Search results for: heat transfer rate

Authors: Marcin Dębowski, Mirosław Krzemieniewski, Marcin Zieliński

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This publication presents a device designed to depolymerise and structurally change organic substrate, for use in agricultural biogas plants or sewage treatment plants. The presented device consists of a heated tank equipped with an inlet valve for the crude substrate and an outlet valve for the treated substrate. The system also includes a gas conduit, which is at its tip equipped with a high-pressure solenoid valve and a vacuum relief solenoid valve. A conduit behind the high-pressure solenoid valve connects to the vacuum tank equipped with the outlet valve. The substrate introduced into the device is exposed to agents such as high temperature and cavitation produced by abrupt, short-term reduction of pressure within the heated tank. The combined effect of these processes is substrate destruction rate increase of about 20% when compared to using high temperature alone, and about 30% when compared to utilizing only cavitation. Energy consumption is greatly reduced, as the pressure increase is generated by heating the substrate. Thus, there is a 18% reduction of energy consumption when compared to a device designed to destroy substrate through high temperature alone, and a 35% reduction if compared to using cavitation as the only means of destruction.

Keywords: thermal depolymerisation, organic substrate, biogas, pre-treatment

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Authors: Somaye Zare

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The critical beam radius is a significant factor that predicts the behavior of the laser beam in the plasma, so if the laser beam radius is adequately greater in comparison to it, the beam will experience stable focusing on the plasma; otherwise, the beam will diverge after entering into the plasma. In this work, considering the paraxial approximation and moment theories, the localization of a relativistic laser beam in thermal quantum plasma is investigated. Using the dielectric function obtained in the quantum hydrodynamic model, the mathematical equation for the laser beam width parameter is attained and solved numerically by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The results demonstrate that the stouter focusing effect is occurred in the moment theory compared to the paraxial approximation. Besides, similar to the two theories, with increasing Fermi temperature, plasma density, and laser intensity, the oscillation rate of the beam width parameter growths and focusing length reduces which means improving the focusing effect. Furthermore, it is understood that behaviors of the critical laser radius are different in the two theories, in the paraxial approximation, the critical radius after a minimum value is enhanced with increasing laser intensity, but in the moment theory, with increasing laser intensity, the critical radius decreases until it becomes independent of the laser intensity.

Keywords: laser localization, quantum plasma, paraxial approximation, moment theory, quantum hydrodynamic model

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Authors: Inayatullah Khan, Afzal Khan, Hamzullah Khan, Afzal Khan

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Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare different statistical variables for vaccinated and unvaccinated children in measles cases. Material and Methods: This cross sectional comparative study was conducted at Isolation ward, Department of Paediatrics, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar, from April 2012 to March 2013. A total of 566 admitted cases of measles were enrolled. Data regarding age, sex, address, vaccination status, measles contact, hospital stay and outcome was collected and recorded on a proforma. History of measles vaccination was ascertained either by checking the vaccination cards or on parental recall. Result: In 566 cases of measles, 211(39%) were vaccinated and 345 (61%) were unvaccinated. Three hundred and ten (54.80%) patients were males and 256 (45.20%) were females with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1.The age range was from 1 year to 14 years with mean age with SD of 3.2 +2 years. Majority (371, 65.5%) of the patients were 1-3 years old. Mean hospital stay was 3.08 days with a range of 1-10 days and a standard deviation of ± 1.15. History of measles contact was present in 393 (69.4%) cases. Fourty eight patients were expired with a mortality rate of 8.5%. Conclusion: Majority of the children in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa are unvaccinated and unprotected against measles. Among vaccinated children, 39% of children attracted measles which indicate measles vaccine failure. This figure is clearly higher than that accepted for measles vaccine (2-10%).

Keywords: measles, vaccination, immunity, population

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Authors: Hassan S. Hussein, Rania A. Abul Seoud, Amr M. Refaat

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Scientific researchers face in the analysis of very large data sets that is increasing noticeable rate in today’s and tomorrow’s technologies. Hadoop and Spark are types of software that developed frameworks. Hadoop framework is suitable for many Different hardware platforms. In this research, a scientific Linux cluster for Big Data analysis (SLBD) is presented. SLBD runs open source software with large computational capacity and high performance cluster infrastructure. SLBD composed of one cluster contains identical, commodity-grade computers interconnected via a small LAN. SLBD consists of a fast switch and Gigabit-Ethernet card which connect four (nodes). Cloudera Manager is used to configure and manage an Apache Hadoop stack. Hadoop is a framework allows storing and processing big data across the cluster by using MapReduce algorithm. MapReduce algorithm divides the task into smaller tasks which to be assigned to the network nodes. Algorithm then collects the results and form the final result dataset. SLBD clustering system allows fast and efficient processing of large amount of data resulting from different applications. SLBD also provides high performance, high throughput, high availability, expandability and cluster scalability.

Keywords: big data platforms, cloudera manager, Hadoop, MapReduce

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Authors: Samy Selim

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Natural products are still major sources of innovative therapeutic agents for various conditions, including infectious diseases. Peganum harmala L. oil had wide range uses as traditional medicinal plants. The current study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of P. harmala essential oil. The chemical constitutes and toxicity of these oils was also determined to obtain further information on the correlation between the chemical contents and antibacterial activity. The antibacterial effect of the essential oils of P. harmala oil was studied against some foodborne pathogenic bacteria species. The oil of plant was subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The impact of oils administration on the change in rate of weight gain and complete blood picture in hamsters were investigated. P. harmala oil had strong antibacterial effect against bacterial species especially at minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) less than 75.0 μg/ml. From the oil of P. harmala, forty one compounds were identified, and the major constituent was 1-hexyl-2-nitrocyclohexane (9.07%). Acute toxicity test was performed on hamsters and showed complete survival after 14 days, and there were no toxicity symptoms occurred. This study demonstrated that these essential oils seemed to be destitute of toxic effect which could compromise the medicinal use of these plants in folk medicine.

