Search results for: intermediate filaments (IF) assembly

Authors: Aishwarya Pothula

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Euthanasia in India is a politically dormant policy issue in the sense that discussions around it are sporadic in nature (usually with developments in specific cases) and it stays as a dominant issue in the public domain for a fleeting period. In other words, it is a non-political issue that has been unable to successfully get on the policy agenda. This paper studies how the Supreme Court of India (SC) plays a role in euthanasia’s policy making. In 2011, the SC independently put a law in place that legalized passive euthanasia through its judgement in the Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India case. According to this, it is no longer illegal to withhold/withdraw a patient’s medical treatment in certain cases. This judgement, therefore, is the empirical focus of this paper. The paper essentially employs two techniques of discourse analysis to study the SC’s system of argumentation. The two methods, Text Analysis using Gasper’s Analysis Table and Frame Analysis – are complemented by two discourse techniques called metaphor analysis and lexical analysis. The framework within which the analysis is conducted lies in 1) the judicial process of India, i.e. the SC procedures and the Constitutional rules and provisions, and 2) John W. Kingdon’s theory of policy windows and policy entrepreneurs. The results of this paper are three-fold: first, the SC dismiss the petitioner’s request for passive euthanasia on inadequate and weak grounds, thereby setting no precedent for the historic law they put in place. In other words, they leave the decision open for the Parliament to act upon. Hence the judgement, as opposed to arguments by many, is by no means an instance of judicial activism/overreach. Second, they define euthanasia in a way that resonates with existing broader societal themes. They combine this with a remarkable use of authoritative and protective tones/stances to settle at an intermediate position that balances the possible opposition to their role in the process and what they (perhaps) perceive to be an optimal solution. Third, they soften up the policy community (including the public) to the idea of passive euthanasia leading it towards a Parliamentarian legislation. They achieve this by shaping prevalent principles, provisions and worldviews through an astute use of the legal instruments at their disposal. This paper refers to this unconventional role of the SC as ‘judicial entrepreneurship’ which is also the first scholarly contribution towards research on euthanasia as a policy issue in India.

Keywords: argumentation analysis, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, discourse analysis, euthanasia, judicial entrepreneurship, policy-making process, supreme court of India

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Authors: Fatima Muhammad Abdulkadir, D. B. Maikaje, Y. A. Umar

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A study conducted to determine cercariae diversity and prevalence of trematode infection in freshwater snails from six freshwater bodies selected by systematic random sampling in Kaduna State was carried from January 2013 to December 2013. Freshwater snails and cercariae harvested from the study sites were morphologically identified. A total of 23,823 freshwater snails were collected from the six freshwater bodies: Bagoma dam, Gimbawa dam, Kangimi dam, Kubacha dam, Manchok water intake and Saminaka water intake. The observed freshwater snail species were: Melanoides tuberculata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Bulinus globosus, Lymnaea natalensis, Physa sp., Cleopatra bulimoides, Bellamya unicolor and Lanistes varicus. The freshwater snails were exposed to artificial bright light from a 100 Watt electric bulb in the laboratory to induce cercarial shedding. Of the total freshwater snails collected, 10.55% released one or more types of cercariae. Seven morphological types of cercariae were shed by six freshwater snail species namely: Brevifurcate-apharyngeate distome, Amphistome, Gymnocephalus, Longifurcate-pharyngeate monostome, Longifurcate-pharyngeate distome, Echinostome and Xiphidio cercariae. Infection was monotype in most of the freshwater snails collected; however, Physa species presented a mixed infection with Gymnocephalus and Longifurcate-pharyngeate distome cercariae. B. globosus and B. pfeifferi were the most preferred intermediate hosts with the prevalence of 13.48% and 13.46%, respectively. The diversity and prevalence of cercariae varied among the six freshwater bodies with Manchok water intake having the highest infestation (14.3%) and the least recorded in Kangimi dam (3.9%). There was a correlation trend between the number of freshwater snails and trematode infection with Manchok exhibiting the highest and Bagoma none. The highest cercarial diversity was observed in B. pfeifferi and B. globosus with four morphotypes each, and the lowest was in M. tuberculata with one morphotype. The general distribution of freshwater snails and the trematode cercariae they shed suggests the risk of human and animals to trematodiasis in Manchok community. Public health education to raise awareness on individual and communal action that may control snail breeding sites, prevent transmission and provide access to treatment should be intensified.

Keywords: Cercariae, diversity, freshwater snails, prevalence, trematodiasis

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Authors: Arianna Nativio, Zoran Kapelan, Jan Peter van der Hoek

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Bio-composite materials are becoming increasingly popular in various applications, such as the automotive industry. Usually, bio-composite materials are made from natural resources recovered from plants, now, a new type of bio-composite material has begun to be produced in the Netherlands. This material is made from resources recovered from drinking water treatments (calcite), wastewater treatment (cellulose), and material from surface water management (aquatic plants). Surface water, raw drinking water, and wastewater can be contaminated with pathogens and chemical compounds. Therefore, it would be valuable to develop a framework to assess, monitor, and control the potential risks. Indeed, the goal is to define the major risks in terms of human health, quality of materials, and environment associated with the production and application of these new materials. This study describes the general risk assessment framework, starting with a qualitative risk assessment. The qualitative risk analysis was carried out by using the HAZOP methodology for the hazard identification phase. The HAZOP methodology is logical and structured and able to identify the hazards in the first stage of the design when hazards and associated risks are not well known. The identified hazards were analyzed to define the potential associated risks, and then these were evaluated by using the qualitative Event Tree Analysis. ETA is a logical methodology used to define the consequences for a specific hazardous incidents, evaluating the failure modes of safety barriers and dangerous intermediate events that lead to the final scenario (risk). This paper shows the effectiveness of combining of HAZOP and qualitative ETA methodologies for hazard identification and risk mapping. Then, key risks were identified, and a quantitative framework was developed based on the type of risks identified, such as QMRA and QCRA. These two models were applied to assess human health risks due to the presence of pathogens and chemical compounds such as heavy metals into the bio-composite materials. Thus, due to these contaminations, the bio-composite product, during its application, might release toxic substances into the environment leading to a negative environmental impact. Therefore, leaching tests are going to be planned to simulate the application of these materials into the environment and evaluate the potential leaching of inorganic substances, assessing environmental risk.

Keywords: bio-composite, risk assessment, water reuse, resource recovery

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Authors: Nyashadzashe Chiraga, Anthony Walker, Glen Bright

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The manufacturing industry is currently experiencing a paradigm shift into the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which customers are increasingly at the epicentre of production. The high degree of production customization and personalization requires a flexible manufacturing system that will rapidly respond to the dynamic and volatile changes driven by the market. They are a gap in technology that allows for the optimal flow of information and optimal manufacturing operations on the shop floor regardless of the rapid changes in the fixture and part demands. Information is the reduction of uncertainty; it gives meaning and context on the state of each cell. The amount of information needed to describe cellular manufacturing systems is investigated by two measures: the structural entropy and the operational entropy. Structural entropy is the expected amount of information needed to describe scheduled states of a manufacturing system. While operational entropy is the amount of information that describes the scheduled states of a manufacturing system, which occur during the actual manufacturing operation. Using Anylogic simulator a typical manufacturing job shop was set-up with a cellular manufacturing configuration. The cellular make-up of the configuration included; a Material handling cell, 3D Printer cell, Assembly cell, manufacturing cell and Quality control cell. The factory shop provides manufactured parts to a number of clients, and there are substantial variations in the part configurations, new part designs are continually being introduced to the system. Based on the normal expected production schedule, the schedule adherence was calculated from the structural entropy and operation entropy of varying the amounts of information communicated in simulated runs. The structural entropy denotes a system that is in control; the necessary real-time information is readily available to the decision maker at any point in time. For contractive analysis, different out of control scenarios were run, in which changes in the manufacturing environment were not effectively communicated resulting in deviations in the original predetermined schedule. The operational entropy was calculated from the actual operations. From the results obtained in the empirical study, it was seen that increasing, the efficiency of a factory communication system increases the degree of adherence of a job to the expected schedule. The performance of downstream production flow fed from the parallel upstream flow of information on the factory state was increased.

