Search results for: resilient supply chain strategy

Authors: Mao-Sheng Su, Santhanamoorthi Nachimuthu, Jyh-Chiang Jiang

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Climate change is widely recognized as a global crisis, with anthropogenic CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes being major contributors. To address this challenge, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology has emerged as a key strategy for selectively capturing CO₂ from flue gas streams. Among the various solid adsorbents, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are notable for their extensive surface area and controllable pore chemistry. The porous MOF structure is comprised of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic linker compounds. In particular, the pore parameters of MOFs are readily tunable, making them promising materials for CO₂ capture applications. Among these, amine-functionalized MOFs have demonstrated exceptional CO₂ capture abilities because their high uptake capacity and selectivity. In this study, we have investigated the CO₂ capture abilities and adsorption mechanisms of the diamine-appended framework N-Ethylethylenediamine-Mg₂(4,4’-dioxidobiphenyl-3,3’-dicarboxylate) (e-2-Mg₂(dobpdc)) using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Previous studies have suggested that CO₂ can be captured via both outer- and inner-amine binding sites. Our findings reveal that CO₂ adsorption at the outer amine site is kinetically more favorable compared to the inner amine site, with a lower energy barrier of 1.34 eV for CO₂ physisorption to chemisorption compared to the inner amine, which has an activation barrier of 1.60 eV. Furthermore, we find that CO₂ adsorption is significantly enhanced in an alkaline environment, as deprotonation of the diamine molecule reduces the energy barrier to 0.24 eV. This theoretical study provides detailed insights into CO₂ adsorption in diamine-appended e-2-Mg₂(dobpdc) MOF, offering a deeper understanding of CO₂ capture mechanisms and valuable information for the advancement of effective CO₂ sequestration technologies.

Keywords: DFT, MOFs, CO₂ capture, catalyst

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Authors: Agnieszka H. Ludwig-Slomczynska, Michal T. Seweryn, Przemyslaw Kapusta, Ewelina Pitera, Katarzyna Cyganek, Urszula Mantaj, Lucja Dobrucka, Ewa Wender-Ozegowska, Maciej T. Malecki, Pawel Wolkow

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Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and its expenditure. Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) analyses have led to discovery of only about 100 variants influencing body mass index (BMI), which explain only a small portion of genetic variability. Analysis of gene epistasis gives a chance to discover another part. Since it was shown that interaction and communication between nuclear and mitochondrial genome are indispensable for normal cell function, we have looked for epistatic interactions between the two genomes to find their correlation with BMI. Methods: The analysis was performed on 366 T1DM patients using Illumina Infinium OmniExpressExome-8 chip and followed by imputation on Michigan Imputation Server. Only genes which influence mitochondrial functioning (listed in Human MitoCarta 2.0) were included in the analysis – variants of nuclear origin (MAF > 5%) in 1140 genes and 42 mitochondrial variants (MAF > 1%). Gene expression analysis was performed on GTex data. Association analysis between genetic variants and BMI was performed with the use of Linear Mixed Models as implemented in the package 'GENESIS' in R. Analysis of association between mRNA expression and BMI was performed with the use of linear models and standard significance tests in R. Results: Among variants involved in epistasis between mitochondria and nucleus we have identified one in mitochondrial transcription factor, TFB2M (rs6701836). It interacted with mitochondrial variants localized to MT-RNR1 (p=0.0004, MAF=15%), MT-ND2 (p=0.07, MAF=5%) and MT-ND4 (p=0.01, MAF=1.1%). Analysis of the interaction between nuclear variant rs6701836 (nuc) and rs3021088 localized to MT-ND2 mitochondrial gene (mito) has shown that the combination of the two led to BMI decrease (p=0.024). Each of the variants on its own does not correlate with higher BMI [p(nuc)=0.856, p(mito)=0.116)]. Although rs6701836 is intronic, it influences gene expression in the thyroid (p=0.000037). rs3021088 is a missense variant that leads to alanine to threonine substitution in the MT-ND2 gene which belongs to complex I of the electron transport chain. The analysis of the influence of genetic variants on gene expression has confirmed the trend explained above – the interaction of the two genes leads to BMI decrease (p=0.0308). Each of the mRNAs on its own is associated with higher BMI (p(mito)=0.0244 and p(nuc)=0.0269). Conclusıons: Our results show that nuclear-mitochondrial epistasis can influence BMI in T1DM patients. The correlation between transcription factor expression and mitochondrial genetic variants will be subject to further analysis.

Keywords: body mass index, epistasis, mitochondria, type 1 diabetes

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Authors: H. Hakim, C. Kibert, C. Fabre, S. Monadizadeh

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Construction industry is an industry saddled with chronic problems of high waste generation. Waste management that is to ensure materials are utilized in an efficient manner would make a major contribution to mitigating the negative environmental impacts of construction waste including finite resources depletion and growing occupied landfill areas to name a few. Furthermore, ‘material resource efficiency’ has been found an economically smart approach specially when considered during the design phase. One effective strategy is to utilizing off-site construction process which includes a series of prefabricated systems such as mobile, modular, and HUD construction (Department of Housing and Urban Development manufactured buildings). These types of buildings are by nature material and resource-efficient. Despite conventional construction that is exposed to adverse weather conditions, manufactured construction production line is capable of creating repetitive units in a factory controlled environment. A factory can have several parallel projects underway with a high speed and in a timely manner which simplifies the storage of excess materials and re-allocating to the next projects. The literature reports that prefabricated construction significantly helps reduce errors, site theft, rework, and delayed problems and can ultimately lead to a considerable waste reduction. However, there is not sufficient data to quantify this reduction when it comes to a regular modular house in the U.S. Therefore, this manuscript aims to provide an analysis of waste originated from a manufactured factory trend. The analysis was made possible with several visits and data collection of Homes of Merits, a Florida Manufactured and Modular Homebuilder. The results quantify and verify a noticeable construction waste reduction.

Keywords: construction waste, modular construction, prefabricated buildings, waste management

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Authors: Emmanuel U. Unuafe, Oyegoke T. Bukoye, Sandhya Sastry, Yanqing Duan

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Globally, there is increasing interest in project management due to a shortage in infrastructure services supply capability. Hence, it is of utmost importance that organisations understand that choosing a particular project over another is an opportunity cost – tying up the organisations resources. In order to devise constructive ways to bring direction, structure, and oversight to the process of project selection has led to the development of tools and techniques by researchers and practitioners. However, despite the development of various frameworks to assist in the appraisal and selection of government projects, failures are still being recorded with government projects. In developing countries, where frameworks are rarely used, the problems are compounded. To improve the situation, this study will investigate the current practice of construction project selection processes within the Nigeria public sector in order to inform theories of decision making from the perspective of developing nations and project management practice. Unlike other research around construction projects in Nigeria this research concentrate on factors influencing the selection process within the Nigeria public sector, which has received limited study. The authors report the findings of semi-structured interviews of top management in the Nigerian public sector and draw conclusions in terms of decision making extant theory and current practice. Preliminary results from the data analysis show that groups make project selection decisions and this forces sub-optimal decisions due to pressure on time, clashes of interest, lack of standardised framework for selecting projects, lack of accountability and poor leadership. Consequently, because decision maker is usually drawn from different fields, religious beliefs, ethnic group and with different languages. The choice of a project by an individual will be greatly influence by experience, political precedence than by realistic investigation as well as his understanding of the desired outcome of the project, in other words, the individual’s ideology and their level of fairness.