Keywords: analysis mass spectrometry, antibacterial activities, acute toxicity, chemical constitutes, gas chromatography, weight gain, Peganum harmala

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Authors: Zuhrotun Ulya, Muchammad Syamsulhadi, Debree Septiawan

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Patients with bipolar disorder are three times more likely to suffer cardiovascular disorders than the general population, which will influence their level of morbidity and rate of mortality. Bipolar disorder also affects the pulmonary system. The choice of long term-monotherapy and other combinative therapies have clinical impacts on patients. This study investigates the case of a woman who has been suffering from bipolar disorder for 16 years, and who has a history of Steven Johnson Syndrome. At present she is suffering also from cardiovascular and pulmonary disorder. An analysis of the results of this study suggests that there is a relationship between cardiovascular disorder, drug therapies, Steven Johnson Syndrome and mood stabilizer obtained from the PubMed, Cochrane, Medline, and ProQuest (publications between 2005 and 2015). Combination therapy with mood stabilizer is recommended for patients who do not have side effect histories from these drugs. The replacement drugs and combinations may be applied, especially for those with bipolar disorders, and the combination between atypical antipsychotic groups and mood stabilizers is often made. Clinicians, however, should be careful with the patients’ physical and metabolic changes, especially those who have experienced long-term therapy and who showed a history of Steven Johnson Syndrome (for which clinicians probably prescribed one type of medicine).

Keywords: cardiopulmonary disease, bipolar disorder, SJS, therapy

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Authors: Tayyaba Hussain, Sobia Jangsher, Saqib Ali, Saqib Ejaz

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Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV’s) have gained great popularity due to their remoteness, ease of deployment and high maneuverability in different applications like real-time surveillance, image capturing, weather atmospheric studies, disaster site monitoring and mapping. These applications can involve a real-time communication with the ground station. However, altitude and mobility possess a few challenges for the communication. UAV’s at high altitude usually require more transmit power. One possible solution can be with the use of multi hops (UAV’s acting as relays) and exploiting the mobility pattern of the UAV’s. In this paper, we studied a relay (UAV’s acting as relays) selection for a reliable transmission to a destination UAV. We exploit the mobility information of the UAV’s to propose a Mobility-Aware Relay Selection (MARS) algorithm with the objective of giving improved data rates. The results are compared with Non Mobility-Aware relay selection scheme and optimal values. Numerical results show that our proposed MARS algorithm gives 6% better achievable data rates for the mobile UAV’s as compared with Non MobilityAware relay selection scheme. On average a decrease of 20.2% in data rate is achieved with MARS as compared with SDP solver in Yalmip.

Keywords: mobility aware, relay selection, time division multiple acess, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: Snehal L. Kadam, Shriniwas B. Kulkarni

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Flexible electrode material with high surface area and good electrochemical properties is the current trend captivating the researchers across globe for application in the next generation energy storage field. In the present work, crumpled sheet like reduced graphene oxide grown on carbon cloth by the hydrothermal method with a series of different deposition temperatures at fixed time. The influence of the deposition temperature on the structural, morphological, optical and supercapacitive properties of the electrode material was investigated by XRD, RAMAN, XPS, TEM, FE-SEM, UV-VISIBLE and electrochemical characterization techniques.The results show that the hydrothermally synthesized reduced graphene oxide on carbon cloth has sheet like mesoporous structure. The reduced graphene oxide material at 160°C exhibits the best supercapacitor performance, with a specific capacitance of 443 F/g at scan rate 5mV/sec. Moreover, stability studies show 97% capacitance retention over 1000 CV cycles. This result shows that hydrothermally synthesized RGO on carbon cloth is the potential electrode material and would be used in the next-generation wearable energy storage systems. The detailed analysis and results will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, carbon cloth, deposition temperature, supercapacitor

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Authors: Ahmed Mostafa, Mohamed Mahmoud, Nesreen H. Hafez, Mohamed Fahim

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This retrospective study includes 60 patients with pre-invasive breast cancer. Aim of the study: Evaluation of premalignant lesions of the breast (DCIS), different treatment methods and outcome. Patients and methods: 60 patients with DCIS were studied from the period between 2005 to 2012, for 38 patients the primary surgical method was wide local resection (WLE) (63.3%) and the other cases (22 patients, 36.7%) had mastectomy, fourteen cases from those who underwent local excision received radiotherapy, while no adjuvant radiotherapy was given for those who underwent mastectomy. In case of hormonal receptor positive DCIS lesions hormonal treatment (Tamoxifen) was given after local control. Results: No difference in overall survival between mastectomy & breast conserving therapy (wide local excision and adjuvant radiotherapy), however local recurrence rate is higher in case of breast conserving therapy, also no role of Axillary evacuation in case of DCIS. The use of hormonal therapy decreases the incidence of local recurrence by about 98%. Conclusion: The main management of DCIS is local treatment (wide local excision and radiotherapy) with hormonal treatment in case of hormone receptor positive lesions.

