Search results for: leaf essential oils

Authors: S. Mamoucha, J. Rahul, N. Christodoulakis

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Introduction: Nature has been the source of medicinal agents since the dawn of the human existence on Earth. Currently, millions of people, in the developing world, rely on medicinal plants for primary health care, income generation and lifespan improvement. In Greece, more than 5500 plant taxa are reported while about 250 of them are considered to be of great pharmaceutical importance. Among the plants used for medical purposes, Vitex agnus-castus L. (Verbenaceae) is known since ancient times. It is a small tree or shrub, widely distributed in the Mediterranean basin up to the Central Asia. It is also known as chaste tree or monks pepper. Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as ‘agnos’ in his ‘Enquiry into Plants’. Dioscorides mentioned the use of V. agnus-castus for the stimulation of lactation in nursing mothers and the treatment of several female disorders. The plant has important medicinal properties and a long tradition in folk medicine as an antimicrobial, diuretic, digestive and insecticidal agent. Materials and methods: Leaves were cleaned, detached, fixed, sectioned and investigated with light and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Histochemical tests were executed as well. Specific histochemical reagents (osmium tetroxide, H2SO4, vanillin/HCl, antimony trichloride, Wagner’ s reagent, Dittmar’ s reagent, potassium bichromate, nitroso reaction, ferric chloride and di methoxy benzaldehyde) were used for the sub cellular localization of secondary metabolites. Results: Light microscopical investigations of the elongated leaves of V. agnus-castus revealed three layers of palisade parenchyma, just below the single layered adaxial epidermis. The spongy parenchyma is rather loose. Adaxial epidermal cells are larger in magnitude, compared to those of the abaxial epidermis. Four different types of capitate, secreting trichomes, were localized among the abaxial epidermal cells. Stomata were observed at the abaxial epidermis as well. SEM revealed the interesting arrangement of trichomes. Histochemical treatment on fresh and plastic embedded tissue sections revealed the nature and the sites of secondary metabolites accumulation (flavonoids, steroids, terpenes). Acknowledgment: This work was supported by IKY - State Scholarship Foundation, Athens, Greece.

Keywords: Vitex agnus-castus, leaf anatomy, histochemical reagents, secondary metabolites

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Authors: Mukesh Kumar, Onkar Singh, Naveen Kumar, Amar Deep

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The waste cooking oil is taken as feedstock for biodiesel production. For this research, waste cooking oil is collected from many hotels and restaurants, and then biodiesel is prepared for experimentation purpose. The prepared biodiesel is mixed with mineral diesel in the proportion of 10%, 20%, and 30% to perform tests on a diesel engine. The experimental analysis is carried out at different load conditions to analyze the impact of the blending ratio on the performance and emission parameters. When the blending proportion of biodiesel is increased, then the highest pressure reduces due to the fall in the calorific value of the blended mixture. Experimental analysis shows a promising decrease in nitrogen oxides (NOx). A mixture of 20% biodiesel and mineral diesel is the best negotiation, mixing ratio, and beyond that, a remarkable reduction in the outcome of the performance has been observed.

Keywords: alternative sources, diesel engine, emissions, performance

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Authors: M. Honarpardaz, Z. Zhang, J. Derkx, A. Trangärd, J. Larsson

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Pilot stages are one of the most common positioners and regulators in industry. In this paper, we present two novel concepts for pilot stages with low power consumption to regulate a pneumatic device. Pilot 1, first concept, is designed based on a conventional frame core electro-magnetic actuator and a leaf spring to control the air flow and pilot 2 has an axisymmetric actuator and spring made of non-oriented electrical steel. Concepts are simulated in a system modeling tool to study their dynamic behavior. Both concepts are prototyped and tested. Experimental results are comprehensively analyzed and compared. The most promising concept that consumes less than 8 mW is highlighted and presented.

Keywords: electro-magnetic actuator, multidisciplinary system, low power consumption, pilot stage

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Authors: Aiman Zehra, Sajad Mohd Wani

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Packaging has a vital role as it contains and protects the food that moves from the supply chain to the consumer. Chitosan (CH) has been extensively used in food packaging applications among the plentiful natural macromolecules, including all the polysaccharide class, owing to its easy film-forming capacity, biodegradability, better oxygen and water vapour barrier ability and good mechanical strength. Compared to synthetic films, the films produced from chitosan present poor barrier and mechanical properties. To overcome its deficient qualities, a number of modification procedures are required to enhance the mechanical and physical properties. Various additives such as plasticizers (e.g., glycerol and sorbitol), crosslinkers (e.g.,CaCl₂, ZnO), fillers (nanoclay), and antimicrobial agents (e.g. thyme essential oil) have been used to improve the mechanical, thermal, morphological, antimicrobial properties and emulsifying agents for the stability and elasticity of chitosan-based biodegradable films. Different novel biocomposite films based on chitosan incorporated with thyme essential oil and different additives (ZnO, CaCl₂, NC, and PEG) were successfully prepared and used as packaging material for carrot candy. The chitosan film incorporated with crosslinkers was capable of forming a protective barrier on the surface of the candy to maintain moisture content, water activity, TSS, total sugars, and titratable acidity. ZnO +PEG +NC +CaCl₂ remarkably promotes a synergistic effect on the barrier properties of the film. The combined use of ZnO +PEG +NC +CaCl₂ in CH-TO films was more effective in preventing the moisture gain in candies. The lowest a𝓌 (0.624) was also observed for the candies stored in treatment. The color values L*, a*, b* of the candies were also retained in the film containing all the additives during the 6th month of storage. The value for L*, a*, and b* observed for T was 42.72, 9.89, and 10.84, respectively. The candies packaged in film retained TSS and acidity. The packaging film significantly p≤0.05 conserved sensory qualities and inhibited microbial activity during storage. Carrot candy was found microbiologically safe for human consumption even after six months of storage in all the packaging materials.