Keywords: factors influencing project selection, public sector construction project selection, projects portfolio selection, strategic decision-making

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Authors: Zakir Hossain, Arzu Pervin, Halima Jahan, Rabeya Akter, Abdel Omri

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Replacement of fish meal with soybean meal is an effective way to relieve the pressure on fish meal as the supply of this feed ingredient is dwindling and certainly is not sustainable in long term at present levels in commercial feeds. This study was designed to determine the effect of fishmeal (FM) replacement with soybean meal (SBM) in diet on growth, digestive enzyme activity, antioxidation and gut histomorphology of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Five diets were formulated where SBM0 contained 100% FM, FM substituted with graded levels of a mix of SBM to replace 25% (SBM25), 50% (SBM50), 75% (SBM75) and 100% (SBM100) of FM. Juvenile tilapia having weight and length of 6.60±0.13 g and 5.42±0.17 cm were randomly divided into five treatment groups having 40 individual each group and fed to visual satiation for 90 days. Diet with SBM was increased significant in body weight gain and specific growth rate in fish compared to the fish fed with SBM100. Fish having the similar weight (74.34±5.41 g) fed the diets SBM50, SBM75 and SBM100 containing higher level of SBM showed significantly longer intestine compared to SBM0. Villus height of stomach and intestine were significantly greater in the fish fed with the diets SBM0, SBM25 and SBM50 compared to SBM100. Muscular thickness was inversely changed with the increasing villus height. Protease activity was increased significantly in stomach, anterior and posterior intestine of fish fed with SBM0 and SBM25 compared to SBM100. In anterior and posterior segment of intestine, significantly higher lipase activity was observed in fish fed with the diets SBM0 and SBM25 compared to diet SBM100. In stomach, amylase activity was also significantly greater in SBM0 compared to SBM100. The antioxidant enzymes including catalase and superoxide dismutase of liver were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the O. niloticus fed SBM100 compared to the ones fed SBM0. These results suggest that the replacement of FM upto 75% with SBM could be possible considering the growth performances, gut health and activities digestive enzymes and antioxidant enzymes in O. niloticus.

Keywords: soybean meal, fish meal, digestive enzymes, anti-oxidant enzymes

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Authors: M. Mohan, J. P. Roise, G. P. Catts

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Despite living in an era where conservation zones are de-facto the central element in any sustainable wildlife management strategy, we still find ourselves grappling with several pareto-optimal situations regarding resource allocation and area distribution for the same. In this paper, a multi-objective decision making (MODM) model is presented to answer the question of whether or not we can establish mutual relationships between these contradicting objectives. For our study, we considered a Red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) habitat conservation scenario in the coastal plain of North Carolina, USA. Red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) is a non-migratory territorial bird that excavates cavities in living pine trees for roosting and nesting. The RCW groups nest in an aggregation of cavity trees called ‘cluster’ and for our model we use the number of clusters to be established as a measure of evaluating the size of conservation zone required. The case study is formulated as a linear programming problem and the objective function optimises the Red-cockaded woodpecker clusters, carbon retention rate, biofuel, public safety and Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest. We studied the variation of individual objectives with respect to the amount of area available and plotted a two dimensional dynamic graph after establishing interrelations between the objectives. We further explore the concept of interdependency by integrating the MODM model with GIS, and derive a raster file representing carbon distribution from the existing forest dataset. Model results demonstrate the applicability of interdependency from both linear and spatial perspectives, and suggest that this approach holds immense potential for enhancing environmental investment decision making in future.

Keywords: conservation, interdependency, multi-objective decision making, red-cockaded woodpecker

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Authors: Gizaw Mamo Gebeyehu, Marianna Pap, Geza Makkai, Tibor Z. Janosi, Shima Rashidian, Tibor A. Rauch

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Sepsis poses a significant global health threat, necessitating extensive exploration of indicators tied to its pathological mechanisms and multi-organ dysfunction. While murine studies have shed light on sepsis, the intricate cellular and molecular landscape in human sepsis remains enigmatic. Exploring the influence of activated monocyte-derived exosomes in sepsis sheds light on a promising pathway for understanding the intricate cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in this condition in humans. In sepsis, exosome-borne mRNA and miRNA orchestrate immune response gene expression in recipient cells. Yet, the specifics of exosome-mediated cell-to-cell communication, especially how mRNA cargoes modulate gene expression in recipient cells, remain poorly understood. This study aims to elucidate the precise molecular pathways through which exosomal mRNA cargo, particularly MAFB, contributes to the developing sepsis-induced molecular aberrations in liver tissues, employing rigorously defined cell culture conditions. THP-1 cells were treated with LPS to induce changes in exosomal RNA profiles. Exosomes were isolated and characterized using microscopy and mass spectrometry. RNA was extracted from exosomes and sequenced. The most abundant exosomal mRNAs were subjected to GO analysis for functional annotation analysis and KEGG database analysis to identify the involved enriched pathways. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), RNA sequencing, and Western blotting were involved to analyze changes in gene expression, protein levels, and signaling pathways within the liver cells( HepG2) after exposure to exosomal MAFB. This study pinpoints exosomal MAFB as a potential key regulator linked to liver cell damage during sepsis, along with associated genes (miR155HG, H3F3A, and possibly JARD2) forming a crucial molecular pathway contributing to liver cell injury, Together, these elements indicate a vital molecular pathway that plays a significant role in the emergence of liver cell injury during sepsis.. These findings suggest the importance of further research on these components for potential therapeutic interventions in managing acute liver damage in sepsis.