Keywords: information entropy, communication in manufacturing, mass customisation, scheduling

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Authors: Anna Rudzińska, Katarzyna Szklener, Pola Juchaniuk, Anna Rodzajweska, Katarzyna Machulska-Ciuraj, Monika Rychlik- Grabowska, Michał łOziński, Agnieszka Kolak-Bruks, SłAwomir Mańdziuk

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Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) belongs to the modern forms of anti-cancer treatment. Due to the constant development and continuous research in the field of ICI, many aspects of the treatment are yet to be discovered. One of the less researched aspects of ICI treatment is the influence of the adverse effects on the treatment success rate. It is suspected that adverse events in the course of the ICI treatment indicate a better response rate and correlate with longer progression-free- survival. Methodology: The research was conducted with the usage of the documentation of the Department of Clinical Oncology and Chemotherapy. Data of the patients with a lung cancer diagnosis who were treated between 2019-2022 and received ICI treatment were analyzed. Results: Out of over 133 patients whose data was analyzed, the vast majority were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. The majority of the patients did not experience adverse effects. Most adverse effects reported were classified as grade 1 or grade 2 according to CTCAE classification. Most adverse effects involved skin, thyroid and liver toxicity. Statistical significance was found for the adverse effect incidence and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p=0,0263) and for the time of toxicity onset and OS and PFS (p<0,001). The number of toxicity sites was statistically significant for prolonged PFS (p=0.0315). The highest OS was noted in the group presenting grade 1 and grade 2 adverse effects. Conclusions: Obtained results confirm the existence of the prolonged OS and PFS in the adverse-effects-charged patients, mostly in the group presenting mild to intermediate (Grade 1 and Grade 2) adverse effects and late toxicity onset. Simultaneously our results suggest a correlation between treatment response rate and the toxicity grade of the adverse effects and the time of the toxicity onset. Similar results were obtained in several similar research conducted - with the proven tendency of better survival in mild and moderate toxicity; meanwhile, other studies in the area suggested an advantage in patients with any toxicity regardless of the grade. The contradictory results strongly suggest the need for further research on this topic, with a focus on additional factors influencing the course of the treatment.

Keywords: adverse effects, immunotherapy, lung cancer, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors

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Authors: Suzanne Giasson, Alberto Guerron

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Stimuli-responsive polymer coatings can be used as functional elements in nanotechnologies, such as valves in microfluidic devices, as membranes in biomedical engineering, as substrates for the culture of biological tissues or in developing nanomaterials for targeted therapies in different diseases. However, such coatings usually suffer from major shortcomings, such as a lack of selectivity and poor environmental stability. The study will present multi-responsive hierarchical and hybrid polymer-based coatings aiming to overcome some of these limitations. Hierarchical polymer coatings, consisting of two-dimensional arrays of thermo-responsive cationic PNIPAM-based microgels and surface-functionalized with non-responsive or pH-responsive polymers, were covalently grafted to substrates to tune the surface chemistry and the elasticity of the surface independently using different stimuli. The characteristic dimensions (i.e., layer thickness) and surface properties (i.e., adhesion, friction) of the microgel coatings were assessed using the Surface Forces Apparatus. The ability to independently control the swelling and surface properties using temperature and pH as triggers were investigated for microgels in aqueous suspension and microgels immobilized on substrates. Polymer chain grafting did not impede the ability of cationic PNIPAM microgels to undergo a volume phase transition above the VPTT, either in suspension or immobilized on a substrate. Due to the presence of amino groups throughout the entirety of the microgel polymer network, the swelling behavior was also pH dependent. However, the thermo-responsive swelling was more significant than the pH-triggered one. The microgels functionalized with PEG exhibited the most promising behavior. Indeed, the thermo-triggered swelling of microgel-co-PEG did not give rise to changes in the microgel surface properties (i.e., surface potential and adhesion) within a wide range of pH values. It was possible for the immobilized microgel-co-PEG to undergo a volume transition (swelling/shrinking) with no change in adhesion, suggesting that the surface of the thermal-responsive microgels remains rather hydrophilic above the VPTT. This work confirms the possibility of tuning the swelling behavior of microgels without changing the adhesive properties. Responsive surfaces whose swelling properties can be reversibly and externally altered over space and time regardless of the surface chemistry are very innovative and will enable revolutionary advances in technologies, particularly in biomedical surface engineering and microfluidics, where advanced assembly of functional components is increasingly required.

Keywords: responsive materials, polymers, surfaces, cell culture

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Authors: Hanaa M. Abu El Einin, Ahmed T. Sharaf El- Din

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Biomphalaria snails play an integral role in the transmission of Schistosoma mansoni, the causative agent for human schistosomiasis. Two species of Biomphalaria were reported from Egypt, Biomphalaria alexandrina and Biomphalaria glabrata, and later on a hybrid of B. alexandrina and B. glabrata was reported in streams at Nile Delta. All were known to be excellent hosts of S. mansoni. Host-parasite relationship can be viewed in terms of snail susceptibility and parasite infectivity. The objective of this study will highlight the progress that has been made in using molecular approaches to describe the correct identification of snail species that participating in transmission of schistosomiasis, rapid diagnose of infection in addition to susceptibility and resistance type. Snails were identified using of molecular methods involving Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Polymerase Chain Reaction, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) and Species - specific- PCR. Molecular approaches to diagnose parasite in snails from Egypt: Nested PCR assay and small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene. Also RAPD PCR for study susceptible and resistance phenotype. The results showed that RAPD- PCR, PCR-RFLP and species-specific-PCR techniques were confirmed that: no evidence for the presence of B. glabrata in Egypt, All Biomphalaria snails collected identified as B. alexandrina snail i-e B alexandrinia is a common and no evidence for hybridization with B. glabrata. The adopted specific nested PCR assay revealed much higher sensitivity which enables the detection of S. mansoni infected snails down to 3 days post infection. Nested PCR method for detection of infected snails using S. mansoni fructose -1,6- bisphosphate aldolase (SMALDO) primer, these primers are specific only for S. mansoni and not cross reactive with other schistosomes or molluscan aldolases Nested PCR for such gene is sensitive enough to detect one cercariae. Genetic variations between B. alexandrina strains that are susceptible and resistant to Schistosoma infec¬tion using a RAPD-PCR showed that 39.8% of the examined snails collected from the field were resistant, while 60.2% of these snails showed high infection rates. In conclusion the genetics of the intermediate host plays a more important role in the epidemiological control of schistosomiasis.

Keywords: biomphalaria, molecular differentiation, parasite detection, schistosomiasis

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Authors: Nilda Tri Putri, Muhammad Taufik

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Tools and agricultural machinery (Alsintan) is a tool used in agribusiness activities. Alsintan used to change the traditional farming systems generally use manual equipment into modern agriculture with mechanization. CV Nugraha Chakti Consultant make an action plan for industrial development Alsintan West Sumatra in 2012 to develop medium industries of Alsintan become a major industry of Alsintan, one of efforts made is increase the production capacity of the industry Alsintan. Production capacity for superior products as hydrotiller and threshers set each for 2.000 units per year. CV Citra Dragon as one of the medium industry alsintan in West Sumatra has a plan to relocate the existing plant to meet growing consumer demand each year. Increased production capacity and plant relocation plan has led to a change in the layout; therefore need to design the layout of the plant facility CV Citra Dragon. First step the to design of plant layout is design the layout of the production floor. The design of the production floor layout is done by applying group technology layout. The initial step is to do a machine grouping and part family using the Average Linkage Clustering (ALC) and Rank Order Clustering (ROC). Furthermore done independent work station design and layout design using the Modified Spanning Tree (MST). Alternative selection layout is done to select the best production floor layout between ALC and ROC cell grouping. Furthermore, to design the layout of warehouses, offices and other production support facilities. Activity Relationship Chart methods used to organize the placement of factory facilities has been designed. After structuring plan facilities, calculated cost manufacturing facility plant establishment. Type of layout is used on the production floor layout technology group. The production floor is composed of four cell machinery, assembly area and painting area. The total distance of the displacement of material in a single production amounted to 1120.16 m which means need 18,7minutes of transportation time for one time production. Alsintan Factory has designed a circular flow pattern with 11 facilities. The facilities were designed consisting of 10 rooms and 1 parking space. The measure of factory building is 84 m x 52 m.

