Search results for: alloy-environment combination

Authors: Flackson Tshuma, James Bennett, Pieter Andreas Swanepoel, Johan Labuschagne, Stephan van der Westhuizen, Francis Rayns

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Amongst other things, tillage and synthetic agrochemicals can be effective methods of seedbed preparation and pest control. Nonetheless, frequent and intensive tillage and excessive application of synthetic agrochemicals, such as herbicides and insecticides, can reduce soil microbial enzyme activity. A decline in soil microbial enzyme activity can negatively affect nutrient cycling and crop productivity. In this study, the effects of four tillage treatments; continuous mouldboard plough; shallow tine-tillage to a depth of about 75 mm; no-tillage; and tillage rotation (involving shallow tine-tillage once every four years in rotation with three years of no-tillage), and two rates of synthetic agrochemicals (standard: with regular application of synthetic agrochemicals; and reduced: fewer synthetic agrochemicals in combination with bio-chemicals/ or bio-stimulants) on soil microbial enzyme activity were investigated between 2018 and 2020 in a typical Mediterranean climate zone in South Africa. Four different bio-stimulants applied contained: Trichoderma asperellum, fulvic acid, silicic acid, and Nereocystis luetkeana extracts, respectively. The study was laid out as a complete randomised block design with four replicated blocks. Each block had 14 plots, and each plot measured 50 m x 6 m. The study aimed to assess the combined impact of tillage practices and reduced rates of synthetic agrochemical application on soil microbial enzyme activity in a dryland cropping system. It was hypothesised that the application of bio-stimulants in combination with minimum soil disturbance will lead to a greater increase in microbial enzyme activity than the effect of applying either in isolation. Six soil cores were randomly and aseptically collected from each plot for microbial enzyme activity analysis from the 0-150 mm layer of a field trial under a dryland crop rotation system in the Swartland region. The activities of four microbial enzymes, β-glucosidase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and urease, were assessed. The enzymes are essential for the cycling of glucose, phosphorus, and nitrogen, respectively. Microbial enzyme activity generally increased with a reduction of both tillage intensity and synthetic agrochemical application. The use of the mouldboard plough led to the least (P<0.05) microbial enzyme activity relative to the reduced tillage treatments, whereas the system with bio-stimulants (reduced synthetic agrochemicals) led to the highest (P<0.05) microbial enzyme activity relative to the standard systems. The application of bio-stimulants in combination with reduced tillage, particularly no-tillage, could be beneficial for enzyme activity in a dryland farming system.

Keywords: bio-stimulants, soil microbial enzymes, synthetic agrochemicals, tillage

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Authors: Youssef Mazloum, Haytham Sayah, Maroun Nemer

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The penetration of renewable energy sources into the electric grid is significantly increasing. However, the intermittence of these sources breaks the balance between supply and demand for electricity. Hence, the importance of the energy storage technologies, they permit restoring the balance and reducing the drawbacks of intermittence of the renewable energies. This paper discusses the modeling and the cost-effectiveness of an isobaric adiabatic compressed air energy storage (IA-CAES) system. The proposed system is a combination among a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system with pumped hydro storage system and thermal energy storage system. The aim of this combination is to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional CAES system such as the losses due to the storage pressure variation, the loss of the compression heat and the use of fossil fuel sources. A steady state model is developed to perform an energy and exergy analyses of the IA-CAES system and calculate the distribution of the exergy losses in the latter system. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out to estimate the effects of some key parameters on the system’s efficiency, such as the pinch of the heat exchangers, the isentropic efficiency of the rotating machinery and the pressure losses. The conducted sensitivity analysis is a local analysis since the sensibility of each parameter changes with the variation of the other parameters. Therefore, an exergoeconomic study is achieved as well as a cost optimization in order to reduce the electricity cost produced during the production phase. The optimizer used is OmOptim which is a genetic algorithms based optimizer.

Keywords: cost-effectiveness, Exergoeconomic analysis, isobaric adiabatic compressed air energy storage (IA-CAES) system, thermodynamic modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Muhammad Zahid

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The mechanical process of smoothing and compressing a molten material by passing it through a number of pairs of heated rolls in order to produce a sheet of desired thickness is called calendering. The rolls that are in combination are called calenders, a term derived from kylindros the Greek word for the cylinder. It infects the finishing process used on cloth, paper, textiles, leather cloth, or plastic film and so on. It is a mechanism which is used to strengthen surface properties, minimize sheet thickness, and yield special effects such as a glaze or polish. It has a wide variety of applications in industries in the manufacturing of textile fabrics, coated fabrics, and plastic sheeting to provide the desired surface finish and texture. An analysis has been presented for the calendering of Pseudoplastic material. The lubrication approximation theory (LAT) has been used to simplify the equations of motion. For the investigation of the nature of the steady solutions that exist, we make use of the combination of exact solution and numerical methods. The expressions for the velocity profile, rate of volumetric flow and pressure gradient are found in the form of exact solutions. Furthermore, the quantities of interest by engineering point of view, such as pressure distribution, roll-separating force, and power transmitted to the fluid by the rolls are also computed. Some results are shown graphically while others are given in the tabulated form. It is found that the non-Newtonian parameter and Reynolds number serve as the controlling parameters for the calendering process.

Keywords: calendering, exact solutions, lubrication approximation theory, numerical solutions, pseudoplastic material

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Layal Karam, Rayan Roustom, Mohamad G. Abiad, Tahra El-Obeid, Ioannis N. Savvaidis

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The demand for marinated chicken worldwide, is continuously growing. To date, limited data on addition of active components of Essential Oils (EOs) to marinades for chicken preservation are available. The antimicrobial effect of carvacrol and thymol, added at 0.4 and 0.8% v/w to marinated fresh chicken, stored in air and under vacuum packaging (VP), for 21 days at 4°C, was examined. The samples were monitored for microbiological (total viable count (TVC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Brochothrix thermosphacta, Pseudomonas spp., total coliforms, Escherichia coli, yeasts and molds) and sensory attributes (odor characteristics). Our data supports that among the tested microorganisms, Pseudomonas spp., LAB and B. thermosphacta were the most dominant microbiota in the marinated chicken samples. Additionally, the use of active EOs components, especially the higher concentration (0.8% v/w) in combination with VP, retarded the growth of spoilage microbiota and resulted in a significant reduction of about 2.9-3.1 log cfu/g and a microbiological shelf-life extension of marinated chicken by > 6 days, as judged by TVC data. Interestingly, the combination of active components of EOs at the lower concentration (0.4% v/w) and packaging (air or vacuum) resulted in a significant sensorial shelf-life extension of 15 and >21 days, as compared to the controls’ shelf-life of 9 days. The results of our study demonstrated the potential of the active components, carvacrol and thymol, as natural effective antimicrobial hurdles to control the growth of spoilage microorganisms in marinated chicken meat.