Keywords: sepsis, exososome, exosomal MAFB, LPS-induced THP-1 cells, RNA profiles, sepsis-triggered liver injury

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Authors: Kong Wing Man

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The purpose of this paper is to review the waste generation and management in different parts of the world. It is undeniable that waste generation and management has become an alarming environmental issue. Solid waste generation links inextricably to the degree of industrialization and economic development. Urbanization increases with the economic wealth of the countries. As the income of people and standard of living enhances, so does their consumption of goods and services, leading to a corresponding increase in waste generation. Based on the latest statistics from What A Waste Report published by World Bank (2012), it is estimated that the current global Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation levels are about 1.3 billion tonnes per year (1.2 kg per capita per day). By 2050, it is projected that the waste generation will be doubled. Although many waste collection practices have been implemented in various countries, the amount of waste generation keeps increasing. An integrated solid waste management is needed in order to reduce the continuous significant increase in waste generation rates. Although many countries have introduced and implemented the 3Rs strategy and landfill, however, these are only the ways to diverse waste, but cannot reduce the volume. Instead, the advanced thermal treatment technology, incineration, can reduce up to 90% volume of disposed waste prior to dispose at landfills is discussed. Sweden and Tokyo were chosen as case studies, which provide an overview of the municipal solid waste management system. With the condition of escalating amount of wastes generated, it is crucial to build incinerators to relief pressing needs of landfill. Two solutions are proposed to minimize waste generation, including one incineration in one city and several small incinerators in different cities. While taking into consideration of a sustainable model and the perspectives of all stakeholders, building several incinerators at different cities and different sizes would be the best option to reduce waste. Overall, the solution to the global solid waste management should be a holistic approach with the involvement of both government and citizens.

Keywords: Incineration, Municipal Solid Waste, Thermal Treatment, Waste generation

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Authors: Andrea Catorci, Federico Maria Tardella, Alessandro Brica, Muhammad Umair

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Climate change models predict for the Mediterranean region a strong increase of intensity and frequency of drought events, with an expected effect on grassland biodiversity and functioning. The research aim was to understand how the grassland species modulate their resource acquisition and conservation strategies to short-term variation of the pattern of summer water supply. The study area is mountain meadows located in the ‘‘Montagna di Torricchio’’ (1130 m a.s.l.) a Nature Reserve in central Italy. In 2017 we started a manipulative experiment for 2 year (2017-2018), and we defined two treatments, one with increasing water (watering condition) and the other with less water (drought condition). Then, we investigated how species change their resource strategies at different amount of water availability by measuring the specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf area (LA). We used ANOVAs to test the effect of treatment over time on leaf area and specific leaf area, considering all the species together and also separately according to their growth form (forb, grass, legume). Our results showed that species may respond differently depending on their growth form and that using all the species together may cover more detailed variation. Overall, resource retaining strategies (lower SLA, LA) are resulted by increase of drought condition, while increase in water amount and number of watering events fosters acquisitive strategies (higher SLA, LA). However, this pattern is not constant for all growth form. Grass species are able to maintain their strategies to variation of the pattern of water availability. Forb and legume species on the other side have shown decreasing trend of SLA, LA values with increasing drought condition, a pattern more marked for the latter growth form. These variations suggest not only an increase of slow-growing strategies for both growth form, but also a decrease of their nutrient pastoral values since their leaves are supposed to become harder. Local farmers should consider the effect of climate change on grassland and adapt their management practices to guarantee the cattle welfare.

Keywords: function strategies, grasslands, climate change, sub Mediterranean region

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Authors: Chao Li, Lei Zhou, Ruiqi Ren, Dan Li, Yali Wang, Daxin Ni, Zijian Feng, Qun Li

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Background: In 2016, yellow fever had been first ever discovered in China, soon after the yellow fever epidemic occurred in Angola. After the discovery, China had promptly made the national protocol of control and prevention and strengthened the surveillance on passenger and vector. In this study, a descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize China’s experiences of response towards this import epidemic, in the hope of providing experiences on prevention and control of yellow fever and other similar imported infectious diseases in the future. Methods: The imported cases were discovered and reported by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and several hospitals. Each clinically diagnosed yellow fever case was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). The data of the imported yellow fever cases were collected by local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through field investigations soon after they received the reports. Results: A total of 11 imported cases from Angola were reported in China, during Angola’s yellow fever outbreak. Six cases were discovered by the AQSIQ, among which two with mild symptom were initiative declarations at the time of entry. Except for one death, the remaining 10 cases all had recovered after timely and proper treatment. All cases are Chinese, and lived in Luanda, the capital of Angola. 73% were retailers (8/11) from Fuqing city in Fujian province, and the other three were labors send by companies. 10 cases had experiences of medical treatment in Luanda after onset, among which 8 cases visited the same local Chinese medicine hospital (China Railway four Bureau Hospital). Among the 11 cases, only one case had an effective vaccination. The result of emergency surveillance for mosquito density showed that only 14 containers of water were found positive around places of three cases, and the Breteau Index is 15. Conclusions: Effective response was taken to control and prevent the outbreak of yellow fever in China after discovering the imported cases. However, though the similar origin of Chinese in Angola has provided an easy access for disease detection, information sharing, health education and vaccination on yellow fever; these conveniences were overlooked during previous disease prevention methods. Besides, only one case having effective vaccination revealed the inadequate capacity of immunization service in China. These findings will provide suggestions to improve China’s capacity to deal with not only yellow fever but also other similar imported diseases in China.

Keywords: yellow fever, first import, China, suggestion

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Authors: Mubashra Shaheen

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The conflict over the South China Sea (SCS) is a complex imbroglio spanning over several territorial and maritime claims involving two major island groups, the Paracels and the Spratlys. It has become a major source of geopolitical competition between the United States and China. The study's overall objective is to understand China's land reclamations and assertive behavior in the South China Sea, which lies between both the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Over half of global commerce passes through these waterways, which host a great amount of marine life and hydrocarbon deposits. China's sand-filling and island-building strategy in the South China Sea is motivated by its goal of privatizing all these riches as well as the routes. It would raise China to the pinnacle of world power status as well as allow it to threaten the dominance of the U.S. The study will examine China's assertive behavior and modernization plans as well as the United States' quest for supremacy through the lens of realists. While using a qualitative method of analysis, the study will examine China's nine-dash line claims and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), UNCLOS, and U.S.-China divergence over international law considerations to pacify the tensions in the South China Sea. This paper is intended to explore the possible answers to the following questions: (1) Why does China’s rise necessitate the US's efforts to contain and encircle it through the lending of a hand to strategic partners and allies in the South China Sea? (2) Why South China Sea dispute is so complex imbroglio? (3) What are US-China international law considerations regarding the South China Sea? The study will further follow the bellow research procedure: 1: Comparative Legal Method: This method simply chalk-outs the follow of few steps that discarnate the positive and negative effects of the great power competitions. 2: Conceptualization: The conceptualization of the policies of containment defines and differentiates two different problems behind the persuasive means of hegemony and dominance in the strategic milieu.

