Search results for: quality properties

Authors: Selam M. Tefera

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Soil constitutes a crucial component of rural and urban environments. This fact is making role of heavy and trace elements in the soil system an issue of global concern. Heavy metals constitute an ill-defined group of inorganic chemical hazards, whose main source is anthropogenic activities mainly related to fabrications. This accumulation of heavy metals soils can prove toxic to the environment. The application of biochar to soil is one way of immobilizing these contaminants through sorption by exploiting the high surface area of this material among its other essential properties. This research examined the ability of sugar cane straw, an organic waste material from sugar farm, derived biochar and ash to remediate soil contaminated with heavy metals mainly Chromium and Zinc from the effluent of electroplating industry. Biochar was produced by varying the temperature from 300 °C to 500 °C and ash at 700 °C. The highest yield (50%) was obtained at the lowest temperature (300 °C). The proximate analysis showed ash content of 42.8%, ultimate analysis with carbon content of 67.18%, the Hydrogen to Carbon ratio of 0.54 and the results from FTIR analysis disclosed the organic nature of biochar. Methylene blue absorption indicated its fine surface area and pore structure, which increases with severity of temperature. Biochar was mixed with soil with at a ration varying from 4% w/w to 10% w/w of soil, and the response variables were determined at a time interval of 150 days, 180 days, and 210 days. As for ash (10% w/w), the characterization was performed at incubation time of 210 days. The results of pH indicated that biochar (9.24) had a notable liming capacity of acidic soil (4.8) by increasing it to 6.89 whereas ash increased it to 7.5. The immobilization capacity of biochar was found to effected mostly by the highest production temperature (500 °C), which was 75.5% for chromium and 80.5% for nickel. In addition, ash was shown to possess an outstanding immobilization capacity of 95.5% and 90.5% for Chromium and Nickel, respectively. All in all, the results from these methods showed that biochar produced from this specific biomass possesses the typical functional groups that enable it to store carbon, the appropriate pH that could remediate acidic soil, a fine amount of macro and micro nutrients that would aid plant growth.

Keywords: biochar, biomass, heavy metal immobalization, soil remediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: V. E. Messerle, A. L. Mosse, O. A. Lavrichshev, A. N. Nikonchuk, A. B. Ustimenko

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One of the most serious environmental problems today is pollution by biomedical waste (BMW), which in most cases has undesirable properties such as toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, fire. Sanitary and hygienic survey of typical solid BMW, made in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries shows that their risk to the environment is significantly higher than that of most chemical wastes. Utilization of toxic BMW requires use of the most universal methods to ensure disinfection and disposal of any of their components. Such technology is a plasma technology of BMW processing. To implement this technology a thermodynamic analysis of the plasma processing of BMW was fulfilled and plasma-box furnace was developed. The studies have been conducted on the example of the processing of bone. To perform thermodynamic calculations software package Terra was used. Calculations were carried out in the temperature range 300 - 3000 K and a pressure of 0.1 MPa. It is shown that the final products do not contain toxic substances. From the organic mass of BMW synthesis gas containing combustible components 77.4-84.6% was basically produced, and mineral part consists mainly of calcium oxide and contains no carbon. Degree of gasification of carbon reaches 100% by the temperature 1250 K. Specific power consumption for BMW processing increases with the temperature throughout its range and reaches 1 kWh/kg. To realize plasma processing of BMW experimental installation with DC plasma torch of 30 kW power was developed. The experiments allowed verifying the thermodynamic calculations. Wastes are packed in boxes weighing 5-7 kg. They are placed in the box furnace. Under the influence of air plasma flame average temperature in the box reaches 1800 OC, the organic part of the waste is gasified and inorganic part of the waste is melted. The resulting synthesis gas is continuously withdrawn from the unit through the cooling and cleaning system. Molten mineral part of the waste is removed from the furnace after it has been stopped. Experimental studies allowed determining operating modes of the plasma box furnace, the exhaust gases was analyzed, samples of condensed products were assembled and their chemical composition was determined. Gas at the outlet of the plasma box furnace has the following composition (vol.%): CO - 63.4, H2 - 6.2, N2 - 29.6, S - 0.8. The total concentration of synthesis gas (CO + H2) is 69.6%, which agrees well with the thermodynamic calculation. Experiments confirmed absence of the toxic substances in the final products.

Keywords: biomedical waste, box furnace, plasma torch, processing, synthesis gas

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Authors: Pankaj Singh Rawat, Rajeew Kumar, Pradeep Ram, Priyanka Pandey

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Wheat is an important cereal crop for food security. Boosting the wheat production and productivity is the major challenge across the nation. Good quality of seed is required for maintaining optimum plant stand which ultimately increases grain yield. Ensuring a good germination is one of the key steps to ensure proper plant stand and moisture assurance during seed germination may help to speed up the germination. The tiny size of nanoparticles may help in entry of water into seed without disturbing their internal structure. Considering above, a laboratory experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India. The completely randomized design was used for statistical analysis. The experiment was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the appropriate concentration of nanoparticles for seed treatment was screened. In second phase seed soaking hours of nanoparticles for better seed germination were standardized. Wheat variety UP2526 was taken as test crop. Four nanoparticles (TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan) were taken for study. The crop germination studies were done in petri dishes and standard package and practices were used to raise the seedlings. The germination studies were done by following standard procedure. In first phase of the experiment, seeds were treated with 50 and 300 ppm of nanoparticles and control was also maintained for comparison. In the second phase of experiment, seeds were soaked for 4 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours with 50 ppm nanoparticles of TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan along with control treatment to identify the soaking time for better seed germination. Experiment revealed that the application of nanoparticles help to enhance seed germination. The study revealed that seed treatment with  nanoparticles at 50 ppm concentration increases root length, shoot length, seedling length, shoot dry weight, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II as compared to seed soaking at 300 ppm concentration. This experiment showed that seed soaking up to 4 hr was better as compared to 6 and 8 hrs. Seed soaking with nanoparticles specially TiO₂, ZnO, and chitosan proved to enhance germination and seedling growth indices of wheat crop.

Keywords: nanoparticles, seed germination, seed soaking, wheat

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Authors: Sania Bashir

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A promising approach to healthcare delivery, telemedicine makes use of communication technology to reach out to remote regions of the world, allowing for beneficial interactions between diabetic patients and healthcare professionals as well as the provision of affordable and easily accessible medical care. The emergence of contemporary care models, fueled by the pervasiveness of mobile devices, provides better information, offers low cost with the best possible outcomes, and is known as digital health. It involves the integration of collected data using software and apps, as well as low-cost, high-quality outcomes. The goal of this study is to assess how well telemedicine works for diabetic patients and how it impacts their HbA1c levels. A questionnaire-based survey of 300 diabetics included 150 patients in each of the groups receiving usual care and via telemedicine. A descriptive and observational study that lasted from September 2021 to May 2022 was conducted. HbA1c has been gathered for both categories every three months. A remote monitoring tool has been used to assess the efficacy of telemedicine and continuing therapy instead of the customary three monthly meetings like in-person consultations. The patients were (42.3) 18.3 years old on average. 128 men were outnumbered by 172 women (57.3% of the total). 200 patients (66.6%) have type 2 diabetes, compared to over 100 (33.3%) candidates for type 1. Despite the average baseline BMI being within normal ranges at 23.4 kg/m², the mean baseline HbA1c (9.45 1.20) indicates that glycemic treatment is not well-controlled at the time of registration. While patients who use telemedicine experienced a mean percentage change of 10.5, those who visit the clinic experienced a mean percentage change of 3.9. Changes in HbA1c are dependent on several factors, including improvements in BMI (61%) after 9 months of research and compliance with healthy lifestyle recommendations for diet and activity. More compliance was achieved by the telemedicine group. It is an undeniable reality that patient-physician communication is crucial for enhancing health outcomes and avoiding long-term issues. Telemedicine has shown its value in the management of diabetes and holds promise as a novel technique for improved clinical-patient communication in the twenty-first century.

