Search results for: Indian auto component industry

Authors: Neelam Taneja, Abhishek Mewara, Ajay Kumar

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Multidrug resistant shigellae have emerged as a therapeutic challenge in India. At our 2000 bed tertiary care referral centre in Chandigarh, North India, which caters to a large population of 7 neighboring states, antibiotic resistance in Shigella is being constantly monitored. Shigellae are isolated from 3 to 5% of all stool samples. In 1990 nalidixic acid was the drug of choice as 82%, and 63% of shigellae were resistant to ampicillin and cotrimoxazole respectively. Nalidixic acid resistance emerged in 1992 and rapidly increased from 6% during 1994-98 to 86% by the turn of 21st century. In the 1990s, the WHO recommended ciprofloxacin as the drug of choice for empiric treatment of shigellosis in view of the existing high level resistance to agents like chloramphenicol, ampicillin, cotrimoxazole and nalidixic acid. First resistance to ciprofloxacin in S. flexneri at our centre appeared in 2000 and rapidly rose to 46% in 2007 (MIC>4mg/L). In between we had an outbreak of ciprofloxacin resistant S.dysenteriae serotype 1 in 2003. Therapeutic failures with ciprofloxacin occurred with both ciprofloxacin-resistant S. dysenteriae and ciprofloxacin-resistant S. flexneri. The severity of illness was more with ciprofloxacin-resistant strains. Till 2000, elsewhere in the world ciprofloxacin resistance in S. flexneri was sporadic and uncommon, though resistance to co-trimoxazole and ampicillin was common and in some areas resistance to nalidixic acid had also emerged. Fluoroquinolones due to extensive use and misuse for many other illnesses in our region are thus no longer the preferred group of drugs for managing shigellosis in India. WHO presently recommends ceftriaxone and azithromycin as alternative drugs to fluoroquinolone-resistant shigellae, however, overreliance on this group of drugs also seems to soon become questionable considering the emerging cephalosporin-resistant shigellae. We found 15.1% of S. flexneri isolates collected over a period of 9 years (2000-2009) resistant to at least one of the third-generation cephalosporins (ceftriaxone/cefotaxime). The first isolate showing ceftriaxone resistance was obtained in 2001, and we have observed an increase in number of isolates resistant to third generation cephalosporins in S. flexneri 2005 onwards. This situation has now become a therapeutic challenge in our region. The MIC values for Shigella isolates revealed a worrisome rise for ceftriaxone (MIC90:12 mg/L) and cefepime (MIC90:8 mg/L). MIC values for S. dysenteriae remained below 1 mg/L for ceftriaxone, however for cefepime, the MIC90 has raised to 4 mg/L. These infections caused by ceftriaxone-resistant S. flexneri isolates were successfully treated by azithromycin at our center. Most worrisome development in the present has been the emergence of DSA(Decreased susceptibility to azithromycin) which surfaced in 2001 and has increased from 4.3% till 2011 to 34% thereafter. We suspect plasmid-mediated resistance as we detected qnrS1-positive Shigella for the first time from the Indian subcontinent in 2 strains from 2010, indicating a relatively new appearance of this PMQR determinant among Shigella in India. This calls for a continuous and strong surveillance of antibiotic resistance across the country. The prevention of shigellosis by developing cost-effective vaccines is desirable as it will substantially reduce the morbidity associated with diarrhoea in the country

Keywords: Shigella, antimicrobial, resistance, India

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Bernhard Widhalm, Cornelia Rieder-Gradinger, Ewald Srebotnik

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Pine wood (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the basic raw material for the production of Oriented Strand Boards (OSB) and the major source of volatile organic compounds, especially terpenes (like α- and β-pinene). To lower the total emission level of OSB, terpene metabolising microorganisms were therefore applied onto pine wood strands for the production of emission-reduced boards. Suitable microorganisms were identified during preliminary tests under laboratory conditions. At first, their terpene degrading potential was investigated in liquid culture, followed by laboratory tests using unsterile pine wood particles and strands. The main focus was laid on an adoptable terpene reduction in a short incubation time. An optimised bacterial mixture of Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas fluorescens showed the best results and was therefore used for further experiments on a larger scale. In an industry-compatible testing procedure, pine wood strands were incubated with the bacterial mixture for a period of 2 to 4 days. Incubation time was stopped by drying the strands. OSB were then manufactured from the pre-treated strands and emissions were measured by means of SPME/GC-MS analysis. Bacterial pre-treatment of strands resulted in a reduction of α-pinene- and β-pinene-emissions from OSB by 40% and 70%, respectively, even after only 2 days of incubation. The results of the investigation provide a basis for the application of microbial treatment within the industrial OSB production line, where shortest possible incubation times are required. For this purpose, the performance of the bacterial mixture will have to be further optimised.

Keywords: GC-MS, OSB, Pseudomonas sp., terpene degradation

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Rida Wanbha Nongbri, Sabuj Kumar Mandal

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2016-2030 were adopted in response to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which focused on access to sustainable water and sanitations. For over a decade, water has been a significant subject that is explored in various facets of life. Our day-to-day life is significantly impacted by water poverty at the socio-economic level. Reducing water poverty is an important policy challenge, particularly in emerging economies like India, owing to its population growth, huge variation in topology and climatic factors. To design appropriate water policies and its effectiveness, a proper measurement of water poverty is essential. In this backdrop, this study uses the Alkire Foster (AF) methodology to estimate a multidimensional water poverty index for India at the household level. The methodology captures several attributes to understand the complex issues related to households’ water deprivation. The study employs two rounds of Indian Human Development Survey data (IHDS 2005 and 2012) which focuses on 4 dimensions of water poverty including water access, water quantity, water quality, and water capacity, and seven indicators capturing these four dimensions. In order to quantify water deprivation at the household level, an AF dual cut-off counting method is applied and Multidimensional Water Poverty Index (MWPI) is calculated as the product of Headcount Ratio (Incidence) and average share of weighted dimension (Intensity). The results identify deprivation across all dimensions at the country level and show that a large proportion of household in India is deprived of quality water and suffers from water access in both 2005 and 2012 survey rounds. The comparison between the rural and urban households shows that higher ratio of the rural households are multidimensionally water poor as compared to their urban counterparts. Among the four dimensions of water poverty, water quality is found to be the most significant one for both rural and urban households. In 2005 round, almost 99.3% of households are water poor for at least one of the four dimensions, and among the water poor households, the intensity of water poverty is 54.7%. These values do not change significantly in 2012 round, but we could observe significance differences across the dimensions. States like Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh are ranked the most in terms of MWPI, whereas Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are ranked the lowest in 2005 round. Similarly, in 2012 round, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa rank the highest in terms of MWPI, whereas Goa, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh rank the lowest. The policy implications of this study can be multifaceted. It can urge the policy makers to focus either on the impoverished households with lower intensity levels of water poverty to minimize total number of water poor households or can focus on those household with high intensity of water poverty to achieve an overall reduction in MWPI.

