Search results for: entropy index

Authors: Abdelali Laid, Abid Hamza, Zeroukhi Houari, Sayah Naimi

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This work relates to the study of the energy levels and the optimization of the Parameter intrinsic (a number of wells and their widths, width of barrier of potential, index of refraction etc.) and extrinsic (temperature, pressure) in the Structure laser diode containing the structure GaInP. The methods of calculation used; - method of the empirical pseudo potential to determine the electronic structures of bands, - graphic method for optimization. The found results are in concord with those of the experiment and the theory.

Keywords: semi-conductor, GaInP/AlGaInP, pseudopotential, energy, alliages

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Authors: Moatlhodi Wise Letshwenyo, Lesedi Lebogang

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Botswana is an arid country that needs to start reusing wastewater as part of its water security plan. Pilot scale slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter was investigated for the treatment of effluent from Botswana International University of Science and Technology to meet Botswana irrigation standards. The system was operated at hydraulic loading rates of 0.04 m/hr and 0.12 m/hr. The results show that the system was able to reduce turbidity from 262 Nephelometric Turbidity Units to a range between 18 and 0 Nephelometric Turbidity Units which was below 30 Nephelometric Turbidity Units threshold limit. The overall efficacy ranged between 61% and 100%. Suspended solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, and Chemical Oxygen Demand removal efficiency averaged 42.6%, 45.5%, and 77% respectively and all within irrigation standards. Other physio-chemical parameters were within irrigation standards except for bicarbonate ion which averaged 297.7±44 mg L^-1 in the influent and 196.22±50 mg L^-1 in the effluent which was above the limit of 92 mg L^-1, therefore averaging a reduction of 34.1% by the system. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli in the effluent were initially averaging 1.1 log counts, 0.5 log counts, and 1.3 log counts respectively compared to corresponding influent log counts of 3.4, 2.7 and 4.1, respectively. As time passed, it was observed that only roughing filter was able to reach reductions of 97.5%, 86% and 100% respectively for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and total coliforms. These organism numbers were observed to have increased in slow sand filter effluent suggesting multiplication in the tank. Water quality index value of 22.79 for the physio-chemical parameters suggests that the effluent is of excellent quality and can be used for irrigation purposes. However, the water quality index value for the microbial parameters (1820) renders the quality unsuitable for irrigation. It is concluded that slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter is a viable option for the treatment of secondary effluent for reuse purposes. However, further studies should be conducted especially for the removal of microbial parameters using the system.

Keywords: irrigation, slow sand filter, turbidity, wastewater reuse

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Authors: Faiz N. K. Yusufi, Aquil Ahmed, Jamal Ahmad

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Diabetes in India is growing at an alarming rate and the complications caused by it need to be controlled. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the complications that will be discussed for prediction in this study. India has the second most number of diabetes patients in the world. To the best of our knowledge, there is no CHD risk score for Indian type 2 diabetes patients. Any form of CHD has been taken as the event of interest. A sample of 750 was determined and randomly collected from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology, J.N.M.C., A.M.U., Aligarh, India. Collected variables include patients data such as sex, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar fasting (BSF), post prandial sugar (PP), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), smoking, alcohol habits, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), physical activity, duration of diabetes, diet control, history of antihypertensive drug treatment, family history of diabetes, waist circumference, hip circumference, medications, central obesity and history of CHD. Predictive risk scores of CHD events are designed by cox proportional hazard regression. Model calibration and discrimination is assessed from Hosmer Lemeshow and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Overfitting and underfitting of the model is checked by applying regularization techniques and best method is selected between ridge, lasso and elastic net regression. Youden’s index is used to choose the optimal cut off point from the scores. Five year probability of CHD is predicted by both survival function and Markov chain two state model and the better technique is concluded. The risk scores for CHD developed can be calculated by doctors and patients for self-control of diabetes. Furthermore, the five-year probabilities can be implemented as well to forecast and maintain the condition of patients.

Keywords: coronary heart disease, cox proportional hazard regression, ROC curve, type 2 diabetes Mellitus

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Authors: Vikram Kalekar

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Modern Internet Protocol (IP) networks deploy traditional and modern Quality of Service (QoS) management methods to ensure the smooth flow of network packets during regular operations. SDN (Software-defined networking) networks have also made headway into better service delivery by means of novel QoS methodologies. While many of these techniques are experimental, some of them have been tested extensively in controlled environments, and few of them have the potential to be deployed widely in the industry. With this survey, we plan to analyze the approaches to QoS and resource allocation in SDN, and we will try to comment on the possible improvements to QoS management in the context of SDN.

