Search results for: activity recognition

Authors: Rejane Maria P. da Silva, Mariana X. Milagre, João Victor de S. Araujo, Leandro A. de Oliveira, Renato A. Antunes, Isolda Costa

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The Al-Cu-Li alloys are advanced materials for aerospace application because of their interesting mechanical properties and low density when compared with conventional Al-alloys. However, Al-Cu-Li alloys are susceptible to localized corrosion. The near-surface deformed layer (NSDL) induced by the rolling process during the production of the alloy and its removal by polishing can influence on the corrosion susceptibility of these alloys. In this work, the influence of surface preparation effects on the electrochemical activity of AA2098-T351 (Al–Cu–Li alloy) was investigated using a correlation between surface chemistry, microstructure, and electrochemical activity. Two conditions were investigated, polished and as-received surfaces of the alloy. The morphology of the two types of surfaces was investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and optical microscopy. The surface chemistry was analyzed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Global electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic polarization and EIS technique) and a local electrochemical technique (Localized Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy-LEIS) were used to examine the electrochemical activity of the surfaces. The results obtained in this study showed that in the as-received surface, the near-surface deformed layer (NSDL), which is composed of Mg-rich bands, influenced the electrochemical behavior of the alloy. The results showed higher electrochemical activity to the polished surface condition compared to the as-received one.

Keywords: Al-Cu-Li alloys, surface preparation effects, electrochemical techniques, localized corrosion

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Authors: Yaseen Muhammad, Zhenxia Zhao, Zhangfa Tong

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A key problem with hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process of fuel oils is the application of severe operating conditions. In this study, we proposed the catalytic HDS of dibenzothiophene (DBT) integrated with ionic liquids (ILs) application at mild temperature and pressure over low loaded (0.5 wt.%) Pd promoted Co-Mo@Al₂O₃ and Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ catalysts. Among the thirteen ILs tested, [BMIM]BF₄, [(CH₃)₄N]Cl, [EMIM]AlCl₄, and [(C₈H₁₇)(C₃H₇)₃P]Br enhanced the catalytic HDS efficiency while the latest ranked the top of activity list as confirmed by DFT studies as well. Experimental results revealed that Pd incorporation greatly enhanced the HDS activity of classical Co or Ni based catalysts. At mild optimized experimental conditions of 1 MPa H₂ pressure, 120 oC, IL:oil ratio of 1:3 and 4 h reaction time, the % DBT conversion (21 %) by Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ was enhanced to 69 % (over Pd-Ni-Mo@ Al₂O₃) using [(C₈H₁₇) (C₃H₇)₃P]Br. The fresh and spent catalysts were characterized for textural properties using XPS, SEM, EDX, XRD and BET surface area techniques. An overall catalytic HDS activity followed the order of: Pd-Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Pd-Co-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Ni-Mo@Al₂O₃ > Co-Mo@Al₂O₃. [(C₈H₁₇) (C₃H₇)₃P]Br.could be recycled four times with minimal decrease in HDS activity. Reaction products were analyzed by GC-MS which helped in proposing reaction mechanism for the IL coupled HDS process. The present approach attributed to its cost-effective nature, ease of operation with less mechanical requirements in terms of mild operating conditions, and high efficiency could be deemed as an alternative approach for the HDS of DBT on industrial level applications.

Keywords: DFT simulation, GC-MS and reaction mechanism, Ionic liquid coupled HDS of DBT, low Pd loaded catalyst, mild operating condition

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Authors: Pranporn Kuropakornpong, Srisopa Ruangnoo, Arunporn Itharat

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Liver cancer has the highest prevalence rate in the North and Northeast of Thailand. Four Thai medicinal plants such as resin of Ferula asafoetida Regel, latex of Aloe barbadensis Miller leaves, roots of Baliospermum manotanum, and latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook are used in Thai traditional medicine as cathartic drug and detoxification in liver cancer patients. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of these plants against hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and cholangiocarcinoma (KKU-M156) cells by SRB assay. These plants were macerated in 95% ethanol. The results showed that roots of Baliospermum manotanum and latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook showed the strongest cytotoxicity against HepG2 (IC50 = 3.03+0.91 and 0.62+0.01µg/ml, respectively) and KKU-M156 (IC50 = 0.978+0.663 and 0.006+0.005 µg/ml, respectively). Latex of Garcinia hanburyi Hook also showed high cytotoxicity against normal cell line (IC50=8.86+0.31 µg/ml), and even though its selective values are high, dose of this herb should be limited.

Keywords: cholangiocarcinoma, cytotoxic activity, Garcinia hanburyi Hook, hepatocarcinoma

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Authors: Mohsen Padervand

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Functionalized magnetic core-zeolitic shell nanostructures were prepared by the hydrothermal and coprecipitation methods. The products were characterized by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FTIR), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The growth of mordenite nanoparticles on the surface of silica coated nickel ferrite nanoparticles at the presence of organic templates was well approved. The antibacterial activity of prepared samples was investigated by the inactivation of E.coli as a gram negative bacterium. A new mechanism was proposed to inactivate the bacterium over the prepared samples. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and reuse ability were studied too. TEM images of the destroyed microorganism after the treatment time were applied to illustrate the inactivation mechanism. The interaction of the noble metals with organic components on the surface of nanostructures studied theoretically and the results were used to interpret the experimental results.

Keywords: nickel ferrite nanoparticles, magnetic core-zeolitic shell, antibacterial activity, E. coli

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Authors: Zasha Romero, Joe Paschall

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This poster will detail the importance of physical activity for the Visually Impaired students and how to promote inclusion in fitness through way of social gatherings and jogging. Furthermore, it will demonstrate how a Health & Kinesiology University Club cooperated in the journey of visually impaired students from participating in physical activity to completing their first 10K fun run. Purpose: The poster will detail how a university’s Health & Kinesiology Club developed a program to promote participation in fitness activities for visually impaired individuals. Also, it will detail their journey from participation in physical activity to completing a 10K fun run. Methods: In an effort to promote inclusion of all into physical activity, a university’s Health & Kinesiology Club developed a non-profit program to challenge visually impaired students to train and complete a 10 kilometer fun run in a South Texas town. The idea was to promote physical fitness through way of social interaction. In order to maintain runners interested, Club students developed training plans and strategies to be able to navigate in a race that was attended by over 18,000 runners. The idea was to promote interaction and life-long fitness amongst participants. Implications: This strategy was done in collaboration with different non-profit institutions to create awareness and provide opportunities for physical fitness, social interaction and life-long fitness skills associated with the jogging. The workshop provided collaboration amongst different entities and novel ideas to create opportunities for a typically underserved population.

