Search results for: flood activity

Authors: Md. Aftabuzzaman, Md. Kamruzzaman

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Road-related expenditure and building construction activity are two significant drivers of the Victorian economy. This paper investigates the relationship between building construction activity and road-related expenditure. Data for construction activities were collected from Victorian Building Authority, and road-related expenditure data were explored by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics. The trend between these two sectors was compared. The analysis found a strong relationship between road-related expenditure and the volume of construction activity, i.e., the more construction activities, the greater the requirement of road-related expenditure, or vice-versa. The road-related expenditure has a two-year lag period, suggesting that the road sector requires two years to respond to the growth in the building sector.

Keywords: building construction activity, infrastructure, road expenditure, Victorian Building Authority

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Authors: Zohreh Bayat, Dariush Minai-Tehrani

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Lipases constitute one of the most important groups of industrial enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of triacylglycerol to glycerol and fatty acids. Muscarinic antagonist relieves smooth muscle spasm of the gastrointestinal tract and effect on the cardiovascular system. In this research, the effect of a muscarinic antagonist on the lipase activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied. Lineweaver–Burk plot showed that the drug inhibited the enzyme by competitive inhibition. The IC50 value (60 uM) and Ki (30 uM) of the drug revealed the drug bound to the enzyme with high affinity. Determination of enzyme activity in various pH and temperature showed that the maximum activity of lipase was at pH 8 and 60°C both in presence and absence of the drug.

Keywords: bacteria, inhibition, kinetics, lipase

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Authors: Cheng-Yen Lu, Chin-Yuan Hsu

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Ambient temperature reduction (ATR) can extend the lifespan of an annual fish (Nothobranchius rachovii), but the underlying mechanism is unknown. In this study, the expression, concentration, and activity of cellular-degraded molecules were evaluated in the muscle of N. rachovii reared under high (30 °C), moderate (25 °C), and low (20 °C) ambient temperatures by biochemical techniques. The results showed that (i) the activity of the 20S proteasome, the expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3-II), the expression of lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2a (Lamp 2a), and lysosome activity increased with ATR; (ii) the expression of the 70 kD heat shock cognate protein (Hsc 70) decreased with ATR; (iii) the expression of the 20S proteasome, the expression of lysosome-associated membrane protein type 1 (Lamp 1), the expression of molecular target of rapamycin (mTOR), the expression of phosphorylated mTOR (p-mTOR), and the p-mTOR/mTOR ratio did not change with ATR. These findings indicated that ATR activated the activity of proteasome, macroautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. Taken together these data reveal that ATR likely activates cellular degradation activity to extend the lifespan of N. rachovii.

Keywords: ambient temperature reduction, autophagy, degradation activity, lifespan, proteasome

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Authors: Muanfun Kongsomsawaeng, Bavonsan Chiadamrong

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According to statistics, Chanthaburi Province has a high proportion of persons who will become elders, and the knowledge gap surrounding Naive art activities is still not significant. It leads the researcher to discover an exciting possibility. This research will produce an alternate activity to increase meditation in a way that is not directly tied to religion or must be done solely at religious places. This article describes the Naive art communication guideline to enhance the meditation of the person preparing to be a quality elder that must consider communication elements, which consists of sender, message, channel, which includes mainly personal media and activity media, receiver, and the factors that contribute to the success of Naive art, that are the activity leader (if any), the person preparing to be quality elders, communication context, and related person or agency. The intrapersonal communication with this activity brings those people to get an experience of meditation at the momentary level. Therefore, it is another option to enhance meditation in daily life, which can be done continuously and developed into a career. However, if those preparing to be quality elders want to focus more on meditation practice, they can try both Naive art activity and direct meditation practice together. In addition, Naive art activity can be applied to people who are interested in art activity and other target groups as well, such as children with ADHD and other vulnerable groups. However, Naive art activity has no fixed rules and no restrictions on creativity. This affects both the ease of making the works of art and, at the same time, it may be a too broad proposition for some people.