Keywords: Average Linkage Clustering (ALC), Rank Order Clustering (ROC), Modified Spanning Tree (MST), Activity Relationship Chart (ARC)

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Authors: Latifat Afolake Ogunfolabo, Hakeem Babafemi Ogunfolabo

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The gastrointestinal tract is densely populated with micro-organism which closely and intensively interacts with the host and ingested feed. Food borne infections are some of the major international challenges that lead to high mortality and also, antimicrobial resistance, which has been classified as a serious threat by World Health Organization. Samples of slaughtered cattle and goats intestines were collected and standard culture methods were used for bacteria isolation and identification. Minimum inhibitory concentration of commonly used antibiotic using modification of the disk diffusion method was carried out on isolates. The samples cultured were all positive to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (95% and 90%), Escherichia coli (85%), Salmonella typhi (70% and 60%), Staphylococcus aureus (75%and 100%), Micrococcus luteus (55% and35%), Bacillus macerans (60% and 5%), Bacillus cereus (25% and 20%), Clostridium perfringens (20% and 5%), Micrococcus varians (20% and 5%), Bacillus subtilis (25% and 5%), Streptococcus faecalis (40% and 25%) and Streptococcus faecium (15% and 10%) in goat and cattle respectively. Also, Proteus mirabilis (40%), Micrococcus luteus (35%), Proteus vulgaris (30%), Klebsiella aerogenes(15%) were isolated from cattle. The total coliform (13.55 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 1.77) and (20.30 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 1.27) counts were significantly higher than the total bacteria count (8.3 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 1.41) and (16.60 x10⁵cfu/gm ±0.49) for goat and cattle respectively. Selected Bacteria count of isolates showed that Staphylococcus aureus had the highest significant value (6.9 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.57) and (16.80 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.57) Escherichia coli (4.60 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.42) and (7.05 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.64) while the lowest significant value was obtained in Salmonella/Shigella (1.7 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.00) and (1.5 x10⁵cfu/gm ± 0.00) for goat and cattle respectively. Susceptibility of bacteria isolated from slaughtered goat and cattle intestine to commonly used antibiotics showed that the highest statistical significant value for zone of inhibition for goat was obtained for Ciprofloxacin (30.00 ± 2.25, 23.75 ± 2.49, 17.17 ± 1.40) followed by Augmentin (28.33 ± 1.22, 21. 83 ± 2.44, 16.67 ± 1.49), Erythromycin (27.75 ±1.48, 20.25 ± 1.29, 16.67 ± 1.26) while the lowest values were obtained for Ofloxacin (27.17 ± 1.89, 21.42 ± 2.19, 16.83 ± 1.26) respectively and values obtained for cattle are Ciprofloxacin (30.64 ± 1.6, 25.79 ± 1.76, 8.07 ± 11.49) followed by Augmentin (28.29 ± 1.33, 22.64 ± 1.82, 17.43 ± 1.55) Ofloxacin (26.57 ± 2.02, 20.79 ± 2.75, 16.21 ± 1.19) while the lowest values were obtained for Erythromycin (26.64 ± 1.49, 20.29 ± 1.49, 16.29 ± 1.33) at different dilution factor (10⁻¹, 10⁻², 10⁻³) respectively. The isolates from goat and cattle were all susceptible to Augmentin at the three different dilution factors. Some goat isolates are intermediate to Ciprofloxacin and Erythromycin at 10⁻² and 10⁻³, while resistance to Ciprofloxacin at 10⁻³ dilution factor. Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin at the dilution factors of 10⁻³ and 10⁻¹ for some cattle isolate and resistance were observed for Ofloxacin and Erythromycin at dilution of 10⁻³. These results indicate the susceptibilities and the antimicrobial resistance to commonly used antibiotic.

Keywords: antibiotic susceptibility, bacteria, cattle, goat, identification

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Authors: Gurbinder Kaur

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It is notable that due to advanced technology and trends adopted by service providers to kill competition, the concept of ‘consumer interest’ is no longer limited to a domestic extent, but it is extended to extraterritorial limits. Therefore, the focus of this research work is to examine the regulation of consumer protection at the international level and its correspondence with the domestic laws of various countries. Consumer interest is tendered by various trade practices like pricing policies, financing practices, and quality of goods and services. Nowadays, the term ‘consumer’ is not limited merely to the person who consumes the goods and avails services as an end user. In fact, every individual is a consumer, regardless of occupation, age, gender, community or religious affiliation. The term ‘consumer’ would therefore include not only the consumer of the final product but also the consumer of raw material and intermediate products. Despite apparent variation among domestic laws of various countries, the veneer is almost the same, with the emphasis on purchasing, consuming or using goods or services. Thus, the definition of ‘consumer’ is widened to those of old laws while keeping in consideration the present scenario of the victimization of consumers and their exploitation or unfair advantages taken by the trading world. Moreover, Lack of awareness, illiteracy and consumer buying behaviour, ignorant behaviour or reluctance to take the initiative to check the problem or tolerance against trade tricks and frauds are some of the reasons behind the victimization of consumers. All governments must protect consumers from fraud, unfair trade tricks and practices from within and outside of their respective countries. This paper not only evaluates the modern concept of the consumer but also analyzes the consumer behaviour, rights and liabilities of consumers along with their protection through various corresponding laws of the governments of other nations. These laws empower competition regulatory authorities to enter into a memorandum or arrangement with the prior approval of their domestic Governments, with any relevant agency of any foreign country. For the said purpose, an overview has been made about comparative and critical analyses of the working of International Organizations in the form of treaties, covenants, conventions and reports submitted by international economists, experts and jurists internationally, which are crucial parts of today’s business jurisprudence (specifically relating to the consumer interest) of developed and developing countries. After analyzing them, the researcher has made an earnest attempt to encapsulate the chronological background of consumer jurisprudence along with current situations in various countries.

Keywords: consumer interest, consumer education, trade, consumer protection

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Authors: Kelum N. Manamendra-Arachchi, Kalangi Rodrigo

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Bones, teeth, and shells have been acknowledged over the last two centuries as evidence of chronology, Palaeo-environment, and human activity. Faunal traces are valid evidence of past situations because they have properties that have not changed over long periods of time. Sri Lanka has been known as an Island, which has a diverse variation of prehistoric occupation among ecological zones. Defining the Paleoecology of the past societies has been an archaeological thought developed in the 1960s. It is mainly concerned with the reconstruction from available geological and biological evidence of past biota, populations, communities, landscapes, environments, and ecosystems. Sri Lanka has dealt with this subject and considerable research has been already undertaken. The fossil and material record of Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone tropical forests continues from c. 38,000–34,000 ybp. This early and persistent human fossil, technical, and cultural florescence, as well as a collection of well-preserved tropical-forest rock shelters with associated ' on-site ' Palaeoenvironmental records, makes Sri Lanka a central and unusual case study to determine the extent and strength of early human tropical forest encounters. Excavations carried out in prehistoric caves in the low country wet zone has shown that in the last 50,000 years, the temperature in the lowland rainforests has not exceeded 5 degrees. Based on Semnopithecus Priam (Gray Langur) remains unearned from wet zone prehistoric caves, it has been argued that periods of momentous climate changes during the LGM and Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene boundary, with a recognizable preference for semi-open ‘Intermediate’ rainforest or edges. Continuous Genus Acavus and Oligospira occupation along with uninterrupted horizontal pervasive of Canarium sp. (‘kekuna’ nut) have proven that temperatures in the lowland rain forests have not changed by at least 5 oC over the last 50,000 years. Site Catchment or Territorial analysis cannot be no longer defensible, due to time-distance based factors as well as optimal foraging theory failed as a consequences of prehistoric people were aware of the decrease in cost-benefit ratio and located sites, and generally played out a settlement strategy that minimized the ratio of energy expanded to energy produced.

