Search results for: failure mode effect

Authors: Anil P. Dewani, Alok S. Tripathi, Anil V. Chandewar

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Present manuscript reports the development and validation of a quantitative high performance liquid chromatography method for the pharmacokinetic evaluation of Glimepiride (GLM) and Ilaprazole (ILA) in rat plasma. The plasma samples were involved with Solid phase extraction process (SPE). The analytes were resolved on a Phenomenex C18 column (4.6 mm× 250 mm; 5 µm particle size) using a isocratic elution mode comprising methanol:water (80:20 % v/v) with pH of water modified to 3 using Formic acid, the total run time was 10 min at 225 nm as common wavelength, the flow rate throughout was 1ml/min. The method was validated over the concentration range from 10 to 600 ng/mL for GLM and ILA, in rat plasma. Metformin (MET) was used as Internal Standard. Validation data demonstrated the method to be selective, sensitive, accurate and precise. The limit of detection was 1.54 and 4.08 and limit of quantification was 5.15 and 13.62 for GLM and ILA respectively, the method demonstrated excellent linearity with correlation coefficients (r2) 0.999. The intra and inter-day precision (RSD%) values were < 2.0% for both ILA and GLM. The method was successfully applied in pharmacokinetic studies followed by oral administration in rats.

Keywords: pharmacokinetics, glimepiride, ilaprazole, HPLC, SPE

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Authors: Shweta Shriwas, Sumeet Dwivedi

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Knowledge of use of traditional medicine is as old as human civilization in almost every system of medicine. Traditional practitioner viz., vaidhayas, ojha, hakim have their own herbal therapy in the treatment of infertility among women’s. Infertility is very common in developed and developing countries due to busy life style of women’s. The present study was initiated with an aim to identify medicinal plants resources from traditional practitioners of Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh to treat infertility. An ethnomedicinal study of Malwa region viz., Indore, Dewas, Ratlam, Ujjain, Dhar, Mandsour and Neemuch of Madhya Pradesh, India comprising fifty-seven study site was conducted during Jan-217 to June-2017. During the course of present investigation, the traditional use of medicinal plants for infertility in women was revealed by traditional practitioner. The botanical name, family, local name, part used, habit along with mode of their administration and dose duration were enumerated.

Keywords: herbal medicine, infertility, traditional, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh

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Authors: Aziz Zoubir, Sefir Yamina, Djelti Redouan, Bentata Samir

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The effect of a uniform electric field across multibarrier systems (GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs) is exhaustively explored by a computational model using exact Airy function formalism and the transfer-matrix technique. In the case of biased Dimer Fibonacci Height Barrier superlattices (DFHBSL) structure a strong reduction in transmission properties was observed and the width of the miniband structure linearly decreases with the increase of the applied bias. This is due to the confinement of the states in the miniband structure, which becomes increasingly important (Wannier-Stark effect).

Keywords: Dimer Fibonacci Height Barrier superlattices, singular extended states, exact Airy function, transfer matrix formalism

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Authors: Alessandra Aparecida Vieira França, Adriana de Paula Lacerda Santos, Mauro Lacerda Santos Filho

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The purpose of this research i to study the behavior of precast prestressed hollow core slabs subjected to shear. In order to achieve this goal, shear tests were performed using hollow core slabs 26,5cm thick, with and without a concrete cover of 5 cm, without cores filled, with two cores filled and three cores filled with concrete. The tests were performed according to the procedures recommended by FIP (1992), the EN 1168:2005 and following the method presented in Costa (2009). The ultimate shear strength obtained within the tests was compared with the values of theoretical resistant shear calculated in accordance with the codes, which are being used in Brazil, noted: NBR 6118:2003 and NBR 14861:2011. When calculating the shear resistance through the equations presented in NBR 14861:2011, it was found that provision is much more accurate for the calculation of the shear strength of hollow core slabs than the NBR 6118 code. Due to the large difference between the calculated results, even for slabs without cores filled, the authors consulted the committee that drafted the NBR 14861:2011 and found that there is an error in the text of the standard, because the coefficient that is suggested, actually presents the double value than the needed one! The ABNT, later on, soon issued an amendment of NBR 14861:2011 with the necessary corrections. During the tests for the present study, it was confirmed that the concrete filling the cores contributes to increase the shear strength of hollow core slabs. But in case of slabs 26,5 cm thick, the quantity should be limited to a maximum of two cores filled, because most of the results for slabs with three cores filled were smaller. This confirmed the recommendation of NBR 14861:2011which is consistent with standard practice. After analyzing the configuration of cracking and failure mechanisms of hollow core slabs during the shear tests, strut and tie models were developed representing the forces acting on the slab at the moment of rupture. Through these models the authors were able to calculate the tensile stress acting on the concrete ties (ribs) and scaled the geometry of these ties. The conclusions of the research performed are the experiments results have shown that the mechanism of failure of the hollow-core slabs can be predicted using the strut-and-tie procedure, within a good range of accuracy. In addition, the needed of the correction of the Brazilian standard to review the correction factor σcp duplicated (in NBR14861/2011), and the limitation of the number of cores (Holes) to be filled with concrete, to increase the strength of the slab for the shear resistance. It is also suggested the increasing the amount of test results with 26.5 cm thick, and a larger range of thickness slabs, in order to obtain results of shear tests with cores concreted after the release of prestressing force. Another set of shear tests on slabs must be performed in slabs with cores filled and cover concrete reinforced with welded steel mesh for comparison with results of theoretical values calculated by the new revision of the standard NBR 14861:2011.