Keywords: chicken, essential oils compounds, marination, meat spoilage, preservation

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Authors: Han Song, Tingting Wei, Dong Chen

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The combination of capital and rural areas in China has shown its great significance in promoting urban-rural integration and new-style urbanization, enhancing regional capacity for sustainable rural development and optimizing human settlement environment. The purpose of this study is to find capital operation mechanism in rural area and rural planning guidance in China. Based on case studies in Chinese rural areas, two types of capital operation mechanism in rural areas are summed up: intervention in the field of agriculture promoting the upgrading and innovation of agricultural industry chain, intervention in rural life and leisure areas updating rural connotation and form. In the light of experiences in Japan and Taiwan, it is proposed that government's norms and guidance, rural investment intensity and rural self-organization are three important factors for capital to drive rural development. It is also found that the unique land tenure and rural governance tradition are two important factors effecting the combination of capital and rural regions in China, which requires full attention in rational policy-making and rural planning. It comes to a conclusion as four directions of the overall reform of the rural planning: targeting at enhancing the viability of rural and sustainable capacity, encouraging differences in investment incentives and planning policies, providing land usage in the rural areas with planning support and reforming the village system. Directional guidance is also made for different types of capital investments, suggesting that capital should be rooted in agriculture and rural land to benefit farmers and update human settlements.

Keywords: capital, rural areas, rural planning, rural governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: S. Jalaja, A. M. Vijaya Prakash

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Recursive combination of an algorithm based on Karatsuba multiplication is exploited to design a generalized transpose and parallel Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Filter. Mid-range Karatsuba multiplication and Carry Save adder based on Karatsuba multiplication reduce time complexity for higher order multiplication implemented up to n-bit. As a result, we design modified N-tap Transpose and Parallel Symmetric FIR Filter Structure using Karatsuba algorithm. The mathematical formulation of the FFA Filter is derived. The proposed architecture involves significantly less area delay product (APD) then the existing block implementation. By adopting retiming technique, hardware cost is reduced further. The filter architecture is designed by using 90 nm technology library and is implemented by using cadence EDA Tool. The synthesized result shows better performance for different word length and block size. The design achieves switching activity reduction and low power consumption by applying with and without retiming for different combination of the circuit. The proposed structure achieves more than a half of the power reduction by adopting with and without retiming techniques compared to the earlier design structure. As a proof of the concept for block size 16 and filter length 64 for CKA method, it achieves a 51% as well as 70% less power by applying retiming technique, and for CSA method it achieves a 57% as well as 77% less power by applying retiming technique compared to the previously proposed design.

Keywords: carry save adder Karatsuba multiplication, mid range Karatsuba multiplication, modified FFA and transposed filter, retiming

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Shrikant Charhate, Gayatri Deshpande

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Permeable pavements have significant benefits like managing runoff, infiltration, and carrying traffic over conventional pavements in terms of sustainability and environmental impact. Some of the countries are using this technique, especially at locations where durability and other parameters are of importance in nature; however, sparse work has been done on this concept. In India, this is yet to be adopted. In this work, the progress in the characterization and development of Permeable Articulated Concrete Blocks (PACB) pavement design is described and discussed with reference to Indian conditions. The experimentation and in-depth analysis was carried out considering conditions like soil erosion, water logging, and dust which are significant challenges caused due to impermeability of pavement. Concrete blocks with size 16.5’’x 6.5’’x 7’’ consisting of arch shape (4’’) at beneath and ½” PVC holes for articulation were casted. These blocks were tested for flexural strength. The articulation process was done with nylon ropes forming series of concrete block system. The total spacing between the blocks was kept about 8 to 10% of total area. The hydraulic testing was carried out by placing the articulated blocks with the combination of layers of soil, geotextile, clean angular aggregate. This was done to see the percentage of seepage through the entire system. The experimental results showed that with the shape of concrete block the flexural strength achieved was beyond the permissible limit. Such blocks with the combination could be very useful innovation in Indian conditions and useful at various locations compared to the traditional blocks as an alternative for long term sustainability.

Keywords: connections, geotextile, permeable ACB, pavements, stone base

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Asma Ansari, Afsheen Aman, Shah Ali Ul Qader

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In the past few years, numerous concerns have been raised against increased bacterial resistance towards effective drugs and become a debated issue all over the world. With the emergence of drug resistant pathogens, the interaction of natural antimicrobial compounds and antibacterial nanoparticles has emerged as a potential candidate for combating infectious diseases. Microbial diversity in the biome provides an opportunity to screen new species which are capable of producing large number of antimicrobial compounds. Among these antimicrobial compounds, bacteriocins are highly specific and efficient antagonists. A combination of bacteriocin along with nanoparticles could prove to be more potent due to broadened antibacterial spectrum with possibly lower doses. In the current study, silver nanoparticles were synthesized through biological reduction using various isolated bacterial, fungal and yeast strains. Spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed for the confirmation of nanoparticles. Bacteriocin was characterized and purified to homogeneity through gel permeation chromatography. The estimated molecular weight of bacteriocin was 10 kDa. Amino acid analysis and N-terminal sequencing revealed the novelty of the protein. Then antibacterial potential of silver nanoparticles and broad inhibitory spectrum bacteriocin was determined through agar well diffusion assay. These synthesized bacteriocin-Nanoparticles exhibit a good potential for clinical applications as compared to bacteriocin alone. This combination of bacteriocin with nanoparticles will be used as a new sort of biocide in the field of nano-proteomics. The advancement of nanoparticles-mediated drug delivery system will open a new age for rapid eradication of pathogens from biological systems.