Keywords: naive art, communication guideline, meditation, quality elders

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Authors: Ahmed M. Al-Hasem

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A study of the tidal current behavior and bathymetric changes was undertaken in order to establish an information base for future coastal management. The average velocity for tidal current was 0.46 m/s and the maximum velocity was 1.08 m/s during ebb tide. During spring tides, maximum velocities range from 0.90 m/s to 1.08 m/s, whereas maximum velocities vary from 0.40 m/s to 0.60 m/s during neap tides. Despite greater current velocities during flood tide, the bathymetric features enhance the dominance of the ebb tide. This can be related to the abundance of fine sediments from the ebb current approaching the study area, and the relatively coarser sediment from the approaching flood current. Significant bathymetric changes for the period from 1985 to 1998 were found with dominance of erosion process. Approximately 96.5% of depth changes occurred within the depth change classes of -5 m to 5 m. The high erosion processes within the study area will subsequently result in high accretion processes, particularly in the north, the location of the proposed Boubyan Port and its navigation channel.

Keywords: bathymetric change, Boubyan island, GIS, Khor Abdullah, tidal current behavior

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Authors: Fong-Zuo Lee, Jihn-Sung Lai, Yung-Bin Lin, Xiaoqin Liu, Kuo-Chun Chang, Zhi-Xian Yang, Wen-Dar Guo, Jian-Hao Hong

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In recent years, climate change is a major factor to increase rainfall intensity and extreme rainfall frequency. The increased rainfall intensity and extreme rainfall frequency will increase the probability of flash flood with abundant sediment transport in a river basin. The floods caused by heavy rainfall may cause damages to the bridge, embankment, hydraulic works, and the other disasters. Therefore, the foundation scouring of bridge pier, embankment and spur dike caused by floods has been a severe problem in the worldwide. This severe problem has happened in many East Asian countries such as Taiwan and Japan because of these areas are suffered in typhoons, earthquakes, and flood events every year. Results from the complex interaction between fluid flow patterns caused by hydraulic works and the sediment transportation leading to the formation of river morphology, it is extremely difficult to develop a reliable and durable sensor to measure river bed degradation and bridge pier scouring. Therefore, an innovative scour monitoring sensor using vibration-based Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) was developed. This vibration-based MEMS sensor was packaged inside a stainless sphere with the proper protection of the full-filled resin, which can measure free vibration signals to detect scouring/deposition processes at the bridge pier. In addition, a friendly operational system includes rainfall runoff model, one-dimensional and two-dimensional numerical model, and the applicability of sediment transport equation and local scour formulas of bridge pier are included in this research. The friendly operational system carries out the simulation results of flood events that includes the elevation changes of river bed erosion near the specified bridge pier and the erosion depth around bridge piers. In addition, the system is developed with easy operation and integrated interface, the system can supplies users to calibrate and verify numerical model and display simulation results through the interface comparing to the scour monitoring sensors. To achieve the forecast of the erosion depth of river bed and main bridge pier in the study area, the system also connects the rainfall forecast data from Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute. The results can be provided available information for the management unit of river and bridge engineering in advance.

Keywords: flash flood, river bed degradation, bridge pier scouring, a friendly operational system

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Authors: P. M. Kundu, L. R. Singo, J. O. Odiyo

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Luvuvhu River catchment in South Africa experiences floods resulting from heavy rainfall of intensities exceeding 15 mm per hour associated with the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The generation of runoff is triggered by the rainfall intensity and soil moisture status. In this study, remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to analyze the hydrologic response to land cover changes. Runoff was calculated as a product of the net precipitation and a curve number coefficient. It was then routed using the Muskingum-Cunge method using a diffusive wave transfer model that enabled the calculation of response functions between start and end point. Flood frequency analysis was determined using theoretical probability distributions. Spatial data on land cover was obtained from multi-temporal Landsat images while data on rainfall, soil type, runoff and stream discharges was obtained by direct measurements in the field and from the Department of Water. A digital elevation model was generated from contour maps available at http://www.ngi.gov.za. The results showed that land cover changes had impacted negatively to the hydrology of the catchment. Peak discharges in the whole catchment were noted to have increased by at least 17% over the period while flood volumes were noted to have increased by at least 11% over the same period. The flood time to peak indicated a decreasing trend, in the range of 0.5 to 1 hour within the years. The synergism between remotely sensed digital data and GIS for land surface analysis and modeling was realized, and it was therefore concluded that hydrologic modeling has potential for determining the influence of changes in land cover on the hydrologic response of the catchment.