Keywords: chitosan, biodegradable films, antimicrobial activity, thyme essential oil, crosslinkers

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Authors: Ali Heyder Alatas, D. Xin, L. Nai Ming

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An oil spill emergency can vary in size and complexity, subject to factors such as volume and characteristics of spilled oil, incident location, impacted sensitivities and resources required. A major incident typically involves numerous stakeholders; these include the responsible party, response organisations, government authorities across multiple jurisdictions, local communities, and a spectrum of technical experts. An incident management team will encounter numerous challenges. Factors such as limited access to location, adverse weather, poor communication, and lack of pre-identified resources can impede a response; delays caused by an inefficient response can exacerbate impacts caused to the wider environment, socio-economic and cultural resources. It is essential that all parties work based on defined roles, responsibilities and authority, and ensure the availability of sufficient resources. To promote steadfast coordination and overcome the challenges highlighted, an Incident Management System (IMS) offers an essential tool for oil spill response. It provides clarity in command and control, improves communication and coordination, facilitates the cooperation between stakeholders, and integrates resources committed. Following the preceding discussion, a comprehensive review of existing literature serves to illustrate the application of IMS in oil spill response to overcome common challenges faced in a major-scaled incident. With a primary audience comprising practitioners in mind, this study will discuss key principles of incident management which enables an effective response, along with pitfalls and challenges, particularly, the tension between government and industry; case studies will be used to frame learning and issues consolidated from previous research, and provide the context to link practice with theory. It will also feature the industry approach to incident management which was further crystallized as part of a review by the Joint Industry Project (JIP) established in the wake of the Macondo well control incident. The authors posit that a common IMS which can be adopted across the industry not only enhances response capacity towards a major oil spill incident but is essential to the global preparedness effort.

Keywords: command and control, incident management system, oil spill response, response organisation

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Authors: Odufu Ifakachukwu Clifford

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Developing country governments are struggling to meet the basic needs and demands of citizens, especially so for the rural poor. With tightly constrained budgets, these governments have followed the lead of developed countries that have sought to restructure public service delivery through privatization, contracting out, public-private partnerships, and similar reforms. Such reforms in service delivery are generally welcomed when it is believed that private sector partners are better equipped to provide certain services than are governments. With respect to basic and essential services, however, a higher degree of uncertainty and apprehension exists as the focus shifts from simply minimizing the costs of delivering services to broadening access to all citizens. The constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water. Affordable and/or subsidized water, then, is not a privilege but a basic right of all citizens. Citizens elect political representatives to serve in office, with their sole mandate being to provide for the needs of the citizenry. As governments pass on some amount of responsibility for service delivery to private businesses, these governments must be able to exercise control in order to account to the people for the work done by private partners. This paper examines the legislative and policy frameworks as well as the environment within which PPPs take place in South Africa and the extent to which accountability can be strengthened in this environment. Within the aforementioned backdrop of PPPs and accountability, the constricted focus area of the paper aims to assess the extent to which the provision of clean and safe consumable water in South Africa is sustainable, cost-effective in terms of provision, and affordable to all.

Keywords: privatisation, accountability, essential services, government

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Authors: S. Guruprasad, M. Z. Kurian, H. N. Suma

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Medical imaging modalities are becoming life saving components. These modalities are very much essential to doctors for proper diagnosis, treatment planning and follow up. Some modalities provide anatomical information such as Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), X-rays and some provides only functional information such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Therefore, single modality image does not give complete information. This paper presents the fusion of structural information in CT and functional information present in PET image. This fused image is very much essential in detecting the stages and location of abnormalities and in particular very much needed in oncology for improved diagnosis and treatment. We have implemented and compared image fusion techniques like pyramid, wavelet, and principal components fusion methods along with hybrid method of DWT and PCA. The performances of the algorithms are evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. The system is implemented and tested by using MATLAB software. Based on the MSE, PSNR and ENTROPY analysis, PCA and DWT-PCA methods showed best results over all experiments.

Keywords: image fusion, pyramid, wavelets, principal component analysis

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Authors: Pakhil Singh, Rahul Singh, Mohammad Saad Alam, Yasser Rafat

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The battery management system is an essential package/system which ensures optimum performance and safety of a battery by monitoring the key essential parameters of the battery like the voltage, current, temperature, state of charge, state of health during charging and discharging. This can be accomplished using outputs of various sensors employed to serve the purpose. The increasing demand for electricity generation from renewable energy sources requires proper storage and hence a proper monitoring system as well. A battery management system is required in wide applications ranging from renewable energy storage systems, off-grid solar PV applications to electric vehicles. The aim of this paper is to study the parameters used in monitoring various battery operating conditions and proposes the usage of the internet of things (IoT) to implement a reliable battery management system.

Keywords: electric vehicles, internet of things, sensors, state of charge, state of health

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Authors: Larisa Gheber

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Mitosis is an essential process by which duplicated genetic information is transmitted from mother to daughter cells. Incorrect chromosome segregation during mitosis can lead to genetic diseases, chromosome instability and cancer. This process is mediated by a dynamic microtubule-based intracellular structure, the mitotic spindle. One of the major factors that govern the mitotic spindle dynamics are the kinesin-5 biological nano motors that were believed to move unidirectionally on the microtubule filaments, using ATP hydrolysis, thus performing essential functions in mitotic spindle dynamics. Surprisingly, several reports from our and other laboratories have demonstrated that some kinesin-5 motors are bi-directional: they move in minus-end direction on the microtubules as single-molecules and can switch directionality under a number of conditions. These findings broke a twenty-five-years old dogma regarding kinesin directionality (1, 2). The mechanism of this bi-directional motility and its physiological significance remain unclear. To address this unresolved problem, we apply an interdisciplinary approach combining live cell imaging, biophysical single molecule, and structural experiments to examine the activity of these motors and their mutated variants in vivo and in vitro. Our data shows that factors such as protein phosphorylation (3, 4), motor clustering on the microtubules (5, 6) and structural elements (7, 8) regulate the bi-directional motility of kinesin motors. We also show, using Cryo-EM, that bi-directional kinesin motors obtain non-canonical microtubule binding, which is essential to their special motile properties and intracellular functions. We will discuss the implication of these findings to mechanism bi-directional motility and physiological roles in mitosis.

