Search results for: plant population

Authors: Mahdi Akhbardeh

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St John's wort plant can help to treat depression disease through decreasing this disease symptom, due to having some similar features of Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) pill. People suffering from slight depression who have fear of using antidepressants side effects can use St John's wort drops under doctor observation. This method of treatment is proposed specially to those women who are spending menopause or depression resulted from this period. St John's wort plant have proposed traditional and plant medicine as newest researches in treating mood disorders compared to Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug in treating depression disease which is being administrated in clinic research center of Washington. Objective: the aim of this study is to find an alternative treatment method in people suffering from depression which are treated with Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl). Almost 70 percent of treatment failures with Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug in patients suffering from slight to normal depression is due to intensive side effects including: decrease in blood pressure, reduce in sexual desire and 30 percent of it is due to this drug affectless in treatment procedure which leads to leaving treatment. Results of Hypercuim plant function are exactly similar to antidepressants. Increase in serotonin amount in brain synopsis terminal end causes increase in existence time of this material in this part. In fact these two drugs have similar function. Though side effects of Hypercuim plant(St John's wort) including headache and slight nausea tolerable. Results: St John's wort plant can be used lonely in slight to normal depressions in which patients are avoiding Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug due to it's side effects. In intensive depressions through which general patients don’t indicate positive response to drug, it is probably expected relative or even complete treatment through combining antidepressants drugs with this plant. This treatment method has been investigated and confirmed in clinical tests and researches.

Keywords: depression, St John's wort, Prozac, antidepressant

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Authors: R. Marandi, H. Shahrir, T. Nejad Ghaffar Borhani, M. Kamaruddin

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In the present study, a steady state population balance model was developed to predict the polymer particle size distribution (PSD) in ethylene gas phase fluidized bed olefin polymerization reactors. The multilayer polymeric flow model (MPFM) was used to calculate the growth rate of a single polymer particle under intra-heat and mass transfer resistance. The industrial plant data were used to calculate the growth rate of polymer particle and the polymer PSD. Numerical simulations carried out to describe the influence of effective monomer diffusion coefficient, polymerization rate and initial catalyst size on the catalyst particle growth and final polymer PSD. The results present that the intra-heat and mass limitation is important for the ethylene polymerization, the growth rate of particle and the polymer PSD in the fluidized bed reactor. The effect of the agglomeration on the PSD is also considered. The result presents that the polymer particle size distribution becomes broader as the agglomeration exits.

Keywords: population balance, olefin polymerization, fluidized bed reactor, particle size distribution, agglomeration

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Authors: Raquel Amanda Villamizar Gallardo, Oscar Orlando Ortíz Rodríguez

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Enteric viruses are cosmopolitan agents present in several environments including water. These viruses can cause different diseases including gastroenteritis, hepatitis, conjunctivitis, respiratory problems among others. Although in Colombia there are not regulations concerning to routine viral analysis of drinking water, an enhanced understanding of viral pollution and resistance to treatments is desired in order to assure pure water to the population. Viral detection is often complex due to the need of specialized and time-consuming procedures. In addition, viruses are highly diluted in water which is a drawback from the analytical point of view. To this end, a fast and selective detection method for detection enteric viruses (i.e. Hepatitis A and Rotavirus) were applied. Micro- magnetic particles were functionalized with monoclonal antibodies anti-Hepatitis and anti-Rotavirus and they were used to capture, concentrate and separate whole viral particles in raw water and drinking water samples from four treatment plants identified as CAR-01, MON-02, POR-03, TON-04 and located in the Northeastern Colombia. Viruses were molecularly by using RT-PCR One Step Superscript III. Each plant was analyzed at the entry and exit points, in order to determine the initial presence and eventual reduction of Hepatitis A and Rotavirus after disinfection. The results revealed the presence of both enteric viruses in a 100 % of raw water analyzed in all plants. This represents a potential health hazard, especially for those people whose use this water for agricultural purposes. However, in drinking water analysis, enteric viruses was only positive in CAR-01, where was found the presence of Rotavirus. As a conclusion, the results confirm Rotavirus as the best indicator to evaluate the efficacy of potable treatment plant in eliminating viruses. CAR potable water plant should improve their disinfection process in order to remove efficiently enteric viruses.

Keywords: drinking water, hepatitis A, rotavirus, virus removal

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Authors: A. U. Adamu, E. D Paul, C. E. Gimba, I. G. Ndukwe

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The phytochemical and proximate composition of Aspillia kotschyi belonging to Compositae family which is commonly used as medicinal plant in Nigeria was determined on both the Methanolic and Petroleum sprit extract of the plant. The Methanolic extract of the plant revealed the presence of carbohydrates, cardiac glyscosides, flavonoids, triterpene, and alkaloids. The Petroleum sprit extract showed the presence of only carbohydrates and alkaloid. Proximate composition analysis shows moisture content of 5.7%, total ash of 4.03%, crude protein 10.94%, fibre 9.06%, fat value 0.83%, and nitrogen free extract of 70.19%. The results of this study suggest some merit in the popular use of Aspillia kotschi in herbal medicine.

