Search results for: optimum keys

Authors: Tadele Tesfay Teame, Tsegaye Abrehame, Hágen István Zsombor

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Liquidity is one of the main concerns for banks, and thus achieving the optimum level of liquidity is critical. The main objective of this study is to discover the driving force of selected private commercial banks’ liquidity. In order to achieve the objective explanatory research design and quantitative research approach were used. Data has been collected from a secondary source of the sampled Ethiopian private commercial banks’ financial statements, the National Bank of Ethiopia, and the Minister of Finance, the sample covering the period from 2011 to 2022. Bank-specific and macroeconomic variables were analyzed by using the balanced panel fixed effect regression model. Bank’s liquidity ratio is measured by the total liquid asset to total deposits. The findings of the study revealed that bank size, capital adequacy, loan growth rate, and non-performing loan had a statistically significant impact on private commercial banks’ liquidity, and annual inflation rate and interest rate margin had a statistically significant impact on the liquidity of Ethiopian private commercial banks measured by L1 (bank liquidity). Thus, banks in Ethiopia should not only be concerned about internal structures and policies/procedures, but they must consider both the internal environment and the macroeconomic environment together in developing their strategies to efficiently manage their liquidity position and private commercial banks to maintain their financial proficiency shall have bank liquidity management policy by assimilating both bank-specific and macro-economic variables.

Keywords: liquidity, Ethiopian private commercial banks, liquidity ratio, panel data regression analysis

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Authors: Elena Kalcheva, Ahmad Taki, Yuri Hadi

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Urban regeneration often includes residential high-rises as a way of optimum use of land. However, high-rises are in many cases connected to placelessness, this is not due to some intrinsic characteristic of the typology, but more to a failure to provide meaningful places in connection to them. The reason to study the Isle of the Dogs regeneration is the successful process that led to vibrant area with strong identity and social sustainability. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the gaps into the sound strategy for the development of the area and in its implementation which will make the place more sustainable. The paper addresses four research questions: are the residential high-rises supporting a proper physical form; is there deployed properly scaled mix of land uses and functions in connection with residential high-rises; are there possible quality activities in quality places near the residential high-rises; and is there a strong sense of place created with the residential high-rise buildings and their surroundings. The methodology relies on observational survey of the researched area together with structured questions, to evaluate the external qualities of the residential high-rises and their surroundings. Visual information can help identify the mistakes and the omissions of the provided project examples. It can provide insight on how can be improved imageability, legibility and human scale. In this connection, the paper argues that although the quality of the architecture of the high-rises is superb, there is a failure to create meaningful, high quality public realm in connection with them. As such, it does not function as well as the designers intended to do: the functional quality of the public realm is quite low. The implications of the study suggest that actions need to take place in order to improve and foster further regeneration of the area.

Keywords: high-rises, isle of the dogs, public realm, regeneration

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Authors: Wassim Jerbi, Abderrahmen Guermazi, Hafedh Trabelsi

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The optimum use of coverage in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is very important. LEACH protocol called Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy, presents a hierarchical clustering algorithm for wireless sensor networks. LEACH is a protocol that allows the formation of distributed cluster. In each cluster, LEACH randomly selects some sensor nodes called cluster heads (CHs). The selection of CHs is made with a probabilistic calculation. It is supposed that each non-CH node joins a cluster and becomes a cluster member. Nevertheless, some CHs can be concentrated in a specific part of the network. Thus, several sensor nodes cannot reach any CH. to solve this problem. We created an O-LEACH Orphan nodes protocol, its role is to reduce the sensor nodes which do not belong the cluster. The cluster member called Gateway receives messages from neighboring orphan nodes. The gateway informs CH having the neighboring nodes that not belong to any group. However, Gateway called (CH') attaches the orphaned nodes to the cluster and then collected the data. O-Leach enables the formation of a new method of cluster, leads to a long life and minimal energy consumption. Orphan nodes possess enough energy and seeks to be covered by the network. The principal novel contribution of the proposed work is O-LEACH protocol which provides coverage of the whole network with a minimum number of orphaned nodes and has a very high connectivity rates.As a result, the WSN application receives data from the entire network including orphan nodes. The proper functioning of the Application requires, therefore, management of intelligent resources present within each the network sensor. The simulation results show that O-LEACH performs better than LEACH in terms of coverage, connectivity rate, energy and scalability.

Keywords: WSNs; routing; LEACH; O-LEACH; Orphan nodes; sub-cluster; gateway; CH’

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Authors: Muhammad Umar Kiani, Muhammad Shahbaz

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Performance of any vehicle can be predicted by its design/modeling and optimization. Design optimization leads to efficient performance. Followed by horizontal launch, the air launch re-entry vehicle undergoes a launch maneuver by introducing a carefully selected angle of attack profile. This angle of attack profile is the basic element to complete a specified mission. Flight program of said vehicle is optimized under the constraints of the maximum allowed angle of attack, lateral and axial loads and with the objective of reaching maximum altitude. The main focus of this study is the endo-atmospheric phase of the ascent trajectory. A three degrees of freedom trajectory model is simulated in MATLAB. The optimization process uses evolutionary algorithm, because of its robustness and efficient capacity to explore the design space in search of the global optimum. Evolutionary Algorithm based trajectory optimization also offers the added benefit of being a generalized method that may work with continuous, discontinuous, linear, and non-linear performance matrix. It also eliminates the requirement of a starting solution. Optimization is particularly beneficial to achieve maximum advantage without increasing the computational cost and affecting the output of the system. For the case of launch vehicles we are immensely anxious to achieve maximum performance and efficiency under different constraints. In a launch vehicle, flight program means the prescribed variation of vehicle pitching angle during the flight which has substantial influence reachable altitude and accuracy of orbit insertion and aerodynamic loading. Results reveal that the angle of attack profile significantly affects the performance of the vehicle.