Keywords: QoS, policy, congestion, flow management, latency, delay index terms-SDN, delay

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Authors: Musa Momoh, A. U. Moreh, A. M. Bayawa, Sanusi Abdullahi, I. Atiku

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In this study, thin films of ZnO were synthesized by two techniques namely RF sputtering and spray pyrolysis. The films were deposited on corning glass. The primary materials used are 99.99% pure. The optical and structural properties of the samples were studied. It has been noted that the samples deposited by Spray pyrolysis have and average transmittance, refractive index and extinction coefficient as 80-90%, 1.33-1.44 and 13.11-27.52 respectively. Those deposited by sputtering method are 34-80%, 1.51-1.52 and 3.15-3.28. The XRD patterns of the samples show that they are polycrystalline.

Keywords: zinc oxide, spray pyrolysis, rf sputtering, optical properties, electrical properties

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Authors: Sakda Loetpiparwanich, Preecha Vichitthamaros

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Nowadays, poor data quality is considered one of the majority costs for a data project. The data project with data quality awareness almost as much time to data quality processes while data project without data quality awareness negatively impacts financial resources, efficiency, productivity, and credibility. One of the processes that take a long time is defining the expectations and measurements of data quality because the expectation is different up to the purpose of each data project. Especially, big data project that maybe involves with many datasets and stakeholders, that take a long time to discuss and define quality expectations and measurements. Therefore, this study aimed at developing meaningful indicators to describe overall data quality for each dataset to quick comparison and priority. The objectives of this study were to: (1) Develop a practical data quality indicators and measurements, (2) Develop data quality dimensions based on statistical characteristics and (3) Develop Composite Indicator that can describe overall data quality for each dataset. The sample consisted of more than 500 datasets from public sources obtained by random sampling. After datasets were collected, there are five steps to develop the Dataset Quality Index (SDQI). First, we define standard data quality expectations. Second, we find any indicators that can measure directly to data within datasets. Thirdly, each indicator aggregates to dimension using factor analysis. Next, the indicators and dimensions were weighted by an effort for data preparing process and usability. Finally, the dimensions aggregate to Composite Indicator. The results of these analyses showed that: (1) The developed useful indicators and measurements contained ten indicators. (2) the developed data quality dimension based on statistical characteristics, we found that ten indicators can be reduced to 4 dimensions. (3) The developed Composite Indicator, we found that the SDQI can describe overall datasets quality of each dataset and can separate into 3 Level as Good Quality, Acceptable Quality, and Poor Quality. The conclusion, the SDQI provide an overall description of data quality within datasets and meaningful composition. We can use SQDI to assess for all data in the data project, effort estimation, and priority. The SDQI also work well with Agile Method by using SDQI to assessment in the first sprint. After passing the initial evaluation, we can add more specific data quality indicators into the next sprint.

Keywords: data quality, dataset quality, data quality management, composite indicator, factor analysis, principal component analysis

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Authors: Chouahda Salima, Soltani Noureddine

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The present study is a part of biological control against mosquitoes. It aims to assess the impact of two xenobiotics (a selective insect growth regulator: halofenozide and heavy metals: cadmium, more toxic and widespread in the region) in mosquitofish: Gambusia affinis. Several approaches were examined: Acute toxicity of cadmium and halofenozide: The acute toxicity of cadmium and halofenozide was examined in juvenile and adult males and females of G. affinis at different concentrations, cadmium causes mortality of the species studied with a relation dose-response. In laboratory conditions, the impact of cadmium was determined on two biomarkers of environmental stress: glutathione and acetylcholinesterase. The results show that the juvenile followed by adult males are more susceptible than adult females, while the halofenozide does not have any effect on the mortality of juvenile and adult males and females of G.affinis. Chronic toxicity of cadmium and halofenozide: both xenobiotics were added to the water fish raising at different doses tested in juveniles and adults males and females during two months of experience. Growth and metric indices; results show that halofenozide added to the water juveniles of G. affinis has no effect on their growth (length and weight). On the other side, the cadmium at the dose 5 µg/L shows a higher toxicity against juvenile, where he appears to reduce significantly their linear growth and weight. In females, the both xenobiotics have significant effects on metric indices, but these effects are more important on the hepatosomatic index that the gonadosomatic index and the coefficient of condition. Biomarkers; acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione (GSH) used in assessing of environmental stress were measured in juveniles and adults males and females. The response of these biomarkers reveals an inhibition of AChE specific activity, an induction of GST activity, and decrease of GSH rates in juveniles in the end of experiment and during chronic treatment adult males and females. The effect of these biomarkers is more pronounced in females compared to males and juveniles. These different biomarkers have a similar profile for the duration of exposure.