Keywords: palaeo-environment, prehistory, palaeo-ecology, zooarchaeology

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Authors: Djamel Boussaa

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Cultural heritage and tourism have become during the last two decades dynamic areas of development in the world. The idea of heritage is crucial to the critical decision-making process as to how irreplaceable resources are to be utilized by people of the present or conserved for future generations in a fast changing world. In view of the importance of ‘heritage’ to the development of a tourist destination the emphasis on developing appropriate adaptive reuse strategies cannot be overemphasized. In October 1999, the 12th general assembly of the ICOMOS in Mexico stated, that in the context of sustainable development, two interrelated issues need urgent attention, cultural tourism and historic towns and cities. These two issues underscore the fact that historic resources are non-renewable, belonging to all of humanity. Without adequate adaptive reuse actions to ensure a sustainable future for these historic resources, may lead to their complete vanishing. The growth of tourism and its role in dispersing cultural heritage to everyone is developing rapidly. According to the World Tourism Organization, natural and cultural heritage resources are and will remain motivating factors for travel in the foreseeable future. According to the experts, people choose travel destinations where they can learn about traditional and distinct cultures in their historic context. The Qatar rich urban heritage is now being recognized as a valuable resource for future development. This paper discusses the role of cultural heritage and tourism in regenerating Souk Waqif, and consequently the city of Doha. Therefore, in order to use cultural heritage wisely, it will be necessary to position heritage as an essential element of sustainable development, giving particular attention to cultural heritage and tourism. The research methodology is based on an empirical survey of the situation, based on several visits, meetings and interviews with the local heritage players. The rehabilitation project initiated since 2004 will be examined and assessed. Therefore, there is potential to assess the situation and propose directions for a sustainable future to this historic landmark. Conservation for the sake of conservation appears to be an outdated concept. Many irreplaceable natural and cultural sites are being compromised because local authorities are not giving economic consideration to the value of rehabilitating such sites. The question to be raised here is 'How can cultural heritage be used wisely for tourism without compromising its social sustainability within the emerging global world?'

Keywords: cultural heritage, tourism, regeneration, economy, social sustainability

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Authors: Ayomide A. Sijuade, Nafiza Anjum

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The rising demand to meet the need for clean and sustainable energy solutions has led the market to create effective energy storage technologies. In this study, we look at the possibility of using a heterostructure made of polyaniline (PANI), titanium carbide (Ti₃C₂), and vanadium carbide (V₂C) for energy storage devices. V₂C is a two-dimensional transition metal carbide with remarkable mechanical and electrical conductivity. Ti₃C2 has solid thermal conductivity and mechanical strength. PANI, on the other hand, is a conducting polymer with customizable electrical characteristics and environmental stability. Layer-by-layer assembly creates the heterostructure of V₂C, Ti₃C₂, and PANI, allowing for precise film thickness and interface quality control. Structural and morphological characterization is carried out using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. For energy storage applications, the heterostructure’s electrochemical performance is assessed. Electrochemical experiments, such as cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests, examine the heterostructure’s charge storage capacity, cycle stability, and rate performance. Comparing the heterostructure to the individual components reveals better energy storage capabilities. V₂C, Ti₃C₂, and PANI synergize to increase specific capacitance, boost charge storage, and prolong cycling stability. The heterostructure’s unique arrangement of 2D materials and conducting polymers promotes effective ion diffusion and charge transfer processes, improving the effectiveness of energy storage. The heterostructure also exhibits remarkable electrochemical stability, which minimizes capacity loss after repeated cycling. The longevity and long-term dependability of energy storage systems depend on this quality. By examining the potential of V₂C, Ti₃C₂, and PANI heterostructures, the results of this study expand energy storage technology. These materials’ specialized integration and design show potential for use in hybrid energy storage systems, lithium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors. Overall, the development of high-performance energy storage devices utilizing V₂C, Ti₃C₂, and PANI heterostructures is clarified by this research, opening the door to the realization of effective, long-lasting, and eco-friendly energy storage solutions to satisfy the demands of the modern world.

Keywords: MXenes, energy storage materials, conductive polymers, composites

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Authors: Francesca Perri

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This paper describes a proposal for a teachers’ training course, focused on the introduction of corpora in the EFL didactics (English as a foreign language) of some Italian secondary schools. The training course is conceived as a part of a TEDD participant’s five months internship. TEDD (Technologies for Education: diversity and devices) is an advanced course held by the Department of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Trento, Italy. Its main aim is to train a selected, heterogeneous group of graduates to engage with the complex interdependence between education and technology in modern society. The educational approach draws on a plural coexistence of various theories as well as socio-constructivism, constructionism, project-based learning and connectivism. TEDD educational model stands as the main reference source to the design of a formative course for EFL teachers, drawing on the digitalization of didactics and creation of learning interactive materials for L2 intermediate students. The training course lasts ten hours, organized into five sessions. In the first part (first and second session) a series of guided and semi-guided activities drive participants to familiarize with corpora through the use of a digital tools kit. Then, during the second part, participants are specifically involved in the realization of a ML (Mistakes Laboratory) where they create, develop and share digital activities according to their teaching goals with the use of corpora, supported by the digital facilitator. The training course takes place into an ICT laboratory where the teachers work either individually or in pairs, with a computer connected to a wi-fi connection, while the digital facilitator shares inputs, materials and digital assistance simultaneously on a whiteboard and on a digital platform where participants interact and work together both synchronically and diachronically. The adoption of good ICT practices is a fundamental step to promote the introduction and use of Corpus Linguistics in EFL teaching and learning processes, in fact dealing with corpora not only promotes L2 learners’ critical thinking and orienteering versus wild browsing when they are looking for ready-made translations or language usage samples, but it also entails becoming confident with digital tools and activities. The paper will explain reasons, limits and resources of the pedagogical approach adopted to engage EFL teachers with the use of corpora in their didactics through the promotion of digital practices.

Keywords: digital didactics, education, language learning, teacher training

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Authors: Adetona Abbassa, Aliyu Shakirat B.

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The study area is part of Bosso local Government, enclosed within Longitude 6.25’ to 6.31’ and Latitude 9.35’ to 9.45’, an area of 16x8 km², within the basement region of central Nigeria. The region is a host to Nigerian Airforce base 12 (NAF 12quick response) and its staff quarters, the headquarters of Bosso local government, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s two offices, four government secondary schools, six primary schools and Minna international airport. The area suffers an acute shortage of water from November when rains stop to June when rains commence within North Central Nigeria. A way of addressing this problem is a reconnaissance method to delineate possible fractures and fault lines that exists within the region by sampling the Aeromagnetic data and using an appropriate analytical algorithm to delineate these fractures. This is followed by an appropriate ground truthing method that will confirm if the fracture is connected to underground water movement. The first vertical derivative for structural analysis, reveals a set of lineaments labeled AA’, BB’, CC’, DD’, EE’ and FF’ all trending in the Northeast – Southwest directions. AA’ is just below latitude 9.45’ above Maikunkele village, cutting off the upper part of the field, it runs through Kangwo, Nini, Lawo and other communities. BB’ is at Latitude 9.43’ it truncated at about 2Km before Maikunkele and Kuyi. CC’ is around 9.40’ sitting below Maikunkele runs down through Nanaum. DD’ is from Latitude 9.38’; interestingly no community within this region where the fault passes through. A result from the three sites where Vertical Electrical Sounding was carried out reveals three layers comprised of topsoil, intermediate Clay formation and weathered/fractured or fresh basement. The depth to basement map was also produced, depth to the basement from the ground surface with VES A₂, B5, D₂ and E₁ to be relatively deeper with depth values range between 25 to 35 m while the shallower region of the area has a depth range value between 10 to 20 m. Hence, VES A₂, A₅, B₄, B₅, C₂, C₄, D₄, D₅, E₁, E₃, and F₄ are high conductivity zone that are prolific for groundwater potential. The depth range of the aquifer potential zones is between 22.7 m to 50.4 m. The result from site C is quite unique though the 3 layers were detected in the majority of the VES points, the maximum depth to the basement in 90% of the VES points is below 8 km, only three VES points shows considerably viability, which are C₆, E₂ and F₂ with depths of 35.2 m and 38 m respectively but lack of connectivity will be a big challenge of chargeability.

