Search results for: stomach contents

Authors: Huda Aljabi

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The existence of heavy metals similar to cadmium, arsenic, lead and mercury in the drinking water be able to be a threat to public health. The amount of the substances of these heavy metals in drinking water has expected importance. The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations have set limits for the concentrations of these elements in drinking water because of their toxicity. Furthermore, bromate shaped during the disinfection of drinking water by Ozonation can also be a health hazard. The Paper proposed here will concentrate on the compilation of all available data and information on the presence of trace metals and bromate in the drinking water at residential houses distributed over different areas in Kuwait. New data will also be collected through a sampling of drinking water at some of the residential houses present in different areas of Kuwait and their analysis for the contents of trace metals and bromate. The collected data will be presented on maps showing the distribution of these metals and bromate in the drinking water of Kuwait. Correlation among different chemical parameters will also be investigated using the GRAPHER software. This will help both the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) in taking corrective measures and also in planning the infrastructure activities for the future.

Keywords: bromate, ozonation, GIS, heavy metals

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Nurhuda Manshoor, Mohd Fazirulrahman Fathil, Muhammad Hakim Jaafar, Mohd Amirul S. A. Jalil

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The leaves of Neobalanocarpus heimii were investigated for their oligostilbene contents. Prior to isolation process, the determinations of compounds were based on mass spectrometric fragmentation patterns. Three compounds, heimiol B, hopeaphenol, and vaticaphenol A were identified directly from the crude extract. Preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to isolate and purify the other compounds. The purified compounds were then analyzed using NMR spectroscopy to identify the compound structure and stereochemistry. The method employed for the research modified to comply with different HPLC techniques such as preparative and analytical techniques. The crude sample was injected into preparative HPLC to obtain several fractions which consist of oligostilbene mixture. The fractions were further isolated using analytical HPLC to obtain four pure compounds. The compounds then were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The result shows that the leaves extract of Neobalanocarpus heimii contain three oligostilbenes, namely vaticanol A, balanocarpol, and vaticaphenol A, and a galactopyranose.

Keywords: balanocarpol, hemiol B, hopeaphenol, vaticanol A, vaticaphenol A

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Authors: Kleiner Marques Marra, Tércio Pedrosa

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This paper reports the production of uranium-molybdenum alloys, which have been considered promising fuel for test and research nuclear reactors. U-Mo alloys were produced in three molybdenum contents: 5 wt.%, 7 wt.%, and 10 wt.%, using an electric vacuum induction furnace. A boron nitride-coated graphite crucible was employed in the production of the alloys and, after melting, the material was immediately poured into a boron nitride-coated graphite mold. The incorporation of carbon was observed, but it happened in a lower intensity than in the case of the non-coated crucible/mold. It is observed that the carbon incorporation increased and alloys density decreased with Mo addition. It was also noticed that the increase in the carbon or molybdenum content did not seem to change the as-cast structure in terms of granulation. The three alloys presented body-centered cubic crystal structure (g phase), after solidification, besides a seeming negative microsegregation of molybdenum, from the center to the periphery of the grains. There were signs of macrosegregation, from the base to the top of the ingots.

Keywords: uranium-molybdenum alloys, incorporation of carbon, solidification, macrosegregation and microsegregation

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Authors: Mandana Tayefe, Ebrahim Amiri, Azin Nasrollah Zade

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Effect of nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels on nitrogen uptake, dry matter production, yield and some yield components of rice (Hashemi, Kazemi, Khazar) was investigated in an experiment as factorial in RCBD with 3 replications in a paddy light soil at Guilan province, Iran, 2008-2009. In this experiment, four treatments including: N1-control (no N fertilizer); N2- 30 kgN/ha; N3- 60 kgN/ha; N4- 90 kgN/ha were compared. Results showed that total biomass (8386 kg/ha), grain yield (3662 kg/ha), panicles m-2 (235.8) and total grain per panicle (103.8) were reached the highest value at high nitrogen level. Among the varieties the highest total biomass (7734 kg/ha), grain yield (3414 kg/ha) and total grain per panicle (78.2) belonged to Khazar. Dry matter, total N uptake was varied in different cultivars significantly and Khazar variety had the highest contents. Total biomass and total N uptake was varied significantly with the increasement of the amount of nitrogen applied. As total biomass and total N uptake increased with increasing in N fertilizing.

