Search results for: reduction reaction

Authors: R. Reshma srilakshmi, S. Shalini, P. Yogeeswari, D. Sriram

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Lysine aminotransferase is a crucial enzyme for dormancy in M. tuberculosis. It is involved in persistence and antibiotic resistance. In present work, we attempted to develop benzthiazole derivatives as lysine aminotransferase inhibitors. In our attempts, we also unexpectedly arrived at an interesting compound 21 (E)-4-(5-(2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-2-cyanovinyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzoic acid which even though has moderate activity against persistent phase of mycobacterium, it has significant potency against active phase. In the entire series compound 22 (E)-4-(5-(2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-2-cyanovinyl)thiophen-2-yl)isophthalic acid emerged as potent molecule with LAT IC50 of 2.62 µM. It has a significant log reduction of 2.9 and 2.3 fold against nutrient starved and biofilm forming mycobacteria. It was found to be inactive in MABA assay and M.marinum induced zebra fish model. It is also devoid of cytotoxicity. Compound 22 was also found to possess bactericidal effect which is independent of concentration and time. It was found to be effective in combination with Rifampicin in 3D granuloma model. The results are very encouraging as the hit molecule shows activity against active as well as persistent forms of tuberculosis. The identified hit needs further more pharmacokinetic and dynamic screening for development as new drug candidate.

Keywords: benzothiazole, latent tuberculosis, LAT, nutrient starvation

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Authors: Ahmed Kiani

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The United Arab Emirates is clearly facing a multitude of challenges in curbing its greenhouse gas emissions to meet its pre-allotted framework of Kyoto protocol and COP21 targets due to its hunger for modernization, industrialization, infrastructure growth, soaring population and oil and gas activity. In this work, we focus on the bonafide zero emission electric vehicles market penetration in the country’s transport industry for emission reduction. We study the global electric vehicle market trends, the complementary battery technologies and the trends by manufacturers, emission standards across borders and prioritized advancements which will ultimately dictate the terms of future conditions for the United Arab Emirate transport industry. Based on our findings and analysis at every stage of current viability and state-of-transport-affairs, we postulate policy recommendations to local governmental entities from a supply and demand perspective covering aspects of technology, infrastructure requirements, change in power dynamics, end user incentives program, market regulators behavior and communications amongst key stakeholders. 

Keywords: electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emission reductions, market analysis, policy recommendations

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Authors: Jin Woong Lee, Kyuman Cho, Taehoon Kim

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The application of constructability is increasingly required not only in the construction phase but also in the whole project stage. In particular, the proper application of construction experience and knowledge during the design phase enables the minimization of inefficiencies such as design changes and improvements in constructability during the construction phase. In order to apply knowledge effectively, engineering technology efforts should be implemented with design progress. Among many engineering technologies, engineering for temporary works, including facilities, equipment, and other related construction methods, is important to improve constructability. Therefore, as basic research, this study investigates the applicability of temporary work engineering during the design phase in the building construction industry. As a result, application of temporary work engineering has a greater impact on construction cost reduction and constructability improvement. In contrast to the existing design-bid-build method, the turn-key and CM (construct management) procurement methods currently being implemented in Korea are expected to have a significant impact on the direction of temporary work engineering. To introduce temporary work engineering, expert/professional organization training is first required, and a lack of client awareness should be preferentially improved. The results of this study are expected to be useful as reference material for the development of more effective temporary work engineering tasks and work processes in the future.

Keywords: Temporary Work Engineering, Design Phase, Constructability, Building Construction

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Authors: Tarek Aly

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Introduction: Maintenance of the length, providing rotational stability, and preserving functional range of forearm motion is the mainstay of both bone forearm fractures treatment. Conservative treatment in older children may lead to malunion with poor remodeling capacity. Recent studies emphasized that the rate of complications with IM nailing was obviously increased in old children. Open reduction and internal fixation have been criticized for the amount of soft tissue dissection and periosteal stripping needed for fixation and excessive scar formation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anatomical and functional outcomes of hybrid fixation in the treatment of closed proximal radius and ulna fractures in adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age. Patients and Methods: 30 cases of diaphyseal both bone forearm fractures treated with hybrid fixation (Nail radius – Plate ulna) and were available for a follow-up period of fewer than 24 months. Results: Clinically, 72% of cases had an excellent function, 22% had a good function, 4% had a fair function, and 2% had a poor function. Radiologically, signs of the union had appeared in the radius 2weeks earlier than in the ulna in 55% of cases. Conclusion: A hybrid fixation technique in adolescent proximal both-bones forearm fractures could be a viable option in managing these injuries.

Keywords: hyprid fixation, both bones, forearm, fractures

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Authors: Mahrooz Abed, Amir R. Masoodi

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Many structural lateral systems are used in tall buildings such as rigid frames, braced frames, shear walls, tubular structures and core structures. Some efficient structures for drift control and base moment reduction in tall buildings is outrigger and belt truss systems. When adopting outrigger beams in building design, their location should be in an optimum position for an economical design. A range of different strategies has been employed to identify the optimum locations of these outrigger beams under wind load. However, there is an absence of scientific research or case studies dealing with optimum outrigger location using buckling analysis. In this paper, one outrigger system is considered at the middle of height of structure. The optimum location of outrigger will be found based on the buckling load limitation. The core of structure is modeled by a clamped tapered beam. The exact stiffness matrix of tapered beam is formulated based on the Euler-Bernoulli theory. Finally, based on the buckling load of structure, the optimal location of outrigger will be found.