Keywords: us, china, south china sea, unclos

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Authors: Jingwei Du

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The need of optimizing air conditioning systems for existing buildings calls for control methods designed with energy-efficiency as a primary goal. The majority of current control methods boil down to two categories: empirical and model-based. To be effective, the former heavily relies on engineering expertise and the latter requires extensive historical data. Reinforcement Learning (RL), on the other hand, is a model-free approach that explores the environment to obtain an optimal control strategy often referred to as “policy”. This research adopts Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) to improve chiller plant control, and enable the RL agent to collaborate with experienced engineers. It exploits the fact that while the industry lacks historical data, abundant operational data is available and allows the agent to learn and evolve safely under human supervision. Thanks to the development of language models, renewed interest in RL has led to modern, online, policy-based RL algorithms such as the PPO. This research took inspiration from “alignment”, a process that utilizes human feedback to finetune the pretrained model in case of unsafe content. The methodology can be summarized into three steps. First, an initial policy model is generated based on minimal prior knowledge. Next, the prepared PPO agent is deployed so feedback from both critic model and human experts can be collected for future finetuning. Finally, the agent learns and adapts itself to the specific chiller plant, updates the policy model and is ready for the next iteration. Besides the proposed approach, this study also used traditional RL methods to optimize the same simulated chiller plants for comparison, and it turns out that the proposed method is safe and effective at the same time and needs less to no historical data to start up.

Keywords: chiller plant, control methods, energy efficiency, proximal policy optimization, reinforcement learning

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Authors: Emma Avoyan

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The safety standards for flood protection in the Netherlands have been revised recently. It is expected that all major flood-protection structures will have to be reinforced to meet the new standards. The Dutch Flood Protection Programme aims at accomplishing this task through innovative integrated projects such as construction of multi-functional flood defenses. In these projects, flood safety purposes will be combined with spatial planning, nature development, emergency management or other sectoral objectives. Therefore, implementation of dike reinforcement projects requires early involvement and collaboration between public and private sectors, different governmental actors and agencies. The development and implementation of such integrated projects has been an issue in Dutch flood risk management since long. Therefore, this article analyses how cross-sector collaboration within flood risk governance in the Netherlands has evolved over time, and how this development can be explained. The integrative framework for collaborative governance is applied as an analytical tool to map external factors framing possibilities as well as constraints for cross-sector collaboration in Dutch flood risk domain. Supported by an extensive document and literature analysis, the paper offers insights on how the system context and different drivers changing over time either promoted or hindered cross-sector collaboration between flood protection sector, urban development, nature conservation or any other sector involved in flood risk governance. The system context refers to the multi-layered and interrelated suite of conditions that influence the formation and performance of complex governance systems, such as collaborative governance regimes, whereas the drivers initiate and enable the overall process of collaboration. In addition, by applying a method of process tracing we identify a causal and chronological chain of events shaping cross-sectoral interaction in Dutch flood risk management. Our results indicate that in order to evaluate the performance of complex governance systems, it is important to firstly study the system context that shapes it. Clear understanding of the system conditions and drivers for collaboration gives insight into the possibilities of and constraints for effective performance of complex governance systems. The performance of the governance system is affected by the system conditions, while at the same time the governance system can also change the system conditions. Our results show that the sequence of changes within the system conditions and drivers over time affect how cross-sector interaction in Dutch flood risk governance system happens now. Moreover, we have traced the potential of this governance system to shape and change the system context.

Keywords: collaborative governance, cross-sector interaction, flood risk management, the Netherlands

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Authors: Kyung Jin Kim, Jiwon Kwak, Jae-Hoon Lee, Soo Suk Lee

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MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of endogenous, single-stranded, small, and non-protein coding RNA molecules typically 20-25 nucleotides long. They are thought to regulate the expression of other genes in a broad range by binding to 3’- untranslated regions (3’-UTRs) of specific mRNAs. The detection of miRNAs is very important for understanding of the function of these molecules and in the diagnosis of variety of human diseases. However, detection of miRNAs is very challenging because of their short length and high sequence similarities within miRNA families. So, a simple-to-use, low-cost, and highly sensitive method for the detection of miRNAs is desirable. In this study, we demonstrate a novel bi-directional extension (BDE) assay. In the first step, a specific linear RT primer is hybridized to 6-10 base pairs from the 3’-end of a target miRNA molecule and then reverse transcribed to generate a cDNA strand. After reverse transcription, the cDNA was hybridized to the 3’-end which is BDE sequence; it played role as the PCR template. The PCR template was amplified in an SYBR green-based quantitative real-time PCR. To prove the concept, we used human brain total RNA. It could be detected quantitatively in the range of seven orders of magnitude with excellent linearity and reproducibility. To evaluate the performance of BDE assay, we contrasted sensitivity and specificity of the BDE assay against a commercially available poly (A) tailing method using miRNAs for let-7e extracted from A549 human epithelial lung cancer cells. The BDE assay displayed good performance compared with a poly (A) tailing method in terms of specificity and sensitivity; the CT values differed by 2.5 and the melting curve showed a sharper than poly (A) tailing methods. We have demonstrated an innovative, cost-effective BDE assay that allows improved sensitivity and specificity in detection of miRNAs. Dynamic range of the SYBR green-based RT-qPCR for miR-145 could be represented quantitatively over a range of 7 orders of magnitude from 0.1 pg to 1.0 μg of human brain total RNA. Finally, the BDE assay for detection of miRNA species such as let-7e shows good performance compared with a poly (A) tailing method in terms of specificity and sensitivity. Thus BDE proves a simple, low cost, and highly sensitive assay for various miRNAs and should provide significant contributions in research on miRNA biology and application of disease diagnostics with miRNAs as targets.

Keywords: bi-directional extension (BDE), microRNA (miRNA), poly (A) tailing assay, reverse transcription, RT-qPCR

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Authors: Muhammad Habib, Lin Tang, Guoliang Xue, Attaur Rahman, Myong-Ho Kim, Soonil Lee, Xuefan Zhou, Yan Zhang, Dou Zhang

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Designing a high-performance, lead-free ceramic has become a cutting-edge research topic due to growing concerns about the toxic nature of lead-based materials. In this work, a convenient strategy of compositional design and domain engineering is applied to the lead-fee BiFeO₃-BaTiO₃ ceramics, which provides a flexible polarization-free-energy profile for domain switching. Here, simultaneously enhanced dynamic piezoelectric constant (d33* = 772 pm/V) and a good thermal-stability (d33* = 26% over the temperature of 20-180 ᵒC) are achieved with a high Curie temperature (TC) of 432 ᵒC. This high piezoelectric strain performance is collectively attributed to multiple effects such as thermal quenching, suppression of defect charges by donor doping, chemically induced local structure heterogeneity, and electric field-induced phase transition. Furthermore, the addition of BT content decreased octahedral tilting, reduced anisotropy for domain switching and increased tetragonality (cₜ/aₜ), providing a wider polar length for B-site cation displacement, leading to high piezoelectric strain performance. Atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy and piezoelectric force microscopy combined with X-ray diffraction results strongly support the origin of high piezoelectricity. The high and temperature-stable piezoelectric strain response of this work is superior to those of other lead-free ceramics. The synergistic approach of composition design and the concept present here for the origin of high strain response provides a paradigm for the development of materials for high-temperature piezoelectric actuator applications.