Keywords: ductal carcinoma in situ, surgical treatment, radiotherapy, breast conserving therapy, hormonal treatment

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Authors: W. Q. Wang, Y. Yin, D. B. Zou, T. P. Yu, J. M. Ouyang, F. Q. Shao

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High-energy-density state, i.e., matter and radiation at energy densities in excess of 10^11 J/m^3, is related to material, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and geophysics. Laser-driven particle beams are better suited to heat the matter as a trigger due to their unique properties of ultrashort duration and low emittance. Compared to X-ray and electron sources, it is easier to generate uniformly heated large-volume material for the proton and ion beams because of highly localized energy deposition. With the construction of state-of-art high power laser facilities, creating of extremely conditions of high-temperature and high-density in laboratories becomes possible. It has been demonstrated that on a picosecond time scale the solid density material can be isochorically heated to over 20 eV by the ultrafast proton beam generated from spherically shaped targets. For the above-mentioned technique, the proton energy density plays a crucial role in the formation of warm dense matter states. Recently, several methods have devoted to realize the focusing of the accelerated protons, involving externally exerted static-fields or specially designed targets interacting with a single or multi-pile laser pulses. In previous works, two co-propagating or opposite direction laser pulses are employed to strike a submicron plasma-shell. However, ultra-high pulse intensities, accurately temporal synchronization and undesirable transverse instabilities for a long time are still intractable for currently experimental implementations. A mechanism of the focusing of laser-driven proton beams from two-ion-species arched targets is investigated by multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When an intense linearly-polarized laser pulse impinges on the thin arched target, all electrons are completely evacuated, leading to a Coulomb-explosive electric-field mostly originated from the heavier carbon ions. The lighter protons in the moving reference frame by the ionic sound speed will be accelerated and effectively focused because of this radially isotropic field. At a 2.42×10^21 W/cm^2 laser intensity, a ballistic proton bunch with its energy-density as high as 2.15×10^17 J/m^3 is produced, and the highest proton energy and the focusing position agree well with that from the theory.

Keywords: Coulomb explosion, focusing, high-energy-density, ion acceleration

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Authors: Maryam Maleki, Esther Mead, Mohammad Arani, Nitin Agarwal

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This study is conducted to examine how opposing viewpoints related to COVID-19 were diffused on Twitter. To accomplish this, six datasets using two epidemiological models, SIR (Susceptible, Infected, Recovered) and SEIZ (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Skeptics), were analyzed. The six datasets were chosen because they represent opposing viewpoints on the COVID-19 pandemic. Three of the datasets contain anti-subject hashtags, while the other three contain pro-subject hashtags. The time frame for all datasets is three years, starting from January 2020 to December 2022. The findings revealed that while both models were effective in evaluating the propagation trends of these polarizing viewpoints, the SEIZ model was more accurate with a relatively lower error rate (6.7%) compared to the SIR model (17.3%). Additionally, the relative error for both models was lower for anti-subject hashtags compared to pro-subject hashtags. By leveraging epidemiological models, insights into the propagation trends of polarizing viewpoints on Twitter were gained. This study paves the way for the development of methods to prevent the spread of ideas that lack scientific evidence while promoting the dissemination of scientifically backed ideas.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, epidemiological model, seiz model, sir model, covid-19, twitter, social network analysis, social contagion

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Authors: Carmela Monterroso, Marc Romero-Estonllo, Carlos Pascual, Beatriz Rodríguez-Garrido

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The mobilization of heavy metals from polluted soils causes their transfer to natural waters, with consequences for ecosystems and human health. Phytostabilization techniques are applied to reduce this mobility, through the establishment of a vegetal cover and the application of soil amendments. In this work, the capacity of different organic amendments to improve water quality and reduce the mobility of metals in mine-tailings was evaluated. A field pilot test was carried out with leaching columns installed on an old Cu mine ore (NW of Spain) which forms part of the PhytoSUDOE network of phytomanaged contaminated field sites (PhytoSUDOE/ Phy2SUDOE Projects (SOE1/P5/E0189 and SOE4/P5/E1021)). Ten columns (1 meter high by 25 cm in diameter) were packed with untreated mine tailings (control) or those treated with organic amendments. Applied amendments were based on different combinations of municipal wastes, bark chippings, biomass fly ash, and nanoparticles like aluminum oxides or ferrihydrite-type iron oxides. During the packing of the columns, rhizon-samplers were installed at different heights (10, 20, and 50 cm) from the top, and pore water samples were obtained by suction. Additionally, in each column, a bottom leachate sample was collected through a valve installed at the bottom of the column. After packing, the columns were sown with grasses. Water samples were analyzed for: pH and redox potential, using combined electrodes; salinity by conductivity meter: bicarbonate by titration, sulfate, nitrate, and chloride, by ion chromatography (Dionex 2000); phosphate by colorimetry with ammonium molybdate/ascorbic acid; Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb by flame atomic absorption/emission spectrometry (Perkin Elmer). Porewater and leachate from the control columns (packed with unamended mine tailings) were extremely acidic and had a high concentration of Al, Fe, and Cu. In these columns, no plant development was observed. The application of organic amendments improved soil conditions, which allowed the establishment of a dense cover of grasses in the rest of the columns. The combined effect of soil amendment and plant growth had a positive impact on water quality and reduced mobility of aluminum and heavy metals.