Keywords: BAC-IB17, multidrug resistance, purification, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Muna Khushaim

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Aluminum-based alloys play a key role in modern engineering, especially in the aerospace industry. Introduction of solute atoms such as Li and Cu is the main approach to improve the strength in age-hardenable Al alloys via the precipitation hardening phenomenon. Knowledge of the decomposition process of the microstructure during the precipitation reaction is particularly important for future technical developments. The objective of this study is to investigate the nano-scale chemical composition in the Al-Cu, Al-Li and Al-Li-Cu during the early stage of the precipitation sequence and to describe whether this compositional difference correlates with variations in the observed precipitation kinetics. Comparing the random binomial frequency distribution and the experimental frequency distribution of concentrations in atom probe tomography data was used to investigate the early stage of decomposition in the different binary and ternary alloys which were experienced different heat treatments. The results show that an Al-1.7 at.% Cu alloy requires a long ageing time of approximately 8 h at 160 °C to allow the diffusion of Cu atoms into Al matrix. For the Al-8.2 at.% Li alloy, a combination of both the natural ageing condition (48 h at room temperature) and a short artificial ageing condition (5 min at 160 °C) induces increasing on the number density of the Li clusters and hence increase number of precipitated δ' particles. Applying this combination of natural ageing and short artificial ageing conditions onto the ternary Al-4 at.% Li-1.7 at.% Cu alloy induces the formation of a Cu-rich phase. Increasing the Li content in the ternary alloy up to 8 at.% and increasing the ageing time to 30 min resulted in the precipitation processes ending with δ' particles. Thus, the results contribute to the understanding of Al-alloy design.

Keywords: aluminum alloy, atom probe tomography, early stage, decomposition

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Poorva Kulkarni

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Developing countries are having significant additions to existing population of urban areas with loads of migrants from rural areas. There is a tremendous need to provide accommodation facility to cater to rapidly growing urban population. This leads to unprecedented growth in urban areas since the temporary shelters are constructed with any available material. Architecture in a broader sense serves to humanity in terms of making life of people happy and comfortable by providing comfortable shelters. It is also the need of the time for an architect to be extremely sensitive towards nature by providing design solution of human shelters with minimum impact on the environment. The sensitive approach towards designing of housing units and provision of comfortable and affordable housing units should go hand in hand for future growth of developing countries. Steel has proved itself a versatile material in terms of strength, uniformity and ease of operation and many such other advantages. Steel can be used as the most promising material for modern construction practices. The current research paper focuses on how effectively steel can be used probably in combination with other construction material to achieve the mentioned objectives for sustainable housing. The research available on sustainable housing in steel is studied along with few case studies of buildings with the efficient use of steel providing a solution with affordability and minimum harm to the environment. The research will conclude the effective solutions exploring possibilities of use of steel for sustainable housing units. The researcher shows how the use of steel in combination with other materials for human shelters can promote sustainable housing for community living which is the need of the time.

Keywords: community living, steel, sustainable housing, urban area

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Haftu Hailu Berhe, Hailekiros Sibhato Gebremichael, Kinfe Tsegay Beyene, Haileselassie Mehari

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The purpose of the study is to develop and validate integrated literature-based JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS framework through a combination of the PDCA cycle and DMAIC methodology. The study adopted a mixed research approach. Accordingly, the qualitative study employed to develop the framework is based on identifying the uniqueness and common practices of JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS initiatives, the existing practice of the integration, identifying the existing gaps in the framework and practices, developing new integrated JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS practice framework. Previous very few studies of the uniqueness and common practices of the five initiatives are preserved. Whereas the quantitative study working to validate the framework is based on empirical analysis of the self-administered questionnaire using a statistical package for social science. A combination of the PDCA cycle and DMAIC methodology stand integrated CI framework is developed. The proposed framework is constructed as a project-based framework with five detailed implementation phases. Besides, the empirical analysis demonstrated that the proposed framework is valuable if adopted and implemented correctly. So far, there is no study proposed & validated the integrated CI framework within the scope of the study. Therefore, this is the earliest study that proposed and validated the framework for manufacturing industries. The proposed framework is applicable to manufacturing industries and can assist in achieving competitive advantages when the manufacturing industries, institutions and government offer unconditional efforts in implementing the full contents of the framework.

Keywords: integrated continuous improvement framework, just in time, total quality management, total productive maintenance, supply chain management, lean six sigma

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Eunice Oluwayemisi Adeparusi, Mary Adedolapo Ijadeyila

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The study was carried out at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria, West Africa. Seven set of diets were prepared comprising of two sets. The first set consisted of a combination of three diets from a combination of two different citrus peels from Orange (Citrus sinesis), Tangerine (Citrus tangerina / Citrus reticulata) and Tangelo (Citrus tangelo a hybrid of Citrus reticulata and Citrus maxima) at 50:50 while the other three consisted f50:50. Diet with 100% vitamin premix served as the control. Air-dried citrus peels were added in a 40% crude protein diet for the juveniles (4.49±0.05g) Clarias gariepinus. The experiment was carried out for a period of 56 days in triplicate trials. Fish were randomly distributed into twenty-one tanks at ten fish per tanks. The feed was extruded and fed to satiation twice daily. The result shows that fish fed Tangelo and Tangerine (TGL-TGR) had the best growth response in terms of final weight, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and feed utilization efficiency when compared with other diets. The FCR of fish in the diet ranges from 0.93-1.62. Fish fed the mixture of Orange peel and Vitamin-mineral premix (ORG-VIT) and those on Tangelo and Vitamin-mineral premix (TGL-VIT) had higher survival rate. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the mean final weight, weight gain and specific growth rate. The result shows that citrus peels enhance the growth performance and feed utilization of the juvenile of African mud catfish, thereby reducing the cost of fish production.

