autoclave for 1 h at 121 °C. The slurry was then cooled at 25 °C.
Hydrolysates were filtered through a vacuum using a filtering crucible. The acid-
insoluble lignin was determined by drying the residues at 105 °C. Then the pulping
process was done using the autoclave. All the oven-dry pseudo stems were chipped into
2 cm 1 cm size and pulped using the Soda anthraquinone (soda- AQ) method. The
40 g dried samples were cooked with 0.1% anthraquinone constantly and 10:1 liquor to
sample ratio for each cycle. The concentration (10%, 12.5%, and 15%) and temperature
values were 130 °C, 140 °C, and 150 °C and the time of cooking was 45 min, 60 min,
and 75 min were evaluated. Next black liquor was removed after 20 min and wished
with high distill water. The pulp yield and the residual lignin in the pulps were assessed
by determining the kappa number.
Morphological property of banana pseudo stem: For fiber length and fiber diameter
determination, the pseudo stem was macerated with 50% nitric acid. Match stick size
samples were taken in test tubes, immersed completely in nitric acid solution, and kept
in a water bath at 70 °C. The maceration process was taken for 5–6 h. to get many
separated white-colored fibers. Then test tubes containing macerated fibers were
removed from the water bath and allowed to cool at room temperature. After cooling,
nitric acid was drained and macerated fibers were washed with distilled water and
filtered using What Man Grade 1 filter paper for separation of fibers [12]. For slide,
preparation fibers were stained with 20% safranin solution and again washed with
distilled water for distaining of excess safranin and placed some amount of fiber
suspension on a glass slide with the help of ink/medicine dropper and allowed for air
drying and mounting by using Canada balsam [12]. Two slides were prepared per
sample and images were taken with a total magnification of 40s using a camera
attached Motic BA210 compound stereo microscope. Finally, the length and width of
40 fibers were measured using Motic software.
Lumen diameter and cell wall thickness: The pseudo stem was soaked in warm
water below 100 °C for one hour and sliced by 1520 µm using a Leica RM2255
automatic rotary sliding microtome. The first three slices were discarded to avoid cell
deformation and the following slices were taken.
Then placed slice into safranin solution (1 gm of safranin adding to 100 ml of
water) and immersed into 30%, 50%, 70%, 85%, and 97% alcohol and xylene for
1 min each respectively. In this process, safranin is used for staining, alcohol for
dehydration of water, and xylene to enhance the contrast between cells. Finally, the
specimen was put on a slide and one drop of Canada balsam was dropped and covered
using cover slip and leaf the slide to dry. After making a permanent slide, good quality
images were taken with a total magnification of 400s by using a camera attached
Motic BA210 compound stereo microscope.
FTIR Analysis: The Perkin-100 FTIR spectrometer mad of America was used for
functional group assurance of the pseudo stem fiber proportionally using the technique
of KBr pellet for recording the transmittances [13]. The pretreatment was carried out by
tableting the mixture of each sample and KBr (where KBr has a proportion of 0.5 wt.
%) into a film. The functional group peaks were noted from 4000 to 400 cm–1 with a
resolution of 4 cm–1 in the spectrometer.
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Proximate and Chemical Compositions Analysis
Table 1. Proximate and chemical compositions analysis

Raw Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin [%] Extractive Moisture content Ash content [%]
Material [%] [%] [%] [%]
Pseudo stema 41.45 23.37 10.46 12.72 11.4 12.4
Wheat strawb 39.7 30.6 17.7 5.2 7.9 6.9
Bagassec 55.75 ± 04 n.a 20.5 ± 1.7 3.25 ± 4.3 n.a 1.85 ± 3.7
Soft Woodd 40–45 25–35 25–35 n.a n.a n.a
Hard Woodd 40–55 24–40 18–25 n.a n.a n.a
a
[Current study], b[14], C[15], d[16]
Based on Table 1 the cellulose amount of stem of pseudo banana (41.45%) is higher
than that of straw of wheat (39.7%) and smaller than bagasse (54.3%). So, greater than
34% value of celluloses implies good promise for manufacturing of pulp and paper
[17]. It corresponded directly with the yield of pulp and it provides stronger fiber [18].
The pulp swelling behavior depends on the quantity of hemicellulose, which implies to
shoot up in burst index, tensile, and tearing resistance [19]. Additionally, the lignin
content value of pseudo stem (10.46%) is lower than wheat straw (17.7%), bagasse,
and below the hard and softwood materials content of lignin. A lower value of lignin
means easily discard from the process of pulping and it requires less chemicals for
pulping and produce quality paper [20]. The digesting of pulping and cooking process
length depends on the amount of the lignin of materials. Indeed, less chemical con-
sumption and bleaching will be easy and faster when the amount of lignin is very low
[21]. The extractive of the pseudo stem was 12.72%, which is greater than that of straw
wheat and bagasse. High extractive content cause high consumption of chemical during
the extraction of pulp and bleaching implies pitch deposits.
3.2 Analyses of Pseudo Stem Fiber Morphology

The fiber properties (fiber length, cell wall thickness, lumen width, fiber diameter, and
their second values) determination helps of lignocelluloses materials as feedstock for
pulp and paper products and helps to justify their qualities [22]. According to the
optical microscope, the fiber image of the pseudo stem is presented in Figs. 1 and 2.
Fig. 1. Fiber length images of banana pseudo stem obtained from Motic microscope 40
magnified.
Fig. 2. Fiber diameter, lumen width, and cell wall thickness images of pseudo stem obtained
from Motic microscope 100 magnified.
Table 2. Morphological characteristics of the pseudo stem and other plants

Parameter Banana Wheat Eucalyptus Enset Bagassee
pseudo stema strawb Labillc Ventricosum
stemd
Fiber length [L] [mm] 1.75 1.14 0.98 1.66 1.7
Fiber diameter [D] 22.15 19.32 18.8 28.48 23
[µm]
Lumen width [d] [µm] 35.361 10.54 n.a 25.87 19.55
Cell wall thickness [T] 9.7 4.39 4.9 2.88 4.77
[µm]
Slenderness ratio [L/D] 79.01 0.83 n.a 58.48 73.4
Runkle ratio [2d/L] 0.55 59 n.a 0.22 0.49
Flexibility coefficient 159.64 54.55 n.a 90.83 85
[D/L] * 100
Wall rigidity coefficient 43.8 n.a n.a 21.4 23.7
[d/D]
a
[Current study], b[14], c[15], d[16]
Fiber Dimensions and Their Derived Values: The tear and paper machine run ability
of paper strength depends on its fiber [23]. According to Table 2, the fiber average
length (banana pseudo stem) is 1750 µm are with the range of non-woods, greater than
of wheat straw (1140 µm), Enset Ventricosum stem (1660 µm), bagasse (1700 µm),
and Eucalyptus labill (980 µm). Fiber classification is based on its length, so the stem
of pseudo of banana grouped under long fiber (˃1600) best to generate high tear
resistance paper and classified as short below 1600 µm [18]. Still, the short and long
fiber in length crucial for producing paper. More length of a fiber of wood or non-wood
materials increase the formation of a matrix in the paper sheet causes great tensile
strength, but shorter in the fiber of materials like grass and hardwood are essential for
pulping extraction like printability, stiffness, and opacity [24]. The stem of pseudo
banana thickness cell wall is 9.7 µm, which higher than of the straw of wheat
(4.39 µm), Enset Ventricosum stem (2.88 µm), and bagasse (4.77 µm) eucalyptus
labill (4.9 µm). The flexibility, collapsibility, and easy delignification are occurred due
to thin cell walls of fiber materials during pulp generation. Whereas to produce high
strengths, folding endurance and porosity of paper thick-walled materials of fiber are
acceptable [29]. Accordingly, the cooking condition for the stem of pseudo banana
needs higher than the others.
The beating of a paper also measured by its diameter of the fiber and lumen width,
so the average diameter of the stem pseudo banana fiber was good (22.15 µm) con-
forms with coniferous and industrial pulping materials range as well as more than the
set points (2.47–4.49 µm) of virgin raw materials [25]. Less flexibility of the fiber
formed due to a small diameter of the fiber [26]. So, high strength paper easily made
from the stem of banana pseudo. The conformity pulp, pulp yield, and paper are
measured by the Runkle ratio (2 w/l) (typical value (=1)) [27]. Less value of the
standard Runkle ratio (<1) is suitable for the properties of pulping strength. The Runkle
ratio value of banana pseudo stem was 0.548, which was less than of straw of wheat
(59). From this point of view, the fibers are suitable for papermaking. Less flexible,
stiffer, and lower bonding properties causes due to high Runkle ratio compared to a low
value (provides a large surface area and easily collapse) during the drying process [28,
29]. The bonding properties and good sheet forming characterized by the slenderness
ratio (fiber length/fiber width). From Table 2 the cumulative value of slenderness ratio
of the fiber (79.01) was higher than the value of 58.41 and 73.4 of Enset Ventricosum
stem, and bagasse separately. Thus, the stem of pseudo banana has an approximately
wonderful slenderness ratio, which indicates well for making of pulping and paper [30].
The paper during the drying and beating process can be characterized by the flexibility
ratio of the fiber components. A large area and bonding form from the fiber collapsing
properties implies high strength of tensile, bursting, and endurance of folding. It has
higher flexibility ratio (159.64) of bagasse, straw of wheat, eucalyptus, and Enset
Ventricosum stem fiber. Thus, it implies good bonding properties and the printing area
also smooth [24]. The tear resistance, double-fold resistance, tensile, and burst of the
paper were negatively affected by rigidity value [31, 32].
3.3 Pulp Yield and Kappa Number