Keywords: endo-atmospheric, evolutionary algorithm, efficient performance, optimization process

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Authors: Malalage Mudara Peiris

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Objectives of the study are: the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus, characterization of silver nanoparticles and determination of antimicrobial activity against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, MRSA, and C. Albicans. Methods: E. coli (ATCC 25922), A. baumanii (clinical strain), S. aureus (clinical strain) cultured in nutrient broth medium were used for biosynthesis of AgNPs. Culture conditions (AgNO3 concentration, pH, incubation time and temperature) were optimized. Characterization of synthesized NPs was done by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized NPs was studied using the good diffusion assay against E. coli, S. aureus, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), P. aeruginosa and C. Albicans. Results: All the selected bacteria produced silver nanoparticles at alkaline pH above 0.3 g/L AgNO3 concentration. The optimum reaction temperature was 60oC. According to the UV-Visible spectroscopy, the maximum absorbance was found to be around 420 - 430 nm indicating the presence of AgNPs. According to the good diffusion results, AgNPs produced by S. aureus resulted in the larger zone of inhibition (ZOI) against the selected pathogens, while AgNPs produced by E. coli showed comparatively smaller ZOI. In general, biosynthesized AgNPs were highly effective against gram-negative bacteria compared to gram-positive bacterial and fungal species. Conclusions: Green AgNPs produced by each bacterium show antimicrobial activity against the selected pathogens. AgNPs produced by S. aureus are the most effective NPs among tested AgNPs, while AgNPs produced by E. coli are the least effective. Further characterization of NPs is required to study the physical properties of silver NPs.

Keywords: green nanotechnology, silver nanoparticles, bacteria, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: F. Farzan Nasab, H. J. M. Geijselaers, I. Baran, A. De Boer

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A method is introduced for the coupled skin-rib optimization of a wing box where mass minimization is the objective and local buckling is the constraint. The structure is made of composite materials where continuity of plies in multiple adjacent panels (blending) has to be satisfied. Blending guarantees the manufacturability of the structure; however, it is a highly challenging constraint to treat and has been under debate in recent research in the same area. To fulfill design guidelines with respect to symmetry, balance, contiguity, disorientation and percentage rule of the layup, a reference for the stacking sequences (stacking sequence table or SST) is generated first. Then, an innovative fully gradient-based optimization approach in relation to a specific SST is introduced to obtain the optimum thickness distribution all over the structure while blending is fulfilled. The proposed optimization approach aims to turn the discrete optimization problem associated with the integer number of plies into a continuous one. As a result of a wing box deflection, a rib is subjected to load values which vary nonlinearly with the amount of deflection. The bending stiffness of a skin affects the wing box deflection and thus affects the load applied to a rib. This indicates the necessity of a coupled skin-rib optimization approach for a more realistic optimized design. The proposed method is examined with the optimization of the layup of a composite stiffened skin and rib of a wing torsion box subjected to in-plane normal and shear loads. Results show that the method can successfully prescribe a valid design with a significantly cheap computation cost.

Keywords: blending, buckling optimization, composite panels, wing torsion box

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Authors: Naser Valipour Motlagh, Majid Aliabadi, Elnaz Rahmani, Samira Ghorbanpour

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Strawberry is one of the most favored fruits all along the world. But due to its vulnerability to microbial contamination and short life storage, there are lots of problems in industrial production and transportation of this fruit. Therefore, lots of ideas have tried to increase the storage life of strawberries especially through proper packaging. This paper works on efficient packaging as well. The primary material used is produced through simple mixing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and silver nanoparticles in different weight fractions of 0.5 and 1% in presence of dicumyl peroxide as a cross-linking agent. Final packages were made in a twin-screw extruder. Then, their effect on the quality maintenance of strawberry is evaluated. The SEM images of nano-silver packages show the distribution of silver nanoparticles in the packages. Total bacteria count, mold, yeast and E. coli are measured for microbial evaluation of all samples. Texture, color, appearance, odor, taste and total acceptance of various samples are evaluated by trained panelists and based on 9-point hedonic scale method. The results show a decrease in total bacteria count and mold in nano-silver packages compared to the samples packed in polyethylene packages for the same storage time. The optimum concentration of silver nanoparticles for the lowest bacteria count and mold is predicted to be around 0.5% which has attained the most acceptance from the panelist as well. Moreover, organoleptic properties of strawberry are preserved for a longer period in nano-silver packages. It can be concluded that using nano-silver particles in strawberry packages has improved the storage life and quality maintenance of the fruit.

Keywords: antimicrobial properties, polyethylene, silver nanoparticles, strawberry

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Authors: Ahmed F. Azmy, Amal E. Saafan, Tamer M. Essam, Magdy A. Amin, Shaban H. Ahmed

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Bacterial strains capable of degradation of malathion from the domestic sewage were isolated by an enrichment culture technique. Three bacterial strains were screened and identified as Acinetobacter baumannii (AFA), Pseudomonas aeruginosae (PS1),andPseudomonas mendocina (PS2) based on morphological, biochemical identification and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Acinetobacter baumannii AFA was the most efficient malathion degrading bacterium, so used for further biodegradation study. AFA was able to grow in mineral salt medium (MSM) supplemented with malathion (100 mg/l) as a sole carbon source, and within 14 days, 84% of the initial dose was degraded by the isolate measured by high performance liquid chromatography. Strain AFA could also degrade other organophosphorus compounds including diazenon, chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion. The effect of different culture conditions on the degradation of malathion like inoculum density, other carbon or nitrogen sources, temperature and shaking were examined. Degradation of malathion and bacterial cell growth were accelerated when culture media were supplemented with yeast extract, glucose and citrate. The optimum conditions for malathion degradation by strain AFA were; an inoculum density of 1.5x 1012CFU/ml at 30°C with shaking. A specific polymerase chain reaction primers were designed manually using multiple sequence alignment of the corresponding carboxylesterase enzymes of Acinetobacter species. Sequencing result of amplified PCR product and phylogenetic analysis showed low degree of homology with the other carboxylesterase enzymes of Acinetobacter strains, so we suggested that this enzyme is a novel esterase enzyme. Isolated bacterial strains may have potential role for use in bioremediation of malathion contaminated.

Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii, biodegradation, malathion, organophosphate pesticides

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Authors: Mohammad Nassiri, Farhad Ahmadi

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This research was carried out to investigate the effects of copper oxide nanoparticles (nano-CuO) on performance and gut morphology of broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old male chickens (Ross-308) were randomly divided in a completely randomized design, the inclusion of 4 groups of 60 birds with 4 replicates and 15 birds in each. Experimental diets were as follow: T1 control (basal diets, without nano-CuO but contain 9.1 mg Cu/kg from CuO), T2, T3, and T4 basal diet supplementation with 30, 60, and 90 mg nano-CuO/kg, respectively. Feed intake (FI) and gain weight as weekly recorded and on d 21 feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. Furthermore, at the end of the trial (21 d), four birds per treatment (one bird/replicate) randomly selected and after removed blood samples, they slaughtered and then to the analysis of gut morphological. A segment (10 cm) from the middle part of duodenum and jejunum was removed and put in the formalin 10% (pH = 7). The results revealed that nano-CuO had significantly increased body weight (P = 0.029, but feed intake (P = 0.017), and feed conversion ratio (P = 0.031) decreased in the birds that fed 90 mg nano-CuO when compared to control and the other groups. Total antioxidant capacity (P = 0.041), superoxide dismutase (P = 0.036), and glutathione peroxidase (P = 0.048) were more in the birds fed diet inclusion of 60 and 90 mg nano-CuO (T4) than other treatments. The lowest malonaldehyde (MDA) level was observed in T3 (P = 0.23) and T4 (P = 0.028) decreased (P = 0.17). The villi height and villi height to crypt depth (VH/CD ratio) numerically increased (P = 0.09) in the bird fed 90 mg nano-CuO in comparison with other treatments. According to present results, it could be concluded that dietary nano-CuO improved performance parameters and antioxidant status of broiler chickens during starter period. As well, the optimum improvement observed in the birds fed diet inclusion of 90 mg nano-CuO/kg.

Keywords: antioxidant, broilers, copper, performance, nanoparticles

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Authors: Hayriye Anıl, Görkem Kar

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In addition to being rich in renewable energy resources, Turkey is one of the countries that promise potential in geothermal energy production with its high installed power, cheapness, and sustainability. Increasing imbalance penalties become an economic burden for organizations since geothermal generation plants cannot maintain the balance of supply and demand due to the inadequacy of the production forecasts given in the day-ahead market. A better production forecast reduces the imbalance penalties of market participants and provides a better imbalance in the day ahead market. In this study, using machine learning, deep learning, and, time series methods, the total generation of the power plants belonging to Zorlu Natural Electricity Generation, which has a high installed capacity in terms of geothermal, was estimated for the first one and two weeks of March, then the imbalance penalties were calculated with these estimates and compared with the real values. These modeling operations were carried out on two datasets, the basic dataset and the dataset created by extracting new features from this dataset with the feature engineering method. According to the results, Support Vector Regression from traditional machine learning models outperformed other models and exhibited the best performance. In addition, the estimation results in the feature engineering dataset showed lower error rates than the basic dataset. It has been concluded that the estimated imbalance penalty calculated for the selected organization is lower than the actual imbalance penalty, optimum and profitable accounts.

Keywords: machine learning, deep learning, time series models, feature engineering, geothermal energy production forecasting

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Authors: Maydariana Ayuningtyas, Bambang Riyanto, Akhiruddin Maddu

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Industrial waste of crustacean shells, such as shrimp and crab, has been considered as one of the major issues contributing to environmental pollution. The waste processing mechanisms to form new, practical substances with added value have been developed. Chitosan, a derived matter from chitin, which is obtained from crab and shrimp shells, performs prodigiously in broad range applications. A chitosan composite-based diaphragm is a new inspiration in fiber optic acoustic sensor advancement. Elastic modulus, dynamic response, and sensitivity to acoustic wave of chitosan-based composite film contribute great potentials of organic-based sound-detecting material. The objective of this research was to develop chitosan diaphragm application in fiber optic microphone system. The formulation was conducted by blending 5% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution with dissolved chitosan at 0%, 1% and 2% in 1:1 ratio, respectively. Composite diaphragms were characterized for the morphological and mechanical properties to predict the desired acoustic sensor sensitivity. The composite with 2% chitosan indicated optimum performance with 242.55 µm thickness, 67.9% relative humidity, and 29-76% light transmittance. The Young’s modulus of 2%-chitosan composite material was 4.89×104 N/m2, which generated the voltage amplitude of 0.013V and performed sensitivity of 3.28 mV/Pa at 1 kHz. Based on the results above, chitosan from crustacean shell waste can be considered as a viable alternative material for fiber optic acoustic sensor sensing pad development. Further, the research in chitosan utilisation is proposed as novel optical microphone development in anthropogenic noise controlling effort for environmental and biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: acoustic sensor, chitosan, composite, crab shell, diaphragm, waste utilisation

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Authors: Rashmi Ranade, Neelu Joshi

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Barleria prionitis L. is a well explored Indian medicinal plant valued for its stem and leaf which forms an important ingredient of many Ayurvedic formulations. It is used for the treatment of various disorders like toothache, bleeding gums, strengthening gums, whooping cough, inflammation, arthritis, enlargement of scrotum and sciatica etc. The plant is propagated vegetatively through stem cuttings. Frequent harvesting of this plant has led to the shortage of planting material, and it has acquired the status of vulnerable plant species. Plant tissue culture technology offers a very good alternative for propagation and conservation of such plant species. The present investigation was undertaken to develop in vitro regeneration protocol for B. prionitis L. via callus organogenesis pathway. Stem and leaf explants were used for this purpose. Different media and plant growth regulators were optimized to develop the protocol. The problem of phenol secretion and browning and in vitro cultures at the establishment phase was successfully curbed with the usage of antibrowning agents such as ascorbic acid and activated charcoal. Optimum shoot multiplication was achieved by the use of liquid media and incorporation of silver nitrate and TIBA (triiodobenzoic acid) into the media. High percent rooting (76%) was observed on WPM media supplemented with IBA (2.0 mg/l), IAA (0.5 mg/l), GA3(0.5) and activated charcoal(500 mg/l). The rooted plantlets were subjected to in vitro hardening on sterile potting mix (soil:farmyard manure:compost; 1:2:1) and acclimatized under greenhouse conditions. Around 85% survival of plantlets was recorded upon acclimatization. This lab scale protocol would be tested for in vitro scaling up production of B. prionitis L.