Keywords: rice, nitrogen, nitrogen uptake, dry matter

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Authors: Mohadese Oghbaee, Borna Firouzi

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The emergence of the Internet and more specifically the formation of social media has provided the ground for paying attention to new types of content dissemination. In recent years, Social media users share information, communicate with others, and exchange opinions on social events in this space. Many of the information published in this space are suspicious and produced with the intention of deceiving others. These contents are often called "fake news". Fake news, by disrupting the circulation of the concept and similar concepts such as fake news with correct information and misleading public opinion, has the ability to endanger the security of countries and deprive the audience of the basic right of free access to real information; Competing governments, opposition elements, profit-seeking individuals and even competing organizations, knowing about this capacity, act to distort and overturn the facts in the virtual space of the target countries and communities on a large scale and influence public opinion towards their goals. This process of extensive de-truthing of the information space of the societies has created a wave of harm and worries all over the world. The formation of these concerns has led to the opening of a new path of research for the timely containment and reduction of the destructive effects of fake news on public opinion. In addition, the expansion of this phenomenon has the potential to create serious and important problems for societies, and its impact on events such as the 2016 American elections, Brexit, 2017 French elections, 2019 Indian elections, etc., has caused concerns and led to the adoption of approaches It has been dealt with. In recent years, a simple look at the growth trend of research in "Scopus" shows an increasing increase in research with the keyword "false information", which reached its peak in 2020, namely 524 cases, reached, while in 2015, only 30 scientific-research contents were published in this field. Considering that one of the capabilities of social media is to create a context for the dissemination of news and information, both true and false, in this article, the classification of strategies for spreading fake news in social networks was investigated in social events. To achieve this goal, thematic analysis research method was chosen. In this way, an extensive library study was first conducted in global sources. Then, an in-depth interview was conducted with 18 well-known specialists and experts in the field of news and media in Iran. These experts were selected by purposeful sampling. Then by analyzing the data using the theme analysis method, strategies were obtained; The strategies achieved so far (research is in progress) include unrealistically strengthening/weakening the speed and content of the event, stimulating psycho-media movements, targeting emotional audiences such as women, teenagers and young people, strengthening public hatred, calling the reaction legitimate/illegitimate. events, incitement to physical conflict, simplification of violent protests and targeted publication of images and interviews were introduced.

Keywords: fake news, social network, social events, thematic analysis

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Authors: Ahmad Abdulkadir Ibrahim

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Observation of the methodology of Islamic economics laid down for the methods and instruments of analysis and even some of its basic assumptions in the modern world; is a matter that is of paramount importance. There is a need to examine the implications of different suggested definitions of Islamic economics, exploring its scope and attempting to outline its methodology. This paper attempts to deal with the definition of Islamic economics, its methodology, and its scope. It will outline the main methodological problem by addressing the question of whether Islamic economics calls for a methodology of its own or as an expanded economics. It also aims at drawing the attention of economists in the modern world to the obligation and consideration of the methodology of Islamic economics. The methodology adopted in this research is library research through the consultation of relevant literature, which focuses on the thematic study of the subject matter. This is followed by an analysis and discussion of the contents of the materials used. It is concluded that there is a certain degree of inconsistency in the way assumptions are incorporated that perhaps are alien to Islamic economics. The paper also observed that there is a difference between Islamic economists and other (conventional) economists in the profession. An important conclusion is that Islamic economists need to rethink what economics is all about and whether we really have to create an alternative to economics in the form of Islamic economics or simply have an Islamic perspective of the same discipline.

Keywords: methodology, Islamic economics, conventional economics, Muslim economists, framework, knowledge

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Authors: Shima Pilehvar, Vinh Duy Cao, Anna M. Szczotok, Anna-Lena Kjøniksen

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Micro encapsulated phase change materials (MPCM) may be utilized to increase the energy efficiency of buildings by the addition of MPCM to concrete structures. However, addition of MPCM to Portland cement concrete is known to reduce the compressive strength of the concrete. Accordingly, it is interesting to also examine the effect of adding MPCM to geopolymer concrete. Geopolymer binder is synthesized by mixing aluminosilicate materials in amorphous form with a strong alkali activator, and have a much lower CO2 footprint than Portland cement concrete. In this study, the mechanical properties of fly ash-based geopolymer concrete with different types and contents of MPCM were investigated at different curing temperatures. The aim was to find the optimum amount of MPCM which still maintain the workability and compressive strength at an acceptable level. The results revealed that both workability and compressive strength of geopolymer concrete decrease after adding MPCM. Also, the percentage of strength reduction can be variable by different types of MPCM.