Keywords: gambusia affinis, insecticide, heavy metal, morphology, biomarkers, chronic toxicity, acute toxicity, pollution

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Authors: Aïssa Manallah, Mohamed Bouafia

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Ellipsometry is an optical method based on the study of the behavior of polarized light. The light reflected on a surface induces a change in the polarization state which depends on the characteristics of the material (complex refractive index and thickness of the different layers constituting the device). The purpose of this work is to determine the optical properties of semiconductor thin films by ellipsometry. This paper describes the experimental aspects concerning the semiconductor samples, the SE400 ellipsometer principle, and the results obtained by direct measurements of ellipsometric parameters and modelling using appropriate software.

Keywords: ellipsometry, optical constants, semiconductors, thin films

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Authors: Nezihe Şengün, Ragip Pala

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To prevent overweight and obesity, individuals need to consume food and beverages according to their nutritional needs, engage in regular exercises, and regularly monitor their body weight. This study aimed to examine the effects of exercise, diet, or combined intervention on changes in blood lipid parameters (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides) and the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of oxidative stress, in parallel with the increase in body weight due to poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyle conditions. The study included a total of 48 female students aged 18-28 years with a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m². They were divided into four groups: control (C), exercise (Ex), diet (D), and exercise+diet (Ex+D). Those in the exercise groups received aerobic exercises at 60-70% intensity (10 minutes warm-up, 30 minutes running, 10 minutes cool-down), while those in the diet groups were provided with a diet program based on the calculation of energy needs considering basal metabolic rate, physical activity level, age, and BMI. The students’ body weight, body fat mass, Body Mass Index (BMI), and waist-hip ratios were measured at the beginning (day 1) and end (day 60) of the 8-week intervention period. Their total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and MDA levels were evaluated and analyzed, considering a statistical significance level of p<0.05. As a result, female students in the Ex+D group had the largest difference in body weight, body fat mass, BMI, and waist-hip ratios, and this difference was statistically significant. Except for those in the C group, those in the other groups experienced a decrease in their total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and an increase in their HDL cholesterol levels. The decrease in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels was statistically significant for those in the D group, and the increase in HDL cholesterol level was statistically significant for those in the Ex+D group (p<0.05). A decrease in MDA level was found in all groups except those in the C group, and this decrease was significantly higher in the Ex group. In conclusion, our study revealed that the most effective way to achieve weight loss is through a combination of exercise and diet. The application of Ex+D is considered to balance blood lipid levels and suppress oxidative stress.

Keywords: obesity, exercise, diet, body mass index, blood lipids

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Authors: Hanee Ryu

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The former president Lee Myung-bak's administration of Korea presented “green growth” as a catchphrase from 2008. He declared “low-carbon, green growth” the nation's vision for the next decade according to United Nation Framework on Climate Change. The government designed omnidirectional policy for low-carbon and green growth with concentrating all effort of departments. The structural change was expected because this slogan is the identity of the government, which is strongly driven with the whole department. After his administration ends, the purpose of this paper is to quantify the policy effect and to compare with the value of the other OECD countries. The major target values under direct policy objectives were suggested, but it could not capture the entire landscape on which the policy makes changes. This paper figures out the policy impacts through comparing the value of ex-ante between the one of ex-post. Furthermore, each index level of Korea’s low-carbon and green growth comparing with the value of the other OECD countries. To measure the policy effect, indicators international organizations have developed are considered. Environmental Sustainable Index (ESI) and Environmental Performance Index (EPI) have been developed by Yale University’s Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and Joint Research Center of European Commission. It has been widely used to assess the level of natural resource endowments, pollution level, environmental management efforts and society’s capacity to improve its environmental performance over time. Recently OCED publish the Green Growth Indicator for monitoring progress towards green growth based on internationally comparable data. They build up the conceptual framework and select indicators according to well specified criteria: economic activities, natural asset base, environmental dimension of quality of life and economic opportunities and policy response. It considers the socio-economic context and reflects the characteristic of growth. Some selected indicators are used for measuring the level of changes the green growth policies have induced in this paper. As results, the CO2 productivity and energy productivity show trends of declination. It means that policy intended industry structure shift for achieving carbon emission target affects weakly in the short-term. Increasing green technologies patents might result from the investment of previous period. The increasing of official development aids which can be immediately embarked by political decision with no time lag present only in 2008-2009. It means international collaboration and investment to developing countries via ODA has not succeeded since the initial stage of his administration. The green growth framework makes the public expect structural change, but it shows sporadic effect. It needs organization to manage it in terms of the long-range perspectives. Energy, climate change and green growth are not the issue to be handled in the one period of the administration. The policy mechanism to transfer cost problem to value creation should be developed consistently.