Keywords: explant browning, liquid culture, micropropagation, shoot multiplication, phenolic secretion

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Authors: K. Mohammed, M. Agarwal, J. Mewman, Y. Ren

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An optimum technic has been developed for extracting volatile organic compounds which contribute to the aroma of lime fruit (Citrus aurantifolia). The volatile organic compounds of healthy and infested lime fruit with California red scale Aonidiella aurantii were characterized using headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography (GC) coupled flame ionization detection (FID) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) as a very simple, efficient and nondestructive extraction method. A three-phase 50/30 μm PDV/DVB/CAR fibre was used for the extraction process. The optimal sealing and fibre exposure time for volatiles reaching equilibrium from whole lime fruit in the headspace of the chamber was 16 and 4 hours respectively. 5 min was selected as desorption time of the three-phase fibre. Herbivorous activity induces indirect plant defenses, as the emission of herbivorous-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), which could be used by natural enemies for host location. GC-MS analysis showed qualitative differences among volatiles emitted by infested and healthy lime fruit. The GC-MS analysis allowed the initial identification of 18 compounds, with similarities higher than 85%, in accordance with the NIST mass spectral library. One of these were increased by A. aurantii infestation, D-limonene, and three were decreased, Undecane, α-Farnesene and 7-epi-α-selinene. From an applied point of view, the application of the above-mentioned VOCs may help boost the efficiency of biocontrol programs and natural enemies’ production techniques.

Keywords: lime fruit, Citrus aurantifolia, California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii, VOCs, HS-SPME/GC-FID-MS

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Authors: Aptullah Karakas, Murat Baydogan

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Hot-dip aluminizing (HDA) is one of the several aluminizing methods to form a wear-, corrosion- and oxidation-resistant aluminide layers on the surface. In this method, the substrate is dipped into a molten aluminum bath, hold in the bath for several minutes, and cooled down to the room temperature in air. A subsequent annealing after the HDA process is generally performed. The main advantage of HDA is its very low investment cost in comparison with other aluminizing methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), pack aluminizing and metalizing. In the HDA process, Al or Al-Si molten baths are mostly used. However, in this study, three different Al alloys such as Al4043 (Al-Mg), Al5356 (Al-Si) and Al7020 (Al-Zn) were used as the molten bath in order to see their effects on morphological and mechanical properties of the resulting aluminide layers. AISI 4140 low alloyed steel was used as the substrate. Parameters of the HDA process were bath composition, bath temperature, and dipping time. These parameters were considered within a Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. After the HDA process and subsequent diffusion annealing, coating thickness measurement, microstructural analysis and hardness measurement of the aluminide layers were conducted. The optimum process parameters were evaluated according to coating morphology, such as cracks, Kirkendall porosity and hardness of the coatings. According to the results, smooth and clean aluminide layer with less Kirkendall porosity and cracks were observed on the sample, which was aluminized in the molten Al7020 bath at 700 C for 10 minutes and subsequently diffusion annealed at 750 C. Hardness of the aluminide layer was in between 1100-1300 HV and the coating thickness was approximately 400 µm. The results were promising such that a hard and thick aluminide layer with less Kirkendall porosity and cracks could be formed. It is, therefore, concluded that Al7020 bath may be used in the HDA process of AISI 4140 steel substrate.

Keywords: hot-dip aluminizing, microstructure, hardness measurement, diffusion annealing

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Authors: Bienvenu Gael Fouda Mbanga

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This study reports a new approach of preparation of carbon nanoparticles coated cerium oxide nanorods (CNPs/CeONRs) nanocomposite and reusing the spent adsorbent of Cd2+- CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite for latent fingerprint detection (LFP) after removing Cd2+ ions from aqueous solution. CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite was prepared by using CNPs and CeONRs with adsorption processes. The prepared nanocomposite was then characterized by using UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-visible), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Zeta potential, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The average size of the CNPs was 7.84nm. The synthesized CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite has proven to be a good adsorbent for Cd2+ removal from water with optimum pH 8, dosage 0. 5 g / L. The results were best described by the Langmuir model, which indicated a linear fit (R2 = 0.8539-0.9969). The adsorption capacity of CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite showed the best removal of Cd2+ ions with qm = (32.28-59.92 mg/g), when compared to previous reports. This adsorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics and intra particle diffusion processes. ∆G and ∆H values indicated spontaneity at high temperature (40oC) and the endothermic nature of the adsorption process. CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite therefore showed potential as an effective adsorbent. Furthermore, the metal loaded on the adsorbent Cd2+- CNPs/CeONRs has proven to be sensitive and selective for LFP detection on various porous substrates. Hence Cd2+-CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite can be reused as a good fingerprint labelling agent in LFP detection so as to avoid secondary environmental pollution by disposal of the spent adsorbent.