Keywords: compressive strength, concrete, curing, geopolymer, micro-encapsulated PCM

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Authors: Angela Justina Kumalaputri

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Indonesia, as a maritime country, has abundant marine living resources yet has not been optimally utilized. So far, we only focusing on fisheries. In the other hand, Indonesia, as the country with the fourth longest coastline, is a very good cultivation place for microalgae. Microalgae can be diversified to many important products, such as food, fuel, pharmaceutical products, functional food, and cosmetics.This research is focusing on the literature study about types of microalgae as sources for functional foods (such as antioxidants), including the contents and the separation methods. The research methods which we use are: (1) Literature study about various microalgaes (2) Literature study about extractions using supercritical fluid of CO₂, which are free from toxic organic solvents, environmentally friendly, and safe for food products. Supercritical fluid extraction using CO₂ (low critical points: temperature at 31.1 oC and pressure at 72.9 bars) could be done at a low temperature which are suitable for temperature labile compounds, low energy, and faster extraction time compared with conventional method of extraction.

Keywords: antioxidants, supercritical fluid extraction, solvent-free extraction, microalgae

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Mohamed Awad

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Determination of Resilient Modulus (M_R) is quite important for characterizing materials in pavement design and evaluation. The main focus of this study is to develop a correlation that predict the resilient modulus of subgrade soils from simple and easy measured soil index properties. To achieve this objective, three subgrade soils representing typical Khartoum soils were selected and tested in the laboratory for measuring resilient modulus. Other basic laboratory tests were conducted on the soils to determine their physical properties. Several soil samples were prepared and compacted at different moisture contents and dry densities and then tested using resilient modulus testing machine. Based on experimental results, linear relationship of M_R with the consistency factor ‘F_c’ which is a combination of dry density, void ratio and consistency index had been developed. The results revealed that very good linear relationship found between the M_R and the consistency factor with a coefficient of linearity (R²) more than 0.9. The consistency factor could be used for the prediction of the M_R of compacted subgrade soils with precise and reliable results.

Keywords: Consistency factor, resilient modulus, subgrade soil, properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Keri Alhadi Ighwela, Aziz Bin Ahmad, A. B. Abol-Munafi

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Three purified diets were formulated using fish meal, soya bean, wheat flour, palm oil, minerals and maltose. The carbohydrate in the diets was increased from 5 to 15% by changing the cellulose content to study the effect of dietary carbohydrate level on the growth parameters of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus.The protein and the lipid contents were kept constant in all the diets. The results showed that, weight gain, protein efficiency ratio, net protein utilisation and hepatosomatic index of fish fed the diet containing 15% cellulose were the lowest among all groups. Addition, the fish fed the diet containing 5% cellulose had the best specific growth rate, and food conversion ratio. While, there was no effect of the dietary cellulose levels on condition factor and survival rate. These results indicate that Nile tilapia fingerlings are able to utilize dietary cellulose does not exceed 10% in their feed for optimum growth.

Keywords: dietary cellulose, growth parameters, oreochromis niloticus, purified diets

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Authors: Rekia. Cherbi, Mokhtar. Saidi, Mohamed. Yousfi, Zhor. Rahmani

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Lawsonia alba (Henna) is widely used in folkloric medicinal for a treatment of various skin diseases such as Eczema (atopic dermatitis), boils and sores. The aim of the present study is to determine the antioxidant activity, total phenolics, flavonoids, and condensed tannins content of extracts from the seeds of Lawsonia. alba grown in Algeria and selected from three different regions (Adrar, Biskra, and Ouargla). Total phenolics content ranged from 68,42 ± 0,54 to 88,31 ± 0,78mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight, the flavonoids content varied from 1,13 ± 0,0035 to 1,367 ± 0,002mg quercetin equivalents (Q)/ g dry weight and condensed tannins (14,47 ± 0,138 to 25,50 ± 0,076 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g dry weight). The antioxidant activities of the extracts were evaluated by DPPH assay. The results showed that all extracts from the seeds of Lawsonia. alba seem to be good trappers of radicals, the IC50 values of the extracts ranged between 0,00826 and 0,01 g/l.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, Lawsonia. alba, phenolic compounds, seeds

