Search results for: functional expression

Authors: Maryam Parsian, Pelin Mutlu, Ufuk Gunduz

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Two-dimensional cell culture affords simplicity and low cost, but it has serious limitations; lacking cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions that are present in tissues. Cancer cells grown in 3D culture systems have distinct phenotypes of adhesion, growth, migration, invasion as well as profiles of gene and protein expression. These interactions cause the 3D-cultured cells to acquire morphological and cellular characteristics relevant to in vivo tumors. Palbociclib is a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of ER-positive and HER-negative metastatic breast cancer. Poly-amidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer is a well-defined, special three-dimensional structure and has a multivalent surface and internal cavities that can play an essential role in drug delivery systems. In this study, palbociclib is loaded onto the magnetic PAMAM dendrimer. Hanging droplet method was used in order to form 3D spheroids. The possible toxic effects of both free drug and drug loaded nanoparticles were evaluated in 2D and 3D MCF-7, MD-MB-231 and SKBR-3 breast cancer cell culture models by performing MTT cell viability and Alamar Blue assays. MTT analysis was performed with six different doses from 1000 µg/ml to 25 µg/ml. Drug unloaded PAMAM dendrimer did not demonstrate significant toxicity on all breast cancer cell lines. The results showed that 3D spheroids are clearly less sensitive than 2D cell cultures to free palbociclib. Also, palbociclib loaded PAMAM dendrimers showed more toxic effect than free palbociclib in all cell lines at 2D and 3D cultures. The results suggest that the traditional cell culture method (2D) is insufficient for mimicking the actual tumor tissue. The response of the cancer cells to anticancer drugs is different in the 2D and 3D culture conditions. This study showed that breast cancer cells are more resistant to free palbociclib in 3D cultures than in 2D cultures. However, nanoparticle loaded drugs can be more cytotoxic when compared to free drug.

Keywords: 2D and 3D cell culture, breast cancer, palbociclibe, PAMAM magnetic nanoparticles

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Authors: M. Devamanalan, K. Pothiraj, M. Sudhan

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In competitive market like India, there is a high demand on the equal contribution on performance and its durability aspect of any system. In General vehicle has multiple sub-systems such as powertrain, BIW, Brakes, Actuations, Suspension and Seats etc., To withstand the market challenges, the contribution of each sub-system is very vital. The malfunction of any one sub system will directly have an impact on the performance of the major system which lead to dis-satisfaction to the end user. The Powertrain system consists of several sub-systems in which clutch is one of the prime sub-systems in MT vehicles which assist for smoother gear shifts with proper clutch dis-engagement and engagement. In general, most of the vehicles will have a mechanical or semi or full hydraulic clutch release system, whereas in small Commercial Vehicles (SCV) the majorly used clutch release system is mechanical cable release system due to its lesser cost and functional requirements. The major bottle neck in the cable type clutch release system is increase in pedal effort due to hysteresis increase and Gear shifting hard due to efficiency loss / cable slackness over the mileage accumulation of the vehicle. This study is to mainly focus on how the efficiency and hysteresis change over the mileage of the vehicle occurs because of the design architecture of outer and inner cable. The study involves several cable design validation results from vehicle level and rig level through the defined cable routing and test procedures. Results are compared to evaluate the suitable cable design architecture based on better efficiency and lower hysteresis parameters at initial and end of the validation.

Keywords: clutch, clutch cable, efficiency, architecture, cable routing

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Authors: Ada Yurman

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Using the case of Israeli Atomic Spy Mordechai Vanunu as an example, this study sought to examine social response to political deviance whereby social response can be mobilized in order to achieve social control. Mordechai Vanunu, a junior technician in the Dimona Atomic Research Center, played a normative role in the militaristic discourse while working in the “holy shrine” of the Israeli defense system for many years. At a certain stage, however, Vanunu decided to detach himself from this collective and launched an assault on this top-secret circle. Israeli society in general and the security establishment in particular found this attack intolerable and unforgivable. They presented Vanunu as a ticking time bomb, delegitimized him and portrayed him as “other”. In addition, Israeli enforcement authorities imposed myriad prohibitions and sanctions on Vanunu even after his release from prison – “as will be done to he who desecrates holiness.” Social response to Vanunu at the time of his capture and trial was studied by conducting a content analysis of six contemporary daily newspapers. The analysis focused on use of language and forms of expression. In contrast with traditional content analysis methodology, this study did not just look at frequency of expressions of ideas and terms in the text and covert content; rather, the text was analyzed as a structural whole, and included examination of style, tone and unusual use of imagery, and more, in order to uncover hidden messages within the text. The social response to this case was extraordinarily intense, not only because in this case of political deviance, involving espionage and treason, Vanunu’s actions comprised a real potential threat to the country, but also because of the threat his behavior posed to the symbolic universe of society. Therefore, the response to this instance of political deviance can be seen as being part of a mechanism of social control aiming to protect world view of society as a whole, as well as to punish the criminal.

Keywords: militarism, political deviance, social construction, social control

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Authors: Eric Mxolisi Mkhondo

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Geometrical deviations and interaction of mechanical parts influences the performance of miniature systems.These deviations tend to cause costly problems during assembly due to imperfections of components, which are invisible to a naked eye.They also tend to cause unsatisfactory performance during operation due to deformation cause by environmental conditions.One of the effective tools to manage the deviations and interaction of parts in the system is tolerance analysis.This is a quantitative tool for predicting the tolerance variations which are defined during the design process.Traditional tolerance analysis assumes that the assembly is static and the deviations come from the manufacturing discrepancies, overlooking the functionality of the whole system and deformation of parts due to effect of environmental conditions. This paper presents an integrated tolerance analysis approach for miniature system in operation.In this approach, a computer-aided design (CAD) model is developed from system’s specification.The CAD model is then used to specify the geometrical and dimensional tolerance limits (upper and lower limits) that vary component’s geometries and sizes while conforming to functional requirements.Worst-case tolerances are analyzed to determine the influenced of dimensional changes due to effects of operating temperatures.The method is used to evaluate the nominal conditions, and worse case conditions in maximum and minimum dimensions of assembled components.These three conditions will be evaluated under specific operating temperatures (-40°C,-18°C, 4°C, 26°C, 48°C, and 70°C). A case study on the mechanism of a zoom lens system is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the methodology.