Keywords: tall buildings, outrigger system, buckling load, second-order effects, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory

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Authors: A. Panacek, M. Kilianova, R. Prucek, V. Husickova, R. Vecerova, M. Kolar, L. Kvitek, R. Zboril

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In this work we describe the preparation of NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel containing silver nanoparticles (NPs) for topical bactericidal applications. Highly concentrated dispersion of silver NPs as high as of 5g/L of silver with diameter of 10nm was prepared by reduction of AgNO3 via strong reducing agent NaBH4. Silver NPs were stabilized by addition of sodium polyacrylate in order to prevent their aggregation at such high concentration. This way synthesized silver NPs were subsequently incorporated into methylcellulose suspension at elevated temperature resulting in formation of NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel when temperature cooled down to laboratory conditions. In vitro antibacterial activity assay proved high bactericidal and fungicidal efficiency of silver NPs alone in the form of dispersion as well as in the form of hydrogel against broad spectrum of bacteria and yeasts including highly multiresistant strains such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. A very low concentrations of silver as low as 0.84mg/L Ag in as-prepared dispersion gave antibacterial performance. NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel showed antibacterial action at the lowest used silver concentration equal to 25mg/L. Such prepared NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel represent promising topical antimicrobial formulation for treatment of burns and wounds.

Keywords: antimicrobial, burn, hydrogel, silver NPs

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Authors: S. B. Rathna Kumar, Sale Kranthi, Sandya K. Varudhini

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The precise perception of spoken language is influenced by several variables, including the listeners’ native language, distance between speaker and listener, reverberation and background noise. When noise is present in an acoustic environment, it masks the speech signal resulting in reduction in the redundancy of the acoustic and linguistic cues of speech. There is strong evidence that bilinguals face difficulty in speech perception for their second language compared with monolingual speakers under adverse listening conditions such as presence of background noise. This difficulty persists even for speakers who are highly proficient in their second language and is greater in those who have learned the second language later in life. The present study aimed to assess the performance of monolingual (Telugu speaking) and bilingual (Tamil as first language and Telugu as second language) speakers on Telugu speech perception task under quiet and noisy environments. The results indicated that both the groups performed similar in both quiet and noisy environments. The findings of the present study are not in accordance with the findings of previous studies which strongly report poorer speech perception in adverse listening conditions such as noise with bilingual speakers for their second language compared with monolinguals.

Keywords: monolingual, bilingual, second language, speech perception, quiet, noise

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Authors: Julide Hizal Yucesoy, Batuhan Yardimci, Aysem Arda, Resat Apak

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Humic substances produce reactive oxygene species such as hydroxyl, phenoxy and superoxide radicals by oxidizing in a wide pH and reduction potential range. Hydroxyl radicals, produced by reducing agents such as antioxidants and/or peroxides, attack on salicylate probe, and form 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoate and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate species. These species are quantitatively determined by using HPLC Method. Humic substances undergo photodegradation by UV radiation. As a result of their antioxidant properties, they produce hydroxyl radicals. In the presence of salicylate probe, these hydroxyl radicals react with salicylate molecules to form hydroxylated products (dihidroxybenzoate isomers). In this study, humic acid was photodegraded in a photoreactor at 254 nm (400W), formed hydroxyl radicals were caught by salicylate probe. The total concentration of hydroxylated salicylate species was measured by using spectrophotometric CUPRAC Method. And also, using results of time dependent experiments, kinetic of photohydroxylation was determined at different pHs. This method has been applied for the first time to measure the concentration of hydroxylated products. It allows to achieve the results easier than HPLC Method.

Keywords: CUPRAC method, humic acid, photohydroxylation, salicylate probe

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Authors: Ana Serafimovic, Karthik Devarajan

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Non-negative matrix factorization approximates a high dimensional non-negative matrix V as the product of two non-negative matrices, W and H, and allows only additive linear combinations of data, enabling it to learn parts with representations in reality. It has been successfully applied in the analysis and interpretation of high dimensional data arising in neuroscience, computational biology, and natural language processing, to name a few. The objective of this paper is to assess a hybrid algorithm for non-negative matrix factorization with multiplicative updates. The method aims to minimize the symmetric version of Kullback-Leibler divergence known as intrinsic information and assumes that the noise is signal-dependent and that it originates from an arbitrary distribution from the exponential family. It is a generalization of currently available algorithms for Gaussian, Poisson, gamma and inverse Gaussian noise. We demonstrate the potential usefulness of the new generalized algorithm by comparing its performance to the baseline methods which also aim to minimize symmetric divergence measures.