Keywords: mitosis, cancer, kinesin, microtubules, biochemistry, biophysics

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Authors: Md. Ahsan Ayub, Kazi A. Kalpoma, Humaira Tasnim Proma, Syed Mehrab Kabir, Rakib Ibna Hamid Chowdhury

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Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) is observed in various applications, i.e., scheduling problems, timetabling problems, assignment problems, etc. Researchers adopt a CSP technique to tackle a certain problem; however, each technique follows different approaches and ways to solve a problem network. In our exhaustive study, it has been possible to visualize the processes of essential CSP algorithms from a very concrete constraint satisfaction example, NQueens Problem, in order to possess a deep understanding about how a particular constraint satisfaction problem will be dealt with by our studied and implemented techniques. Besides, benchmark results - time vs. value of N in N-Queens - have been generated from our implemented approaches, which help understand at what factor each algorithm produces solutions; especially, in N-Queens puzzle. Thus, extended decisions can be made to instantiate a real life problem within CSP’s framework.

Keywords: arc consistency (AC), backjumping algorithm (BJ), backtracking algorithm (BT), constraint satisfaction problem (CSP), forward checking (FC), least constrained values (LCV), maintaining arc consistency (MAC), minimum remaining values (MRV), N-Queens problem

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Authors: Farhan Ali

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Use of wastewater for growing vegetables has become a common practice around big cities. Wastewater contains organic material and inorganic elements essential for plant growth but also contain heavy metals, which may be lethal for animals and humans if their concentration increases than permissible limit. To monitor this situation, a survey was conducted to ascertain the addition of heavy metals into agricultural fields through wastewater irrigation and their translocation in to the edible parts of the vegetables. The study highlighted that there is a large accumulation of heavy metals in the soil, which is irrigated with industrial wastewater Laden and people consume vegetables grown in soil irrigated with sewage water to absorb a large amount of these metals. This accumulation of heavy metals in food cause possible health risks for the consumer. Regular monitoring of the levels of pathogens and heavy metals from the waste water drain which effluent are used for growing vegetables and other foodstuffs is essential to monitor excessive accumulation of these metals in the food chain.

Keywords: pathogens, wastewater, concentration, effluent

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Authors: Angie Al Habib, Khalid Al Siyabi

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To measure or asses any government’s efficiency we need to measure the performance of this government in regards to the quality of the service it provides. Using a technological platform in service provision became a trend and a public demand. It is also a public need to make sure these services are aligned to values and to the whole government’s strategy, vision and goals as well. Providing services using technology tools and channels can enhance the internal business process and also help establish many essential values to government services like transparency and excellence, since in order to establish e-services many standards and policies must be put in place to enable the handing over of decision making to a mature system oriented mechanism. There was no doubt that the Sultanate of Oman wanted to enhance its services and move it towards automation and establishes a smart government as well as links its services to life events. Measuring government efficiency is very essential in achieving social security and economic growth, since it can provide a clear dashboard of all projects and improvements. Based on this data we can improve the strategies and align the country goals to them.

Keywords: government, maturity, Oman, performance, service

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Authors: Diana M. Torres, Anngie K. Hernandez, Andrea Villareal, Magda R. Gomez, Sadao Kobayashi

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Colombian Garlic crops exhibited mild mosaic, yellow stripes, and deformation. This group of symptoms suggested a viral infection. Several viruses belonging to the genera Potyvirus, Carlavirus and Allexivirus are known to infect garlic and lower their yield worldwide, but in Colombia, there are no studies of viral infections in this crop, only leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV) has been reported to our best knowledge. In Colombia, there are no management strategies for viral diseases in garlic because of the lack of information about viral infections on this crop, which is reflected in (i) high prevalence of viral related symptoms in garlic fields and (ii) high dispersal rate. For these reasons, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the viral status of garlic in Colombia, which can represent a major threat on garlic yield and quality for this country 55 symptomatic leaf samples were collected for virus detection by RT-PCR and mechanical inoculation. Total RNA isolated from infected samples were subjected to RT-PCR with primers 1-OYDV-G/2-OYDV-G for Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV) (expected size 774pb), 1LYSV/2LYSV for LYSV (expected size 1000pb), SLV 7044/SLV 8004 for Shallot latent virus (SLV) (expected size 960pb), GCL-N30/GCL-C40 for Garlic common latent virus (GCLV) (expected size 481pb) and EF1F/EF1R for internal control (expected size 358pb). GCLV, SLV, and LYSV were detected in infected samples; in 95.6% of the analyzed samples was detected at least one of the viruses. GCLV and SLV were detected in single infection with low prevalence (9.3% and 7.4%, respectively). Garlic generally becomes coinfected with several types of viruses. Four viral complexes were identified: three double infection (64% of analyzed samples) and one triple infection (15%). The most frequent viral complex was SLV + GCLV infecting 48.1% of the samples. The other double complexes identified had a prevalence of 7% (GCLV + LYSV and SLV + LYSV) and 5.6% of the samples were free from these viruses. Mechanical transmission experiments were set up using leaf tissues of collected samples from infected fields, different test plants were assessed to know the host range, but it was restricted to C. quinoa, confirming the presence of detected viruses which have limited host range and were detected in C. quinoa by RT-PCR. The results of molecular and biological tests confirm the presence of SLV, LYSV, and GCLV; this is the first report of SLV and LYSV in garlic plants in Colombia, which can represent a serious threat for this crop in this country.