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Authors: Beatrix Inah C. Mercado

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Bamboo shoots are the immature and edible culms from bamboos which contains high amount of dietary fibers. However, in spite of these functional properties of bamboo shoots it is still underutilized. Objectives: To develop bamboo shoot powder and incorporate it to biscuits as a source of dietary fiber and antioxidant. Materials and Methods: Bamboo shoot powder (BSP) was freeze-drying and grind and was incorporated to biscuits in 20% concentration. BSP and biscuits with BSP were analyzed for its proximate composition, dietary fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidant capacity. Results: BSP has 13.1 % moisture, 18.8% protein and 8% ash, 2.4g/100g total fat and 57.7% carbohydrate. BSP and biscuits with 20% BSP were good sources of dietary fiber containing 27.8g/100g and 7.1 g/100g, respectively. BSP is high in phytonutrient contents in terms of total polyphenols (1052mg gallic/100 g) and flavonoids (4046mg catechin/100g). Biscuits with BSP contained higher source of phytonutrients and antioxidant capacity as compared to biscuits without BSP. Sensory evaluation revealed that biscuits with BSP were more acceptable than biscuits without BSP. Conclusion: Bamboo shoots may be used as a potential functional ingredient in food products for broader application.

Keywords: bamboo shoots, phytonutrients, fiber, biscuit

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Authors: Young Sik Kim, Tae Kwon Ha

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Effect of Zn addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Zn alloys with Zn contents from 6 to 10 weight percent was investigated in this study. Through calculation of phase equilibria of Mg-Zn alloys, carried out by using FactSage® and FTLite database, solution treatment temperature was decided as temperatures from 300 to 400oC, where supersaturated solid solution can be obtained. Solid solution treatment of Mg-Zn alloys was successfully conducted at 380oC and supersaturated microstructure with all beta phase resolved into matrix was obtained. After solution treatment, hot rolling was successfully conducted by reduction of 60%. Compression and tension tests were carried out at room temperature on the samples as-cast, solution treated, hot-rolled and recrystallized after rolling. After solid solution treatment, each alloy was annealed at temperatures of 180 and 200oC for time intervals from 1 min to 48 hrs and hardness of each condition was measured by micro-Vickers method. Peak aging conditions were deduced as at the temperature of 200oC for 10 hrs. By addition of Zn by 10 weight percent, hardness and strength were enhanced.

Keywords: Mg-Zn alloy, heat treatment, microstructure, mechanical properties, hardness

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Authors: Abubakar Umar Birnin-yauri

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Plastic wastes arising from Polyethylene (PE)-based materials are increasingly becoming environmental problem, this is owed to the fact that these PE waste materials will only decompose over hundreds, or even thousands of years, during which they cause serious environmental problems. In this research, Polymer blends prepared from PE, Cashewnut flour (CNF) and Gum Arabic (GA) were studied in order to assay their biodegradation potentials via composting method. Different sample formulations were made i.e., X1= (70% PE, 25% CNF and 5% GA, X2= (70% PE, 20% CNF and 10% GA), X3= (70% PE, 15% CNF and 15% GA), X4 = (70% PE, 10% CNF and 20% GA) and X5 = (70% PE, 5% CNF and 25% GA) respectively. The results obtained showed that X1 recorded weight loss of 9.89% of its original weight after the first 20 days and 37.45% after 100 day, and X2 lost 12.67 % after the first 20 days and 42.56% after 100day, sample X5 experienced the greatest weight lost in the two methods adopted which are 52.9% and 57.89%. Instrumental analysis such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis and Scanning electron microscopy were performed on the polymer blends before and after biodegradation. The study revealed that the biodegradation of the polymer blends is influenced by the contents of both the CNF and GA added into the blends.

Keywords: polyethylene, cashewnut, gum Arabic, biodegradation, blend, environment

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Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, I. Vass

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Water and sediment samples from the Danube River and Moson Danube Arm (Hungary) have been collected and analyzed for contamination by 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and eight trace metal(loid)s (As, Cu, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Hg and Zn) in the period of 2014-2015. Moreover, the trace metal(loid) concentrations were measured in the Rába and Marcal rivers (parts of the tributary system feeding the Danube). Total PAH contents in water were found to vary from 0.016 to 0.133 µg/L and concentrations in sediments varied in the range of 0.118 mg/kg and 0.283 mg/kg. Source analysis of PAHs using diagnostic concentration ratios indicated that PAHs found in sediments were of pyrolytic origins. The dissolved trace metal and arsenic concentrations were relatively low in the surface waters. However, higher concentrations were detected in the water samples of Rába (Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb) and Marcal (As, Cu, Ni, Pb) compared to the Danube and Moson Danube. The concentrations of trace metals in sediments were higher than those found in water samples.