The experimental values of pulp yield and kappa number obtained under different
pulping conditions are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. The experimental values of pulp yield and kappa number obtained under different
pulping conditions
Std. Run Con.NaOH (%) Temperature (oC) Time (min.) Yield (%) Kappa No
1 31 10 130 45 28.1 35.1
2 8 12.5 130 45 29.88 28.9
3 12 15 130 45 30.51 25.1
4 29 10 140 45 33.66 33.2
5 20 12.5 140 45 31.9 27.3
6 21 15 140 45 30.8 24.1
7 13 10 150 45 36.7 30.6
8 19 12.5 150 45 34.1 23.7
9 14 15 150 45 29.3 22.4
10 5 10 130 60 30.2 27.3
11 4 12.5 130 60 31.52 22.1
12 24 15 130 60 29.91 16.9
13 18 10 140 60 34.5 25.7
14 25 12.5 140 60 32.1 20.9
15 1 15 140 60 28.7 15.1
16 7 10 150 60 37.1 23.4
17 3 12.5 150 60 33.32 19.2
18 16 15 150 60 26.12 18.9
19 27 10 130 75 29.25 25.7
20 32 12.5 130 75 30.5 21.2
21 23 15 130 75 28.3 16.1
22 17 10 140 75 32.9 23.6
23 9 12.5 140 75 29.1 19.7
24 22 15 140 75 25.76 20.1
25 2 10 150 75 33.8 21.3
26 28 12.5 150 75 30.6 22.7
27 15 15 150 75 24.3 23.5
28 6 12.5 140 60 32.1 22.9
29 30 12.5 140 60 32.1 22.9
30 11 12.5 140 60 32.1 22.9
31 26 12.5 140 60 32.1 22.9
32 10 12.5 140 60 32 22.7
3.4 Process Parameters Investigation on Pulp Yield and Kappa Number

In Table 3 and Fig. 3 the soda concentration varied from 10 to 15%. In the absence of
sodium hydroxide, pulping did not occur. Higher caustic soda amount causes simple
delignification process and generates low lignin pulp. The increase value in the soda
concentration decreased pulp yield, from 34.5% to 28.7%, and Kappa number of pulps
from 25.7% to 17.9%. The pulp yield decreases due to the cellulosic fibers’ degradation
and solubilization of hemicelluloses in caustic soda and the kappa number decreases
due to the positive effect of soda concentration on lignin delignification.
Fig. 3. Effects of soda concentration on pulp yield [a] and kappa number [b] at constant
temperature [140 °C] and time [60 min.]
Choosing the appropriate temperature is avail to increase the pulp yield and
decrease the kappa number. The lower temperature will make the lignin remove
insufficiently, which results in a high kappa number. Higher temperature caused cel-
lulose degradation and pulp yield decreased. Table 3 and Fig. 4 displays the influence
of cooking temperature on yield and kappa number of the pulp. It is evident that the
yield of pulp slightly increases from 31% to 33% with the increase in the cooking
temperature this is possibly due to the bulky nature of the pseudo stem. The cooking
temperature varied from 130 °C to 150 °C the kappa number decreases slightly. This
shows that despite low lignin content, and the delignification of banana pseudo stems
appears difficult.
Fig. 4. Effects of temperature on pulp yield [c] and kappa number [d] at constant soda
concentration [12.5%] and time [60 min.]
From Table 3 and Fig. 5 the cooking time varies from 45 to 75 min. The maximum
yield was reached at 45 min, which is a short cooking time; for cooking times higher
than 45 min the pulp yield decreases. According to Fig. 5 increasing the reaction time,
reduced the Kappa numbers of the pulps, but at the same time encouraged polysac-
charide degradation, as seen by the fall of the yield. This shows that cooking with a
lesser time might offers pulps with better yield.
Fig. 5. Effects of time on pulp yield [e] and kappa number [f] at constant soda concentration
[12.5%] and temperature [140 °C]
3.5 FTIR Analysis of Pseudo Stem and Pulp

Using the FITR the variation and clustering of the components of compounds of
functional parts of materials at the micro-level can be determined. The major com-
positions of lignocellulosic fibers are cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin, while the
minor constituents include minerals, pectin, waxes, and water-soluble components. To
confirm the presence of functional groups and the removal of components present in the
pseudo stem after the pulping process was carried FTIR analysis, illustrated in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. FTIR spectra analysis of banana pseudo stem and pulp after the pulping process
The groups of hydroxyl and O–H functional groups fall a band between 3600–
3100 cm−1 symbolized for holocellulose and lignin. The CH stretching bands (1500–
1300 cm−1) and a C–O stretching band at 1030 cm−1 are attributed to the presence of
cellulosic structure. The pike at 1640 cm−1 indicates the derivatives of carboxylic acid
and the functional group of carbon double bond oxygen(C=O). The aromatic groups of
lignin fallen at the band of 1700–1500 cm−1 absorptions (1200–900 cm−1) are pre-
dominantly dominated by a sequence of bands owing to C–O, C–C, C–OC, and C–O–P
stretching vibrations of polysaccharides as well as CH3, CH2 rocking modes [33].
The most noticeable effect of pulping on the pseudo stem in FTIR spectra is the
disappearance of the bands 1615 cm–1, regarding the presence of the carbonyl (C=O),
and 1247 cm–1, associated with the carboxylic acid (COOH). It represents the com-
ponents of lignin and hemicellulose structures. Comparing the spectra of the pulp and
the in the pseudo stem, it is noticed the disappearance of the bands at 1615 cm–1 with
the pulping process, attributed to vibrational modes of C=O and C–O groups present in
lignin and hemicellulose, which were removed during the pulping process [34].
3.6 Sheet Making and Testing

After optimization of the cooking conditions of pseudo stem pulping, hand sheets were
prepared from the pulp produced at the optimized pulping condition and tested for
different physical properties like tensile strength, tear strength, tear factor, and tear
index. The results obtained were presented in Table 4 and compared with wheat straw,
eucalyptus and imported pulp paper.
Table 4. Result of paper characterization from pseudo stem pulp and comparison with others
Properties Banana pseudo stem pulp Corn sheath Wheat
sheeta fibersb strawc
Grammage [g/m2] 60 66.052 60
Tensile strength 6.3 0.2576 n.a
[KN/m]
Breaking length [m] 5250.0 n.a n.a
Tensile index [Nm/g] 78.75 3.9 15.6–27.2
Tearing resistance 156 n.a n.a
[mN]
Tear factor [mNm2/g] 195 95 n.a
Tear index [mN2/g] 19.1 2.212 2.0–2.8
a
[Current study], b[17], c[35]
The mechanical and strength analysis of paper produced reflects the intrinsic
chemistry, morphology, and structure of the individual fibers as well as the network
structure of the paper. The result of paper characterization analysis done on the paper
samples produced from pulp from pseudo stem pulp is presented in Table 4. The result
shows that pseudo stem could be considered as a promising raw material for paper-
making applications. The tear index of pseudo stem paper sample 19.1 mNm2/g is
greater than that of paper from wheat straw (2.0–2.8), and corn sheath fibers (2.212)
respectively and it is good for average grades of writing and printing paper. The tear
factor also higher than that of wheat straw sheet. This shows that pseudo stem has
higher fiber length, flexibility, slenderness ratio, coefficient of rigidity than the others as
shown in the raw material characterization because this property indicates a better
formed, well bonded paper and good resistance of the paper to tear. The tensile index of
the pseudo paper sample has a value of 78.75 Nm/g which was greater than of corn
sheath fibers (15.6–27.2) and wheat straw sheet (3.9 Nm/g). Breaking length and
tensile strength were also greater than that of imported pulp sheet and wheat straw. This
is due to that the pseudo stem has a long fiber length and the Coefficient of flexibility
gives the bonding strength of the individual fiber and by extension the tensile strength
and bursting properties. The other properties like smoothness and porosity of the
banana pseudo stem were 500–530 mµ and 50 s/100 ml air respectively and reason-
able agreement with the imported pulp, so the banana pseudo stem pulp is suitable for
good quality writing and printing paper.
4 Conclusions
This work was intended to study the morphological properties, the proximate and
chemical composition analysis of the banana pseudo stem, the influence of pulping
parameters: soda concentration, cooking temperature, and cooking time on the pulp
yield and kappa number and characterization of paper sheets properties of banana
pseudo stem pulp. Based on these results, the values of cellulose (41.45%), hemicel-
lulose (23.37%), and lignin (10.46%) of the banana pseudo stem should be considered
suitable for pulp and paper production. The fiber characteristics and morphological
indices of the banana pseudo stem revealed that it contains long and thick-walled fiber,
which gives a good Runkle ratio (0.55), and slenderness ratio (79.01), and high flex-
ibility coefficient (159.64) indicating suitable for producing a high tear index and
tensile index sheet which is suitable to produce different purpose papers. The optimized
banana pseudo stem pulping conditions that have been considered high pulp yield, low
kappa number, low chemical, and energy consumption with short pulping time has
chosen using numerical optimization as a combination of 10% active alkali, 150 °C
temperature, and 63 min, to obtain a good quality pulp (36.7% pulp yield and 22.8%
kappa number). Using the optimized pulp, a hand sheet was made with the highest
tensile index of 78.75 Nm/g and tear index of 19.1 mN m2/g. Finally, the overall
results showed that the banana pseudo stem has a promising potential to be used for the
paper application alone or in combination with softwood or hardwood pulps in
papermaking.
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Effect of Toasting and Natural Fermentation
on the Phytochemical and Functional
Properties of Oats Grown in Ethiopia
Getaneh Firew Alemayehu1,2(&), Sirawdink Fikreyesus Forsido1,