Keywords: comparing ex-ante between ex-post indicator, green growth indicator, implication for green growth policy, measuring policy effect

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Authors: Rachel Koshy, Nazrila Hairizan Bt. Nasir, Samsiah Bt. Awang, Kamaliah Bt. Mohamad Noh

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Malaysia collaborated as a ‘trailblazer’ country with PHCPI (Primary Health Care Performance Initiative) to populate the Primary Health Care (PHC) Vital Signs Profile (VSP) for the country. The PHC VSP provides an innovative snapshot of the primary health care system's performance. Four domains were assessed: system financing, system capacity, system performance, and system equity, and completed in 2019. There were two phases using a mixed method study design. The first phase involved a quantitative study, utilising existing secondary data from national and international sources. In the case of unavailability of data for any indicators, comparable alternative indicators were used. The second phase was a mixed quantitative-qualitative approach to measure the functional capacity based on governance and leadership, population health needs, inputs, population health management, and facility organisation and management. PHC spending constituted 35% of overall health spending in Malaysia, with a per capita PHC spending of $152. The capacity domain was strong in the three subdomains of governance and leadership, information system, and funds management. The two subdomains of drugs & supplies and facility organisation & management had low scores, but the lowest score was in empanelment of the population under the population health management. The PHC system performed with an access index of 98%, quality index of 84%, and service coverage of 62%. In the equity domain, there was little fluctuation in the coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services by mother’s level of education and under-five child mortality between urban and rural areas. The public sector was stronger in the capacity domain as compared to the private sector. This is due to the different financing, organisational structures, and service delivery mechanism. The VSP has identified areas for improvement in the effort to provide high-quality PHC for the population. The gaps in PHC can be addressed through the system approach and the positioning of public and private primary health care delivery systems.

Keywords: primary health care, health system, system domains, vital signs profile

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Authors: Afifa Aslam, Muhammad Ibrahim, Abid Mahmood, Muhammad Usman Alvi, Fariha Jabeen, Umara Tabassum

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Many factors cause air pollution in Pakistan, which poses a significant threat to human health. Diesel fuel and gasoline motor vehicles, as well as industrial companies, pollute the air in Pakistan's cities. The study's goal is to determine the level of air pollution in a Pakistani industrial city and to establish risk levels for the health of the population. We measured the intensity of air pollution by chemical characterization and examination of air samples collected at stationary remark sites. The PM10 levels observed at all sampling sites, including residential, commercial, high-traffic, and industrial areas were well above the limits imposed by Pakistan EPA, the United States EPA, and WHO. We assessed the health risk via chemical factors using a methodology approved for risk assessment. All Igeo index values greater than one were considered moderately contaminated or moderately to severely contaminated. Heavy metals have a substantial risk of acute adverse effects. In Faisalabad, Pakistan, there was an enormously high risk of chronic effects produced by a heavy metal acquaintance. Concerning specified toxic metals, intolerable levels of carcinogenic risks have been determined for the entire population. As a result, in most of the investigated areas of Faisalabad, the indices and hazard quotients for chronic and acute exposure exceeded the permissible level of 1.0. In the current study, re-suspended roadside mineral dust, anthropogenic exhaust emissions from traffic and industry, and industrial dust were identified as major emission sources of elemental particulate contents. Because of the unacceptable levels of risk in the research area, it is strongly suggested that a comprehensive study of the population's health status as a result of air pollution should be conducted for policies to be developed against these risks.