Keywords: surface water, sediment, PAH, trace metal

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Authors: Peter O. Osifo, Hein W. J. P. Neomagus

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In this study, a predicted pH model was used to determine adsorption equilibrium properties of copper, lead, zinc and cadmium. Chitosan was prepared from the exoskeleton of Cape rock-lobsters, collected from the surroundings of Cape Town, South Africa. The beads were cross-linked with gluteraldehyde to restore its chemical stability in acid media. The chitosan beads were characterized; the beads water contents and pKa varied in the range of 90-96% and 4.3-6.0 respectively and the degree of crosslinking for the beads was 18%. A pH-model, which described the reversibility of the metal adsorbed onto the beads, was used to predict the equilibrium properties of copper, lead, zinc and cadmium adsorption onto the cross-linked beads. The model accounts for the effect of pH and the important model parameters; the equilibrium adsorption constant (Kads) and to a lesser extent the adsorbent adsorption capacity (qmax). The adsorption equilibrium constant for copper, lead, zinc and cadmium were found to be 2.58×10-3, 2.22×0-3, 9.55×0-3, and 4.79×0-3, respectively. The adsorbent maximum capacity was determined to be 4.2 mmol/g.

Keywords: chitosan beads, adsorption, heavy metals, waste water

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Authors: M. Dehghan, R. Al-Mahaidi, I. Sbarski

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An industrial epoxy adhesive used in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP)-strengthening systems was modified by dispersing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Nanocomposites were fabricated using solvent-assisted dispersion method and ultrasonic mixing. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and tensile tests were conducted to study the effect of nanotubes dispersion on the thermal and mechanical properties of the epoxy composite. Experimental results showed a substantial enhancement in the decomposition temperature and tensile properties of epoxy composite, while, the glass transition temperature (Tg) was slightly reduced due to the solvent effect. The morphology of the epoxy nanocomposites was investigated by SEM. It was proved that using solvent improves the nanotubes dispersion. However, at contents higher than 2 wt. %, nanotubes started to re-bundle in the epoxy matrix which negatively affected the final properties of epoxy composite.

Keywords: carbon fiber reinforced polymer, epoxy, multi-walled carbon nanotube, DMA, glass transition temperature

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Authors: Ovye Yohanna Musah

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Shale formations of the Middle Benue Trough in North Central Nigeria present a variety of opportunities for the exploration, development and exploitation of unconventional natural gas. Prospective formations range in age from Albian through Coniacian; they include the Asu River Group, Awe, Ezeaku and the Awgu formations, however, the Keana and Lafia formations are thought to be of lesser importance. The Awgu formation presents the best prospect when compared to the Barnett Shales of Fort Worth Basin in Texa, United States with regards to the organic matter maturition, TOC content of formation and shale thicknesses which are key attributes that aid in determining the economic viability of any shale gas play. The vitrinite reflectance value from Rock Eval pyrolysis for Awe and Awgu formations are 0.89—1.34(%) and 0.83—1.13(%) respectively and are good and sufficiently mature to generate gas from the Benue Trough. The TOC value are good for Awgu formation which is 0.83—6.54(%) and closest to that of the Barnett at 1—4.5(%). Asu River and Ezeaku are less viable. Furthermore, the High to Medium Volatile bituminous coals found in the Awgu formation are characterized by high TOC contents which may enhance gas generation and this is good for further examination and possible development.

Keywords: shale gas, resource, unconventional, benue, TOC

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Authors: Hajnalka Szarvas

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The research examines the effectiveness of e-participation tools and methods from a point of view of cultural fitting to the Hungarian community traditions. Participation can have very different meanings depending on the local cultural and historical traditions, experiences of the certain societies. Generally when it is about e-democracy or e-participation tools most of the researches are dealing with its technological sides and novelties, but there is not much said about the cultural and social context of the different platforms. However from the perspective of their success it would be essential to look at the human factor too, the actual users, how the certain DMS or any online platform is fitting to the way of thought, the way of functioning of the certain society. Therefore the paper will explore that to what extent the different online platforms like Loomio, Democracy OS, Your Priorities EVoks, Populus, miutcank.hu, Liquid Democracy, Brain Bar Budapest Lab are compatible with the Hungarian mental structures and community traditions, the contents of collective mind about community functioning. As a result the influence of cultural embeddedness of the logic of e-participation development tools on success of these methods will be clearly seen. Furthermore the most crucial factors in general which determine the efficiency of e-participation development tools in Hungary will be demonstrated.