Keywords: lithology, aeromagnetic, aquifer, geoelectric, iso-resistivity, basement, vertical electrical sounding(VES)

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Authors: Marilia Correa Parecis De Oliveira

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This research looks at the novel Miguel e os demônios (2009), by the contemporary Brazilian author Lourenço Mutarelli. In it, the presence of film language resources is remarkable, creating thus a kind of scripted writing. We intend to analyze the presence of film language in work under study, in which there is a mixture of the characteristics of the novel and screenplay genres, trying to explore which aesthetic and meaning effects of the ownership of a visual language for the creation of a literary text create in the novel. The objective of this research is to identify and analyze the formal and thematic aspects that characterize the hybridity of literature and film in the novel by Lourenço Mutarelli. The method employed comprises reading and production cataloging of theoretical and critical texts, literary and film theory, historical review about the author, and also the realization of an analytical and interpretative reading of novel. In Miguel e os demônios there is a range of formal and thematic elements of popular narrative genres such as the detective story and action film, with a predominance of verb forms in the present and NPs - features that tend to make present the narrated scenes, as in the cinema. The novel, in this sense, is located in an intermediate position between the literary text and the pre-film text, as though filled with proper elements of the language of film, you can not fit it categorically in the genre script, since it does not reduce the script because aspires to be read as a novel. Therefore, the difficulty of fitting the work in a single gender also refused to be extra-textual factors - such as your publication as novel - but, rather, by the binary classifications serve solely to imprison the work on a label, which impoverish not only reading the text, as also the possibility of recognizing literature as a constant dialogue space and interaction with other media. We can say, therefore, that frame the work Miguel e os demônios in one of the two genres (novel or screenplay) proves not enough, since the text is revealed a hybrid narrative, consisting in a kind of scripted writing. In this sense, it is like a text that is born in a society saturated by audiovisual in their daily lives in order to be consumed by readers who, in ascending scale, exchange books by visual narratives. However, the novel uses film's resources without giving up its constitution as literature; on the contrary, it enriches the visual and linguistically, dialoguing with the complex contemporary horizon marked by the cultural industry.

Keywords: Brazilian literature, cinema, Lourenço Mutarelli, screenplay

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Authors: Muhammad Arshad, M. Sufian, Muhammad D. Gogi, A. Aslam

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The transgenic cotton expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) provides an effective control of Helicoverpa armigera, a most damaging pest of the cotton crop. However, Bt cotton may not be the optimal solution owing to the selection pressure of Cry toxins. As Bt cotton express the insecticidal proteins throughout the growing seasons, there are the chances of resistance development in the target pests. A regular monitoring and surveillance of target pest’s baseline susceptibility to Bt Cry toxins is crucial for early detection of any resistance development. The present study was conducted to monitor the changes in the baseline susceptibility of the field population of H. armigera to Bt Cry1Ac toxin. The field-collected larval populations were maintained in the laboratory on artificial diet and F1 generation larvae were used for diet incorporated diagnostic studies. The LC₅₀ and MIC₅₀ were calculated to measure the level of resistance of population as a ratio over susceptible population. The monitoring results indicated a significant difference in the susceptibility (LC₅₀) of H. armigera for first, second, third and fourth instar larval populations sampled from different cotton growing areas over the study period 2016-17. The variations in susceptibility among the tested insects depended on the age of the insect and susceptibility decreased with the age of larvae. The overall results show that the average resistant ratio (RR) of all field-collected populations (FSD, SWL, MLT, BWP and DGK) exposed to Bt toxin Cry1Ac ranged from 3.381-fold to 7.381-fold for 1st instar, 2.370-fold to 3.739-fold for 2nd instar, 1.115-fold to 1.762-fold for 3rd instar and 1.141-fold to 2.504-fold for 4th instar, depicting maximum RR from MLT population, whereas minimum RR for FSD and SWL population. The results regarding moult inhibitory concentration of H. armigera larvae (1-4th instars) exposed to different concentrations of Bt Cry1Ac toxin indicated that among all field populations, overall Multan (MLT) and Bahawalpur (BWP) populations showed higher MIC₅₀ values as compared to Faisalabad (FSD) and Sahiwal (SWL), whereas DG Khan (DGK) population showed an intermediate moult inhibitory concentrations. This information is important for the development of more effective resistance monitoring programs. The development of Bt Cry toxins baseline susceptibility data before the widespread commercial release of transgenic Bt cotton cultivars in Pakistan is important for the development of more effective resistance monitoring programs to identify the resistant H. armigera populations.

Keywords: Bt cotton, baseline, Cry1Ac toxins, H. armigera

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Authors: Thomas Rowan, Mohammed Seaid

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A fast finite volume solver for multi-layered shallow water flows with mass exchange and an erodible bed is developed. This enables the user to solve a number of complex sediment-based problems including (but not limited to), dam-break over an erodible bed, recirculation currents and bed evolution as well as levy and dyke failure. This research develops methodologies crucial to the under-standing of multi-sediment fluvial mechanics and waterway design. In this model mass exchange between the layers is allowed and, in contrast to previous models, sediment and fluid are able to transfer between layers. In the current study we use a two-step finite volume method to avoid the solution of the Riemann problem. Entrainment and deposition rates are calculated for the first time in a model of this nature. In the first step the governing equations are rewritten in a non-conservative form and the intermediate solutions are calculated using the method of characteristics. In the second stage, the numerical fluxes are reconstructed in conservative form and are used to calculate a solution that satisfies the conservation property. This method is found to be considerably faster than other comparative finite volume methods, it also exhibits good shock capturing. For most entrainment and deposition equations a bed level concentration factor is used. This leads to inaccuracies in both near bed level concentration and total scour. To account for diffusion, as no vertical velocities are calculated, a capacity limited diffusion coefficient is used. The additional advantage of this multilayer approach is that there is a variation (from single layer models) in bottom layer fluid velocity: this dramatically reduces erosion, which is often overestimated in simulations of this nature using single layer flows. The model is used to simulate a standard dam break. In the dam break simulation, as expected, the number of fluid layers utilised creates variation in the resultant bed profile, with more layers offering a higher deviation in fluid velocity . These results showed a marked variation in erosion profiles from standard models. The overall the model provides new insight into the problems presented at minimal computational cost.

Keywords: erosion, finite volume method, sediment transport, shallow water equations

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Authors: Shashi Kant Verma, S. L. Sinha, D. K. Chandraker

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Numerical simulations of selected subchannel tracer (Potassium Nitrate) based experiments have been performed to study the capabilities of state-of-the-art of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodology can be useful for investigating the spacer effect on turbulent mixing to predict turbulent flow behavior such as Dimensionless mixing scalar distributions, radial velocity and vortices in the nuclear fuel assembly. A Gibson and Launder (GL) Reynolds stress model (RSM) has been selected as the primary turbulence model to be applied for the simulation case as it has been previously found reasonably accurate to predict flows inside rod bundles. As a comparison, the case is also simulated using a standard k-ε turbulence model that is widely used in industry. Despite being an isotropic turbulence model, it has also been used in the modeling of flow in rod bundles and to produce lateral velocities after thorough mixing of coolant fairly. Both these models have been solved numerically to find out fully developed isothermal turbulent flow in a 30º segment of a 54-rod bundle. Numerical simulation has been carried out for the study of natural mixing of a Tracer (Passive scalar) to characterize the growth of turbulent diffusion in an injected sub-channel and, afterwards on, cross-mixing between adjacent sub-channels. The mixing with water has been numerically studied by means of steady state CFD simulations with the commercial code STAR-CCM+. Flow enters into the computational domain through the mass inflow at the three subchannel faces. Turbulence intensity and hydraulic diameter of 1% and 5.9 mm respectively were used for the inlet. A passive scalar (Potassium nitrate) is injected through the mass fraction of 5.536 PPM at subchannel 2 (Upstream of the mixing section). Flow exited the domain through the pressure outlet boundary (0 Pa), and the reference pressure was 1 atm. Simulation results have been extracted at different locations of the mixing zone and downstream zone. The local mass fraction shows uniform mixing. The effect of the applied turbulence model is nearly negligible just before the outlet plane because the distributions look like almost identical and the flow is fully developed. On the other hand, quantitatively the dimensionless mixing scalar distributions change noticeably, which is visible in the different scale of the colour bars.