Keywords: African mud catfish, growth, citrus peels, vitamin-mineral premix, nutrient utilization, additives

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: L. Krpalkova, N. O' Mahony, A. Carvalho, S. Campbell, G. Corkery, E. Broderick, J. Walsh

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Farm management and operations will drastically change due to access to real-time data, real-time forecasting, and tracking of physical items in combination with Internet of Things developments to further automate farm operations. Dairy farms have embraced technological innovations and procured vast amounts of permanent data streams during the past decade; however, the integration of this information to improve the whole farm-based management and decision-making does not exist. It is now imperative to develop a system that can collect, integrate, manage, and analyse on-farm and off-farm data in real-time for practical and relevant environmental and economic actions. The developed systems, based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, need to be connected for useful output, a better understanding of the whole farming issue, and environmental impact. Evolutionary computing can be very effective in finding the optimal combination of sets of some objects and, finally, in strategy determination. The system of the future should be able to manage the dairy farm as well as an experienced dairy farm manager with a team of the best agricultural advisors. All these changes should bring resilience and sustainability to dairy farming as well as improving and maintaining good animal welfare and the quality of dairy products. This review aims to provide an insight into the state-of-the-art of big data applications and evolutionary computing in relation to smart dairy farming and identify the most important research and development challenges to be addressed in the future. Smart dairy farming influences every area of management, and its uptake has become a continuing trend.

Keywords: big data, evolutionary computing, cloud, precision technologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: A. Sekhar, N. Ramakrishna Raju

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This paper is a result of ground improvement using deep vibro techniques with combination of sand and stone columns performed on a highly liquefaction susceptible site (70 to 80% sand strata and balance silt) with low bearing capacities due to high settlements located (earth quake zone V as per IS code) at Madhepura, Bihar state in northern part of India. Initially, it was envisaged with bored cast in-situ/precast piles, stone/sand columns. However, after detail analysis to address both liquefaction and improve bearing capacities simultaneously, it was analyzed the deep vibro techniques with combination of sand and stone columns is excellent solution for given site condition which may be first time in India. First after detail soil investigation, pre eCPT test was conducted to evaluate the potential depth of liquefaction to densify silty sandy soils to improve factor of safety against liquefaction. Then trail test were being carried out at site by deep vibro compaction technique with sand and stone columns combination with different spacings of columns in triangular shape with different timings during each lift of vibro up to ground level. Different spacings and timing was done to obtain the most effective spacing and timing with vibro compaction technique to achieve maximum densification of saturated loose silty sandy soils uniformly for complete treated area. Then again, post eCPT test and plate load tests were conducted at all trail locations of different spacings and timing of sand and stone columns to evaluate the best results for obtaining the required factor of safety against liquefaction and the desired bearing capacities with reduced settlements for construction of industrial structures. After reviewing these results, it was noticed that the ground layers are densified more than the expected with improved factor of safety against liquefaction and achieved good bearing capacities for a given settlements as per IS codal provisions. It was also worked out for cost-effectiveness of lightly loaded single storied structures by using deep vibro technique with sand column avoiding stone. The results were observed satisfactory for resting the lightly loaded foundations. In this technique, the most important is to mitigating liquefaction with improved bearing capacities and reduced settlements to acceptable limits as per IS: 1904-1986 simultaneously up to a depth of 19M. To our best knowledge it was executed first time in India.

Keywords: ground improvement, deep vibro techniques, liquefaction, bearing capacity, settlement

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Authors: Asher John Mohan, Krishna K. L.

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Objectives: (1) To assess the extent of memory impairment induced by Phenytoin (PHT) at normal and reduced dose on temporal lobe epileptic mice. (2) To evaluate the protective effect of Levetiracetam (LEV) on aggravation of memory impairment in temporal lobe epileptic mice by PHT. Materials and Methods: Albino mice of either sex (n=36) were used for the study for a period of 64 days. Convulsions were induced by intraperitoneal administration of pilocarpine 280 mg/kg on every 6th day. Radial arm maze (RAM) was employed to evaluate the memory impairment activity on every 7th day. The anticonvulsant and memory impairment activity were assessed in PHT normal and reduced doses both alone and in combination with LEV. RAM error scores and convulsive scores were the parameters considered for this study. Brain acetylcholine esterase and glutamate were determined along with histopathological studies of frontal cortex. Results: Administration of PHT for 64 days on mice has shown aggravation of memory impairment activity on temporal lobe epileptic mice. Although the reduction in PHT dose was found to decrease the degree of memory impairment the same decreased the anticonvulsant potency. The combination with LEV not only brought about the correction of impaired memory but also replaced the loss of potency due to the reduction of the dose of the antiepileptic drug employed. These findings were confirmed with enzyme and neurotransmitter levels in addition to histopathological studies. Conclusion: This study thus builds a foundation in combining a nootropic anticonvulsant with an antiepileptic drug to curb the adverse effect of memory impairment associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. However further extensive research is a must for the practical incorporation of this approach into disease therapy.

Keywords: anti-epileptic drug, Phenytoin, memory impairment, Pilocarpine

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Magaya Rutendo P., Mutibvu Tonderai, Nyahangare emmanuel T., Ncube Sharai

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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of phytase and tannase addition in broiler diets on growth performance and meat quality of broilers fed sorghum-based diets. Twelve experimental diets were formulated at three sorghum levels, which include 0, 50, and 100%, and 4 enzyme levels: No enzyme, 5000FTU phytase, 25TU tannase, and a combination of 5000FTU phytase plus 25TU tannase. Data on voluntary feed intake, average weekly weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded and used to assess growth performance. Meat technical and nutritional parameters were used to determine meat quality. Broilers fed total sorghum diets with phytase and tannase enzyme combination had the highest feed intake in the first (24.4 ± 0.04g/bird/day) and second weeks of life (23.0 ± 1.06g/bird/day), respectively. Complete sorghum diets with phytase (83.0 ± 0.88g/bird/day) and tannase (122.0 ± 0.88g/bird/day) showed the highest feed intake in the third and fourth weeks, respectively. Broilers fed 50% sorghum diets with tannase (135.3 ± 0.05g/bird/day) and complete maize diets with phytase (158.1 ± 0.88g/bird/day) had the highest feed intake during weeks five and six, respectively. Broilers fed a 50% sorghum diet without enzymes had the highest weight gain in the final week (606.5 ± 32.39g). Comparable feed conversion was observed in birds fed complete maize and 50% sorghum diets. Dietary treatment significantly influences the live body, carcass, liver, kidneys, abdominal fat pad weight, and intestinal length. However, it did not affect Pectoralis major meat nutritional and technical parameters.