Keywords: cultural embeddedness, e-participation, local community traditions, mental structures

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Authors: Ilker Sönmez, Mustafa Kaplan

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The wastes that come out as a result of agricultural productions are disposed randomly and always by burning. Agricultural wastes have a great volume and agricultural wastes cause environmental pollution. Spent mushroom compost and cut flower carnation wastes have a serious potential in Turkey and especially in Antalya. One of the best evaluation methods of agricultural wastes is composting methods and so agricultural wastes transformed for a new product. In this study, agricultural wastes were evaluated the effects of compost and organic material on soil pH, EC, soil organic matter, and macro-micro nutrient contents of soil that it growth carnation. The effects of compost applications on soils were found to be statistically significant. Organic material applications have caused an increase in all physical and chemical parameters except for pH that pH decreased with compost added in soils. The best results among the compost applications were determined R1 compost that R1 compost included %75 Carnation Wastes + %25 Spent Mushroom Compost. The structural properties of soils can be improved with reusing of agricultural wastes by composting so it can be provided that decreasing the harmful effects of organic wastes on the environment.

Keywords: agricultural wastes, carnation wastes, composting, organic material, spent mushroom compost

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Authors: Olufunke O. Ezekiel, Adenike O. Ogunshe, Omotola F. Olagunju, Arinola O. Falola

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Studies were conducted on fermentation of tamarind seed for production of food condiment. Fermentation followed the conventional traditional method of fermented locust bean (iru) production and was carried out over a period of three days (72 hours). Samples were withdrawn and analysed for proximate composition, pH, titratable acidity, tannin content, phytic acid content and trypsin inhibitor activity using standard methods. Effects of fermentation on proximate composition, anti-nutritional factors and sensory properties of the seed were evaluated. All data were analysed using ANOVA and means separated using Duncan multiple range test. Microbiological analysis to identify and characterize the microflora responsible for the fermentation of the seed was also carried out. Fermentation had significant effect on the proximate composition on the fermented seeds. As fermentation progressed, there was significant reduction in the anti-nutrient contents. Organisms isolated from the fermenting tamarind seeds were identified as non-pathogenic and common with fermented legumes.

Keywords: condiment, fermentation, legume, tamarind seed

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Authors: Damandeep Kaur, O.P. Pandey, M.S. Reddy

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In the present research, bio-synthesisation of silica particles has been carried out successfully. For this purpose, agriculture waste rice husk (RH) has been utilized. Among several types of agriculture waste, RH is considered to be cost-effective and easily accessible. In the present investigation, a chemical approach has been followed to extract silica nanoparticles. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns indicated the amorphous nature of silica at lower temperature range. Silica and other mineral contents have been found using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Morphological and structural studies have been carried out with the use of Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Transmission (FTIR) spectroscopy. Further, extracted silica from RH has been used for preparation of the glasses. The appearance of broad humps in XRD patterns confirmed the amorphous nature of prepared glasses. These glasses exhibited enhanced antibacterial effect against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The as-synthesized glass samples can be further used for physical and structural studies for drug loading applications.

Keywords: rice husk, biosynthesized silica, bioactive glasses, antibacterial studies

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Authors: Napat Hataivichian

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The effect of transition metal doping on Pt/Al2O3 catalyst used in propane dehydrogenation reaction at 500˚C was studied. The preparation methods investigated were sequential impregnation (Pt followed by the 2nd metal or the 2nd metal followed by Pt) and co-impregnation. The metal contents of these catalysts were fixed as the weight ratio of Pt per the 2nd metal of around 0.075. These catalysts were characterized by N2-physisorption, TPR, CO-chemisorption and NH3-TPD. It was found that the impregnated 2nd metal had an effect upon reducibility of Pt due to its interaction with transition metal-containing structure. This was in agreement with the CO-chemisorption result that the presence of Pt metal, which is a result from Pt species reduction, was decreased. The total acidity of bimetallic catalysts is decreased but the strong acidity is slightly increased. It was found that the stability of bimetallic catalysts prepared by co-impregnation and sequential impregnation where the 2nd metal was impregnated before Pt were better than that of monometallic catalyst (undoped Pt one) due to the forming of Pt sites located on the transition metal-oxide modified surface. Among all preparation methods, the sequential impregnation method- having Pt impregnated before the 2nd metal gave the worst stability because this catalyst lacked the modified Pt sites and some fraction of Pt sites was covered by the 2nd metal.