Keywords: leaching, organic amendments, phytostabilization, polluted soils

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Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul

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Rubber seed oil is an attractive alternative feedstock for biodiesel production because it is not related to food-chain plant. Rubber seed oil contains large amount of free fatty acids, which causes problem in biodiesel production. Free fatty acids can react with alkaline catalyst in biodiesel production. Acid esterification is used as pre-treatment to convert unwanted compound to desirable biodiesel. Phase separation of oil and methanol occurs at low ratio of methanol to oil and causes low reaction rate and conversion. Acid esterification requires large excess of methanol in order to increase the miscibility of methanol in oil and accordingly, it is a more expensive separation process. In this work, the kinetics of esterification of rubber seed oil with methanol is developed from available experimental results. Reactive distillation process was designed by using Aspen Plus program. The effects of operating parameters such as feed ratio, molar reflux ratio, feed temperature, and feed stage are investigated in order to find the optimum conditions. Results show that the reactive distillation process is proved to be better than conventional process. It consumes less feed methanol and less energy while yielding higher product purity than the conventional process. This work can be used as a guideline for further development to industrial scale of biodiesel production using reactive distillation.

Keywords: biodiesel, reactive distillation, rubber seed oil, transesterification

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Authors: Akiko Kondo, Akio Kondo

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We are facing serious problems related to a long-term depopulation and an aging society with a falling birth rate in Japan. In this situation, we are suffering from a shortfall in human resources as well as a shortage of workforce in rural regions. In addition, we are struggling with a protracted economic slump and excess concentration of population in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. It is an urgent national issue to consider how to live in this country and what kind of structure of society and administration policy is needed. It is necessary to clarify people’s desire for their way of living and social assistance to be provided. The aim of this study is to clarify the characteristics of regional issues and the degree of their seriousness in local municipalities of Japan. We conducted a questionnaire survey about regional agenda in all local municipalities in Japan. We obtained responses concerning the degree of seriousness of regional issues and degree of importance of policies. Based on the data gathered from the survey, it is apparent that many local municipalities are facing an aging population and declining population. We constructed a model to analyze factors for declining population. Using the model, it was clarified that a population’s age structure, job opportunities, and income level affect the decline of population. In addition, we showed the way of the evaluation of the state of a local municipality.

Keywords: evaluation, local municipality, regional analysis, regional issue

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Authors: Fatemeh Noughani, Seyd Mehdi Sadat

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Medical tourism or travel therapy is travelling from one country to another to be under medical treatment, utilizing the health factors of natural sector like mineral water springs and so on. From 1990s medical tourism around the world developed and grew because of different factors like globalization and free trade in the fields of health services, changes in exchange rates in the world economy (which caused the desirability of Asian countries as a medical tourist attraction) in a way that currently there is a close competition in this field among famous countries in medical services to make them find a desirable place in medical tourism market of the world as a complicated and growing industry in a short time. Perhaps tourism is an attractive industry and a good support for the economy of Iran, if we try to merge oil earnings and tourism industry it would be better and more constructive than putting them in front of each other. Moving from oil toward tourism economy especially medical tourism, must be one of the prospects of Iran's government for the oil industry to provide a few percent of the yearly earnings of the country. Among the achievements in medical tourism we can name the prevention of brain drain to other countries and an increase in employment rate for healthcare staff, increase in foreign exchange earnings of the country because of the tourists' staying and followed by increasing the quality of life and cultural transmission as well as empowering the medical human resources.

Keywords: developing countries, health tourism, quality of life, cultural transmission

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Authors: A. G. Back

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In the context of global climate change, extreme weather events are increasingly intense and frequent, challenging the adaptability of urban space. In this sense, urban planning is a relevant instrument for addressing, in a systemic manner, various sectoral policies capable of linking the urban agenda to the reduction of social and environmental risks. The Master Plan of the Municipality of Sao Paulo, 2014, presents innovations capable of promoting the transition to sustainability in the urban space. Among such innovations, the following stand out: i) promotion of density in the axes of mass transport involving mixture of commercial, residential, services, and leisure uses (principles related to the compact city); ii) vulnerabilities reduction based on housing policies, including regular sources of funds for social housing and land reservation in urbanized areas; iii) reserve of green areas in the city to create parks and environmental regulations for new buildings focused on reducing the effects of heat island and improving urban drainage. However, long-term implementation involves distributive conflicts and may change in different political, economic, and social contexts over time. Thus, the central objective of this paper is to identify which factors limit or support the implementation of these policies. That is, to map the challenges and interests of converging and/or divergent urban actors in the sustainable urban development agenda and what resources they mobilize to support or limit these actions in the city of Sao Paulo. Recent proposals to amend the urban zoning law undermine the implementation of the Master Plan guidelines. In this context, three interest groups with different views of the city come into dispute: the real estate market, upper middle class neighborhood associations ('not in my backyard' movements), and social housing rights movements. This paper surveys the different interests and visions of these groups taking into account their convergences, or not, with the principles of sustainable urban development. This approach seeks to fill a gap in the international literature on the causes that underpin or hinder the continued implementation of policies aimed at the transition to urban sustainability in the medium and long term.