Keywords: prestressed hollow core slabs, shear, strut, tie models

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Authors: Akhmadjon Sultanov, Eun-Ho Lee, Hye-Jin Park, Young-Je Cho

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This study tested the anti-inflammatory effect of wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) root in Raw 264.7 cells. We prepared two extracts of B. tinctoria; one in water and the other in 50% ethanol. Then we evaluated the toxicities of the B. tinctoria root extracts at 10 to 100 mg mL-1 concentrations in raw 264.7 cells and observed 80% cell viability. The anti-inflammatory effect of B. tinctoria root extract in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated Raw 264.7 cells were observed with concentrations at 10, 30, and 50 μg mL-1. The results showed that 77.27-66.82% of nitric oxide (NO) production was inhibited by 50 μg mL-1 B. tinctoria root extract. The protein expression of Inducible NO synthase (iNOS) expression dramatically decreased by 93.14% and 52.65% in raw 264.7 cells treated with water and ethanol extracts of B. tinctoria root, respectively. Moreover, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression decreased by 42.85% and 69.70% in raw 264.7 cells treated with water and ethanol extracts of B. tinctoria root, respectively. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory markers, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and prostaglandin E synthase 2, was significantly suppressed in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, the B. tinctoria root extracts effectively inhibited enzymes involved in physiological activities. The B. tinctoria root extracts showed excellent anti-inflammatory effects and can be used as a functional material for biological activities.

Keywords: cytokine, macrophage, pro-inflammatory, protein expression, real-time PCR

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Authors: Rajeev Ravindran, Amit K. Jaiswal

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Lignocellulose is the largest reservoir of inexpensive, renewable source of carbon. It is composed of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Cellulose and hemicellulose is composed of reducing sugars glucose, xylose and several other monosaccharides which can be metabolised by microorganisms to produce several value added products such as biofuels, enzymes, aminoacids etc. Enzymatic treatment of lignocellulose leads to the release of monosaccharides such as glucose and xylose. However, factors such as the presence of lignin, crystalline cellulose, acetyl groups, pectin etc. contributes to recalcitrance restricting the effective enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose. In order to overcome these problems, pre-treatment of lignocellulose is generally carried out which essentially facilitate better degradation of lignocellulose. A range of pre-treatment strategy is commonly employed based on its mode of action viz. physical, chemical, biological and physico-chemical. However, existing pretreatment strategies result in lower sugar yield and formation of inhibitory compounds. In order to overcome these problems, we proposes a novel pre-treatment, which utilises the superior oxidising capacity of alkaline potassium permanganate assisted by ultra-sonication to break the covalent bonds in spent coffee waste to remove recalcitrant compounds such as lignin. The pre-treatment was conducted for 30 minutes using 2% (w/v) potassium permanganate at room temperature with solid to liquid ratio of 1:10. The pre-treated spent coffee waste (SCW) was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using enzymes cellulase and hemicellulase. Shake flask experiments were conducted with a working volume of 50mL buffer containing 1% substrate. The results showed that the novel pre-treatment strategy yielded 7 g/L of reducing sugar as compared to 3.71 g/L obtained from biomass that had undergone dilute acid hydrolysis after 24 hours. From the results obtained it is fairly certain that ultrasonication assists the oxidation of recalcitrant components in lignocellulose by potassium permanganate. Enzyme hydrolysis studies suggest that ultrasound assisted alkaline potassium permanganate pre-treatment is far superior over treatment by dilute acid. Furthermore, SEM, XRD and FTIR were carried out to analyse the effect of the new pre-treatment strategy on structure and crystallinity of pre-treated spent coffee wastes. This novel one-step pre-treatment strategy was implemented under mild conditions and exhibited high efficiency in the enzymatic hydrolysis of spent coffee waste. Further study and scale up is in progress in order to realise future industrial applications.