Keywords: single-phase flow, turbulent mixing, tracer, sub channel analysis

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Authors: Debananda Mohapatra, Subramanya Badrayyana, Smrutiranjan Parida

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Carbon nano-onions (CNOs) are the spherical graphitic nanostructures composed of concentric shells of graphitic carbon can be hypothesized as the intermediate state between fullerenes and graphite. These are very important members in fullerene family also known as the multi-shelled fullerenes can be envisioned as promising supercapacitor electrode with high energy & power density as they provide easy access to ions at electrode-electrolyte interface due to their curvature. There is still very sparse report concerning on CNOs as electrode despite having an excellent electrodechemical performance record due to their unavailability and lack of convenient methods for their high yield preparation and purification. Keeping all these current pressing issues in mind, we present a facile scalable and straightforward flame synthesis method of pure and highly dispersible CNOs without contaminated by any other forms of carbon; hence, a post processing purification procedure is not necessary. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first time; we developed an extremely simple, light weight, novel inexpensive, flexible free standing pristine CNOs electrode without using any binder element. Locally available daily used cotton wipe has been used for fabrication of such an ideal electrode by ‘dipping and drying’ process providing outstanding stretchability and mechanical flexibility with strong adhesion between CNOs and porous wipe. The specific capacitance 102 F/g, energy density 3.5 Wh/kg and power density 1224 W/kg at 20 mV/s scan rate are the highest values that ever recorded and reported so far in symmetrical two electrode cell configuration with 1M Na2SO4 electrolyte; indicating a very good synthesis conditions employed with optimum pore size in agreement with electrolyte ion size. This free standing CNOs electrode also showed an excellent cyclic performance and stability retaining 95% original capacity after 5000 charge –discharge cycles. Furthermore, this unique method not only affords binder free - freestanding electrode but also provide a general way of fabricating such multifunctional promising CNOs based nanocomposites for their potential device applications in flexible solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.

Keywords: binder-free, flame synthesis, flexible, carbon nano onion

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Authors: Selisha A. Sooklal, Phelelani Mpangase, Shaun Aron, Karl Rumbold

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Organically bound fluorine (C-F bond) is extremely rare in nature. Despite this, the first fluorinated secondary metabolite, fluoroacetate, was isolated from the plant Dichapetalum cymosum (commonly known as Gifblaar). However, the enzyme responsible for fluorination (fluorinase) in Gifblaar was never isolated and very little progress has been achieved in understanding this process in higher plants. Fluorinated compounds have vast applications in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and fine chemicals industries. Consequently, an enzyme capable of catalysing a C-F bond has great potential as a biocatalyst in the industry considering that the field of fluorination is virtually synthetic. As with any biocatalyst, a range of these enzymes are required. Therefore, it is imperative to expand the exploration for novel fluorinases. This study aimed to gain molecular insights into secondary metabolite biosynthesis in Gifblaar using a high-throughput sequencing-based approach. Mechanical wounding studies were performed using Gifblaar leaf tissue in order to induce expression of the fluorinase. The transcriptome of the wounded and unwounded plant was then sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq platform. A total of 26.4 million short sequence reads were assembled into 77 845 transcripts using Trinity. Overall, 68.6 % of transcripts were annotated with gene identities using public databases (SwissProt, TrEMBL, GO, COG, Pfam, EC) with an E-value threshold of 1E-05. Sequences exhibited the greatest homology to the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana (27 %). A total of 244 annotated transcripts were found to be differentially expressed between the wounded and unwounded plant. In addition, secondary metabolic pathways present in Gifblaar were successfully reconstructed using Pathway tools. Due to lack of genetic information for plant fluorinases, a transcript failed to be annotated as a fluorinating enzyme. Thus, a local database containing the 5 existing bacterial fluorinases was created. Fifteen transcripts having homology to partial regions of existing fluorinases were found. In efforts to obtain the full coding sequence of the Gifblaar fluorinase, primers were designed targeting the regions of homology and genome walking will be performed to amplify the unknown regions. This is the first genetic data available for Gifblaar. It has provided novel insights into the mechanisms of metabolite biosynthesis and will allow for the discovery of the first eukaryotic fluorinase.

Keywords: biocatalyst, fluorinase, gifblaar, transcriptome

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Yangzhi Li

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Network transfer of information and performance customization is now a viable method of digital industrial production in the era of Industry 4.0. Robot platforms and network platforms have grown more important in digital design and construction. The pressing need for novel building techniques is driven by the growing labor scarcity problem and increased awareness of construction safety. Robotic approaches in construction research are regarded as an extension of operational and production tools. Several technological theories related to robot autonomous recognition, which include high-performance computing, physical system modeling, extensive sensor coordination, and dataset deep learning, have not been explored using intelligent construction. Relevant transdisciplinary theory and practice research still has specific gaps. Optimizing high-performance computing and autonomous recognition visual guidance technologies improves the robot's grasp of the scene and capacity for autonomous operation. Intelligent vision guidance technology for industrial robots has a serious issue with camera calibration, and the use of intelligent visual guiding and identification technologies for industrial robots in industrial production has strict accuracy requirements. It can be considered that visual recognition systems have challenges with precision issues. In such a situation, it will directly impact the effectiveness and standard of industrial production, necessitating a strengthening of the visual guiding study on positioning precision in recognition technology. To best facilitate the handling of complicated components, an approach for the visual recognition of parts utilizing machine learning algorithms is proposed. This study will identify the position of target components by detecting the information at the boundary and corner of a dense point cloud and determining the aspect ratio in accordance with the guidelines for the modularization of building components. To collect and use components, operational processing systems assign them to the same coordinate system based on their locations and postures. The RGB image's inclination detection and the depth image's verification will be used to determine the component's present posture. Finally, a virtual environment model for the robot's obstacle-avoidance route will be constructed using the point cloud information.

Keywords: robotic construction, robotic assembly, visual guidance, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Alberto Abello Moreno-Cid

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Mummification was the process through which immortality was granted to the deceased, so it was of extreme importance to the Egyptians. The techniques of embalming had evolved over the centuries, and specialists created increasingly sophisticated tools. However, due to its eminently religious nature, knowledge about everything related to this practice was jealously preserved, and the testimonies that have survived to our time are scarce. For this reason, embalming instruments found in archaeological excavations are uncommon. The tomb of the Vizier Amenhotep Huy (AT No. -28-), located in the el-Assasif necropolis that is being excavated since 2009 by the team of the Institute of Ancient Egyptian Studies, has been the scene of some discoveries of this type that evidences the existence of mummification practices in this place after the New Kingdom. The clysters or enemas are the fundamental tools in the second type of mummification described by the historian Herodotus to introduce caustic solutions inside the body of the deceased. Nevertheless, such objects only have been found in three locations: the tomb of Ankh-Hor in Luxor, where a copper enema belonged to the prophet of Ammon Uah-ib-Ra came to light; the excavation of the tomb of Menekh-ib-Nekau in Abusir, where was also found one made of copper; and the excavations in the Bucheum, where two more artifacts were discovered, also made of copper but in different shapes and sizes. Both of them were used for the mummification of sacred animals and this is the reason they vary significantly. Therefore, the object found in the tomb No. -28-, is the first known made of faience of all these peculiar tools and the oldest known until now, dated in the Third Intermediate Period (circa 1070-650 B.C.). This paper bases its investigation on the study of those parallelisms, the material, the current archaeological context and the full analysis and reconstruction of the object in question. The key point is the use of faience in the production of this item: creating a device intended to be in constant use seems to be a first illogical compared to other samples made of copper. Faience around the area of Deir el-Bahari had a strong religious component, associated with solar myths and principles of the resurrection, connected to the Osirian that characterises the mummification procedure. The study allows to refute some of the premises which are held unalterable in Egyptology, verifying the utilization of these sort of pieces, understanding its way of use and showing that this type of mummification was also applied to the highest social stratum, in which case the tools were thought out of an exceptional quality and religious symbolism.