Yetenayet B. Tola1, Minbale Adimas Teshager2,
Addisu Alemayehu Assegie2,3, and Endale Amare4
1
Department of Post-Harvest Management, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia
2
Department of Chemistry, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia
3
Department of Material Science and Engineering, College of Science,
Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
4
Food Science and Nutrition Research Directorate, Ethiopian Public
Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abstract. Toasting and natural fermentation are traditional processing methods

commonly practiced in Ethiopia. This study was carried out to examine the
influence of these traditional processing methods on the phytochemicals and
functional properties of oats. Oat grains were toasted for 3 h at 115 °C and
milled into flour, and raw oats flour spontaneously fermented for 24 h and 48 h,
while untreated oats flour served as a control. Results show that toasting caused
a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the bulk density, water solubility index,
foaming capacity, and foaming stability in the range; (9.6–18.7%), (7.1–31.2%),
(20–46%), & (14.4–38.5%), respectively, while it significantly (P < 0.05)
increased the total phenolic contents, DPPH antioxidant activity, water
absorption capacity, and oil absorption capacity in the range; (20.7–30.4%),
(4.3–33%), (87.3–92.7%), (69.1–76%), respectively. Twenty-four hour and 48h
fermentation of oats caused a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the, bulk den-
sity, foaming capacity, and foaming stability in the range; (15.5–22.7%), (42.4–
68%), & (4–74.2%), respectively, while it significantly (P < 0.05) increased the
total phenolics, total flavonoids, DPPH scavenging capacity, oil absorption
capacity, and water solubility index in the range; (18.6–52.2), (34.8–81.3%),
(5.3–43.7%), (8–14.9%), (10.7–55.6%), respectively. Thus, the phytochemicals,
and some functional properties of oats were amplified by these low-cost
household traditional oat processing methods.
Keywords: Oats Natural fermentation Toasting Functional properties

Total phenolic content Total flavonoid content
1 Introduction
Oat (Avena sativa) is a cereal grain that belongs to the grass family Poaceae. Oat
grain’s nutritional composition makes it a valuable component of the human diet.
Proteins, starches, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and soluble
Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All Rights Reserved
M. L. Berihun (Ed.): ICAST 2021, LNICST 411, pp. 17–32, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93709-6_2
18 G. F. Alemayehu et al.
dietary fibers are among the many nutrients abundant in oats (Rasane et al. 2015;
Angelov et al. 2018; Jamil et al. 2016). Because of its high b-glucan, soluble dietary
fiber, and avenathramide, an oats-specific antioxidant, oats have been known as a
functional food (Van den Broeck et al. 2016).
Literature information indicated processing of oats had an impact on the oat matrix
qualitatively and its composition quantitatively (Grundy et al. 2018). In the industry,
kiln heating, extrusion cooking, microwave heating, superheated steam processing, and
controlled fermentation are common methods used for boosting oats’ nutrient content
and functional properties (Nkhata et al. 2018; Franz et al. 2014; Freire et al. 2015;
Marco et al. 2017). Processing improves nutrient digestibility and bioavailability by
mixing up the food matrix. It can, however, affect food functionality by changing the
structure of its components (Grundy et al. 2018; Ramashia et al. 2019). Finding the
right balance between a high amount of food transformation and food processing is one
of today’s pressing challenges (Grundy et al. 2018). A distinction should be made on
the degree of processing, which will aid in the acceptance of foods with the highest
health importance.
In Ethiopia, oats are traditionally processed at the household level into a variety of
foods such as Injera, Kitta, Anebabiro, gruel, porridge, Enket, and tella. All of these
foods are subjected to thermal treatment (toasting), and some are subjected to natural
fermentation. Toasting is a quick dry-heat treatment and it is a simple traditional
experience that is mostly used to cook or pre-cook oats and is widely practiced in
households and rural areas of the country. Natural fermentation has also been used
traditionally to prolong the shelf life, improve the taste and flavor, and nutritional
properties of oat-based food products. Their effects on these food product functional-
ities and phytochemical composition, however, have not yet been studied.
Processing changes the nutritional composition of foods in one way or the other
before consumption. As a result, understanding the composition and food stability after
processing is indispensable. Thus, cultural oat foods should be processed to keep them
safe and acceptable for consumption, but not to the point where their nutritional value
is compromised. Although some research findings on the impact of modern processing
methods on the nutritional composition of oats are available, little is known about the
effects of toasting and natural fermentation as practiced at the household level. The
current study’s goal is thus to investigate the impact of these traditional food processing
methods on the phytochemicals and functional properties of two Ethiopian indigenous
varieties and one improved variety of oats.
2 Materials and Methods
2.1 Sample Collection

Two Indigenous oat varieties (white and black–colored oats) were collected from the
Gozamin district of northwest Ethiopia, and one improved oat variety (Goslin) was
obtained from the Adet Agricultural Research Center (Fig. 1).
Effect of Toasting and Natural Fermentation 19
Fig. 1. Improved and local oat varieties (a) Goslin (improved variety) (b) white-oat (local
variety) (c) black-oat (local variety)
2.2 Sample Preparation

All oat varieties were dehulled and winnowed to remove husks, ruptured and immature
grains, and other unwanted materials. The grains were toasted in an oven (Blast Air
Oven, DHG-9240A, China) for 3 h at 115 °C using the method described in (Sandhu
et al. 2017). The raw and toasted oats grains were pulverized in an electric grinder
(RRH-200, Zhejiang, China), and the flour was sieved through a 0.05 mm sieve.
Natural fermentation of raw oat flour was conducted using the method described in
(Ibrahim et al. 2005). Briefly, 250 g of oat flour was combined with 500 ml of
deionized water and then fermented for 24 and 48 h at room temperature (22.2 °C).
The blended flour sample was then placed on flat glass plates and dehydrated for 20 h
in an oven (Blast Air Oven, DHG-9240A, China) at 45 °C, before being pulverized and
sieved with a mesh size of 0.425 mm.
2.3 Determination of Phytochemicals
Extraction of Phytochemicals
A 0.5 g flour was shaken with a 10 ml methanol-water 80/20 (v/v) solution for 24 h. It
was then centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 min before being purified with a filter paper
(Whatman No. 1) (Azwanida 2015). This extract was used to determine the sample’s
DPPH percent inhibition, total phenolic, and total flavonoids.
Determination of Total Phenolic Contents (TPC)
The TPC was measured using the Singleton and Rossi (1999) method. In brief, 0.5 ml
of the extract was mixed with 2.5 ml of Folin- Ciocalteu’s reagent and 2.5 ml of 7.5%
sodium bicarbonate, and then incubated for 30 min in a thermostat set to 45 °C. The
color formed during the reaction was measured at 765 nm spectrophotometrically
(JASCO V-630, Japan). The standard was gallic acid (0.0, 3.12, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100,
200 lg/ml, R2 = 0.998). TPC of the sample was then measured in milligrams of gallic
acid equivalent (GAE) per gram of dry matter.
Determination of Total Flavonoid Contents (TFC)
TFC was determined using the outlined method of (Xu and Chang 2007). The (+) -
catechin was mixed with 0.25 ml of sample extract and 1.25 ml of deionized water
before adding 75 lL of 5% sodium nitrite solution. Exactly 150 lL of a ten percent
aluminum chloride solution was added after six min and then 0.5 ml of one molar
sodium hydroxide solution was also added to the solution mixture after 5 min of
standing. Deionized water was used to dilute the mixture to 2.5 ml and the absorbance
was recorded immediately at 510 nm using a spectrometer (JASCO V-630, Japan). The
obtained sample extract concentration was compared to the (+) - catachin calibration
curve (0.0, 7.8, 15.2, 62.5, 125, 250, and 500 g/ml, R2 = 0.996). TFC of the sample
were quantified in milligrams of (+) - catachin equivalent (CE) per gram of dry matter.
Determination of DPPH Scavenging Activities
The current study employed DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging
activity to examine the antioxidant properties of oats. It offers valuable information on
the antiradical activity of the sample. Oats extract directly react with and quench free
radicals of the DPPH assay. The samples’ DPPH percent inhibition was determined
using the method outlined by (Kirby and Schmidt 1997). A stock solution of 500 ml
DPPH (0.004%) was prepared in methanol. One ml of sample extract was mixed with
4 ml of DPPH solution and incubated for 30 min in the dark. The absorbance of this
solution was measured using a spectrometer (JASCO V-630, Japan) at 517 nm. Among
the various concentration of the sample extract (2−14 mg/ml), 8 mg/ml was chosen to
assess the DPPH percent inhibition. The absorbance of the sample extract was com-
pared to the absorbance of the standard L-ascorbic acids (8 mg/ml) and finally, the
DPPH percent inhibition was computed using Eq. (1).
ðAbsorbance of control Absorbance of sample extractÞ