Keywords: elemental composition, particulate pollution, Igeo index, health risk assessment, hazard quotient

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Authors: Regina Tedjasulaksana, Maria Martina Nahak, A. A. Gede Agung, Ni Made Widhiasti

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Strategic effort to realize the empowerment of community in school is through the peer group approach so that it needs to choose the students who are trained as the’ little dentist’ in order to have the cognitive and skills to participate in the school dental health effort (UKGS) program, such as providing oral health education to the other students. Aim: To assessed the effectiveness of peer group approach to enhance the oral health knowledge level of schoolchildren at primary school in Klungkung, Bali. Methods: Experimental study using the pre-post test without control group design. The differences of knowledge levels, tooth brushing behavior and oral hygiene status (using PHP-M index) of 10 students before and after trained as the little dentists were analyzed using paired t-test. The correlations between knowledge level and tooth brushing behavior and correlations between tooth brushing behavior and oral hygiene before and after trained as the little dentists were analyzed using Spearman. Furthermore, the trained little dentists provide oral health education to 102 students of grade 1 to 5 at their school once a week for 3 months. The students’ knowledge level scores of each grade were taken every 21 days as many as three times The difference of it was analyzed using Repeated Measured. Result: The mean scores among all little dentists before and after training for each of knowledge level were each 63.05 + 5.62 and 85.00 + 7.81, tooth brushing behavior were each 31.00 + 14.49 and 100.00 + 0.00 and oral hygiene status using PHP-M index were each 32.80 + 10.17 and 11.40 + 8.01. The knowledge level, tooth brushing behavior and oral hygiene status of 10 students before and after trained as the little dentists were different significantly (p<0.05). Before and after trained as the little dentists it showed that significant correlations between knowledge level with tooth brushing behavior (p<0.05) and significant correlations between tooth brushing behavior and oral hygiene (p<0.05). The mean scores of knowledge level among all students before (pre-test) and after (post-test (1),(2),(3)) getting oral health education from little dentists for each, of grade 1 were 40.00 + 17.97; 67.85 + 18.88; 81.72 +26.48 and 70.00 + 22.87, grade 2 were 40.00 + 17.97; 67.85 + 18.88; 81.72 + 26.48 and 70.00 + 22.87, grade 3 were 65.83 + 23.94; 72.50 + 26.08; 80.41 + 24.93 and 83.75 + 19.74, grade 4 were 88.57 + 12.92; 90.71 + 9.97; 92.85 + 10.69 and 93.57 + 6.33 and grade 5 were 86.66 + 13.40; 93.33 + 9.16; 94.16 + 10.17 and 98.33 + 4.81. The students’ knowledge level of grade 1,2 and 3 before and after getting oral health education from little dentists showed significant different (p<0.05), meanwhile there was no significant different on grade 4 and 5 (p<0.05) although mean scores showed an increase. Conclusion: Peer group approach can be used to enhance the oral health knowledge level of schoolchildren at primary school in Klungkung, Bali.

Keywords: small dentists, oral health, peer group approach, school children

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Authors: Arunas Emeljanovas, Brigita Mieziene, Tomas Venckunas

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Background statement: Level of aerobic capacity in school age children provides important information about the current and future cardiovascular, skeletal and mental health. It is widely recognised that risk factors for modern chronic diseases of the adults have their origins in childhood and adolescence. The aim of the study was to analyse the trends of aerobic capacity across decades within groups of gender and age. Methods. The research included data of participants from the three nationally representative cohort studies performed in Lithuania in the years 1992, 2002 and 2012 among 11 to 18-years-old school children. Total of 18,294 school children were recruited for testing. Only those who had their body weight and height measured and completed 20 m shuttle endurance test were included in the analysis. The total number of students included in the analyses was 15,213 (7608 boys and 7605 girls). The permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Lithuanian Bioethics Committee (permission number BE-2-45). Major findings: Results are performed across gender and age groups. The comparison of shuttle endurance test, controlling for body mass index, indicated that in general there is a constant decrease of aerobic capacity across decades in both genders and age groups. The deterioration in aerobic capacity in boys accounted for 17 to 43 percent across age groups within decades. The biggest decrease was in 14 years-old boys. The deterioration in girls accounted for 19 to 37 percent across age groups with the highest decrease in 11 years-old girls. Though, girls had lower levels of aerobic capacity through all age groups and across three decades. Body mass index, as a covariate, accounted for up to six percent in deterioration of aerobic capacity. Final statement: The detected relationships may reflect the level and pattern of engagement in physical activity and sports where increased activity associates with superior performance in the tests because of the upregulated physiological function and instigated competitive/motivational level. The significance of the decade indirectly supports the importance of the recently changed activity among schoolchildren for this relationship.