Keywords: feed efficiency, sorghum, carcass, exogenous enzymes

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Matjaz Prek

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Impact of three different combinations of cooling and ventilation systems on the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has been studied. Comparison of chilled ceiling cooling in combination with displacement ventilation, cooling with fan coil unit and cooling with flat wall displacement outlets was performed. All three combinations were evaluated from the standpoint of whole-body and local thermal comfort criteria as well as from the standpoint of ventilation effectiveness. The comparison was made on the basis of numerical simulation with DesignBuilder and Fluent. Numerical simulations were carried out in two steps. Firstly the DesignBuilder software environment was used to model the buildings thermal performance and evaluation of the interaction between the environment and the building. Heat gains of the building and of the individual space, as well as the heat loss on the boundary surfaces in the room, were calculated. In the second step Fluent software environment was used to simulate the response of the indoor environment, evaluating the interaction between building and human, using the simulation results obtained in the first step. Among the systems presented, the ceiling cooling system in combination with displacement ventilation was found to be the most suitable as it offers a high level of thermal comfort with adequate ventilation efficiency. Fan coil cooling has proved inadequate from the standpoint of thermal comfort whereas flat wall displacement outlets were inadequate from the standpoint of ventilation effectiveness. The study showed the need in evaluating indoor environment not solely from the energy use point of view, but from the point of view of indoor environmental quality as well.

Keywords: cooling, ventilation, thermal comfort, ventilation effectiveness, indoor environmental quality, IEQ, computational fluid dynamics

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Elvira Hörandl

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The term “Geographical parthenogenesis” describes the phenomenon that asexual organisms usually occupy larger and more northern distribution areas than their sexual relatives and tend to colonize previously glaciated areas. Several case studies in flowering plants confirm the geographical pattern, but the causal factors behind the phenomenon are still unclear. Previous authors regarded predominant polyploidy in asexual (apomictic) plants as the main factor. However, the geographical pattern is not the rule for sexual polyploids. Recent research confirmed a previous hypothesis of the author that a combination of factors is acting: Although uniparental reproduction provides better colonization abilities, it is most efficient in combination with polyploidy. I will present results on case studies in the genus Ranunculus of both autopolyploid and allopolyploid species and species complexes reproducing via facultative apomixis. Polyploidy seems to contribute mainly to a better tolerance of colder climates and temperate extremes, whereby epigenetic flexibility, changes in gene expression, and phenotypic plasticity play an important role in occupying ecological niches under harsh conditions. Phylogenomic studies entangle complex hybrid origins of asexual taxa, which increases intragenomic heterozygosity of asexual plants. Interestingly, our results suggest an association of sexuality with abiotic stresses, specifically with light stress, which might explain that still, most plants in high altitudes and in southern areas retain sexual reproduction despite other climatic conditions that would favor apomictic plants. We conclude that geographical parthenogenesis results from the complex interplay of the genomic constitution, mode of reproduction and environmental factors.

Keywords: apomixis, polyploidy, hybridization, abiotic stress, epigenetics, phylogenomics

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Authors: Mourad Morsli, Mohamed Tahiri, Azzedine Samdi

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The Cities are the urbanized territories most favorable to the consumption of resources (materials, energy). In Morocco, the economic capital Casablanca is one of them, with its 4M inhabitants and its 60% share in the economic and industrial activity of the kingdom. In the absence of legal status in force, urban development has favored the generation of millions of tons of demolition and construction waste scattered in open spaces causing a significant nuisance to the environment and citizens. Hence the main objective of our work is to valorize concrete waste. The representative wastes are mainly concrete, concrete, and fired clay bricks, ceramic tiles, marble panels, gypsum, and scrap metal. The work carried out includes: geolocation with a combination of artificial intelligence, GIS, and Google Earth, which allowed the estimation of the quantity of these wastes per site; then the sorting, crushing, grinding, and physicochemical characterization of the collected samples allowed the definition of the exploitation ways for each extracted fraction for integrated management of the said wastes. In the present work, we proceeded to the exploitation of the fractions obtained after sieving the representative samples to incorporate them in the manufacture of new ecological materials for construction. These formulations prepared studies have been tested and characterized: physical criteria (specific surface, resistance to flexion and compression) and appearance (cracks, deformation). We will present in detail the main results of our research work and also describe the specific properties of each material developed.

Keywords: demolition and construction waste, GIS combination software, inert waste recovery, ecological materials, Casablanca, Morocco

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Dong Yue, Hua Chen

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The study region Xihu Harbor in Xiangshan County, Ningbo City is located in the central coast of Zhejiang Province. Concerning the wave dispating issue, Ningbo government firstly introduced Spartina alterniflora in 1980s. In the 1990s, S. alterniflora spread so rapidly thus a ‘grassland’ in the sea has been created nowadays. It has become the most important invasive plant of China’s coastal tidal flats. Although S. alterniflora had some ecological and economic functions, it has also brought series of hazards. It has ecological hazards on many aspects, including biomass and biodiversity, hydrodynamic force and sedimentation process, nutrient cycling of tidal flat, succession sequence of soil and plants and so on. On engineering, it courses problems of poor drainage and channel blocking. On economy, the hazard mainly reflected in the threat on aquaculture industry. The purpose of this study is to explore an ecological, feasible and economical way to manage Spartina alterniflora and use the land formed by it, taking Xihu Harbor in Xiangshan County as a case. Comparison method, mathematical modeling, qualitative and quantitative analysis are utilized to proceed the study. Main outcomes are as follows. By comparing a series of S. alterniflora managing methods which include the combination of mechanical cutting and hydraulic reclamation, waterlogging, herbicide and biological substitution from three standpoints – ecology, engineering and economy. It is inferred that the combination of mechanical cutting and hydraulic reclamation is among the top rank of S. alternifora managing methods. The combination of mechanical cutting and hydraulic reclamation means using large-scale mechanical equipment like large screw seagoing dredger to excavate the S. alterniflora with root and mud together. Then the mix of mud and grass was blown off nearby coastal tidal zone transported by pipelines, which can cushion the silt of tidal zone to form a land. However, as man-made land by coast, the reclamation area’s ecological sensitivity is quite high and will face high possibility of flood threat. Therefore, the reclamation area has many reasonability requirements, including ones on location, specific scope, water surface rate, direction of main watercourse, site of water-gate, the ratio of ecological land to urban construction land. These requirements all became important basis when the planning was being made. The water system planning, green space system planning, road structure and land use all need to accommodate the ecological requests. Besides, the profits from the formed land is the managing project’s source of funding, so how to utilize land efficiently is another considered point in the planning. It is concluded that by aiming at managing a large area of S. alterniflora, the combination of mechanical cutting and hydraulic reclamation is an ecological, feasible and economical method. The planning of reclamation area should fully respect the natural environment and possible disasters. Then the planning which makes land use efficient, reasonable, ecological will promote the development of the area’s city construction.