Keywords: adaptation, ecosystem-based adaptation, interest groups, urban planning, urban transition to sustainability

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Authors: Junnile Romero, Ilhwan Park, Vannie Joy Resabal, Carlito Tabelin, Richard Alorro, Leaniel Silva, Joshua Zoleta, Takunda Mandu, Kosei Aikawa, Mayumi Ito, Naoki Hiroyoshi

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Rare earth elements (REE) play a vital role in technological advancement due to their unique physical and chemical properties essential for various renewable energy applications. However, this increasing demand represents a challenging task for sustainability that corresponds to various research interests relating to the development of various extraction techniques, particularly on the extractant being used. In this study, TK221 (a modified polymer resin containing diglycolamide, carbamoyl methyl phosphine oxide (CMPO), and diglycolamide (DGA-N)) has been investigated as a conjugate extractant. FTIR and SEM analysis results confirmed the presence of CMPO and DGA-N being coated onto the PS-DVB support of TK221. Moreover, the kinetic rate law and adsorption isotherm batch test was investigated to understand the corresponding adsorption mechanism. The results show that REEs’ (Nd, Y, Ce, and Er) obtained pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm, suggesting that the adsorption mechanism undergoes a single monolayer adsorption site via a chemisorption process. The Qmax values of Nd, Ce, Er, Y, and Fe were 45.249 mg/g, 43.103 mg/g, 35.088 mg/g, 15.552 mg/g, and 12.315 mg/g, respectively. This research further suggests that TK221 polymer resin can be used as an alternative absorbent material for an effective REE extraction.

Keywords: rare earth element, diglycolamide, characterization, extraction resin

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Authors: Nicole Laws, William L. Roberts, Saumitra Saxena, Krishnamurthy Anand, Sreenivasa Gubba, Ziad Dawood, Aiping Chen

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Boiler-fired power plants that operate steam turbines in Saudi Arabia use vanadium-containing fuel oil. In a super- or sub-critical steam cycle, the skin temperature of boiler tube metal can reach close to 600-1000°C depending on the location of the tubes. At high temperatures, corrosion by the sodium-vanadium-oxygen-sulfur eutectic can become a significant risk. The experimental work utilized a state-of-the-art high-temperature, high-pressure burner rig at KAUST, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. To establish corrosion rates of different boiler tubes and materials, SA 213 T12, SA 213 T22, SA 213 T91, and Inconel 600, were used under various corrosive media, including vanadium to sulfur levels and vanadium to sodium ratios. The results obtained from the experiments establish a corrosion rate map for the materials involved and layout an empirical framework to rank the life of boiler tube materials under different operating conditions. Safe windows of operation are proposed for burning liquid fuels under varying vanadium, sodium, and sulfur levels before corrosion rates become a matter of significance under high-temperature conditions

Keywords: boiler tube life, hot corrosion, steam boilers, vanadium in fuel oil

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Authors: Abdelkader T. Ahmed

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Greywater is any wastewater draining from a household including kitchen sinks and bathroom tubs, except toilet wastes. Although this used water may contain grease, food particles, hair, and any number of other impurities, it may still be suitable for reuse after treatment. Greywater reusing serves two purposes including reduction the amount of freshwater needed to supply a household, and reduction the amount of wastewater entering sewer systems. This study aims to investigate and design a simple and cheap unit to treat the greywater in household via using ceramic membranes and reuse it in supplying water for toilet flushing. The study include an experimental program for manufacturing several tablet ceramic membranes from clay and sawdust with three different mixtures. The productivity and efficiency of these ceramic membranes were investigated by chemical and physical tests for greywater before and after filtration through these membranes. Then a treatment unit from this ceramic membrane was designed based on the experimental results of lab tests. Results showed that increase sawdust percent with the mixture increase the flow rate and productivity of treated water but decrease in the same time the water quality. The efficiency of the new ceramic membrane reached 95%. The treatment unit save 0.3 m3/day water for toilet flushing without need to consume them from the fresh water supply network.

Keywords: ceramic membranes, filtration, greywater, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Zakieh Rostamzadeh , Nariman Sepehrvand-Zahra Shirmohamadi

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Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is one of the most common infectious problems following kidney transplantation. In this study, we are aimed to investigate the CMV infection in the setting of renal transplant recipients in Urmia-Iran, using both ELISA and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Methods: Ninety-six renal transplant recipients were selected randomly and enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Blood sampling was done via venipuncture, and all sera were investigated for anti-CMV IgM, and the seropositive cases in association with 14 randomly selected seronegative cases were investigated with PCR assay. Results: Thirty-three patients (34.3%) were seropositive for anti-CMV IgM, 3 patients (3.1%) were in borderline range, and 60 patients (62.5%) were seronegative. By considering the patients with borderline anti-CMV IgM levels as seropositive, 37.5% were seropositive for anti-CMV IgM. Among 36 seropositive cases, the CMV infection was confirmed in 19 (52.7%) of them using PCR. Age (P = 0.40), educational status (P = 0.77), history of pre-transplantation dialysis (0.52), history of blood transfusion (P = 0.52), and immunosuppressive regimen were not statistically different among recipients with positive versus negative CMV PCR study results. Conclusion: The seroprevalence of CMV infection was demonstrated to be high in renal transplant recipients of Urmia-Iran. The rate was higher compared to several previous reports in the literature. ELISA method has an appropriate sensitivity to screen the recipients for CMV infection but considering its relatively low specificity, the seropositive cases are better to be confirmed by further PCR study.