Keywords: aerobic capacity, cardiovascular health, endurance, school age children

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Authors: Dipanshu Sur, Ratnabali Chakravorty, Rimi Pal, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Joyshree Chaterjee, Amal Mallik

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Background: Women with polycystic ovary disease (PCOD) frequently suffer from metabolic disturbances. PCOD is a common ovulatory disorder in young women, which affects 5-10% of the population and results in infertility due to anovulation. Importantly, aromatase in ovarian granulosa and luteinized granulosa cells plays an important role for women of reproductive age. Generation and metabolism of androgen is directly related to aromatase activity. The E2/T ratio provides important information about aromatase activity because conversion of androgens to estrogens is mediated by CYP19, suggesting that the E2/T ratio may be a direct marker of aromatase activity. The nature of the interaction between ovarian aromatase activity and PCOD in women has been controversial, and the impact of weight gain on aromatase activity as well as E2 levels is unknown. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the association and relation between aromatase activity and levels of body mass index (BMI) from a reproductive hormone perspective in a group of women with or without PCOD. Methods: We designed a cohort study which included 200 individuals. It enrolled 100 cases of PCOD based on 2006 Rotterdam criteria and 100 ovulatory normal- non PCOD, healthy, age-matched controls. Plasma sex hormones viz. estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured by ELISA on the second day of the menstrual cycle, together with BMI and E2/T were calculated. Aromatase activity in PCOD patients with different BMI, T and E2 levels were compared. Results: PCOD patients showed significantly increased levels of BMI, E2 (P=0.004), T and LH, while their E2/T (P= <0.001), FSH and FSH/LH values were decreased compared with the control group. Higher E2 levels correlated with a relatively enhanced E2/T as well as T and LH levels but reduced BMI, FSH and FSH/LH levels in women with PCOD. Hyperandrogenic PCOD patients had increased E2 levels but their aromatase activity was markedly inhibited independent of their BMI values. Conclusions: We found a significant decrease of ovarian aromatase activity in women with PCOD as compared to controls. Our study showed that ovarian aromatase activity in PCOD was decreased which was independent of BMI. Enhancing aromatase activity may become an optimized strategy for developing therapies for PCOD women, especially those with obesity.

Keywords: aromatase activity, polycystic ovary disease, obesity, body mass index

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Authors: Ahmed Elwaleed, Huiho Jeong, Ali H. Abdelbagi, Nguyen Thi Quynh, Koji Arizono, Yasuhiro Ishibashi

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Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) poses substantial risks to both human health and the environment, particularly through contamination of soil, water, and air. Prolonged exposure to ASGM-contaminated soils can lead to acute or chronic mercury toxicity. This study assesses the human health risks associated with mercury-contaminated soils and tailings in the Alebediah mining community in Sudan. Soil samples were collected from various locations within Alebediah, including ASGM areas, farmlands, and residential areas, along with tailings samples commonly found within ASGM sites. The evaluation of potential health risks to humans included the computation of the estimated daily intake (AvDI), the hazard quotient (HQ), and the hazard index (HI) for both adults and children. The primary exposure route identified as potentially posing a significant health risk was the volatilization of mercury from tailings samples, where mercury concentrations reached up to 25.5 mg/kg. In contrast, other samples within the ASGM area showed elevated mercury levels but did not present significant health risks, with HI values below 1. However, all areas indicated HI values above 1 for the remaining exposure routes. The study observed a decrease in mercury concentration with increasing distance from the ASGM community. Additionally, soil samples revealed elevated mercury levels exceeding background values, prompting an assessment of contamination levels using the enrichment factor (EF). The findings indicated that farmlands and residential areas exhibited depleted EF, while areas surrounding the ASGM community showed none to moderate pollution. In contrast, ASGM areas exhibited significant to extreme pollution. A GIS map was generated to visually depict the extent of mercury pollution, facilitating communication with stakeholders and decision-makers.

Keywords: mercury pollution, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, health risk assessment, hazard index, soil and tailings, enrichment factor

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Authors: C. M. Kalleshwaraswamy, G. S. Sathisha, A. S. Vidyashree, H. B. Pavithra