Keywords: .alkire-foster (AF) methodology, deprivation, dual cut-off, multidimensional water poverty index (MWPI)

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Authors: M. Das, B. P. Sarma, G. Ahmed

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Human diet can be a major source of antioxidants. Poly¬phenols, which are organic compounds present in the regular human diet, have good antioxidant property. Most of the diseases are detected too late and that cause irre¬versible damage to the body. Therefore food that forms the natural source of antioxidants can prevent free radi¬cals from damaging our body tissues. Dillenia indica and Garcinia penducalata are two major fruits, easily available in Assam, North eastern Indian state. In the present study, the in vitro antioxi¬dant properties of the fruits of these plants are compared as the decoction of these fruits form a major part of Assamese cuisine. DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the methanol, petroleum ether and water extracts of G. penducalata and D. indica fruits were carried out by the methods of Cotelle A et al. (1996). Different concentrations ranging from 10–110 ug/ml of the extracts were added to 100 uM of DPPH (2,2, Diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) and the absor¬bance was read at 517 nm after incubation. Ascorbic acid was used as the standard. Different concentrations of the methanol, petroleum ether and water extracts of G. penducalata and D. indica fruits were mixed with sodium nitroprusside and incubated. Griess reagent was added to the mixtures and their optical density was read at 546 nm following the method of Marcocci et al. (1994). Ascorbic acid was used as the standard. In order to find the scavenging activity of the extracts against hydroxyl radicals, the method of Kunchandy & Ohkawa (1990) was followed.The superoxide scavenging activity of the methanol, petroleum ether and water extracts of the fruits was deter¬mined by the method of Robak & Gryglewski (1998).Six replicates were maintained in each of the experiments and their SEM was evaluated based on which, non linear regres¬sion (curve fit), exponential growth were derived to calculate the IC50 values of the SAWE and standard compounds. All the statistical analyses were done by using paired t test. The hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of the various extracts of D. indica exhibited IC50 values < 110 ug/ml concentration, the scavenging activity of the extracts of G. penducalata was surprisingly>110 ug/ml.Similarly the oxygen free radical scavenging activity of the different extracts of D. indica exhibited an IC50 value of <110 ug/ml but the methanolic extract of the same exhib¬ited a better free radical scavenging activity compared to that of vitamin C. The methanolic extract of D. indica exhibited an IC50 value better than that of vitamin C. The DPPH scavenging activities of the various extracts of D. indica and G. penducalata were <110 ug/ml but the methanolic extract of D. indica exhibited an IC50 value bet¬ter than that of vitaminc C.The higher amounts of phenolic content in the methanolic extract of D. indica might be one of the major causes for its enhanced in vitro antioxidant activity.The present study concludes that Dillenia indica and Garcinia penducalata both possesses anti oxidant activi¬ties. The anti oxidant activity of Dillenia indica is superior to that of Garcinia penducalata due to its higher phenolic content

Keywords: antioxidants, free radicals, phenolic, scavenging

Procedia PDF Downloads 589

Authors: Haya Sammana

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A well-defined curricula must be adopted to meet the increasing complexity and diversity in the software applications. In reality, some IT majors such as computer science and computer engineering receive the software engineering education in a single course which is considered as a big challenged for the instructors and universities. Also, it requires students to gain the most of practical experiences that simulate the real work in software companies. Furthermore, we have noticed that there is no consensus on how, when and what to teach in that introductory course to gain the practical experiences that are required by the software companies. Because all of software engineering disciplines will not fit in just one course, so the course needs reasonable choices in selecting its topics. This arises an important question which is an essential one to ask: Is this course has the ability to formulate a true software engineer that meets the needs of industry? This question arises a big challenge in selecting the appropriate topics. So answering this question is very important for the next undergraduate students. During teaching this course in the curricula, the feedbacks from an undergraduate students and the keynotes of the annual meeting for an advisory committee from industrial side provide a probable answer for the proposed question: it is impossible to build a true software engineer who possesses all the essential elements of software engineering education such teamwork, communications skills, project management skills and contemporary industrial practice from one course and it is impossible to have a one course covering all software engineering topics. Besides the used teaching approach, the author proposes an implemented three supportive ways aiming for mitigating the expected risks and increasing the opportunity to build a true software engineer.

Keywords: software engineering course, software engineering education, software experience, supportive approach

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: O. B. Urhibo, D. Imhonopi, T. George

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The global rate of decline in entrepreneurial activities, and the prevalence in Africa, especially Nigeria, is more worrisome. In recent times, these problems, such as the lack of accessibility and utilization of financial incentives needed to promote entrepreneurial activities, have led to a decrease in entrepreneurial activities. The causes of the decline have been evaluated from a different perspective and have further confirmed the relevance and need for the sustainability of the Fashion industry. With the increasing rate of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria and the literature gap in the social context, this study investigated the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria through a qualitative approach. The Eastern part of Nigeria was considered in this study because of the high rate of market activity for textile and clothing firms. Specifically, Delta state was considered in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select key informants consisting of twelve (12) executives of the associations (i.e., Fashion Designer & Exhibitors Association, Delta Fashion Designers, and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria for the interview sessions. Four themes emanate from the thematic analysis -lack of sufficient collateral, difficulties and duration of loan application processes, unacceptable business proposal/plan, and the absence of audited financial accounts were found to be the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The promotion of sustainable patterns and supports has been suggested to reduce the challenges of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, fashion design, financial incentives, patterns, sustainability, utilisation

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Authors: S. Behnam Asl, H. Sadeghi Naeini, L. Sadat Ensaniat, R. Khorshidian, S. Alipour, S. Behnam Asl

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Nowadays, the construction industry is growing, especially among developing countries. Iran also has a critical role in these industries in terms of workers disorders. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) account for 7% of the whole diseases in the society, which makes some limitations. One of the main factors which causes WMSDs is awkward posture. Steel bar bending is considered as one of the prominent performance among construction workers. In this case study, we aimed to find the major tasks of bar benders and the most important risk factors related to it. This study was carried out among twenty workers (18-45 years) as our volunteer samples in some construction sites with less than 6 floors in two regions of Tehran municipality. The data was gathered through in depth observation, interview and questionnaire. Also postural analysis was done by OWAS method. In another part of study we used NMQ for gathering some data about psychosocial effects of work related disorders. Our findings show that 64% of workers were not aware of work risks, about 59% of workers had troubles in their wrists, hands, especially workers who worked in steel bar bending. In 46% cases lower back pain was in prevalence. Considering gathered data and results, awkward postures and long term tasks and their duration are known as the main risk factors of WMSDs among construction workers, meaning that work-rest schedule and tools design should be reconsidered to make an ergonomic condition for the mentioned workers.