Keywords: cytomegalovirus, renal transplantation, ELISA, IgM, PCR

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Authors: Bashar Al-Sabti, Jehad Harbali

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Background: Pyridine is a reactive base that might be used in preparing sitagliptin. International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies pyridine in group 2B; this classification means that pyridine is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Therefore, pyridine should be monitored at the allowed limit in sitagliptin pharmaceutical ingredients. Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a novel ultra high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) method to estimate the quantity of pyridine impurity in sitagliptin pharmaceutical ingredients. Methods: The separation was performed on C8 shim-pack (150 mm X 4.6 mm, 5 µm) in reversed phase mode using a mobile phase of water-methanol-acetonitrile containing 4 mM ammonium acetate in gradient mode. Pyridine was detected by mass spectrometer using selected ionization monitoring mode at m/z = 80. The flow rate of the method was 0.75 mL/min. Results: The method showed excellent sensitivity with a quantitation limit of 1.5 ppm of pyridine relative to sitagliptin. The linearity of the method was excellent at the range of 1.5-22.5 ppm with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996. Recoveries values were between 93.59-103.55%. Conclusions: The results showed good linearity, precision, accuracy, sensitivity, selectivity, and robustness. The studied method was applied to test three batches of sitagliptin raw materials. Highlights: This method is useful for monitoring pyridine in sitagliptin during its synthesis and testing sitagliptin raw materials before using them in the production of pharmaceutical products.

Keywords: genotoxic impurity, pyridine, sitagliptin, UHPLC -MS

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Authors: Amit Kumar, Archana Gupta, Poonam Tandon, E. D. D’Silva

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Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are the key materials for the fast processing of information and optical data storage applications. In the last decade, materials showing nonlinear optical properties have been the object of increasing attention by both experimental and computational points of view. Chalcones are one of the most important classes of cross conjugated NLO chromophores that are reported to exhibit good SHG efficiency, ultra fast optical nonlinearities and are easily crystallizable. The basic structure of chalcones is based on the π-conjugated system in which two aromatic rings are connected by a three-carbon α, β-unsaturated carbonyl system. Due to the overlap of π orbitals, delocalization of electronic charge distribution leads to a high mobility of the electron density. On a molecular scale, the extent of charge transfer across the NLO chromophore determines the level of SHG output. Hence, the functionalization of both ends of the π-bond system with appropriate electron donor and acceptor groups can enhance the asymmetric electronic distribution in either or both ground and excited states, leading to an increased optical nonlinearity. In this research, the experimental and theoretical study on the structure and vibrations of (2E)-3-[4-(methylsulfanyl) phenyl]-1-(3-bromophenyl) prop-2-en-1-one (3Br4MSP) is presented. The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of the NLO material in the solid phase have been recorded. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations at B3LYP with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set were carried out to study the equilibrium geometry, vibrational wavenumbers, infrared absorbance and Raman scattering activities. The interpretation of vibrational features (normal mode assignments, for instance) has an invaluable aid from DFT calculations that provide a quantum-mechanical description of the electronic energies and forces involved. Perturbation theory allows one to obtain the vibrational normal modes by estimating the derivatives of the Kohn−Sham energy with respect to atomic displacements. The molecular hyperpolarizability β plays a chief role in the NLO properties, and a systematical study on β has been carried out. Furthermore, the first order hyperpolarizability (β) and the related properties such as dipole moment (μ) and polarizability (α) of the title molecule are evaluated by Finite Field (FF) approach. The electronic α and β of the studied molecule are 41.907×10-24 and 79.035×10-24 e.s.u. respectively, indicating that 3Br4MSP can be used as a good nonlinear optical material.

Keywords: DFT, MEP, NLO, vibrational spectra

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Authors: J. N. Bardi, N. Wright, S. Timmons, P. Crawford

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Introduction: In the United Kingdom (UK), the transfer of care from the asylums to the community has meant that some people with mental health problems (MHP) may not have access to suitable or adequate statutory community mental health services (CMHS). However, in addition to statutory CMHS, there are informal CMHS that provide spaces where people with MHP can attend such as faith communities, clubhouses, user-led organisations, day centres including drop-in-centres and community hubs and community mental health cafés (CMHCs). Aim: To qualitatively understand what happens in a community mental health café in relation to the place, people and processes, from the participant's perspective. Methodology: Ethnography Methods: Data collection will be field notes from observations written as thick description and interviews with participants. Data analysis will be thematic and narrative analysis. Relevance: The study seeks to observe what happens in a user-led community mental health café and explore if it provides the services that it claims to offer. Therefore, a literature review was conducted to examine the research evidence related to informal CMHS, focusing on similarities and differences. Results indicated that informal CMHS differ with regards to why, how, who set them up and who funds them, but they are similar because people with MHP who attend them report related psychological, vocational, and social interaction benefits. In addition to the differences listed above, CMHCs differ in their adoption of the commercial café model of social space and some CMHCs claim to address needs of social isolation and loneliness which they assert are not properly addressed by statutory CMHS and some informal CMHS. Therefore, CMHCs explicitly differentiate themselves from statutory CMHS and some informal CMHS such as day centres, hospitals and social services. However, CMHCs were found to be like drop-in-centres and community hubs which are also free for MHP to attend without the need for assessments, membership or appointments. To situate community mental health café within other informal CMHS and provide a rationale for the proposed study a scoping review was conducted to determine the scope of available research evidence on CMHCs. Findings from the scoping review reflected the literature review findings with regards to the benefits of attending informal CMHCs for people with MHP. Of the ten studies included in the scoping review, seven were on CMHCs for people living with dementia and two were on CMHCs for people with a broader range of MHP. The researcher hopes that findings from the proposed PhD study will build on the existing understanding of informal CMHS, extend the research evidence on CMHCs and address any gap in the literature.