Keywords: Piezoelectric, BiFeO3-BaTiO3, Quenching, Temperature-insensitive

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Authors: Sudeshna Mukherjee, Leena Fageria, R. Venkataramana Dilip, Rajdeep Chowdhury, Jitendra Panwar

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Metal nanoparticles in recent years have gained importance in cancer therapy due to their enhanced permeability retention effect. Among various nanomaterials, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have received considerable attention due to their unique properties like conductivity, chemical stability, relative lower toxicity and outstanding therapeutic potential, such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anti-cancerous activities. In this study, we took a greener approach to synthesize silver nanoparticle from fungus and analyze its effects on both epithelial and mesenchymal derived cancer cells. Much research has been done on nanoparticle-induced apoptosis, but little is known about its role in autophagy. In our study, the silver nanoparticles were seen to induce autophagy which was analyzed by studying the expression of several autophagy markers like, LC3B-II and ATG genes. Monodansylcadaverine (MDC) assay also revealed the induction of autophagy upon treatment with AgNPs. Inhibition of autophagy by chloroquine resulted in increased cell death suggesting autophagy as a survival strategy adopted by the cells. In parallel to autophagy induction, silver nanoparticles induced ROS accumulation. Interestingly, autophagy inhibition by chloroquine increased ROS level, resulting in enhanced cell death. We further analyzed MAPK signaling upon AgNP treatment. It was observed that along with autophagy, activation of JNK signaling served as pro-survival while ERK signaling served as a pro-death signal. Our results provide valuable insights into the role of autophagy upon AgNP exposure and provide cues to probabilistic strategies to effectively sensitize cancer cells.

Keywords: autophagy, JNK signalling, reactive oxygen species, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Santi Maneewatchararangsri, Wanpen Chaicumpa, Patcharin Saengjaruk, Urai Chaisri

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Leptospirosis is a globally neglected disease that continues to be a significant public health and veterinary burden, with millions of cases reported each year. Early and accurate differential diagnosis of leptospirosis from other febrile illnesses and the development of a broad spectrum of leptospirosis vaccines are needed. The LipL32 outer membrane lipoprotein is a member of Leptospira adhesive matrices and has been found to exert hemolytic activity to erythrocytes in vitro. Therefore, LipL32 is regarded as a potential target for diagnosis, broad-spectrum leptospirosis vaccines, and for passive immunotherapy. In this study, we established LipL32-specific mouse monoclonal antibodies, mAbLPF1 and mAbLPF2, and their respective mouse- and humanized-engineered single chain variable fragment (ScFv). Their antibodies’ neutralizing activities against Leptospira-mediated hemolysis in vitro, and the therapeutic efficacy of mAbs against heterologous Leptospira infected hamsters were demonstrated. The epitope peptide of mAb LPF1 was mapped to a non-contiguous carboxy-terminal β-turn and amphipathic α-helix of LipL32 structure contributing to phospholipid/host cell adhesion and membrane insertion. We found that the mAbLPF2 epitope was located on the interacting loop of peptide binding groove of the LipL32 molecule responsible for interactions with host constituents. Epitope sequences are highly conserved among Leptospira spp. and are absent from the LipL32 superfamily of other microorganisms. Both epitopes are surface-exposed, readily accessible by mAbs, and immunogenic. However, they are less dominant when revealed by LipL32-specific immunoglobulins from leptospirosis-patient sera and rabbit hyperimmune serum raised by whole Leptospira. Our study also demonstrated an adhesion inhibitory activity of LipL32 protein to host membrane components and cells mediated by mAbs as well as an anti-hemolytic activity of the respective antibodies. The therapeutic antibodies, particularly the humanized-ScFv, have a potential for further development as non-drug therapeutic agent for human leptospirosis, especially in subjects allergic to antibiotics. The epitope peptides recognized by two therapeutic mAbs have potential use as tools for structure-function studies. Finally, protective peptides may be used as a target for epitope-based vaccines for control of leptospirosis.

Keywords: leptospira lipl32-specific antibodies, therapeutic epitopes, epitopes characterization, immunotherapy

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Authors: Abdul Rofiq Badril Rizal Muzammil

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Education is an absolute necessity for human’s life that one must fulfill for the entire life. Without education it is impossible for human to develop her/himself well. The education process is an effort to maintain a good behavior within one’s life. Good behavior will be absolutely achieved if it is taught to early-aged children. This paper focuses on how the story telling method enables teachers to make the students have the construction of good behavior and obtain the goal of national education in Indonesia. The targeted students would involve students in As-Solihin kindergarten, Salafiyah-Syafi’iyah Mumbulsari, Jember, Indonesia. Story is what early-aged children like most. Thus, it is a gorgeous chance to make story telling activity as a method to invest Islamic education values to children. This paper, however, also focuses on some deliberately important aspects which of course teachers need to consider including objectives and strategies of the method’s implementation. The teachers will be in need of knowing each student’s characteristic in the classroom so that it would enable them to select appropriate stories that fit best to early aged students. The selected stories are taken from Islamic stories that tell the life of Prophet and heroes of Islam as well as well-known persons in Islam. In addition, there will be a number of activities done in the classroom after the delivery of the story is over on purpose of leading students to have the fundamental foundation of how to build self-awareness in order they could understand better about the importance of being a well-behaved person. After reviewing relevant theories, secondary research and scholars’ opinion involved in all aspects of early-aged children behavior, the author concludes that by leveraging trusted sources, a proactive, co-operative and creative strategy, the teacher can successfully build up children’s good behavior by instilling the Islamic value toward early-aged children through story telling method.

Keywords: story, Islam, children, early age

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Authors: Kyosuke Kamada, Christoph Kapeller, Michael Jordan, Mostafa Mohammadpour, Christy Li, Christoph Guger

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Cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEP) refer to responses generated by cortical electrical stimulation at distant brain sites. These responses provide insights into the functional networks associated with language or motor functions, and in the context of epilepsy, they can reveal pathological networks. Locating the origin and spread of seizures within the cortex is crucial for pre-surgical planning. This process can be enhanced by employing cortical stimulation at the seizure onset zone (SOZ), leading to the generation of CCEPs in remote brain regions that may be targeted for disconnection. In the case of a 24-year-old male patient suffering from intractable epilepsy, corpus callosotomy was performed as part of the treatment. DTI-MRI imaging, conducted using a 3T MRI scanner for fiber tracking, along with CCEP, is used as part of an assessment for surgical planning. Stimulation of the SOZ, with alternating monophasic pulses of 300µs duration and 15mA current intensity, resulted in CCEPs on the contralateral frontal cortex, reaching a peak amplitude of 206µV with a latency of 31ms, specifically in the left pars triangularis. The related fiber tracts were identified with a two-tensor unscented Kalman filter (UKF) technique, showing transversal fibers through the corpus callosum. The CCEPs were monitored through the progress of the surgery. Notably, the SOZ-associated CCEPs exhibited a reduction following the resection of the anterior portion of the corpus callosum, reaching the identified connecting fibers. This intervention demonstrated a potential strategy for mitigating the impact of intractable epilepsy through targeted disconnection of identified cortical regions.