Keywords: spent coffee waste, alkaline potassium permanganate, ultra-sonication, physical characterisation

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Authors: N. S. El-Mougy, M. M. Abdel-Kader, H. M. Abouelnasr

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The efficacy of two essential oils applied as a bean seed dressing followed by seedlings foliar spray with four commercial disinfectants against root rot and wilt incidence was evaluated under field conditions. The essential oils, grape seed and peppermint oils and the disinfectants, Gold, Revarest, Klenva, Malva were applied. Chitosan and the fungicide Topsin-M were used as comparison treatment. Essential oils individually or combined with disinfectants were applied as a bean seed dressing. Furthermore, emerged bean plants were sprayed with the same treatments. Under laboratory conditions, growth inhibition effect was observed for the isolated, tested fungi R. solani and F. oxysporum when exposed to essential oils individually or combined with disinfectants. A high inhibitor effect was recorded for peppermint followed by grape seed oils. Concentrations of 1% and 2% of chitosan as well as Topsin M at 400 ppm showed complete reduction (100%) in the two fungal growths. Under field conditions, the obtained results showed that the applied treatments of chitosan had a superior effect on root rot and wilt disease incidence compared with other tested treatments. It was found that seed coating treatment provides good protection of emerged green bean seeds against the root pathogens attack compared with the fungicide and control treatments. Also, the application of seed dressing with essential oils accompanied by seedling spray demonstrated similar results. It was observed that essential oils had an enhancing effect against disease incidence when combined with disinfectants compared with their application. The obvious yield increase was significantly higher in all applied treatments than in fungicide and control.

Keywords: bean, disinfectants, essential oils, root rot, wilt

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Authors: Yumeng He

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The purpose of this paper is to establish the “extenics” of children music education, the “extenics” thought and methods are introduced into the children music education field. Discussions are made from the perspective of children music education on how to generate new music cognitive from music cognitive, how to generate new music education from music education and how to generate music learning from music learning. The research methods including the extensibility of music art, extensibility of music education, extensibility of music capability and extensibility of music learning. Results of this study indicate that the thought and research methods of children’s extended music education not only have developed the “extenics” concept and ideological methods, meanwhile, the brand-new thought and innovative research perspective have been employed in discussing the children music education. As indicated in research, the children’s extended music education has extended the horizon of children music education, and has endowed the children music education field with a new thought and research method.

Keywords: comprehensive evaluations, extension thought, extension cognition music education, extensibility

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Authors: Atabak Faramarzpour, Mohsen Mohammadian

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In this article, we introduce the stability of power system voltage and state DG power plants placement and its effect on improving voltage security margin in radial distribution networks. For this purpose, first, important definitions in voltage stability area such as small and big voltage disturbances, instability, and voltage collapse, and voltage security definitions are stated. Then, according to voltage collapse time, voltage stability is classified and each one's characteristics are stated.

Keywords: DG power plants, evaluation, voltage security, radial distribution networks

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Authors: Hamed Bagheri, Seyd Javid Shariati

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The effects of type and amount of solvent on lubricant which is used in disposable medical devices are investigated in this article. Two kinds of common solvent, n-Hexane and n-Heptane, are used. The mechanical behavior of syringe has shown that n-Heptane has better mixing ratio and also more effective spray process in the barrel of syringe than n-Hexane because of similar solubility parameter to silicon oil. The results revealed that movement of plunger in the barrel increases when pure silicone is used because non-uniform film is created on the surface of barrel, and also, it seems that the form of silicon is converted from oil to gel due to sterilization process. The results showed that the convenient mixing ratio of solvent/lubricant oil is 80/20.