Keywords: clyster, el-Assasif, embalming, faience enema mummification, Theban necropolis

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Authors: Florim Grajcevci, Flamur Grajcevci, Fatos Tahiri, Hamdi Kurteshi

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The territory of Kosova is actually included in one of the most seismic-prone regions in Europe. Therefore, the earthquakes are not so rare in Kosova; and when they occurred, the consequences have been rather destructive. The importance of assessing the seismic resistance of existing masonry structures has drawn strong and growing interest in the recent years. Engineering included those of Vulnerability, Loss of Buildings and Risk assessment, are also of a particular interest. This is due to the fact that this rapidly developing field is related to great impact of earthquakes on the socioeconomic life in seismic-prone areas, as Kosova and Prishtina are, too. Such work paper for Prishtina city may serve as a real basis for possible interventions in historic buildings as are museums, mosques, old residential buildings, in order to adequately strengthen and/or repair them, by reducing the seismic risk within acceptable limits. The procedures of the vulnerability assessment of building structures have concentrated on structural system, capacity, and the shape of layout and response parameters. These parameters will provide expected performance of the very important existing building structures on the vulnerability and the overall behavior during the earthquake excitations. The structural systems of existing historical buildings in Pristina, Kosovo, are dominantly unreinforced brick or stone masonry with very high risk potential from the expected earthquakes in the region. Therefore, statistical analysis based on the observed damage-deformation, cracks, deflections and critical building elements, would provide more reliable and accurate results for the regional assessments. The analytical technique was used to develop a preliminary evaluation methodology for assessing seismic vulnerability of the respective structures. One of the main objectives is also to identify the buildings that are highly vulnerable to damage caused from inadequate seismic performance-response. Hence, the damage scores obtained from the derived vulnerability functions will be used to categorize the evaluated buildings as “stabile”, “intermediate”, and “unstable”. The vulnerability functions are generated based on the basic damage inducing parameters, namely number of stories (S), lateral stiffness (LS), capacity curve of total building structure (CCBS), interstory drift (IS) and overhang ratio (OR).

Keywords: vulnerability, ductility, seismic microzone, ductility, energy efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 408

Authors: Lucero Gonzalez, Salvador Alfaro

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are considered as the compounds with higher abundance among the greenhouse gases (CO2, NOx, SOx, CxHx, etc.), due to its higher concentration, this two gases have a greater impact in the environment pollution and provokes global warming. So, recovery, disposal and subsequent reuse, are of great interest, especially from the ecological and health perspective. By one hand, porous inorganic materials are good candidates to capture gases, because these type of materials are higher stability from the point view of thermal, chemical and mechanical under adsorption gas processes. By another hand, during the design and the synthetic preparation of the porous materials is possible add other intrinsic properties (physicochemical and structural) by adding chemical compounds as dopants or using structured directed agents or surfactants to improve the porous structure, the above features allow to have alternative materials for separation, capture and storage of greenhouse gases. In this work, ordered mesoporous materials base silica were prepared using Surfynol as surfactant. The surfactant micelles are commonly used as self-assembly templates for the development of new structure porous silica’s, adding a variety of textures and structures. By another hand, the Surfynol is a commercial surfactant, is non-ionic, for that is necessary determine its critical micelles concentration (cmc) by the pyrene I1/I3 ratio method, before to prepare silica particles. One time known the CMC, a precursor gel was prepared via sol-gel process at room temperature using TEOS as silica precursor, NH4OH as catalyst, Surfynol as template and H2O as solvent. Then, the gel precursor was treatment hydrothermally in a Teflon-lined stainless steel autoclave with a volume of 100 mL and kept at 100 ºC for 24 h under static conditions in a convection oven. After that, the porous silica particles obtained were impregnated with lithium to improve the CO2 adsorption capacity. Then the silica particles were characterized physicochemical, morphology and structurally, by XRD, FTIR, BET and SEM techniques. The thermal stability and the CO2 adsorption capacity was evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). According the results, we found that the Surfynol is a good candidate to prepare silica particles with an ordered structure. Also the TGA analysis shown that the particles has a good thermal stability in the range of 250 °C and 800 °C. The best materials had, the capacity to adsorbing 70 and 90 mg per gram of silica particles and its CO2 adsorption capacity depends on the way to thermal pretreatment of the porous silica before of the adsorption experiments and of the concentration of surfactant used during the synthesis of silica particles. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by SIP-IPN through project SIP-20161862.

Keywords: CO2 adsorption, lithium as dopant, porous silica, surfynol as surfactant, thermogravimetric analysis

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Authors: Piotr J. Skusiewicz, Johnathan Saul, Ijhar Rusli, Svetlana Aleksandrova, Stephen. F. Benjamin, Miroslaw Gall, Steve Pierson, Carol A. Roberts

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The application of turbocharging in automotive engines leads to swirling flow entering the catalyst. The behaviour of this type of flow within the catalyst has yet to be adequately documented. This work discusses the effect of swirling flow on the flow distribution in automotive exhaust catalysts. Compressed air supplied to a moving-block swirl generator allowed for swirling flow with variable intensities to be generated. Swirl intensities were measured at the swirl generator outlet using single-sensor hot-wire probes. The swirling flow was fed into diffusers with total angles of 10°, 30° and 180°. Downstream of the diffusers, a wash-coated diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) of length 143.8 mm, diameter 76.2 mm and nominal cell density of 400 cpsi was fitted. Velocity profiles were measured at the outlet sleeve about 30 mm downstream of the monolith outlet using single-sensor hot-wire probes. Wall static pressure was recorded using a multi-tube manometer connected to pressure taps positioned along the diffuser walls. The results show that as swirl is increased, more of the flow is directed towards the diffuser walls. The velocity decreases around the centre-line and maximum velocities are observed close to the outer radius of the monolith for all flow rates. At the maximum swirl intensity, reversed flow was recorded near the centre of the monolith. Wall static pressure measurements in the 180° diffuser indicated no pressure recovery as the flow enters the diffuser. This is indicative of flow separation at the inlet to the diffuser. To gain insight into the flow structure, CFD simulations have been performed for the 180° diffuser for a flow rate of 63 g/s. The geometry of the model consists of the complete assembly from the upstream swirl generator to the outlet sleeve. Modelling of the flow in the monolith was achieved using the porous medium approach, where the monolith with parallel flow channels is modelled as a porous medium that resists the flow. A reasonably good agreement was achieved between the experimental and CFD results downstream of the monolith. The CFD simulations allowed visualisation of the separation zones and central toroidal recirculation zones that occur within the expansion region at certain swirl intensities which are highlighted.

Keywords: catalyst, computational fluid dynamics, diffuser, hot-wire anemometry, swirling flow

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Authors: Omar Nouri, Wafa Mnejja, Nejla Fourati, Fatma Dhouib, Wicem Siala, Ilhem Charfeddine, Afef Khanfir, Jamel Daoud

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Background and objective: Induction chemotherapy (IC) followed by concomitant chemo radiotherapy with intensity modulated radiation (IMRT) technique is actually the recommended treatment modality for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors predicting loco regional relapse with this new treatment protocol. Patients and methods: A retrospective study of 52 patients with NPC treated between June 2016 and July 2019. All patients received IC according to the protocol of the Head and Neck Radiotherapy Oncology Group (Gortec) NPC 2006 (3 TPF courses) followed by concomitant chemo radiotherapy with weekly cisplatin (40 mg / m2). Patients received IMRT with integrated simultaneous boost (SIB) of 33 daily fractions at a dose of 69.96 Gy for high-risk volume, 60 Gy for intermediate risk volume and 54 Gy for low-risk volume. Median age was 49 years (19-69) with a sex ratio of 3.3. Forty five tumors (86.5%) were classified as stages III - IV according to the 2017 UICC TNM classification. Loco regional relapse (LRR) was defined as a local and/or regional progression that occurs at least 6 months after the end of treatment. Survival analysis was performed according to Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test was used to compare anatomy clinical and therapeutic factors that may influence loco regional free survival (LRFS). Results: After a median follow up of 42 months, 6 patients (11.5%) experienced LRR. A metastatic relapse was also noted for 3 of these patients (50%). Target volumes coverage was optimal for all patient with LRR. Four relapses (66.6%) were in high-risk target volume and two (33.3%) were borderline. Three years LRFS was 85,9%. Four factors predicted loco regional relapses: histologic type other than undifferentiated (UCNT) (p=0.027), a macroscopic pre chemotherapy tumor volume exceeding 100 cm³ (p=0.005), a reduction in IC doses exceeding 20% (p=0.016) and a total cumulative cisplatin dose less than 380 mg/m² (p=0.0.34). TNM classification and response to IC did not impact loco regional relapses. Conclusion: For nasopharyngeal carcinoma, tumors with initial high volume and/or histologic type other than UCNT, have a higher risk of loco regional relapse. Therefore, they require a more aggressive therapeutic approaches and a suitable monitoring protocol.