Keywords: diabetes, digital health, mobile app, telemedicine

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Authors: M.Younus, M. Athar Khan, Asif Adrees

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The present research endeavour was made to investigate the Public Health impact of Salmonellosis through consuming the meat and eggs of the carrier’s birds and to see the prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium from poultry feed, poultry meat, and poultry eggs and their role in the chain of transmission of salmonellae to human beings and causing food poisoning. The ultimate objective was to generate data to improve the quality of poultry products and human health awareness. Salmonellosis is one of the most wide spread food borne zoonoses in all the continents of the world. The etiological agents Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium not only produce the disease but during the convalescent phase (after the recovery of disease) remain carriers for indefinite period of time. The carrier state was not only the source of spread of disease with in the poultry but also caused typhoid fever in humans. The chain of transmission started from poultry feed to poultry meat and ultimately to humans as dead end hosts. In this experiment a total number of 200 samples of human stool and blood were collected randomly (100 samples of human stool and 100 samples of human blood) of 100 patients suspected from food poisoning patients from different hospitals of Lahore area for the identification of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium through PCR method in order to see the public health impact of Salmonellosis through consuming the meat and eggs of the carrier birds. On the average 14 and 10 stool samples were found positive against Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium from each of the 25 patients from each hospital respectively in case of suspected food poisoning patients. Similarly on an average 5% and 6% blood samples were found positive from 25 patients of each hospital respectively. There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the sero positivity of stool and blood samples of suspected food poisoning patients as far as Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium was concerned. However there was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the hospitals.

Keywords: salmonella, zoonosis, food, transmission, eggs

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Authors: Irsa Ejaz, Siyang He, Wei Li, Naiyue Hu, Chaochen Tang, Songbo Li, Meng Li, Boubacar Diallo, Guanghui Xie, Kang Yu

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Background: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) is a non-destructive, fast, and low-cost method to measure the grain quality of different cereals. Previously reported NIR model calibrations using the whole grain spectra had moderate accuracy. Improved predictions are achievable by using the spectra of whole grains, when compared with the use of spectra collected from the flour samples. However, the feasibility for determining the critical biochemicals, related to the classifications for food, feed, and fuel products are not adequately investigated. Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of using NIRS and the influence of four sample types (whole grains, flours, hulled grain flours, and hull-less grain flours) on the prediction of chemical components to improve the grain sorting efficiency for human food, animal feed, and biofuel. Methods: NIR was applied in this study to determine the eight biochemicals in four types of sorghum samples: hulled grain flours, hull-less grain flours, whole grains, and grain flours. A total of 20 hybrids of sorghum grains were selected from the two locations in China. Followed by NIR spectral and wet-chemically measured biochemical data, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to construct the prediction models. Results: The results showed that sorghum grain morphology and sample format affected the prediction of biochemicals. Using NIR data of grain flours generally improved the prediction compared with the use of NIR data of whole grains. In addition, using the spectra of whole grains enabled comparable predictions, which are recommended when a non-destructive and rapid analysis is required. Compared with the hulled grain flours, hull-less grain flours allowed for improved predictions for tannin, cellulose, and hemicellulose using NIR data. Conclusion: The established PLSR models could enable food, feed, and fuel producers to efficiently evaluate a large number of samples by predicting the required biochemical components in sorghum grains without destruction.

Keywords: FT-NIR, sorghum grains, biochemical composition, food, feed, fuel, PLSR

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Authors: Matej Patzelt, Jana Mrzilkova, Jan Dudak, Frantisek Krejci, Jan Zemlicka, Zdenek Wurst, Petr Zach, Vladimir Musil

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Introduction: Micro-CT is well used for examination of bone structures and teeth. On the other hand visualization of the soft tissues is still limited. The goal of our study was to elaborate methodology for soft tissue samples imaging in micro-CT. Methodology: We used organs of rats and mice. We either did a preparation of the organs and fixation in contrast solution or we did cannulation of blood vessels and their injection for imaging of the vascular system. First, we scanned native specimens, then we created corrosive specimens by resins. In the next step, we injected vascular system either by Aurovist contrast agent or by Exitron. In the next step, we focused on soft tissues contrast increase. We scanned samples fixated in Lugol solution, samples fixated in pure ethanol and in formaldehyde solution. All used methods were afterwards compared. Results: Native specimens did not provide sufficient contrast of the tissues in any of organs. Corrosive samples of the blood stream provided great contrast and details; on the other hand, it was necessary to destroy the organ. Further examined possibility was injection of the AuroVist contrast that leads to the great bloodstream contrast. Injection of Exitron contrast agent comparing to Aurovist did not provide such a great contrast. The soft tissues (kidney, heart, lungs, brain, and liver) were best visualized after fixation in ethanol. This type of fixation showed best results in all studied tissues. Lugol solution had great results in muscle tissue. Fixation by formaldehyde solution showed similar quality of contrast in the tissues like ethanol. Conclusion: Before imaging, we need to, first, determinate which structures of the soft tissues we want to visualize. In the case of the bloodstream, the best was AuroVist and corrosive specimens. Muscle tissue is best visualized by Lugol solution. In the case of the organs containing cavities, like kidneys or brain, the best way was ethanol fixation.

Keywords: experimental imaging, fixation, micro-CT, soft tissues

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Authors: Ismaila Olabisi Ogundiji, Hakeem Mayowa Olujide, Qasim Usamot

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The main reasons for site-specific management for agricultural inputs are to increase the profitability of crop production, to protect the environment and to improve products’ quality. Information about the variability of different soil attributes within a field is highly essential for the decision-making process. Lack of fast and accurate acquisition of soil characteristics remains one of the biggest limitations of precision agriculture due to being expensive and time-consuming. Adaptive sampling has been proven as an accurate and affordable sampling technique for planning within a field for site-specific management of agricultural inputs. This study employed spatial uncertainty of soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) estimates to identify adaptive re-survey areas in the field. The original dataset was grouped into validation and calibration groups where the calibration group was sub-grouped into three sets of different measurements pass intervals. A conditional simulation was performed on the field ECa to evaluate the ECa spatial uncertainty estimates by the use of the geostatistical technique. The grouping of high-uncertainty areas for each set was done using image segmentation in MATLAB, then, high and low area value-separate was identified. Finally, an adaptive re-survey was carried out on those areas of high-uncertainty. Adding adaptive re-surveying significantly minimized the time required for resampling whole field and resulted in ECa with minimal error. For the most spacious transect, the root mean square error (RMSE) yielded from an initial crude sampling survey was minimized after an adaptive re-survey, which was close to that value of the ECa yielded with an all-field re-survey. The estimated sampling time for the adaptive re-survey was found to be 45% lesser than that of all-field re-survey. The results indicate that designing adaptive sampling through spatial uncertainty models significantly mitigates sampling cost, and there was still conformity in the accuracy of the observations.