Keywords: catchment, digital elevation model, hydrological model, routing, runoff

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Authors: Christophe Gonçalves, Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela Teixeira, Fernando J. Gonçalves

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Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke, Bluecrop, and Ozarblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms. Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 mol TE/g, and from 24.7 to 53.4 mol TE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents or the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, blueberry cultivar, geographical origin, phenolic compounds

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Authors: Sachini Wickramanayaka

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The occurrence of natural disasters has increased in an alarming rate in recent times due to escalating effects of climate change. One such natural disaster that has continued to grow in frequency and intensity is ‘flooding’, adversely affecting communities around the globe. This is an exploration on how architecture can intervene and facilitate in preserving communities in the face of disaster, specifically in battling floods. ‘Resilience’ is one of the concepts that have been brought forward to be instilled in vulnerable communities to lower the impact from such disasters as a preventative and coping mechanism. While there are number of ways to achieve resilience in the built environment, this paper aims to create a synthesis between resilience and ‘urban acupuncture’. It will consider strengthening communities from within, by layering a network of relatively small-scale, fast phased interventions on pre-existing conventional flood preventative large-scale engineering infrastructure.By investigating ‘The Woodlands’, a planned neighborhood as a case study, this paper will argue that large-scale water management solutions while extremely important will not suffice as a single solution particularly during a time of frequent and extreme weather events. The different projects will try to synthesize non-architectural aspects such as neighborhood aspirations, requirements, potential and awareness into a network of architectural forms that would collectively increase neighborhood resiliency to floods. A mapping study of the selected study area will identify the problematic areas that flood in the neighborhood while the empirical data from previously implemented case studies will assess the success of each solution.If successful the different solutions for each of the identified problem areas will exhibithow flooding and water management can be integrated as part and parcel of daily life.

Keywords: acupuncture, architecture, resiliency, micro-interventions, neighborhood

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Authors: Y. S. Lin, H. L. Lin

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Climate change and land-use change caused by urban expansion increase the frequency of urban flooding. To mitigate the increase in runoff volume, low-impact development (LID) is a green approach for reducing the area of impervious surface and managing stormwater at the source with decentralized micro-scale control measures. However, the current benefit assessment and practical application of LID in Taiwan is still tending to be development plan in the community and building site scales. As for urban design, site-based moisture-holding capacity has been common index for evaluating LID’s effectiveness of urban design, which ignore the diversity, and complexity of the urban built environments, such as different densities, positive and negative spaces, volumes of building and so on. Such inflexible regulations not only probably make difficulty for most of the developed areas to implement, but also not suitable for every different types of built environments, make little benefits to some types of built environments. Looking toward to enable LID to strength the link with urban design to reduce the runoff in coping urban flooding, the research consider different characteristics of different types of built environments in developing LID strategy. Classify the built environments by doing the cluster analysis based on density measures, such as Ground Space Index (GSI), Floor Space Index (FSI), Floors (L), and Open Space Ratio (OSR), and analyze their impervious surface rates and runoff volumes. Simulate flood situations by using quasi-two-dimensional flood plain flow model, and evaluate the flood mitigation effectiveness of different types of built environments in different low-impact development strategies. The information from the results of the assessment can be more precisely implement in urban design. In addition, it helps to enact regulations of low-Impact development strategies in urban design more suitable for every different type of built environments.

Keywords: low-impact development, urban design, flooding, density measures

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Authors: Naoki Ohshima, Ken Kaminishi

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Four types of dependencies, which are 'Finish-to-start', 'Finish-to-finish', 'Start-to-start' and 'Start-to-finish (S-F)' as logical relationship are modeled based on the definition by 'the predecessor activity is defined as an activity to come before a dependent activity in a schedule' in PMBOK. However, it is found a self-contradiction in the precedence diagram for S-F relationship by PMBOK. In this paper, author would like to validate logical relationship of S-F by Graph Theory and propose a new interpretation of the precedence diagram for S-F relationship.