Keywords: non-negative matrix factorization, dimension reduction, clustering, intrinsic information, symmetric information divergence, signal-dependent noise, exponential family, generalized Kullback-Leibler divergence, dual divergence

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Authors: Maria Ezziani, Rabie Zine, Amine Amar, Ilhame Kissani

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This paper introduces a predictive model for urban transportation engineering, which is vital for efficient traffic management. Utilizing comprehensive datasets and advanced statistical techniques, the model accurately forecasts travel times by considering temporal variations and traffic dynamics. Machine learning algorithms, including regression trees and neural networks, are employed to capture sequential dependencies. Results indicate significant improvements in predictive accuracy, particularly during peak hours and holidays, with the incorporation of traffic flow and speed variables. Future enhancements may integrate weather conditions and traffic incidents. The model's applications range from adaptive traffic management systems to route optimization algorithms, facilitating congestion reduction and enhancing journey reliability. Overall, this research extends beyond travel time estimation, offering insights into broader transportation planning and policy-making realms, empowering stakeholders to optimize infrastructure utilization and improve network efficiency.

Keywords: predictive analytics, traffic flow, travel time estimation, urban transportation, machine learning, traffic management

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Authors: K. A. Kemelov, Z. K. Maymekov, D. A. Sambaeva, W. Frenzel

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Benzo(a)pyrene is widespread carcinogenic and mutagenic environmental pollutant, which is formed in combustion processes of carbonaceous materials at high temperature and still health safety problem related benz(a)pyrene continues to remain actual. At the moment the mechanisms of formation of benzo(a)pyrene are not studied in detail, there is not concrete certain full scheme of synthesis of benzo(a)pyrene. Studies in this area are mainly dedicated to development of measuring tools and chemical reactions analyzes, or to obtain specific evidence of a large group of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Consequently in this study we try to create physical and chemical model of oxidation and thermo destruction processes of benzo(a)pyrene, using critical thermodynamical parameters in order to estimate theoretical derivatives of benzo(a)pyrene and which conditions benzo(a)pyrene degraded into more harmful substances. According to this physical and chemical modeling of thermal destruction process of benzo(a)pyrene in wide ranges of change of temperature value were calculated. C20H12 - H2O-O2 system was taken for modeling of thermal destruction process of benzo(a)pyrene in order to establish distribution range of equilibrium structures and concentrations of molecules in a gas phase. Also technological ways of reduction of concentration of benzo(a)pyrene in a gas phase were supposed.

Keywords: benzo(a)pyrene, emission, PAH, thermodynamic parameters

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Authors: Guillaume Craveur

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This study shows the opportunity to use numerical tools dedicated to Fire Safety Engineering for the Rolling Stock. Indeed, some lawful requirements can now be demonstrated by using numerical tools. The first part of this study presents the use of modelling evacuation tool to satisfy the criteria of evacuation time for the rolling stock. The buildingEXODUS software is used to model and simulate the evacuation of rolling stock. Firstly, in order to demonstrate the reliability of this tool to calculate the complete evacuation time, a comparative study was achieved between a real test and simulations done with buildingEXODUS. Multiple simulations are performed to capture the stochastic variations in egress times. Then, a new study is done to calculate the complete evacuation time of a train with the same geometry but with a different interior architecture. The second part of this study shows some applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics. This work presents the approach of a multi scales validation of numerical simulations of standardized tests with Fire Dynamics Simulations software developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This work highlights in first the cone calorimeter test, described in the standard ISO 5660, in order to characterize the fire reaction of materials. The aim of this process is to readjust measurement results from the cone calorimeter test in order to create a data set usable at the seat scale. In the second step, the modelisation concerns the fire seat test described in the standard EN 45545-2. The data set obtained thanks to the validation of the cone calorimeter test was set up in the fire seat test. To conclude with the third step, after controlled the data obtained for the seat from the cone calorimeter test, a larger scale simulation with a real part of train is achieved.

Keywords: fire safety engineering, numerical tools, rolling stock, multi-scales validation

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Authors: Fei Gao, Rodolfo C. Raga Jr.

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This research proposal will ascertain the major risk factors for diabetes and to design a predictive model for risk assessment. The project aims to improve diabetes early detection and management by utilizing data science techniques, which may improve patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency. The phase relation values of each attribute were used to analyze and choose the attributes that might influence the examiner's survival probability using Diabetes Health Indicators Dataset from Kaggle’s data as the research data. We compare and evaluate eight machine learning algorithms. Our investigation begins with comprehensive data preprocessing, including feature engineering and dimensionality reduction, aimed at enhancing data quality. The dataset, comprising health indicators and medical data, serves as a foundation for training and testing these algorithms. A rigorous cross-validation process is applied, and we assess their performance using five key metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). After analyzing the data characteristics, investigate their impact on the likelihood of diabetes and develop corresponding risk indicators.