Keywords: SLV, GCLV, LYSV, leek yellow stripe virus, Allium sativum

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Authors: Dmitriy Kuptsov

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Tree data structures, such as binary or in general k-ary trees, are essential in computer science. The applications of these data structures can range from data search and retrieval to sorting and ranking algorithms. Naive implementations of these data structures can consume prohibitively large volumes of random access memory limiting their applicability in certain solutions. Thus, in these cases, more advanced representation of these data structures is essential. In this paper we present the design of the compact version of ternary tree data structure and demonstrate the results for the experimental evaluation using static dictionary problem. We compare these results with the results for binary and regular ternary trees. The conducted evaluation study shows that our design, in the best case, consumes up to 12 times less memory (for the dictionary used in our experimental evaluation) than a regular ternary tree and in certain configuration shows performance comparable to regular ternary trees. We have evaluated the performance of the algorithms using both 32 and 64 bit operating systems.

Keywords: algorithms, data structures, succinct ternary tree, per- formance evaluation

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Authors: Deepali Lal, Sudha Summerwar, Jyoutsna Pandey

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The resistance of pesticide by the pest is an important matter of concern.The pesticide of plant origin having nontoxic biodegradable and environmentally friendly qualities. The frequent spraying of toxic chemicals is developing resistance to the pesticide. Leaf powder of the plants like Argimone mexicana and Calotropis procera is prepared, Different doses of these plant extracts are given to the Fourth in star stages of Helicoverpa armigera through feeding methods, to find their efficacy the experimental findings will be put under analysis using various parameters. The effect on paritrophic membrane is also studied.

Keywords: distillation plant, acetone, alcohol, pipette, castor leaves, grams pods, larvae of helicoverpa armigera, plant extract, vails, jars, cotton

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Authors: Fatemeh Mohsennezhad

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Air pollution is one of major problems for environment. Providing healthy food and protecting water sources from pollution has been one of the concerns of human societies and decision-making centers so that protecting food from pollution, detecting sources of pollution and measuring them become important. Nutritive and political significance of grape in this area, extensive use of leaf and fruit of this plant and development of urban areas around grape gardens and construction of Tabriz – Miandoab road, which is the most important link between East and West Azarbaijan, led us to examine the impact of this road construction and urban environment pollutants such as lead chromium and cadmium on the quality of this valuable crop. First, the samples were taken from different adjacent places and medium distances from the road, each place being located exactly by Google earth and GPS. Digestion was done through burning dry material and hydrochloric acid and their ashes were analyzed by atomic absorption to determine (Pb, Cr, Cd) accumulations. In this experiments effects of 2 following factors were examined as a variable: Garden distance from the main road with levels 1: For 50 meters, 2: For 120-200 meters, 3: For above 800 meters, and plant organ with levels 1: For fruit, 2: For leaves. At the end, the results were processed by SPSS software. 3.54 ppm, the most lead quantity, was at sample No. 54 in fruits with 800 meters distance from the road and 1.00 ppm was the least lead quantity at sample No. 50 in fruits with 1000 meters from the road. In leaves, the most lead quantity was 19.16 ppm at sample No. 15 with 50 meters distance from the road and the least quantity was 1.41 ppm at sample No. 31 with 50 meters from the road. Pb uptake is significantly different at 50 meters and 200 meters distance. It means that Pb uptake near the main road is the highest. But this result is not true for others elements. Distance has not a meaningful effect on Cr uptake. The result of analysis of variation in distance and plant organ for Cd showed that between fruit and leaf, Cd uptake is significantly different. But distance and interaction between distance and plant organ is not meaningful. There is neither meaningful interaction between these elements uptakes in fruits nor in leaves. If leaves and fruits, assumed all together, showed a very meaningful integration between heavy metal accumulations. It means that each of these elements causes uptake others without considering special organs. In the tested area, it became clear that, from the accumulation of heavy metals perspective, there is no meaningful difference in existing distance between road and garden. There is a meaningful difference among heavy metals accumulation. In other words, increase ratio of one metal to another was different from the resulted differences shown in corresponding graphs. Interaction among elements and distance between garden and road was not meaningful.

Keywords: Vitis vinifera L., phytoremediation, heavy metals accumulation, lead, chromium, cadmium

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Authors: Benukar Biswas, S. Banerjee, P. K. Bandhyopadhyaya, S. K. Patra, S. Sarkar