Keywords: inclusion, participation, management, disability, fitness

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Authors: Z. Gharaee

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Recognizing actions performed by others is important in our daily lives since it is necessary for communicating with others in a proper way. We perceive an action by observing the kinematics of motions involved in the performance. We use our experience and concepts to make a correct recognition of the actions. Although building the action concepts is a life-long process, which is repeated throughout life, we are very efficient in applying our learned concepts in analyzing motions and recognizing actions. Experiments on the subjects observing the actions performed by an actor show that an action is recognized after only about two hundred milliseconds of observation. In this study, hierarchical action recognition architecture is proposed by using growing grid layers. The first-layer growing grid receives the pre-processed data of consecutive 3D postures of joint positions and applies some heuristics during the growth phase to allocate areas of the map by inserting new neurons. As a result of training the first-layer growing grid, action pattern vectors are generated by connecting the elicited activations of the learned map. The ordered vector representation layer receives action pattern vectors to create time-invariant vectors of key elicited activations. Time-invariant vectors are sent to second-layer growing grid for categorization. This grid creates the clusters representing the actions. Finally, one-layer neural network developed by a delta rule labels the action categories in the last layer. System performance has been evaluated in an experiment with the publicly available MSR-Action3D dataset. There are actions performed by using different parts of human body: Hand Clap, Two Hands Wave, Side Boxing, Bend, Forward Kick, Side Kick, Jogging, Tennis Serve, Golf Swing, Pick Up and Throw. The growing grid architecture was trained by applying several random selections of generalization test data fed to the system during on average 100 epochs for each training of the first-layer growing grid and around 75 epochs for each training of the second-layer growing grid. The average generalization test accuracy is 92.6%. A comparison analysis between the performance of growing grid architecture and self-organizing map (SOM) architecture in terms of accuracy and learning speed show that the growing grid architecture is superior to the SOM architecture in action recognition task. The SOM architecture completes learning the same dataset of actions in around 150 epochs for each training of the first-layer SOM while it takes 1200 epochs for each training of the second-layer SOM and it achieves the average recognition accuracy of 90% for generalization test data. In summary, using the growing grid network preserves the fundamental features of SOMs, such as topographic organization of neurons, lateral interactions, the abilities of unsupervised learning and representing high dimensional input space in the lower dimensional maps. The architecture also benefits from an automatic size setting mechanism resulting in higher flexibility and robustness. Moreover, by utilizing growing grids the system automatically obtains a prior knowledge of input space during the growth phase and applies this information to expand the map by inserting new neurons wherever there is high representational demand.

Keywords: action recognition, growing grid, hierarchical architecture, neural networks, system performance

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Authors: Bholenath

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Ever since Elon Musk revealed his plan to terraform Mars on national television in 2015, the debate regarding the legality of such an activity under the current Outer Space Treaty regime is gaining momentum. Terraforming means to alter or transform the atmosphere of another planet to have the characteristics of landscapes on Earth. Musk’s plan is to alter the entire environment of Mars so as to make it habitable for humans. He has long been an advocate of colonizing Mars, and in order to make humans an interplanetary species; he wants to detonate thermonuclear devices over the poles of Mars. For a common man, it seems to be a fascinating endeavor, but for space lawyers, it poses new and fascinating legal questions. Some of the questions which arise are whether the use of nuclear weapons on celestial bodies is permitted under the Outer Space Treaty? Whether such an alteration of the celestial environment would fall within the scope of the term 'harmful contamination' under Article IX of the treaty? Whether such an activity which would put an entire planet under the control of a private company can be permitted under the treaty? Whether such terraforming of Mars would amount to its appropriation? Whether such an activity would be in the 'benefit and interests of all countries'? This paper will be attempt to examine and elucidate upon these legal questions. Space is one such domain where the law should precede man. The paper follows the approach that the de lege lata is not capable of prohibiting the terraforming of Mars. Outer Space Treaty provides the freedoms of space and prescribes certain restrictions on those freedoms as well. The author shall examine the provisions such as Article I, II, IV, and IX of the Outer Space Treaty in order to establish the legality of terraforming activity. The author shall establish how such activity is peaceful use of the celestial body, is in the benefit and interests of all countries, and does neither qualify as national appropriation of the celestial body nor as its harmful contamination. The author shall divide the paper into three chapters. The first chapter would be about the general introduction of the problem, the analysis of Elon Musk’s plan to terraform Mars, and the need to study terraforming from the lens of the Outer Space Treaty. In the second chapter, the author shall attempt to establish the legality of the terraforming activity under the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty. In this vein, the author shall put forth the counter interpretations and the arguments which may be formulated against the lawfulness of terraforming. The author shall show as to why the counter interpretations establishing the unlawfulness of terraforming should not be accepted, and in doing so, the author shall provide the interpretations that should prevail and ultimately establishes the legality of terraforming activity under the treaty. In the third chapter, the author shall draw relevant conclusions and give suggestions.

Keywords: appropriation, harmful contamination, peaceful, terraforming

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Authors: Seyhan Sahan-Firat, Meryem Temiz-Resitoglu, Demet Sinem Guden, Sefika Pinar Kucukkavruk, Bahar Tunctan, Ayse Nihal Sari, Zumrut Kocak

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We hypothesized that mTOR inhibition may prevent the multiple organ failures following severe multiple tissue injury associated with increased NADPH oxidase system activity occur in zymosan-induced systemic inflammation. Therefore, we investigated the role of mTOR in oxidative/nitrosative stress associated with increase in NADPH oxidase activity in zymosan-induced systemic inflammation model in rats. Male Wistar rats received saline (4 ml/kg, i.p.) and zymosan (500 mg/kg, i.p.) at time 0. Saline, or zymosan-treated rats were given rapamycin (1 mg/kg, i.p.) 1 h after saline or zymosan injections. Rats were sacrified 4 h after zymosan challenge and kidney, heart, thoracic aorta, and superior mesenteric artery were collected. NADPH oxidase activity, p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox protein expression and nitrotyrosine levels were measured in tissue samples. Zymosan administration caused an increase in NADPH oxidase activity, p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox protein expression and nitrotyrosine levels in kidney, heart, thoracic aorta, and superior mesenteric artery. These changes caused by zymosan reversed by rapamycin, a selective mTOR inhibitor. Rapamycin alone had no effect on the parameters measured. Our results demonstrated that zymosan-induced oxidative/nitrosative stress presumably due to enhanced activity of NADPH oxidase, expression of p22phox, gp91phox, and p47phox and production of peroxynitrite were mediated by mTOR. [This work was financially supported by Research Foundation of Mersin University (2016-2-AP3-1900)].