Keywords: Cd2+-CNPs/CeONRs nanocomposite, cadmium adsorption, isotherm, kinetics, thermodynamics, reusable for latent fingerprint detection

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Authors: S. Abdi Goudazri, R. Ziaie Moayed, A. Nazeri

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Loose soils normally are of weak bearing capacity due to their structural nature. Being exposed to heavy traffic loads, they would fail in most cases. To tackle the aforementioned issue, geotechnical engineers have come up with different approaches; one of which is making use of geosynthetic-reinforced soil-aggregate systems. As these polymeric reinforcements have highlighted economic and environmentally-friendly features, they have become widespread in practice during the last decades. The present research investigates the efficiency of four different types of these reinforcements in increasing the bearing capacity of two-layered soil sections using a series California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test. The studied sections are comprised of a 10 cm-thick layer of no. 161 Firouzkooh sand (weak subgrade) and a 10 cm-thick layer of compacted aggregate materials (base course) classified as SP and GW according to the United Soil Classification System (USCS), respectively. The aggregate layer was compacted to the relative density (Dr) of 95% at the optimum water content (Wopt) of 6.5%. The applied reinforcements were including two kinds of geocomposites (type A and B), a geotextile, and a geogrid that were embedded at the interface of the lower and the upper layers of the soil-aggregate system. As the standard CBR mold was not appropriate in height for this study, the mold used for soaked CBR tests were utilized. To make a comparison between the results of stress-settlement behavior in the studied specimens, CBR values pertinent to the penetrations of 2.5 mm and 5 mm were considered. The obtained results demonstrated 21% and 24.5% increments in the amount of CBR value in the presence of geocomposite type A and geogrid, respectively. On the other hand, the effect of both geotextile and geocomposite type B on CBR values was generally insignificant in this research.

Keywords: geosynthetics, geogrid, geotextile, CBR test, increasing bearing capacity

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Authors: Salve Alessandria Alcantara, John Armand E. Aquino, Ma. Veronica Aranda, Nikki Francine Balde, Angeli Therese F. Cruz, Elise Danielle Garcia, Antonie Kyna Lim, Divina Gracia Lucero, Nikolai Thadeus Mappatao, Maylan N. Ocat, Jamille Dyanne L. Pajarillo, Jane Mierial A. Pesigan, Grace Kristin Viva, Jasmine Arielle C. Yap, Kathleen Michelle T. Yu, Joanna J. Orejola, Joanna V. Toralba

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Lead is a neurotoxic metallic element that is slowly accumulated in bones and tissues especially if present in products taken in a regular basis such as herbal tea supplements. Although sensitive analytical instruments are already available, the USP limit test for lead is still widely used. However, because of its serious shortcomings, Lang Lang and his colleagues developed a spectrophotometric method for determination of lead in all types of samples. This method was the one adapted in this study. The actual procedure performed was divided into three parts: digestion, extraction and analysis. For digestion, HNO3 and CH3COOH were used. Afterwards, masking agents, 0.003% and 0.001% dithizone in CHCl3 were added and used for the extraction. For the analysis, standard addition method and colorimetry were performed. This was done in triplicates under two conditions. The 1st condition, using 25µg/mL of standard, resulted to very low absorbances with an r2 of 0.551. This led to the use of a higher concentration, 1mg/mL, for condition 2. Precipitation of lead cyanide was observed and the absorbance readings were relatively higher but between 0.15-0.25, resulting to a very low r2 of 0.429. LOQ and LOD were not computed due to the limitations of the Milton-Roy Spectrophotometer. The method performed has a shorter digestion time, and used less but more accessible reagents. However, the optimum ratio of dithizone-lead complex must be observed in order to obtain reliable results while exploring other concentration of standards.

Keywords: herbal tea supplement, lead-dithizone complex, standard addition, visible spectroscopy

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Authors: Shigdaf Mekuriaw, Firew Tegegne, A. Tsunekawa, Dereje Tewabe

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The purpose of this paper is to make a comprehensive review on the use of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a potential livestock feed and argue its utilization as complementary strategy to other control methods. Water Hyacinth is one of the most noxious plant invaders of rivers and lakes. Such weeds cause environmental disaster and interfere with economic and recreational activities such as water transportation and fishing. Economic impacts of the weed in seven African countries have been estimated at between 20-50 million US$ every year. It would, therefore, be prudent to suggest utilization as a complementary control method. The majority of people in developing countries are dependent on traditional and inefficient crop-livestock production system that constrains their ability to enhance economic productivity and quality of life. Livestock in developing countries faces shortage of feed, especially during the long dry seasons. Existing literature shows the use of water hyacinth as livestock and fish feed. The chemical composition of water hyacinth varies considerably. Due to its relatively high crude protein (CP) content (5.8-20.0%), water hyacinth can be considered as a potential protein supplement for livestock which commonly feed cereal crop residues whose contribution as source of feed is increasing in Africa. Though the effects of anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) present in water hyacinth is not investigated, their concentrations are not above threshold hinder its utilization as livestock feed. In conclusion, water hyacinth could provide large quantities of nutritious feed for animals. Like other feeds, water hyacinth may not be offered as a sole feed and based on existing literature its optimum inclusion level reaches 50%.

Keywords: Africa, livestock feed, water bodies, water hyacinth and weed control method

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Authors: Lopamudra Ray, Malla Padma, Dibya Bhol, Samir Ranjan Mishra, A. N. Panda, Gurdeep Rastogi, T. K. Adhya, Ajit Kumar Pattnaik, Mrutyunjay Suar, Vishakha Raina

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Chilika Lake is the largest coastal estuarine brackish water lagoon in Asia situated on the east coast of India and is a designated Ramsar site. In the current study, several chitinolytic microorganisms were isolated and screened by appearance of clearance zone on 0.5% colloidal chitin agar plate. A strain designated as RC 1830 displayed maximum colloidal chitin degradation by release of 112 μmol/ml/min of N-acetyl D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) in 48h. The strain was taxonomically identified by polyphasic approach based on a range of phenotypic and genotypic properties and was found to be a novel species named Streptomyces chilikensis RC1830. The organism was halophilic (12% NaCl w/v), alkalophilic (pH10) and was capable of hydrolyzing chitin, starch, cellulose, gelatin, casein, tributyrin and tween 80. The partial purification of chitinase enzymes from RC1830 was performed by DEAE Sephacel anion exchange chromatography which revealed the presence of a very low molecular weight chitinase(10.5kD) which may be a probable chitobiosidase enzyme. The study reports the presence of a low MW chitinase (10.5kD) and a chitin decaetylase from a novel Streptomyces strain RC1830 isolated from Chilika Lake. Previously chitinases less than 20.5kD have not been reported from any other Streptomyces species. The enzymes was characterized with respect to optimum pH, temperature, and substrate specificity and temperature stability.