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Jute can be sown as relay crop in between the lines of 15-20 days old green gram for additional pulse yield without reducing the yield of jute. The main problem of this system is water use efficiency (WUE). The increase in water productivity and reduction in production cost were reported in the zero-tilled crop. The hydrogel can hold water up to 400 times of its weight and can release 95 % of the retained water. The present field study was carried out during 2015-16 at BCKV (tropical sub-humid, 1560 mm annual rainfall, 22058/ N, 88051/ E, 9.75 m AMSL, sandy loam soil, aeric Haplaquept, pH 6.75, organic carbon 5.4 g kg-1, available N 85 kg ha-1, P2O5 15.3 kg ha-1 and K2O 40 kg ha-1) with four levels of irrigation regimes: no irrigation - RF, cumulative pan evaporation 250mm (CPE250), CPE125 and CPE83 and three levels of hydrogel: no hydrogel (H0), 2.5 kg ha-1 (H2.5) and 5 kg ha-1 (H5). Throughout the crop growing period a linear positive relationship remained between Leaf Area Index (LAI) and evapotranspiration rate. The strength of the relationship between ETa and LAI started increasing and reached its peak at 7 WAS (R2=0.78) when green gram was at its maturity, and both the crops covered the nearly entire base area. This relation starts weakening from 13 WAS due to jute leaf shading. A linear relationship between system yield and ET was also obtained in the present study. The variation in system yield might be predicted 75% with ET alone. Effective rainfall was reduced with increasing irrigation frequency due to enhanced water supply in contrast to hydrogel application due to the difference in water storage capacity. Irrigation contributed a major source of variability of ET. Higher irrigation frequency resulted in higher ET loss ranging from 574 mm in RF to 764 mm in CPE83. Hydrogel application also increased water storage on a sustained basis and supplied to crops resulting higher ET from 639 mm in H0 to 671mm in H5. WUE ranged between 0.4 kg m-3 (RF) to 0.63 kg m-3 (CPE83 H5). WUE increased with increased application of irrigation water from 0.42 kg m-3 in RF to 0.57 kg m-3 in CPE 83. Hydrogel application significantly improves the WUE from 0.45 kg m-3 in H0 to 0.50 in H2.5 and 0.54 in H5. Under relatively dry root zone (RF), both evaporation and transpiration remain at suboptimal level resulting in lower ET as well as lower system yield. Green gram – jute relay system can be water use efficient with 38% higher yield with application of hydrogel @ 2.5 kg ha-1 under deficit irrigation regime of CPE 125 over rainfed system without application of the gel. Application of gel conditioner improved water storage, checked excess water loss from the system, and mitigated ET demand of the relay system for a longer time. Hence, irrigation frequency was reduced from five times at CPE 83 to only three times in CPE 125.

Keywords: zero tillage, deficit irrigation, hydrogel, relay system

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Authors: Sidharth Talan, Sanjay Kumar Sharma, Eoin Joseph Wallace, Nikita Agrawal

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Underground mining is at the core of rapidly evolving metals and minerals sector due to the increasing mineral consumption globally. Even though the surface mines are still more abundant on earth, the scales of industry are slowly tipping towards underground mining due to rising depth and complexities of orebodies. Thus, the efficient and productive functioning of underground operations depends significantly on the synchronized performance of key elements such as operating site, mining equipment, manpower and mine services. Production drilling is the process of conducting long hole drilling for the purpose of charging and blasting these holes for the production of ore in underground metal mines. Thus, production drilling is the crucial segment in the underground metal mining value chain. This paper presents the process mapping tool to evaluate the production drilling process in the underground metal mining operation by dividing the given process into three segments namely Input, Process and Output. The three segments are further segregated into factors and sub-factors. As per the study, the major input factors crucial for the efficient functioning of production drilling process are power, drilling water, geotechnical support of the drilling site, skilled drilling operators, services installation crew, oils and drill accessories for drilling machine, survey markings at drill site, proper housekeeping, regular maintenance of drill machine, suitable transportation for reaching the drilling site and finally proper ventilation. The major outputs for the production drilling process are ore, waste as a result of dilution, timely reporting and investigation of unsafe practices, optimized process time and finally well fragmented blasted material within specifications set by the mining company. The paper also exhibits the drilling loss matrix, which is utilized to appraise the loss in planned production meters per day in a mine on account of availability loss in the machine due to breakdowns, underutilization of the machine and productivity loss in the machine measured in drilling meters per unit of percussion hour with respect to its planned productivity for the day. The given three losses would be essential to detect the bottlenecks in the process map of production drilling operation so as to instigate the action plan to suppress or prevent the causes leading to the operational performance deficiency. The given tool is beneficial to mine management to focus on the critical factors negatively impacting the production drilling operation and design necessary operational and maintenance strategies to mitigate them. 

Keywords: process map, drilling loss matrix, SIPOC, productivity, percussion rate

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Authors: Abida Mariam, Anwaar Ahmed, Asif Ahmad, Muhammad Sheeraz Ahmad, Muhammad Akram Khan, Muhammad Mazahir

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The plant olive (Olea europaea L.) is known for its commercial significance due to nutritional and health benefits. Pakistan is ranked 4th among countries who import olive oil whereas, 70% of edible oil is imported to fulfil the needs of the country. There exists great potential for Olea europaea cultivation in Pakistan. The popularity and cultivation of olive fruit has increased in recent past due to its high socio-economic and health significance. There exist almost negligible data on the chemical composition of extra virgin olive oil extracted from cultivars grown in Pothwar, an area with arid climate conducive for growth of olive trees. Keeping in view these factors a study has been conducted to characterize the olive oil extracted from olive cultivars collected from Pothwar regions of Pakistan for their nutritional potential and value addition. Ten olive cultivars (Gemlik, Coratina, Sevillano, Manzanilla, Leccino, Koroneiki, Frantoio, Arbiquina, Earlik and Ottobratica) were collected from Barani Agriculture Research Institute, Chakwal. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) was extracted by cold pressing and centrifuging of olive fruits. The highest amount of oil was yielded in Coratina (23.9%) followed by Frantoio (23.7%), Koroneiki (22.8%), Sevillano (22%), Ottobratica (22%), Leccino (20.5%), Arbiquina (19.2%), Manzanilla (17.2%), Earlik (14.4%) and Gemllik (13.1%). The extracted virgin olive oil was studied for various physico- chemical properties and fatty acid profile. The Physical and chemical properties i.e., characteristic odor and taste, light yellow color with no foreign matter, insoluble impurities (≤0.08), fee fatty acid (0.1 to 0.8), acidity (0.5 to 1.6 mg/g acid), peroxide value (1.5 to 5.2 meqO2/kg), Iodine value (82 to 90), saponification value (186 to 192 mg/g) and unsaponifiable matter (4 to 8g/kg), ultraviolet spectrophotometric analysis (k232 and k270), showed values in the acceptable range, established by PSQCA and IOOC set for extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil was analyzed by Near Infra-Red spectrophotometry (NIR) for fatty acids sin olive oils which were found as: palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and alpha-linolenic. Major fatty acid was Oleic acid in the highest percentage ranging from (55 to 66.1%), followed by linoleic (10.4 to 20.4%), palmitic (13.8 to 19.5%), stearic (3.9 to 4.4%), palmitoleic (0.3 to 1.7%) and alpha-linolenic (0.9 to 1.7%). The results were significant with differences in parameters analyzed for all ten cultivars which confirm that genetic factors are important contributors in the physico-chemical characteristics of oil. The olive oil showed superior physical and chemical properties and recommended as one of the healthiest forms of edible oil. This study will help consumers to be more aware of and make better choices of healthy oils available locally thus contributing towards their better health.