Keywords: soil electrical conductivity, adaptive sampling, conditional simulation, spatial uncertainty, site-specific management

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Authors: Sultan Ben Jaber

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Optical properties of molecules exhibit dramatic changes when adsorbed close to nano-structure metallic surfaces such as gold and silver nanomaterial. This phenomena opened a wide range of research to improve conventional spectroscopies efficiency. A well-known technique that has an intensive focus of study is surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), as since the first observation of SERS phenomena, researchers have published a great number of articles about the potential mechanisms behind this effect as well as developing materials to maximize the enhancement. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy are complementary techniques; thus, surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) also shows a noticeable enhancement of molecules in the mid-IR excitation on nonmetallic structure substrates. In the SEIRA, vibrational modes that gave change in dipole moments perpendicular to the nano-metallic substrate enhanced 200 times greater than the free molecule’s modes. SEIRA spectroscopy is promising for the characterization and identification of adsorbed molecules on metallic surfaces, especially at trace levels. IR reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) is a well-known technique for measuring IR spectra of adsorbed molecules on metallic surfaces. However, SEIRA spectroscopy sensitivity is up to 50 times higher than IRAS. SEIRA enhancement has been observed for a wide range of molecules adsorbed on metallic substrates such as Au, Ag, Pd, Pt, Al, and Ni, but Au and Ag substrates exhibited the highest enhancement among the other mentioned substrates. In this work, trace levels of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) have been detected using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) substrates with surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA). AuNPs were first prepared and washed, then mixed with different concentrations of MDMA samples. The process of fabricating the substrate prior SEIRA measurements included mixing of AuNPs and MDMA samples followed by vigorous stirring. The stirring step is particularly crucial, as stirring allows molecules to be robustly adsorbed on AuNPs. Thus, remarkable SEIRA was observed for MDMA samples even at trace levels, showing the rigidity of our approach to preparing SEIRA substrates.

Keywords: surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), amphetamines, methylene dioxy- methamphetamine (MDMA), enhancement factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Kei Kamada, Rikito Murakami, Masahiko Ito, Mototaka Arakawa, Yasuhiro Shoji, Toshiyuki Ueno, Masao Yoshino, Akihiro Yamaji, Shunsuke Kurosawa, Yuui Yokota, Yuji Ohashi, Akira Yoshikawa

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Techniques of energy harvesting y have been widely developed in recent years, due to high demand on the power supply for ‘Internet of things’ devices such as wireless sensor nodes. In these applications, conversion technique of mechanical vibration energy into electrical energy using magnetostrictive materials n have been brought to attention. Among the magnetostrictive materials, Fe-Ga and Fe-Al alloys are attractive materials due to the figure of merits such price, mechanical strength, high magnetostrictive constant. Up to now, bulk crystals of these alloys are produced by the Bridgman–Stockbarger method or the Czochralski method. Using these method big bulk crystal up to 2~3 inch diameter can be grown. However, non-uniformity of chemical composition along to the crystal growth direction cannot be avoid, which results in non-uniformity of magnetostriction constant and reduction of the production yield. The micro-pulling down (μ-PD) method has been developed as a shaped crystal growth technique. Our group have reported shaped crystal growth of oxide, fluoride single crystals with different shape such rod, plate tube, thin fiber, etc. Advantages of this method is low segregation due to high growth rate and small diffusion of melt at the solid-liquid interface, and small kerf loss due to near net shape crystal. In this presentation, we report the shaped long plate crystal growth of Fe-Ga and Fe-Al alloys using the μ-PD method. Alloy crystals were grown by the μ-PD method using calcium oxide crucible and induction heating system under the nitrogen atmosphere. The bottom hole of crucibles was 5 x 1mm² size. A <100> oriented iron-based alloy was used as a seed crystal. 5 x 1 x 320 mm³ alloy crystal plates were successfully grown. The results of crystal growth, chemical composition analysis, magnetostrictive properties and a prototype vibration energy harvester are reported. Furthermore, continuous crystal growth using powder supply system will be reported to minimize the chemical composition non-uniformity along the growth direction.

Keywords: crystal growth, micro-pulling-down method, Fe-Ga, Fe-Al

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Authors: Zarabizan Zakaria, Hayati Zainal

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The construction industry is one of the most important sectors that contribute to the nation’s economy and catalyze towards the growth of other industries. However, some construction projects have not been completed on its stipulated time and duration, scope and budget due to several factors. This problem arises due to the weaknesses of human factors, especially from ineffective leadership quality practiced by project managers and contractors in managing project teams. Therefore, a construction project should impose the element of Project Team. The project team is formed in the implementation of the project which includes the project brief, project scope, customer requirements and provided designs. Many organizations in the construction sector use teams to meet today's global competition and customer expectations, however, team effectiveness evaluation is required. In insuring the construction team is successful and effectiveness, the construction department must encourage, measure, set up, and evaluate or review the effectiveness of project team that was formed. In order to produce a better outcome for a high-end project, an effective and efficient project team is required which also help in increasing overall productivity. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of team effectiveness in the construction project team based on the overall construction project performance. It examines several different factors which related to team effectiveness. It also examines the relationship between team effectiveness factor and project performance aspect. Team Effect Review and Project Performance Review are developed to be used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using several statistical tests. Results obtained from data analysis are validated using semi-structured interviews. Besides that, a comprehensive survey were developed to assess the way construction project teams in order to maintain its effectiveness throughout the project phase. In order to determine a project successful it has been found that Project Team Leadership is the most important factor. In addition, the definition of team effectiveness in the construction project team is developed based on the perspective of project clients and project team members. The results of this study are expected to provide an idea on the factors that are needed to be focused on improving the team's effectiveness towards project performance aspects. At the same time, the definition of team effectiveness from team members and owner views has been developed in order to provide a better understanding of the word team's effectiveness in construction projects.