Keywords: chitinases, chitobiosidase, Chilika Lake, India

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Authors: Inese Tenberga

Abstract:

Undoubtedly, the focus of the present capitalist system of finance has shifted from the concept of productivity of money to the ‘cult of money’, which is characterized by such notions as speculative activity, squander, self-profit, vested interest, etc. The author is certain that a civilized society cannot follow this economic path any longer and therefore suggests that one solution would be to integrate the Islamic financial model in the banking sector of the EU to overcome its economic vulnerability and structurally transform its economies or build resilience against shocks and crisis. The researcher analyses the Islamic financial model, which is providing the basis for the concept of non-productivity of money, and proposes to consider it as a new paradigm of economic thinking. The author argues that it seeks to establish a broad-based economic well-being with an optimum rate of economic growth, socio-economic justice, equitable distribution of income and wealth. Furthermore, the author analyses and proposes to use the experience of member states of the Islamic Development Bank for the formation of a new EU interest free banking. It is offered to create within the EU banking system a credit sector and investment sector respectively. As a part of the latter, it is recommended to separate investment banks specializing in speculative investments and non­speculative investment banks. Meanwhile, understanding of the idea of Islamic banking exclusively from the perspective of the manner of yielding profit that differs from credit banking, without considering the legal, social, ethical guidelines of Islam impedes to value objectively the advantages of this type of financial activities at the non-Islamic jurisdictions. However, the author comes to the conclusion the imperative of justice and virtue, which is inherent to all of us, exists regardless of religion. The author concludes that the global community should adopt the experience of the Muslim countries and focus on the Islamic banking model.

Keywords: credit sector, EU banking system, investment sector, Islamic banking

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Authors: Kayode A. Olaniyi, Adeola A. Ogunleye, Tola M. Osifeko

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Electric Vehicles (EV) appear to be gaining increasing patronage as a feasible alternative to Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) for having low emission and high operation efficiency. The EV energy storage systems are required to handle high energy and power density capacity constrained by limited space, operating temperature, weight and cost. The choice of strategies for energy storage evaluation, monitoring and control remains a challenging task. This paper presents review of various energy storage technologies and recent researches in battery evaluation techniques used in EV applications. It also underscores strategies for the hybrid energy storage management and control schemes for the improvement of EV stability and reliability. The study reveals that despite the advances recorded in battery technologies there is still no cell which possess both the optimum power and energy densities among other requirements, for EV application. However combination of two or more energy storages as hybrid and allowing the advantageous attributes from each device to be utilized is a promising solution. The review also reveals that State-of-Charge (SoC) is the most crucial method for battery estimation. The conventional method of SoC measurement is however questioned in the literature and adaptive algorithms that include all model of disturbances are being proposed. The review further suggests that heuristic-based approach is commonly adopted in the development of strategies for hybrid energy storage system management. The alternative approach which is optimization-based is found to be more accurate but is memory and computational intensive and as such not recommended in most real-time applications.

Keywords: battery state estimation, hybrid electric vehicle, hybrid energy storage, state of charge, state of health

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Authors: Lay Poh Tan, Chor Yong Tay, Haiyang Yu

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Micro-contact printing is a form of soft lithography that uses the relief patterns on a master polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp to form patterns of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of ink on the surface of a substrate through conformal contact technique. Here, we adopt this method to print proteins of different dimensions on our biodegradable polymer substrates. We started off with printing 20-500 μm scale lanes of fibronectin to engineer the shape of bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSCs). After 8 hours of culture, the hMSCs adopted elongated shapes, and upon analysis of the gene expressions, genes commonly associated with myogenesis (GATA-4, MyoD1, cTnT and β-MHC) and neurogenesis (NeuroD, Nestin, GFAP, and MAP2) were up-regulated but gene expression associated to osteogenesis (ALPL, RUNX2, and SPARC) were either down modulated or remained at the nominal level. This is the first evidence that cellular morphology control via micropatterning could be used to modulate stem cell fate without external biochemical stimuli. We further our studies to modulate the focal adhesion (FA) instead of the macro shape of cells. Micro-contact printed islands of different smaller dimensions were investigated. We successfully regulated the FAs into dense FAs and elongated FAs by micropatterning. Additionally, the combined effects of hard (40.4 kPa), and intermediate (10.6 kPa) PA gel and FAs patterning on hMSCs differentiation were studied. Results showed that FA and matrix compliance plays an important role in hMSCs differentiation, and there is a cross-talk between different physical stimulants and the significance of these stimuli can only be realized if they are combined at the optimum level.

Keywords: micro-contact printing, polymer substrate, cell-material interaction, stem cell differentiation

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Authors: Samira Rostom, Robert Symonds, Robin W. Hughes

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Hydrogen is considered as one of the most important clean and renewable energy carriers for a sustainable energy future. However, its efficient and cost-effective purification remains challenging. This paper presents the potential of using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in combination with pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology for syngas based H2 purification. PSA process analysis is done considering high pressure and elevated temperature process conditions, it reduces the demand for off-gas recycle to the fuel reactor and simultaneously permits higher desorption pressure, thereby reducing the parasitic load on the hydrogen compressor. The elevated pressure and temperature adsorption we present here is beneficial to minimizing overall process heating and cooling demand compared to existing processes. Here, we report the comparative performance of zeolite-5A, Cu-BTC, and the mix of zeolite-5A/Cu-BTC for H2 purification from syngas typical of those exiting water-gas-shift reactors. The MOFs were synthesized hydrothermally and then mixed systematically at different weight ratios to find the optimum composition based on the adsorption performance. The formation of different compounds were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption and desorption, SEM, FT-IR, TG, and water vapor adsorption technologies. Single-component adsorption isotherms of CO2, CO, CH4, N2, and H2 over single materials and composites were measured at elevated pressures and different temperatures to determine their equilibrium adsorption capacity. The examination of the stability and regeneration performance of metal–organic frameworks was carried out using a gravimetric system at temperature ranges of 25-150℃ for a pressure range of 0-30 bar. The studies of adsorption/desorption on the MOFs showed selective adsorption of CO2, CH4, CO, and N2 over H2. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the Ni-MOF-74/Cu-BTC composites are promising candidates for industrial H2 purification processes.