Keywords: disposal medical devices, lubricant oil, solvent effect, solubility parameter

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Authors: Carlos F. Sanz-Navarro, Sonia Fereres

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Binary and ternary mixtures of molten salts are excellent thermal energy storage systems and have been widely used in commercial tanks both in nuclear and solar thermal applications. However, the energy density of the commercially used mixtures is still insufficient, and therefore, new systems based on latent heat storage (or phase change materials, PCM) are currently being investigated. In order to shed some light on the macroscopic physical properties of the molten salt phases, knowledge of the microscopic structure and dynamics is required. Several molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to model the thermal behavior of (Li,K)2CO3 mixtures. Up to this date, this particular molten salt mixture has not been extensively studied but it is of fundamental interest for understanding the behavior of other commercial salts. Molten salt diffusivities, the internal electrical ion mobility, and the physical properties of the solid-liquid phase transition have been calculated and compared to available data from literature. The effect of anion polarization and the application of a strong external electric field have also been investigated. The influence of electrical ion mobility on local composition is explained through the Chemla effect, well known in electrochemistry. These results open a new way to design optimal high temperature energy storage materials.

Keywords: atomistic simulations, thermal storage, latent heat, molten salt, ion mobility

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Authors: S. Salari, M. A. Shirali, S. Tabatabaei, M. Sari, R. Jahanian

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This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of vitamin E and L-carnitine on performance, blood parameters and immune responses of broilers under heat stress. For this purpose 396 one- day- old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly distributed between 9 treatments with 4 replicates (11 birds in each replicate). Dietary treatments consisted of three levels of vitamin E (0, 100 and 200 mg/ kg) and three levels of L-carnitine (0, 50 and 100 mg/ kg) that was done in completely randomized design with 3X3 factorial arrangement for 42 days. During the first three weeks, chickens were reared at normal temperature. From the beginning of the fourth week, all chickens were maintenance in a temperature range from 24-38 ° C for heat stress. Performance parameters including average feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded weekly. The results showed that the levels of vitamin E had no significant effect on feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio during the experiment. The use of L-carnitine decreased feed intake during the experiment (P < 0/05). But did not affect average daily gain and feed conversion ratio. Also, there was not significant interaction between vitamin E and L-carnitine for performance parameters except average daily gain during the starter period. The results of this study indicate that the use of different levels of vitamin E and L-carnitine under heat stress did not affected performance parameters of broiler chickens.

Keywords: broiler, heat stress, l-carnitine, performance

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Authors: Salah Mohammed Al-Eid, Siddig Hussein Hamad, Fahad Mohammed Aljassas

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The effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatments on microbial contamination, chemical and physical properties of fresh dates (Rutab stage) were studied. Khalas, Barhi and Hilali cultivars were treated at 200, 250, 300 and 350 MPa using HHP research apparatus. The objective of such treatments was to preserve fresh dates without adversely affecting its properties. Treating fresh dates at 300 MPa for 5 minutes at 40°C reduced microbial contamination in about 2.5 log cycles. Applying 250 MPa was enough to control Rutab contamination with molds, yeasts, and coliforms. Both treatments were enough to reduce Rutab microbial contamination to acceptable levels. HHP caused no significant effect on Rutab chemical properties (moisture, sugars, protein, pectin and acidity). However, a slight decrease in moisture contents due to HHP was observed. Rutab lightness (L*) significantly decreased due to the application of HHP. Only Rutab treated at 300 MPs gave lower redness (a*) values compared with an untreated sample. The effect of 300 MPa on increasing yellowness (b*) was observed for Barhi and Hilali but decreasing for Khalas. The hardness of all Rutab cultivars significantly decreased as a result of HHP application. In fact, the pressure applied at 300 MPa had an adverse effect on texture, which may limit its suitability for use in Rutab preservation.

Keywords: high hydrostatic pressure, fresh dates (Rutab), microbial contamination, color, texture

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: S. K. Hashemi, M. A. Bradford, H. R. Valipour

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The Recent collapse of bridges has raised the awareness about safety and robustness of bridges subjected to extreme loading scenarios such as intentional/unintentional blast loads. The air blast generated by the explosion of bombs or fuel tankers leads to high-magnitude short-duration loading scenarios that can cause severe structural damage and loss of critical structural members. Hence, more attentions need to put towards bridge structures to develop guidelines to increase the resistance of such structures against the probable blast. Recent advancements in numerical methods have brought about the viable and cost effective facilities to simulate complicated blast scenarios and subsequently provide useful reference for safeguarding design of critical infrastructures. In the previous studies common bridge responses to blast load, the traffic load is sometimes not included in the analysis. Including traffic load will increase the axial compression in bridge piers especially when the axial load is relatively small. Traffic load also can reduce the uplift of girders and deck when the bridge experiences under deck explosion. For more complicated structures like cable-stayed or suspension bridges, however, the effect of traffic loads can be completely different. The tension in the cables increase and progressive collapse is likely to happen while traffic loads exist. Accordingly, this study is an attempt to simulate the effect of traffic load cases on the maximum local and global response of an entire cable-stayed bridge subjected to blast loadings using LS-DYNA explicit finite element code. The blast loads ranged from small to large explosion placed at different positions above the deck. Furthermore, the variation of the traffic load factor in the load combination and its effect on the dynamic response of the bridge under blast load is investigated.