Keywords: project team, leadership, construction project, project successful

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Authors: Vitas Valinčius, Rolandas Uscila, Viktorija Grigaitienė, Žydrūnas Kavaliauskas, Romualdas Kėželis

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Determination of integral dynamical and energy characteristics of high-temperature gas flows is a very important task of gas-dynamic for hazardous substances destruction systems. They are also always necessary for the investigation of high-temperature turbulent flow dynamics, heat and mass transfer. It is well known that distribution of dynamical and thermal characteristics of high-temperature flows and jets is strongly related to heat flux variation over an imposed area of heating. As is visible from numerous experiments and theoretical considerations, the fundamental properties of an isothermal jet are well investigated. However, the establishment of regularities in high-temperature conditions meets certain specific behavior comparing with moderate-temperature jets and flows. Their structures have not been thoroughly studied yet, especially in the cases of plasma ambient. It is well known that the distribution of local plasma jet parameters in high temperature and isothermal jets and flows may significantly differ. High temperature axisymmetric air jet generated by atmospheric pressure DC arc plasma torch was investigated employing enthalpy probe 3.8∙10-3 m of diameter. Distribution of velocities and temperatures were established in different cross-sections of the plasma jet outflowing from 42∙10-3 m diameter pipe at the average mean velocity of 700 m∙s-1, and averaged temperature of 4000 K. It has been found that gas heating fractionally influences shape and values of a dimensionless profile of velocity and temperature in the main zone of plasma jet and has a significant influence in the initial zone of the plasma jet. The width of the initial zone of the plasma jet has been found to be lesser than in the case of isothermal flow. The relation between dynamical thickness and turbulent number of Prandtl has been established along jet axis. Experimental results were generalized in dimensionless form. The presence of convective heating shows that heat transfer in a moving high-temperature jet also occurs due to heat transfer by moving particles of the jet. In this case, the intensity of convective heat transfer is proportional to the instantaneous value of the flow velocity at a given point in space. Consequently, the configuration of the temperature field in moving jets and flows essentially depends on the configuration of the velocity field.

Keywords: plasma jet, plasma torch, heat transfer, enthalpy probe, turbulent number of Prandtl

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Authors: Jennifer Hunter, Francisco Ramirez, Neil A. Nedley, Thania Solorio, Christian Freed, Erica Kinjo

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People who have autoimmune disease are often at an increased risk for psychological disorders such as anxiety. Untreated psychological conditions can affect the development of disease and can affect one’s general quality of life. In this study, it was hypothesized that an educational community-based intervention would be useful in decreasing the anxiety levels of participants with autoimmune disease. Programs, 2-hours long each, were held weekly over a period of eight weeks. During every meeting, a 45-minute DVD presentation by a skilled physician was shown, a small group discussion was guided by trained facilitators, and weekly practical assignments were given to each participant. The focus of the program was to educate participants about healthy lifestyle behaviors such as exercise, nutrition, sleep hygiene, helpful thought patterns etc., and to provide a group environment in which each participant was supported. Participants were assessed pre-post program for anxiety using the Depression and Anxiety Assessment Test (registration TX 7-398-022), a validated mental health test based on DSM-5 criteria and demographics. Anxiety scores were classified according to the DSM-5 criteria into 4 categories: none (0-6), mild (7-10), moderate (11-19) or severe (20 or more). Out of the participants who participated in programs conducted in the manner explained above (n=431), the average age was 54.9 (SD 16.6) and 81.9% were female. At baseline, the mean group anxiety level was 9.4 (SD 5.4). Within the baseline group, anxiety levels were as follows: none (21.1%), mild (22.0%), moderate (27.1%) and severe (29.7%). After the program, mean group anxiety decreased to 4.7 (SD 4.0). Post-program anxiety levels were as follows: none (54.8%), mild (27.1%), moderate (12.5%), severe (5.6%). The decrease in overall anxiety levels was significant t(431)=19.3 p<.001, 95% CI [0.815, 1.041]. It was concluded that the eight-week intensive was beneficial in decreasing the anxiety levels of participants. A long-term follow-up study would be beneficial in determining how lasting such improvements are especially since autoimmune diseases are often chronic. Additionally, future studies that utilize a control group would aid in establishing whether the improvements seen are due to the use of this specific lifestyle-educational program.

Keywords: anxiety, auto-immune disease, community-based educational program, lifestyle

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Authors: Roya Morad, W. Eirik Heintz

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The identity of a neighborhood is inevitably shaped by the architecture and the people of that place. Conventionally the streets within each neighborhood served as a semi-public-private extension of the private living spaces. The street as a design element formed a hybrid condition that was neither totally public nor private, and it encouraged social interactions. Thus through creating a sense of community, one of the most basic human needs of belonging was achieved. Similar to major global cities, Tehran has undergone serious urbanization. Developing into a capital city of high rises has resulted in an increase in urban density. Although allocating more residential units in each neighborhood was a critical response to the population boom and the limited land area of the city, it also created a crisis in terms of social communication and place attachment. District 10 in Tehran is a neighborhood that has undergone the most urban transformation among the other 22 districts in the capital and currently has the highest population density. This paper will explore how the active streets in district 10 have changed into their current condition of high rises with a lack of meaningful social interactions amongst its inhabitants. A residential building can be thought of as a large group of people. One would think that as the number of people increases, the opportunities for social communications would increase as well. However, according to the survey, there is an indirect relationship between the two. As the number of people of a residential building increases, the quality of each acquaintance reduces, and the depth of relationships between people tends to decrease. This comes from the anonymity of being part of a crowd and the lack of social spaces characterized by most high-rise apartment buildings. Without a sense of community, the attachment to a neighborhood is decreased. This paper further explores how the neighborhood participates to fulfill ones need for social interaction and focuses on the qualitative aspects of alternative spaces that can redevelop the sense of place attachment within the community.

Keywords: high density, place attachment, social communication, street life, urban transformation

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Authors: M. H. Moreira da Silva, L. Valadao, F. Moreira da Silva

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In the present study, the fertilizing capacity of bovine spermatozoa was evaluated before and after its cryopreservation. For this, the testicles of 100 bulls slaughtered on Terceira Island were dissected, the epididymal tails were separated, and semen was recovered by the flotation method and then evaluated by phase contrast microscopy and by flow cytometry. For phase contrast microscopy, a drop of semen was used to evaluate the percentage of motile spermatozoa (from 0 to 100%) and motility (from 0 to 5). After determining the concentration and the abnormal forms, semen was diluted to a final concentration of 50 x 106 spz/ml and evaluated by flow cytometer for membrane and acrosome integrity using the conjugation of fluorescent probes propidium iodide (PI) and Arachis hypogea agglutinin (FITC-PNA). Freezing was carried out in a programmable semen freezer, using 0.25 ml straws, in a total of 20 x 106 viable sperm per straw with glycerol as a cryoprotectant in a final concentration of 0.58 M. It was observed that, on average, a total of 7.25 ml of semen was collected from each bull. The viability and vitality rates were respectively 83.22 ± 7.52% and 3.8 ± 0.4 before freezing, decreasing to 58.81 ± 11.99% and 3.6 ± 0.6, respectively, after thawing. Regarding cytoplasmic droplets, it was observed that a high percentage of spermatozoa had medial cytoplasmic droplets (38.47%), with only 3.32% and 0.15% presenting proximal and distal cytoplasmic drops, respectively. By flow cytometry, it was observed that before freezing, the percentage of sperm with the damaged plasma membrane and intact acrosome was 3.61 ± 0.99%, increasing slightly to 4.21 ± 1.86% after cryopreservation (p<0.05). Regarding spermatozoa with damaged plasma membrane and acrosome, the percentage before freezing was 3.37±1.87%, increasing to 4.34 ±1.16% after thawing, and no significant differences were observed between these two values. For the percentage of sperm with the intact plasma membrane and damaged acrosome, this value was 2.04 ± 2.34% before freezing, decreasing to 0.89 ± 0.48% after thawing (p<0.05). The percentage of sperm with the intact plasma membrane and acrosome before freezing was 90.99±2.75%, with a slight decrease to 90.57±3.15% after thawing (p<0.05). From this study, it can be clearly concluded that, after the slaughtering of bulls, the spermatozoa can be recovered from the epididymis and cryopreserved, maintaining an excellent rate of sperm viability and quality after thawing.