Keywords: project time management, sequence activity, start-to-finish relationship, precedence diagram, PMBOK

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Authors: A. Kistaubayeva, I. Savitskaya, D. Ibrayeva, M. Abdulzhanova, N. Voronova

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36 strains of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were isolated in Southern Kazakhstan soda-saline soils and identified. Screening of strains according bio-oxidation (destruction thiosulfate to sulfate) and enzymatic (Thiosulfate dehydrogenises and thiosulfate reductase) activity was conducted. There were selected modes of aeration and culture conditions (pH, temperature), which provide optimum harvest cells. These strains can be used in bio-melioration technology.

Keywords: elemental sulfur, oxidation activity, Тhiobacilli, fertilizers, heterotrophic S-oxidizers

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Authors: Monthon Tangjitmungman

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Numerous diseases have been linked to oxidative stress, in which a disproportion of free radicals in the body leads to tissue or cell damage. Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants found in plants, and they are highly effective at scavenging oxidative free radicals. Due to the presence of phenolic compounds in Caesalpinia sappan has been discovered to have antioxidant activity. It has several health benefits, the most important of which is preventing cardiovascular and cancer diseases. This study aimed to determine the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract using a variety of antioxidant assays. The extract of C. sappan was made using a mixture of solvents (ethyl alcohol: water in ratio 8:2). The total phenolic content of C. sappan extract was determined and expressed as gallic acid equivalents using the Folin-Cioucalteu method (GAE). The antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract was assessed using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and the ABTS radical scavenging capacity assay. An association was found between antioxidant activity and total phenol content. The antioxidant activity of C. sappan extract was also determined by DPPH and ABTS assays. The IC50 values for C. sappan extract from DPPH and ABTS assays were 54.48 μg/mL ± 0.545 and 25.46 μg/mL ± 0.790, respectively, in the DPPH assay. In the DPPH assay, vitamin C was used as a positive control, whereas Trolox was used as a positive control in the ABTS assay. In conclusion, C. sappan extract contains a high level of total phenolics and exhibits significant antioxidant activity. Nevertheless, more research should be done on the antioxidant activity, such as SOD and ROS scavenging assays and in vivo experiments, to determine whether the compound has antioxidant activity.

Keywords: ABTS assay, antioxidant activity, Caesalpinia sappan, DPPH assays, total phenolic content

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Authors: Bhawesh Kumar, A. P. Krishna

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There are continuous changes upon earth’s surface by a variety of natural and anthropogenic agents cut, carry away and depositing of minerals from land. Running water has higher capacity of erosion than other geomorphologic agents. This research work has been carried out on Ganga River, whose channel is continuously changing under the influence of geomorphic agents and human activities in the surrounding regions. The main focus is to study morphological characteristics and sand dynamics of Ganga River with particular emphasis on bank lines and width changes using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The advance remote sensing data and topographical data were interpreted for obtaining 52 years of changes. For this, remote sensing data of different years (LANDSAT TM 1975, 1988, 1993, ETM 2005 and ETM 2012) and toposheet of SOI for the year 1960 were used as base maps for this study. Sinuosity ratio, braiding index and migratory activity index were also established. It was found to be 1.16 in 1975 and in 1988, 1993, 2005 and 2005 it was 1.09, 1.11, 1.1, 1.09 respectively. The analysis also shows that the minimum value found in 1960 was in reach 1 and maximum value is 4.8806 in 2012 found in reach 4 which suggests creation of number of islands in reach 4 for the year 2012. Migratory activity index (MAI), which is a standardized function of both length and time, was computed for the 8 representative reaches. MAI shows that maximum migration was in 1975-1988 in reach 6 and 7 and minimum migration was in 1993-2005. From the channel change analysis, it was found that the shifting of bank line was cyclic and the river Ganges showed a trend of southward maximum values. The advanced remote sensing data and topographical data helped in obtaining 52 years changes in the river due to various natural and manmade activities like flood, water velocity and excavation, removal of vegetation cover and fertile soil excavation for the various purposes of surrounding regions.