Keywords: blast, cable-stayed bridge, LS-DYNA, numerical, traffic load

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Authors: Sharifullah Ahmed, Sarwar Jahan Md. Yasin

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Shallow foundations on unimproved soft natural soils can undergo a high consolidation and secondary settlement. For low and medium rise building projects on such soil condition, pile foundation may not be cost effective. In such cases an alternative to pile foundations may be shallow strip footings placed on a double layered improved soil system soil. The upper layer of this system is untreated or cement treated compacted sand and underlying layer is natural soft clay. This system will reduce the settlement to an allowable limit. The current research has been conducted with the settlement of a rigid plane-strain strip footing of 2.5 m width placed on the surface of a soil consisting of an untreated or cement treated sand layer overlying a bed of homogeneous soft clay. The settlement of the mentioned shallow foundation has been studied considering both cases with the thicknesses of the sand layer are 0.3 to 0.9 times the width of footing. The response of the clay layer is assumed as undrained for plastic loading stages and drained during consolidation stages. The response of the sand layer is drained during all loading stages. FEM analysis was done using PLAXIS 2D Version 8.0. A natural clay deposit of 15 m thickness and 18 m width has been modeled using Hardening Soil Model, Soft Soil Model, Soft Soil Creep Model, and upper improvement layer has been modeled using only Hardening Soil Model. The groundwater level is at the top level of the clay deposit that made the system fully saturated. Parametric study has been conducted to determine the effect of thickness, density, cementation of the sand mat and density, shear strength of the soft clay layer on the settlement of strip foundation under the uniformly distributed vertical load of varying value. A set of the chart has been established for designing shallow strip footing on the sand mat over thick, soft clay deposit through obtaining the particular thickness of sand mat for particular subsoil parameter to ensure no punching shear failure and no settlement beyond allowable level. Design guideline in the form of non-dimensional charts has been developed for footing pressure equivalent to medium-rise residential or commercial building foundation with strip footing on soft inorganic Normally Consolidated (NC) soil of Bangladesh having void ratio from 1.0 to 1.45.

Keywords: design charts, ground improvement, PLAXIS 2D, primary and secondary settlement, sand mat, soft clay

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Authors: Emad Askar, Eldesoky Elsoaly, Mohamed Kamel, Hisham Kamel

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The objective of this article is to improve the passive vibration damping of solar array (SA) used in space structures, by the effective application of numerical optimization. A case study of a SA is used for demonstration. A finite element (FE) model was created and verified by experimental testing. Optimization was then conducted by implementing the FE model with the genetic algorithm, to find the optimal placement of aluminum circular patches, to suppress the first two bending mode shapes. The results were verified using experimental testing. Finally, a parametric study was conducted using the FE model where patch locations, material type, and shape were varied one at a time, and the results were compared with the optimal ones. The results clearly show that through the proper application of FE modeling and numerical optimization, passive vibration damping of space structures has been successfully achieved.

Keywords: damping optimization, genetic algorithm optimization, passive vibration damping, solar array vibration damping

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Authors: Anthony Mpiani

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Recent media and NGO reports suggest that human rights violations have been a salient characteristic of the government Joint Task Force (JTF) in the war on Boko Haram. However, there has been relatively scant scholarly engagement with the forms of abuses committed by the JTF against civilians and why such human rights violations occur. The focus of this paper is to analyse the various human rights violations committed by JTF in the war against Boko Haram. Employing a historical approach, it argues that the JTF's human rights violations is shaped by the philosophy of colonial policing in Nigeria. Consequently, the failure of successive post-colonial governments to ideologically transform policing is accountable for the human rights abuses being witnessed in Nigeria today. A philosophical transformation in Nigeria's security forces especially the police and military is a prerequisite for ending human rights abuses in the fight against Boko Haram.