Keywords: oxidative stress, mTOR, nitrosative stress, zymosan

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Authors: Zafar Iqbal, Sana Irshad Khan

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Organic extract from newly isolated plant growth promoting fungus (PGPF) Penicillium sp EU0013 was subjected to bioassays including anti fungal (disc diffusion) cytotoxicity (brine shrimp lethality), herbicidal (Lemna minor) and nematicidal activities. Metabolite profile of the extract was also assessed using HPLC analysis with the aim to identify bioactive natural products in the extract as new drug candidate(s). The extract showed anti fungal potential against tested fungal pathogens. Growth of the Wilt pathogen Fusarium oxyosproum was inhibited up to 63% when compared to negative reference. Activity against brine shrimps was weak and mortality up to 10% was observed at concentration of 200 µg. mL-1. The extract exhibited no toxicity against Lemna minor frond at 200 µg. mL-1. Nematicidal activity was observed very potent against root knot nematode and LC50 value was calculated as 52.5 ug. mL-1 using probit analysis. Methodically assessment of metabolites profile by HPLC showed the presence of kojic acid (Rt 1.4 min) and aflatoxin B1 (Rt 5.9 min) in the mycellial extract as compared with standards. The major unidentified metabolite was eluted at Rt 8.6 along with other minor peaks. The observed high toxicity against root knot nematode was attributed to the unidentified compounds that make fungal extract worthy of further exploration for isolation and structural characterization studies for development of future commercial nematicidal compound(s).

Keywords: penicillium, nematicidal activity, metabolites, HPLC

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Authors: Purnima Anjali Mohanty, Mousumi Padhi

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Background of the study: In the background of the passage of the Transgender Bill 2016, which is the first such step of formal recognition of the rights of transgender, the Hijras have been recognized under the wider definition of Transgender. Fascinatingly, in the Hindu social context, Hijras have a long social standing during marriages and childbirths. Other than this ironically, they live an ostracized life. The Bill rather than recognizing their unique characteristics and needs, reinforces the societal dualism through a parallelism of their legal rights with rights available to women. Purpose of the paper: The research objective was to probe why and to what extent did they identify themselves with the feminine gender roles. Originality of the paper: In the Indian context, the subject of eunuch has received relatively little attention. Among the studies that exist, there has been a preponderance of studies from the perspective of social exclusion, rights, and physical health. There has been an absence of research studying the self-identity of Hijras from the gender perspective. Methodology: The paper adopts the grounded theory method to investigate and discuss the underlying gender identity of transgenders. Participants in the study were 30 hijras from various parts of Odisha. 4 Focus group discussions were held for collecting data. The participants were approached in their natural habitat. Following the methodological recommendations of the grounded theory, care was taken to select respondents with varying experiences. The recorded discourses were transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analysed sentence by sentence, and coded. Common themes were identified, and responses were categorized under the themes. Data collected in the latter group discussions were added till saturation of themes. Finally, the themes were put together to prove that despite the demand for recognition as third gender, the eunuchs of Odisha identify themselves with the feminine roles. Findings: The Hijra have their own social structure and norms which are unique and are in contrast with the mainstream culture. These eunuchs live and reside in KOTHIS (house), where the family is led by a matriarch addressed as Maa (mother) with her daughters (the daughters are eunuchs/effeminate men castrated and not castrated). They all dress up as woman, do womanly duties, expect to be considered and recognized as woman and wife and have the behavioral traits of a woman. Looking from the stance of Feminism one argues that when the Hijras identify themselves with the gender woman then on what grounds they are given the recognition as third gender. As self-identified woman; their claim for recognition as third gender falls flat. Significance of the study: Academically it extends the study of understanding of gender identity and psychology of the Hijras in the Indian context. Practically its significance is far reaching. The findings can be used to address legal and social issues with regards to the rights available to the Hijras.

Keywords: feminism, gender perspective, Hijras, rights, self-identity

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Authors: Nataliya G. Olkhovik

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Nowadays in the system of Russian higher medical education there have been undertaken initiatives that resulted in focusing on the resources of e-learning in teaching foreign languages. Obviously, the face-to-face communication in foreign languages bears much more advantages in terms of effectiveness in comparison with the potential of e-learning. Thus, we’ve faced the necessity of strengthening the capacity of e-learning via integration of active methods into the process of teaching foreign languages, such as project activity of students. Successful project activity of students should involve the following components: monitoring, control, methods of organizing the student’s activity in foreign languages, stimulating their interest in the chosen project, approaches to self-assessment and methods of raising their self-esteem. The contemporary methodology assumes the project as a specific method, which activates potential of a student’s cognitive function, emotional reaction, ability to work in the team, commitment, skills of cooperation and, consequently, their readiness to verbalize ideas, thoughts and attitudes. Verbal activity in the foreign language is a complex conception that consolidates both cognitive (involving speech) capacity and individual traits and attitudes such as initiative, empathy, devotion, responsibility etc. Once we organize the project activity by the means of e-learning within the ‘Foreign language’ discipline we have to take into consideration all mentioned above characteristics and work out an effective way to implement it into the teaching practice to boost its educational potential. We have integrated into the e-platform Moodle the module of project activity consisting of the following blocks of tasks that lead students to research, cooperate, strive to leadership, chase the goal and finally verbalize their intentions. Firstly, we introduce the project through activating self-activity of students by the tasks of the phase ‘Preparation of the project’: choose the topic and justify it; find out the problematic situation and its components; set the goals; create your team, choose the leader, distribute the roles in your team; make a written report on grounding the validity of your choices. Secondly, in the ‘Planning the project’ phase we ask students to represent the analysis of the problem in terms of reasons, ways and methods of solution and define the structure of their project (here students may choose oral or written presentation by drawing up the claim in the e-platform about their wish, whereas the teacher decides what form of presentation to prefer). Thirdly, the students have to design the visual aids, speech samples (functional phrases, introductory words, keywords, synonyms, opposites, attributive constructions) and then after checking, discussing and correcting with a teacher via the means of Moodle present it in front of the audience. And finally, we introduce the phase of self-reflection that aims to awake the inner desire of students to improve their verbal activity in a foreign language. As a result, by implementing the project activity into the e-platform and project activity, we try to widen the frameworks of a traditional lesson of foreign languages through tapping the potential of personal traits and attitudes of students.