Keywords: Aspillia kotschyi, herbal medicine, phytochemical, proximate composition

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Authors: Junjie Wu, Hongjuan Hou, Eric Hu, Yongping Yang

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Solar aided power generation (SAPG) technology has been proven as an efficient way to make use of solar energy for power generation purpose. In an SAPG plant, a solar field consisting of parabolic solar collectors is normally used to supply the solar heat in order to displace the high pressure/temperature extraction steam. To understand the performance of such a SAPG plant, a new simulation model was developed by the authors recently, in which the boiler was treated, as a series of heat exchangers unlike other previous models. Through the simulations using the new model, it was found the outlet properties of reheated steam, e.g. temperature, would decrease due to the introduction of the solar heat. The changes make the (lower stage) turbines work under off-design condition. As a result, the whole plant’s performance may not be optimal. In this paper, the second solar filed was proposed to increase the inlet temperature of steam to be reheated, in order to bring the outlet temperature of reheated steam back to the designed condition. A 600MW SAPG plant was simulated as a case study using the new model to understand the impact of the second solar field on the plant performance. It was found in the study, the 2nd solar field would improve the plant’s performance in terms of cycle efficiency and solar-to-electricity efficiency by 1.91% and 6.01%. The solar-generated electricity produced by per aperture area under the design condition was 187.96W/m2, which was 26.14% higher than the previous design.

Keywords: solar-aided power generation system, off-design performance, coal-saving performance, boiler modelling, integration schemes

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Authors: Sabir Hussain, Muhammad Naeem, Yousif Aldryhim, Susan E. Halbert, Qingjun Wu

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Plant viruses annually cause severe economic losses in crop production and globally, different aphid species are responsible for the transmission of such viruses. Additionally, aphids are also serious pests of trees, and agricultural crops. Al Bahah Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has a high native and introduced plant species with a temperate climate that provides ample habitats for aphids. In this study, we surveyed virus-transmitting aphids from the Province to highlight their spatial distributions and hot spot areas for their target control strategies. During our fifteen month's survey in Al Bahah Province, three hundred and seventy samples of aphids were collected using both beating sheets and yellow water pan traps. Consequently, fifty-four aphid species representing 30 genera belonging to four families were recorded from Al Bahah Province. Alarmingly, 35 aphid species from our records are virus transmitting species. The most common virus transmitting aphid species based on number of collecting samples, were Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas, 1878), Brachycaudus rumexicolens (Patch, 1917), Uroleucon sonchi (Linnaeus, 1767), Brachycaudus helichrysi (Kaltenbach, 1843), and Myzus persicae (Sulzer, 1776). The numbers of samples for the forementioned species were 66, 24, 23, 22, and 20, respectively. The widest range of plant hosts were found for M. euphorbiae (39 plant species), B. helichrysi (12 plant species), M. persicae (12 plant species), B. rumexicolens (10 plant species), and U. sonchi (9 plant species). The hottest spot areas were found in Al-Baha, Al Mekhwah and Biljarashi cities of the province on the basis of their abundance. This study indicated that Al Bahah Province has relatively rich aphid diversity due to the relatively high plant diversity in a favorable climatic condition. ArcGIS tools can be helpful for biologists to implement the target control strategies against these pests in the integrated pest management, and ultimately to save money and time.

Keywords: Al Bahah province, aphid-virus interaction, biodiversity, global information system

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Authors: Totik Sri Mariani, Sukrasno Isna, Tet Fatt Chia

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Purwoceng (Pimpinella pruatjan Molk) is a legend plant used for increasing stamina by Kings in Java Island, Indonesia. Purpose of this study was to perform meristem culture and detected its stigmasterol by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Our result show that meristem culture could be propagated and grew into plantlet. After extracting intact acclimatized plant derived from meristem culture by hexane, we could detected stigmasterol by TLC. For suggestion, our extraction and TLC method could be used for detecting stigmasterol in others plant.