Keywords: colonialism, policing, joint task force, counterinsurgency, Boko Haram, human rights violations

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Authors: Sasikala Govindaraj, P. Palanisamy, G. M. Natarajan

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Domestic sewage poses major threats to the aquatic environment in third world countries due to lack of technical and economic sources which can have significant impacts on fish. The tolerance limits to toxicants found in domestic effluents vary among species and their integrative effects may lead to reproductive failure and reduction of survival and growth of the more sensitive fish species. The mechanism of action of toxic substances upon various concentrations of sewage was taken aiming to evaluate locomotory, physiological, neurological and morbidity response of fish. The rapid biomonitoring assessment technique for qualitative evaluation of various industrial pollutants, behavioral responses of an air-breathing fish Pangasius pangasius were used as biomarkers for water quality assessment. The present investigation concluded that sewage is highly toxic to the fish and severely affects their physiology and behavior.

Keywords: air-breathing organs, behavioral, locomotory, morbidity, neurological, physiological, sewage

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Authors: Wael El-Deeb

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The present study aimed to investigate the diagnostic importance of acute phase proteins in urinary tract infection (UTI) in cattle. We describe the clinical, bacteriological and biochemical findings in 99 lactating cows. Blood and urine samples from diseased (n=84) and control healthy cows (n=15) were submitted to laboratory investigations. The urine analysis revealed hematuria and pyuria in UTI group. The isolated bacteria were E.coli (43/84) Corynebacterium spp, (31/84), Proteus spp. (6/84) and Streptococcus spp (4/84). The concentrations of Haptoglobin (Hp), serum amyloid A (SAA), α1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP), fibrinogen (Fb), total protein, albumen, and globulin were higher in cows with UTI when compared to healthy ones. Fifty-one of 84 cows with UTI were successfully treated. The levels of Hp, SAA, AGP, total protein, and globulin were associated with the odds of treatment failure. Conclusively, acute phase proteins could be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cows with UTI.

Keywords: cows, urinary, infections, haptoglobin, serum Amyloid A

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Authors: Kassahun Tadesse, Megersa O. Dinka

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Drinking water suitability study was conducted for a milky-white stream in remote areas of Ethiopia in order to understand its effect on human health. Water samples were taken from the water source and physicochemical properties were analyzed based on standard methods. The mean values of pH, total dissolved solids, sodium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, chloride, boron, and fluoride were within maximum permissible limits set for health. Whereas turbidity, calcium, irons, hardness, alkalinity, nitrate, and sulfate contents were above the limits. The water is very hard water due to high calcium content. High sulfate content can cause noticeable taste and a laxative (gastrointestinal) effect. The nitrate content was very high and can cause methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) which is a temporary blood disorder in the bottle fed infants. Hence, parents should be advised not to give this water to infants. In conclusion, all physicochemical parameters except for nitrate are safe for health but may affect the appearance and taste, and wear water infrastructures. A high value of turbidity due to suspended minerals is the cause for milky-white colour. However, a mineralogical analysis of suspended sediments is required to identify the exact cause for white colour, and a study on sediment source was recommended.

Keywords: hard water, laxative effect, methemoglobinemia, nitrate, physicochemical, water quality

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Authors: Adeleye O. O., T. M. Obuotor, A. O. Kolawole, I. O. Opowoye, M. I. Olasoju, L. T. Egbeyale, R. A. Ajadi

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This study investigated the effect of Lagenaria breviflora on broiler poultry birds, including its effect on the microbial count of the poultry droppings. A total of 240-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to six groups, with four replicates per group. The first group was the control, while the other four groups were fed water containing 300g/L and 500g/L concentrations of Lagenaria breviflora twice and thrice daily. The microbial load was determined using the plate count method. The results showed that the administration of Lagenaria breviflora in the water of broiler birds significantly improved their growth performance with an average weight gain range of 1.845g - 2.241g. Mortality rate was at 0%. The study also found that Lagenaria breviflora had a significant effect on the microbial count of the poultry droppings with colony count values from 3.5 x 10-7 - 9.9 x10-7CFU/ml, The total coliforms (Escherichia coli, and Salmonella sp.) was obtained as 1 x 10 -5CFU/ml. The reduction in microbial counts of the poultry droppings could be attributed to the antimicrobial properties of Lagenaria breviflora, which contain phytochemicals reported to possess antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the inclusion of Lagenaria breviflora in the diets of broiler poultry could be an effective strategy for improving growth performance and immune function and reducing the microbial load of poultry droppings, which can help to mitigate the risk of disease transmission to humans and other animals.