Keywords: geometric dimensioning, tolerance analysis, worst-case analysis, zoom lens mechanism

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Authors: Sulhee Lee, Geon Kim, Young-Seo Park

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Unlike the traditional milk sterilization methods (LTLT, HTST, or UHT), pulsed electric field (PEF) technology is a non-thermal pasteurization process. This technology minimizes energy required for heat treatment in food processing, changes in sensory properties, and physical losses. In this study, structural changes of bovine milk proteins, the amount of immunoproteins such as IgG, and their storability by PEF treatment were examined. When the changes of protein content in PEF-treated milk were examined using HPLC, the amounts of α-casein and β-lactoglobulin were reduced over 40% each, whereas those of κ-casein and β-casein did not change. The amount of α-casein in HTST milk was reduced to 50%. When PEF was applied to milk at the energy level of 250 kJ, the amounts of IgG, IgA, β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), lactoferrin, and α-lactalbumin (α-LA) decreased by 43, 41, 35, 63, and 45%, respectively. When milk was sterilized by LTLT process followed by PEF process at the level of 150 kJ, the concentrations of IgG, IgA, β-LG, lactoferrin, and α-LA were 56.6, 10.6, 554, 2.8 and 660.1 μg/mL, respectively. When the bovine milk was sterilized by LTLT process followed by PEF process at the energy level of 180 kJ, storability of immunoproteins of milk was the highest and the concentrations of IgG, IgA, and β-LG decreased by 79.5, 6.5, and 134.5 μg/mL, respectively, when compared with the initial concentrations of those proteins. When bovine milk was stored at 4℃ after sterilization through HTST sterilizer followed by PEF process at the energy level of 200 kJ, the amount of lactoferrin decreased 7.3% after 36 days of storage, whereas that of lactoferrin of raw milk decreased 16.4%. Our results showed that PEF treatment did not change the protein structure nor induce protein denaturation in milk significantly when compared with LTLT or HTST sterilization. Also, LTLT or HTST process in combination with PEF were more effective than LTLT only or HTST only process in the conservation of immunoproteins in bovine milk.

Keywords: pulsed electric field, bovine milk, immunoproteins, sterilization

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Authors: Lubna Azmi, Ila Shukla, Shyam Sundar Gupta, Padam Kant, Ch. V. Rao

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Gastric ulcer is a major global health threat, and it is the leading cause of stomach cancer death worldwide. Helicobacter pylori bacteriumis the most important etiologic factor for gastric ulcer. This infection is highly pervasive in South Asian developing countries, especially in India, Nepal, Srilanka etc. due to diversification in geographic area. Pathophysiology of gastric mucosal damage associated with non-invasive bacterium has not justified in detail, but it leads to change in histopathology, immunochemistry of the gastric and duodenal reason of host. The mechanism responsible for bacteria tissue tropism and mucosal damage in stomach variance during the disease is not clearly described and understood scientifically in treatment and control of pathogenic organisms. Polyphenols are secondary metabolites of plants and are generally involved in defense against aggression by pathogens. 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxychromen-4-one and 1-hydroxy-5,7-dimethoxy-2-naphthalene-carboxaldehyde are polyphenolic compound obtained from popular Indian medicinal plants ghavpatta (ArgeriaspeciosaLinn.f) andBael (Aeglemarmelos) have long been used in traditional Ayurvedic Indian medicine for various diseases. They have promising effects on ulcer, as detailed investigation has made in our laboratory. Therefore, the aim of present study is to explore membrane –dependent morphogenesis of H. pylori and associated apoptosis-mediated cell death. Based on this we analyzed immune gene expression in stomach of experimental animals with H. pylori, using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR). This revealed rapid induction of prostaglandin, interferon I (INF-I), interferon II (INF-II) and INF-I associated genes in the infected animal. Ultrastructural changes associated with H. pylori will be taken for advanced studies. This investigation shows that the biomarkers eradicate H. pylori bacterium caused gastric ulcer which is a major risk factor for gastric cancer.

Keywords: gastric ulcer, Helicobacter pylori, immunochemistry, polyphenols

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Authors: Hyeon Sop Baek

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This paper will briefly investigate Jeong Do-jeon’s political philosophy. Jeong Do-jeon was a Korean Confucian philosopher and politician during the turbulent 14th Century who revolted against the old order, founded Joseon Dynasty, and significantly impacted the development of Korean culture. Jeong’s vision of an ideal state involved a polity that has its roots in the people -that is, an ideal government prioritizes caring for the welfare of the people, respecting and attending to the diverse opinions and concerns of the people, and relies on the genuine, voluntary support of the people. With the neo-Confucian worldview in mind -that every human being has the equal potential to become a moral person- Jeong sought to create a world suitable for everybody to contribute to the decision-making procedure and be able to realize their potential fully. This paper will first examine his works and present a quick overview of his vision of the ideal government. Then, it will examine the Confucian virtues of ren (仁) and yi (義) and how they formulate the basis of his philosophy, and then discuss the central features of his vision of government: popular mandate, equity of wealth, promoting freedom of expression and political participation, and elevating caring disposition as the paramount quality of the political leaders. Furthermore, this paper aims to analyze the element of care inherent within his political philosophy, namely his view on the dynamics of power, nurturing the people, and noncoercive justice. Finally, a discussion on why his philosophy is still relevant in the contemporary context will be provided. Jeong’s view aimed at building a sustainable model of government, by proposing that the people should be the foundation of a state and that they need to be carefully nurtured so they can realize their inborn potential and continue to contribute to the sustenance of the world, is the focal point of Jeong’s philosophy. Just as he sought to rebuild his world following the turmoils of the 14th Century, his philosophy still has a substantial implication on how we should strive to rebuild our society today.