Keywords: bovine semen, epididymis, cryopreservation, fertility assessment

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Authors: Shohreh Ghasemi

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Introduction: Managing oral and maxillofacial trauma is a multifaceted challenge, as it can have life-threatening consequences and significant functional and aesthetic impact. Navigation techniques have been introduced to improve surgical precision to meet this challenge. A machine learning algorithm was also developed to support clinical decision-making regarding treating oral and maxillofacial trauma. Given these advances, this systematic meta-analysis aims to assess the efficacy of navigational techniques in treating oral and maxillofacial trauma and explore the impact of machine learning on their management. Methods: A detailed and comprehensive analysis of studies published between January 2010 and September 2021 was conducted through a systematic meta-analysis. This included performing a thorough search of Web of Science, Embase, and PubMed databases to identify studies evaluating the efficacy of navigational techniques and the impact of machine learning in managing oral and maxillofacial trauma. Studies that did not meet established entry criteria were excluded. In addition, the overall quality of studies included was evaluated using Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Results: Total of 12 studies, including 869 patients with oral and maxillofacial trauma, met the inclusion criteria. An analysis of studies revealed that navigation techniques effectively improve surgical accuracy and minimize the risk of complications. Additionally, machine learning algorithms have proven effective in predicting treatment outcomes and identifying patients at high risk for complications. Conclusion: The introduction of navigational technology has great potential to improve surgical precision in oral and maxillofacial trauma treatment. Furthermore, developing machine learning algorithms offers opportunities to improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. Still, further studies are necessary to corroborate these results and establish the optimal use of these technologies in managing oral and maxillofacial trauma

Keywords: trauma, machine learning, navigation, maxillofacial, management

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Authors: S. Somerset, D. J. Hoare, P. Leighton

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Limited participation in physical activity and sport has been linked to poorer mental and physical health in children. Studies have shown that children who participate in sports benefit from improved social skills, self-confidence, communication skills and a better quality of life. Children who participate in sport are also more likely to continue their participation into their adult life. Deaf or hard of hearing children should have the same opportunities to participate in sport and receive the benefits as their hearing peers. Anecdotal evidence suggests this isn’t always the case. This is concerning given there are 45,000 children in the UK with permanent hearing loss. The aim of this study was to understand what encourages or discourages deaf or hard of hearing children to take part in sports. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University of Nottingham School of Medicine ethics committee. We conducted eight focus groups with deaf or hard of hearing children aged 10 to 15 years. A total of 45 children (19 male, 26 female) recruited from local schools and sports clubs took part. Information was gathered on the children’s thoughts and feelings about participation in sport. This included whether they played sports and who with, whether they did or did not like sport, and why they got involved in sport. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Several key themes were identified as being associated with levels of sports participation. These included friendships, family and communication. Deaf or hard of hearing children with active siblings had participated in more sports. Communication was a common theme throughout regardless of the type of hearing-assistive technology a child used. Children found communication easier during sport if they were allowed to use their technology and had particular difficulty during sports such as swimming. Children expressed a desire not to have to identify themselves at a club as having a hearing loss. This affected their confidence when participating in sport. Not surprisingly, children who are deaf or hard of hearing are more likely to participate in sport if they have a good support network of parents, coaches and friends. The key barriers to participation for these children are communication, lack of visual information, lack of opportunity and a lack of awareness. By addressing these issues more deaf and hard of hearing children will take part in sport and will continue their participation.

Keywords: barrier, children, deaf, participation, hard of hearing, sport

Procedia PDF Downloads 409

Authors: Debabrata Adhikari, Mikhail Matveev, Louise Brown, Jan Kočí, Andy Long

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Resin transfer molding (RTM) is increasingly used for manufacturing high-quality composite structures due to its additional advantages over prepregs of low-cost out-of-autoclave processing. However, to retain the advantages, it is critical to reduce the void content during the injection. Reinforcements commonly used in RTM, such as woven fabrics, have dual-scale porosity with mesoscale pores between the yarns and the micro-scale pores within the yarns. Due to the fabric geometry and the nature of the dual-scale flow, the flow front during injection creates a complicated fingering formation which leads to void formation. Analytical modeling of void formation for woven fabrics has been widely studied elsewhere. However, there is scope for improvement to the reduction in void formation in 3D fabrics wherein the in-plane yarn layers are confined by additional through-thickness binder yarns. In the present study, the structural morphology of the tortuous pore spaces in the 3D fabric has been studied and implemented using open-source software TexGen. An analytical model for the void and the fingering formation has been implemented based on an idealized unit cell model of the 3D fabric. Since the pore spaces between the yarns are free domains, the region is treated as flow-through connected channels, whereas intra-yarn flow has been modeled using Darcy’s law with an additional term to account for capillary pressure. Later the void fraction has been characterised using the criterion of void formation by comparing the fill time for inter and intra yarn flow. Moreover, the dual-scale two-phase flow of resin with air has been simulated in the commercial CFD solver OpenFOAM/ANSYS to predict the probable location of voids and validate the analytical model. The use of an idealised unit cell model will give the insight to optimise the mesoscale geometry of the reinforcement and injection parameters to minimise the void content during the LCM process.

Keywords: 3D fiber, void formation, RTM, process modelling

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Authors: Sergio D’Ambrosioa, Azza Dobousa, Chiara Schiraldia, Donatella Ciminib

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Probiotics are living microorganisms that give beneficial effects while consumed. Lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria are among the most representative strains assessed as probiotics and exploited as food supplements. Numerous studies demonstrated their potential as a therapeutic candidate for a variety of diseases (restoring gut flora, lowering cholesterol, immune response-enhancing, anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation activities). These beneficial actions are also due to biomolecules produced by probiotics, such as exopolysaccharides (EPSs), that demonstrate plenty of beneficial properties such as antimicrobial, antitumor, anti-biofilm, antiviral and immunomodulatory activities. Limosilactobacillus fermentum is a widely studied member of probiotics; however, few data are available on the development of fermentation and downstream processes for the production of viable biomasses for potential industrial applications. However, few data are available on the development of fermentation processes for the large-scale production of probiotics biomass for industrial applications and for purification processes of EPSs at an industrial scale. For this purpose, L. fermentum strain was isolated from buffalo milk and used as a test example for biotechnological process development. The strain was able to produce up to 109 CFU/mL on a (glucose-based) semi-defined medium deprived of animal-derived raw materials up to the pilot scale (150 L), demonstrating improved results compared to commonly used, although industrially not suitable, media-rich of casein and beef extract. Biomass concentration via microfiltration on hollow fibers, and subsequent spray-drying allowed to recover of about 5.7 × 1010CFU/gpowder of viable cells, indicating strain resistance to harsh processing conditions. Overall, these data demonstrate the possibility of obtaining and maintaining adequate levels of viable L. fermentum cells by using a simple approach that is potentially suitable for industrial development. A downstream EPS purification protocol based on ultrafiltration, precipitation and activated charcoal treatments showed a purity of the recovered polysaccharides of about 70-80%.