Keywords: active methods, e-learning, improving verbal activity in foreign languages, personal traits and attitudes

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Authors: Ruchika Sharma

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In the past decade, there has been an explosion of research that has examined children’s understanding of TV advertisements and its persuasive intent, socialization of child consumer and child psychology. However, it is evident from the literature review that no studies in this area have covered advertising messages and its impact on children’s brand recall and ad recognition. Copywriters use various creative devices to lure the consumers and very impressionable consumers such as children face far more drastic effects of these creative ways of persuasion. On the basis of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development as a theoretical basis for predicting/understanding children’s response and understanding, a quasi-experiment was carried out for the study, that manipulated measurement timing and advertising messages (familiar vs. unfamiliar) keeping gender and age group as two prominent factors. This study also examines children’s understanding of Advertisements and its elements, predominantly - Language, keeping in view Fishbein’s model. Study revealed significant associations between above mentioned factors and children’s brand recall and ad identification. Further, to test the reliability of the findings on larger sample, bootstrap simulation technique was used. The simulation results are in accordance with the findings of experiment, suggesting that the conclusions obtained from the study can be generalized for entire children’s (as consumers) market in India.

Keywords: advertising, brand recall, cognitive development, preferences

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Authors: Hamdy Khamis Korayem, Manal Yehia Tayel, Abeer Shawky El Hadedy, Emmanuel Kamal Aziz Saba, Shimaa Badr Abdelnaby Badr

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The aim of the current study was to demonstrate whether serum Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is increased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its correlation with disease activity, functional disability and quality of life in RA patients. The study included 30 RA patients and 20 healthy normal control subjects. The RA patients were diagnosed according to the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria for RA with the exclusion of those who had diabetes mellitus, endocrine disorders, associated rheumatologic diseases, viral hepatitis B or C and other diseases with increased serum IL-18 level. All patients were subjected to clinical evaluation of the musculoskeletal system. Disease activity was assessed by disease activity score 28 with 4 variables (DAS 28). Functional disability was assessed by health assessment questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI). The quality of life was assessed by Short form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. Radiological assessment of both hands and feet by Sharp/van der Heijde (SvH) scoring method. Laboratory parameters including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) were assessed in patients and serum level of IL-18 in both patients and control subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between patient and control group as regards age and sex. Among patients, 29 % were females and the age range was between 25 to 55 years. Extra-articular manifestations were presented in 56.7% of the patients. The mean of DAS 28 score was 5.73±1.46 and that of HAQ-DI was 1.22±0.72 while that of SF-36 was 40.03±13.96. The level of serum IL-18 was significantly higher in patients than in the control subjects (P= 0.030). Serum IL-18 was correlated with ACPA among the patient group. There were no statistically significant correlations between serum IL-18 and DAS28, HAQ-DI, SF-36, total SvH score and the other laboratory results. In conclusion, IL-18 is significantly higher in RA patient than in healthy control subjects and positively correlated with ACPA level. IL-18 is associated with extra-articular manifestations. However, it is not correlated with other laboratory parameters, disease activity, functional disability, quality of life nor radiological severity.

Keywords: disease activity score, Interleukin-18, quality of life assessment, rheumatoid arthritis

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Authors: Hong Zhang

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Photocatalytic degradation is an appealing process to remove organic contaminants from industrial wastewater, but usually impeded by less effective photocatalysts. Here, we successfully synthesized Ag doped La₂Ti₂O₇ via a simple sol-gel route for photocatalytic methyl orange (MO) degradation. Their crystal structures, morphology, surface area and optical absorption activity were systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, BET N₂ adsorption-desorption study, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by MO photodegradation under a 300 W xenon lamp. The results indicate that the doping of Ag has effectively narrowed the band gap, increased the specific area of La2Ti2O7, and supressed the recombination of photogenerated carriers. Compared with the pristine La₂Ti₂O₇, La₁.₉Ag₀.₁Ti₂O₇-δ revealed a superior performance for MO degradation with a degradation rate of 97% in only 60 min. Also, the pseudo-first order kinetic constant for La₁.₉Ag₀.₁Ti₂O₇-δ is ~ 11 times higher than that of undoped sample. The outstanding performance of Ag modified La₂Ti₂O₇ is probably attributed to the integrated factors. Active species trapping experiments indicated that h+ plays a critical role in MO degradation, while •O₂− has slight effect on the photocatalytic activity and the function of •OH can almost be neglected.

Keywords: Ag doped La₂Ti₂O₇, methyl orange, photodegradation, surface plasmon resonance

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Authors: Silvia Santano Guillén, Luigi Lo Iacono, Christian Meder

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One of the main aims of current social robotic research is to improve the robots’ abilities to interact with humans. In order to achieve an interaction similar to that among humans, robots should be able to communicate in an intuitive and natural way and appropriately interpret human affects during social interactions. Similarly to how humans are able to recognize emotions in other humans, machines are capable of extracting information from the various ways humans convey emotions—including facial expression, speech, gesture or text—and using this information for improved human computer interaction. This can be described as Affective Computing, an interdisciplinary field that expands into otherwise unrelated fields like psychology and cognitive science and involves the research and development of systems that can recognize and interpret human affects. To leverage these emotional capabilities by embedding them in humanoid robots is the foundation of the concept Affective Robots, which has the objective of making robots capable of sensing the user’s current mood and personality traits and adapt their behavior in the most appropriate manner based on that. In this paper, the emotion recognition capabilities of the humanoid robot Pepper are experimentally explored, based on the facial expressions for the so-called basic emotions, as well as how it performs in contrast to other state-of-the-art approaches with both expression databases compiled in academic environments and real subjects showing posed expressions as well as spontaneous emotional reactions. The experiments’ results show that the detection accuracy amongst the evaluated approaches differs substantially. The introduced experiments offer a general structure and approach for conducting such experimental evaluations. The paper further suggests that the most meaningful results are obtained by conducting experiments with real subjects expressing the emotions as spontaneous reactions.