Keywords: braided index, migratory activity index (MAI), Ganga river, river morphology

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Authors: Kriyapa lairungruang, Arunporn Itharat

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Limonia acidissima L. (LA) (Common name: wood apple, Thai name: ma-khwit) is a medicinal plant which has long been used in Thai traditional medicine. Its bark is used for treatment of diarrhea, abscess, wound healing and inflammation and it is also used in oral cancer. Thus, this research aimed to investigate antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the LA bark extracts produced by various extraction methods. Different extraction procedures were used to extract LA bark for biological activity testing: boiling in water, maceration with 95% ethanol, maceration with 50% ethanol and water boiling of each the 95% and the 50% ethanolic residues. All extracts were tested for antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging assay, cytotoxic activity against human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) cells and human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB) cells using sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The results found that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed the highest antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 29.76±1.88 µg/ml. For cytotoxic activity, the 50% ethanolic extract showed the best cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells with IC50 values of 9.55±1.68 and 18.90±0.86 µg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrated that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed moderate antioxidant activity and the 50% ethanolic extract provided potent cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells. These results confirm the traditional use of LA for the treatment of oral cancer and laryngeal cancer, and also support its ongoing use.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cytotoxic activity, Laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma, Limonia acidissima L., oral epidermoid carcinoma

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Authors: Salmin K. Alshalmani, Nada H. Zobi, Ismaeel H. Bozakouk

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Marine organisms are potentially prolific sources of highly bio active secondary metabolites that might represent useful leads in the development of new pharmaceutical agents. The Libyan marine biodiversity including macroalgae remains partially unexplored in term of their potential bio activities. The phytochemical analysis of the alcoholic extracts of some commonly occurring seaweed Cystoseira compressa, enteromorpha intestinals, corallina, and Ulva lactuca and their evaluated for antibacterial activity by well diffusion assay were studied. Four different solvents namely water, ethanol 99 %, methanol 99 %, and methylated spirit 95 % were used for extraction. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of carbohydrates, steroids, tannin & phenols, saponins, proteins, and glycosides. The extracts were subjected for study of antibacterial activity. The zone of inhibition ranged between 8 to 16 mm in aqueous extract and up to 16 mm in methanol extract. The maximum activity (16 mm) was recorded from methanol extract of Ulva lactuca against Staphylococcus aureus and, minimum activity (8mm) recorded by Cystoseira compressa against S. aureus.

Keywords: macroalgae, phytochemicals, antibacterial activity, methanolic extract

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Authors: A. M. Gadanya, B. A. Ahmad, U. Maigatari

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Effect of oral administration of Gadagi tea on superoxide dismutase activity was assessed on twenty (20) male subjects (aged 21-40years). Ten (10) male non Gadagi tea consumers (aged 20-26 years), were used as control. Blood samples were collected from the subjects and analysed for serum superoxide dismutase activity using R&D Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay method (ELISA). The subjects were grouped into four based on age i.e group I (21-25 years), group II (26-30 years), and also based on duration of the tea consumption, i.e group A (5-9 years) , group B (10-14 years), group C (15-19 years) and group D (20-24 years). The subjects in group I (0.12 U mg-l +0.05), group II (0.11 U mg-l +0.01), group III (0.14 U mg-l +0.08) and group IV (0.17 U mg-l +0.11) showed increased activity of serum superoxide dismutase when compared with the control subjects (0.88 U mg-l +0.02) (P<0.05). There was no statistical significant difference in superoxide dismutase activity within the case groups (P<0.05), based on age and duration of consumption of the tea. Thus, Gadagi tea consumption could increase serum superoxide dismutase activity in humans.

Keywords: “Gadagi” tea, Serum, Superoxide dismutase, Humans.

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Authors: Anwar H. Radwan, Jan Mrlina, El-Sayed A. Issawy, Ali Rayan, Salah M. Mahmoud

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Geodynamic investigations in the Aswan Lake region were started after the M=5.5 earthquake in 1981, triggered by the lake water fluctuations. Besides establishing the seismological networks, also the geodetic observations focused on the Kalabsha and Sayal fault zones were started. It was found that the Kalabsha fault is an active dextral strike-slip with normal component indicating uplift on its southern side. However, the annual velocity rates in both components do not exceed 2 mm/y, and do not therefore represent extremely active faulting. We also launched gravity monitoring in 1997, and performed another two campaigns in 2000 and 2002. The observed non- tidal temporal gravity changes indicate rather the flood water infiltration into the porous Nubian sandstone, than tectonic stress effect. The station nearest to the lake exhibited about 60 μGal positive gravity change within the 1997-2002 period.