Keywords: ecological management, ecological planning method, reclamation area, Spartina alternifora, Xihu harbor

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Authors: Franziska Klauser, Manuel Schwabl, Alexander Weissinger, Christoph Schmidl, Walter Haslinger, Anne Kasper-Giebl

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Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is the most widely investigated representative of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) as well as one of the most toxic compounds in this group. Since 2013 in the European Union a limit value for BaP concentration in the ambient air is applied, which was set to a yearly average value of 1 ng m-3. Several reports show that in some regions, even where industry and traffic are of minor impact this threshold is regularly exceeded. This is taken as proof that biomass combustion for heating purposes contributes significantly to BaP pollution. Several investigations have been already carried out on the BaP emission behavior of biomass combustion furnaces, mostly focusing on a certain aspect like the influences from wood type, of operation type or of technology type. However, a superior view on emission patterns of BaP from biomass combustion and the aggregation of determined values also from recent studies is not presented so far. The combination of determined values allows a better understanding of the BaP emission behavior from biomass combustion. In this work the review conclusions are driven from the combination of outcomes from different publication. In two examples it was shown that technical progress leads to 10 to 100 fold lower BaP emission from modern furnaces compared to old technologies of equivalent type. It was also indicated that the operation with pellets or wood chips exhibits clearly lower BaP emission factors compared to operation with log wood. Although, the BaP emission level from automatic furnaces is strongly impacted by the kind of operation. This work delivers an overview on BaP emission factors from different biomass combustion appliances, from different operation modes and from the combustion of different fuel and wood types. The main impact factors are depicted, and suggestions for low BaP emission biomass combustion are derived. As one result possible investigation fields concerning BaP emissions from biomass combustion that seem to be most important to be clarified are suggested.

Keywords: benzo(a)pyrene, biomass, combustion, emission, pollution

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Authors: Thi Huong Vu, Vijay Jayasena, Zhongxiang Fang, Gary Dykes

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Carob kibble has recently received attention due to the presence of high level of polyphenol antioxidants. The capacity of microorganisms to improve antioxidant activities and total phenolics in carob kibble was investigated in the study. Two types of microorganisms including lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) were used in single and in their combination as starters. The total phenolic content was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu method. Antioxidant activities were assessed scavenging capacity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS). The study found that S. cerevisiae alone considerably improved 55% total phenolics content at 15 h, while L. plantarum caused in a loss of 20% through the process. Antioxidant capacity of the yeast-fermented samples significantly increased by 43 % and 10 % in ABTS and DPPH assays, respectively. However, reduction of 13 % and 32 % inhibition were recorded in the carob treated with L. plantarum. In the combination of S. cerevisiae and L. plantarum (1:1), both total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of carob kibble were a similar trend as these of S. cerevisiae single, but a lower improvement. The antioxidant power of the extracts was linearly correlated to their total phenolic contents (R=0.75). The results suggested that S. cerevisiae alone was the better for enhancement of both total phenolic content and antioxidant activity in carob kibble using submerged fermentation. The efficiency of fermentation reached the highest at 15h. Thus submerged fermentation with S. cerevisiae offers a tool with simple and cost effective to further increase the bioactive potential of carob kibble, which is in use for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, carob kibble, lactobacillus plantarum, saccharomyces cerevisiae, total phenolics

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Authors: Seema Ahlawat, Parul Saxena, Malik Zainul Abdin

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Malaria is a major health problem in many developing countries. The parasite responsible for the vast majority of fatal malaria infections is Plasmodium falciparum. Unfortunately, most Plasmodium strains including P. falciparum have become resistant to most of the antimalarials including chloroquine, mefloquine, etc. To combat this problem, WHO has recommended the use of artemisinin and its derivatives in artemisinin based combination therapy (ACT). Due to its current use in artemisinin based-combination therapy (ACT), its global demand is increasing continuously. But, the relatively low yield of artemisinin in A. annua L. plants and unavailability of economically viable synthetic protocols are the major bottlenecks for its commercial production and clinical use. Chemical synthesis of artemisinin is also very complex and uneconomical. The hairy root system, using the Agrobacterium rhizogenes LBA 9402 strain to enhance the production of artemisinin in A. annua L., is developed in our laboratory. The transgenic nature of hairy root lines and the copy number of trans gene (rol B) were confirmed using PCR and Southern Blot analyses, respectively. The effect of different concentrations of Piriformospora indica on artemisinin production in hairy root cultures were evaluated. 3% P. indica has resulted 1.97 times increase in artemisinin production in comparison to control cultures. The effects of P. indica on artemisinin production was positively correlated with regulatory genes of MVA, MEP and artemisinin biosynthetic pathways, viz. hmgr, ads, cyp71av1, aldh1, dxs, dxr and dbr2 in hairy root cultures of A. annua L. Mass scale cultivation of A. annua L. hairy roots by plant tissue culture technology may be an alternative route for production of artemisinin. A comprehensive investigation of the hairy root system of A. annua L. would help in developing a viable process for the production of artemisinin. The efficiency of the scaling up systems still needs optimization before industrial exploitation becomes viable.