Keywords: characterization, extra virgin olive oil, oil yield, fatty acids

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Authors: Frazer Kirk, Rohen Skiba, Pankaj Saxena

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The natural history of the QAV is poorly understood due to the exceeding rarity of the condition. Incidence rates vary between 0.00028-1%. Classically patients present with Aortic Regurgitation (AR) between 40-60 years of age experiencing palpitations, chest pain, or heart failure. (1, 2) Echocardiography is the mainstay of diagnosis for this condition; however, given the rarity of this condition, it can easily be overlooked, as demonstrated here. The case report that follows serves as a reminder of the condition to reduce the innate cognitive bias to overlook the diagnosis due to the availability heuristic. Intraoperative photography, echocardiographic and magnetic resonance imaging from this case for reference to demonstrate that while the diagnosis of Aortic regurgitation was recognized early, the valve morphology was underappreciated.

Keywords: quadricuspid aortic valve, cardiac surgery, echocardiography, congenital

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Authors: Gómez S. Jennifer, Méndez V. Camila, Moncayo M. Diana, Vega M. Lizeth

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The cape gooseberry is a climacteric fruit; Colombia is one of the principal exporters in the world. The environmental condition of temperature and relative moisture decreases the titratable acidity and pH. These conditions and fruit maturation result in the fungal proliferation of Botrytis cinerea disease. Plastic packaging for fresh cape gooseberries was used for mechanical damage protection but created a suitable atmosphere for fungal growth. Beta-cyclodextrins are currently implemented as coatings for the encapsulation of hydrophobic compounds, for example, with bioactive compounds from essential oils such as cinnamaldehyde, which has a high antimicrobial capacity. However, it is a volatile substance. In this article, the casting method was used to obtain a polylactic acid (PLA) polymer film containing the beta-cyclodextrin-cinnamaldehyde inclusion complex, generating an insert that allowed the controlled release of the antifungal substance in packed cape gooseberries to decrease contamination by Botrytis cinerea in a latent state during storage. For the encapsulation technique, three ratios for the cinnamaldehyde: beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex were proposed: (25:75), (40:60), and (50:50). Spectrophotometry, colorimetry in L*a*b* coordinate space and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were made for the complex characterization. Subsequently, two ratios of tween and water (40:60) and (50:50) were used to obtain the polylactic acid (PLA) film. To determine mechanical and physical parameters of colourimetry in L*a*b* coordinate space, atomic force microscopy and stereoscopy were done to determine the transparency and flexibility of the film; for both cases, Statgraphics software was used to determine the best ratio in each of the proposed phases, where for encapsulation it was (50:50) with an encapsulation efficiency of 65,92%, and for casting the ratio (40:60) obtained greater transparency and flexibility that permitted its incorporation into the polymeric packaging. A liberation assay was also developed under ambient temperature conditions to evaluate the concentration of cinnamaldehyde inside the packaging through gas chromatography for three weeks. It was found that the insert had a controlled release. Nevertheless, a higher cinnamaldehyde concentration is needed to obtain the minimum inhibitory concentration for the fungus Botrytis cinerea (0.2g/L). The homogeneity of the cinnamaldehyde gas phase inside the packaging can be improved by considering other insert configurations. This development aims to impact emerging food preservation technologies with the controlled release of antifungals to reduce the affectation of the physico-chemical and sensory properties of the fruit as a result of contamination by microorganisms in the postharvest stage.

Keywords: antifungal, casting, encapsulation, postharvest

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Authors: Irsha Dhotre

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Cymbopogon citratus is generally known as Indian Lemongrass and is widely applicable in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, dairy puddings, and food industries. To enhance the quality of extraction, microwave-oven-aided hydro distillation processes were implemented. The basic parameter which influences the rate of extraction is considered, such as the temperature of extraction, the time required for extraction, and microwave-oven power applied. Locally available CKP 25 Cymbopogon citratus was used for the extraction of essential oil. Optimization of Extractions Parameters and full factorial Box–Behnken design (BBD) evaluated by using Design expert 13 software. The regression model revealed that the optimum parameters required for extractions are a temperature of 35℃, a time of extraction of 130 minutes, and microwave-oven power of 700 W. The extraction efficiency of yield is 4.76%. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis confirmed the significant components present in the extraction of lemongrass oil.

Keywords: Box–Behnken design, Cymbopogon citratus, hydro distillation, microwave-oven, response surface methodology

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Authors: Soheila Afkar

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Mentha piperita is a medicinal plant that contains a large amount of secondary metabolite that has adverse effect on RNA extraction. Since high quality of RNA is the first step to real time-PCR, in this study optimization of total RNA isolation from leaf tissues of Mentha piperita was evaluated. From this point of view, we researched two different total RNA extraction methods on leaves of Mentha piperita to find the best one that contributes the high quality. The methods tested are RNX-plus, modified RNX-plus (1-5 numbers). RNA quality was analyzed by agarose gel 1.5%. The RNA integrity was also assessed by visualization of ribosomal RNA bands on 1.5% agarose gels. In the modified RNX-plus method (number 2), the integrity of 28S and 18S rRNA was highly satisfactory when analyzed in agarose denaturing gel, so this method is suitable for RNA isolation from Mentha piperita.