Keywords: gravity monitoring, surface movements, Lake Aswan, groundwater change

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Authors: T. H. Derdzyan, K. A. Ghazaryan, G. A. Gevorgyan

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Beta-glucosidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid phosphomonoestearse and acetate-esterase enzyme activities in the soils under the impact of metallurgical industrial activity in Lori marz (district) were investigated. The results of the study showed that the activities of the investigated enzymes in the soils decreased with increasing distance from the Shamlugh copper mine, the Chochkan tailings storage facility and the ore transportation road. Statistical analysis revealed that the activities of the enzymes were positively correlated (significant) to each other according to the observation sites which indicated that enzyme activities were affected by the same anthropogenic factor. The investigations showed that the soils were polluted with heavy metals (Cu, Pb, As, Co, Ni, Zn) due to copper mining activity in this territory. The results of Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between heavy metal pollution degree (Nemerow integrated pollution index) and soil enzyme activity. All of this indicated that copper mining activity in this territory causing the heavy metal pollution of the soils resulted in the inhabitation of the activities of the enzymes which are considered as biological catalysts to decompose organic materials and facilitate the cycling of nutrients.

Keywords: Armenia, metallurgical industrial activity, heavy metal pollutionl, soil enzyme activity

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Authors: Hye Jin Kim, Hwa Sung Shin

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Ischemic stroke means the caused brain damage due to neurological defects, occurring occlusion of cerebral vascular resulting in thrombus or embolism. t-PA (tissue Plasminogen Activator) is the only thrombolytic agent passed the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). However, t-PA directly dissolves the thrombus (direct activity) through fibrinolysis, showing side effects such as re-occlusion. In this study, we evaluated the thrombolytic activities of the serine protease extracted from lugworms inhabiting tidal flats. The new serine protease identified as 38 kDa by SDS-PAGE was not toxic to brain endothelial cells line (hCMEC/D3). Also, the plasmin synthesis inhibition activity (indirect activity) of the new serine protease was confirmed through fibrin zymography assay and fibrin plate assay. It was higher than direct activity as compared to u-PA (urokinase Plasminogen Activator). The activities were found to be maintained at a wide range of temperature (4-70 ℃) and pH 7-10 compared to previous thrombolytic agents from the azocasein assay. In addition, the new serine protease has shown anticoagulant activity from fibrinogenolytic activity assay. In conclusion, the serine protease in lug worms inhabiting the tidal flats could be considered a promising thrombolytic candidate for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Keywords: alkaline serine protease, bifunctional thrombolytic activity, fibrinolytic activity, ischemic stroke, lug worms

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Authors: Jieh-Jiuh Wang

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Disasters happen frequently due to the global climate changes today. The cultural heritage conservation should be considered from the perspectives of surrounding environments and large-scale disasters. Most current thoughts about the disaster prevention of cultural heritages in Taiwan are single-point thoughts emphasizing firefighting, decay prevention, and construction reinforcement and ignoring the whole concept of the environment. The traditional conservation cannot defend against more and more tremendous and frequent natural disasters caused by climate changes. More and more cultural heritages are confronting the high risk of disasters. This study adopts the perspective of risk identification and takes flood as the main disaster category. It analyzes the amount and categories of cultural heritages that might suffer from disasters with the geographic information system integrating the latest flooding potential data from National Fire Agency and Water Resources Agency and the basic data of cultural heritages. It examines the actual risk of cultural heritages confronting floods and serves as the accordance for future considerations of risk measures and preparation for reducing disasters. The result of the study finds the positive relationship between the disaster affected situation of national cultural heritages and the rainfall intensity. The order of impacted level by floods is historical buildings, historical sites indicated by municipalities and counties, and national historical sites and relics. However, traditional settlements and cultural landscapes are not impacted. It might be related to the taboo space in the traditional culture of site selection (concepts of disaster avoidance). As for the regional distribution on the other hand, cultural heritages in central and northern Taiwan suffer from more shocking floods, while the heritages in northern and eastern Taiwan suffer from more serious flooding depth.