Keywords: Korea, Confucianism, Jeong Do-jeon, Joseon, Korean philosophy, political philosophy

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Authors: Yuchen Sharon Sung, Yingjui Tseng

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High-rise residential buildings have become the most mainstream housing pattern in the world’s metropolises under the current trend of urbanization. The facades of high-rise buildings are essential elements of the urban landscape. The skins of these facades are important media between the interior and exterior of high- rise buildings. It not only connects between users and environments, but also plays an important functional and aesthetic role. This research involves a study of skins of high-rise residential buildings using the methodology of shape grammar to find out the rules which determine the combinations of the facade patterns and analyze the patterns’ parameters using software Grasshopper. We chose a number of facades of high-rise residential buildings as source to discover the underlying rules and concepts of the generation of facade skins. This research also provides the rules that influence the composition of facade skins. The items of the facade skins, such as windows, balconies, walls, sun visors and metal grilles are treated as elements in the system of facade skins. The compositions of these elements will be categorized and described by logical rules; and the types of high-rise building facade skins will be modelled by Grasshopper. Then a variety of analyzed patterns can also be applied on other facade skins through this parametric mechanism. Using these patterns established in the models, researchers can analyze each single item to do more detail tests and architects can apply each of these items to construct their facades for other buildings through various combinations and permutations. The goal of these models is to develop a mechanism to generate prototypes in order to facilitate generation of various facade skins.

Keywords: facade skin, grasshopper, high-rise residential building, shape grammar

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Authors: Ranjit A. Patil, Yung Liou, Yuan-Ron Ma

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It has been observed that when the size of metals such as, Au, Zn, Ag, Cu, Te, and metal oxides is reduced to several nano-meters, it starts to show further interesting properties. These new properties boost the use of nano-structures to produce attractive functional materials or used as promising building blocks in electronic devices. Present work describes the synthesis of bismuth (Bi) nanoparticles (NP’s) having uniform morphology, high crystallinity, and single phase purity by the temperature assisted pulsed laser deposition (TAPLD). Pulsed Laser deposition (PLD) technique is one of the promising methods to synthesize nano-structures. It can provide the stable nucleation sites in orders of magnitudes higher than for MBE and sputtering deposition. The desired size of purely metallic Bi NP’s of can be easily controlled by adjusting the temperature of the substrate varying from 1000 C to 250 0C. When the temperatures of the substrate raised step wise the average size of Bi NP’s appeared to be increased by maintaining the uniform distribution of NP’s on the Si surfaces. The diameter range of NP’s is ~33-84 nm shows size distribution constrained in the limited range. The EDS results show that the 0D Bi NP’s synthesized at high temperature (250 0C) at a high vacuum still remained in a metallic phase. Moreover, XRD, TEM and SAED results showed that these Bi NP’s are hexagonal in crystalline in a space group R -3 m and no traces of bismuth oxide, confirming that Bi NP’s synthesized at wide range of temperatures persisted of the pure Bi-metallic phase.

Keywords: metal nano particles, bismuth, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), nano particles, temperature assisted growth

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Authors: Satya Eswari Jujjavarapu, Swast Dhagat

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Contagious diseases enact severe public health problems and have upsetting consequences. The cyclic lipopeptides explained by bacteria Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, Serratia, Propionibacterium and fungus Fusarium are very critical in confining the pathogens. As the degree of drug resistance upsurges in unparalleled manner, the perseverance of searching novel cyclic lipopeptides is being professed. The intense study has shown the implication of these bioactive compounds extending beyond antibacterial and antifungal. Lipopeptides, composed of single units of peptide and fatty acyl moiety, show broad spectrum antimicrobial effects. Among the surplus of cyclic lipopeptides, only few have materialized as strong antibiotics. For their functional vigor, polymyxin, daptomycin, surfactin, iturin and bacillomycin have been integrated in mainstream healthcare. In our work daptomycin has been a major part of antimicrobial resource since the past decade. Daptomycin, a cyclic lipopeptide consists of 13-member amino acid with a decanoyl side-chain. This structure of daptomycin confers it the mechanism of action through which it forms pore in the bacterial cell membrane resulting in the death of cell. Daptomycin is produced by Streptococccus roseoporus and acts against Streptococcus pneumonia (PSRP), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). The PDB structure and ligands of daptomycin are available online. The molecular docking studies of these ligands with the lipopeptides were performed and their docking score and glide energy were recorded.

Keywords: daptomycin, molecular docking, structure-based drug design, lipopeptide

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Authors: Peifei Zhu, Zisheng Li, Yasuki Kakishita, Mayumi Suzuki, Tomoaki Chono

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Segmentation of left ventricle (LV) from cardiac ultrasound images provides a quantitative functional analysis of the heart to diagnose disease. Active Shape Model (ASM) is a widely used approach for LV segmentation but suffers from the drawback that initialization of the shape model is not sufficiently close to the target, especially when dealing with abnormal shapes in disease. In this work, a two-step framework is proposed to improve the accuracy and speed of the model-based segmentation. Firstly, a robust and efficient detector based on Hough forest is proposed to localize cardiac feature points, and such points are used to predict the initial fitting of the LV shape model. Secondly, to achieve more accurate and detailed segmentation, ASM is applied to further fit the LV shape model to the cardiac ultrasound image. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a dataset of 800 cardiac ultrasound images that are mostly of abnormal shapes. The proposed method is compared to several combinations of ASM and existing initialization methods. The experiment results demonstrate that the accuracy of feature point detection for initialization was improved by 40% compared to the existing methods. Moreover, the proposed method significantly reduces the number of necessary ASM fitting loops, thus speeding up the whole segmentation process. Therefore, the proposed method is able to achieve more accurate and efficient segmentation results and is applicable to unusual shapes of heart with cardiac diseases, such as left atrial enlargement.