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Isoptera are an interesting group of social insects with different castes and division of labour. They are primarily wood-feeders, but also feed on a variety of other organic substrates, such as living trees, leaf litter, soil, lichens and animal faeces. The number of species and their biomass are especially large in tropics. In natural ecosystems, they perform a beneficial role in nutrient cycles by accelerating decomposition. The magnitude and dimension of ecological role played by termites is a function of their diversity, population density, and biomass. Termite assemblage composition has a strong response to habitat disturbance and may be indicative of quantitative changes in the decomposition process. Many previous studies in Western Ghat region of India suggest increased anthropogenic activities that adversely affect the soil macrofauna and diversity. Shivamogga district provides a good opportunity to study the effect of topography, cropping pattern, human disturbance on the termite fauna, thereby acquiring accurate baseline information for conservation decision making. The district has 3 distinct agro-ecological areas such as maidan area, semi-malnad and Western Ghat region. Thus, the district provides a unique opportunity to study the effect of varied climate and anthropogenic disturbance on the termite diversity. The standard protocol of belt transects method developed by Eggleton et al. (1997) was used for sampling termites. Sampling was done at monthly interval from September-2014 to August-2015 in Western Ghats, semi-malnad and maidan habitats. The transect was 100m long and 2m wide and divided into 20 contiguous sections, each 5 x 2m in each habitat. Within each section, all the probable microhabitats of termites were searched, which include dead logs, fallen tree, branch, sticks, leaf litter, vegetation etc.,. All the castes collected were labelled, preserved in 80% alcohol, counted and identified to species level. The number of encounters of a species in the transect was used as an indicator of relative abundance of species. The species diversity, species richness, density were compared in three different habitats such as Western Ghats, semi-malnad and maidan region. The study indicated differences in the species composition in the three different habitats. A total of 15 species were recorded which belonging to four sub family and five genera in three habitats. Eleven species viz., Odontotermes obesus, O. feae, O. anamallensis, O. bellahunisensis, O. adampurensis, O. boveni, Microcerotermes fletcheri, M. pakistanicus, Nasutitermes anamalaiensis, N. indicola, N. krishna were recorded in Western Ghat region. Similarly, 11 species viz., Odontotermes obesus, O. feae, O. anamallensis, O. bellahunisensis, O. hornii, O. bhagwathi, Microtermes obesi, Microcerotermes fletcheri, M. pakistanicus, Nasutitermes indicola and Pericapritermes sp. were recorded in semi-malnad habitat. However, only four species viz., O. obesus, O. feae, Microtemes obesi and Pericapritermes sp. species were recorded in maidan area. Shannon’s wiener diversity index (H) showed that Western Ghats had more species dominance (1.56) followed by semi- malnad (1.36) and lowest in maidan (0.89) habitats. Highest value of simpson’s index (D) was observed in Western Ghats habitat (0.70) with more diverse species followed by semi-malnad (0.58) and lowest in maidan (0.53). Similarly, evenness was highest (0.65) in Western Ghats followed by maidan (0.64) and least in semi-malnad habitat (0.54). Menhinick’s index (Dmn) value was ranging from 0.03 to 0.06 in different habitats in the study area. Highest index was observed in Western Ghats (0.06) followed by semi-malnad (0.05) and lowest in maidan (0.03). The study conclusively demonstrated that Western Ghat had highest species diversity compared to semi-malnad and maidan habitat indicating these two habitats are continuously subjected to anthropogenic disturbances. Efforts are needed to conserve the uncommon species which otherwise may become extinct due to human activities.

Keywords: anthropogenic disturbance, isoptera, termite species diversity, Western ghats

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Authors: Chandrasekaran, Ravisankar N. Harikrishnan, Rajalakshmi, K. K. Satapathy M. V. R. Prasad, K. V. Kanagasabapathy

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Heavy metals were considered as highly toxic environmental pollutants to soil ecosystem and human health. In present study the 12 heavy metals (Mg, Al, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, V, Cr, Mn, Co,Ni and Zn.) are determined in soils of Yelagiri hills, Tamilnadu by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence technique. Metal concentrations were used to quantify pollution contamination factors such as enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and contamination factor (CF) are calculated and reported.

Keywords: soil, heavy metals, EDXRF, pollution contamination factors

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Authors: Radyah Ivan, Khanferyan Roman