Keywords: cultural heritage, flood, preventive conservation, risk management

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Authors: Yuva Bellik, Selles Mohamed Amar

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The beneficial health effects including antioxidant properties of mint (Mentha spicata) and honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been extensively studied. However, there is no data about the effects of their associated use. In this study the total phenolic and flavonoid contents for individual extracts of mint and honey and their combination were determined. The antioxidant activity was investigated by using reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2´- azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid diamonium salt (ABTS), and chelating power methods. The results showed that individual extracts contained important quantity of phenolics and flavonoids and their combination was found to produce best antioxidant activity. A significant linear correlation between the phenolic/flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity, especially with reducing power and free radical scavenging abilities, was observed.

Keywords: honey, mint, synergy, antioxidant activity

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Authors: Supriyono Supriyono, Sumardiyono Sumardiyono, Peni Pujiastuti, Dian Indriana Hapsari

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Crude palm oil (CPO) is a vegetable oil that came from a palm tree bunch. The productivity of the oil is 12 ton/hectare/year. Thus palm oil tree was known as highest vegetable oil yield. It was grown across Equatorial County, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. The greenish-red color on CPO was come from carotenoid. Carotenoid is one of the antioxidants that could be extracted. Carotenoid could be used as functional food and other purposes. Another antioxidant that also found in CPO is tocopherol. The aim of the research work is to find antioxidant activity on CPO comparing to the synthetic antioxidant that available in a market. In this research work, antioxidant was extracted by a mixture of acetone and n.hexane, while the activity of the antioxidant extract was determined by DPPH method. Antioxidant activity of the extracted compound about 46% compared to pure tocopherol. While the solvent mixture compose by 90% acetone and 10% n. hexane meet the best on the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: antioxidant, beta carotene, crude palm oil, DPPH, tocopherol

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Authors: M. R. Dahmardeh Ghaleno, M. Nohtani, S. Khaledi

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Flood simulation and prediction is one of the most active research areas in surface water management. WetSpa is a distributed, continuous, and physical model with daily or hourly time step that explains precipitation, runoff, and evapotranspiration processes for both simple and complex contexts. This model uses a modified rational method for runoff calculation. In this model, runoff is routed along the flow path using Diffusion-Wave equation which depends on the slope, velocity, and flow route characteristics. Golestan Dam Basin is located in Golestan province in Iran and it is passing over coordinates 55° 16´ 50" to 56° 4´ 25" E and 37° 19´ 39" to 37° 49´ 28"N. The area of the catchment is about 224 km², and elevations in the catchment range from 414 to 2856 m at the outlet, with average slope of 29.78%. Results of the simulations show a good agreement between calculated and measured hydrographs at the outlet of the basin. Drawing upon Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient for calibration periodic model estimated daily hydrographs and maximum flow rate with an accuracy up to 59% and 80.18%, respectively.

Keywords: watershed simulation, WetSpa, stream flow, flood prediction

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Authors: Awatif Boumaza, Abderraouf Hilali, Hayat Talbi, Houda Sbayou

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The methanolic extract of Zygophyllum cornutun coss, an Algerian medicinal plant, was screened to the presence of mutagenic activity and genotoxic effect using the Ames test (Salmonella/microsome) and the micronucleus assay respectively. Positive results were obtained with both tests. The Ames test showed mutagenic activity in the presence of microsomal activation, while negative result was observed without microsomal activation. In the micronucleus test, two parameters were evaluated: the frequency of the micronucleus that increased in a dose dependent way and the proliferation index that decreased according to the micronucleus frequency. Even that further studies must be carried out, the mutagenic activity and the genotoxic effect of Zygophyllum cornutum should be taken in consideration when used as therapeutic plant.

Keywords: ames test, micronucleus test, mutagenic activity, genotoxicity, Zygophyllum cornutum

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Authors: Supriya Chatla, Anjana Male, Srikala Kamireddy

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L-asparaginase (E.C.3.5.1.1) is an anti-cancer enzyme that has been purified and characterized for decades to study and evaluate its anti-carcinogenic activity against Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The present investigation deals with screening, isolation and optimization of L-asparaginase giving fungal strain of soil samples from different areas of AP, India. L-Aspariginase activity was estimated on the basis of the pink color surrounding the growing colony. A total of 132 colonies were screened and isolated from different samples. Based on the zone diameter, L-asparaginase activity is determined, L- asparaginase activity is optimized at 28oc and Immobilized Aspariginase had more potency than the free enzymes.