Inhibition ð%Þ ¼ 100
Absorbance of sample extract
ð1Þ
2.4 Determination of Functional Properties

Bulk densities (BD) of the raw and processed (toasted and fermented) oats flour were
determined following the described method in (Butt and Rizwana 2010). In a 25 ml
measuring cylinder, 10 g of flour was transferred and tapped repeatedly until the
constant volume was obtained. The BD was computed using Eq. (2).
Weight of flour ðgÞ

Bulk density ðg=mlÞ ¼ ð2Þ
Volume of flour after tapping ðmlÞ
The Sosulski et al. (1976) method was used to assess the water absorption capacity
(WAC), oil absorption capacities (OAC), and water solubility indexes (WSI). One g
flour and 10 ml oil or deionized water was mixed in a 50 ml bottle. The solution
mixture was shaken for 1 h and then centrifuged (Sigma 2-16KC, UK) at 3500 rpm for
30 min. The oil or water was drained with a pipette and hung on for 25 min (V2) to
finish dropping. The volume difference was considered as absorbed water or oil by the
sample. Equation (3) was then used to determine the WAC and OAC of the sample.
ðIntial volume ðV1 Þ Decanted volume ðV2 ÞÞ

Water=oil absorption capacity ðml=gÞ ¼
Weight of sample flour
ð3Þ
The supernatant collected from the WAC measurement is used to determine the
WSI. This supernatant was heated in an oven (Blast Air Oven, DHG-9240A, China) at
105 °C for 12 h to evaporate the water (Sosulski et al. 1976). The soluble matter dried
on the surface of the flat glass and then the WSI was calculated using Eq. (4).
Supernatant weight after drying

WSI ð%Þ ¼ 100 ð4Þ
Sample weight
The method described in Narayana and Narasinga Rao (1982) was used to obtain
the foaming capacity (FC) and foaming stability (FS) of the sample. In brief, 1.0 gof
flour was mixed with 50 ml of deionized water in a glass measuring cylinder. The flour
and deionized water were thoroughly shaken for 5 min, and the amount of foam
produced was measured just after 30 s. The FC was then calculated using Eq. (5).
ðfoam volume AS foam volume BSÞ

Foaming capacity ð%Þ ¼ 100 ð5Þ
foam volume BS
Where; AS - after shaking, BS - before shaking

The FS was calculated by measuring the amount of foam left after 1 h using
Eq. (6).
ðfoam volume AS foam volume after one hourÞ

Foaming stability ð%Þ ¼ 100
Volume of foam AS
ð6Þ
Where; AS - after shaking
2.5 Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis

This study employed a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. The
effects of processing were investigated using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
to determine whether there were any significant differences in phytochemicals and
functional properties among the three oat varieties. Means significant values were
separated by Tukey’s test and p < 0.05 values are considered statistically significant.
Data were analyzed using Minitab®, Version 19.
3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Effect of Toasting and Fermentation on Phytochemicals
The effect of traditional processing methods (toasting and natural fermentation) on the
total phenolics, total flavonoid, and total antioxidant content of oats is shown in
Table 1. The phytochemicals of oats were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the
processing methods.
Phenolic compounds are affected by the temperature used during food processing
(Cavalcante et al. 2017). The TPC of all oat varieties were significantly (p < 0.05)
increased by the toasting. It increased by 20.7−30.4%, with Goslin oat having the
highest increment. This increment might be linked with the release of phenolic com-
pounds as a result of matrix fragmentation which occurs during heating (Kalam Azad
et al. 2019). The current study is similar to the findings of Sandhu et al. (2017), a
significant increment of the TPC of different oats varieties by 11.5−27.1% as a result of
toasting. The rise in TPC as a result of heat treatment of cereals and legumes has also
been stated by many other studies (Rasane et al. 2015; Chandrasekara and Shahidi
2011).
Natural fermentation also improved the TPC significantly (p < 0.05), in the range
of 18.6−52.2%; the highest value was recorded for 24 h fermented flours. For 48 h
fermented flours, increments in the TPC were observed in the first 24 h, and decre-
ments in the second consecutive 24 h. This increase could be attributed to microor-
ganisms degrading cereal grain matrices, resulting, previously attached polyphenols
leaked during fermentation (Đorđević et al. 2010). For example, B. subtilis and L.
plantarum both have an enzyme called b-glucosidase that breaks the glucoside bonds
of polyphenols and reduced sugars, increasing phytoconstituents (Dueñas et al. 2005).
Nkhata et al. (2018) and Martins et al. (2011) also reported phenolic compound
enhancement could be because of the activity of enzymes like a-amylase, b-
glucosidase, and lactase. As a result, natural flour fermentation is a low-cost traditional
processing method for increasing phytochemicals and thus protecting the body from the
potentially harmful effects of free radicals that may arise during body metabolism.
Aside from the level of heat treatment and fermentation, storage conditions such as the
amount of oxygen, exposure to sunlight, and the temperature of the room, all have an
impact on a food product’s phytochemical bioavailability (Cox et al. 2012). Toasting
and natural fermentation would be commendable cultural food processing experiences
for increasing the TPC of oat.
Table 1. Effect of traditional processing methods on TPC (mg GAE/g), TFC (mg CE/g), and
DPPH percent inhibition (%) of white-colored, black-colored, and Goslin oat varieties
Oat varieties Processing methods TPC TFC DPPH percent inhibition
Raw (control) 1.75 ± 0.01c 0.69 ± 0.02c 13.4 ± 0.12c
White Toasted 2.17 ± 0.08b 0.60 ± 0.03c 15.2 ± 0.06b
Fermented – 24 h 2.55 ± 0.04a 1.14 ± 0.04a 16.6 ± 0.16a
Fermented – 48 h 2.22 ± 0.05b 0.93 ± 0.03b 15.9 ± 0.20b
CV 14.17 26.77 8.1
Raw (control) 1.88 ± 0.02c 0.75 ± 0.02c 18.16 ± 0.09b
Black Toasted 2.27 ± 0.06b 0.71 ± 0.03c 18.94 ± 0.04b
Fermented – 24 h 2.68 ± 0.07a 1.36 ± 0.01a 19.54 ± 0.05a
Fermented – 48 h 2.23 ± 0.06b 1.05 ± 0.09b 19.14 ± 0.04a
CV 13.57 29.2 2.8
Raw (control) 1.61 ± 0.05b 0.52 ± 0.02b 11.2 ± 0.16c
Goslin Toasted 2.10 ± 0.18ab 0.52 ± 0.08b 14.9 ± 0.08c
Fermented – 24 h 2.45 ± 0.05a 0.93 ± 0.03a 16.1 ± 0.08a
Fermented – 48 h 1.98 ± 0.12ab 0.82 ± 0.05a 15.3 ± 0.12b
CV 17.61 29.49 13.7
The values represent the mean ± standard error (SE) of three replicates. Means with a different
letter in the same row differ significantly.
In this study, total flavonoid decrement was observed by toasting even though
statistically insignificant. According to Sandhu et al. (2017), the toasting of different
oat cultivars led to a decrease in TFC by 23−40.1%. In buckwheat, toasting at 120 °C
for 40 min caused a 33% decrease in flavonoids whereas, toasting at 160 °C for 30 min
decreased total flavonoids by 15.9% (Qin et al. 2010; Zhang et al. 2012). The decrease
in TFC after toasting could be attributed to the heat sensitivity of flavonoids com-
pounds (Zhang et al. 2019). Most flavonoid compounds are thermally sensitive and
may degrade (Mazumder et al. 2020). A significant (p < 0.05) increment of the total
flavonoids was also observed which is in the range; 34.8–81.3% for all oat varieties.
TFC increased in 24 h fermented flour, similar to that of TPC. TFC increment was
indicated by Wang et al. (2014) in their study of fermentation effect on walnut,
chestnut, and lotus seeds.
The DPPH percent inhibition of oats was used to determine their ability to quench
reactive species. The antioxidant activities of all oat varieties were improved signifi-
cantly (p < 0.05) upon toasting. It increased by 4.2–33%, with Goslin oat showing the
highest increment. According to Sandhu et al. (2017), the toasting of oats at 115 °C for
3 h, increased the total antioxidant activity by 29.1−53.6% and Xu et al. (2009)
reported increments of oats total antioxidant activity by 82.2% upon toasting. Maillard
reaction products, which may result from the reaction of amino acids and reduced
sugars when cereal products are heated, release compounds such as 5-hydroxymethyl-2
furaldehyde, which is known for its high antioxidant properties and could be one of the
reasons for the increase in total antioxidant levels after toasting (Dueñas et al. 2006).
Natural fermentation also improve significantly (p < 0.05) the antioxidant activity by
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something small and select of the function, and I’ll do all the rest.”
“In some way John and I will manage the money,” said Mr. Ward,
slowly, and then catching a meaningful look in John’s eyes, he
added with unwonted confidence: “Where there’s a will there’s a way.
I want the Campbells’ visit to be a happy occasion. You are entitled
to it, Margaret—you and Helen must get all the pleasure possible
from meeting a woman of Mrs. Campbell’s large experience of life.”
“Mama will need a new frock,” said Helen, a remark which
precipitated at once a lively debate with her mother as to which—if
any item of her existing wardrobe would lend itself to the process of
reconstruction. This question seemed susceptible of endless
discussion, and was only ended by John’s firm declaration that there
should be new raiment for both his mother and Helen.
“Father, we’ll show these upstarts from New York what real American
women are like!”
“We shall be ruined!” cried Helen tragically, as she disappeared
through the swing door with a pile of plates.
“Please, John, don’t do anything foolish,” his mother pleaded, but
she smiled happily under the compulsion of his enthusiasm.
“Trust me for that!” he replied, laying his hands on her shoulders.
“We’re all too humble; that’s what’s the matter with the Ward family.
And for once I want you to step right out!”
He waved her into the sitting room and darted into the kitchen, where
he threw off his coat and donned an apron.
III
“Crazy! You’ve gone plumb stark crazy!” said Helen, as she thrust
her arms into the dishwater. “It’s cruel to raise mother’s hopes that
way. You know well enough that as things are going we’re just about
getting by, with the grocery bill two months behind and that eternal
interest on the mortgage hanging over us like the well-known sword
of Damocles.”
“The sword is in my hands!” declared John, balancing a plate on the
tip of his finger. “How does that old tune go?
The Campbells are coming, tra la, tra la,
The Campbells are coming, tra la!
There’s a bit of Scotch in us, and I feel my blood tingle to those blithe
martial strains! What’s the rule for drying dishes, sis? Do you make
’em shine like a collar from a Chinese laundry, or is the dull domestic
finish in better form?”
“If you break that plate I’ll poison your breakfast coffee! If I didn’t
know you for a sober boy I’d think you’d been keeping tryst with a
bootlegger! You don’t seem to understand that you sat there at the
table spending money like Midas on a spree. You couldn’t borrow a
cent if you tried!”
“Borrow!” he mocked. “I’m going to pull this thing off according to
specifications, and I’m not going to borrow a cent. I expect to be
refusing offers of money gently but firmly within a week. Observe my
smoke, dearest one! Watch my fleet sail right up to the big dam in
Sycamore River laden like the ships of Tarshish that brought gifts of
silver and gold and ivory, apes and peacocks for Solomon’s delight!”
“You’re not calling the Campbells apes and peacocks!”
“Not on your life! All those rich treasures will be yours and mine, O
Helen of Kernville! The Campbells are rich enough. We’re not going
to embarrass them by piling any more wealth on ’em. But the magic
of the name of Walter Scott Campbell, if properly invoked,
manipulated and flaunted will put us all on the high road to fame and
fortune.”
“You’ll break mama’s heart if you begin bragging about her
acquaintance with this woman she hasn’t seen for a quarter of a
century! She’s already warned you against vulgar boasting.”
“Keep mother busy planning for the care and entertainment of our
guests! I’ll hold father steady. This being Thursday I’ve got time
enough to plan the campaign before Sunday. I’ll lay down a barrage
and throw myself upon the enemy. To the cheering strains of ‘The
Campbells are Coming!’ we’ll cross the valley of death and plant our
flag on the battlements without a scratch or the loss of a man.”
By the time the kitchen was in order he had her laughing and quite
won to his idea that it was perfectly legitimate to avail themselves
fully of the great opportunity offered by the Campbells’ visit.
“Nothing undignified at all! The Campbells will never be conscious of
my proceedings as they don’t read the Kernville papers and will
linger only a day. By the way, it happens that Billy Townley, a
fraternity brother of mine, has just been made city editor of the
Journal and Billy and I used to pull some good stunts when we were
together at the ’varsity. When I hiss the password in his ear and tell
him I’ll need a little space daily for a few weeks he’ll go right down
the line for me. And the boys on the Evening Sun are friends of
mine, too. They have less space but they make up for it with bigger
headlines.”
“You’re a dear boy, John, if you are crazy! I believe you can do most
anything you tackle, and I’ll stand by you whether you land us in jail
or in the poorhouse.”
“Bully for you, sis!” And then lowering his voice, “This chance may
never come again! I’m going to wring every possible drop out of it
even as you wring out that dish rag. By-the-way, if it isn’t impertinent,