Keywords: cafe, community, ethnography, mental health

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Authors: E. K. K. Agyeman, P. Mousseau, A. Sarda, D. Edelin

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During the cooling of hot metals by the circulation of water in canals formed by boring holes in the metal, the rapid phase change of the water due to the high initial temperature of the metal leads to a non homogenous distribution of the phases within the canals. The liquid phase dominates towards the entrance of the canal while the gaseous phase dominates towards the exit. As a result of the different thermal properties of both phases, the metal is not uniformly cooled. This poses a problem during the cooling of moulds, where a uniform temperature distribution is needed in order to ensure the integrity of the part being formed. In this study, the simultaneous use of multiple water jets and an airflow for the uniform and controlled cooling of a steel block is investigated. A circular hole is bored at the centre of the steel block along its length and a perforated steel pipe is inserted along the central axis of the hole. Water jets that impact the internal surface of the steel block are generated from the perforations in the steel pipe when the water within it is put under pressure. These jets are oriented in the opposite direction to that of gravity. An intermittent airflow is imposed in the annular space between the steel pipe and the surface of hole bored in the steel block. The evolution of the temperature with respect to time of the external surface of the block is measured with the help of thermocouples and an infrared camera. Due to the high initial temperature of the steel block (350 °C), the water changes phase when it impacts the internal surface of the block. This leads to high heat fluxes. The strategy used to control the cooling speed of the block is the intermittent impingement of its internal surface by the jets. The intervals of impingement and of non impingement are varied in order to achieve the desired result. An airflow is used during the non impingement periods as an additional regulator of the cooling speed and to improve the temperature homogeneity of the impinged surface. After testing different jet positions, jet speeds and impingement intervals, it’s observed that the external surface of the steel block has a uniform temperature distribution along its length. However, the temperature distribution along its width isn’t uniform with the maximum temperature difference being between the centre of the block and its edge. Changing the positions of the jets has no significant effect on the temperature distribution on the external surface of the steel block. It’s also observed that reducing the jet impingement interval and increasing the non impingement interval slows down the cooling of the block and improves upon the temperature homogeneity of its external surface while increasing the duration of jet impingement speeds up the cooling process.

Keywords: cooling speed, homogenous cooling, jet impingement, phase change

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Authors: Gautam Kumar Saharia, Sagardeep Talukdar, Riki Dutta, Sudipta Nandy

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The physics-informed neural network (PINN) method opens up an approach for numerically solving nonlinear partial differential equations leveraging fast calculating speed and high precession of modern computing systems. We construct the PINN based on a strong universal approximation theorem and apply the initial-boundary value data and residual collocation points to weekly impose initial and boundary conditions to the neural network and choose the optimization algorithms adaptive moment estimation (ADAM) and Limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Golfard-Shanno (L-BFGS) algorithm to optimize learnable parameter of the neural network. Next, we improve the PINN with a weighted loss function to obtain both the bright and dark soliton solutions of the Fokas-Lenells equation (FLE). We find the proposed scheme of adjustable weight coefficients into PINN has a better convergence rate and generalizability than the basic PINN algorithm. We believe that the PINN approach to solve the partial differential equation appearing in nonlinear optics would be useful in studying various optical phenomena.

Keywords: deep learning, optical soliton, physics informed neural network, partial differential equation

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Authors: J. Sharon Mano Pappu, Sathyanarayana N. Gummadi

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Growth of Debaryomyces nepalensis on mixed substrates in batch culture follows diauxic pattern of completely utilizing glucose during the first exponential growth phase, followed by an intermediate lag phase and a second exponential growth phase consuming xylose. The present study deals with the development of cybernetic mathematical model for prediction of xylitol production and yield. Production of xylitol from xylose in batch fermentation is investigated in the presence of glucose as the co-substrate. Different ratios of glucose and xylose concentrations are assessed to study the impact of multi substrate on production of xylitol in batch reactors. The parameters in the model equations were estimated from experimental observations using integral method. The model equations were solved simultaneously by numerical technique using MATLAB. The developed cybernetic model of xylose fermentation in the presence of a co-substrate can provide answers about how the ratio of glucose to xylose influences the yield and rate of production of xylitol. This model is expected to accurately predict the growth of microorganism on mixed substrate, duration of intermediate lag phase, consumption of substrate, production of xylitol. The model developed based on cybernetic modelling framework can be helpful to simulate the dynamic competition between the metabolic pathways.

Keywords: co-substrate, cybernetic model, diauxic growth, xylose, xylitol

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Authors: Daramola Japheth, Tabiti S. Tabiti, Daramola Elizabeth Lara, Hussaini Yusuf Atulukwu

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Bida urban centre is faced with solid waste management problems which are evident in the processes of waste generation, onsite storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and disposal of solid waste. As a result of this the urban centre is defaced with litters of garbage and offensive odours due to indiscriminate dumping of refuse within the neighborhood. The partial removal of the fuel subsidy by the Federal Government in January 2012 leads to the formation of Subsidy Reinvestment Programmes (SURE-P), the Federal Government’s share is 41 per cent of the savings while the States and Local Government shared the remaining 59 percent. The SURE-P Committee in carrying out the mandate entrusted upon it by the President by identifying few critical infrastructure and social Safety nets that will ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians. Waste disposal programme as an aspect of Solid waste management is one of the areas of focus for Niger State SURE-programmes incorporated under Niger State Environmental Protection Agency. The emergence of this programme as related to waste management in Bida has left behind a huge refuse spots along major corridors leading to a serious state of mess. Major roads within the LGA is now turned to dumping site, thereby obstructing traffic movements, while the aesthetic nature of the town became something else with offensive odours all over. This paper however wishes to underscore the use of geographical Information System in identifying solid waste sports towards effective solid waste management in the Bida urban centre. The paper examined the spatial location of dumping points and its impact on the environment. Hand held Global Position System was use to pick the dumping points location; where a total number of 91 dumping points collected were uploaded to ArcGis 10.2 for analysis. Interview method was used to derive information from households living near the dumping site. It was discovered that the people now have to cope with offensive odours, rodents invasion, dog and cats coming around the house as a result of inadequate and in prompt collection of waste around the neighborhood. The researchers hereby recommend that more points needs to be created with prompt collections of waste within the neighborhood by the necessary SURE - P agencies.