Keywords: CCEP, SOZ, Corpus callosotomy, DTI

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Authors: Lubem Matthew Kwaghkor

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Terrorism, which remains one of the largest threats faced by various nations and communities around the world, including Nigeria, is the calculated use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population to attain particular goals that might be political, religious, or economical. Several terrorist groups are currently active in Nigeria, leading to attacks on both civil and military targets. Among these groups, Boko Haram is the deadliest terrorist group operating majorly in Borno State. The southern part of Borno State in North-Eastern Nigeria has been plagued by terrorism, insurgency, and conflict for several years. Understanding the dynamics of terrorism is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate its impact on communities and to facilitate peace-building efforts. This research aims to develop a mathematical model that captures the dynamics of terrorism within the southern part of Borno State, Nigeria, capturing both government and local community intervention strategies as control measures in combating terrorism. A compartmental model of five nonlinear differential equations is formulated. The model analyses show that a feasible solution set of the model exists and is bounded. Stability analyses show that both the terrorism free equilibrium and the terrorism endermic equilibrium are asymptotically stable, making the model to have biological meaning. Optimal control theory will be employed to identify the most effective strategy to prevent or minimize acts of terrorism. The research outcomes are expected to contribute towards enhancing security and stability in Southern Borno State while providing valuable insights for policymakers, security agencies, and researchers. This is an ongoing research.

Keywords: modelling, terrorism, optimal control, susceptible, non-susceptible, community intervention

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Authors: Xiao-Yin Liu, Liang-Xue Zhou

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI), as a kind of nerve trauma caused by an external force, affects people all over the world and is a global public health problem. Although there are various clinical treatments for brain injury, including surgery, drug therapy, and rehabilitation therapy, the therapeutic effect is very limited. To improve the therapeutic effect of TBI, scaffolds combined with exosomes are a promising but challenging method for TBI repair. In this study, we examined whether a novel 3D-printed collagen/chitosan scaffold/exosomes derived from neural stem cells (NSCs) pretreated with insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-I) scaffolds (3D-CC-INExos) could be used to improve TBI repair and functional recovery after TBI. Our results showed that composite scaffolds of collagen-, chitosan- and exosomes derived from NSCs pretreated with IGF-I (INExos) could continuously release the exosomes for two weeks. In the rat TBI model, 3D-CC-INExos scaffold transplantation significantly improved motor and cognitive function after TBI, as assessed by the Morris water maze test and modified neurological severity scores. In addition, immunofluorescence staining and transmission electron microscopy showed that the recovery of damaged nerve tissue in the injured area was significantly improved by 3D-CC-INExos implantation. In conclusion, our data suggest that 3D-CC-INExos might provide a potential strategy for the treatment of TBI and lay a solid foundation for clinical translation.

Keywords: traumatic brain injury, exosomes, insulin growth factor-1, neural stem cells, collagen, chitosan, 3D printing, neural regeneration, angiogenesis, functional recovery

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Authors: Edward Poluyi, Eghosa Morgan, Charles Poluyi, Chibuikem Ikwuegbuenyi, Grace Imaguezegie

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Background: Current epidemiological studies have examined the associations between moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their risks of developing neurodegenerative diseases. Concussion, also known as mild TBI (mTBI), is however quite distinct from moderate or severe TBIs. Only few studies in this burgeoning area have examined concussion—especially repetitive episodes—and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, no definite relationship has been established between them. Objectives : This review will discuss the available literature linking concussion and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Materials and Methods: Given the complexity of this subject, a realistic review methodology was selected which includes clarifying the scope and developing a theoretical framework, developing a search strategy, selection and appraisal, data extraction, and synthesis. A detailed literature matrix was set out in order to get relevant and recent findings on this topic. Results: Presently, there is no objective clinical test for the diagnosis of concussion because the features are less obvious on physical examination. Absence of an objective test in diagnosing concussion sometimes leads to skepticism when confirming the presence or absence of concussion. Intriguingly, several possible explanations have been proposed in the pathological mechanisms that lead to the development of some neurodegenerative disorders (such as ALS and AD) and concussion but the two major events are deposition of tau proteins (abnormal microtubule proteins) and neuroinflammation, which ranges from glutamate excitotoxicity pathways and inflammatory pathways (which leads to a rise in the metabolic demands of microglia cells and neurons), to mitochondrial function via the oxidative pathways.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, mild traumatic brain injury, neurodegeneration

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Authors: Yuli Andrea P. Bermudez, Richard R. Lobo, Tamyres R. D. Amorim, Danny Alexander R. Moreno, Angelica Simone C. Pereira, Ives Claudio D. Bueno

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The use of natural antioxidants in animal feed can positively modify the profile of fatty acids (FAs) in meat, due to the presence of secondary metabolites, mainly phenolic and flavonoid compounds, which promote an increase in the associated polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with beneficial factors in human health. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of the dietary inclusion percentage of yerba mate extract (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hilaire) as a natural antioxidant on lamb meat quality. The animals were confined for 53 days and fed with corn silage and concentrated in the proportion of 60:40, respectively, were divided into four homogeneous groups (n = 9 lambs/group), to each of the treatments, one control group without yerba mate extract - YME (0%) and three treatments with 1, 2 and 4% the inclusion of YME on a DM basis. Samples of the Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle were collected from the deboning of 36 lambs, analyzing pH values, color parameters (brightness: L*, red value: a*, and yellow: b*), fatty acid profile, total lipids, and sensory analysis. The inclusion of YME modified the value of b* (P = 0.0041), indicating a higher value of yellow color in the meat, for the group supplemented with 4% YME. All data were statistically evaluated using the MIXED procedure of the statistical package SAS 9.4. However, it did not show differences in the final live weight in the groups evaluated, as well as in the pH values (P = 0.1923) and the total lipid concentration (P = 0.0752). The FAs (P ≥ 0.1360) and health indexes were not altered by the inclusion of YME (P ≥ 0.1360); only branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) exhibited a diet effect (P = 0.0092) in the group that had 4% of the extract. In the sensory analysis test with a hedonic scale it did not show differences between the treatments (P ≥ 0.1251). Nevertheless, in the just about-right test, using (note 1) to 'very strong, softness or moist' (note 5); the softness was different between the evaluated treatments (P = 0.0088) where groups with 2% YME had a better acceptance of tasters (4.15 ± 0.08) compared to the control (3.89 ± 0.08). In conclusion, although the addition of YME has shown positive results in sensory acceptance and in increasing the concentration of BCFA, fatty acids beneficial to human health, without changing the physical-chemical parameters in lamb meat, the absolute changes are considered to have been quite small, which was probably related to the high efficiency of PUFA biohydrogenation in the n the rumen.