Keywords: diabetes, risk factors, predictive model, risk assessment, data science techniques, early detection, data analysis, Kaggle

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Authors: Yahia Massinissa, Yahia Mouloud

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Cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common lethal genetic disease in the Europe population, is caused by mutations in the transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). It affects most organs including an epithelial tissue, base of hydroelectrolytic transepithelial transport, notably that aerial ways, the pancreas, the biliary ways, the intestine, sweat glands and the genital tractus. The gene whose anomalies are responsible of the cystic fibrosis codes for a protein Cl channel named CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) that exercises multiple functions in the cell, one of the most important in control of sodium and chlorine through epithelia. The deficient function translates itself notably by an abnormal production of viscous secretion that obstructs the execrator channels of this target organ: one observes then a dilatation, an inflammation and an atrophy of these organs. It also translates itself by an increase of the concentration in sodium and in chloride in sweat, to the basis of the sweat test. In order to do a phenotypical and genotypical diagnosis at a part of the Algerian population, our survey has been carried on 16 patients with evocative symptoms of the cystic fibrosis at that the clinical context has been confirmed by a sweat test. However, anomalies of the CFTR gene have been determined by electrophoresis in gel of polyacrylamide of the PCR products (polymerase chain reaction), after enzymatic digestion, then visualized to the ultraviolet (UV) after action of the ethidium bromide. All mutations detected at the time of our survey have already been identified at patients attained by this pathology in other populations of the world. However, the important number of found mutation with regard to the one of the studied patients testifies that the origin of this big clinical variability that characterizes the illness in the consequences of an enormous diversity of molecular defects of the CFTR gene.

Keywords: cystic fibrosis, CFTR gene, polymorphism, algerian population, sweat test, genotypical diagnosis

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Authors: Annie B. V., Anu A. G., Harikumar R.

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Microgrid (MG) is a self-governing miniature section of the power system. Nowadays the majority of loads and energy storage devices are inherently in DC form. This necessitates a greater scope of research in the various types of energy storage devices in DC microgrids. In a modern power system, DC microgrid is a manageable electric power system usually integrated with renewable energy sources (RESs) and DC loads with the help of power electronic converters. The stability of the DC microgrid mainly depends on the power imbalance. Power imbalance due to the presence of intermittent renewable energy resources (RERs) is supplied by energy storage devices. Battery, supercapacitor, flywheel, etc. are some of the commonly used energy storage devices. Owing to the high energy density provided by the batteries, this type of energy storage system is mainly utilized in all sorts of hybrid energy storage systems. To minimize the stability issues, a Supercapacitor (SC) is usually interfaced with the help of a bidirectional DC/DC converter. SC can exchange power during transient conditions due to its high power density. This paper analyses the stability issues of DC microgrids with hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) arises from a reduction in SC operating voltage due to self-discharge. The stability of DC microgrid and power management is analyzed with different control strategies.

Keywords: DC microgrid, hybrid energy storage system (HESS), power management, small signal modeling, supercapacitor

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Authors: A. Derrouazin, N. Mekkakia-M, R. Taleb, M. Helaimi, A. Benbouali

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Nowadays the use of different sources of renewable energy for the production of electricity is the concern of everyone, as, even impersonal domestic use of the electricity in isolated sites or in town. As the conventional sources of energy are shrinking, a need has arisen to look for alternative sources of energy with more emphasis on its optimal use. This paper presents design of a sustainable Hybrid Power System (PV-Wind-Storage) assisted by grid as supplementary sources applied to case study residential house, to meet its entire energy demand. A Fuzzy control system model has been developed to optimize and control flow of power from these sources. This energy requirement is mainly fulfilled from PV and Wind energy stored in batteries module for critical load of a residential house and supplemented by grid for base and peak load. The system has been developed for maximum daily households load energy of 3kWh and can be scaled to any higher value as per requirement of individual /community house ranging from 3kWh/day to 10kWh/day, as per the requirement. The simulation work, using intelligent energy management, has resulted in an optimal yield leading to average reduction in cost of electricity by 50% per day.

Keywords: photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine, battery, microcontroller, fuzzy control (FC), Matlab

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Authors: A. S. Lunev, A. A. Larenkov, O. E. Klementyeva, G. E. Kodina

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Background and aims: 68Ga-citrate is one of prospective radiopharmaceutical for PET-imaging of inflammation and infection. 68Ga-citrate is 67Ga-citrate analogue using since 1970s for SPECT-imaging. There's known rebinding reaction occurs past Ga-citrate injection and gallium (similar iron Fe3+) binds with blood transferrin. Then radiolabeled protein complex is delivered to pathological foci (inflammation/infection sites). But excessive gallium bindings with transferrin are cause of slow blood clearance, long accumulation time in foci (24-72 h) and exception of application possibility of the short-lived gallium-68 (T½ = 68 min). Injection of additional chemical agents (e.g. Fe3+ compounds) competing with radioactive gallium to the blood transferrin joining (blocking of its metal binding capacity) is one of the ways to solve formulated problem. This phenomenon can be used for correction of 68Ga-citrate pharmacokinetics for increasing of the blood clearance and accumulation in foci. The aim of real studying is research of effect of stable Fe-citrate on 68Ga-citrate tissue distribution. Materials and methods: 68Ga-citrate without/with extra injection of stable Fe-citrate (III) was injected nonlinear mice with inflammation models (aseptic soft tissue inflammation, lung infection, osteomyelitis). PET/X-RAY Genisys4 (Sofie Bioscience, USA) was used for non-invasive PET imaging (for 30, 60, 120 min past injection 68Ga-citrate) with subsequent reconstruction of imaging and their analysis (value of clearance, distribution volume). Scanning time is 10 min. Results and conclusions: I. v. injection of stable Fe-citrate blocks the metal-binding capability of transferrin serum and allows decreasing gallium-68 radioactivity in blood significantly and increasing accumulation in inflammation (3-5 time). It allows receiving more informative PET-images of inflammation early (for 30-60 min after injection). Pharmacokinetic parameters prove it. Noted there is no statistically significant difference between 68Ga-citrate accumulation for different inflammation model because PET imaging is indication of pathological processes and is not their identification.