Keywords: alumina, dehydrogenation, platinum, transition metal

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Authors: Dim En Nyaung, Thin Lai Lai Thein

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Due to the rapid increase of Internet, web opinion sources dynamically emerge which is useful for both potential customers and product manufacturers for prediction and decision purposes. These are the user generated contents written in natural languages and are unstructured-free-texts scheme. Therefore, opinion mining techniques become popular to automatically process customer reviews for extracting product features and user opinions expressed over them. Since customer reviews may contain both opinionated and factual sentences, a supervised machine learning technique applies for subjectivity classification to improve the mining performance. In this paper, we dedicate our work is the task of opinion summarization. Therefore, product feature and opinion extraction is critical to opinion summarization, because its effectiveness significantly affects the identification of semantic relationships. The polarity and numeric score of all the features are determined by Senti-WordNet Lexicon. The problem of opinion summarization refers how to relate the opinion words with respect to a certain feature. Probabilistic based model of supervised learning will improve the result that is more flexible and effective.

Keywords: opinion mining, opinion summarization, sentiment analysis, text mining

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Authors: Diego Roberto Goncalves De Pontes, Sergio Donizetti Zorzo

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Studies show that most users do not read privacy policies from the online services they use. Some authors claim that one of the main causes of this is that policies are long and usually hard to understand, which make users lose interest in reading them. In this scenario, users may agree with terms without knowing what kind of data is being collected and why. Given that, we aimed to develop a model that would present the privacy policies contents in an easy and graphical way for the user to understand. We call it the Privacy Label. Using information recovery techniques, we propose an architecture that is able to extract information about what kind of data is being collected and to what end in the policies and show it to the user in an automated way. To assess our model, we calculated the precision, recall and f-measure metrics on the information extracted by our technique. The results for each metric were 68.53%, 85.61% e 76,13%, respectively, making it possible for the final user to understand which data was being collected without reading the whole policy. Also, our proposal can facilitate the notice-and-choice by presenting privacy policy information in an alternative way for online users.

Keywords: privacy, policies, user behavior, computer human interaction

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Authors: H. S. Saini, K. Vijayalakshmi, Rishi Sayal

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Network-based education has been growing rapidly in size and quality. Knowledge clustering becomes more important in personalized information retrieval for web-learning. A personalized-Learning service after the learners’ knowledge has been classified with clustering. Through automatic analysis of learners’ behaviors, their partition with similar data level and interests may be discovered so as to produce learners with contents that best match educational needs for collaborative learning. We present a specific mining tool and a recommender engine that we have integrated in the online learning in order to help the teacher to carry out the whole e-learning process. We propose to use sequential pattern mining algorithms to discover the most used path by the students and from this information can recommend links to the new students automatically meanwhile they browse in the course. We have Developed a specific author tool in order to help the teacher to apply all the data mining process. We tend to report on many experiments with real knowledge so as to indicate the quality of using both clustering and sequential pattern mining algorithms together for discovering personalized e-learning systems.

Keywords: e-learning, cluster, personalization, sequence, pattern

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Authors: Hasan Hüseyin Doğan, Murad Aydın Şanda

Abstract:

Element contents were analyzed in twelve wild Amanita taxa [A. caesarea (Scop.) Pers., A. citrina (Schaeff.) Pers., A. excelsa (Fr.) Bertill., A. franchetii (Boud.) Fayod, A. gemmata (Fr.) Bertill., A. mairei Foley, A. muscaria (L.) Lam., A. pantherina (DC.) Krombh., A. phalloides (Fr.) Link, A. rubescens Pers., A. vaginata (Bull.) Lam., and A. verna (Bull.) Lam.] from Marmara Region of Turkey by ICP-AES equipment. The element uptake levels were observed at different amounts in each Amanita species. The highest Pb and P concentrations were determined as 15.11 and 0.861 mg.kg-1 in A. caesarea. Fe, Co, As, Sr, Ca, Mg, Al and Na concentrations were determined as 0.832, 4.56, 15.6, 18.9, 0.44, 0.253 and 0.190 mg.kg-1 in A. gemmata respectively. A. muscaria has highest Mo, Th, Sb, V, Cr, and B concentrations as 1.45, 1.17, 1.06, 44, 75, and 7 mg.kg-1 respectively, whereas A. rubescens has highest Zn, Ba, K, S, and Se as 430.6, 65.7, 5.47, 1.16, 11.5 mg.kg-1 respectively. A. muscaria has highest Hg concentrations as 5855 µg.kg-1.The highest Mn concentration were found in A. pantherina with 1176 mg.kg-1, the highest Cd were found in A. phalloides as 10.77 mg.kg-1. In contrast to A. verna has highest Ag and Au content as 77728 and 192 µg.kg-1. Although A. citrina has only the highest Ni content as 75.9 mg.kg-1and A. vaginata has Cu content as 67.04 mg.kg-1 on the other hand A. phalloides has highest Cd concentrations as 10.77 mg.kg-1.

Keywords: amanita, element, macrofungi, Turkey

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Authors: Priya Sepaha

Abstract:

Social media has loomed as the most effective tool in recent times to flag the causes, contents, opinions and direction of any social movement and has demonstrated that it will have a far-reaching effect on government as well. This study focuses on India which has emerged as the fastest growing community on social media. Social movement activists, in particular, have extensively utilized the power of digital social media to streamline the effectiveness of social protest on a particular issue through extensive successful mass mobilizations. This research analyses the role and impact of social media as a power to catalyze the social movements in India and further seeks to describe how certain social movements are resisted, subverted, co-opted and/or deployed by social media. The impact assessment study has been made with the help of cases, policies and some social movement which India has witnessed the assertion of numerous social issues perturbing the public which eventually paved the way for remarkable judicial decisions. The paper concludes with the observations that despite its pros and cons, the impacts of social media on the functioning of the Indian Government have demonstrated that it has already become an indispensable tool in the hands of social media-suave Indians who are committed to bring about a desired change.

Keywords: social media, social movements, impact, law, government

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Authors: Shenghu Feng, Jun Cheng

Abstract:

The molecular mechanism underlying nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progression to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. In this study, immunohistochemistry staining result showed that NS5ABP37 protein expression decreased as with increasing degree of HCC malignancy. In agreement, NS5ABP37 protein overexpression significantly suppressed cell proliferation, caused G1/S cell cycle arrest, and induced apoptosis by increasing caspase-3/7 activity and cleaved caspase-3 levels. In addition, NS5ABP37 overexpression resulted in decreased intracellular TG and TC contents, with level reduction in SREBPs and downstream effectors. Furthermore, NS5ABP37 overexpression decreased SREBP1c and SREBP2 levels by inducing their respective promoters. Finally, ROS levels and ER-stress were both induced by NS5ABP37 overexpression. These findings together demonstrate that NS5ABP37 inhibits cancer cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis, by altering SREBP-dependent lipogenesis and cholesterogenesis in HepG2 cells and inducing oxidative stress and ER stress.

Keywords: NS5ABP37, liver cancer, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, ER stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Shajaratuldur Ismail, Nurlidia Mansor, Zakaria Man

Abstract:

Thermoplastic starch (TPS) plasticized by 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [Emim][OAc] were obtained through gelatinization process. The gelatinization process occurred in the presence of water and [Emim][OAc] as plasticizer at high temperature (90˚C). The influence of [Emim][OAc] and water on the gelatinization and interactions with starch have been studied over a range of compositions. The homogenous mass was obtained for the samples containing 35, 40 and 43.5 % of water contents which showed that water plays important role in gelatinization process. Detailed IR spectroscopy analysis showed decrease in hydrogen bonding intensity and strong interaction between acetate anion in [Emim][OAc] and starch hydroxyl groups in the presence of [Emim][OAc]. Starch-[Emim][OAc]-water mixture at 10-3-8.7 presented homogenous mass, less hydrogen bonding intensity and strong interaction between acetate anion in [Emim][OAc] and starch hydroxyl groups.

Keywords: starch, ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, plasticizer, gelatinization, IR spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 229