Keywords: probiotics, fermentation, exopolysaccharides (EPSs), purification

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: M. S. Abd El-Sadek, M. A. Omar, Gharib M. Taha

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In recent years, photocatalytic degradation of various kinds of organic and inorganic pollutants using semiconductor powders as photocatalysts has been extensively studied. Owing to its relatively high photocatalytic activity, biological and chemical stability, low cost, nonpoisonous and long stable life, Tin oxide materials have been widely used as catalysts in chemical reactions, including synthesis of vinyl ketone, oxidation of methanol and so on. Tin oxide (SnO₂), with a rutile-type crystalline structure, is an n-type wide band gap (3.6 eV) semiconductor that presents a proper combination of chemical, electronic and optical properties that make it advantageous in several applications. In the present work, SnO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized at room temperature by the sol-gel process and thermohydrolysis of SnCl₂ in isopropanol by controlling the crystallite size through calculations. The synthesized nanoparticles were identified by using XRD analysis, TEM, FT-IR, and Uv-Visible spectroscopic techniques. The crystalline structure and grain size of the synthesized samples were analyzed by X-Ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and the XRD patterns confirmed the presence of tetragonal phase SnO₂. In this study, Methylene blue degradation was tested by using SnO₂ nanoparticles (at different calculations temperatures) as a photocatalyst under sunlight as a source of irradiation. The results showed that the highest percentage of degradation of Methylene blue dye was obtained by using SnO₂ photocatalyst at calculations temperature 800 ᵒC. The operational parameters were investigated to be optimized to the best conditions which result in complete removal of organic pollutants from aqueous solution. It was found that the degradation of dyes depends on several parameters such as irradiation time, initial dye concentration, the dose of the catalyst and the presence of metals such as silver as a dopant and its concentration. Percent degradation was increased with irradiation time. The degradation efficiency decreased as the initial concentration of the dye increased. The degradation efficiency increased as the dose of the catalyst increased to a certain level and by further increasing the SnO₂ photocatalyst dose, the degradation efficiency is decreased. The best degradation efficiency on which obtained from pure SnO₂ compared with SnO₂ which doped by different percentage of Ag.

Keywords: SnO₂ nanoparticles, a sol-gel method, photocatalytic applications, methylene blue, degradation efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Emma O’ Keeffe, Helen Hughes, Peter McLoughlin, Shiau Pin Tan, Nick McCarthy

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Biosecurity is emerging as one of the most important issues facing the agricultural and forestry community. This is as a result of increased invasion from new pests and diseases with the main protocol for dealing with these species being the use of synthetic pesticides. However, these chemicals have been shown to exhibit negative effects on the environment. Seaweeds represent a vast untapped resource of bio-molecules with a broad range of biological activities including pesticidal. This project investigated both the antifungal and antibacterial activity of seaweed species against two problematic root rot fungi, Armillaria mellea and Heterobasidion annosum and ten quarantine bacterial plant pathogens including Xanthomonas arboricola, Xanthomonas fragariae, and Erwinia amylovora. Four seaweed species were harvested from the South-East coast of Ireland including brown, red and green varieties. The powdered seaweeds were extracted using four different solvents by liquid extraction. The poisoned food technique was employed to establish the antifungal efficacy, and the standard disc diffusion assay was used to assess the antibacterial properties of the seaweed extracts. It was found that extracts of the green seaweed exhibited antifungal activity against H. annosum, with approximately 50% inhibition compared to the negative control. The protectant activities of the active extracts were evaluated on disks of Picea sitchensis, a plant species sensitive to infection from H. annosum and compared to the standard chemical control product urea. The crude extracts exhibited very similar activity to the 10% and 20% w/v concentrations of urea, demonstrating the ability of seaweed extracts to compete with commercially available products. Antibacterial activity was exhibited by a number of seaweed extracts with the red seaweed illustrating the strongest activity, with a zone of inhibition of 15.83 ± 0.41 mm exhibited against X. arboricola whilst the positive control (10 μg/disk of chloramphenicol) had a zone of 26.5 ± 0.71 mm. These results highlight the potential application of seaweed extracts in the forestry and agricultural industries for use as biopesticides. Further work is now required to identify the bioactive molecules that are responsible for this antifungal and antibacterial activity in the seaweed extracts, including toxicity studies to ensure the extracts are non-toxic to plants and humans.

Keywords: antibacterial, antifungal, biopesticides, seaweeds

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Hande Barkan-Ozturk, Angelika Menner, Alexander Bismarck

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Microfluidic mixing technology grew rapidly in the past few years due to its many advantages over the macro-scale mixing, especially the ability to use small amounts of internal volume and also very high surface-to-volume ratio. The Reynold number identify whether the mixing is operated by the laminar or turbulence flow. Therefore, mixing with very fast kinetic can be achieved by diminishing the channel dimensions to decrease Reynold number and the laminar flow can be accomplished. Moreover, by using obstacles in the micromixer, the mixing length and the contact area between the species have been increased. Therefore, the channel geometry and its surface property have great importance to reach satisfactory mixing results. Since poly(-merised) High Internal Phase Emulsions (polyHIPEs) have more than 74% porosity and their pores are connected each other with pore throats, which cause high permeability, they are ideal candidate to build a micromixer. The HIPE precursor is commonly produced by using an overhead stirrer to obtain relatively large amount of emulsion in batch process. However, we will demonstrate that a desired amount of emulsion can be prepared continuously with micromixer build from polyHIPE, and such HIPE can subsequently be employed as ink in 3D printing process. In order to produce the micromixer a poly-Pickering(St-co-DVB)HIPE with 80% porosity was prepared with modified silica particles as stabilizer and surfactant Hypermer 2296 to obtain open porous structure and after coating of the surface, the three 1/16' ' PTFE tubes to transfer continuous (CP) and internal phases (IP) and the other is to collect the emulsion were placed. Afterwards, the two phases were injected in the ratio 1:3 CP:IP with syringe dispensers, respectively, and highly viscoelastic H(M)IPE, which can be used as an ink in 3D printing process, was gathered continuously. After the polymerisation of the resultant emulsion, polyH(M)IPE has interconnected porous structure identical to the monolithic polyH(M)IPE indicating that the emulsion can be prepared constantly with poly-Pickering-HIPE as micromixer and it can be used to prepare desired pattern with a 3D printer. Moreover, the morphological properties of the emulsion can be adjustable by changing flow ratio, flow speed and structure of the micromixer.