Keywords: A. annua L., artemisinin, hairy root cultures, malaria

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Authors: Chen Zhi-Wei, Hsieh Wei-Fang

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Taiwan annual rainfall is global average of 2.5 times, plus city excessive development, green constantly to reduced, instead of is big area of artificial base disc, makes Taiwan rainy season during occurred of storm cannot timely of emissions, led to flood constantly, and rain also cannot was retained again using, led to city hydrological balance suffered damage, and to Regulation city of by brings of negative effect, increased green covered rate became most effective of method, and city land limited, so roof green gradually became a alternative program. Green roofs have become one of the Central and local government policy initiatives for urban development, in foreign countries, such as the United States, and Japan, and Singapore etc. Development of roof greening as an important policy, has become a trend of the times. In recent years, many experts and scholars are also on the roof greening all aspects of research, mostly for green roof for the environmental impact of benefits, such as: carbon reduction, cooling, thermostat, but research on the benefits of green roofs under water cut but it is rare. Therefore, this research literature from green roof in to view and analyze what kind of medium suitable for roof greening and use of green base plate combination simulated green roof structure, via different proportions of the medium with water retention plate and drainage board, experiment with different planting base plate combination of water conservation performance. Research will want to test the effect of roof planting base mix, promotion of relevant departments and agencies in future implementation of green roofs, prompted the development of green roofs, which in the end Taiwan achieve sustainable development of the urban environment help.

Keywords: thin-layer roof greening and planting medium, water efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Juan A. Arzate, Funda C. Ertem, M. Nicolas Cruz-Bournazou, Peter Neubauer, Stefan Junne

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— One of the biggest challenges the world faces today is global warming that is caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) coming from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy generation. In order to mitigate climate change, the European Union has committed to reducing GHG emissions to 80–95% below the level of the 1990s by the year 2050. Renewable technologies are vital to diminish energy-related GHG emissions. Since water and biomass are limited resources, the largest contributions to renewable energy (RE) systems will have to come from wind and solar power. Nevertheless, high proportions of fluctuating RE will present a number of challenges, especially regarding the need to balance the variable energy demand with the weather dependent fluctuation of energy supply. Therefore, biogas plants in this content would play an important role, since they are easily adaptable. Feedstock availability varies locally or seasonally; however there is a lack of knowledge in how biogas plants should be operated in a stable manner by local feedstock. This problem may be prevented through suitable control strategies. Such strategies require the development of convenient mathematical models, which fairly describe the main processes. Modelling allows us to predict the system behavior of biogas plants when different feedstocks are used with different loading rates. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique for analyzing several sides from evolution of a product till its disposal in an environmental point of view. It is highly recommend to use as a decision making tool. In order to achieve suitable strategies, the combination of a flexible energy generation provided by biogas plants, a secure production process and the maximization of the environmental benefits can be obtained by the combination of process modelling and LCA approaches. For this reason, this study focuses on the biogas plant which flexibly generates required energy from the co-digestion of maize, grass and cattle manure, while emitting the lowest amount of GHG´s. To achieve this goal AMOCO model was combined with LCA. The program was structured in Matlab to simulate any biogas process based on the AMOCO model and combined with the equations necessary to obtain climate change, acidification and eutrophication potentials of the whole production system based on ReCiPe midpoint v.1.06 methodology. Developed simulation was optimized based on real data from operating biogas plants and existing literature research. The results prove that AMOCO model can successfully imitate the system behavior of biogas plants and the necessary time required for the process to adapt in order to generate demanded energy from available feedstock. Combination with LCA approach provided opportunity to keep the resulting emissions from operation at the lowest possible level. This would allow for a prediction of the process, when the feedstock utilization supports the establishment of closed material circles within a smart bio-production grid – under the constraint of minimal drawbacks for the environment and maximal sustainability.

Keywords: AMOCO model, GHG emissions, life cycle assessment, modelling

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Authors: Harry G. Segal

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The idea of the “self” has been essential ever since the early modern period in western culture, especially since the development of psychotherapy, but advances in neuroscience and cognitive theory challenge traditional notions of the self. More specifically, neuroanatomists have found no location of “the self” in the brain; instead, consciousness has been posited to be a rapid combination of perception, memory, anticipation of future events, and judgment. In this paper, a theoretical model is presented to address these neuroanatomical findings and to revise the historical understanding of “selfhood” in the practice of psychotherapy.

Keywords: the self, psychotherapy, the self and the brain

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Authors: Faraj Alhamami

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The effects of classroom input through structured input activities have been addressing two main lines of inquiry: (1) measuring the effects of structured input activities as a possible causative factor of PI and (2) comparing structured input practice versus other types of instruction or no-training controls. This line of research, the main purpose of this classroom-based research, was to establish which type of activities is the most effective in processing instruction, whether it is the explicit information component and referential activities only or the explicit information component and affective activities only or a combination of the two. The instruments were: a) grammatical judgment task, b) Picture-cued task, and c) a translation task as pre-tests, post-tests and delayed post-tests seven weeks after the intervention. While testing is ongoing, preliminary results shows that the examination of participants' pre-test performance showed that all five groups - the processing instruction including both activities (RA), Traditional group (TI), Referential group (R), Affective group (A), and Control group - performed at a comparable chance or baseline level across the three outcome measures. However, at the post-test stage, the RA, TI, R, and A groups demonstrated significant improvement compared to the Control group in all tasks. Furthermore, significant difference was observed among PI groups (RA, R, and A) at post-test and delayed post-test on some of the tasks when compared to traditional group. Therefore, the findings suggest that the use of the sole application and/or the combination of the structured input activities has succeeded in helping Saudi learners of English make initial form-meaning connections and acquire RRCs in the short and the long term.

Keywords: input processing, processing instruction, MOGUL, structure input activities

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Lola T. Alimkhodjaeva, Lola T. Zakirova, Soniya S. Ziyavidenova