Keywords: Mentha piperita, polyphenol, polysaccharide, RNA extraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Jibon Sharma, Alakjyoti Patowary, Moirangthem Nara Singh

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In experimental research it is very much essential to obtain the quality control of the system used for the experiment. NaI (Tl) scintillation detector is the most commonly used in radiation and medical physics for measurement of the gamma ray activity of various samples. In addition, the scintillation detector has a lot of applications in the elemental analysis of various compounds, alloys using activation analysis. In each application for quantitative analysis, it is very much essential to know the detection efficiency and resolution for different gamma energies. In this work, the energy dependence of efficiency and resolution of NaI (Tl) detector using gamma-ray spectroscopy are investigated. Different photon energies of 356.01 keV,511keV,661.60keV,1170 keV,1274.53 keV and 1330 keV are obtained from four radioactive sources (133Ba,22Na,137Cs and 60 Co) used in these studies. Values of full energy peak efficiencies of these gamma energies are found to be respectively 58.46%,10.15%,14.39%,1.4%,3.27% and 1.31%. The values of percent resolution for above different gamma ray energies are found to be 11.27%,7.27%,6.38%,5.17%,4.86% and 4.74% respectively. It was found that the efficiency of the detector exponentially decreases with energy and the resolution of the detector is directly proportional to the energy of gamma-ray.

Keywords: naI (Tl) gamma-ray spectrometer, resolution, full energy peak efficiency, radioactive sources

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: A. Giniatoulline

Abstract:

We consider the internal oscillations of the ocean which are caused by the gravity force and the Coriolis force, for different models with changeable density, heat transfer, and salinity. Traditionally, the mathematical description of the resonance effect is related to the growing amplitude as a result of input vibrations. We offer a different approach: the study of the relation between the spectrum of the internal oscillations and the properties of the limiting amplitude of the solution for the harmonic input vibrations of the external forces. Using the results of the spectral theory of self-adjoint operators in Hilbert functional spaces, we prove that there exists an explicit relation between the localization of the frequency of the external input vibrations with respect to the essential spectrum of proper inner oscillations and the non-uniqueness of the limiting amplitude. The results may find their application in various problems concerning mathematical modeling of turbulent flows in the ocean.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, essential spectrum, limiting amplitude, rotating fluid, spectral theory, stratified fluid, the uniqueness of solutions of PDE equations

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Dandan Zhang

Abstract:

Elucidating the original relationship between historical materialism and German historicism from the internal dimension of intellectual history has important theoretical significance for deep understanding and interpretation of the essential characteristics of historical materialism. German historicism contains the triple deduction of scientific historicism, historical relativism, and vitalism. The historicism of science argues for its historical status as science in the name of objective, systematic, and typical research methods, and procedural principles. Historical relativism places history under the specific historical background to study epistemological and methodological issues about the nature of human beings and the value of history. German historicism walks up to natural and cultural relativism on the basis of romanticism. Vitalism emphasizes intuition, will, and experience of life from individuals and places history on the ontology of organic life and vitality. Historical materialism and German historicism have a theoretical relationship in the genetic field. The former criticizes and surpasses the latter. Meanwhile, in the evolution of German historicism, the differences between historical materialism with it are essential features of historical science.

Keywords: German historicism, scientific historicism, historical relativism, vitalism, historical materialism

Procedia PDF Downloads 38

Authors: Daniel Bulanda, Janusz A. Starzyk, Adrian Horzyk

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The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most commonly used medical tests, essential for correct diagnosis and treatment of the patient. While ECG devices generate a huge amount of data, only a small part of them carries valuable medical information. To deal with this problem, many compression algorithms and filters have been developed over the past years. However, the rapid development of new machine learning techniques poses new challenges. To address this class of problems, we created the FlexPoints algorithm that searches for characteristic points on the ECG signal and ignores all other points that do not carry relevant medical information. The conducted experiments proved that the presented algorithm can significantly reduce the number of data points which represents ECG signal without losing valuable medical information. These sparse but essential characteristic points (flex points) can be a perfect input for some modern machine learning models, which works much better using flex points as an input instead of raw data or data compressed by many popular algorithms.

Keywords: characteristic points, electrocardiogram, ECG, machine learning, signal compression

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Muhammad Ather Nadeem, Bilal Ahmad Khan, Hussam F. Najeeb Alawadi, Athar Mahmood, Aneela Nijabat, Tasawer Abbas, Muhammad Habib, Abdullah