when did you see Ned last?”
“Not since the day you saw me walking with him—for the last time.
But he telephoned this afternoon. He wanted to come up this
evening.”
“Well, he’s of age and the curfew law can’t touch him. What was the
answer?”
“I told him I wouldn’t be at home. I’m not going to have him calling
here when his mother barely speaks to me! Ned didn’t say so, but I
suspect she gave him a good scolding for taking me instead of Sally
to the Seebrings’ dance.”
“How do you get that? If he didn’t tell you——!”
“Of course not! But Sally had to go with her mother and there were
more girls than men; so Sally only had about half the dances and the
rest of the time sat on the sidelines with her mother and Mrs. Kirby. I
caught a look now and then that was quite suggestive of murder in
the first degree.”
“Helen,” said John, lifting his eyes dreamily to the ceiling, “I’ll wager
a diamond tiara against one of your delicious buckwheat cakes that
you and I will get an invitation to the Kirby party.”
“Taken! The cards went out yesterday. I met some of the girls
downtown this morning, and they were buzzing about it.”
“Let ’em buzz! Ours will probably come special delivery with a note
of explanation that in copying the list or something of the kind we
were regrettably omitted. And let me see,” he went on, rubbing his
chin reflectively, “I rather think Ned will ask you to go to the party
with him. It occurs to me that old man Shepherd owns some land
he’s trying to sell to the Transcontinental, and the railway people are
shy of it because it’s below the flood line on our perverse river. Yes; I
think we may jar the Shepherds a little too.”
“Why, John!” she laughed as she hung up her apron, “you almost
persuade me that you’ve already got free swing at the Campbell
boodle!”
“I look at it this way, Helen. We can all spend our own money; it’s
getting the benefit of other people’s money that requires genius. I
must now step down to the public library and to the Journal office to
get some dope on the Campbells. Also I’ll have to sneak mother’s
photograph of Mrs. Campbell out of the house. A few illustrations will
give tone to our publicity stuff.”
“Be bold, John, but not too bold!”
“‘The Campbells are coming, tra la!’” he sang mockingly, and spiking
her hands, hummed the air and danced back and forth across the
kitchen. “By jing, that tune’s wonderful for the toddle!” he cried
exultantly. “We’ll make all Kernville step to it.”
IV
“The point we want to hammer in is that we—the Ward family—are
the only people in Sycamore county who are in touch with the
Campbell power, social and financial,” John elucidated to his friend
Townley. “Modest, retiring to the point of utter self-effacement as we,
the Wards, are, no other family in the community has ever been
honored by a visit from so big a bunch of assets. And when it comes
to social prominence their coming will link Kernville right on to
Newport where old Walter Scott Campbell owns one of the lordliest
villas. Here’s a picture of it I found in ‘Summer Homes of Great
Americans.’ We’ll feed in the pictorial stuff from time to time, using
this photograph of Mrs. Campbell mother keeps on the upright at
home, and that cut of Walter Scott I dug out of your office graveyard.
Your record shows you ran it the time the old money-devil was
indicted under the Sherman law for conspiracy against the peace
and dignity of the United States in a fiendish attempt to boost the
price of bathtubs. The indictment was quashed as to the said Walter
because he was laid up with whooping cough when the wicked
attack on the free ablutions of the American people was planned or
concocted, and he denied all responsibility for the acts of his proxy.”
“You’ve got to hand it to that lad,” said Townley ruminatively.
“Anything you can do to put me in the way of a soft snap as private
secretary for his majesty would be appreciated. I’ve had
considerable experience in keeping my friends out of jail and I might
be of use to him.”
John rose early on Sunday morning to inspect his handiwork in the
section of the Journal devoted to the goings and comings, the
entertainments past and prospective and the club activities of
Kernville. Townley had eliminated the usual group of portraits of the
brides of the week that Mrs. Walter Scott Campbell’s handsome
countenance might be spread across three columns in the center of
the page. The photograph of Mrs. Campbell had been admirably
reproduced, and any one informed in such matters would know
instantly that she was the sort of woman who looks well in evening
gowns and that her pearl necklace was of unquestionable
authenticity.
The usual double column “lead” was devoted wholly to the
announcement of the visit of the Walter Scott Campbells of New York
and Newport to the Robert Fleming Wards of Kernville, with all
biographical data necessary to establish the Campbells in the minds
of intelligent readers as persons of indubitable eminence entitled to
the most distinguished consideration in every part of the world. Mrs.
Campbell, John had learned from “Distinguished American Women,”
was a Mayflower descendant, a Colonial Dame and a Daughter of
the Revolution, besides being a trustee of eighteen separate and
distinct philanthropies, and all these matters were impressively set
forth. Mr. Campbell’s clubs in town and country required ten lines for
their recital. Any jubilation over the coming of so much magnificence
was neatly concealed under the generalization that the horizon of
Kernville was rapidly widening and that there was bound to be more
and more communication between New York and Kernville. Mrs.
Ward, the article concluded, had not yet decided in just what manner
she would entertain for the Campbells, but the representative people
of the city would undoubtedly have an opportunity to meet her
guests.
“The first gun is fired!” John whispered, thrusting the paper through
Helen’s bed-room door. “Read and ponder well!”
Mrs. Ward read the announcement aloud at the breakfast table as
soberly as though it were a new constitution for her favorite club.
“That Miss Givens who does the society news for the Journal has
more sense than I gave her credit for,” she said. “There isn’t a word
in that piece that isn’t true. But that portrait of Ruth is a trifle too
large; you ought to have warned them about that! When Tetrazzini
sang here they didn’t print her picture half as big as that.”
“Well, mother, the Journal simply begged for a photograph. People of
note don’t mind publicity. They simply eat it up!”
“Well, the article is really very nice,” said Mrs. Ward, “but I hope they
won’t say anything more until the Campbells arrive.”
John, aware that several columns more bearing upon the Campbell
visit were already in type in the Journal office, was grateful to Helen
for changing the subject to a pertinent discussion of the proper
shade of wall paper for the guest-room.
On Tuesday the Journal’s first page contained a news-article on the
crying need of enlarged railway facilities, adroitly written to embody
the hope of the transportation committee of the Chamber of
Commerce, that when Mr. Walter Scott Campbell of the board of
directors of the Transcontinental paid his expected visit to the city he
would take steps to change the reactionary policy of the road’s
operating department. The same article stated with apparent
authority that Robert Fleming Ward, the well-known attorney, whose
guest Mr. Campbell would be, had pledged himself to assist the
mayor and the Chamber of Commerce to the utmost in urging
Kernville’s needs upon the great capitalist.
“See here, John, you’ve got to be careful about this Campbell
business!” Mr. Ward’s tone was severe. “I know without your telling
me you inspired that piece in this morning’s paper. Campbell never
saw me in his life and that article gives the impression that he and I
are old cronies. It’s going to cause us all a lot of embarrassment. It
won’t do!”
“Sorry if it bothers you, father; but there’s nothing untrue in that
article. You’ll be the only man in town who can get Campbell’s ear. If
he refuses to interest himself in a new freight house and that sort of
thing, that’s his affair.”
The stenographer knocked to announce Mr. Pickett.
“Say to him,” replied John, indifferently, “that we are in conference
but he can see us in just a moment.”
“Pickett!” exclaimed Ward, senior, as the door closed. “What on earth
brings him here!”
“The Campbells are coming,” replied John with a grin. “Pickett’s
president of the Water Power Company, and he wants to line us up
to get Campbell interested in making a new bond deal.”
“Humph! If that’s what he wants I like his nerve. We don’t even speak
when we meet.”
“You’ll be speaking now! Let’s go out and give him the glad hand of
brotherly greeting.”
A little diffident at first, Wesley T. Pickett warmed under the spell of
the Wards’ magnanimity.
“I’ve regretted very much our little differences——” he began.
“There’s no feeling on our side at all, Mr. Pickett,” John declared and
his father, a little dazed, murmured his acquiescence in this view of
the matter, and eyed with interest a formidable bundle of documents
in Pickett’s hands.
“Fact is,” remarked Pickett, with a sheepish grin as he re-crossed his
legs, “you were dead right on that matter of the pollution of the river.
Swiggert probably did the best he could with our defense but you
were right when you told me I’d save money and avoid arousing
hostile feeling in the community by pleading guilty.”
“It’s always disagreeable to be obliged to tell a man he hasn’t a good
case,” Ward announced.
“Well, I want you to know I respect you for your honesty. Swiggert
encouraged me to think he might get us off on some technical defect
in the statute, and it cost me a two thousand dollar fee to find he was
wrong.”
“The point he raised was an interesting one,” Ward remarked mildly,
“and he might have made it stick.”
“But he didn’t!” Pickett retorted a little savagely. “Now I got a matter I
want the God’s truth about, absolutely. It’s a row I’ve got into with a
few of my stockholders in the glass company. The fools got the idea
of freezing me out! It’s all in these papers, and I want you to give it
all the time it needs, but I want an opinion,—no more than you can
get on a letter sheet. Swiggert uses too many words and I’ve got to
have a yes or no.”
The thought of being frozen out caused Mr. Pickett to swell with
indignation. He turned from father to son in an unvoiced but eloquent
appeal to be saved from so monstrous and impious an assault upon
his dignity.
“Certainly, Mr. Pickett,” said the senior Ward, accepting the papers.
“We’ll be glad to take up the matter. It’s possible I may have to ask
some questions——”
“That will be all right, Ward! I don’t mind telling you I’m a good deal
worried about this thing. I’m at the Elks Club most every noon, and if
you’ll just ’phone when you’re ready to see me we can have lunch
together. Now, I guess a retainer’s the usual thing. What do you say
to a thousand or two?”
John with difficulty refrained from screaming that two would be much
more to the taste of the firm, but his father’s gentle and slightly
tremulous murmur that one thousand would be satisfactory stilled