Keywords: purwoceng (pimpinella pruatjan), meristem culture, extraction, thin layer chromatography

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Authors: Akhilesh Mishra, Geeta Rai, Arvind Srivastava, Nalini Tiwari

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A field experiment was conducted during two consecutive Rabi seasons of 2007 and 2008 to study the economics of different bio-fertilizer’s inoculations in fieldpea (cv. Jai) at Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (India). Results indicated that the seed inoculation with Rhizobium + PSB + PGPR improved all the growth; yield attributes and yields of field pea. Fresh and dry weight plant-1, nodules number and dry weight plant-1 were found significantly maximum. Number of grains pod-1, number and weight of pods plant-1 at maturity attributed significantly in increasing the grain yield as well as net return. On pooled basis, maximum net income (Rs.22169 ha-1) was obtained with the use of Rhizobium + PSB + PGPR which was improved by a margin of Rs.1502 (6.77%), 2972 (13.40%), 2672 (12.05%), 5212 (23.51%), 6176 (27.85%), 4666 (21.04%) and 8842/ha (39.88%) over the inoculation of PSB + PGPR, Rhizobium + PGPR, Rhizobium + PSB, PGPR, PSB, Rhizobium and control, respectively. Thus, it can be recommended that to earn the maximum net profit from dwarf field pea, seed should be inoculated with Rhizobium + PSB + PGPR.

Keywords: rhizobium, phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, field pea

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Authors: C. C. Igwe, C. E. Ogbuadike

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Bryophyllum pinnatum is a tropical plant used by the indigenous people of South-East Nigeria as a medicinal plant for the treatment of skin ulcer and is being explored for the production of topical herbal skin ointments. This preliminary study involves the extraction and characterization of bioactive compounds from this plant for anti-skin ulcer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activity, as well as formulating topical herbal medications for skin ulcer. Thus extraction, percentage yield, moisture content analysis, solvent-solvent fractionation and GC-MS has been carried out on processed leaves sample of B. pinnatum. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of seven compounds, namely: 1-Octene, 3, 7-dimethyl, 1-Tridecene, E-14-Hexadecenal, 3-Eicosene (E)-, 11-Tricosene, 1-Tridecyn-4-ol and Butanamide. Standardized herbal products have been produced from B. pinnatum extracts. The products are being evaluated for safety and efficacy tests to ascertain their toxicity (if any), anti-ulcer, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. Further work is on-going to characterize the bioactive principles present in the plant extracts.

Keywords: anti-microbial, bioactive compounds, bryophyllum pinnatum, skin ulcer

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Authors: Navid Mohammadzadeh, Huy Truong-Ba, Michael Cholette

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The solar tower (ST) plant is a promising technology to exploit large-scale solar irradiation. With thermal energy storage, ST plant has the potential to shift generation to high electricity price periods. However, the size of storage limits the dispatchability of the plant, particularly when it should compete with uncertainty in forecasts of solar irradiation and electricity prices. The purpose of this study is to explore the size of storage when Rolling Horizon Control (RHC) is employed for dispatch scheduling. To this end, RHC is benchmarked against perfect knowledge (PK) forecast and two day-ahead dispatching policies. With optimisation of dispatch planning using PK policy, the optimal achievable profit for a specific size of the storage is determined. A sensitivity analysis using Monte-Carlo simulation is conducted, and the size of storage for RHC and day-ahead policies is determined with the objective of reaching the profit obtained from the PK policy. A case study is conducted for a hypothetical ST plant with thermal storage located in South Australia and intends to dispatch under two market scenarios: 1) fixed price and 2) wholesale spot price. The impact of each individual source of uncertainty on storage size is examined for January and August. The exploration of results shows that dispatching with RH controller reaches optimal achievable profit with ~15% smaller storage compared to that in day-ahead policies. The results of this study may be applied to the CSP plant design procedure.

Keywords: solar tower plant, spot market, thermal storage system, optimized dispatch planning, sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Watchawin Ekphinitphithaya, Patompong Satapornpong

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Introduction: Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) by neurologists and non-neurologist worldwide. CBZ is usually prescribed along with other drugs, leading to the possibility of severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions (SCARs). The HLA-B*15:02 is strongly associated with CBZ-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS–TEN) in the Han Chinese and other Asian populations but not in European populations, while HLA-A*31:01 allele has been reported to be associated with CBZ-induced SCARs in European population and Japanese. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the distribution of pharmacogenetics HLA-A*31:01 marker in a healthy Thai population associated with Carbamazepine-induced SCARs. Materials and Methods: Prospective study, 350 unrelated healthy Thais were recruited in this study. Human leukocyte antigen-A alleles were genotyped using PCR-sequence specific oligonucleotides (PCR-SSOs). Results: The frequency of HLA-A alleles were HLA-A*11:01 (190 alleles, 27.14%), HLA-A*24:02 (82 alleles, 11.71%), HLA-A*02:03 (80 alleles, 11.43%), HLA-A*33:03 (76 alleles, 10.86%), HLA-A*02:07 (58 alleles, 8.29%), HLA-A*02:01 (35 alleles, 5.00%), HLA-A*24:07 (29 alleles, 4.14%), HLA-A*02:06 – HLA-A*30:01 (15 alleles, 2.14%), and HLA-A*01:01 (14 alleles, 2.00%). Particularly, the number of HLA-A*31:01 alleles was 6 of 700 (0.86%) in the healthy Thai population. Many research presented varying distributions of HLA-A*31:01 in Asians, including 2% of Han Chinese, 9% of Japanese and 5% of Koreans. In addition, this allele was found approximately 2-5% in the Caucasian population. Conclusions: Thus, the pharmacogenetics database is vital to support in many populations, especially in Thais, for screening HLA-A*31:01 allele to avoid CBZ-induced SCARs before initiating treatments in each population.