Keywords: composition, health, antioxidant, meat analysis

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Authors: Amir Ali, Laura Yael Mendoza

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The application of nanomaterials is becoming the most effective strategy of elicitation to produce a desirable level of plant biomass with complex medicinal compounds. This study was designed to check the influence of phytosynthesized iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) on physical growth characteristics, antioxidant status, and production of steviol glycosides of in vitro grown Stevia rebaudiana. Effect of different concentrations of iron nanoparticles replacement of iron sulfate in MS medium (stock solution) on invitro stevia plant growth following positive control (MS basal medium), negative control (iron sulfate devoid medium), iron sulfate devoid MS medium and supplemented with FeNPs at different concentrations (5.6 mg/L, 11.2 mg/L, 16.8 mg/L, 22.4 mg/L) was evaluated. The iron deficiency leads to a drastic reduction in plant growth. In contrast, applying FeNPs leads to improvement in plant height, leave diameter, improved leave morphology, etc., in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the stress caused by FeNPs at 16.8 mg/L in cultures produced higher levels of total phenolic content (3.7 ± 0.042 mg/g dry weight: DW) and total flavonoid content (1.9 ± 0.022 mg/g DW and antioxidant activity (78 ± 4.6%). In addition, plants grown in the presence of FeNPs at 22.4 mg/L resulted in higher enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD = 3.5 ± 0.042 U/mg; POD = 2.6 ± 0.026 U/mg; CAT = 2.8 ± 0.034 U/mg and APx = 3.6 ± 0.043 U/ mg), respectively. Furthermore, exposure to a higher dose of FeNPs (22.4 mg/L) exhibited the maximum amount of stevioside (stevioside: 4.6 ± 0.058 mg/g (DW) and rebaudioside A: 4.9 ± 0.068 mg/g DW) as compared to other doses. The current investigation confirms the effectiveness of FeNPs in growth media. It offers a suitable prospect for commercially desirable production of S. rebaudiana biomass with higher sweet glycosides profiles in vitro.

Keywords: cell culture, stevia, iron nanoparticles, antioxidants

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Authors: S. Vaibhav Kant Sahu, Surabhi Bipin Seth

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Human well-being has multiple constituents including the basic material for a good life, freedom and choice, health, good social relations, and security. Poverty is also multidimensional and has been defined as the pronounced deprivation of well-being. Dhurwa tribe of Bastar (India) have symbiotic relation with nature, it provisions ecosystem service such as food, fuel and fiber; regulating services such as climate regulation and non-material benefits such as spiritual or aesthetic benefits and they are managing their forest from ages. The demand for ecosystem services is now so great that trade-off among services become rule. Aim of study to explore evidences for linkages between ecosystem services and well-being of indigenous community, how much it helps them in poverty reduction and interaction between them. Objective of study was to find drivers of change and evidence concerning link between ecosystem, human development and sustainability, evidence in decision making does it opt for multi sectoral objectives. Which means human well-being as the central focus for assessment, while recognizing that biodiversity and ecosystems also have intrinsic value. Ecosystem changes that may have little impact on human well-being over days or weeks may have pronounced impacts over years or decades; so assessments needed to be conducted at spatial and temporal scales under social, political, economic scales to have high-resolution data. Researcher used framework developed by Millennium ecosystem assessment; since human action now directly or unknowingly virtually alter ecosystem. Researcher used ethnography study to get primary qualitative data, secondary data collected from panchayat office. The responses were transcribed and translated into English, as interview held in Hindi and local indigenous language. Focus group discussion were held with group of 10 women at Tiriya village. Researcher concluded with well-being is not just gap between ecosystem service supply but also increases vulnerability. Decision can have consequences external to the decision framework these consequences are called externalities because they are not part of the decision-making calculus.

Keywords: Bastar, Dhurwa tribe, ecosystem services, millennium ecosystem assessment, sustainability

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Authors: T. Poppendieker

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A new innovative tool for self-myofascial release is widely and increasingly used among athletes of various sports. The application of the foam roll is suggested to improve muscle performance and flexibility. Attempts to examine acute and somewhat long term effects of either have been conducted over the past ten years. However, the results of muscle performance have been inconsistent. It is suggested that regular use over a long period of time results in a different, muscle performance improving outcome. This study examines long-term effects of regular foam rolling combined with a short plyometric routine vs. solely the same plyometric routine on muscle performance and flexibility over a period of six weeks. Results of counter movement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), and isometric maximal force (IMF) of a 90° horizontal squat in a leg-press will serve as parameters for muscle performance. Data on the range of motion (ROM) of the sit and reach test will be used as a parameter for the flexibility assessment. Muscle activation will be measured throughout all tests. Twenty male and twenty female members of a Frankfurt area fitness center chain (7.11) with an average age of 25 years will be recruited. Women and men will be randomly assigned to a foam roll (FR) and a control group. All participants will practice their assigned routine three times a week over the period of six weeks. Tests on CMJ, SJ, IMF, and ROM will be taken before and after the intervention period. The statistic software program SPSS 22 will be used to analyze the data of CMJ, SJ, IMF, and ROM under consideration of muscle activation by a 2 x 2 x 2 (time of measurement x gender x group) analysis of variance with repeated measures and dependent t-test analysis of pre- and post-test. The alpha level for statistic significance will be set at p ≤ 0.05. It is hypothesized that a significant difference in outcome based on gender differences in all four tests will be observed. It is further hypothesized that both groups may show significant improvements in their performance in the CMJ and SJ after the six-week period. However, the FR group is hypothesized to achieve a higher improvement in the two jump tests. Moreover, the FR group may increase IMF as well as flexibility, whereas the control group may not show likewise progress. The results of this study are crucial for the understanding of long-term effects of regular foam roll application. The collected information on the matter may help to motivate the incorporation of foam rolling into training routines, in order to improve athletic performances.

Keywords: counter movement jump, foam rolling, isometric maximal force, long term effects, self-myofascial release, squat jump

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Authors: Eteri Kharaishvili

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Introduction. The paper analyzes the main indicators of export and import of Georgian agri-food products; identifies positive and negative trends under the pandemic; based on the revealed problemssubstantiates the need formodernization ofin agri-food sector. It is argued that low production and productivity rates of food products negatively impact achieving the optimal export-to-import ratio; therefore, it leads toincreaseddependence on other countries andreduces the level of food security. Research objectives. The objective of the research is to identify the key challenges based on the analysis of export-import indicators of Georgian food products during the pandemic period and develop recommendations on the possibilities of post-pandemic perspectives. Research methods. Various theoretical and methodological research tools are used in the paper; in particular, a desk research is carried out on the research topic; endogenous and exogenous variables affecting export and import are determined through factor analysis; SWOT and PESTEL analysis are used to identify development opportunities; selection and groupingof data, identification of similarities and differences is carried outby using analysis, synthesis, sampling, induction and other methods; a qualitative study is conducted based on a survey of agri-food experts and exporters for clarifying the factors that impede export-import flows. Contributions. The factors that impede the export of Georgian agri-food products in the short run under COVID-19 pandemic are identified. These are: reduced income of farmers, delays in the supply of raw materials and supplies to the agri-food sectorfrom the neighboring industries, as well as in harvesting, processing, marketing, transportation, and other sectors; increased indirect costs, etc. The factors that impede the export in the long run areas follows loss of public confidence in the industry, risk of losing positions in traditional markets, etc. Conclusions are made on the problems in the field of export and import of Georgian agri-food products in terms of the pandemic; development opportunities are evaluated based on the analysis of the agri-food sector potential. Recommendations on the development opportunities for export and import of Georgian agri-food products in the post-pandemic period are proposed.