Keywords: 3D-Printing, emulsification, macroporous polymer, micromixer, polyHIPE

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Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Hajiali

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Many of construction projects estimated in Iran have been influenced by the limitations of financial resources. As for Iran, a country that is developing, and to follow this development-oriented approach which many numbers of projects each year run in, if we can reduce the cost of projects by applying a method we will help greatly to minimize the cost of major construction projects and therefore projects will finish faster and more efficiently. One of the components of transportation infrastructure are roads that are considered to have a considerable share of the country budget. In addition, major budget of the related ministry is spending to repair, improve and maintain roads. Value Engineering is a simple and powerful methodology over the past six decades that has been successful in reducing the cost of many projects. Specific solution for using value engineering in the stage of project implementation is called value engineering change proposal (VECP). It was tried in this research to apply VECP in one of the road-building projects in Iran in order to enhance the value of this kind of projects and reduce their cost. In this case study after applying VECP, an idea was raised. It was about use of concrete pavement instead of hot mixed asphalt (HMA) and also using fiber in order to improve concrete pavement performance. VE group team made a decision that for choosing the best alternatives, get expert’s opinions in pavement systems and use Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) for ranking opinions of the experts. Finally, Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP) was selected. Group also experimented concrete samples with available fibers in Iran and the results of experiments showed a significant increment in concrete specifications such as flexural strength. In the end, it was shown that by using of fiber-reinforced concrete pavement instead of asphalt pavement, we can achieve a significant saving in cost, time and also increment in quality, durability, and longevity.

Keywords: road-building projects, value engineering change proposal (VECP), Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP), Fuzzy TOPSIS, fiber-reinforced concrete

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Yuichi Anada

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Electrical properties of polymer solid is characterized by dielectric relaxation phenomenon. Complex permittivity shows a high dependence on frequency of external stimulation in the broad frequency range from 0.1mHz to 10GHz. The complex-permittivity dispersion gives us a lot of useful information about the molecular motion of polymers and the structure of polymer aggregates. However, the large dispersion of permittivity at low frequencies due to DC conduction of impurity ions often covers the dielectric relaxation in polymer solid. In experimental investigation, many researchers have tried to remove the DC conduction experimentally or analytically for a long time. On the other hand, our laboratory chose another way of research for this problem from the point of view of a reversal in thinking. The way of our research is to use the impurity ions in the DC conduction as a probe to detect the motion of polymer molecules and to investigate the structure of polymer aggregates. In addition to the complex permittivity, the electric modulus and the conductivity relaxation time are strong tools for investigating the ionic motion in DC conduction. In a non-crystalline part of melt-crystallized polymers, free spaces with inhomogeneous size exist between crystallites. As the impurity ions exist in the non-crystalline part and move through these inhomogeneous free spaces, the motion of ions reflects the microstructure of non-crystalline part. The ionic motion of impurity ions in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is investigated in this study. Frequency dependence of the loss permittivity of PVDF shows a characteristic of the direct current (DC) conduction below 1 kHz of frequency at 435 K. The electric modulus-frequency curve shows a characteristic of the dispersion with the single conductivity relaxation time. Namely, it is the Debye-type dispersion. The conductivity relaxation time analyzed from this curve is 0.00003 s at 435 K. From the plot of conductivity relaxation time of PVDF together with the other polymers against permittivity, it was found that there are two group of polymers; one of the group is characterized by small conductivity relaxation time and large permittivity, and another is characterized by large conductivity relaxation time and small permittivity.

Keywords: conductivity relaxation time, electric modulus, ionic motion, permittivity, poly(vinylidene fluoride), DC conduction

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Dakeyi Athanase

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The ratification of an international human rights legal instrument provides signatory States with an opportunity to assume a set of obligations and rights for the benefit of their citizens, offering increased possibilities, opportunities, and means to access an improved quality of life – to be, to appear, and to become. Developed nations typically experience cultural, political, social, economic, legal, and regulatory transformations in response to this transition. In a methodologically proactive approach, mechanisms undergo a visible and comprehensible process of qualitative and quantitative change. Conversely, in nations undergoing development, the response to such ratification varies. Some demonstrate positive policy changes, while others remain stagnant or regress. Cameroon falls into the second category, despite efforts, as it legally prohibits 50% of its population with disabilities from acquiring the status of a person with a disability. The overarching goal of this communication is to highlight these deficiencies and their detrimental effects on various aspects of life, fostering awareness among beneficiaries and advocating for more inclusive transformations in the country. Our project employs a popular and participatory methodological approach by involving beneficiaries and their organizations in its preparation. It is also inclusive, representing the diversity of disabilities and engaging natural and legal persons from various backgrounds. Active consultations occur at all levels of the activities. Anticipated outcomes include raising awareness globally among nations, international cooperation organizations, NGOs, and other inclusive development actors. We seek their support for local advocacy efforts to fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Concurrently, we hope they express solidarity with the victims in Cameroon who have been left behind and recommend legal reforms to align domestic and international legislation with the promotion and protection of disability rights.

Keywords: droit, convention, handicap, discrimination, participation, inclusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 42

Authors: Nilgün Öztürk, Hakan Sabahtin Ali, Hülya Tuba Kıyan

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The genus Chenopodium belongs to Amaranthaceae, is represented by approximately 250 species in the world and 15 species and three subspecies in Turkey. Chenopodium species are traditionally used to treat chest and abdominal pain, shortness of breath, cough and neurological disorders. Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (Quinoa) is native to Andes region of South America (especially Peru and Bolivia) and cultivated in many countries include also Turkey in the world nowadays. The seeds of quinoa are rich in protein, and the phytochemical composition consists of antioxidant substances such as polyphenolic compounds, flavonoids, vitamins, and minerals; anticancer and neuroprotective compounds such as tocotrienols; anti-inflammatory compounds such as carotenoids and anthocyanins and also saponins and starch. Food products of quinoa such as quinoa cereal bar, pasta and cornflakes are used in the diet made during many disorders like obesity, cardiovascular disorder, hypertension and Celiac disease. Also quinoa seems to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and cholesterol-lowering properties because of its bioactive compounds. In this present study, the aqueous ethanolic extracts of the seeds of three different coloured genotypes of quinoa were investigated for their antioxidant activities using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, ferrous ion-chelating effect, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, ABTS radical cation decolorization assays and total phenolic contents using Folin-Ciocalteu assay. Among the three genotypes of quinoa; the aqueous ethanolic extract of the red genotype had the highest total phenolic content (83.54 ± 2.12 mg gallic acid/100 g extract) whereas the extract of the white genotype had the lowest total phenolic content (70.66 ± 0.25 mg gallic acid/100 g). According to the antioxidant activity results; the extracts showed moderate reducing power effect whereas weak ABTS radical cation decolorization and ferrous ion-chelating effect and also too weak DPPH radical scavenging activity when compared to the positive standards.