Keywords: bar benders, construction workers, musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), OWAS method

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Authors: Samia Elfekih, Wee Tek Tay, Karl Gordon, Paul De Barro

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Invasive species represent an increasing threat to food biosecurity, causing significant economic losses in agricultural systems. An example is the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, which is a complex of morphologically indistinguishable species causing average annual global damage estimated at US$2.4 billion. The Bemisia complex represents an interesting model for evolutionary studies because of their extensive distribution and potential for invasiveness and population expansion. Within this complex, two species, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) and Mediterranean (MED) have invaded well beyond their home ranges whereas others, such as Indian Ocean (IO) and Australia (AUS), have not. In order to understand why some Bemisia species have become invasive, genome-wide sequence scans were used to estimate population dynamics over time and relate these to climate. The Bayesian Skyline Plot (BSP) method as implemented in BEAST was used to infer the historical effective population size. In order to overcome sampling bias, the populations were combined based on geographical origin. The datasets used for this particular analysis are genome-wide SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) called separately in each of the following groups: Sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso), Europe (Spain, France, Greece and Croatia), USA (Arizona), Mediterranean-Middle East (Israel, Italy), Middle East-Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Iran) and Reunion Island. The non-invasive ‘AUS’ species endemic to Australia was used as an outgroup. The main findings of this study show that the BSP for the Sub-Saharan African MED population is different from that observed in MED populations from the Mediterranean Basin, suggesting evolution under a different set of environmental conditions. For MED, the effective size of the African (Burkina Faso) population showed a rapid expansion ≈250,000-310,000 years ago (YA), preceded by a period of slower growth. The European MED populations (i.e., Spain, France, Croatia, and Greece) showed a single burst of expansion at ≈160,000-200,000 YA. The MEAM1 populations from Israel and Italy and the ones from Iran and Turkmenistan are similar as they both show the earlier expansion at ≈250,000-300,000 YA. The single IO population lacked the latter expansion but had the earlier one. This pattern is shared with the Sub-Saharan African (Burkina Faso) MED, suggesting IO also faced a similar history of environmental change, which seems plausible given their relatively close geographical distributions. In conclusion, populations within the invasive species MED and MEAM1 exhibited signatures of population expansion lacking in non-invasive species (IO and AUS) during the Pleistocene, a geological epoch marked by repeated climatic oscillations with cycles of glacial and interglacial periods. These expansions strongly suggested the potential of some Bemisia species’ genomes to affect their adaptability and invasiveness.

Keywords: whitefly, RADseq, invasive species, SNP, climate change

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Authors: Shradha Parsekar, Suma Nair, Ajay Bailey, Binu V. S.

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Background: Concealing of cancer-related information is seen in many low-and-middle-income countries and may be associated with multiple factors. Comparatively, there is lack of information about, how breast cancers diagnosed women disclose cancer-related information to their social contacts and vice versa. To get more insights on the participant’s experience, opinions, expectations, and attitudes, a qualitative study is a suitable approach. Therefore, this study involving in-depth interviews was planned to lessen this gap. Methods: Interviews were conducted separately among breast cancer patients and their caregivers with semi-structured qualitative interview guide. Purposive and convenient sampling was being used to recruit patients and caregivers, respectively. Ethical clearance and permission from the tertiary hospital were obtained and participants were selected from the Udupi district, Karnataka, India. After obtaining a list of breast cancer diagnosed cases, participants were contacted in person and their willingness to take part in the study was taken. About 39 caregivers and 35 patients belonging to different breast cancer stages were recruited. Interviews were recorded with prior permission. Data was managed by Atlas.ti 8 software. The recordings were transcribed, translated and coded in two cycles. Most of the patients belonged to stage II and III cancer. Codes were grouped together into to whom breast cancer status was concealed to and underneath reason for the same. Main findings: followings are the codes and code families which emerged from the data. 1) Concealing the breast cancer status from social contacts other than close family members (such as extended family, neighbor and friends). Participants perceived the reasons as, a) to avoid questions which people probe (which doesn’t have answers), b) to avoid people paying courtesy visit (to inquire about the health as it is Indian culture to visit the sick person) making it inconvenient for patient and caregivers have to offer something and talk to them, c) to avoid people getting shocked (react as if cancer is different from other diseases) or getting emotional/sad, or getting fear of death d) to avoid getting negative suggestion or talking anything in front of patient as it may affect patient negatively, e) to avoid getting stigmatized, f) to avoid getting obstacle in child’s marriage. 2) Participant concealed the breast cancer status of young children as they perceived that it may a) affect studies, b) affect emotionally, c) children may get scared. 3) Concealing the breast cancer status from patients as the caregivers perceived that they have fear of a) worsening patient’s health, b) patient getting tensed, c) patient getting shocked, and d) patient getting scared. However, some participants stressed important in disclosing the cancer status to social contact/patient to make the people aware of the disease. Conclusion: The news of breast cancer spreads like electricity in the wire, therefore, patient or family avoid it for many reasons. Although, globally, due to physicians’ ethical obligations, there is an inclination towards more disclosure of cancer diagnosis and status of prognosis to the patient. However, it is an ongoing argument whether patient/social contacts should know the status especially in a country like India.