Keywords: aspariginase, anticancer enzyme, Isolation, optimization

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Authors: Ammar Asfari, Faizah Finur Fithriah, Shighia Ajeng Savitri

Abstract:

Jakarta as the capital city of Indonesia held an important role for the country, that is being the city where central government is located. But its topographic character which categorized as lowland area is causing an ultimate trouble. With average height of 7 meters above the sea level, flood keeps occurring in this city. On the other hand, water exploitation that caused land subsidence and sea-levels increasing by global warming make it even worse. Giant Sea Wall Development is a project created by Jakarta’s government to overcome flood, which is inspired by Saemangeum Dam in South Korea. For further planning, Giant Sea Wall is planned to be water reservoir for Jakarta’s inhabitants. This research’s aim is to fully understand the knowledge and opinion of people living in North Jakarta (Jakarta’s Coastal Area) on Giant Sea Wall development planning using qualitative method analysis with descriptive approach. The result of this research will be one of the determining factors in Giant Sea Wall Jakarta development planning continuance.

Keywords: descriptive approach, Giant Sea Wall Jakarta, qualitative method analysis, society perception

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Authors: Mohammad A. M. Kewisha

Abstract:

Xerophilic fungi , which are responsible for many cases of biodeterioration monuments, have been known as an interesting source of antimicrobial compounds. Sixty nine fungal strains, isolated from different localities and species inside Egyptian museums, were screened for antimicrobial activity against some bacterial species and unicellular fungi. The most potent antimicrobial activity was obtained by Asperigillus fumigatus which was identified by ITS4 ……. and showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus with 20 mm and C. albicans with18 mm of inhibition zone. Different parameters were optimized to enhance this activity. The culture grown under stationary conditions for 8 days at 30°C and pH 8 gave the best antimicrobial activity. Moreover, both starch and yeast extract showed the most suitable carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. The antimicrobial compound was purified and subjected to spectroscopic characterization, which revealed that the antimicrobial compound might be 5,7 ethoxy, 4\,5\ methoxy isorhamnetin -3- O- galactoside. This study suggests that Aspergillus fumagates as a potential candidate offering a better scope for the production, purification and isolation of broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds. These findings will facilitate the scale-up and further purification to ascertain the compounds responsible for antimicrobial activity, which can be exploited for the treatment of biodeterioration monuments and pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, asperigillus fumigatus, Identification by ITS4, Staphylococcus aureus, C.albicans

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Authors: Zine-Eddine Bouras, Abdelouaheb Talai

Abstract:

During the last two decades, the software evolution community has intensively tackled the software merging issue whose main objective is to merge in a consistent way different versions of software in order to obtain a new version. Well-established approaches, mainly based on the dependence analysis techniques, have been used to bring suitable solutions. These approaches concern the source code or software architectures. However, these solutions are more expensive due to the complexity and size. In this paper, we overcome this problem by operating at a high level of abstraction. The objective of this paper is to investigate the software merging at the level of UML activity diagrams, which is a new interesting issue. Its purpose is to merge activity diagrams instead of source code. The proposed approach, based on dependence analysis techniques, is illustrated through an appropriate case study.

Keywords: activity diagram, activity diagram slicing, dependency analysis, software merging

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Authors: Noura Kichou, Manel Tafergguenit, Nabila Ghechtouli, Zakia Hank

Abstract:

The aim of this work is to synthesize, characterize and evaluate the biological activity of two Ligands : glyoxime and dimethylglyoxime, and their metal Ni(II) chelates. The newly chelates were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, EPR, nuclear magnetic resonances (1H and 13C), and biological activity. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the ligands and its metal complexes were screened against bacterial species (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Escherichia coli) and fungi (Candida albicans). Ampicillin and amphotericin were used as references for antibacterial and antifungal studies. The activity data show that the metal complexes have a promising biological activity comparable with parent free ligand against bacterial and fungal species. A structural, energetic, and electronic theoretical study was carried out using the DFT method, with the functional B3LYP and the gaussian program 09. A complete optimization of geometries was made, followed by a calculation of the frequencies of the normal modes of vibration. The UV spectrum was also interpreted. The theoretical results were compared with the experimental data.

Keywords: glyoxime, dimetylglyoxime, nickel, antibacterial activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 78