Keywords: dumping site, neighborhood, refuse, waste

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Authors: Adel Edwar Waheeb Louka

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Purpose AI-driven solutions are at the forefront of many pathology and medical imaging methods. Using algorithms designed to better the experience of medical professionals within their respective fields, the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis can improve. In particular, X-rays are a fast and relatively inexpensive test that can diagnose diseases. In recent years, X-rays have not been widely used to detect and diagnose COVID-19. The under use of Xrays is mainly due to the low diagnostic accuracy and confounding with pneumonia, another respiratory disease. However, research in this field has expressed a possibility that artificial neural networks can successfully diagnose COVID-19 with high accuracy. Models and Data The dataset used is the COVID-19 Radiography Database. This dataset includes images and masks of chest X-rays under the labels of COVID-19, normal, and pneumonia. The classification model developed uses an autoencoder and a pre-trained convolutional neural network (DenseNet201) to provide transfer learning to the model. The model then uses a deep neural network to finalize the feature extraction and predict the diagnosis for the input image. This model was trained on 4035 images and validated on 807 separate images from the ones used for training. The images used to train the classification model include an important feature: the pictures are cropped beforehand to eliminate distractions when training the model. The image segmentation model uses an improved U-Net architecture. This model is used to extract the lung mask from the chest X-ray image. The model is trained on 8577 images and validated on a validation split of 20%. These models are calculated using the external dataset for validation. The models’ accuracy, precision, recall, f1-score, IOU, and loss are calculated. Results The classification model achieved an accuracy of 97.65% and a loss of 0.1234 when differentiating COVID19-infected, pneumonia-infected, and normal lung X-rays. The segmentation model achieved an accuracy of 97.31% and an IOU of 0.928. Conclusion The models proposed can detect COVID-19, pneumonia, and normal lungs with high accuracy and derive the lung mask from a chest X-ray with similarly high accuracy. The hope is for these models to elevate the experience of medical professionals and provide insight into the future of the methods used.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks, deeplearning, image processing, machine learningSarapin, intraarticular, chronic knee pain, osteoarthritisFNS, trauma, hip, neck femur fracture, minimally invasive surgery

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Authors: Dawei Li, Cheng Liu, Yiteng Liu

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This paper introduces an embedded digital image system for Chinese space environment vertical exploration sounding rocket. In order to record the flight status of the sounding rocket as well as the payloads, an onboard embedded image processing system based on ADV212, a JPEG2000 compression chip, is designed in this paper. Since the sounding rocket is not designed to be recovered, all image data should be transmitted to the ground station before the re-entry while the downlink band used for the image transmission is only about 600 kbps. Under the same condition of compression ratio compared with other algorithm, JPEG2000 standard algorithm can achieve better image quality. So JPEG2000 image compression is applied under this condition with a limited downlink data band. This embedded image system supports lossless to 200:1 real time compression, with two cameras to monitor nose ejection and motor separation, and two cameras to monitor boom deployment. The encoder, ADV7182, receives PAL signal from the camera, then output the ITU-R BT.656 signal to ADV212. ADV7182 switches between four input video channels as the program sequence. Two SRAMs are used for Ping-pong operation and one 512 Mb SDRAM for buffering high frame-rate images. The whole image system has the characteristics of low power dissipation, low cost, small size and high reliability, which is rather suitable for this sounding rocket application.

Keywords: ADV212, image system, JPEG2000, sounding rocket

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Authors: Aremu Abdulmujeeb Babatunde

Abstract:

Background: Low back pain was not only considered to be the most common reason for functional disability worldwide, but also estimated to have affected 90% of the universal population. This study aimed at determining the prevalence, consequences and socio-demographic factors associated with low back pain. Methods; A cross-sectional survey was employed and a total number of 150 self-structured questionnaire was distributed among healthcare workers and this was used to determine the prevalence of low back pain and work related absenteeism. Data was entered using Epi info soft-ware and analyzed using SPSS. Results; An overall response rate of 84% (n = 140) was achieved. The study established that majority (37%) of the respondents were in the age bracket of 20-39 years, 57% female (n=59) and 64% of them were married. the pint prevalence was 84%, 31% of the respondents took leave from work as a result of low back pain. There was high prevalence of sick leave among nursing staff 45.2%, Chi-square test shows that there was a statistically significant association between the respondents occupations and daily time spent during their work (P value 0.011 and 0.042) respectively. Socio-demographic factors like age, marital status and gender were not statistically significant at P<0.05. Conclusions; The medical and socio-professional consequences of low back pain among healthcare workers was as a result of their occupation designations and the daily time spent in carry out this occupations.

Keywords: low back pain, healthcare workers, prevalence, sick leave

Procedia PDF Downloads 294