Keywords: loco regional relapse, modulation intensity radiotherapy, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, prognostic factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: M. Amanipour, J. Towfighi, E. Ganji Babakhani, M. Heidari

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Cylindrical alumina microfiltration membrane (GMITM Corporation, inside diameter=9 mm, outside diameter=13 mm, length= 50 mm) with an average pore size of 0.5 micrometer and porosity of about 0.35 was used as the support for membrane reactor. This support was soaked in boehmite sols, and the mean particle size was adjusted in the range of 50 to 500 nm by carefully controlling hydrolysis time, and calcined at 650 °C for two hours. This process was repeated with different boehmite solutions in order to achieve an intermediate layer with an average pore size of about 50 nm. The resulting substrate was then coated with a thin and dense layer of silica by counter current chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method. A boehmite sol with 10 wt.% of nickel which was prepared by a standard procedure was used to make the catalytic layer. BET, SEM, and XRD analysis were used to characterize this layer. The catalytic membrane reactor was placed in an experimental setup to evaluate the permeation and hydrogen separation performance for a steam reforming reaction. The setup consisted of a tubular module in which the membrane was fixed, and the reforming reaction occurred at the inner side of the membrane. Methane stream, diluted with nitrogen, and deionized water with a steam to carbon (S/C) ratio of 3.0 entered the reactor after the reactor was heated up to 500 °C with a specified rate of 2 °C/ min and the catalytic layer was reduced at presence of hydrogen for 2.5 hours. Nitrogen flow was used as sweep gas through the outer side of the reactor. Any liquid produced was trapped and separated at reactor exit by a cold trap, and the produced gases were analyzed by an on-line gas chromatograph (Agilent 7890A) to measure total CH₄ conversion and H₂ permeation. BET analysis indicated uniform size distribution for catalyst with average pore size of 280 nm and average surface area of 275 m².g^-1. Single-component permeation tests were carried out for hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide at temperature range of 500-800 °C, and the results showed almost the same permeance and hydrogen selectivity values for hydrogen as the composite membrane without catalytic layer. Performance of the catalytic membrane was evaluated by applying membranes as a membrane reactor for methane steam reforming reaction at gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 10,000 h⁻¹ and 2 bar. CH₄ conversion increased from 50% to 85% with increasing reaction temperature from 600 °C to 750 °C, which is sufficiently above equilibrium curve at reaction conditions, but slightly lower than membrane reactor with packed nickel catalytic bed because of its higher surface area compared to the catalytic layer.

Keywords: catalytic membrane, hydrogen, methane steam reforming, permeance

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Authors: M. Younus, Muhammad Shafique, M. Athar Khan, Tanveer Akhtar , M. Moeen Athar

Abstract:

A total of 48 apparently healthy weaned sheep lambs (Ovis aries) of 8-10 weeks old weighing 7-10 Kg were purchased from the contractors, maintained in the experimental station of University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus at Lahore, Pakistan. They were dewormed against nematodes with levamisole (ICI) at recommended dose rates. The feces were tested against the parasitic eggs, no helminths ova were seen. All the 48 sheep lambs were divided into two groups i.e. group A & group B. Group 'A' comprising of 40 sheep, kept as infected groups whereas group 'B' comprising of 08 sheep & kept as a new infected control group. Each sheep lamb of group A was given 3-4 fresh gravid segments contains 2-3 thousand eggs of Echinococcus granulosus. These were collected from experimentally infected dogs by feeding fresh hydrated cysts collected from liver & lungs of sheep after slaughtering. Each lamb was fed with fresh gravid segments for a total period of 5 days or each alternate day. Coagulated blood was collected before the start of infected diet and after every month by jugular phlebotomy of each sheep lamb from the infected & new infected control group. One lamb each from group A & group B was slaughtered at the end of each month for the presence of macroscopic hydatid cyst in viscera & abdominal cavity. After 180 days of the experiment, hydatid cysts were confirmed in the abdominal cavity. Hematological parameters of zero days & then at the end of every month revealed that there was a gradual increase (PL 0.05) in the White Blood Cell (WBC), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rates (ESR). The increasing trend was probably due to inflammatory response and lytic effect of the newly developing E. granulosus hydatid cysts. The red blood cell (RBC), Hemoglobin (HB), Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) infected groups were decreased significantly as compared to the control group (PL 0.05). The experiment was terminated at the end of the 7th month. It can be concluded that Echinococcus granulosus can damage livestock and other intermediate hosts such as horses, the development of hydatid cysts affect the organs due to the growing cysts pressuring the organ tissues. Parts of the tissue die, which impairs the functioning of the affected organ. The clinical signs depend on the affected organ. The major damage for livestock is organ condemnation at slaughter.

Keywords: echinococcus granulosus, hydatidosis, sheep, hematology

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: Jian Yu

Abstract:

Carbo dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion is a prime green-house gas emission. It can be mitigated by microalgae through conventional photosynthesis. The algal oil is a feedstock of biodiesel, a carbon neutral liquid fuel for transportation. The conventional CO2 fixation, however, is quite slow and affected by the intermittent solar irradiation. It is also a technical challenge to reform the bio-oil into a drop-in liquid fuel that can be directly used in the modern combustion engines with expected performance. Here, an artificial photosynthesis system is presented to produce a biopolyester and liquid fuels from CO2, water, and solar power. In this green process, solar energy is captured using photovoltaic modules and converted into hydrogen as a stable energy source via water electrolysis. The solar hydrogen is then used to fix CO2 by Cupriavidus necator, a hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium. Under the autotrophic conditions, CO2 was reduced to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) that is further utilized for cell growth and biosynthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). The maximum cell growth rate reached 10.1 g L-1 day-1, about 25 times faster than that of a typical bio-oil-producing microalga (Neochloris Oleoabundans) under stable indoor conditions. With nitrogen nutrient limitation, a large portion of the reduced carbon is stored in PHB (C4H6O2)n, accounting for 50-60% of dry cell mass. PHB is a biodegradable thermoplastic that can find a variety of environmentally friendly applications. It is also a platform material from which small chemicals can be derived. At a high temperature (240 - 290 oC), the biopolyester is degraded into crotonic acid (C4H6O2). On a solid phosphoric acid catalyst, PHB is deoxygenated via decarboxylation into a hydrocarbon oil (C6-C18) at 240 oC or so. Aromatics and alkenes are the major compounds, depending on the reaction conditions. A gasoline-grade liquid fuel (77 wt% oil) and a biodiesel-grade fuel (23 wt% oil) were obtained from the hydrocarbon oil via distillation. The formation routes of hydrocarbon oil from crotonic acid, the major PHB degradation intermediate, are revealed and discussed. This work shows a novel green process from which biodegradable plastics and high-grade liquid fuels can be directly produced from carbon dioxide, water and solar power. The productivity of the green polyester (5.3 g L-1 d-1) is much higher than that of microalgal oil (0.13 g L-1 d-1). Other technical merits of the new green process may include continuous operation under intermittent solar irradiation and convenient scale up in outdoor.

Keywords: bioplastics, carbon dioxide fixation, drop-in liquid fuels, green process

Procedia PDF Downloads 189