Keywords: Carbamazepine, HLA-A*31:01, Thai population, pharmacogenetics

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Authors: Medhat Gad

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Wastewater treatment became a big issue in this decade due to shortage of water resources, growth of population and modern live requirements. Reuse of treated wastewater in industrial and agriculture sectors has a big demand to substitute the shortage of clean water supply as well as to save the eco system from dangerous pollutants in insufficient treated wastewater In last decades, most of wastewater treatment plants are built using primary or secondary biological treatment technology which almost does not provide enough treatment and removal of phosphorus and nitrogen. those plants which built ten to 15 years ago also now suffering from overflow which decrease the treatment efficiency of the plant. Discharging treated wastewater which contains phosphorus and nitrogen to water reservoirs and irrigation canals destroy ecosystem and aquatic life. Using chemical material to enhance treatment efficiency for domestic wastewater but it leads to huge amount of sludge which cost a lot of money. To enhance wastewater treatment, we used INNPT nano material which consists of calcium, aluminum and iron oxides and compounds plus silica, sodium and magnesium. INNPT nano material used with a dose of 100 mg/l to upgrade SBR treatment plant in Cairo Egypt -which has three treatment tanks each with a capacity of 2500 cubic meters per day - to tertiary treatment level by removing Phosphorus, Nitrogen and increase dissolved oxygen in final effluent. The results showed that the treatment retention time decreased from 9 hours in SBR system to one hour using INNPT nano material with improvement in effluent quality while increasing plant capacity to 20 k cubic meters per day. Nitrogen removal efficiency achieved 77%, while phosphorus removal efficiency achieved 90% and COD removal efficiency was 93% which all comply with tertiary treatment limits according to Egyptian law.

Keywords: INNPT technology, nanomaterial, tertiary wastewater treatment, capacity extending

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Rebone E. Mashapa, Phesheya E. Dlamini, Sandile S. Mthimkhulu

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Woody plant encroachment, a land cover transformation that reduces grassland productivity may influence soil physical properties. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of woody plant encroachment on physical properties of vertic soils in a savanna grassland. In this study, we quantified and compared soil bulk density, aggregate stability and porosity in the top and subsoil of an open and woody encroached savanna grassland. The results revealed that soil bulk density increases, while porosity and mean weight diameter decreases with depth in both open and woody encroached grassland soil. Compared to open grassland, soil bulk density was 11% and 10% greater in the topsoil and subsoil, while porosity was 6% and 9% lower in the topsoil and subsoil of woody encroached grassland. Mean weight diameter, an indicator of soil aggregation increased by 38% only in the subsoil of encroached grasslands due to increasing clay content with depth. These results suggest that woody plant encroachment leads to compaction of vertic soils, which in turn reduces pore size distribution.

Keywords: soil depth, soil physical properties, vertic soils, woody plant encroachment

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Mohamed Hamed Mohamed Ahmed Alameer

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Population studies, essentially deals with the size, growth, and distribution of the population in a given area. Size, growth, and distribution are determined by three major factors, which are fertility mortality, and migration. Of these factors, fertility- as a number of live births a woman has actually had- is a potent socio-demographic force in vital process of population growth. So, fertility is a major component of population growth. It is one of the main determinants of population growth and has crucial role in population dynamic, because it measures the rate at which a population increased. In fact the levels of fertility are vary widely among nations, countries, geographic regions, ethnic, socio- economic groups, and religious groups. Fertility differential by religion have been empirically documented in a large numbers of countries. For instance, many researchers in developing and developed countries investigated the differential of fertility among Muslims and Non- Muslims. Most of them have found that fertility of Muslims is higher than fertility of non Muslims. And Muslims have a tendency for large families comparing to non- Muslims population. On the basis of this; Islam by it itself could play an important role in shaping attitudes and values of fertility, such as: sustainability of human kind, developmental reasons, religious Motivations, socioeconomic Motivations, and Psychological Motivation. Therefore, this paper investigates socio-economic values of fertility in Islam and compare it to Malthusian and neo Malthusian functionalists and conflict perspectives.