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The global prevalence of Avena fatua infestation poses a significant challenge to wheat sustainability. While chemical control stands out as an efficient and rapid way to control weeds, concerns over developing resistance in weeds and environmental pollution have led to criticisms of herbicide use. Consequently, this study was designed to address these challenges through the chemical synthesis, characterization, and optimization of chitosan-based nanoparticles containing clodinofop Propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl for the effective management of A. fatua. Utilizing the ionic gelification technique, chitosan-based nanoparticles of clodinofop Propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl were prepared. These nanoparticles were applied at the 3-4 leaf stage of Phalaris minor weed, applying seven altered doses. These nanoparticles were applied at the 3-4 leaf stage of Phalaris minor weed, applying seven altered doses (D0 (Check weeds), D1 (Recommended dose of traditional-herbicide (TH), D2 (Recommended dose of Nano-herbicide (NPs-H)), D3 (NPs-H with 05-fold lower dose), D4 ((NPs-H) with 10-fold lower dose), D5 (NPs-H with 15-fold lower dose), and D6 (NPs-H with 20-fold lower dose)). Characterization of the chitosan-containing herbicide nanoparticles (CHT-NPs) was conducted using FT-IR analysis, demonstrating a perfect match with standard parameters. UV–visible spectrum further revealed absorption peaks at 310 nm for NPs of clodinofop propargyl and at 330 nm for NPs of fenoxaprop-p-ethyl. This research aims to contribute to sustainable weed management practices by addressing the challenges associated with chemical herbicide use. The application of chitosan-based nanoparticles (CHT-NPs) containing fenoxaprop-P-ethyl and clodinofop-propargyl at the recommended dose of the standard herbicide resulted in 100% mortality and visible injury to weeds. Surprisingly, when applied at a lower dose with 5-folds, these chitosan-containing nanoparticles of clodinofop Propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl demonstrated extreme control efficacy. Furthermore, at a 10-fold lower dose compared to standard herbicides and the recommended dose of clodinofop-propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, the chitosan-based nanoparticles exhibited comparable effects on chlorophyll content, visual injury (%), mortality (%), plant height (cm), fresh weight (g), and dry weight (g) of A. fatua. This study indicates that chitosan/tripolyphosphate-loaded nanoparticles containing clodinofop-propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl can be effectively utilized for the management of A. fatua at a 10-fold lower dose, highlighting their potential for sustainable and efficient weed control.

Keywords: mortality, chitosan-based nanoparticles, visual injury, chlorophyl contents, 5-fold lower dose.

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Galina N. Parshina, Olga N. Shemshura, Ulzhan S. Mukiyanova, Gulnur M. Beisetbayeva

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From a medical point of view some species from the family Lamiaceae Lindl. attract the attention of scientists. Many plant species from this family are used in science and medicine. Some researchers believe that the medicinal properties of these plants are caused by the action on the organism of the individual components (camphor, menthol, thymol, eugenol, phenols, flavonoids, alcohols, and their derivatives) or the entire complex of essential oils. Biologically active substances (BAS), isolated from these medicinal plants can be an effective supplement in the complex treatment of infectious diseases. The substances of the phenolic group such as flavonoids and phenolic acids; and also alkaloids included in the component composition of the plants from the family Lamiaceae Lindl. present the scientific and practical interest for future investigations of their biological activity and development of medicinal products. The research objects are the species from the family Lamiaceae Lindl., cultivated in the North-Kazakhstan region. In this abstract, we present the results of the investigation of polyphenolic complex (flavonoids and phenolic acids) and alkaloids in aqueous and ethanol extracts. Investigation of the qualitative composition of flavonoids in the aqueous extracts showed that the species Monarda Diana contains flavone, Dracocephalum moldavica contains rutin, Ocimum basilicum (purple form) contains both ruin and quercetin. Biochemical analysis revealed that the ethanol extract of Monarda Diana has phenolic acids, similar to protocatechuic and benzoic acids by their chromatographic characteristics. But the aqueous extract contains four phenolic acids, one of which is an analogue of gentisic acid; and the other three are not identified yet. The phenolic acids such as benzoic and gentisic acids identified in ethanol extracts of species Ocimum basilicum (purple form) and Satureja hortensis, correspondingly. But the same phenolic acids did not appear in aqueous extracts. The phenolic acids were not determined neither in the ethanol or aqueous extracts of species Dracocephalum moldavica. The biochemical analysis did not reveal the content of alkaloids in aqueous extracts of investigated plants. However, the alkaloids in the amount of 5-13 components were identified in the ethanolic extracts of plants by the qualitative reactions. The results of analysis with reagent of Dragendorff showed that next amounts of alkaloids were identified in extracts of Monarda Diana (6-7), Satureja hortensis (6), Ocimum basilicum (7-9) and Dracocephalum moldavica (5-6). The reactions with reagent of Van-Urca showed that next amounts of alkaloids were identified in extracts of Monarda Diana (9-12), Satureja hortensis (9-10), two alkaloids of them with Rf6=0,39 and Rf6=0,31 similar to roquefortine), Ocimum basilicum (11) and Dracocephalum moldavica (13, two of them with Rf5=0,34 and Rf5=0,33 by their chromatographic characteristics similar to epikostaklavin).

Keywords: biologically active substances, Lamiaceae, component composition, medicinal plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 498

Authors: Anood Al-Shibli

Abstract:

Designing a learner corpus is not an easy task to accomplish because dealing with learners’ language has many variables which might affect the results of any study based on learners’ language production (spoken and written). Also, it is very essential to systematically design a learner corpus especially when it is aimed to be a reference to language research. Therefore, designing the Omani Learner Corpus (OLEC) has undergone many explicit and systematic considerations. These criteria can be regarded as the foundation to design any learner corpus to be exploited effectively in language use and language learning studies. Added to that, OLEC is manually error-annotated corpus. Error-annotation in learner corpora is very essential; however, it is time-consuming and prone to errors. Consequently, a navigating tool is designed to help the annotators to insert errors’ codes in order to make the error-annotation process more efficient and consistent. To assure accuracy, error annotation procedure is followed to annotate OLEC and some preliminary findings are noted. One of the main results of this procedure is creating an error-annotation system based on the Omani learners of English language production. Because OLEC is still in the first stages, the primary findings are related to only one level of proficiency and one error type which is verb related errors. It is found that Omani learners in OLEC has the tendency to have more errors in forming the verb and followed by problems in agreement of verb. Comparing the results to other error-based studies indicate that the Omani learners tend to have basic verb errors which can found in lower-level of proficiency. To this end, it is essential to admit that examining learners’ errors can give insights to language acquisition and language learning and most errors do not happen randomly but they occur systematically among language learners.

Keywords: error-annotation system, error-annotation manual, learner corpora, verbs related errors

Procedia PDF Downloads 136