Keywords: hough forest, active shape model, segmentation, cardiac left ventricle

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Authors: Md. Abdul Hannan

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Two organophosphorus compounds, namely diethyloxymethyl-9-oxa-10- phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPAC) and diethyl (2,2-diethoxyethyl) phosphonate (DPAC) were applied on cotton cellulose to impart non-carcinogenic and durable (in alkaline washing) flame retardant property to it. Some acidic catalysts, sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4), ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH4H2PO4) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4) were successfully used. Synergistic acidic catalyzing effect of NaH2PO4+H3PO4 and NaH2PO4+NH4H2PO4 was also investigated. Appreciable limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of 23.2% was achieved in case of the samples treated with flame retardant (FR) compound DPAC along with the combined acidic catalyzing effect. A distinguishing outcome of total heat of combustion (THC) 3.27 KJ/g was revealed during pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) test of the treated sample. In respect of thermal degradation, low temperature dehydration in conjugation with sufficient amount of char residue (30.5%) was obtained in case of DPAC treated sample. Consistently, the temperature of peak heat release rate (TPHRR) (325°C) of DPAC treated sample supported the expected low temperature pyrolysis in condensed phase mechanism. Subsequent thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also reported inspiring weight retention% of the treated samples. Furthermore, for both of the flame retardant compounds, effect of different catalysts, considering both individual and combined, effect of solvents and overall the optimization of the process parameters were studied in detail.

Keywords: cotton cellulose, organophosphorus flame retardant, acetal linkage, THC, HRR, PHHR, char residue, LOI

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Authors: Shanakr Bhattarai, V. S. Tiwari, Barak Akabayov

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The plummeting number of infections and death is due to the development of drug-resistant bacteria. In addition, the number of approved antibiotic drugs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is insufficient. Therefore, developing new drugs and finding novel targets for central metabolic pathways in bacteria is urgently needed. One of the promising targets is DNA replication machinery which consists of many essential proteins and enzymes. DnaG primase is an essential enzyme and a central part of the DNA replication machinery. DnaG primase synthesizes short RNA primers that initiate the Okazaki fragments by the lagging strand DNA polymerase. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that inhibition of primase activity will stall DNA replication and prevent bacterial proliferation. We did the expression and purification of eight different bacterial DnaGs (Mycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb), Bacillus anthracis (Ba), Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msmeg), Francisella tularencis (Ft), Vibrio cholerae (Vc) and Yersinia pestis (Yp), Staphylococcus aureus(Saureus), Escherichia coli(Ecoli)) followed by the radioactive activity assay. After obtaining the pure and active protein DnaG, we synthesized the inhibitors for them. The inhibitors were divided into five different groups, each containing five molecules, and the cocktail inhibition assay was performed against each DnaGs. The groups of molecules inhibiting the DnaGs were further tested with individual molecules belonging to inhibiting groups. Each molecule showing inhibition was titrated against the corresponding DnaGs to find IC50. We got a molecule(VS167) that acted as broad inhibitors, inhibiting all eight DnaGs. Molecules VS180 and VS186 inhibited seven DnaGs (except Saureus). Similarly, two molecules(VS 173, VS176) inhibited five DnaGs (Mtb, Ba, Ft, Yp, Ecoli). VS261 inhibited four DnaGs (Mtb, Ba, Ft, Vc). MS50 inhibited Ba and Vc DnaGs. And some of the inhibitors inhibited only one DnaGs. Thus we found the broad and specific inhibitors for different bacterial DnaGs, and their Structure-activity analysis(SAR) was done. Further, We tried to explain the similarities among the enzyme DnaGs from different bacteria based on their inhibition pattern.

Keywords: DNA replication, DnaG, okazaki fragments, antibiotic drugs

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Authors: Cam Nguyen

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Rapid, accurate, and safe sensing and imaging of physical quantities or structures finds many applications and is of significant interest to society. Sensing and imaging using radio-frequency (RF) techniques, particularly, has gone through significant development and subsequently established itself as a unique territory in the sensing world. RF sensing and imaging has played a critical role in providing us many sensing and imaging abilities beyond our human capabilities, benefiting both civilian and military applications - for example, from sensing abnormal conditions underneath some structures’ surfaces to detection and classification of concealed items, hidden activities, and buried objects. We present the developments of several sensing and imaging systems implementing RF technologies like ultra-wide band (UWB), synthetic-pulse, and interferometry. These systems are fabricated completely using RF integrated circuits. The UWB impulse system operates over multiple pulse durations from 450 to 1170 ps with 5.5-GHz RF bandwidth. It performs well through tests of various samples, demonstrating its usefulness for subsurface sensing. The synthetic-pulse system operating from 0.6 to 5.6 GHz can assess accurately subsurface structures. The synthetic-pulse system operating from 29.72-37.7 GHz demonstrates abilities for various surface and near-surface sensing such as profile mapping, liquid-level monitoring, and anti-personnel mine locating. The interferometric system operating at 35.6 GHz demonstrates its multi-functional capability for measurement of displacements and slow velocities. These RF sensors are attractive and useful for various surface and subsurface sensing applications. This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # 6-241-2-102 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Keywords: RF sensors, radars, surface sensing, subsurface sensing

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Authors: Suchitra Chnadrashekhar