Keywords: breast cancer, concealing cancer status, India, qualitative study

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Manoj Gupta Charan Pushparaj

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Tourism related activities are getting popular day by day and tourism has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Ecotourism initiatives have grown enormously in the past decade, and the concept of ecotourism has shown to bring great benefits in terms of environment conservation and to improve the livelihood of local people. However, the potential of ecotourism to sustain improving the livelihood of the local population in the remote future is a topic of active debate. A primary challenge that exists in this regard is the enormous costs of limiting the impacts of tourism related activities on the environment. Here we employed systems modeling approach using computer simulations to determine if ecotourism activities in the small hill town of Yercaud (Tamil Nadu, India) can be sustained over years in improving the livelihood of the local population. Increasing damage to the natural environment as a result of tourism-related activities have plagued the pristine hill station of Yercaud. Though ecotourism efforts can help conserve the environment and enrich local population, questions remain if this can be sustained in the distant future. The vital state variables in the model are the existing tourism foundation (labor, services available to tourists, etc.,) in the town of Yercaud and its natural environment (water, flora and fauna). Another state variable is the textile industry that drives the local economy. Our results would help to understand if environment conservation efforts are sustainable in Yercaud and would also offer suggestions to make it sustainable over the course of several years.

Keywords: ecotourism, simulations, modeling, Yercaud

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Yvette Reisinger

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Relatively little is known about the Arab travel market, especially the outbound travel market from Arab countries in the Middle East. The Kuwaiti travel market is the smallest yet fastest growing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The Kuwaiti travel market represents a great potential for the international tourism industry. Kuwaiti nationals have a very high spending power due to the Kuwaiti dinar being the highest-valued currency unit in the world. Although Europe, North America, and Asia/Pacific try to attract the Arab tourist market the number of Kuwaiti travellers attracted to these destinations is very low. The success in attracting the Kuwaiti travel market to Western countries must be guided by an analysis of the factors that affect its travel decisions. The objective of the study is to identify major factors that influence Kuwaiti nationals’ intentions to travel to Western countries. A model is developed and empirically tested on a sample of 343 Kuwaiti nationals. A series of regression analyses are run to determine the effects of different factors on Kuwaiti’s travel decisions. A Herman’s single factor test and Durbin-Watson test are used to assess the validity of the regression model. Analysis is controlled for socio-demographics. The results show that the Muslim friendly amenities and destination cognitive image exert significant effects on Kuwaiti nationals’ intentions to travel to Western countries. The study provides a better understanding of the factors that attract Kuwaiti tourists to Western countries. By knowing what encourages Kuwaitis to travel to Western countries marketers can plan and promote these countries accordingly. The study provides a foundation of future empirical research into the Kuwaiti/Arab travel market.

Keywords: Kuwaiti travel market, travel decisions, Western countries

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Lin Qing

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[Objective/Significance] The cultivation of high-value patents is the focus and difficulty of patent work, which is of great significance to the construction of a powerful country with intellectual property rights. This work should not only pay attention to the existing patent applications, but also start from the pre-application to explore the high-value technical solutions as the core of high-value patents. [Methods/processes] Comply with the principle of scientific and technological knowledge diffusion, this study studies the top academic conference papers and their cited patent applications, taking the power semiconductor field as an example, using facts date show the feasibility and rationality of mining technology solutions from high quality research results to foster high value patents, stating the actual benefits of these achievements to the industry, giving patent protection suggestions for Chinese applicants comparative with field situation. [Results/Conclusion] The research shows that the quality of citation applications of ISPSD papers is significantly higher than the field average level, and the ability of Chinese applicants to use patent protection related achievements needs to be improved. This study provides a practical and highly targeted reference idea for patent administrators and researchers, and also makes a positive exploration for the practice of the spirit of breaking the five rules.

Keywords: high-value patents cultivation, technical solutions, knowledge diffusion, top academic conference papers, intellectual property information analysis

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Authors: Ia Kurashvili, Giorgi Darsavelidze, Giorgi Chubinidze, Marina Kadaria

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Boron-doped Czochralski (CZ) silicon of p-type, widely used in the photovoltaic industry is suffering from the light-induced-degradation (LID) of bulk electrophysical characteristics. This is caused by specific metastable B-O defects, which are characterized by strong recombination activity. In this regard, it is actual to suppress B-O defects in CZ silicon. One of the methods is doping of silicon by different isovalent elements (Ge, C, Sn). The present work deals with the investigations of the influence of germanium doping on the internal friction and shear modulus amplitude dependences in the temperature interval of 600-800⁰C and 0.5-5 Hz frequency range in boron-containing monocrystalline silicon. Experimental specimens were grown by Czochralski method (CZ) in [111] direction. Four different specimens were investigated: Si+0,5at%Ge:B (5.1015cm-3), Si+0,5at%Ge:B (1.1019cm-3), Si+2at%Ge:B (5.1015cm-3) and Si+2at%Ge:B (1.1019cm-3). Increasing tendency of dislocation density and inhomogeneous distribution in silicon crystals with high content of boron and germanium were revealed by metallographic studies on the optical microscope of NMM-80RF/TRF. Weak increase of current carriers-holes concentration and slight decrease of their mobility were observed by Van der Pauw method on Ecopia HMS-3000 device. Non-monotonous changes of dislocation origin defects mobility and microplastic deformation characteristics influenced by measuring temperatures and boron and germanium concentrations were revealed. Possible mechanisms of changes of mechanical characteristics in Si-Ge experimental specimens were discussed.

Keywords: dislocation, internal friction, microplastic deformation, shear modulus