Keywords: amaranthaceae, antioxidant activity, Chenopodium quinoa willd., total phenolic content

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Gulay Oncu Ince, Sibel Karakaya

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Food is a worldwide concern. Among the factors that have influences on human health, food, nutrition and life style have been regarded as the most important factors since they can be intervened. While some parts of the world has been faced with food shortages and hence, chronic metabolic diseases, the other part of the world have been emerged from over consumption of food. Both situations can result in shorter life expectancy and represent a major global health problem. Hunger, satiety and appetite sensation form a balance ensures the operation of feeding behavior between food intake and energy consumption. Satiety is one of the approaches that is effective in ensuring weight control and avoid eating more in the postprandial period. By manipulating the microstructure of food macro and micronutrient bioavailability may be increased or reduced. For the food industry appearance, texture, taste structural properties as well as the gastrointestinal tract behavior of the food after the consumption is becoming increasingly important. Also, this behavior has been the subject of several researches in recent years by the scientific community. Numerous studies have been published about changing the food matrix in order to increase expected impacts. In this study, yogurts were enriched with caseinomacropeptide (CMP), whey protein (WP), CMP and sodium alginate (SA), and WP + SA in order to produce goat yogurts having different food matrices. SDS Page profiles of the samples after in vitro digestion and viscosities of the stomach digesta at different share rates were determined. Energy values were 62.11kcal/100 g, 70.27 kcal/100 g, 70.61 kcal/100 g, 71.20 kcal/100 g and 71.67 kcal/100 g for control, CMP added WP added, WP + SA added, and CMP + SA added yogurts respectively. The results of viscosity analysis showed that control yogurt had the lowest viscosity value and this was followed by CMP added, WP added, CMP + SA added and WP + SA added yogurts, respectively. Protein contents of the stomach and duedonal digests of the samples after subjected to two different in vitro digestion methods were changed between 5.34-5.91 mg protein / g sample and 16.93-19.75 mg protein /g of sample, respectively. Viscosity measurements of the stomach digests showed that CMP + SA added yogurt displayed the highest viscosity value in both in vitro digestion methods. There were differences between the protein profiles of the stomach and duedonal digests obtained by two different in vitro digestion methods (p<0.05).

Keywords: caseinomacropeptide, protein profile, whey protein, yogurt

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Authors: Shamim Akhtar

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The purpose of the present research was to analyse the performance level of district administrators and school heads teachers at secondary school level. The sample of the study was head teachers and teachers of secondary schools. In survey three scales were used, two scales were for the head teachers, one five point scale was for analysing the working efficiency of educational administrators and other seven points scale was for head teachers for analysing their own performance and one another seven point rating scale similar to head teacher was for the teachers for analysing the working performance of their head teachers. The results of the head teachers’ responses revealed that the performance of their District Educational Administrators was average and for the performance efficiency of the head teachers, researcher constructed the rating scales on seven parameters of management likely academic management, personnel management, financial management, infra-structure management, linkage and interface, student’s services, and managerial excellence. Results of percentages, means, and graphical presentation on different parameters of management showed that there was an obvious difference in head teachers and teachers’ responses and head teachers probably were overestimating their efficiency; but teachers evaluated that they were performing averagely on majority statements. Results of t-test showed that there was no significance difference in the responses of rural and urban teachers but significant difference in male and female teachers’ responses showed that female head teachers were performing their responsibilities better than male head teachers in public sector schools. When efficiency of the head teachers on different parameters of management were analysed it was concluded that their efficiency on academic and personnel management was average and on financial management and on managerial excellence was highly above of average level but on others parameters like infra-structure management, linkage and interface and on students services was above of average level on most statements but highly above of average on some statements. Hence there is need to improve the working efficiency in academic management and personnel management.

Keywords: educational administration, educational management, parameters of management, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: Timothy E. Frank, Peter J. Amaddio, Elizabeth D. Decko, Alexis M. Tri, Darcy A. Farrell, Cole M. Landes

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Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) is a class of cementitious composites with a relatively large percentage of cement generating high compressive strength. Additionally, UHPC contains disbursed fibers, which control crack width, carry the tensile load across narrow cracks, and limit spalling. These characteristics lend themselves to a wide range of structural applications when UHPC members are reinforced with longitudinal steel. Efficient use of fibers and longitudinal steel is required to keep lifecycle cost competitive in reinforced UHPC members; this requires full utilization of both the compressive and tensile qualities of the reinforced cementitious composite. The objective of this study is to investigate the shear response of steel-reinforced UHPC beams to guide design decisions that keep initial costs reasonable, limit serviceability crack widths, and ensure a ductile structural response and failure path. Five small-scale, reinforced UHPC beams were experimentally tested. Longitudinal steel, transverse steel, and casting direction were varied. Results indicate that an increase in transverse steel in short-spanned reinforced UHPC beams provided additional shear capacity and increased the peak load achieved. Beams with very large longitudinal steel reinforcement ratios did not achieve yield and fully utilized the tension properties of the longitudinal steel. Casting the UHPC beams from the end or from the middle affected load-carrying capacity and ductility, but image analysis determined the fiber orientation was not significantly different. It is believed the presence of transverse and longitudinal steel reinforcement minimized the effect of different UHPC casting directions. Results support recent recommendations in the literature suggesting a 1% fiber volume fraction is sufficient within UHPC to prevent spalling and provide compressive fracture toughness under extreme loading conditions.

Keywords: fiber orientation, reinforced ultra high performance concrete beams, shear, transverse steel

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Authors: Q. Ni, J. A. Serna, D. Holland, X. Wang

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The objective of this study is to develop Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques to enhance bone related research applied on normal and disuse (Biglycan knockout) mice bone in vitro by using both low-field and high-field NMR simultaneously. It is known that the total amplitude of T₂ relaxation envelopes, measured by the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill NMR spin echo train (CPMG), is a representation of the liquid phase inside the pores. Therefore, the NMR CPMG magnetization amplitude can be transferred to the volume of water after calibration with the NMR signal amplitude of the known volume of the selected water. In this study, the distribution of mobile water, porosity that can be determined by using low-field (20 MHz) CPMG relaxation technique, and the pore size distributions can be determined by a computational inversion relaxation method. It is also known that the total proton intensity of magnetization from the NMR free induction decay (FID) signal is due to the water present inside the pores (mobile water), the water that has undergone hydration with the bone (bound water), and the protons in the collagen and mineral matter (solid-like protons). Therefore, the components of total mobile and bound water within bone that can be determined by low-field NMR free induction decay technique. Furthermore, the bound water in solid phase (mineral and organic constituents), especially, the dominated component of calcium hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(OH)₂(PO₄)₆) can be determined by using high-field (400 MHz) magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR. With MAS technique reducing NMR spectral linewidth inhomogeneous broadening and susceptibility broadening of liquid-solid mix, in particular, we can conduct further research into the ¹H and ³¹P elements and environments of bone materials to identify the locations of bound water such as OH- group within minerals and bone architecture. We hypothesize that with low-field and high-field magic angle spinning NMR can provide a more complete interpretation of water distribution, particularly, in bound water, and these data are important to access bone quality and predict the mechanical behavior of bone.

Keywords: bone, mice bone, NMR, water in bone

Procedia PDF Downloads 159