Keywords: islam, fertility, socioeconomic values, social sciences

Procedia PDF Downloads 445

Authors: Mekhaldi Abdelkader, Bouzned Ahcen, Djibaoui Rachid, Hamoum Hakim

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This study presents an attempt to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of methanolic extract and essential oils prepared from the leaves of sage (Salvia officinalis L.). The content of polyphenols in the methanolic extract of the leaves from Salvia officinalis extract was determined by spectrophoto- metrically, calculated as gallic acid and catechin equivalent. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging activity using 2,2-diphenylpicryl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The plant essential oil and methanol extract were also subjected to screenings for the evaluation of their antioxidant activities using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. While the plant essential oil showed only weak antioxidant activities, its methanol extract was considerably active in DPPH (IC50= 37.29µg/ml) test. Appreciable total phenolic content (31.25mg/g) was also detected for the plant methanol extract as gallic acid equivalent in the Folin–Ciocalteu test. The plant was also screened for its antimicrobial activity and good to moderate inhibitions were recorded for its essential oil and methanol extract against most of the tested microorganisms. The present investigation revealed that this plant has rich source of antioxidant properties. It is for this reason that sage has found increasing application in food formulations.

Keywords: antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, flavonoid, polyphenol, salvia officinalis

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Laredo Alcalá Elan Iñaky, Hernandez Castillo Daniel, Martinez Hernandez José Luis, Arredondo Valdes Roberto, Gonzalez Gallegos Esmeralda, Anguiano Cabello Julia Cecilia

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Plant hormones are a group of molecules that control different processes ranging from the growth and development of the plant until their response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, the capacity of production of various phytohormones was evaluated from a strain of Botryodiplodia theobromae by liquid fermentation system using the modified Mierch medium added with a hydrolyzate compound of mead all in a reactor without agitation at 28 °C for 15 days. Quantification of the metabolites was performed using high performance liquid chromatography techniques. The results showed that a microbial broth with at least five different types of plant hormones was obtained: gibberellic acid, zeatin, kinetin, indoleacetic acid and jasmonic acid, the last one was higher than the others metabolites produced. The production of such hormones using a single type of microorganism could be in the future a great alternative to reduce production costs and similarly reduce the use of synthetic chemicals.

Keywords: biosystem, plant hormones, Botryodiplodia theobromae, fermentation

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Authors: Njabe Christelle

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Fungal products are essential building blocks for change towards a more sustainable future for our planet. In nature, fungi are special in breaking down plant material by means of a rich spectrum of plant cell wall degrading enzymes. Enzymes serve as catalysts in organic synthesis. Imagine the immense benefits that the known 250000 plant genes might provide in the future through scientific investigation. Plants are the primary basis for human sustenance, used directly for food, clothing, and shelter or indirectly in processed form and through animal feeding. Fungi are the only organisms known to extensively degrade lignin, a major component of wood. Although humans cannot digest cellulose and lignin, many fungi, through their assimilation of these substances, produce food in the form of edible mushrooms.

Keywords: plants, fungi, sustainable use, planet earth

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Authors: Asma Alhuqail, Nagwa Aref

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Programmed cell death resembles a real nature active defense in Datura metel against TMV after three days of virus infection. Physiological plant response was assessed for asymptomatic healthy and symptomatic infected detached leaves. The results indicated H2O2 and Chlorophyll-a as the most potential parameters. Chlorophyll-a was considered the only significant predictor variant for the H2O2 dependent variant with a P value of 0.001 and R-square of 0.900. The plant immune response was measured within three days of virus infection using the cutoff value of H2O2 (61.095 lmol/100 mg) and (63.201 units) for the tail moment in the Comet Assay. Their percentage changes were 255.12% and 522.40% respectively which reflects the stress of virus infection in the plant. Moreover, H2O2 showed 100% specificity and sensitivity in the symptomatic infected group using the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC). All tested parameters in the symptomatic infected group had significant correlations with twenty-five positive and thirty-one negative correlations where the P value was <0.05 and 0.01. Chlorophyll-a parameter had a crucial role of highly significant correlation between total protein and salicylic acid. Contrarily, this correlation with tail moment unit was (r = _0.930, P <0.01) where the P value was < 0.01. The strongest significant negative correlation was between Chlorophyll-a and H2O2 at P < 0.01, while moderate negative significant correlation was seen for Chlorophyll-b where the P value < 0.05. The present study discloses the secret of the three days of rapid transient production of activated oxygen species (AOS) that was enough for having potential quantitative physiological parameters for defensive plant response toward the virus.