Keywords: MOF, H2 purification, high T, PSA

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Authors: Abdul Haseeb Wani, Shruti Sharma, Rafat Siddique

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Self-compacting concrete is an engineered concrete that flows and de-airs without additional energy input. Such concrete requires a high slump which can be achieved by the addition of superplasticizers to the concrete mix. In the present work, bagasse ash is utilised as a replacement of cement in self-compacting concrete. This serves the purpose of both land disposal and environmental concerns related to the disposal of bagasse ash. Further, an experimental program was carried out to study the fresh, strength, and durability properties of self-compacting concrete made with bagasse ash. The mixes were prepared with four percentages (0, 5, 10 and 15) of bagasse ash as partial replacement of cement. Properties investigated were; Slump-flow, V-funnel and L-box, Compressive strength, Splitting tensile strength, Chloride-ion penetration resistance and Water absorption. Compressive and splitting tensile strength tests were conducted at the age of 7 and 28 days. Rapid chloride-ion permeability test was carried at the age of 28 days and water absorption test was carried out at the age of 7 days after initial curing of 28 days. Test results showed that there is an increase in the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of the concrete specimens having up to 10% replacement level, however, there is a slight decrease at 15% level of replacement. Resistance to chloride-ion penetration of the specimens increased as the percentage of replacement was increased. The charge passed in all the specimens containing bagasse ash was lower than that of the specimen without bagasse ash. Water absorption of the specimens decreased up to 10% replacement level and increased at 15% level of replacement. Hence, it can be concluded that optimum level of replacement of cement with bagasse ash in self-compacting concrete comes out to be 10%; at which the self-compacting concrete has satisfactory flow characteristics (as per the European guidelines), improved compressive and splitting tensile strength and better durability properties as compared to the control mix.

Keywords: bagasse ash, compressive strength, self-compacting concrete, splitting tensile strength

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Authors: Michael Wright, Tiago Costa

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The construction industry in SE Asia has been relying on S355 MPa “as rolled” H-beams for many years now. It is an easily sourced, metallurgically simple, reliable product that all designers, fabricators and constructors are familiar with. However, as the Global demand to better use our finite resources gets stronger, the need for an as-rolled S460 MPa H-Beam is becoming more apparent. The Financial benefits of an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam are obvious. The S460 MPa beam which is currently available and used is fabricated from rolled strip. However, making H-beam from 3 x 460 MPa strips requires costly equipment, valuable welding skills & production time, all of which can be in short supply or better used for other purposes. The Metallurgical benefits of an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam are consistency in the product. Fabricated H-beams have inhomogeneous areas where the strips have been welded together - parent metal, heat affected zone and weld metal all in the one body. They also rely heavily on the skill of the welder to guarantee a perfect, defect free weld. If this does not occur, the beam is intrinsically flawed and could lead to failure in service. An as-rolled beam is a relatively homogenous product, with the optimum strength and ductility produced by delivering steel with as fine as possible uniform cross sectional grain size. This is done by cost effective alloy design coupled with proper metallurgical process control implemented into an existing mill’s equipment capability and layout. This paper is designed to highlight the benefits of bring an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam to the construction market place in SE Asia, and hopefully encourage the current “as-rolled” H-beam producers to rise to the challenge and produce an innovative high quality product for the local market.

Keywords: fine grained, As-rolled, long products, process control, metallurgy

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Authors: Sarah K. Amer, Walaa Alaa

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Epilepsy is an important cause of mortality and morbidity, according to WHO statistics. It is characterized by the presence of frequent seizures occurring more than 24 hours apart. Carbamazepine (CBZ) is considered first-line treatment for epilepsy. However, reports have shown that CBZ oral formulations failed to achieve optimum systemic delivery, minimize side effects, and enhance patient compliance. Besides, the literature has signified the lack of therapeutically efficient CBZ transdermal formulation and the urge for its existence owing to its ease and convenient method of application and highlighted capability to attain higher bioavailability and more extended-release profiles compared to conventional oral CBZ tablets. This work aims to prepare CBZ microspheres (MS) that are embedded in a transdermal gel containing Vitamin B to be co-delivered. MS were prepared by emulsion-solvent diffusion method using Eudragit S as core forming polymer and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) polymer. The MS appeared to be spherical and porous in nature, offering a large surface area and high entrapment efficiency of CBZ. The transdermal gel was prepared by solvent-evaporation technique using HPMC that, offered high entrapment efficiency and Eudragit S that provided an extended-release profile. Polyethylene glycol, Span 80 and Pyridoxine were also added. Data indicated that combinations of CBZ with pyridoxine can reduce epileptic seizures without affecting motor coordination. Extended-release profiles were evident for this system. The patches were furthermore tested for thickness, moisture content, folding endurance, spreadability and viscosity measurements. This novel pharmaceutical formulation would be of great influence on seizure control, offering better therapeutic effects.

Keywords: epilepsy, carbamazepine, pyridoxine, transdermal

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Authors: Geetha Baskaran, Andrzej Barjiela, Rong Qu

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Motivation: Nurse scheduling is a complex combinatorial optimization problem. It is also known as NP-hard. It needs an efficient re-scheduling to minimize some trade-off of the measures of violation by reducing selected constraints to soft constraints with measurements of their violations. Problem Statement: In this paper, we extend our novel approach to solve the nurse scheduling problem by transforming it through Information Granulation. Approach: This approach satisfies the rules of a typical hospital environment based on a standard benchmark problem. Generating good work schedules has a great influence on nurses' working conditions which are strongly related to the level of a quality health care. Domain transformation that combines the strengths of operation research and artificial intelligence was proposed for the solution of the problem. Compared to conventional methods, our approach involves judicious grouping (information granulation) of shifts types’ that transforms the original problem into a smaller solution domain. Later these schedules from the smaller problem domain are converted back into the original problem domain by taking into account the constraints that could not be represented in the smaller domain. An Integer Programming (IP) package is used to solve the transformed scheduling problem by expending the branch and bound algorithm. We have used the GNU Octave for Windows to solve this problem. Results: The scheduling problem has been solved in the proposed formalism resulting in a high quality schedule. Conclusion: Domain transformation represents departure from a conventional one-shift-at-a-time scheduling approach. It offers an advantage of efficient and easily understandable solutions as well as offering deterministic reproducibility of the results. We note, however, that it does not guarantee the global optimum.