Keywords: affective computing, emotion recognition, humanoid robot, human-robot-interaction (HRI), social robots

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Authors: R. H. Hwang, J. H. Park, K. B. Yi

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Nitrous oxide (N2O) is now distinguished as an environmental pollutant. N2O is one of the representative greenhouse gases and N2O is produced by both natural and anthropogenic sources. So, it is very important to reduce N2O. N2O abatement processes are various processes such as HC-SCR, NH3-SCR and decomposition process. Among them, decomposition process is advantageous because it does not use a reducing agent. N2O decomposition is a reaction in which N2O is decomposed into N2 and O2. There are noble metals, transition metal ion-exchanged zeolites, pure and mixed oxides for N2O decomposition catalyst. Among the various catalysts, cobalt-based catalysts derived from hydrotalcites gathered much attention because spinel catalysts having large surface areas and high thermal stabilities. In this study, the effect of promoter and K addition on the activity was compared and analyzed. Co3O4 catalysts for N2O decomposition were prepared by co- precipitation method. Ce and Zr were added during the preparation of the catalyst as promoter with the molar ratio (Ce or Zr) / Co = 0.05. In addition, 1 wt% K2CO3 was doped to the prepared catalyst with impregnation method to investigate the effect of K on the catalyst performance. Characterizations of catalysts were carried out with SEM, BET, XRD, XPS and H2-TPR. The catalytic activity tests were carried out at a GHSV of 45,000 h-1 and a temperature range of 250 ~ 375 ℃. The Co3O4 catalysts showed a spinel crystal phase, and the addition of the promoter increased the specific surface area and reduced the particle and crystal size. It was exhibited that the doping of K improves the catalytic activity by increasing the concentration of Co2+ in the catalyst which is an active site for catalytic reaction. As a result, the K-doped catalyst showed higher activity than the promoter added. Also, it was found through experiments that Co2+ concentration and reduction temperature greatly affect the reactivity.

Keywords: Co₃O4, K-doped, N₂O decomposition, promoter

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Authors: Karol Rodriguez-Peña, Martha L. Macias-Rubalcava, Leticia Rocha-Zavaleta, Sergio Sanchez

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A bioassay-guided study for anti-cancer compounds from endophytes of the Mexican medicinal plant Amphipteryygium adstringens resulted in the isolation of a streptomycete capable of producing a group of compounds with high cytotoxic activity. Microorganisms from surface sterilized samples of various sections of the plant were isolated and all the actinomycetes found were evaluated for their potential to produce compounds with cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines MCF7 (breast cancer) and HeLa (cervical cancer) as well as the non-tumoural cell line HaCaT (keratinocyte). The most active microorganism was picked for further evaluation. The identification of the microorganism was carried out by 16S rDNA gene sequencing, finding the closest proximity to Streptomyces scabrisporus, but with the additional characteristic that the strain isolated in this study was capable of producing colorful compounds never described for this species. Crude extracts of dichloromethane and ethyl acetate showed IC50 values of 0.29 and 0.96 μg/mL for MCF7, 0.51 and 1.98 μg/mL for HeLa and 0.96 and 2.7 μg/mL for HaCaT. Scaling the fermentation to 10 L in a bioreactor generated 1 g of total crude extract, which was fractionated by silica gel open column to yield 14 fractions. Nine of the fractions showed cytotoxic activity. Fraction 4 was chosen for subsequent purification because of its high activity against cancerous cell lines, lower activity against keratinocytes. HPLC-UV-MS/ESI was used for the evaluation of this fraction, finding at least 10 different compounds with high values of m/z (≈588). Purification of the compounds was carried out by preparative thin-layer chromatography. The prevalent compound was Steffimycin B, a molecule known for its antibiotic and cytotoxic activities and also for its low solubility in aqueous solutions. Along with steffimycin B, another five compounds belonging to the steffimycin family were isolated and at this moment their structures are being elucidated, some of which display better solubility in water: an attractive property for the pharmaceutical industry. As a conclusion to this study, the isolation of endophytes resulted in the discovery of a strain capable of producing compounds with high cytotoxic activity that need to be studied for their possible utilization.

Keywords: amphipterygium adstringens, cytotoxicity, streptomyces scabrisporus, steffimycin

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Authors: Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, Ali Reza Mahjoub, Behjat Afshari

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In this work, Nickel/Zinc Oxide hollow spherical structures with high surface area using the template Fructose was prepared by the hydrothermal method using a ultrasonic bath at room temperature was produced and were identified by FTIR, XRD, FE-SEM. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized hollow spherical Nickel/Zinc Oxide was studied in the destruction of Congo red as Azo dye. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of Nickel/ Zinc Oxide hollow spherical nanostructures is improved compared with zinc oxide hollow sphere and other morphologies.

Keywords: azo dye, hollow spheres, photocatalyst, nickel/zinc oxide

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Authors: Anguo Chen, Huajie Chen, Caimei Yang, Qihua Hong, Jun Feng

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The experiment was conducted with 360 one-day-old Avian commercial broilers to study the effects of dietary cinnamon extract (CE), garlic extract (GE) and yucca extract (YE) on growth performance and serum biochemical parameters in broilers. The chickens were randomly divided equally into 4 treatment groups, each group with 3 replications, and received the same basal corn-bean diets included a starter from 1 d to 21 d and then a grower until 42 d, added with recommended dose 250 mg/kg CE, 25 mg/kg GE and 10 mg/kg YE to relevant group, respectively. The birds were kept in a stainless steel net coop each replication with 24 h light and were fed and drunk ad libitum. At 21 d and 42 d of age, 6 chicks were respectively picked out from every group and were bled to collect serum samples and intestinal samples for laboratory analysis. The results showed that the average daily gain (ADG) of CE, GE and YE group were increased by 7.20% (P<0.05), 3.43% (P>0.05) and 4.89% (P>0.05), feed gain ratio (F/G) was improved by 9.71% (P<0.05), 3.40% (P>0.05) and 3.40% (P>0.05) compared with the control, respectively. At 21 d of age, the content of serum urea nitrogen (SUN) and serum uric acid (SUA) and the activity of serum xanthine oxidase (SXO) in CE group were reduced by 35.17% (P<0.01), 13.73% (P<0.01) and 16.33% (P<0.05) compared with the control, respectively. At 42 d of age, SUN and SUA level and SXO activity were lowered by 24.35% (P<0.01), 15.49% (P<0.05) and 23.09% (P<0.01), respectively. The SXO activity in CE group was decreased by 14.86% (P<0.01) and 15.34%(P<0.01) compare with GE and YE group, respectively. Also, adding CE, GE and YE into broiler diets resulted in lower UN and UA level of intestinal contents. It is clear that CE was more significantly decreased the SXO activity and SUA levels than GE and YE, especially at the latter period, thereby it may play a more important role in improving the growth performance of broilers.