Keywords: 68Ga-citrate, Fe-citrate, PET imaging, mice, inflammation, infection

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Authors: Alisher Agzamov, Hanan Al Harbi

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BACKGROUND: The timely assessment and treatment of ICU Surgical and Medical Oncology patients is important for Oncology surgeons and Medical Oncologists and Intensivists (1). We hypothesized that the use of Robot Physician’s (RP - 7) ICU management and care in ICU can improve ICU physician rapid response to unstable ICU Oncology patients. METHODS: This is a prospective study of 1501 oncology patients using a before-after, cohort-control design to test the effectiveness of RP. We have used RP to make multidisciplinary ICU rounds in the ICU and for Emergency cases. Data concerning several aspects of the RP interaction, including the latency of the response, the problem being treated, the intervention that was ordered, and the type of information gathered using the RP, were documented. The effect of RP on ICU length of stay and cost was assessed. RESULTS: The use of RP was associated with a reduction in latency of attending physician face-to-face response for routine and urgent pages compared to conventional care (RP: 10.2 +/- 3.3 minutes vs conventional: 210 +/- 40 minutes). The response latencies to Oncology Emergency (8.0 +/- 2.8 vs 140 +/- 35 minutes) and for Respiratory Failure (12 +/- 04 vs 110 +/- 45 minutes) were reduced (P < .001), as was the LOS for oncology patients (5 days) and ARDS (10 day). There was an increase in ICU occupancy by 29 % compared with the prerobot era, and there was an ICU cost savings of KD2.2 million attributable to the use of RP. CONCLUSION: The use of RP enabled rapid face-to-face ICU Intensivist - physician response to unstable ICU Oncology patients and resulted in decreased ICU cost and LOS.

Keywords: robot physician, oncology patients, icu management and care, cost and icu occupancy

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Authors: Belkacem Selma, Boumediene Selma, Tourkia Guerzou, Abbes Labdelli

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Natural disasters have occurred and will continue to cause human and material damage. Therefore, the idea of "preventing" natural disasters will never be possible. However, their prediction is possible with the advancement of technology. Even if natural disasters are effectively inevitable, their consequences may be partly controlled. The rapid growth and progress of artificial intelligence (AI) had a major impact on the prediction of natural disasters and risk assessment which are necessary for effective disaster reduction. The Earthquakes prediction to prevent the loss of human lives and even property damage is an important factor; that is why it is crucial to develop techniques for predicting this natural disaster. This present study aims to analyze the ability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict earthquakes that occur in a given area. The used data describe the problem of high energy (higher than 10^4J) seismic bumps forecasting in a coal mine using two long walls as an example. For this purpose, seismic bumps data obtained from mines has been analyzed. The results obtained show that the ANN with high accuracy was able to predict earthquake parameters; the classification accuracy through neural networks is more than 94%, and that the models developed are efficient and robust and depend only weakly on the initial database.

Keywords: earthquake prediction, ANN, seismic bumps

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Authors: Nor-Edine Abriak, Mouhamadou Amar, Mahfoud Benzerzour

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The transition to a more sustainable economy is directed by a reduction in the consumption of raw materials in equivalent production. The recovery of byproducts and especially the dredged sediment as mineral addition in cements matrix represents an alternative to reduce raw material consumption and construction sector’s carbon footprint. However, the efficient use of sediment requires adequate and optimal treatment. Several processing techniques have so far been applied in order to improve some physicochemical properties. The heat treatment by calcination was effective in removing the organic fraction and activates the pozzolanic properties. In this article, the effect of the optimized heat treatment of marine sediments in the physico-mechanical and environmental properties of mortars are shown. A finding is that the optimal substitution of a portion of cement by treated sediments by calcination at 750 °C helps to maintain or improve the mechanical properties of the cement matrix in comparison with a standard reference mortar. The use of calcined sediment enhances mortar behavior in terms of mechanical strength and durability. From an environmental point of view and life cycle, mortars formulated containing treated sediments are considered inert with respect to the inert waste storage facilities reference (ISDI-France).

Keywords: sediment, calcination, cement, reuse

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Authors: N. Harun, E. E. Masiren, W. H. W. Ibrahim, F. Adam