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Earlier looked as a support function in an organization information technology has now become a critical utility to manage their daily operations. Organizations are processing huge amount of data which was unimaginable few decades before. This has opened the opportunity for IT sector to help industries across domains to handle the data in the most intelligent manner. Presence of IT has been a leverage for the Oil & Gas industry to store, manage and process the data in most efficient way possible thus deriving the economic value in their day-to-day operations. Proper synchronization between Operational data system and Information Technology system is the need of the hour. Predictive analytics supports oil and gas companies by addressing the challenge of critical equipment performance, life cycle, integrity, security, and increase their utilization. Predictive analytics go beyond early warning by providing insights into the roots of problems. To reach their full potential, oil and gas companies need to take a holistic or systems approach towards asset optimization and thus have the functional information at all levels of the organization in order to make the right decisions. This paper discusses how the use of predictive analysis in oil and gas industry is redefining the dynamics of this sector. Also, the paper will be supported by real time data and evaluation of the data for a given oil production asset on an application tool, SAS. The reason for using SAS as an application for our analysis is that SAS provides an analytics-based framework to improve uptimes, performance and availability of crucial assets while reducing the amount of unscheduled maintenance, thus minimizing maintenance-related costs and operation disruptions. With state-of-the-art analytics and reporting, we can predict maintenance problems before they happen and determine root causes in order to update processes for future prevention.

Keywords: hydrocarbon, information technology, SAS, predictive analytics

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Authors: S. Arabnejad, D. W. C. Cheong, H. Chaobin, V. P. W. Shim

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Debonding is the one of the fundamental damage mechanisms in particle field composites. This phenomenon gains more importance in nano composites because of the extensive interfacial region present in these materials. Understanding the debonding mechanism accurately, can help in understanding and predicting the response of nano composites as the interface deteriorates. The small length scale of the phenomenon makes the experimental characterization complicated and the results of it, far from real physical behavior. In this study the damage process in nylon-6/silica interface is examined through Molecular Dynamics (MD) modeling and simulations. The silica has been modeled with three forms of surfaces – without any surface treatment, with the surface treatment of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and with Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) surface treatment. The APTES surface modification used to create functional groups on the silica surface, reacts and form covalent bonds with nylon 6 chains while the HMDZ surface treatment only interacts with both particle and polymer by non-bond interaction. The MD model in this study uses a PCFF force field. The atomic model is generated in a periodic box with a layer of vacuum on top of the polymer layer. This layer of vacuum is large enough that assures us from not having any interaction between particle and substrate after debonding. Results show that each of these three models show a different traction separation behavior. However, all of them show an almost bilinear traction separation behavior. The study also reveals a strong correlation between the length of APTES surface treatment and the cohesive strength of the interface.

Keywords: debonding, surface treatment, cohesive response, separation behaviour

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Authors: Deepa S N, Srinivasan a D, Veeramanju K T

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The power transformer is a critical equipment in the transmission and distribution network that must be managed to ensure uninterrupted power service. The liquid insulation is essential for the proper functioning of the transformer, as it serves as both coolant and insulating medium, which influences the transformer’s durability. Further, the insulating state of a power transformer has a significant impact on its reliability. Mineral oil derived from petroleum crude oil has been employed as liquid dielectrics for decades due to its superior functional characteristics, however as a resource for the same are getting depleted over the years. Research is undertaken across the globe to identify a viable substitute for mineral oil. Further, alternate insulating oils are being investigated for better environmental impact, biodegradability and economics. Several combinations of vegetable oil derived natural esters are being inspected by researchers across the globe in these domains. In this work, mineral oil is blended with soyabean oil with various proportions and dielectric properties such as dielectric breakdown voltage, relative permittivity, dissipation factor, viscosity, flash and fire point have been investigated according to international standards. A quantitative comparison is made among various samples and is observed that the blended oil sample of equal proportion of mineral oil and soyabean oil, MO50+SO50 exhibits superior dielectric properties such as breakdown voltage of 65kV, dissipation factor of 0.0044, relative permittivity of 3.1680 that are closer to the range of values recommended for power transformer applications. Also, Breakdown voltage values of all the investigated oil samples obeyed the Weibull and Normal probability distribution.

Keywords: blended oil, dielectric breakdown, liquid insulation, power transformer

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Authors: T. S. Almutairi, Paul May, Neil Allan

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The geometrical, electronic and magnetic properties of the neutral Mg center and MgN₃ cluster in diamond have been studied theoretically in detail by means of an HSE06 Hamiltonian that includes a fraction of the exact exchange term; this is important for a satisfactory picture of the electronic states of open-shell systems. Another batch of the calculations by GGA functionals have also been included for comparison, and these support the results from HSE06. The local perturbations in the lattice by introduced Mg defect are restricted in the first and second shell of atoms before eliminated. The formation energy calculated with HSE06 and GGA of single Mg agrees with the previous result. We found the triplet state with C₃ᵥ is the ground state of Mg center with energy lower than the singlet with C₂ᵥ by ~ 0.1 eV. The recent experimental ZPL (557.4 nm) of Mg center in diamond has been discussed in the view of present work. The analysis of the band-structure of the MgN₃ cluster confirms that the MgN₃ defect introduces a shallow donor level in the gap lying within the conduction band edge. This observation is supported by the EMM that produces n-type levels shallower than the P donor level. The formation energy of MgN₂ calculated from a 2NV defect (~ 3.6 eV) is a promising value from which to engineer MgN₃ defects inside the diamond. Ion-implantation followed by heating to about 1200-1600°C might induce migration of N related defects to the localized Mg center. Temperature control is needed for this process to restore the damage and ensure the mobilities of V and N, which demands a more precise experimental study.