Keywords: cinnamon extract, broiler, growth performance, serum uric acid, serum xanthine oxidase

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Authors: Hadiza Abdullahi

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Sialic Acids and sialidases have been implicated in many disease states particularly bacterial and viral infections which are common opportunist infections of HIV disease. Their role in HIV/AIDS is contemplated. A study was carried out to determine Sialic Acid profile and Sialidase Activity in HIV infected and Apparently Healthy individuals, and also determine the relationship between the sialic acid levels and sialidase activity. Blood samples were collected from 200 subjects (150 HIV infected individuals and 50 apparently healthy individuals divided into four groups- HIV ART Naïve, HIV Stable (on ART but have been stable with no clinical episodes), HIV-OI (on ART with opportunistic infections), and Apparently Healthy). Complete Blood Count, Erythrocyte Surface Sialic Acid (ESSA), Free Serum Sialic Acid (FSSA) concentrations and Sialidase activity were determined for all 200 subjects. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the results of the different groups of HIV infected individuals as well as controls. The mean haemoglobin (HGB), Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and Red Blood Cells (RBC) concentrations were significantly lower (P ≤ 0.05) in the HIV groups compared with the apparently healthy groups. Anaemia and neutropaenia were the most common heamatological abnormalities observed in this study with highest prevalence of anaemia found in the ART naive group. The mean FSSA was 0.4±0.4mg/ml. There was a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between some groups. The highest levels of FSSA was observed in the HIV ART naïve (0.65±0.5mg/ml). The mean ESSA value for the study population was 0.54±0.35mg/ml with no significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between groups. The mean sialidase activity values were 0.52±0.1 µmol/min/µl, 0.40±0.1 µmol/min/µl, 0.45±0.1 µmol/min/µl and 0.41±0.1 µmol/min/µl for the HIV ART naïve, HIV stable, HIV/OIs and apparently healthy groups respectively. No significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) was found between groups and also in gender and age. The finding in this study of higher mean sialidase activity and FSSA levels in the ART naïve HIV group compared with other groups indicate that the virus and other opportunistic pathogens may be sialidase producers in vivo which cleave off sialic acids from erythrocytes surface, leading to high levels of FSSA, anaemia and neutropaenia seen in this group. The higher ESSA concentration found in the HIV stable group along with lowest FSSA concentration in the group suggests the presence of sialyltransferases.

Keywords: erythrocyte surface sialic acid, free serum sialic acid, HIV, sialidase

Procedia PDF Downloads 207

Authors: Narmeen Mehmood

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The current study was conducted to evaluate the pharmacognostic parameters, phytochemical analysis and antibacterial activity of the plant. Microscopic studies were carried out to determine various Pharmacognostic parameters. Section cutting of the leaf was also done. The study of the ariel parts of Beaumontia grandiflora resulted in the identification of fatty acids mixture and unsaponifiable matters. For the separation of various constituents of the plant, successive solvent extraction was carried out in a laboratory. Material and Methods: The study was carried out with all three extracts of Beaumontia grandiflora i.e. Petroleum ether, Chloroform and Methanol. For the separation of various constituents of the plant, successive solvent extraction was carried out in the laboratory. Raw data containing the measured zones of inhibition in mm was tabulated. Results: The microscopic studies showed the presence of Upper epidermis in surface view, Part of Lamina in section view, cortical parenchyma in longitudinal view, Parenchyma with collapsed tissues, Parenchyma Cells, Epidermal cells with a part of covering trichome, starch granules, reticulated thickened vessels, Transverse Section of leaf of Beaumontia grandiflora showed Upper Epidermis, Lower Epidermis, Hairs, Vascular Bundles, Parenchyma. Phytochemical analysis of leaves of Beaumontia grandiflora indicates that Alkaloids are present. There is a possibility of the presence of some bioactive components in the crude extracts due to which it shows strong activity. Petroleum ether extract shows a greater zone of inhibition at low concentrations. Conclusion: The alkaloids possess good antibacterial activity so the presence of alkaloids may be responsible for the antibacterial activity observed in the crude organic extract of Beaumontia grandiflora.

Keywords: successive solvent extraction, zone of inhibitions., microscopy, phytochemical analysis

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Authors: Anukriti Kumar, Tanmay Singh, Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma

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Traffic control has been one of the most common and irritating problems since the time automobiles have hit the roads. Problems like traffic congestion have led to a significant time burden around the world and one significant solution to these problems can be the proper implementation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS). It involves the integration of various tools like smart sensors, artificial intelligence, position technologies and mobile data services to manage traffic flow, reduce congestion and enhance driver's ability to avoid accidents during adverse weather. Road and traffic signs’ recognition is an emerging field of research in ITS. Classification problem of traffic signs needs to be solved as it is a major step in our journey towards building semi-autonomous/autonomous driving systems. The purpose of this work focuses on implementing an approach to solve the problem of traffic sign classification by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier using the GTSRB (German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark) dataset. Rather than using hand-crafted features, our model addresses the concern of exploding huge parameters and data method augmentations. Our model achieved an accuracy of around 97.6% which is comparable to various state-of-the-art architectures.

Keywords: multiclass classification, convolution neural network, OpenCV

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Zhihui Liu, Dongmei Hao, Qian Qiu, Yang An, Lin Yang, Song Zhang, Yimin Yang, Xuwen Li, Dingchang Zheng

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Premature birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and has long-term adverse consequences for health. It has recently been reported that the worldwide preterm birth rate is around 10%. The existing measurement techniques for diagnosing preterm delivery include tocodynamometer, ultrasound and fetal fibronectin. However, they are subjective, or suffer from high measurement variability and inaccurate diagnosis and prediction of preterm labor. Electrohysterography (EHG) method based on recording of uterine electrical activity by electrodes attached to maternal abdomen, is a promising method to assess uterine activity and diagnose preterm labor. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of EHG signal features between term labor and preterm labor. Free access database was used with 300 signals acquired in two groups of pregnant women who delivered at term (262 cases) and preterm (38 cases). Among them, EHG signals from 38 term labor and 38 preterm labor were preprocessed with band-pass Butterworth filters of 0.08–4Hz. Then, EHG signal features were extracted, which comprised classical time domain description including root mean square and zero-crossing number, spectral parameters including peak frequency, mean frequency and median frequency, wavelet packet coefficients, autoregression (AR) model coefficients, and nonlinear measures including maximal Lyapunov exponent, sample entropy and correlation dimension. Their statistical significance for recognition of two groups of recordings was provided. The results showed that mean frequency of preterm labor was significantly smaller than term labor (p < 0.05). 5 coefficients of AR model showed significant difference between term labor and preterm labor. The maximal Lyapunov exponent of early preterm (time of recording < the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than early term. The sample entropy of late preterm (time of recording > the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than late term. There was no significant difference for other features between the term labor and preterm labor groups. Any future work regarding classification should therefore focus on using multiple techniques, with the mean frequency, AR coefficients, maximal Lyapunov exponent and the sample entropy being among the prime candidates. Even if these methods are not yet useful for clinical practice, they do bring the most promising indicators for the preterm labor.