Procedia PDF Downloads 234

Authors: D. S. Gurjar, R. Kaur, K. P. Singh, R. Singh

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A greater volume of wastewater generate from urban areas in India. Due to the adequate availability, less energy requirement and nutrient richness, farmers of urban and peri-urban areas are deliberately using wastewater to grow high value vegetable crops. Wastewater contains pathogens and toxic pollutants, which can enter in the food chain system while using wastewater for irrigating vegetable crops. Hence, wastewater can use for growing commercial flower crops that may avoid food chain contamination. Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.) is one of the most important commercially grown, cultivated over 30, 000 ha area, flower crop in India. Its popularity is mainly due to the sweet fragrance as well as the long keeping quality of the flower spikes. The flower spikes of tuberose has high market price and usually blooms during summer and rainy seasons when there is meager supply of other flowers in the market. It has high irrigation water requirement and fresh water supply is inadequate in tuberose growing areas of India. Therefore, wastewater may fulfill the water and nutrients requirements and may enhance the productivity of tuberose. Keeping in view, the present study was carried out at WTC farm of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 2014-15. Prajwal was the variety of test crop. The seven treatments were taken as T-1. Wastewater irrigation at 0.6 ID/CPE, T-2: Wastewater irrigation at 0.8 ID/CPE, T-3: Wastewater irrigation at 1.0 ID/CPE, T-4: Wastewater irrigation at 1.2 ID/CPE, T-5: Wastewater irrigation at 1.4 ID/CPE, T-6: Conjunctive use of Groundwater and Wastewater irrigation at 1.0 ID/CPE in cyclic mode, T-7: Control (Groundwater irrigation at 1.0 ID/CPE) in randomized block design with three replication. Wastewater and groundwater samples were collected on monthly basis (April 2014 to March 2015) and analyzed for different parameters of irrigation quality (pH, EC, SAR, RSC), pollution hazard (BOD, toxic heavy metals and Faecal coliforms) and nutrients potential (N, P, K, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) as per standard methods. After harvest of tuberose crop, soil samples were also collected and analyzed for different parameters of soil quality as per standard methods. The vegetative growth and flower parameters were recorded at flowering stage of tuberose plants. Results indicated that wastewater samples had higher nutrient potential, pollution hazard as compared to groundwater used in experimental crop. Soil quality parameters such as pH EC, available phosphorous & potassium and heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cd. Pb, Ni, Cr, Co, As) were not significantly changed whereas organic carbon and available nitrogen were significant higher in the treatments where wastewater irrigations were given at 1.2 and 1.4 ID/CPE as compared to groundwater irrigations. Significantly higher plant height (68.47 cm), leaves per plant (78.35), spike length (99.93 cm), rachis length (37.40 cm), numbers of florets per spike (56.53), cut spike yield (0.93 lakh/ha) and loose flower yield (8.5 t/ha) were observed in the treatment of Wastewater irrigation at 1.2 ID/CPE. Study concluded that given quality of wastewater improves the productivity of tuberose without an adverse impact on soil quality/health. However, its long term impacts need to be further evaluated.

Keywords: conjunctive use, irrigation, tuberose, wastewater

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Authors: Oriyomi M. Okeyinka, David A. Oloke, Jamal M. Khatib

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Large quantities of solid wastes being generated worldwide from sources such as household, domestic, industrial, commercial and construction demolition activities, leads to environmental concerns. Utilization of these wastes in making building construction materials can reduce the magnitude of the associated problems. When these waste products are used in place of other conventional materials, natural resources and energy are preserved and expensive and/or potentially harmful waste disposal is avoided. Recycling which is regarded as the third most preferred waste disposal option, with its numerous environmental benefits, stand as a viable option to offset the environmental impact associated with the construction industry. This paper reviews the results of laboratory tests and important research findings, and the potential of using these wastes in building construction materials with focus on sustainable development. Research gaps, which includes; the need to develop standard mix design for solid waste based building materials; the need to develop energy efficient method of processing solid waste use in concrete; the need to study the actual behavior or performance of such building materials in practical application and the limited real life application of such building materials have also been identified. Therefore a research is being proposed to develop an environmentally friendly, lightweight building block from recycled waste paper, without the use of cement, and with properties suitable for use as walling unit. This proposed research intends to incorporate, laboratory experimentation and modeling to address the identified research gaps.

Keywords: recycling, solid wastes, construction, building materials

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Authors: Zhuoneng Li, Zeeshan A. Rana, Karl W. Jenkins

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In industry, to validate a case, often a multitude of simulation are required and in order to demonstrate confidence in the process where users tend to use a coarser mesh. Therefore, it is imperative to establish the coarsest mesh that could be used while keeping reasonable simulation accuracy. To date, the two most reliable, affordable and broadly used advanced simulations are the hybrid RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes)/LES (Large Eddy Simulation) and wall modelled LES. The potentials in these two simulations will still be developed in the next decades mainly because the unaffordable computational cost of a DNS (Direct Numerical Simulation). In the wall modelled LES, the turbulence model is applied as a sub-grid scale model in the most inner layer near the wall. The RANS turbulence models cover the entire boundary layer region in a hybrid RANS/LES (Detached Eddy Simulation) and its variants, therefore, the RANS still has a very important role in the state of art simulations. This research focuses on the turbulence model mesh sensitivity analysis where various turbulence models such as the S-A (Spalart-Allmaras), SSG (Speziale-Sarkar-Gatski), K-Omega transitional SST (Shear Stress Transport), K-kl-Omega, γ-Reθ transitional model, v2f are evaluated within the OpenFOAM. The simulations are conducted on a fully developed turbulent flow over a flat plate where the skin friction coefficient as well as velocity profiles are obtained to compare against experimental values and DNS results. A concrete conclusion is made to clarify the mesh sensitivity for different turbulence models.

Keywords: mesh sensitivity, turbulence models, OpenFOAM, RANS

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Authors: Magda Mahmoud Amin Sabbour, El-Sayed H. Shaurub

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The Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), of stored grain pests which destroy the seed completely. Their larval stages feed on the nutrient germinating kernels part found in the seeds grain. This leads to a reduction causing a badness to seed germination and seed viability. It controlled by many insecticides which pollute and cusses a harmful diseases to human being. Three tested oils were evaluated on this target pests. Plant extracts, essential oils and medical oils are materials which used to control many stored pests. Plant oils extracts have a lower effects on parasites and predators and not pollute the medium. By using the apparatus gas chromatography flame ionization detector gas chromatography–analysis of three essential oil tested. This research was point to explore and appreciation the activity of three oils and nano gel Beauvericin against P. interpunctella in the laboratory conditions and in the store conditions. The three essential oil tested proved that, percentage of α-Pinene recoded 7.76, 7.72 and 6.66 for C. cyminum, A. squamosal and G. officinale respectively. The composition of the β-Pinene recoded 4.61, 8.92 and 30.63 for the corresponding oils tested. Results showed that after analytically the oils tested, the effective compound of C. cyminum oil are p-cyinene and Terpinene. Results obtained show that the LC50 recorded 125, 112, 55 and 20 ppm after P. interpunctella treated with medical oils of Guaiacum officinale, Annona squamosa, Cuminum cyminum and Beauvericin 3% respectively. The accumulative mortality of P. interpunctella after treated with A.squamosa oil-loaded nanogels which showed that it is the highest oils from infestations recoded when the seed treated with 3% after 48 days, the accumulations obtained 44% at followed by 24 after24 days of storage. Results, cleared that the seed protection by G. officinale recorded 40% at concentrations of 3% after 48 days of storage seeds. C. cyminum was the highest mortality by 98, at concentrations 3%. The highest seed protection proved after C. cyminum oil-loaded nanogels 14% followed by G. officinale 29% and A.squamosa 44%.when the seeds treated with Beauvericin 3%. Results of this work cleared that the essential medical oils have a useful action effect on target insects. Plant essential and medical oils, their active ingredient have potentially high bioactivity against on P. interpunctella. The medical and essential oils incorporation and usage the nano-formulation release stopped the highly degradation vaporization and the increasing in the constancy, and save the lower effectiveness of the dosage/application. The research results proved that the highest seed protection obtained after C. cyminum oil-loaded nanogels followed by G. officinale and A.squamosa. It could be complemented that P. interpunctella were more susceptible to medical oils loaded nanogel (MOLNs ) than medical oils only (MO). MOLNs had best lower amount of the residual activity than MO only. MOLNs might mend the insecticidal action of the medical oil tested by the slow effective release of the medical oils to control P. interpunctella mostly at the lower doses.