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Amine absorption process is an approach for mitigation of CO2 from flue gas that produces from power plant. This process is the most common system used in chemical and oil industries for gas purification to remove acid gases. On the challenges of this process is high energy requirement for solvent regeneration to release CO2. In the past few years, mixed alkanolamines have received increasing attention. In most cases, the mixtures contain N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) as the base amine with the addition of one or two more reactive amines such as PZ. The reason for the application of such blend amine is to take advantage of high reaction rate of CO2 with the activator combined with the advantages of the low heat of regeneration of MDEA. Several experimental and simulation studies have been undertaken to understand this process using blend MDEA/PZ solvent. Despite those studies, the mechanism of CO2 absorption into the aqueous MDEA is not well understood and available knowledge within the open literature is limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the intermolecular interaction of the blend MDEA/PZ using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation. MD simulation was run under condition 313K and 1 atm using NVE ensemble at 200ps and NVT ensemble at 1ns. The results were interpreted in term of Radial Distribution Function (RDF) analysis through two system of interest i.e binary and tertiary. The binary system will explain the interaction between amine and water molecule while tertiary system used to determine the interaction between the amine and CO2 molecule. For the binary system, it was observed that the –OH group of MDEA is more attracted to water molecule compared to –NH group of MDEA. The –OH group of MDEA can form the hydrogen bond with water that will assist the solubility of MDEA in water. The intermolecular interaction probability of –OH and –NH group of MDEA with CO2 in blended MDEA/PZ is higher than using single MDEA. This findings show that PZ molecule act as an activator to promote the intermolecular interaction between MDEA and CO2.Thus, blend of MDEA with PZ is expecting to increase the absorption rate of CO2 and reduce the heat regeneration requirement.

Keywords: amine absorption process, blend MDEA/PZ, CO2 capture, molecular dynamic simulation, radial distribution function

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Authors: Vipin Bhandari, Anupama Singh, Kopal Gupta

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Solid state fermentation, an eminent bioconversion technique for converting many biological substrates into a value-added product, has proven its role in the biotransformation of crops by nutritionally enriching them. Hence, an effort was made for nutritional enhancement of underutilized crops viz. barnyard millet, amaranthus and horse gram based composite flour using SSF. The grains were given pre-treatments before fermentation and these pre-treatments proved quite effective in diminishing the level of antinutrients in grains and in improving their nutritional characteristics. The present study deals with the enhancement of nutritional characteristics of underutilized crops viz. barnyard millet, amaranthus and horsegram based composite flour using solid state fermentation (SSF) as the principle bioconversion technique to convert the composite flour substrate into a nutritionally enriched value added product. Response surface methodology was used to design the experiments. The variables selected for the fermentation experiments were substrate particle size, substrate blend ratio, fermentation time, fermentation temperature and moisture content having three levels of each. Seventeen designed experiments were conducted randomly to find the effect of these variables on microbial count, reducing sugar, pH, total sugar, phytic acid and water absorption index. The data from all experiments were analyzed using Design Expert 8.0.6 and the response functions were developed using multiple regression analysis and second order models were fitted for each response. Results revealed that pretreatments proved quite handful in diminishing the level of antinutrients and thus enhancing the nutritional value of the grains appreciably, for instance, there was about 23% reduction in phytic acid levels after decortication of barnyard millet. The carbohydrate content of the decorticated barnyard millet increased to 81.5% from initial value of 65.2%. Similarly popping and puffing of horsegram and amaranthus respectively greatly reduced the trypsin inhibitor activity. Puffing of amaranthus also reduced the tannin content appreciably. Bacillus subtilis was used as the inoculating specie since it is known to produce phytases in solid state fermentation systems. These phytases remarkably reduce the phytic acid content which acts as a major antinutritional factor in food grains. Results of solid state fermentation experiments revealed that phytic acid levels reduced appreciably when fermentation was allowed to continue for 72 hours at a temperature of 35°C. Particle size and substrate blend ratio also affected the responses positively. All the parameters viz. substrate particle size, substrate blend ratio, fermentation time, fermentation temperature and moisture content affected the responses namely microbial count, reducing sugar, pH, total sugar, phytic acid and water absorption index but the effect of fermentation time was found to be most significant on all the responses. Statistical analysis resulted in the optimum conditions (particle size 355µ, substrate blend ratio 50:20:30 of barnyard millet, amaranthus and horsegram respectively, fermentation time 68 hrs, fermentation temperature 35°C and moisture content 47%) for maximum reduction in phytic acid. The model F- value was found to be highly significant at 1% level of significance in case of all the responses. Hence, second order model could be fitted to predict all the dependent parameters. The effect of fermentation time was found to be most significant as compared to other variables.

Keywords: composite flour, solid state fermentation, underutilized crops, cereals, fermentation technology, food processing

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Authors: Othman E. Othman, Hassan R. Darwish, Amira M. Nowier

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Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional protein involved in economically production traits like milk protein composition and skeletal structure in small ruminants including sheep and goat. So, LF gene - with its genetic polymorphisms associated with production traits - is considered a candidate genetic marker used in marker-assisted selection in goats. This study aimed to identify the different alleles and genotypes of this gene in three Egyptian goat breeds using PCR-SSCP (polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism) and DNA sequencing. Genomic DNA was extracted from 120 animals belonging to Barki, Zaraibi, and Damascus goat breeds. Using specific primers, PCR amplified 247-bp fragments from exon 2 of LF goat gene. The PCR products were subjected to Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) technique. The results showed the presence of two genotypes GG and AG in the tested animals. The frequencies of both genotypes varied among the three tested breeds with the highest frequencies of GG genotype in all tested goat breeds. The sequence analysis of PCR products representing these two detected genotypes declared the presence of an SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) substitution (G/A) among G and A alleles of this gene. The association between different LF genotypes and milk composition as well as body measurement was estimated. The comparison showed that the animals possess AG genotypes are superior over those with GG genotypes for different parameters of milk protein compositions and skeletal structures. This finding declared that allele A of LF gene is considered the promising marker for the productive traits in goat. In conclusion, the Egyptian goat breeds will be needed to enhance their milk protein composition and growth trait parameters through the increasing of allele A frequency in their herds depending on the superior production traits of this allele in goats.