Keywords: electrohysterogram, feature, preterm labor, term labor

Procedia PDF Downloads 562

Authors: K. S. Vimal, D. Bodhini, K. Ramya, N. Lakshmipriya, R. M. Anjana, V. Sudha, J. A. Lovegrove, V. Mohan, V. Radha

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Gene-lifestyle interaction studies have been carried out in various populations. However, to date there are no studies in an Asian Indian population. Hence, we examined whether lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity modify the association between fat mass and obesity–associated (FTO) gene variants and obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in an Asian Indian population. We studied 734 unrelated T2D and 884 normal glucose-tolerant (NGT) participants randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES) in Southern India. Obesity was defined according to the World Health Organization Asia Pacific Guidelines (non-obese, BMI < 25 kg/m2; obese, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2). Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FTO gene (rs9940128, rs7193144, rs8050136, rs918031, rs1588413 and rs11076023) identified from recent genome-wide association studies for T2D were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and direct sequencing. Dietary assessment was carried out using a validated food frequency questionnaire and physical activity was based upon the self-report. Interaction analyses were performed by including the interaction terms in the model. A joint likelihood ratio test of the main SNP effects and the SNP-diet/physical activity interaction effects was used in the linear regression analyses to maximize statistical power. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 13. There was a significant interaction between FTO SNP rs8050136 and carbohydrate energy percentage (Pinteraction=0.04) on obesity, where the ‘A’ allele carriers of the SNP rs8050136 had 2.46 times higher risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P=3.0x10-5) among individuals in the highest tertile of carbohydrate energy percentage. Furthermore, among those who had lower levels of physical activity, the ‘A’ allele carriers of the SNP rs8050136 had 1.89 times higher risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P=4.0x10-5). We also found a borderline interaction between SNP rs11076023 and carbohydrate energy percentage (Pinteraction=0.08) on T2D, where the ‘A’ allele carriers in the highest tertile of carbohydrate energy percentage, had 1.57 times higher risk of T2D than those with ‘TT’ genotype (P=0.002). There was also a significant interaction between SNP rs11076023 and physical activity (Pinteraction=0.03) on T2D. No further significant interactions between SNPs and macronutrient intake or physical activity on obesity and T2D were observed. In conclusion, this is the first study to provide evidence for a gene-diet and gene-physical activity interaction on obesity and T2D in an Asian Indian population. These findings suggest that the association between FTO gene variants and obesity and T2D is influenced by carbohydrate intake and physical activity levels. Greater understanding of how FTO gene influences obesity and T2D through dietary and exercise interventions will advance the development of behavioral intervention and personalised lifestyle strategies predicted to reduce the development of metabolic diseases in ‘A’ allele carriers of both SNPs in this Asian Indian population.

Keywords: dietary intake, FTO, obesity, physical activity, type 2 diabetes, Asian Indian.

Procedia PDF Downloads 526

Authors: Patrick Louie Robles, Jerry Suls, Ciaran Friel, Mark Butler, Samantha Gordon, Frank Vicari, Joan Duer-Hefele, Karina W. Davidson

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Physical activity guidelines focus on increasing moderate-intensity activity for older adults, but adherence to recommendations remains low. This is despite the fact that scientific evidence finds increasing physical activity is positively associated with health benefits. Behavior change techniques (BCTs) have demonstrated some effectiveness in reducing sedentary behavior and promoting physical activity. This pilot study uses a personalized trials (N-of-1) design, delivered virtually, to evaluate the efficacy of using five BCTs in increasing low-intensity physical activity (by 2,000 steps of walking per day) in adults aged 45-75 years old. The 5 BCTs described in habit formation theory are goal setting, action planning, rehearsal, rehearsal in a consistent context, and self-monitoring. The study recruited health system employees in the target age range who had no mobility restrictions and expressed interest in increasing their daily activity by a minimum of 2,000 steps per day at least five days per week. Participants were sent a Fitbit Charge 4 fitness tracker with an established study account and password. Participants were recommended to wear the Fitbit device 24/7 but were required to wear it for a minimum of ten hours per day. Baseline physical activity was measured by Fitbit for two weeks. Participants then engaged remotely with a clinical research coordinator to establish a “walking plan” that included a time and day interval (e.g., between 7am -8am on Monday-Friday), a location for the walk (e.g., park), and how much time the plan would need to achieve a minimum of 2,000 steps over their baseline average step count (20 minutes). All elements of the walking plan were required to remain consistent throughout the study. In the 10-week intervention phase of the study, participants received all five BCTs in a single, time-sensitive text message. The text message was delivered 30 minutes prior to the established walk time and signaled participants to begin walking when the context (i.e., day of the week, time of day) they pre-selected is encountered. Participants were asked to log both the start and conclusion of their activity session by pressing a button on the Fitbit tracker. Within 30 minutes of the planned conclusion of the activity session, participants received a text message with a link to a secure survey. Here, they noted whether they engaged in the BCTs when prompted and completed an automaticity survey to identify how “automatic” their walking behavior had become. At the end of their trial, participants received a personalized summary of their step data over time, helping them learn more about their responses to the five BCTs. Whether the use of these 5 ‘habit formation’ BCTs in combination elicits a change in physical activity behavior among older adults will be reported. This study will inform the feasibility of a virtually-delivered N-of-1 study design to effectively promote physical activity as a component of healthy aging.

Keywords: aging, exercise, habit, walking

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: E. Abdi

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The purpose of this theoretical literature review is to study the relevant academic literature on lack of cardiorespiratory fitness and its effects on children. The total of thirty eight relevant documents were identified and considered for this review which nineteen of those were original research articles published in peer reviewed journals. The other nineteen articles were statistical documents. This document is structured to examine 4 effects in deficiency of cardiorespiratory fitness in school aged children: (a) obesity, (b) inadequate fitness level, (c) unhealthy life style, and (d) academics. The categories provide a theoretical framework for future studies. The results are broken down into 6 sections: (a) academics,( b) healthy life style, (c) low cost, (d) obesity, (e) Relative Age Effect (RAE), and (f) race/poverty. The study discusses that regular physical fitness assists children and adolescents to develop healthy physical activity behaviors which can be sustained throughout adult life. Conclusion suggests that advocacy for increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behaviors at school and home are necessary.