him. The check written with a flourish, lay on the edge of Ward
senior’s desk while Pickett abused the enemies who were trying to
wrest from him the control of the glass company.
“I’m familiar with the general question you indicate,” said Ward,
senior; “I went into it a while back in a similar case for a client in
Newton county; we shall give it our best attention.”
“I got confidence in you!” blurted Pickett. “That’s why I brought the
job here.” He thrust a big cigar into his mouth and began feeling in
his pocket for a match which John instantly supplied.
“Notice by the paper,” remarked Pickett, “that Campbell of the
Transcontinental’s comin’ out. If you could arrange it, I’d like a
chance to talk to him about the Water Power bonds the Sutphen
Trust’s handled for us. I went to New York a couple of weeks ago to
see about refunding and I couldn’t get near anybody but the fourth
vice president. Wouldn’t want to bother you, but if I could just get a
chance at Campbell and show him the plant——”
“I’m sure that can be arranged very easily,” John answered quickly,
noting a look of apprehension on his father’s face. “It will be a
pleasure to arrange a meeting for you.”
“I’d particularly appreciate it,” said Pickett, shaking hands with both
of them; and John accompanied him to the head of the stairway,
where they shook hands again.
“You don’t think,” asked Ward, senior, looking up from Pickett’s
papers, which he had already spread out on his desk,—“you don’t
really think the Campbells had anything to do with this——”
“Not a thing, dad!” John replied gayly. “I’ll just call up Helen and tell
her to go ahead with the redecorating and other things necessary to
put our house in order for royalty!”
John had deposited Pickett’s check and was crossing the lobby of
the Kernville National when he met Jason V. Kirby leaving the
officers’ corner.
“Hello, John!” exclaimed the brick manufacturer affably. “Haven’t
seen you round much of late. Funny I ran into you; just going up to
see you. You know Taylor’s my lawyer, but he’s in Chicago trying a
long case, and I got an abstract of title I’m in a hurry to have
examined. Glad if you or your father would pass on it. Farm I’m
buying out in Decatur township.”
“Certainly, Mr. Kirby; we can give it immediate attention,” John
replied as though it were a common occurrence for him to pick up
business in this fashion.
To Kirby’s suggestion that if he didn’t mind he might walk over to the
brick company’s office and get the abstract, John answered that he
didn’t mind in the least. The abstract was bulky, and John roughly
estimated that a report on it would be worth at least a hundred
dollars. Kirby explained that the land was needed for the extension
of the brick business and that he had taken a ten-day option to keep
a rival company from picking it up.
“Look here, John,” remarked Kirby carelessly, as John started off
with the abstract in his pocket, “I see that the Campbells are coming
out to visit your folks. Don’t let ’em overlook Kirby brick. We’re
reachin’ right out for New York business.”
“Certainly, Mr. Kirby. Father has it in mind to take Mr. Campbell for an
inspection of all our industries, and I’ll give you the tip so you can be
all set to show off your plant.”
“Occurs to me Campbell might make a short speech to our workmen;
just a nice friendly jolly, you understand.”
“That will be perfectly simple, Mr. Kirby. Trust me to arrange it.”
V
When John and his father reached home, Helen fell upon her
brother’s neck.
“I’ve lost that wager! We’re invited!”
“Ah! The poison is at work, is it? Did it come special post, or did their
dusky Senegambian bear the cards hither upon a golden plate?”
“Neither! Mrs. Kirby and Jeannette called and left them personally. I
was making bread when they arrived but I had the presence of mind
to shed my apron on my way to the door to let them in. Mother was
darning socks but she came down and they stayed so long the bread
burned to a cinder.”
“A few loaves of bread are nothing—nothing!”
“But, John, dear, I think maybe——” began Mrs. Ward, uncertainly
and paused, noting that her husband was emptying a satchel of
important looking papers as though he expected to spend the
evening at work. He appeared more cheerful than she had seen him
in years.
“Better let John have his way,” said Ward, senior. “The Campbells
are driving business into the office and we’re not going to turn it
away.”
“It’s your ability that’s bringing the business; you’ve always been a
bigger man than Taylor or Swiggert!” declared Mrs. Ward, when the
day’s events had been explained to her.
“We’ll pretend that’s it anyhow,” Ward assented. “There’s a mighty
interesting question in that case of Pickett’s. You may be sure I’m
going to give it my best care.”
“I’m so proud of you, Robert!”
“Be proud of John,” he laughed; “the boy’s bound to make or ruin us
in these next few weeks.”
It was astonishing the number of ways in which the prospective visit
of the Campbells became a matter of deep concern to Kernville. Billy
Townley had entered with zest into John’s campaign, and Martin
Cowdery, the owner of the Journal and the congressman from the
district, wired instructions from Washington to cut things loose on the
Campbell visit. Under the same potent inspiration the Journal’s
venerable editorial writer took a vacation from his regular business of
explaining and defending the proprietor’s failure to land a fish
hatchery for the old Sycamore district and celebrated the approach
of the Campbells under such captions as “The Dawn of a New Era,”
and “Stand up, Kernville.” He called loudly upon the mayor, who was
not of the Journal’s politics, to clean the streets that their shameful
condition might not offend the eyes and the nostrils of the man of
millions who was soon to honor the city with his presence.
The Sun, not to be outdone, boldly declared that Campbell was
coming to Kernville as the representative of interests that were
seeking an eligible site for a monster steel casting plant, an
imaginative flight that precipitated a sudden call for a meeting of the
Bigger Kernville Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and the
expenditure of fifteen dollars with war tax to wire a set of resolutions
to Walter Scott Campbell. A five-line dispatch in the press report
announcing that Walter Scott Campbell had given half a million
toward the endowment of a hospital in Honolulu was handled as a
local item, quite as though Kernville alone vibrated to Campbell’s
generous philanthropies.
“Helen, we’ve got ’em going!” John chortled at the beginning of the
second week. “Three automobile agents have offered me the biggest
cars in their show rooms to carry the Campbells hither and yon. I’m
encouraging competition for the honor. The Chamber of Commerce
wants to give a banquet with speeches and everything for our old
friend Walter. Old man Shepherd climbed our stairs today, risking
apoplexy at every step, to ask as a special favor that the Chamber
be granted this high privilege.”
“Ned’s asked me to go to the Kirby party with him,” confessed Helen.
“The embargo seems to be off.”
“Ha!” cried John dramatically. “Mrs. Hovey called me up to request
my presence at dinner Wednesday night. Alice has a friend visiting
her. Alice with the hair so soft and so brown, as stated in the ballad,
is the dearest girl in the world next to you, sis; no snobbery about
her; but her mama! Ah, mama has seen a great light in the heavens!”
The population of Kernville was now divided into two classes, those
who would in all likelihood be permitted to meet the Campbells, and
those who could hardly hope for this coveted privilege. The Journal
followed a picture of the Campbells’ Newport villa, fortified with a
glowing description of its magnificence, with a counterfeit
presentment of the White Gull, which had almost the effect of
anchoring the Campbells’ seagoing yacht in the muddy Sycamore at
the foot of Harrison street.
“The yacht’s the biggest thing we’ve pulled yet,” John announced to
Helen, a few days after the craft’s outlines had been made familiar to
the Journal’s constituency. “Since we sprung it our office has drawn
four good cases, not including the collection business of the Tilford
Casket Company, which ought to be good for a thousand bucks a
year if the death rate in the rich valley of the Sycamore doesn’t go
down on us.”
“It’s wonderful, John!” said Helen, in an awed tone. “Mrs.
Montgomery spent an hour with mother this afternoon talking of the
good old times, and how all us old families must stand together, and
she insisted on throwing a tea for Mrs. Campbell—just for our old
friends—you know how she talks! She’d no sooner rolled away than
Mrs. Everett Crawford invaded our home and interfered terribly with
the paper hangers while she begged to be allowed to give a dinner
for the Campbells in the new home they’ve built with boodle they’ve
made canning our native fruits.”
“Splendid! There may be some business there before we get through
with it! Young Freddie Crawford is the gayest of our joy riders, and it
would be worth a big retainer to keep him out of the penal farm.”
A second stenographer had been established in the office of Ward &
Ward to care for the increased business when Cowdery left the halls
of Congress for a look at his fences, held conferences with John in
an upper room of the Kipperly House, sacred to political conspiracy,
and caused the Journal forthwith to launch a boom for John Ward for
prosecuting attorney subject to the decision of the April primaries.
“Look here, little brother,” said Helen, coming in from a dance to
which Ned Shepherd had taken her, and finding John in the sitting
room at work on one of the new cases that had been bestowed upon
Ward & Ward, “we’ve got to put on brakes.”
“What’s troubling you, sis? Isn’t everybody treating you all right?”
“A queen couldn’t receive more consideration! But what’s worrying
me is how we’re ever going to satisfy these silly people. If all the
plutocrats in New York should come to visit us we couldn’t spread
them around in a way to please all our fellow townsmen. We’re
certainly in the lime light! People were buzzing me tonight about the
prosecutorship—say you’ll win in a walk. But tell me what you think
Cowdery’s going to expect from you in return. Does he want to
shake the Campbell cherry tree?”
John eyed her with philosophical resignation.
“Now that you’ve been enfranchised by the Nineteenth Amendment
to the Constitution of this more or less free republic, you must learn
to view matters with a mind of understanding. Cowdery hankers for a
promotion to the senate. If the accursed money interests of the
nation are persuaded that he is not a menace to the angels of Wall
street they can sow some seed over the rich soil of this noble
commonwealth that will be sure to bear fruit. There’s a lot of Eastern
capital invested in the state and a word carelessly spoken by the
right persons, parties or groups in tall buildings in New York and a
substantial corruption fund sent out from the same quarter will do
much to help Cowdery through the primary. In me, sweet child,
Cowdery sees a young man of great promise, who can hitch the
powerful Campbell to his wagon.”