Keywords: Cuminum cyminum, annona squamosa, guaiacum officinale, beauvericin 3 %, plodia interpunctella

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Authors: Adegboyega Adedolapo Ola

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Globally, a country’s maritime security has a significant impact on its national development because it serves as a major source of a commercial contact and food supply. However, the country has been faced with a number of problems, such as piracy, kidnapping, illegal bunkering and oil theft. As such, the study examined the contribution and the relationship between maritime security and Nigeria’s development, as well as the prospects and challenges of maritime security in Nigeria. The study utilized a questionnaire and focused group discussion/interview as instruments for data collection. The method of analysis employed in the study is descriptive. A total of Three Hundred and Ninety (390) respondents were randomly selected. The result of the study showed that maritime security contributes to national development in Nigeria by guaranteeing food security in Nigeria, creating employment opportunities as well as increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy. It was also found that maritime security is yet to provide sufficient support for national development in Nigeria. It is further established that it has prospects for development through the creation of employment opportunities, increase in foreign earnings, and fostering improved living standards for citizens. The study concluded that the high level of corruption, piracy and kidnapping, lack of political will by the government and the porosity of the Nigerian borders are serious obstacles, among others. In attempting to solve the problem of piracy and kidnapping in Nigerian maritime, to contribute to National development, it is primordial to address the cancer of corruption, poverty, and youth unemployment. In view of this, the study recommends: among other things, that the maritime industry should be well secured by removing its constraints/bottlenecks so as to enhance its contributions to national development.

Keywords: maritime security, national development, terrorism, piracy

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Authors: Hossein Ghadimi, Alireza Alizadeh, Oveis Abedinia, Noradin Ghadimi

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This paper presents an enhanced Honey Bee Mating Optimization (HBMO) to solve the optimal design of multi machine power system stabilizer (PSSs) parameters, which is called the Interactive Honey Bee Mating Optimization (IHBMO). Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) are now routinely used in the industry to damp out power system oscillations. The design problem of the proposed controller is formulated as an optimization problem and IHBMO algorithm is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. The proposed method is applied to multi-machine power system (MPS). The method suggested in this paper can be used for designing robust power system stabilizers for guaranteeing the required closed loop performance over a prespecified range of operating and system conditions. The simplicity in design and implementation of the proposed stabilizers makes them better suited for practical applications in real plants. The non-linear simulation results are presented under wide range of operating conditions in comparison with the PSO and CPSS base tuned stabilizer one through FD and ITAE performance indices. The results evaluation shows that the proposed control strategy achieves good robust performance for a wide range of system parameters and load changes in the presence of system nonlinearities and is superior to the other controllers.

Keywords: power system stabilizer, IHBMO, multimachine, nonlinearities

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Authors: Marcus Klein, Martina GrießBach, Richard Kupke

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The current advances in the research and manufacturing of large area graphene layers are promising towards the introduction of this exciting material in the display industry and other applications that benefit from excellent electrical and optical characteristics. New production technologies in the fabrication of flexible displays, touch screens or printed electronics apply graphene layers on non-metal substrates and bring new challenges to the required metrology. Traditional measurement concepts of layer thickness, sheet resistance, and layer uniformity, are difficult to apply to graphene production processes and are often harmful to the product layer. New non-contact sensor concepts are required to adapt to the challenges and even the foreseeable inline production of large area graphene. Dedicated non-contact measurement sensors are a pioneering method to leverage these issues in a large variety of applications, while significantly lowering the costs of development and process setup. Transferred and printed graphene layers can be characterized with high accuracy in a huge measurement range using a very high resolution. Large area graphene mappings are applied for process optimization and for efficient quality control for transfer, doping, annealing and stacking processes. Examples of doped, defected and excellent Graphene are presented as quality images and implications for manufacturers are explained.

Keywords: graphene, doping and defect testing, non-contact sheet resistance measurement, inline metrology

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Authors: Atara Shriki, Ilana Lavy

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Teaching for the first time an online course dealing with the history of mathematics, we were struggling with questions related to the design of a proper learning environment (LE). Thirteen high school mathematics teachers, M.Ed. students, attended the course. The teachers were engaged in independent reading of mathematical texts, a task that is recognized as complex due to the unique characteristics of such texts. In order to support the learning processes and develop skills that are essential for succeeding in learning online (e.g. self-regulated learning skills, meta-cognitive skills, reflective ability, and self-assessment skills), the LE comprised of three components aimed at “scaffolding” the learning: (1) An online "self-feedback" questionnaires that included drill-and-practice questions. Subsequent to responding the questions the online system provided a grade and the teachers were entitled to correct their answers; (2) Open-ended questions aimed at stimulating critical thinking about the mathematical contents; (3) Reflective questionnaires designed to assist the teachers in steering their learning. Using a mixed-method methodology, an inquiry study examined the learning processes, the learners' difficulties in reading the mathematical texts and on the unique contribution of each component of the LE to the ability of teachers to comprehend the mathematical contents, and support the development of their learning skills. The results indicate that the teachers found the online feedback as most helpful in developing self-regulated learning skills and ability to reflect on deficiencies in knowledge. Lacking previous experience in expressing opinion on mathematical ideas, the teachers had troubles in responding open-ended questions; however, they perceived this assignment as nurturing cognitive and meta-cognitive skills. The teachers also attested that the reflective questionnaires were useful for steering the learning. Although in general the teachers found the LE as supportive, most of them indicated the need to strengthen instructor-learners and learners-learners interactions. They suggested to generate an online forum to enable them receive direct feedback from the instructor, share ideas with other learners, and consult with them about solutions. Apparently, within online LE, supporting learning merely with respect to cognitive aspects is not sufficient. Leaners also need an emotional support and sense a social presence.