Keywords: cardiorespiratory, endurance, physical activity, physical fitness

Procedia PDF Downloads 426

Authors: Christine F. Boos, Fernando M. Azevedo

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Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of the electrical activity of the brain that has many applications, such as monitoring alertness, coma and brain death; locating damaged areas of the brain after head injury, stroke and tumor; monitoring anesthesia depth; researching physiology and sleep disorders; researching epilepsy and localizing the seizure focus. Epilepsy is a chronic condition, or a group of diseases of high prevalence, still poorly explained by science and whose diagnosis is still predominantly clinical. The EEG recording is considered an important test for epilepsy investigation and its visual analysis is very often applied for clinical confirmation of epilepsy diagnosis. Moreover, this EEG analysis can also be used to help define the types of epileptic syndrome, determine epileptiform zone, assist in the planning of drug treatment and provide additional information about the feasibility of surgical intervention. In the context of diagnosis confirmation the analysis is made using long term EEG recordings with at least 24 hours long and acquired by a minimum of 24 electrodes in which the neurophysiologists perform a thorough visual evaluation of EEG screens in search of specific electrographic patterns called epileptiform discharges. Considering that the EEG screens usually display 10 seconds of the recording, the neurophysiologist has to evaluate 360 screens per hour of EEG or a minimum of 8,640 screens per long term EEG recording. Analyzing thousands of EEG screens in search patterns that have a maximum duration of 200 ms is a very time consuming, complex and exhaustive task. Because of this, over the years several studies have proposed automated methodologies that could facilitate the neurophysiologists’ task of identifying epileptiform discharges and a large number of methodologies used neural networks for the pattern classification. One of the differences between all of these methodologies is the type of input stimuli presented to the networks, i.e., how the EEG signal is introduced in the network. Five types of input stimuli have been commonly found in literature: raw EEG signal, morphological descriptors (i.e. parameters related to the signal’s morphology), Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum, Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) spectrograms and Wavelet Transform features. This study evaluates the application of these five types of input stimuli and compares the classification results of neural networks that were implemented using each of these inputs. The performance of using raw signal varied between 43 and 84% efficiency. The results of FFT spectrum and STFT spectrograms were quite similar with average efficiency being 73 and 77%, respectively. The efficiency of Wavelet Transform features varied between 57 and 81% while the descriptors presented efficiency values between 62 and 93%. After simulations we could observe that the best results were achieved when either morphological descriptors or Wavelet features were used as input stimuli.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, electroencephalogram signal, pattern recognition, signal processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 526

Authors: Mohana Babu Amberkar, Meena Kumari K, Ravi, Arjun, Christopher Rockson

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The aim of this research is to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of Terminalia paniculata (Tp) against ATT induced hepatic damage in rats.Three hepatotoxic ATT drugs Isoniazid + Rifampicin + Pyrazinamide, silymarin as standard hepatoprotective drug and 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as a control were used. Tp extract and silymarin were administered orally with ATT drugs for 90 days. Two doses 250 and 500 mg/kg of Tp extract, ATT drugs and silymarin were administered as suspensions with 0.5% CMC. ATT treated rats showed a significant increase in aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, and lipid peroxides in the serum vs. control. Treatment of silymarin and Tp (250mg/kg) extract showed hepatoprotective activity against the hepatic damage by ATT. This was evident from significant reduction in serum liver enzymes levels, and also there was a significant increase in serum proteins, albumin and total liver tissue thiols as compared to the ATT treated groups. Tp was found to possess hepatoprotective property.

Keywords: antitubercular drugs, hepatoprotective, liver enzymes, Terminalia paniculata

Procedia PDF Downloads 431

Authors: Hafiz Muhammad Adeel Sharif, Tian Li, Changping Li

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Recently, the emission of nitrogen-sulphur oxides (NOₓ, SO₂) has become a global issue and causing serious threats to health and the environment. Catalytic reduction of NOx and SOₓ gases into friendly gases is considered one of the best approaches. However, regeneration of the catalyst, higher bond-dissociation energy for NOx, i.e., 150.7 kcal/mol, escape of intermediate gas (N₂O, a greenhouse gas) with treated flue-gas, and limited activity of catalyst remains a great challenge. Here, a cheap, binderless naturally-extracted bass-wood thin carbon electrode (TCE) is presented, which shows excellent catalytic activity towards NOx reduction. The bass-wood carbonization at 900 ℃ followed by thermal activation in the presence of CO2 gas at 750 ℃. The thermal activation resulted in an increase in epoxy groups on the surface of the TCE and enhancement in the surface area as well as the degree of graphitization. The TCE unique 3D strongly inter-connected network through hierarchical micro/meso/macro pores that allow large electrode/electrolyte interface. Owing to these characteristics, the TCE exhibited excellent catalytic efficiency towards NOx (~83.3%) under ambient conditions and enhanced catalytic response under pH and sulphite exposure as well as excellent stability up to 168 hours. Moreover, a temperature-dependent activity trend was found where the highest catalytic activity was achieved at 80 ℃, beyond which the electrolyte became evaporative and resulted in a performance decrease. The designed electrocatalyst showed great potential for effective NOx-reduction, which is highly cost-effective, green, and sustainable.

Keywords: electrocatalyst, NOx-reduction, bass-wood electrode, integrated wet-scrubbing, sustainable

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Kgantsi B. T., Ochwelwang A. R., Mathuthu M., Jegede O. A.

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Anthropogenic activities near water bodies contribute to poor water quality, which degrades the condition of the biota and elevates the risk to human health. The Vaal River is essential in supplying Gauteng and neighboring regions of South Africa with portable water for a variety of consumers and industries. Consequently, it is necessary to monitor and assess the radioactive risk in relation to the river's water quality. This study used an inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS) to analyze the radionuclide activity concentration in the Vaal River, South Africa. Along with thorium and potassium, the total uranium concentration was calculated using the isotopic content of uranium. The elemental concentration of ²³⁸U, ²³⁵U, ²³⁴U, ²³²Th, and 40K were translated into activity concentrations. To assess the water safety for all users and consumers, all values were compared to world average activity concentrations 35, 30, and 400 Bqkg⁻¹ for ²³⁸U, ²³⁴Th, and ⁴⁰K, respectively, according to the UNSCEAR report. The results will serve as a database for further monitoring and evaluation of the radionuclide from the river, taking cognisance of potential health hazards.

Keywords: Val Rivers, ICPMS, uranium, risks

Procedia PDF Downloads 159