“And if you can’t do the hitching——?”
“Been giving thought to that, sis. Those resolutions the enterprising
Bigger Kernville Committee sent Campbell annoy me a great deal.
We can only hope that Walter has a sense of humor. The Journal’s
got a new untouched photograph of him from somewhere and the
boy looks cheerful. He has a triple chin and there are lines around
his eyes and mouth that argue for a mirthful nature. The rest,
dearest, is on the knees of the gods!”
VI
It was in the third week of Mr. John Marshall Ward’s vigorous
campaign of education that Walter Scott Campbell, in his office in
New York, tossed the last of the letters he had been answering to his
stenographer and rang for his secretary.
A pale young man entered and waited respectfully for the magnate
to look up from the newspaper clippings he was scanning.
“Parker, where the deuce did you get this stuff?” Campbell asked.
“They came in our usual press clipping service. Your order covers
the better papers in the larger towns where you have interests. It’s
not often I find anything worth showing you.”
“Well, don’t let me miss anything like this!” replied Campbell with a
chuckle.
He unfolded a page that had been sent complete, being indeed the
society page of the Kernville Morning Journal of the previous
Sunday. Campbell chuckled again, much to the relief of the pale
secretary, who feared he might have brought to his employer’s
attention some news of evil omen. Campbell continued to read,
chuckling as he rapidly turned over the cuttings.
“You look a little run down, Parker,” he remarked affably. “A change
of air would do you good. Give Miss Calderwood my calendar of
appointments and any data I may need in the next few days, and
take the first train for Kernville. Study this stuff carefully and find out
what it’s all about. There are some resolutions from the Kernville
Chamber of Commerce about a site for a steel casting plant. Curious
about that! Must have been a leak somewhere. We discussed
possible locations in that secret conference at Pittsburgh last week,
but Kernville wasn’t mentioned. But that town, with its water power,
might possibly be just right. Give it a looking over, but be very
guarded in all your inquiries. And learn all you can about these
Wards, father and son.”
“Yes, Mr. Campbell,” and Parker glanced at his watch.
“Mrs. Ward is an old friend of Mrs. Campbell—you understand.
There’s an old attachment and an obligation, as I remember. Mrs.
Ward was exceedingly kind to Mrs. Campbell back in their school-
days when my wife was ill. She has never forgotten it.”
“My inquiries as to the Wards are to be made in a sympathetic spirit?
I understand, sir!”
“We are scheduled to stop at Kernville for a day on our way to
California—is that right?”
“Yes, Mr. Campbell. Your car is ordered attached to the
Transcontinental Limited leaving at five twenty-one on Tuesday,
February seventeen.”
“Take several days to this investigation. Learn what you can of these
people, the town itself and so on. All this whoop and hurrah out there
is unusual. Most amusing thing that’s turned up since they wanted
me to go out to some town in that neighborhood and preside at a
barbecue. What place was that?”
“Scottsburg, Indiana, during the campaign of 1916,” replied the
invaluable Parker.
“A great people, those of the Middle West,” remarked Mr. Campbell
reflectively. “As the phrase goes, you’ve got to hand it to them. That’s
all, Parker.”
Mr. Elwell Parker had frequently played the role of confidential
investigator for Walter Scott Campbell, and established the following
evening at the Kipperly House he began his labors with his usual
intelligence, thoroughness and discretion. Within twenty-four hours
there was little pertaining to the Wards, the social or business
conditions of Kernville that he did not know. Twenty-four hours more
sufficed for his complete enlightenment as to the thriving city’s
advantages as a manufacturing point, the value and possibilities of
its water power, and the financial and moral status of its leading
citizens. He thereupon wrote a report, condensed it with faculties
that had been trained in the ways of Walter Scott Campbell, and then
imparted it by telephone to the magnate.
The famous Campbell chuckle rewarded the secretary several times.
The idea that the son of his wife’s quondam schoolmate was shaking
the foundations of Kernville to bring the inhabitants to a realization of
the high condescension of the Walter Scott Campbells in visiting
their city with resulting benefits to the firm of Ward & Ward, tickled
Walter Scott enormously.
“Very good, Parker! Come back at your convenience. Subscribe for
the local papers in your name. We don’t want to overlook anything!”
VII
The Campbells’ visit was still ten days distant when John, rising in
the Sycamore Circuit Court to ask for an injunction against certain
persons who were removing gravel from the pits of a company that
had lately carried its business to Ward & Ward, was interrupted by
the bailiff who handed him a telegram.
“If your honor please——?” said John, bowing deferentially toward
the person of the court.
The judge nodded, not a little impressed as the young attorney tore
open the envelope and scanned the message, which read:
Have recommended your firm to certain corporations in
which I am interested to counsel them in legal and
business matters affecting your city. Please feel no
compulsion to accept their commissions if not wholly
agreeable to you.
W. S. Campbell.
John thrust the message carelessly into his trousers’ pocket,
straightened his shoulders and proceeded with a terse explanation of
the injury inflicted upon his client and the grounds upon which he
sought the immediate relief of a restraining order.
The order was granted and in the midst of a parley over the amount
of bond to be given by the petitioner the bailiff delivered into John’s
hands three more telegrams, one from the Sutphen Loan & Trust
Company, another from The Ironsides Steel Casting Company,
another from the general manager of the Transcontinental Lines
west of Buffalo.
The message of the Sutphen Loan & Trust Company stated that it
was sending an engineer to examine the plant of the Sycamore
Water Power Company and would appreciate such confidential
assistance as Ward & Ward might give him as to the personnel of
the corporation. One of the vice-presidents of the steel casting
company wished to make an appointment with Ward & Ward at the
earliest date possible, letter of explanation to follow; matter strictly
confidential. The Transcontinental official would reach Kernville
shortly to take up the matter of certain improvements, and wished a
conservative estimate of the local needs uninfluenced by the
Chamber of Commerce or owners of property that might be needed
in extensions. Matter confidential; letter to follow; please wire
answer.
Ward, senior, with law books overflowing upon the floor from his
desk, heard John’s report of his success in protecting the gravel pits,
read the telegrams, and asked hoarsely:
“Are we crazy, John, or has the whole world gone mad?”
“Nothing of the kind! We’ve been discovered; that’s all! Campbell’s a
man of discernment, and he’s spotted us as the solidest and most
trustworthy citizens and lawyers of the Sycamore valley. Though all
these messages are addressed to me, it’s the brains of the firm he’s
recommending and that’s you. I’m only the field man and business
getter.”
“You certainly get the business, son! Not counting anything we may
get out of those people Campbell’s sending us, we’ve got at least
twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth of business on the books right
now!”
“Don’t look so scared, dad! We’re handling it all right. Within a week
I’ve turned down four divorce cases and a breach of promise suit
with love letters I’d rejoice to read to a farmer jury! Pick and choose;
that’s our motto! Where are the papers in Shipton versus Hovey. I’m
getting a settlement there that will save Hovey about ten thousand
bucks, and I want to tell him about it when I go up to see Alice
tonight. I’ll now wire our thanks to Campbell and date up these
people he’s sending to see us. Those wise guys that run the
Chamber of Commerce are going to be frantic when they find the
hope of a bigger Kernville lies right here in our office.”
VIII
“I never expected a simple tea would cause so much trouble!”
exclaimed Mrs. Ward at the dinner table five days before the day set
for the Campbell visit. “I’ve simply got to send out the cards
tomorrow!”
“Let me see that list again,” said John. “It’s first rate as it stands.
You’ve put in all our new clients and that’s the main thing. But if Mrs.
Shepherd is to pour chocolate, you’ll have to affix Mrs. Hovey to the
tea pot to prevent hard feeling. I’ve got everything all set with
Townley to make a big spread of Helen’s engagement to Ned and
mine to Alice next Sunday.”
“Please don’t be too noisy about it,” pleaded Helen. “Since you
began boosting the family I’m ashamed to look at the papers.”
“Circulation of both sheets has gone up, sis. Everybody in the
Sycamore valley’s on tip-toe for news of the Wards and Campbells.
Tomorrow the Journal will print exclusive information from our office
that the mighty Ironsides corporation is to build a plant here. The
happy word that the railroad yards are to be doubled and the shops
enlarged will come from headquarters, but father will be interviewed
to make sure we get the credit.”
“I think I understand everything,” said Helen gazing musingly at the
engagement ring of which she had been the happy possessor for
just twenty-four hours, “except how Mr. Campbell began sending
those important people to you and father. You might almost think it
was a joke of some kind.”
“The joke certainly isn’t on us! I’ve decided to turn down the
nomination for prosecutor. As things are going I’d be a fool to
sacrifice my private practice for a public job. The general counsel of
the Transcontinental’s feeling us out as to whether we’ll take the
local attorneyship of that rascally corporation. Canby Taylor’s had it
for twenty years, and it would be some triumph to add it to our string
of scalps.”
The invitation list, rigidly revised and cut to one hundred, was finally
acceptable to all the members of the family, and Helen and John had
begun to address the envelopes when this task was interrupted by
the delivery of a telegram.
“It’s for you, mother,” said Helen, taking the envelope from the
capped and aproned housemaid who had been installed in the
household against the coming of the Campbells.
Mrs. Ward adjusted her glasses and settled herself to read with the
resigned air of one inured to the idea that telegrams are solely a
medium for communicating bad news.
“What is it, mother? Somebody dead?” asked John without looking
up from the envelope he was addressing to The Hon. and Mrs.
Addison Swiggert.
“Worse!” murmured Mrs. Ward, staring vacantly.
“Nothing can be worse!” ejaculated Helen, catching the bit of paper
as it fell fluttering to the floor. “The Campbells are not coming!” she
gasped.
“Not coming!” faltered Robert Fleming Ward, throwing down a brief
he was studying.

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