Keywords: programmed cell death, plant–adaptive immune response, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), physiological parameters

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Authors: Gopal Lamichhane, Biswash Sapkota, Grinsun Sharma, Mahendra Adhikari

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Urolithiasis is a condition in which insoluble or less soluble salts like oxalate, phosphate etc. precipitate in urinary tract and causes obstruction in ureter resulting renal colic or sometimes haematuria. It is the third most common disorder of urinary tract affecting nearly 2% of world’s population. Poor urinary drainage, microbial infection, oxalate and calcium containing diet, calciferol, hyperparathyroidism, cysteine in urine, gout, dysfunction of intestine, drought environment, lifestyle, exercise, stress etc. are risk factors for urolithiasis. Wide ranges of treatments are available in allopathic system of medicine but reoccurrence is unpreventable even with the surgical removal of stone or lithotripsy. So, people prefer alternative medicinal systems such as Unani, homeopathic, ayurvedic etc. systems of medicine due to their fewer side effects over allopathic counterpart. Different plants based ethnomedicines are being well established by their continuous effective use in human since long time in treatment of urinary problem. Many studies have scientifically proved those ethnomedicines for antiurolithiatic effect in animal and in vitro model. Plant-based remedies were found to be therapeutically effective for both prevention as well as cure of calcium oxalate urolithiasis. Plants were known to show these effects through a combination of many effects such as antioxidant, diuretic, hypocalciuric, urine alkalinizing effect in them. Berberine, triterpenoids, lupeol are the phytochemicals established for antiurolithiatic effect. Hence, plant-based medicine can be the effective herbal alternative as well as means of discovery of novel drug molecule for curing urolithiatic disorder and should be focused on further research to discover their value in coming future.

Keywords: urolithiasis, herbal medicine, ethnomedicine, kidney stone, calcium oxalate

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Authors: S. K. Hemalata, M. N. Shiva Kameshwari

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The present work focusses on anti-inflammatory action of Urginea wightii in-vitro. Urginea wightii is a member of Hyacinthaceae and considered to be wonder plant because of its varied important medicinal properties. The plant is endemic to India, Africa, and Mediterranian regions. Presence of alkaloids, flavonoid-glycosides especially flavonone derivatives are responsible for the strong anti-inflammatory activity of Urginea wightii. In present research work, anti-inflammatory activity of methanol extract of the bulb powder was tested on Male Wistar Rats. In these test animals, inflammation was induced by injecting carrageenan as the irritant to induce paw edema in Wistar rats. Inflammation of Paw edema was treated with both plant extract and Pyrox gel a known synthetic anti-inflammatory drug through external application. The result indicated that anti-inflammatory activity of Urginea wightii extract was almost similar to the synthetic Pyrox gel. This disproves the modern world's scepticism towards the herbal medicines and encourages to rely on natural plant extracts.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory activity, flavonoid-glycosides, Pyrox gel, Urginia wightii

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: K. Nazan Turhan, Tuğçe Ersan

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The population of the world is approximately 7.6 billion, and it increases uncontrollably and irrepressibly, leading to an increase in consumption. This situation causes crucial problems, and food waste is one of these. Wasting food endangers natural resources and causes hunger. For instance, excessive amounts of food waste cause greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming. Therefore, waste management has been gaining significance in the last few decades at both local and global levels due to the expected scarcity of resources for the increasing population of the world. There are several ways to recover food waste. Bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas, agricultural fertilizer and animal feed can be obtained from food waste that is generated by different food industries. In this project, feeding animals was selected as a food waste recovery method and food waste of a plant was used to provide ingredient uniformity. Grasshoppers were used as a protein source. In other words, the project was performed to develop a dog food product by recovering the plant’s food waste after following some steps. The collected food waste and purchased grasshoppers were sterilized, dried, and pulverized. Then, they were all mixed with 60 g agar-agar solution (4%w/v). 3 different aromas were added separately to the samples to enhance flavor quality. Since there are differences in the required amounts of different species of dogs, fulfilling all nutritional needs is one of the problems. In other words, there is a wide range of nutritional needs in terms of carbohydrates, protein, fat, sodium, calcium and so on. Furthermore, the requirements differ depending on age, gender, weight, height and species. Therefore, the product that was developed contains average amounts of each substance to not cause any deficiency or surplus. On the other hand, it contains more protein than similar products in the market. The product was evaluated in terms of contamination and nutritional content. For contamination risk, detection of E. coli and Salmonella experiments were performed, and the results were negative. For the nutritional value test, protein content analysis was done. The protein contents of different samples vary between 33.68% and 26.07%. In addition, water activity analysis was performed, and the water activity (aw) values of different samples ranged between 0.2456 and 0.4145.