Keywords: empirical marker method, generalised gradient approximation, Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof screened hybrid functional, zero phono line

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Authors: Magdy Al Shourbagi

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Diabetes mellitus is the commonest cause of neuropathy. The common pattern is a distal symmetrical sensory polyneuropathy, associated with autonomic disturbances. Less often, Diabetes mellitus is responsible for a focal or multifocal neuropathy. Common causes for non-healing of diabetic foot are the infection and ischemia. Diabetes mellitus is associated with a defective cellular and humoral immunity. Particularly, decreased phagocytosis, decreased chemotaxis, impaired bacterial killing and abnormal lymphocytic function resulting in a reduced inflammatory reaction and defective wound healing. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is defined by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society as a treatment in which a patient intermittently breathes 100% oxygen and the treatment chamber is pressurized to a pressure greater than sea level (1 atmosphere absolute). The pressure increase may be applied in mono-place (single person) or multi-place chambers. Multi-place chambers are pressurized with air, with oxygen given via face mask or endotracheal tube; while mono-place chambers are pressurized with oxygen. Oxygen gas plays an important role in the physiology of wound healing. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can raise tissue oxygen tensions to levels where wound healing can be expected. HBOT increases the killing ability of leucocytes also it is lethal for certain anaerobic bacteria and inhibits toxin formation in many other anaerobes. Multiple anecdotal reports and studies in HBO therapy in diabetic patients report that HBO can be an effective adjunct therapy in the management of diabetic foot wounds and is associated with better functional outcomes.

Keywords: hyperbari oxygen therapy, diabetic foot, neuropathy, multiplace chambers

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Authors: Jukka Heinonen

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Higher density reduces distances, private car dependency and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). As a result, increased density has been given a central role among urban development targets. However, it is not just travel behavior that changes along with density. Rather, the consumption patterns, or overall lifestyles, change along with changing urban structure, particularly with changing housing types and consumption opportunities. Furthermore, elevated consumption of services, more frequent flying and less intra-household sharing have been shown to potentially outweigh the gains from reduced driving in more dense urban settlements. In this study, the geography of carbon footprints (CFs) in California is analyzed paying close attention to the household size differences and the resulting economies-of-scale advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is employed together with consumer expenditure data to assess the CFs. According to the study, small urban households have the highest CFs in California. Their transport related emissions are significantly lower than those of the residents of less urbanized areas, but higher emissions from other consumption categories, together with the low degree of sharing of goods, overweigh the gains. Two functional units, per capita and per household, are used to analyze the CFs and to demonstrate the importance of household size. The lifestyle impacts visible through the consumption data are also discussed. The study suggests that there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the premises of low-carbon human settlements.

Keywords: carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, lifestyle, household size, consumption, economies-of-scale

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Authors: Ali H.Alyami, Hussam Darraj, Faisal Hakami, Mohammed Awaf, Sulaiman Hamdi, Nawaf Bakri, Abdulaziz Saber, Khalid Hakami, Almuhanad Alyami, Mohammed khashab

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Introduction: Adolescents frequently self-report pain, according to epidemiological research. The knee is one of the sites where the pain is most common. One of the main factors contributing to the number of years people spend disabled and having substantial personal, societal, and economic burdens globally are musculoskeletal disorders. Adolescents may have knee pain due to an abrupt, traumatic injury or an insidious, slowly building onset that neither the adolescent nor the parent is aware of. Objectives: The present study’s authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of knee pain in Saudi adolescents. Methods: This cross-sectional survey, carried out from June to November 2022, included 676 adolescents ages 10 to 18. Data are presented as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare means between groups, while the chi-square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. Statistical significance was set at P< 0.05.Result: Adolescents were invited to take part in the study. 57.5% were girls, and 42.5% were males,68.8% were 676 aged between 15 and 18. The prevalence of knee pain was considerably high among females (26%), while it was 19.2% among males. Moreover, age was a significant predictor for knee pain; also BMI was significant for knee pain. Conclusion: Our study noted a high rate of knee pain among adolescents, so we need to raise awareness about risk factors. Adolescent knee pain can be prevented with conservative methods and some minor lifestyle/activity modifications.

Keywords: knee pain, prevalence of knee pain, exercise training, physical activity

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Authors: Ashish Bohre, Blaž Likozar, Saikat Dutta, Dionisios G. Vlachos, Basudeb Saha

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Graphene oxide, decorated with surface oxygen functionalities, has emerged as a sustainable alternative to precious metal catalysts for many reactions. Herein, we report for the first time that graphene oxide becomes super active for C-C coupling upon incorporation of multilayer crystalline features, highly oxidized surface, Brønsted acidic functionalities and defect sites on the surface and edges via modified oxidation. The resulting improved graphene oxide (IGO) demonstrates superior activity to commonly used framework zeolites for upgrading of low carbon biomass furanics to long carbon chain aviation fuel precursors. A maximum 95% yield of C15 fuel precursor with high selectivity is obtained at low temperature (60 C) and neat conditions via hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA) of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) and furfural. The coupling of 2-MF with carbonyl molecules ranging from C3 to C6 produced the precursors of carbon numbers 12 to 21. The catalyst becomes inactive in the 4th cycle due to the loss of oxygen functionalities, defect sites and multilayer features; however, regains comparable activity upon regeneration. Extensive microscopic and spectroscopic characterization of the fresh and reused IGO is presented to elucidate high activity of IGO and to establish a correlation between activity and surface and structural properties. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are presented to further illustrate the surface features and the reaction mechanism.