Keywords: lLactoferrin gene, PCR-SSCP, SNPs, Egyptian goat

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Authors: Kok Hong Tan, Hing Wah Lee, Jhih-Wei Chen, Chang Fu Dee, Chung-Lin Wu, Siang-Piao Chai, Wei Sea Chang

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Semiconductor photocatalyst is known as one of the key roles in developing clean and sustainable energy. However, most of the semiconductor only possesses photoactivity within the UV light region, and hence, decreases the overall photocatalyst efficiency. Generally, the overall effectiveness of the photocatalyst activity is determined by three critical steps: (i) light absorption efficiency and photoexcitation electron-hole pair generation, (ii) separation and migration of charge carriers to the surface of the photocatalyst, and (iii) surface reaction of the carriers with its environment. Much effort has been invested on optimizing hierarchical nanostructures of semiconductors for efficient photoactivity due to the fact that the visible light absorption capability and occurrence of the chemical reactions mostly depend on the dimension of photocatalysts. In this work, we incorporated zero-dimensional (0D) gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and one dimensional (1D) Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) onto strontium titanate (STO) for efficient visible light absorption, charge transfer, and separation. We demonstrate that the electrical and optical properties of the photocatalyst can be tuned by controlling the dimensional structures of AuNPs and ZnO NRs. We found that smaller AuNPs sizes exhibited higher photoactivity because of Fermi level shifting toward the conductive band of STO, STO band gap narrowing and broadening of absorption spectrum to the visible light region. For ZnO NRs, it was found that the average ZnO NRs c-axis length must achieve of certain length to induce multiphoton absorption as a result of light reflection and trapping behavior in the free space between adjacent ZnO NRs hence broadening the absorption spectrum of ZnO from UV to visible light region. This work opens up a new way of broadening the absorption spectrum by incorporating controllable nanostructures of semiconductors, which is important in optimizing the solar water splitting process.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, photoelectrochemical, PEC, semiconductor photocatalyst, zinc oxide nanorods

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Policarpio Jr. Joves

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Physicians in most teaching hospitals are commonly promoted into managerial roles, yet their training is mostly in clinical and scientific skills but not in leadership competencies. When they shift into roles of physician leadership, the majority hold on to their primary identity of physicians. These conflicting roles affect their identity and eventually their work. The physician leaders also face additional challenges related to academics which include incorporation of new knowledge into the existing curriculum, use of technology in the delivery of teaching, the need to train medical students outside of hospital wards, etc. The study aims to explore how physician leaders in teaching hospitals of private medical schools enact their leadership roles and how they face the challenges as physician leaders. The study setting shall be teaching hospitals of three private medical schools situated in the National Capital Region, Philippines. A multiple case study design shall be adopted in this research. Physicians shall be eligible to participate in the study if they are practicing clinicians limited to the five major clinical specialty: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology. They must be teaching in the College of Medicine prior to their appointments as physician leaders in both medical school and teaching hospital. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews shall be utilized as a means of data collection, with open-ended questions, enabling physician leaders to present narratives about their identity, role enactment, conflicts, reaction of colleagues, and the challenges encountered in their day-to-day work as physician leaders. Interviews shall be combined with observations and review of records to gain more insights into how the physician leaders are 'doing' management. Within-case analysis shall be done initially followed by a thematic analysis across the cases, referred to as cross–case analysis or cross-case synthesis.

Keywords: academic leaders, academic managers, physician leaders, physician managers

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: Juan Eduardo Rolon Rios, Fredy Alejandro Orjuela, Alexander Garcia Mariaca

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For banana and potato wastes, their peels are processed in order to make animal food with the condition that those wastes must not have started the decomposition process. One alternative to taking advantage of those wastes is to obtain a bioplastic based on starch from banana and potato shells. These products are 100% biodegradables, and researchers have been studying them for different applications, helping in the reduction of organic wastes and ordinary plastic wastes. Without petroleum affecting the prices of bioplastics, bioplastics market has a growing tendency and it is seen that it can keep this tendency in the medium term up to 350%. In this work, it will be shown the results for elasticity module and percent elongation for bioplastics obtained from a mixture of starch of bananas and potatoes peels, with glycerol as plasticizer. The experimental variables were the plasticizer percentage and the mixture between banana starch and potato starch. The results show that the bioplastics obtained can be used in different applications such as plastic bags or sorbets, verifying their admissible degradation percentages for each one of these applications. The results also show that they agree with the data found in the literature due to the fact that mixtures with a major amount of potato starch had the best mechanical properties because of the potato starch characteristics.