Keywords: cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, independent reading of mathematical texts, online learning environment, self-regulated learning skills

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Authors: Shu Tao

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Based on a global fuel consumption data product (PKU-FUEL-2007) compiled recently and a series of databases for emission factors of various sources, global emission inventories of a number of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, including CO2, CO, SO2, NOx, primary particulate matter (total, PM 10, and PM 2.5), black carbon, organic carbon, mercury, volatile organic carbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, from combustion sources have been developed. The inventories feather high spatial and sectorial resolutions. The spatial resolution of the inventories are 0.1 by 0.1 degree, based on a sub-national disaggregation approach to reduce spatial bias due to uneven distribution of per person fuel consumption within countries. The finely resolved inventories provide critical information for chemical transport modeling and exposure modeling. Emissions from more than 60 sources in energy, industry, agriculture, residential, transportation, and wildfire sectors were quantified in this study. With the detailed sectorial information, the inventories become an important tool for policy makers. For residential sector, a set of models were developed to simulate temporal variation of fuel consumption, consequently pollutant emissions. The models can be used to characterize seasonal as well as inter-annual variations in the emissions in history and to predict future changes. The models can even be used to quantify net change of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions due to climate change. The inventories has been used for model ambient air quality, population exposure, and even health effects. A few examples of the applications are discussed.

Keywords: air pollutants, combustion, emission inventory, sectorial information

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Authors: José Manue Carvalho Vieira, Mariana Magalhães, Elizabeth Serra

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The Port Wine industry is essential to Portugal because it carries a tangible cultural heritage and for social and economic reasons. Positioned as a luxury product, brands need to pay more attention to the new generation's habits, preferences, languages, and sensory perceptions. Healthy lifestyles, anti-alcohol campaigns, and digitalisation of their buying decision process need to be better understood to understand the wine market in the future. The purpose of this study is to clarify the sensory perception gap between Port Wine descriptors promotion and the new generation's perceptions to help wineries to align their strategies. Based on the interpretivist approach - multiple methods and techniques (mixed-methods), different world views and different assumptions, and different data collection methods and analysis, this research integrated qualitative semi-structured interviews, Port Wine promotion contents, and social media perceptions mined by Sentiment Analysis Enginius algorithm. Findings confirm that Port Wine CEOs' strategies, brands' promotional content, and social perceptions are not sufficiently aligned. The central insight for Port Wine brands' managers is that there is a long and continuous work of understanding and associating their descriptors with the most relevant perceptual values and criteria of their targets to reposition (when necessary) and sustainably revitalise their brands. Finally, this study hypothesised a sensory gap that leads to a decrease in consumption, trying to find recommendations on how to transform it into an advantage for a better attraction towards the young age group (18-25).

Keywords: port wine, consumer habits, sensory gap analysis, wine marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: M. Caruffo, P. Navarrete, C. G. Feijoo, L. Sáenz

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Disease prevention through the use of vaccines has been crucial to achieve the current level of production in the salmon industry. However, vaccines have been developed based largely on inactivated bacterial formulations, using the whole pathogen. These formulations have demonstrated excellent efficacy against extracellular bacterial pathogens. However diseases with the greatest economic impacts correspond to intracellular bacterial and viral pathogens, vaccines based on these types of agents have shown a discrete effectiveness. It is for these reasons that the development of subunit vaccines based on defined antigens offers a promising solution. The main problem is that subunit vaccines offer a low immunogenicity, since they lack immunostimulatory elements, so that the development of new adjuvants platforms becomes an important challenge for this type of formulations. We evaluate the effect of a formulation based on proteoliposomes of Vibrio anguillarum administered by immersion as a new adjuvant strategy, allowing efficient stimulation of the innate immune system. Proteoliposomes physicochemical properties were evaluated in its ability to produce an inflammatory process. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae as a model species and the transgenic line (Tg(mpx: GFP)i114) allowed us to track the neutrophil migration in real time. Additionally we evaluated the gene expression of some molecular markers involved in the development of the innate immune response characterizing the adjuvant capacity of the formulation.

Keywords: adjuvants, vaccine development, zebrafish, innate immunity

Procedia PDF Downloads 554

Authors: Yena Lee, Vassilis M. Charitopoulos, Karthik Thyagarajan, Ian Morris, Jose M. Pinto, Lazaros G. Papageorgiou

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With globalisation, the need to have better coordination of production and distribution decisions has become increasingly important for industrial gas companies in order to remain competitive in the marketplace. In this work, we investigate a problem that integrates production, inventory, and routing decisions in a liquid oxygen supply chain. The oxygen supply chain consists of production facilities, external third-party suppliers, and multiple customers, including hospitals and industrial customers. The product produced by the plants or sourced from the competitors, i.e., third-party suppliers, is distributed by a fleet of heterogenous vehicles to satisfy customer demands. The objective is to minimise the total operating cost involving production, third-party, and transportation costs. The key decisions for production include production and inventory levels and product amount from third-party suppliers. In contrast, the distribution decisions involve customer allocation, delivery timing, delivery amount, and vehicle routing. The optimisation of the coordinated production, inventory, and routing decisions is a challenging problem, especially when dealing with large-size problems. Thus, we present a two-stage procedure to solve the integrated problem efficiently. First, the problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model by simplifying the routing component. The solution from the first-stage MILP model yields the optimal customer allocation, production and inventory levels, and delivery timing and amount. Then, we fix the previous decisions and solve a detailed routing. In the second stage, we propose a column generation scheme to address the computational complexity of the resulting detailed routing problem. A case study considering a real-life oxygen supply chain in the UK is presented to illustrate the capability of the proposed models and solution method. Furthermore, a comparison of the solutions from the proposed approach with the corresponding solutions provided by existing metaheuristic techniques (e.g., guided local search and tabu search algorithms) is presented to evaluate the efficiency.

Keywords: production planning, inventory routing, column generation, mixed-integer linear programming

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Authors: Mingook Lee, Sungjoo Lee

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As technology-based service industries grow drastically worldwide; companies are recognizing the importance of market preoccupancy and have made an effort to capture a large market to gain the upper hand. To this end, a focus on patents can be used to determine the properties of a technology, as well as to capture advantages in technical skills, in comparison with the firm’s competitors. However, technology-based services largely depend not only on their technological value but also their economic value, due to the recognized worth that is passed to a plurality of users. Thus, it is important to determine whether there are any competitors in the target areas and what services they provide in any field. Despite this importance, little effort has been made to systematically benchmark competitors in order to identify business opportunities. Thus, this study aims to not only identify each position of technology-centered service companies in complex market dynamics, but also to discover new business opportunities. For this, we try to consider both technology and market environments simultaneously by utilizing patent data as a representative proxy for technology and trademark dates as an index for a firm’s target goods and services. Theoretically, this is one of the earliest attempts to combine patent data and trademark data to analyze corporate strategies. In practice, the research results are expected to be used as a decision criterion to diagnose the economic value that companies can obtain by entering the market, as well as the technological value to be passed onto their customers. Thus, the proposed approach can be useful to support effective technology and business strategies in a firm.