Keywords: methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, biomass, monomer, solid base catalyst

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Authors: Emil F. Khisamutdinov

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Development of functional materials undergoing structural transformations in response to an external stimulus such as environmental changes (pH, temperature, etc.), the presence of particular proteins, or short oligonucleotides are of great interest for a variety of applications ranging from medicine to electronics. The dynamic operations of most nucleic acid (NA) devices, including circuits, nano-machines, and biosensors, rely on networks of NA strand displacement processes in which an external or stimulus strand displaces a target strand from a DNA or RNA duplex. The rate of strand displacement can be greatly increased by the use of “toeholds,” single-stranded regions of the target complex to which the invading strand can bind to initiate the reaction, forming additional base pairs that provide a thermodynamic driving force for transformation. Herein, we developed a highly robust nanoparticle shape transition, sequentially transforming DNA polygons from one shape to another using the toehold-mediated DNA strand displacement technique. The shape transformation was confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis and atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our approach is applicable for RNA shape transformation from triangle to square, which can be detected by fluorescence emission from malachite green binding RNA aptamer. Using gel-shift and fluorescence assays, we demonstrated efficient transformation occurs at isothermal conditions (37°C) that can be implemented within living cells as reporter molecules. This work is intended to provide a simple, cost-effective, and straightforward model for the development of biosensors and regulatory devices in nucleic acid nanotechnology.

Keywords: RNA nanotechnology, bionanotechnology, toehold mediated DNA switch, RNA split fluorogenic aptamers

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Authors: JaeYoon Lee, Gi-Hoon Yang, JongHan Ha, MyungGu Yeo, SeungHyun Ahn, Hyeongjin Lee, HoJun Jeon, YongBok Kim, Minseong Kim, GeunHyung Kim

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One of the important factors in tissue engineering is to design optimal biomedical scaffolds, which can be governed by topographical surface characteristics, such as size, shape, and direction. Of these properties, we focused on the effects of nano- to micro-sized hierarchical surface. To fabricate the hierarchical surface structure on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) film, we employed a micro-casting technique by pressing the mold and nano-etching technique using a modified plasma process. The micro-sized topography of PCL film was controlled by sizes of the micro structures on lotus leaf. Also, the nano-sized topography and hydrophilicity of PCL film were controlled by a modified plasma process. After the plasma treatment, the hydrophobic property of the PCL film was significantly changed into hydrophilic property, and the nano-sized structure was well developed. The surface properties of the modified PCL film were investigated in terms of initial cell morphology, attachment, and proliferation using osteoblast-like-cells (MG63). In particular, initial cell attachment, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation in the hierarchical structure were enhanced dramatically compared to those of the smooth surface. We believe that these results are because of a synergistic effect between the hierarchical structure and the reactive functional groups due to the plasma process. Based on the results presented here, we propose a new biomimetic surface model that maybe useful for effectively regenerating hard tissues.

Keywords: hierarchical surface, lotus leaf, nano-etching, plasma treatment

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Authors: Laura Frydel, Piotr M. Slomkiewicz, Beata Szczepanik

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Triclosan has been used as a disinfectant in many medical products, such as: hand disinfectant soaps, creams, mouthwashes, pastes and household cleaners. Due to its strong antimicrobial activity, triclosan is becoming more and more popular and the consumption of disinfectants with triclosan in it is increasing. As a result, this compound increasingly finds its way into waters and soils in an unchanged form, pollutes the environment and may have a negative effect on organisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the synthesis of cellulose-based halloysite-carbon adsorbent and perform its characterization. The template in the halloysite-carbon adsorbent was halloysite nanotubes and the carbon precursor was microcrystalline cellulose. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were obtained and the elementary composition (qualitative and quantitative) of the sample was determined by energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS). The identification of the crystallographic composition of the halloysite nanotubes and the sample of the halloysite-carbon composite was carried out using the X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) method. The FTIR spectra were acquired before and after the adsorption process in order to determine the functional groups on the adsorbent surface and confirm the interactions between adsorbent and adsorbate molecules. The parameters of the porous structure of the adsorbent, such as the specific surface area (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method), the total pore volume and the volume of mesopores and micropores were determined. Total carbon and total organic carbon were also determined in the samples. A cellulose-based halloysite-carbon adsorbent was used to remove triclosan from water. The degree of removal of triclosan from water was approximately 90%. The results indicate that the halloysite-carbon composite can be successfully used as an effective adsorbent for removing triclosan from water.

Keywords: Adsorption, cellulose, halloysite, triclosan

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Authors: Hemlata Chitte, Anita Chorey, V. M. Bhale, Bharti Tijare

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A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2013-14 at Agronomy research farm, Dr. PDKV, Akola, to study the productivity and nitrogen use efficiency in cotton using organic nitrification inhibitors. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications each having nine treatment combinations comprising three fertilizer levels viz., 75% RDF (F1), 100% RDF (F2) and 125% RDF (F3) and three nitrification inhibitors viz., neem cake @ 300 kgha-1 (N1), karanj cake @ 300 kgha-1 (N2) and control (N3). The result showed that various growth attributes viz., plant height, number of functional leaves plant-1, monopodial and sympodial branches and leaf area plant-1(dm2) were maximum in fertilizer level 125% RDF over fertilizer level 75% RDF and which at par with 100% RDF. In case of yield attributes and yield, number of bolls per plant, Seed cotton yield and stalk yield kg ha-1 significantly higher in fertilizer level 125% RDF over 100% RDF and 75% RDF. Uptake of NPK kg ha-1 after harvest of cotton crop was significantly higher in fertilizer level 125% RDF over 100% RDF and 75% RDF. Significantly highest nitrogen use efficiency was recorded with fertilizer level 75 % RDF as compared to 100 % RDF and lowest nitrogen use efficiency was recorded with 125% RDF level. Amongst nitrification inhibitors, karanj cake @ 300 kg ha-1 increases potentiality of growth characters, yield attributes, uptake of NPK and NUE as compared to control and at par with neem cake @ 300 kgha-1. Interaction effect between fertilizer level and nitrification inhibitors were found to be non significant at all growth attributes and uptake of nutrient but was significant in respect of seed cotton yield.