Keywords: gut microbes, bacterial count, lagenaria breviflora, coliforms

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Authors: Djalal Hamed

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The aim of this paper is to perform an analytic solution of steady state natural convection in a narrow rectangular channel between two vertical parallel MTR-type fuel plates, imposed under a cosine shape heat flux to determine the margin of the nuclear core power at which the natural convection cooling mode can ensure a safe core cooling, where the cladding temperature should not be reach the specific safety limits (90 °C). For this purpose, a simple computer program is developed to determine the principal parameter related to the nuclear core safety such as the temperature distribution in the fuel plate and in the coolant (light water) as a function of the reactor power. Our results are validated throughout a comparison against the results of another published work, which is considered like a reference of this study.

Keywords: buoyancy force, friction force, natural convection, thermal hydraulic analysis, vertical heated rectangular channel

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Authors: Abdulmagid A. Khattabi, Ahmed A. Hablous, Mofied M. Elnemry

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The carbon steel is of one of the most common mineral materials used in engineering and industrial applications in order to have access to the required mechanical properties, especially after the change of carbon ratio, but this may lead to stimulate corrosion. It has been used in models of solids with different carbon ratios such as 0.05% C, 0.2% C, 0.35% C, 0.5% C, and 0.65% C and have been studied using three testing durations which are 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks and among different corrosion environments such as atmosphere, fresh water, and salt water. This research is for the purpose of finding the effect of the carbon content on the corrosion resistance of steels in different corrosion medium by using the weight loss technique as a function of the corrosion resistance. The results that have been obtained through this research shows that a correlation can be made between corrosion rates and steel's carbon content, and the corrosion resistance decreases with the increase in carbon content.

Keywords: proportion of carbon in the steel, corrosion rate, erosion, corrosion resistance in carbon-steel

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Authors: Eugen Dimant, Tim Krieger, Margarete Redlin

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This paper analyzes the impact of migration on destination-country corruption levels. Capitalizing on a comprehensive dataset consisting of annual immigration stocks of OECD coun-tries from 207 countries of origin for the period 1984-2008, we explore different channels through which corruption might migrate. We employ different estimation methods using fixed effects and Tobit regressions in order to validate our findings. What is more, we also address the issue of endogeneity by using the Difference-Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator. Independent of the econometric methodology we consistently find that while general migration has an insignificant effect on the destination country’s corruption level, immigration from corruption-ridden origin countries boosts corruption in the destination country. Our findings provide a more profound understanding of the economic implications associated with migration flows.

Keywords: corruption, migration, impact of migration, destination-country corruption

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Authors: Shiuh-Jer Huang, Su-Shean Chen, Sheam-Chyun Lin

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Two-wheel inverted pendulum robot (TWIPR) is designed with two-hub DC motors for human riding and motion control evaluation. In order to measure the tilt angle and angular velocity of the inverted pendulum robot, accelerometer and gyroscope sensors are chosen. The mobile robot’s moving position and velocity were estimated based on DC motor built in hall sensors. The control kernel of this electric mobile robot is designed with embedded Arduino Nano microprocessor. A handle bar was designed to work as steering mechanism. The intelligent model-free fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) was employed as the main control algorithm for this mobile robot motion monitoring with different control purpose adjustment. The intelligent controllers were designed for balance control, and moving speed control purposes of this robot under different operation conditions and the control performance were evaluated based on experimental results.

Keywords: balance control, speed control, intelligent controller, two wheel inverted pendulum

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Authors: Sajjad Seifoori

Abstract:

Impact behavior of striker on graphene sheet and carbon nanotube is investigated based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A MD simulation is conducted to obtain the maximum dynamic deflections of a square and rectangular single-layered graphene sheets (SLGSs) with various values of side-length and striker parameter. Effect of (i) chirality, (ii) graphene side-length and nanotube length, (iii) striker mass on the maximum dynamic deflections of graphene and nanotube are investigated. The effect of different types of boundary condition on the maximum dynamic deflections is studied for zigzag and armchair SWCNTs with various aspect ratios (Length/Diameter).

Keywords: impact, molecular dynamic, graphene, spring mass

Procedia PDF Downloads 329

Authors: F. Arıkan, Z. Karakus

Abstract:

Cancer is a widespread disease in the world and is the third reason of deaths among the chronic diseases. Educating patients and caregivers has a vital role for empowering them in managing disease and treatment's symptoms. Informing of the patients about their disease and treatment process decreases patient's distress and decisional conflicts, improves wellbeing of them, increase success of the treatment and survival. In this era, technological education methods are used for patients that have different chronic disease. Many studies indicated that especially web based patient education such as chronic obstructive lung disease; heart failure is more effective than printed materials. Web based education provide easiness to patients while they are reaching health services. It also has more advantages because of it decreases health cost and requirement of staff. It is thought that web based education may be beneficial method for cancer patient's empowerment in coping with the disease's symptoms. The aim of the study is evaluate the effectiveness of web based education for cancer patients' clinical outcomes.