Keywords: food waste, dog food, animal nutrition, food waste recovery

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Authors: A. Majidian

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The life prediction of thermal power plant components is necessary to prevent the unexpected outages, optimize maintenance tasks in periodic overhauls and plan inspection tasks with their schedules. One of the main critical components in a power plant is condenser because its failure can affect many other components which are positioned in downstream of condenser. This paper deals with factors affecting life of condenser. Failure rates dependency vs. these factors has been investigated using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and fuzzy logic algorithms. These algorithms have shown their capabilities as dynamic tools to evaluate life prediction of power plant equipments.

Keywords: life prediction, condenser tube, neural network, fuzzy logic

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Akmal E. Egamberdiev, Alim M. Nigmatullaev, Trobjon Kh. Makhkamov

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The results of scientific research on the biomorphological features of Ajuga turkestanica (Regel) Brig., its role in plant communities, modern distribution areas, and raw material reserves are presented. Plant ontogeny is divided into 3 periods and 9 growth stages. Information on its seasonal and diurnal flowering and seed productivity is provided. As a result of the research, the participation of the studied species in plant communities, its place, the structure and floristic composition of communities were determined, and as a result, for the first time, the description of 11 new associations in 7 formations of Ajuga turkestanica, and a schematic map of the geolocation of formations and associations of plants in Uzbekistan is given. A. turkestanica (within the range) are divided into 3 categories and 21 massifs. Its current biological reserve is 93.5±35.3 tons, its usable reserve is 46.2±13.8 tons, and the reserve that can be prepared in 1 year is 28.4±5.42 tons.

Keywords: ontogeny, seed productivity, seasonal flowering, formation, association, dominant, subdominant, areal, biological reserve, operational reserve, annual reserve, GIS map

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Authors: Yu-Che Cheng, Min-Lih Chang, Ke-Hao Cheng, Chuan-Cheng Wang

Abstract:

Taiwan is an island located along the southeastern coast of the Asian continent, located between Japan and the Philippines. It is surrounded by the sea on all sides. However, due to the presence of the Central Mountain Range, the rivers on the east and west coasts of Taiwan are relatively short. This geographical feature results in a phenomenon where, despite having rainfall that is 2.6 times the world average, 58.5% of the rainwater flows into the ocean. Moreover, approximately 80% of the annual rainfall occurs between May and October, leading to distinct wet and dry periods. To address these challenges, Taiwan relies on large reservoirs, storage ponds, and groundwater extraction for water resource allocation. It is necessary to construct water treatment facilities at suitable locations to provide the population with a stable and reliable water supply. In general, the construction of a new water treatment plant requires careful planning and evaluation. The process involves acquiring land and issuing contracts for construction in a sequential manner. With the increasing severity of global warming and climate change, there is a heightened risk of extreme hydrological events and severe water situations in the future. In cases of urgent water supply needs in a region, relying on traditional lengthy processes for constructing water treatment plants might not be sufficient to meet the urgent demand. Therefore, this study aims to explore the use of simplified water treatment procedures and the construction of rapid "temporary water treatment plants" to tackle the challenges posed by extreme climate conditions (such as a century-long drought) and situations where water treatment plant construction cannot keep up with the pace of water source development.

Keywords: temporary water treatment plant, emergency water supply, construction site groundwater, drought

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Authors: W. T. Hsu, H. L. Tsai

Abstract:

The rapid aging of the population is a common trend in the world. However, the progress of modern medical technology has increased the average life expectancy. The global population structure has changed dramatically, and the elderly population has risen rapidly. In the face of rapid population growth, it must be noted issues of the aging population must face up to, which are the physiological, psychological, and social problems associated with aging. This study aims to investigate how insurance agents are actively dealing with an aging society, their own aging anxiety, and their exercise habits. Purposive sampling was the sampling method of this study, a total of 204 respondents were surveyed and 204 valid surveys were returned. The returned valid ratio was 100%. Statistical method included descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results of the study found that the insurance agent’s age, seniority, exercise habits to aging anxiety are significantly different.

Keywords: insurance practitioners, aging anxiety, exercise habits, elderly

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Authors: Gulcan Sahal, Isil Seyis Bilkay

Abstract:

Candida species which often exist as commensal microorganisms in healthy individuals are major causes of important infections, especially in AIDS and immunocompromised patients, by means of their biofilm formation abilities. Therefore, in this study, determination of biofilm formation in different clinical strains of Candida species, investigation of strong biofilm forming Candida strains, examination of clinical information of each strong and weak biofilm forming Candida strains and investigation of some plant substances’ effects on biofilm formation of strong biofilm forming strains were aimed. In this respect, biofilm formation of Candida strains was analyzed via crystal violet binding assay. According to our results, biofilm levels of strains belong to different Candida species were different from each other. Additionally, it is also found that some plant substances effect biofilm formation. All these results indicate that, as well as C. albicans strains, other non-albicans Candida species also emerge as causative agents of infections and have biofilm formation abilities. In addition, usage of some plant substances in different concentrations may provide a new treatment against biofilm related Candida infections.