Keywords: bioplastics, fruit waste, mechanical testing, mechanical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Praveen K. Khatri, Neha Karanwal, Savita Kaul, Suman L. Jain

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Conversion of biomass through green chemical routes is of great industrial importance as biomass is considered to be most widely available inexpensive renewable resource that can be used as a raw material for the production of bio fuel and value-added organic products. In this regard, acid catalyzed dehydration of biomass derived pentose sugar (mainly D-xylose) to furfural is a process of tremendous research interest in current scenario due to the wider industrial applications of furfural. Furfural is an excellent organic solvent for refinement of lubricants and separation of butadiene from butene mixture in synthetic rubber fabrication. In addition it also serve as a promising solvent for many organic materials, such as resins, polymers and also used as a building block for synthesis of various valuable chemicals such as furfuryl alcohol, furan, pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and THF. Here in a sulfonated polymer impregnated carbon composite solid acid catalyst (P-C-SO3H) was prepared by the pyrolysis of a polymer matrix impregnated with glucose followed by its sulfonation and used for the dehydration of xylose to furfural. The developed catalyst exhibited excellent activity and provided almost quantitative conversion of xylose with the selective synthesis of furfural. The higher catalytic activity of P-C-SO3H may be due to the more even distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons generated from incomplete carbonization of glucose along the polymer matrix network, leading to more available sites for sulfonation which resulted in greater sulfonic acid density in P-C-SO3H as compared to sulfonated carbon catalyst (C-SO3H). In conclusion, we have demonstrated sulfonated polymer impregnated carbon composite (P-C-SO3H) as an efficient and selective solid acid catalyst for the dehydration of xylose to furfural. After completion of the reaction, the catalyst was easily recovered and reused for several runs without noticeable loss in its activity and selectivity.

Keywords: Solid acid , Biomass conversion, Xylose Dehydration, Heterogeneous catalyst

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Siamak Eskandari, Neda Ebadi

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After discovering and using Freon as refrigerant in refrigerators and air conditioners, researchers have been working hard to minimize massive environmental damage caused by this type of systems, including ozone depletion, heat production, and urban warming. However, there is a growing concern for global warming and climate change and its impacts on climates. Although gas air conditioners can provide comfort in short term, there are long-term consequences and effects, including global warming, polar ice melting, sea level rising, rising sea surface temperatures, reduction in seasonal precipitation, tropical storms, and drought. In this theoretical and practical study, Peltier electronic chip was used with no gas in the structure and operation. In fact, cooling and heating are based on bipolar electronics. With an innovative method, Peltier air conditioners provide cooling in warm seasons and heating in cold seasons in buildings. Such a system prevents ambient warming. The problem of air circulation between high buildings in large cities and draught will be considerably resolved through the use of the silent fan in the system. In addition, the system is designed and developed in accordance with international standards such as LEED and Energy Star.

Keywords: energy, Building cooling and heating, peltier, leed, energy star

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Santhita Tungkajiwangkoon, Yoshikazu Hoshi

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Three Japaneses Drosera species are the good model to study genome organization with highly specialized morphological group for insect trapping, and has revealed anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects, so there must be a reason for botanists are so appealing in these plants. Cytology and Flow cytometry were used to investigate the genetic stability and ploidy estimation in three related species. The cytological and Flow cytometry analysis were done in Drosera rotundifolia L., Drosera spatulata Labill and Drosera tokaiensis. The cytological studies by fluorescence staining (DAPI) showed that D. tokaiensis was an alloploid (2n=6x=60, hexaploid) which is a natural hybrid polyploids of D. rotundifolia and D. spatulata. D. rotundifolia was a diploid with the middle size of metaphase chromosomes (2n=2x=20) as a paternal origin and D. spatulata was a tetraploid with small size of metaphase chromosome (2n=4x=40) as a maternal origin. We confirmed by Flow cytometry analysis to determine the ploidy level and DNA content of the plants. The 2C-DNA values of D. rotundiflolia were 2.8 pg, D. spatulata was 1.6 pg and D. tokaiensis was 3.9 pg. However, 2C- DNA values of D. tokaiensis should be related from their parents but in the present study the 2C-DNA values of D. tokaiensis was no relation from the theoretical of hybrids representing additive parental. Possibility of D. tokaiensis is a natural hybrid, which is also hybridization in natural evolution can cause the genome reduction in plant.

Keywords: drosera, hybrid, cytology, flow cytometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

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Emission regulations for diesel engines are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the standards without exhaust after-treatment systems. Lack of the space in many diesel vehicles, however, make it difficult to design and install stand-alone catalytic converters such as DOC, DPF, and SCR in the vehicle exhaust systems. Accordingly, those have been installed inside the muffler to save the space, and referred to the catalytic muffler. However, that has complex internal structure with perforated plate and pipe for noise and monolithic catalyst for emission reduction. For this reason, flow uniformity and pressure drop, which affect efficiency of catalyst and engine performance, respectively, should be examined when the catalytic muffler is designed. In this work, therefore, the flow uniformity and pressure drop to improve the performance of the catalytic converter and the engine have been numerically investigated by changing various design parameters such as inlet shape, porosity, and outlet shape of the muffler using the three-dimensional turbulent flow of the incompressible, non-reacting, and steady state inside the catalytic muffler. Finally, it can be found that the shape, in which the muffler has perforated pipe inside the inlet part, has higher uniformity index and lower pressure drop than others considered in this work.

Keywords: catalytic muffler, perforated inlet cone, catalysts, perforated pipe, flow uniformity, pressure drop

Procedia PDF Downloads 310