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Background: Breast cancer occupies the first place among the cancer in women in the world. It is urgent today to study the role of molecular markers which are capable of predicting the dynamics and outcome of the disease. The aim of this study is to define the prognostic value of the content of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and amplification of HER-2 / neu oncoprotein by studying 3 and 5-year overall and relapse-free survival in 470 patients with primary operable and 280 patients with locally–advanced breast cancer. Materials and methods: Study results of 3 and 5-year overall and relapse-free survival, depending on the content of RE, PgR in primary operable patients showed that ER positive (+) and PgR (+) survival was 100 (96.2%) and 97.3 (94.6%), for ER negative (-) and PgR (-) - 69.2 (60.3%) and 65.4 (57.7%), for ER positive (+) and negative PgR (-) 87.4 (80.1%) and 81.5 (79.3%), for ER negative (-) and positive PgR (+) - 97.4 (93.4%) and 90.4 (88.5%), respectively. Survival results depended also on the level of HER-2 / neu expression. In patients with HER-2 / neu negative the survival rates were as follows: 98.6 (94.7%) and 96.2 (92.3%). In group of patients with the level of HER-2 / neu (2+) expression these figures were: 45.3 (44.3%) and 45.1 (40.2%), and in group of patients with the level of HER-2 / neu (3+) expression - 41.2 (33.1%) and 34.3 (29.4%). The combination of ER negative (-), PgR (-), HER-2 / neu (-) they were 27.2 (25.4%) and 19.5 (15.3%), respectively. In patients with locally-advanced breast cancer the results of 3 and 5-year OS and RFS for ER (+) and PgR (+) were 76.3 (69.3%) and 62.2 (61.4%), for ER (-) and RP (-) 29.1 (23.7%) and 18.3 (12.6%), for ER (+) and PgR (-) 61.2 (47.2%) and 39.4 (25.6%), for ER (-) and PgR (+) 54.3 (43.1%) and 41.3 (18.3%), respectively. The level of HER-2 / neu expression also affected the survival results. Therefore, in HER-2/ neu negative patients the survival rate was 74.1 (67.6%) and 65.1 (57.3%), with the level of expression (2+) 20.4 (14.2%) and 8.6 (6.4%), with the level of expression (3+) 6.2 (3.1%) and 1.2 (1.5%), respectively. The combination for ER, PgR, HER-2 / neu negative was 22.1 (14.3%) and 8.4 (1.2%). Conclusion: Thus, the presence of steroid hormone receptors in breast tumor tissues at primary operable and locally- advanced process as the lack of HER-2/neu oncoprotein correlates with the highest rates of 3- and 5-year overall and relapse-free survival. The absence of steroid hormone receptors as well as of HER-2/neu overexpression in malignant breast tissues significantly degrades the 3- and 5-year overall and relapse-free survival. Tumors with ER, PgR and HER-2/neu negative have the most unfavorable prognostics.

Keywords: breast cancer, estrogen receptor, oncoprotein, progesterone receptor

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Bahareh Golchin, Nooshin Riahi

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One of the most significant issues as attended a lot in recent years is that of recognizing the sentiments and emotions in social media texts. The analysis of sentiments and emotions is intended to recognize the conceptual information such as the opinions, feelings, attitudes and emotions of people towards the products, services, organizations, people, topics, events and features in the written text. These indicate the greatness of the problem space. In the real world, businesses and organizations are always looking for tools to gather ideas, emotions, and directions of people about their products, services, or events related to their own. This article uses the Twitter social network, one of the most popular social networks with about 420 million active users, to extract data. Using this social network, users can share their information and opinions about personal issues, policies, products, events, etc. It can be used with appropriate classification of emotional states due to the availability of its data. In this study, supervised learning and deep neural network algorithms are used to classify the emotional states of Twitter users. The use of deep learning methods to increase the learning capacity of the model is an advantage due to the large amount of available data. Tweets collected on various topics are classified into four classes using a combination of two Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory network and a Convolutional network. The results obtained from this study with an average accuracy of 93%, show good results extracted from the proposed framework and improved accuracy compared to previous work.

Keywords: emotion classification, sentiment analysis, social networks, deep neural networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Imdad Ullah Khan, Yongseok Yoon, Kyeung Uk Choi, Kwang Rae Jo, Namyul Kim, Eunbee Lee, Wan Hee Kim, Oh-Kyeong Kweon

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The primary spinal cord injury (SCI) causes mechanical damage to the neurons and blood vessels. It leads to secondary SCI, which activates multiple pathological pathways, which expand neuronal damage at the injury site. It is characterized by vascular disruption, ischemia, excitotoxicity, oxidation, inflammation, and apoptotic cell death. It causes nerve demyelination and disruption of axons, which perpetuate a loss of impulse conduction through the injured spinal cord. It also leads to the production of myelin inhibitory molecules, which with a concomitant formation of an astroglial scar, impede axonal regeneration. The pivotal role regarding the neuronal necrosis is played by oxidation and inflammation. During an early stage of spinal cord injury, there occurs an abundant expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to defective mitochondrial metabolism and abundant migration of phagocytes (macrophages, neutrophils). ROS cause lipid peroxidation of the cell membrane, and cell death. Abundant migration of neutrophils, macrophages, and lymphocytes collectively produce pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), matrix metalloproteinase, superoxide dismutase, and myeloperoxidases which synergize neuronal apoptosis. Therefore, it is crucial to control inflammation and oxidation injury to minimize the nerve cell death during secondary spinal cord injury. Therefore, in response to oxidation and inflammation, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is induced by the resident cells to ameliorate the milieu. In the meanwhile, neurotrophic factors are induced to promote neuroregeneration. However, it seems that anti-stress enzyme (HO-1) and neurotrophic factor (BDNF) do not significantly combat the pathological events during secondary spinal cord injury. Therefore, optimum healing can be induced if anti-inflammatory and neurotrophic factors are administered in a higher amount through an exogenous source. During the first experiment, the inflammation and neuroregeneration were selectively targeted. HO-1 expressing MSCs (HO-1 MSCs) and BDNF expressing MSCs (BDNF MSC) were co-transplanted in one group (combination group) of dogs with subacute spinal cord injury to selectively control the expression of inflammatory cytokines by HO-1 and induce neuroregeneration by BDNF. We compared the combination group with the HO-1 MSCs group, BDNF MSCs group, and GFP MSCs group. We found that the combination group showed significant improvement in functional recovery. It showed increased expression of neural markers and growth-associated proteins (GAP-43) than in other groups, which depicts enhanced neuroregeneration/neural sparing due to reduced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6 and COX-2; and increased expression of anti-inflammatory markers such as IL-10 and HO-1. Histopathological study revealed reduced intra-parenchymal fibrosis in the injured spinal cord segment in the combination group than in other groups. Thus it was concluded that selectively targeting the inflammation and neuronal growth with the combined use of HO-1 MSCs and BDNF MSCs more favorably promote healing of the SCI. HO-1 MSCs play a role in controlling the inflammation, which favors the BDNF induced neuroregeneration at the injured spinal cord segment of dogs.

Keywords: HO-1 MSCs, BDNF MSCs, neuroregeneration, inflammation, anti-inflammation, spinal cord injury, dogs

Procedia PDF Downloads 118