Keywords: anti-biofilm, biofilm formation, Candida species, biosystems engineering

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Authors: Ayanda Ndokwana, Stanley Fore

Abstract:

Industrial prosperity and rapid expansion of human population in South Africa over the past two decades, have increased the use of conventional fossil fuels such as crude oil, coal and natural gas to meet the country’s energy demands. However, the inevitable depletion of fossil fuel reserves, global volatile oil price and large carbon footprint are some of the crucial reasons the South African Government needs to make a considerable investment in the development of the biofuel industry. In South Africa, this industry is still at the introductory stage with no large scale manufacturing plant that has been commissioned yet. Bioethanol is a potential replacement of gasoline which is a fossil fuel that is used in motor vehicles. Using bioethanol for the transport sector as a source of fuel will help Government to save heavy foreign exchange incurred during importation of oil and create many job opportunities in rural farming. In 2007, the South African Government developed the National Biofuels Industrial Strategy in an effort to make provision for support and attract investment in bioethanol production. However, capital investment in the production of bioethanol on a large scale, depends on the sound economic assessment of the available manufacturing technologies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the profitability of an advanced bioethanol manufacturing technology which uses maize as a feedstock in South Africa. The impact of fiber or bran fractionation in this technology causes it to possess a number of merits such as energy efficiency, low capital expenditure, and profitability compared to a conventional dry-mill bioethanol technology. Quantitative techniques will be used to collect and analyze numerical data from suitable organisations in South Africa. The dependence of three profitability indicators such as the Discounted Payback Period (DPP), Net Present Value (NPV) and Return On Investment (ROI) on plant capacity will be evaluated. Profitability analysis will be done on the following plant capacities: 100 000 ton/year, 150 000 ton/year and 200 000 ton/year. The plant capacity with the shortest Discounted Payback Period, positive Net Present Value and highest Return On Investment implies that a further consideration in terms of capital investment is warranted.

Keywords: bioethanol, economic evaluation, maize, profitability indicators

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Authors: Arash Azarpanah, Masoud Zadehbagheri, Shorangiz Javanmardi

Abstract:

Abiotic stresses are the principle threat to plant growth and crop productivity all over the world. In order to improve the germination of corn seeds in drought stress conditions, effect of seed priming by various concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (0.8 and 0.2 mM) on activities of catalase and peroxidase in Zea mays L. plant (Var-Sc.704) was evaluated at Agriculture Research Center located in Arsenjan city in Iran, during summer 2013. A farm research was done in RCBD as factorial with three replications. We considered four irrigation was carried out once the cumulative evaporation from Pan Class A come to 40, 60, 80 and 100 mm. Results illustrated that drought stress significantly increased activities of catalase and peroxidase and also treatment with salicylic acid significantly increased activities of catalase and peroxidase. In addition, treatment with salicylic acid enhances drought tolerance in Zea mays L. plant (Var-Sc.704) with increasing activities of antioxidant enzymes.

Keywords: catalase, corn, salicylic acid, water deficits stress, cumulative evaporation, Pan Class A

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Authors: Parisa Alizadeh Oskuie, Shahram Baghban Ciruse

Abstract:

The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus(Glomus mossea) on plant growth and leaf-water potential of tomato (lycopersicum esculentum L.cv.super star) were studied in potted culture water stress stress period of 3 months in greenhouse conditions with the soil matric potential maintained at Fc1, Fc2, Fc3, and Fc4 respectively (0.8,0.7,0.6,0.5 Fc). Seven-day-old seedlings of tomato were transferred to pots containing Glomus mossea or non-AMF. AM colonization significantly stimulated shoot dry matter and leaf-water potential but water stress significantly decreased leaf area, shoot dry matter colonization and leaf-water potential.

Keywords: leaf-water potential, plant growth, tomato, VA mycorrhiza, water-stress

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Authors: Rajat Kapoor

Abstract:

India is a developing country and has experienced a rapid and tumultuous urban growth in the 20th century. The total urban population of the city increased ten-fold between 1901 and 2001. The share of urban population to the total population increased from less than 11 percent to over 28 percent in the same period. Except few examples, most of the Indian cities have grown in a haphazard manner; concentration of population followed by the planning exercises. In this era of global competitiveness and rapid urbanization there is no scope for malpractices in development strategies. It is expected that the Indian cities shall be planned comprehensively and holistically. The study reveals the land transformations the city of Faridabad is witnessing due to development which is largely boosted by the virtue of its location in the Delhi NCR.

Keywords: Delhi NCR, Faridabad, urban growth patterns, India

Procedia PDF Downloads 560