Keywords: cancer patients, e-learning, nursing, web based education

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Authors: Koustav Pal, Indranil Das

Abstract:

In recent times, perovskite and double perovskite (DP) systems attracts lot of interest as they provide a rich material platform for studying emergent functionalities like near-room-temperature ferromagnetic (FM) insulators, exchange bias (EB), magnetocaloric effects, colossal magnetoresistance, anisotropy, etc. These interesting phenomena emerge because of complex couplings between spin, charge, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom in these systems. Various magnetic phenomena such as exchange bias, spin glass, memory effect, colossal magneto-resistance, etc. can be modified and controlled through antisite (B-site) disorder or controlling oxygen concentration of the material. By controlling oxygen concentration in SrFe0.5Co0.5O3 – δ (SFCO) (δ ∼ 0.3), we achieve intrinsic exchange bias effect with a large exchange bias field (∼1.482 Tesla) and giant coercive field (∼1.454 Tesla). Now we modified the B-site by introducing 10% iridium in the system. This modification give rise to the exchange bias field as high as 1.865 tesla and coercive field 1.863 tesla. Our work aims to investigate the effect of oxygen deficiency and B-site effect on exchange bias in oxide materials for potential technological applications. Structural characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were utilized to determine crystal structure and particle size. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to identify valence states of the ions. Magnetic analysis revealed that oxygen deficiency resulted in a large exchange bias due to a significant number of ionic mixtures. Iridium doping was found to break interaction paths, resulting in various antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic surfaces that enhance exchange bias.

Keywords: coercive field, disorder, exchange bias, spin glass

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Authors: Mohamed M. Ragab, Neveen A. Abdel Raoof, Reham H. Diab

Abstract:

Background: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the most common symptom when ordinary individuals and athletes are exposed to unaccustomed physical activity, especially eccentric contraction which impairs athletic performance, ordinary people work ability and physical functioning. A multitude of methods have been investigated to reduce DOMS. One of the valuable method to control DOMS is repeated bout effect (RBE) as a prophylactic method. Purpose: To compare the repeated bout effect of submaximal eccentric contraction versus maximal isometric contraction on induced DOMS. Methods: Sixty normal male volunteers were assigned randomly into three groups of equal number: Group (A) “first study group”: 20 subjects received submaximal eccentric contraction on non-dominant elbow flexors as prophylactic exercise. Group (B) “second study group”: 20 subjects received maximal isometric contraction on non-dominant elbow flexors as prophylactic exercise. Group (C) “control group”: 20 subjects did not receive any prophylactic exercise. Maximal isometric contraction peak torque of elbow flexors and patient related elbow evaluation (PREE) scale were measured for each subject 3 times before, immediately after and 48 hours after induction of DOMS. Results: Post-hoc test for maximal isometric peak torque and PREE scale immediately and 48 hours after induction of DOMS revealed that group (A) and group (B) resulted in significant decrease in maximal isometric strength loss and elbow pain and disability rather than control group (C), but submaximal eccentric group (A) was more effective than maximal isometric group (B) as it showed more rapid recovery of functional strength and less degrees of elbow pain and disability. Conclusion: Both submaximal eccentric contraction and maximal isometric contraction were effective in prevention of DOMS but submaximal eccentric contraction had the greatest protective effect.

Keywords: delayed onset muscle soreness, maximal isometric peak torque, patient related elbow evaluation scale, repeated bout effect

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Authors: Michele Sinico

Abstract:

The psychological present has an actual extension. When a sequence of instantaneous stimuli falls in this short interval of time, observers perceive a compresence of events in succession and the temporal order depends on the qualitative relationships between the perceptual properties of the events. Two experiments were carried out to study the influence of perceptual grouping, with and without temporal displacement, on the duration of auditory sequences. The psychophysical method of adjustment was adopted. The first experiment investigated the effect of temporal displacement of a white noise on sequence duration. The second experiment investigated the effect of temporal displacement, along the pitch dimension, on temporal shortening of sequence. The results suggest that the temporal order of sounds, in the case of temporal displacement, is organized along the pitch dimension.

Keywords: time perception, perceptual present, temporal displacement, Gestalt laws of perceptual organization

Procedia PDF Downloads 251