Keywords: domain transformation, nurse scheduling, information granulation, artificial intelligence, simulation

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Authors: Aarti Muley, S. J. Dhoblae

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CaF₂ and BaF₂ doped with cerium were prepared by slow precipitation method with different molar concentration and different cerium concentration. Both the samples were also prepared by direct method for comparison. The XRD of BaF₂:Ce shows that it crystallizes to BCC structure. The peak matches with JCPDS file no. 4-0452. Also, The XRD pattern of CaF₂:Ce matches well with the JCPDS file number 75- 0363 and crystallized to BCC phase. In CaF₂, the double-humped photoluminescence spectra were observed at 320nm and 340nm when the sample was prepared by the direct precipitation method, and the ratio between these peaks is unity. However when the sample prepared by slow precipitation method the double-humped emission spectra of CaF₂:Ce was observed at 323nm and 340nm. The ratio between these peaks is 0.58, and the optimum concentration is obtained for 0.1 molar CaF₂ with Ce concentration 1.5%. When the cerium concentration is increased by 2% the peak at 323nm vanishes, and the emission was observed at 342nm with the shoulder at 360nm. In this case, the intensity reduces drastically. The excitation is observed at 305nm with a small peak at 254nm. One molar BaF₂ doped with 0.1% of cerium was synthesized by direct precipitation method gives double humped spectra at 308nm and 320nm, when it is prepared with slow precipitation method with the cerium concentration 0.05m%, 0.1m%, 0.15m%, 0.2m% the broad emission is observed around 325nm with the shoulder at 350nm. The excitation spectra are narrow and observed at 290nm. As the percentage of cerium is increased further again shift is observed. The emission spectra were observed at 360nm with a small peak at 330nm. The phenomenon of shifting of emission spectra at low concentration of cerium can directly relate with the particle size and reported for nanomaterials also.

Keywords: calcium fluoride, barium fluoride, photoluminescence, slow precipitation method

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Authors: Mthokozisi Simelane

Abstract:

Background: Malaria remains a life-threatening disease in tropical regions despite the advances in the treatment of this disease, it still remains a significant burden as some parasites have become resistant to the currently available drugs. This has created a necessity for the development of alternative, more efficient antimalarial drugs. Warburgia salutaris is a traditional medicinal plant used in malaria treatment by Zulu traditional healers. Materials and methods: The W. salutaris stem-bark was extracted with dichloromethane and the compound was isolated through column chromatography. The compound was identified and characterized by spectroscopic analysis (1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and MS) and the structure was also confirmed by x-ray crystallography. The anti-plasmodial activity (in vitro) was studied on NF54 Plasmodium falciparum strain (CQS). Cytotoxicity was measured using the MTT assay on HEK239 and HEPG2 cell lines. Docking of Mukaadial acetate was conducted in AutoDock Vina. Structural modifications were conducted in UCSF Chimera and molecular interactions examined in LigPlot. Results: The compound, Mukaadial Acetate showed appreciable inhibition (IC50 0.44±0.10 µg/ml) of the parasite growth and cytotoxicity activity of 0.124±0.109 and 0.199±0.083 (µg/ml) on HEK293 and HEPG2 cells respectively. Molecular docking revealed that Mukaadial Acetate binds to the purine, pyrophosphate and ribose binding sites of the PfHGXPRT with an optimum binding conformation and forms hydrogen bond, steric and hydrophobic interactions with the residues inhabiting the respective binding sites. Conclusion: It is apparent that W. salutaris contains components (including Mukaadial Acetate) that exhibit antimalarial activity. This study scientifically validates the use of this plant in folk medicine.

Keywords: plasmodium falciparum, molecular docking, antimalarial activity, PfHGXPRT, Warburgia salutaris, mukaadial acetate

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Authors: A. K. Jain, M. C. Paliwal

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The production of cement leads to the emission of large amounts of carbon-dioxide gas into the atmosphere which is a major contributor for the greenhouse effect and the global warming; hence it is mandatory either to quest for another material or partly replace it with some other material. According to the practical demonstrations and reports, Egg Shell Powder (ESP) can be used as a binding material for different field applications as it contains some of the properties of lime. It can partially replace the cement and further; it can be used in different proportion for enhancing the performance of cement. It can be used as a first-class alternative, for material reuse and waste recycling practices. Eggshell is calcium rich and analogous to limestone in chemical composition. Therefore, use of eggshell waste for partial replacement of cement in concrete is feasible. Different studies reveal that plasticity index of the soil can be improved by adding eggshell wastes in all the clay soil and it has wider application in construction projects including earth canals and earthen dams. The scarcity of aggregates is also increasing nowadays. Utilization of industrial waste or secondary materials is increasing in different construction applications. Coconut shell was successfully used in the construction industry for partial or full replacement for coarse aggregates. The use of coconut shell gives advantage of using waste material to partially replace the coarse aggregate. Studies carried on coconut shell indicate that it can partially replace the aggregate. It has good strength and modulus properties along with the advantage of high lignin content. It absorbs relatively low moisture due to its low cellulose content. In the paper, study carried out on eggshell powder and coconut shell will be discussed. Optimum proportions of these materials to be used for partial replacement of cement and aggregate will also be discussed.

Keywords: greenhouse, egg shell powder, binding material, aggregates, coconut shell, coarse aggregates

Procedia PDF Downloads 235