Keywords: agri-food products, export, and import, pandemic period, hindering factor, development potential

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Authors: Acacia A. Salomão, Willian L. Gomes da Silva, Gustavo G. Shimamoto, Matthieu Tubino

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Biodiesel physical and chemical properties depend on the raw material composition used in its synthesis. Saturated fatty acid esters confer high oxidative stability, while unsaturated fatty acid esters improve the cold flow properties. In this study, an alternative vegetal source - the macauba kernel oil - was used in the biodiesel synthesis instead of conventional sources. Macauba can be collected from native palm trees and is found in several regions in Brazil. Its oil is a promising source when compared to several other oils commonly obtained from food products, such as soybean, corn or canola oil, due to its specific characteristics. However, the usage of biodiesel made from macauba oil alone is not recommended due to the difficulty of producing macauba in large quantities. For this reason, this project proposes the usage of blends of the macauba oil with conventional oils. These blends were prepared by mixing the macauba biodiesel with biodiesels obtained from soybean, corn, and from residual frying oil, in the following proportions: 20:80, 50:50 e 80:20 (w/w). Three parameters were evaluated, using the standard methods, in order to check the quality of the produced biofuel and its blends: oxidative stability, cold filter plugging point (CFPP), and iodine value. The induction period (IP) expresses the oxidative stability of the biodiesel, the CFPP expresses the lowest temperature in which the biodiesel flows through a filter without plugging the system and the iodine value is a measure of the number of double bonds in a sample. The biodiesels obtained from soybean, residual frying oil and corn presented iodine values higher than 110 g/100 g, low oxidative stability and low CFPP. The IP values obtained from these biodiesels were lower than 8 h, which is below the recommended standard value. On the other hand, the CFPP value was found within the allowed limit (5 ºC is the maximum). Regarding the macauba biodiesel, a low iodine value was observed (31.6 g/100 g), which indicates the presence of high content of saturated fatty acid esters. The presence of saturated fatty acid esters should imply in a high oxidative stability (which was found accordingly, with IP = 64 h), and high CFPP, but curiously the latter was not observed (-3 ºC). This behavior can be explained by looking at the size of the carbon chains, as 65% of this biodiesel is composed by short chain saturated fatty acid esters (less than 14 carbons). The high oxidative stability and the low CFPP of macauba biodiesel are what make this biofuel a promising source. The soybean, corn and residual frying oil biodiesels also have low CFPP, but low oxidative stability. Therefore the blends proposed in this work, if compared to the common biodiesels, maintain the flow properties but present enhanced oxidative stability.

Keywords: biodiesel, blends, macauba kernel oil, stability oxidative

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Authors: Saarah Juman, Ilona Johnson, Stephen Richmond, Brett Duane, Sheelagh Rogers

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Introduction: Researchers suggest that within 50 years or less, the available supply of a range of metals will be exhausted, potentially leading to increases in resource conflict and largescale production shortages. The healthcare, dental and orthodontic sectors will undoubtedly be affected as stainless steel instruments are generally heavily relied on. Although changing orthodontic archwires are unavoidable and necessary to allow orthodontic tooth movement through the progression of an archwire sequence with fixed appliances, they are thought to be manufactured in excess of what is needed. Furthermore, orthodontic archwires require trimming extraorally to allow safe intraoral insertion, thus contributing to unnecessary waste of natural resources. Currently, there is no evidence to support the optimisation of archwire length according to orthodontic fixed appliance stage. As such, this study aims to quantify archwire excess (extraoral archwire trimmings) for different stages of orthodontic fixed appliance treatment. Methodology: This prospective, observational, quantitative study observed trimmings made extraorally against pre-treatment study models by clinicians over a 3-month period. Archwires were categorised into one of three categories (initial aligning, sequence, working/finishing arcwhires) within the orthodontic fixed appliance archwire sequence. Data collection included archwire material composition and the corresponding length and weight of excess archwire. Data was entered using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and imported into statistical software to obtain simple descriptive statistics. Results: Measurements were obtained for a total of 144 archwires. Archwire materials included nickel titanium and stainless steel. All archwires observed required extraorally trimming to allow safe intraoral insertion. The manufactured lengths of orthodontic initial aligning, sequence, and working/finishing arcwhires were at least 31%, 26%, and 39% in excess, respectively. Conclusions: Orthodontic archwires are manufactured to be excessively long at all orthodontic archwire sequence stages. To conserve natural resources, this study’s findings support the optimisation of orthodontic archwire lengths by manufacturers according to the typical stages of an orthodontic archwire sequence.

Keywords: archwire, orthodontics, sustainability, waste

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Authors: Madia Safdar, G. Amjad Hussain, Mashhood Ahmad

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One of the major challenges of today’s era is peak demand which causes stress on the transmission lines and also raises the cost of energy generation and ultimately higher electricity bills to the end users, and it was used to be managed by the supply side management. However, nowadays this has been withdrawn because of existence of potential in the demand side management (DSM) having its economic and- environmental advantages. DSM in domestic load can play a vital role in reducing the peak load demand on the network provides a significant cost saving. In this paper the potential of demand response (DR) in reducing the peak load demands and electricity bills to the electric users is elaborated. For this purpose the domestic appliances are modeled in MATLAB Simulink and controlled by a module called energy management controller. The devices are categorized into controllable and uncontrollable loads and are operated according to real-time tariff pricing pattern instead of fixed time pricing or variable pricing. Energy management controller decides the switching instants of the controllable appliances based on the results from optimization algorithms. In GAMS software, the MILP (mixed integer linear programming) algorithm is used for optimization. In different cases, different constraints are used for optimization, considering the comforts, needs and priorities of the end users. Results are compared and the savings in electricity bills are discussed in this paper considering real time pricing and fixed tariff pricing, which exhibits the existence of potential to reduce electricity bills and peak loads in demand side management. It is seen that using real time pricing tariff instead of fixed tariff pricing helps to save in the electricity bills. Moreover the simulation results of the proposed energy management system show that the gained power savings lie in high range. It is anticipated that the result of this research will prove to be highly effective to the utility companies as well as in the improvement of domestic DR.

Keywords: controllable and uncontrollable domestic loads, demand response, demand side management, optimization, MILP (mixed integer linear programming)

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