Keywords: cotton, fertilizer level, nitrification inhibitor and nitrogen use efficiency, nutrient uptake

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Authors: E. Kayitesi, S. Moyo, V. Mavumengwana

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Cleome gynandra (spider plant) is an African green leafy vegetable categorized as an indigenous, underutilized and has been reported to contain essential phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds play a significant role in human diets due to their proposed health benefits. These compounds however may be affected by different processing methods such as cooking and drying. Cleome gynandra was subjected to boiling, steam blanching, and drying processes and analysed for Total Phenolic Content (TPC), Total Flavonoid Content (TFC), antioxidant activity and flavonoid composition. Cooking and drying significantly (p < 0.05) increased the levels of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the vegetable. The boiled sample filtrate exhibited the lowest TPC followed by the raw sample while the steamed sample depicted the highest TPC levels. Antioxidant activity results showed that steamed sample showed the highest DPPH, FRAP and ABTS with mean values of 499.38 ± 2.44, 578.68 ± 5.19, and 214.39 ± 12.33 μM Trolox Equivalent/g respectively. An increase in quercetin-3-rutinoside, quercetin-rhamnoside and kaempferol-3-rutinoside occurred after all the cooking and drying methods employed. Cooking and drying exerted positive effects on the vegetable’s phenolic content, antioxidant activity as a whole, but with varied effects on the individual flavonoid molecules. The results obtained help in defining the importance of African green leafy vegetable and resultant processed products as functional foods and their potential to exert health promoting properties.

Keywords: Cleome gynandra, phenolic compounds, cooking, drying, health promoting properties

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Authors: Naila Awan, Shahrukh Inam

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This study was conducted to highlight the role of basic health units in district Swabi, which provides primary health services to the people of district Swabi having four tehsils. Tehsil Swabi was selected purposively for the study. Three villages were purposively selected from district Swabi. A sum of 110 respondents was randomly selected for interview i.e., 27 from Botakaa, 39 from Gulatee, and 44 from Darra Cham, using proportion allocation sampling technique. A pretested and well-designed interview schedule was used to collect as per the objective and Chi square test was applied to find an association between the quality of medicines and health improvement. The output of the test shows that the government was doing its best and providing enough facilities to the individuals at the healthcare units, and they were utilizing them. These resources were easily accessible to the people of the community. Medicines provided by the government were of good quality and quantity. There were also school health sessions and community health sessions (SHS/CHS) to deliver useful information and awareness regarding health problems and diseases were conducted. The staff of the BHU was present at work time and was performing their duties. The respondents seemed satisfied with their behavior and the duty of the staff. However, there were no emergency resources existing at the BHU after the working hours of the medical staff. It is recommended that government should provide appropriate quantity and quality of medicines to the basic health units so that these healthcare units don’t have to face any shortages regarding medicines at the end of the month. In addition, laboratory and blood testing facilities need to be provided in the basic health units, and also the infrastructure should be made suitable, satisfactory, and more functional.

Keywords: community health session, basic health units, outpatient department, tuberculosis

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Authors: Lojaine Okacha

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In the past half-century, researchers started paying attention to enhancing the performance of urban spaces. Their idea of performance comprised urban climate performance, space synthesis, economic performance, and enhancing the quality of life in space. However, they all agreed that the key to achieving any of the previously mentioned development projects is good governance. Having good governance allows citizens to participate freely in the urbanization or development projects within cities. Consequently, using the city resources and assets as efficiently as possible, and ensures the fulfillment of the users’ needs and requests. This paper aims to propose an effective participation framework to help citizens have their voices heard and participate in the decisions that will affect their living situation. The framework allows governments to use their public resources to their best. However, this study focuses on public participation in third-world countries with unitary decentralized governance systems such as Egypt. It summarizes the challenges facing the participation practices, identifies the keys to a successful participation process, and draws on dominant effective participation practice lying on the relationship between the levels of participation, stakeholders participating, the urban development stages, the city-systems, and participation process. These components are integrated to create a real-world effective participation Framework. The results of the analysis were incredible and produced a functional and progressive approach for effective public participation to introduce to the governments. The model itself is combined with additional principles allowing the best practice to the process. The framework is finally compared with a real case of urban development.

Keywords: public participation, good governance, urban development, city systems

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Authors: Khosro Ghazvinian, Touba Khodaeian

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To improve the oxidative stability of meat products, the use of dietary form of antioxidants can extend the shelf life and acceptability of muscle food during exposition or storage condition. As shown, this method is more effective than adding direct preservatives due to uniform incorporation of dietary additives into sub cellular membrane and therefore, they can properly inhibit the oxidative reaction at their localized sites. Furthermore, postmortem addition of antioxidants to meat cannot directly inhibit the oxidation in membrane phospholipids. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of feed supplementation with Melissa officinalis leaves on lipid peroxidation of chicken breast fillets during refrigerated storage. In this study, 72 one-day old Ross 308 broilers distributed in four groups with six replicates (3 chickens each) were fed a basal diet (CONT) or basal diet supplemented with 5, 10, and 15 gr/Kg M.officinalis, for 6 weeks. Following slaughter, fillets from breast were stored at 4 °C in the dark for 12 days, and lipid oxidation was assessed on the basis of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) formed. Results showed that incorporation of M.officinalis in broiler diets delayed lipid oxidation in raw breast meat during refrigerated storage comparative with CONT(p<0.05). In this regard, TBARS levels of breast samples containing higher concentrations (10 and 15 gr/Kg) of M. officinalis (625.43 and 504.32 µg/kg MDA equivalents, respectively )were significantly lower than those of control and 5g/kg samples (872.75 and 841.32 µg/kg MDA equivalents, respectively) (p<0.05). Therefore, M. officinalis might be utilized in novel applications as a nutritional supplement or a functional food component.

Keywords: breast fillet, lipid oxidation, Melissa officinalis, TBARS assay

Procedia PDF Downloads 254