Keywords: business opportunity, patent, Portfolio analysis, trademark

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Victor Emery David Jr., Jiang Wenchao, Yasinta John, Md. Sahadat Hossain

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Sludge originates from the process of treatment of wastewater. It is the byproduct of wastewater treatment containing concentrated heavy metals and poorly biodegradable trace organic compounds, as well as potentially pathogenic organisms (viruses, bacteria, etc.) which are usually difficult to treat or dispose of. China, like other countries, is no stranger to the challenges posed by an increase of wastewater. Treatment and disposal of sludge have been a problem for most cities in China. However, this problem has been exacerbated by other issues such as lack of technology, funding, and other factors. Suitable methods for such climatic conditions are still unavailable for modern cities in China. Against this background, this paper seeks to describe the methods used for treatment and disposal of sludge from industries and suggest a suitable method for treatment and disposal in Chongqing/China. From the research conducted, it was discovered that the highest treatment rate of sludge in Chongqing was 10.08%. The industrial waste piping system is not separated from the domestic system. Considering the proliferation of industry and urbanization, there is a likelihood that the production of sludge in Chongqing will increase. If the sludge produced is not properly managed, this may lead to adverse health and environmental effects. Disposal costs and methods for Chongqing were also included in this paper’s analysis. Research showed that incineration is the most expensive method of sludge disposal in China/Chongqing. Subsequent research, therefore, considered optional alternatives such as composting. Composting represents a relatively cheap waste disposal method considering the vast population, current technology and economic conditions of Chongqing, as well as China at large.

Keywords: Chongqing/China, disposal, industrial, sludge, treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Abigail Ekeigwe, Bethany McGowan, Loran C. Parker, Stephen Byrn, Kari L. Clase

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There are growing calls in the literature to develop and implement competency-based regulatory sciences education (CBRSE) in sub-Saharan Africa to expand and create a pipeline of a competent workforce of regulatory scientists. A defined competence framework is an essential component in developing competency-based education. However, such a competence framework is not available for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this research is to identify entry-level competencies for inclusion in a competency framework for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa as a first step in developing CBRSE. The team systematically reviewed the literature following the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and based on a pre-registered protocol on Open Science Framework (OSF). The protocol has the search strategy and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for publications. All included publications were coded to identify entry-level competencies for regulatory scientists. The team deductively coded the publications included in the study using the 'framework synthesis' model for systematic literature review. The World Health Organization’s conceptualization of competence guided the review and thematic synthesis. Topic and thematic codings were done using NVivo 12™ software. Based on the search strategy in the protocol, 2345 publications were retrieved. Twenty-two (n=22) of the retrieved publications met all the inclusion criteria for the research. Topic and thematic coding of the publications yielded three main domains of competence: knowledge, skills, and enabling behaviors. The knowledge domain has three sub-domains: administrative, regulatory governance/framework, and scientific knowledge. The skills domain has two sub-domains: functional and technical skills. Identification of competencies is the primal step that serves as a bedrock for curriculum development and competency-based education. The competencies identified in this research will help policymakers, educators, institutions, and international development partners design and implement competence-based regulatory science education in sub-Saharan Africa, ultimately leading to access to safe, quality, and effective medical products.

Keywords: competence-based regulatory science education, competencies, systematic review, sub-Saharan Africa

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Authors: Tansel Comoglu

Abstract:

Orally fast disintegrating tablets (FDTs or ODTs) have become popular during the last decade, and manufacturing of ODTs is getting a rapidly growing area in the pharmaceutical industry. The concept of ODTs has emerged from the desire to provide patients with more conventional means of taking their medication. Drugs, that have satisfactory absorption from the oral mucosa or aimed for immediate therapeutic activity can be formulated in ODTs. After placing the ODT into the mouth, these tablets dissolve or disintegrate in the mouth usullay less than a minute, in the absence of additional water. Even though the ODT technology has taken an important path, as proved by a large group of commercial products on the drug market, there are so many problems to be solved in ODT formulations such as; formulation of hydrophobic drugs is stil a challenge, especially when the amount of drug is high. As these tablets dissolve or disintegrate in the mouth without the need of additional water, taste masking of active ingredients becomes essential in these systems because the drug is entirely released in the mouth. In ODT technology, coping with the taste of drugs is still a challenge. Resins or sweeteners or other techniques are also used in the formulation to aid taste-masking of the API. Another important factor to consider is whether they can be manufactured using conventional equipment and processes, as this will have a positive influence on manufacturing costs. Some products, however, may require a more costly, special unitdose packaging if the dosage form is fragile. In this overview, benefits, various formulation technologies, clinical studies and some future research trends of ODTs will be discussed.

Keywords: orally fast disintegrating tablets, benefits, formulation technologies, future research trends

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Suk Woo Hong, Chang Sung Seok, Jae Mean Koo

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Recently, the welding is widely used in modern industry for joining the structures. However, the waterworks pipes are exposed to the fatigue load by cars, earthquake and etc because of being buried underground. Moreover, the residual stress exists in weld zone by welding process and it is well known that the fatigue life of welded structures is degraded by residual stress. Due to such reasons, the crack can occur in the weld zone of pipeline. In this case, The ground subsidence or sinkhole can occur, if the soil and sand are washed down by fluid leaked from the crack of water pipe. These problems can lead to property damage and endangering lives. For these reasons, the estimation of fatigue characteristics for water pipeline weld zone is needed. Therefore, in this study, for fatigue characteristics estimation of spiral welded waterworks pipe, ASTM standard specimens and Curved Plate specimens were collected from the spiral welded waterworks pipe and the fatigue tests were performed. The S-N curves of each specimen were estimated, and then the fatigue life of weldment Curved Plate specimen was predicted by theoretical and analytical methods. After that, the weldment Curved Plate specimens were collected from the pipe and verification fatigue tests were performed. Finally, it was verified that the predicted S-N curve of weldment Curved Plate specimen was good agreement with fatigue test data.

Keywords: spiral welded pipe, prediction fatigue life, endurance limit modifying factors, residual stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 293