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Milk and dairy products are an important component of a balanced diet. Dairy products represent a heterogeneous food group of solid, semi-solid and liquid, fermented or non-fermented foods, each differing in nutrients such as fat and micronutrient content. Deficiency of milk and dairy products contributes a impact on the main health parameters of the various age groups of the population. The goal of this study was to analyze of the frequency of the consumption of milk and various groups of dairy products by students and its association with their body mass index (BMI), body composition and other physiological parameters. 388 full-time students of the Medical Institute of RUDN University (185 male and 203 female, average age was 20.4+2.2 and 21.9+1.7 y.o., respectively) took part in the cross-sectional study. Anthropometric measurements, estimation of BMI and body composition were analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The frequency of consumption of the milk and various groups of dairy products was studied using a modified questionnaire on the frequency of consumption of products. Due to the questionnaire data on the frequency of consumption of the diary products, it have been demonstrated that only 11% of respondents consume milk daily, 5% - cottage cheese, 4% and 1% - fermented natural and with fillers milk products, respectively, hard cheese -4%. The study demonstrated that about 16% of the respondents did not consume milk at all over the past month, about one third - cottage cheese, 22% - natural sour-milk products and 18% - sour-milk products with various fillers. hard cheeses and pickled cheeses didn’t consume 9% and 26% of respondents, respectively. We demonstrated the gender differences in the characteristics of consumer preferences were revealed. Thus female students are less likely to use cream, sour cream, soft cheese, milk comparing to male students. Among female students the prevalence of persons with overweight was higher (25%) than among male students (19%). A modest inverse relationship was demonstrated between daily milk intake, BMI, body composition parameters and diary products consumption (r=-0.61 and r=-0.65). The study showed daily insufficient milk and dairy products consumption by students and due to this it have been demonstrated the relationship between the low and rare consumption of diary products and main parameters of indicators of physical activity and health indicators.

Keywords: frequency of consumption, milk, dairy products, physical development, nutrition, body mass index.

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Authors: Chhaya Sharma, Dushyant Kumar

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The present work deals with the treatment of wastewater generated by paper industry by using aluminium as anode material. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of chloropenolics have been carried out by using primary clarifier effluent with the help of gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Sixteen chlorophenolics compounds have been identified and estimated. Results indicated that among 16 identified compounds, 7 are 100% removed and overall 66% reduction in chorophenolics compounds have been detected. Moreover, during the treatment, the biodegradability index of wastewater significantly increases, along with 70 % reduction in chemical oxygen demand and 99 % in color.

Keywords: aluminium anode, chlorophenolics, electrocoagulation, pollution load, wastewater

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Authors: Mohd Tariq, Shyamal K. Nandi, Indra D. Bhatt

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Paris polyphylla Smith (Family- Liliaceae; English name-Love apple: Local name- Satuwa) is an important folk medicinal herb of the Indian subcontinent, being a source of number of bioactive compounds for drug formulation. The rhizomes are widely used as antihelmintic, antispasmodic, digestive stomachic, expectorant and vermifuge, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, heart and vascular malady, anti-fertility and sedative. Keeping in view of this, the species is being constantly removed from nature for trade and various pharmaceuticals purpose, as a result, the availability of the species in its natural habitat is decreasing. In this context, it would be pertinent to conserve this species and reintroduce them in its natural habitat. Predictive distribution modelling of this species was performed in Western Himalayan Region. One such recent method is Ecological Niche Modelling, also popularly known as Species distribution modelling, which uses computer algorithms to generate predictive maps of species distributions in a geographic space by correlating the point distributional data with a set of environmental raster data. In case of P. polyphylla, and to understand its potential distribution zones and setting up of artificial introductions, or selecting conservation sites, and conservation and management of their native habitat. Among the different districts of Uttarakhand (28°05ˈ-31°25ˈ N and 77°45ˈ-81°45ˈ E) Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Pauri Garhwal and some parts of Bageshwar, 'Maximum Entropy' (Maxent) has predicted wider potential distribution of P. polyphylla Smith. Distribution of P. polyphylla is mainly governed by Precipitation of Driest Quarter and Mean Diurnal Range i.e., 27.08% and 18.99% respectively which indicates that humidity (27%) and average temperature (19°C) might be suitable for better growth of Paris polyphylla.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, Indian Himalayan region, Paris polyphylla, predictive distribution modelling

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Authors: Narimen Rdhaounia Mohamed Kouni

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Our aim in this paper is to identify the origins of inflation in Tunisia on the period from 1988 to 2018. In order to estimate the model, an ARDL methodology is used. We studied also the effect of informal economy on inflation. Indeed, we estimated the size of the informal economy in Tunisia based on Gutmann method. The results showed that there are three main origins of inflation. In fact, the first origin is the fiscal policy adopted by Tunisia, particularly after revolution. The second origin is the increase of monetary variables. Finally, informal economy played an important role in inflation.

Keywords: inflation, consumer price index, informal, gutmann method, ARDL model

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Authors: Samsher Gautam, Apoorva Roy, Bhuvan Aggarwal

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Vapor absorption refrigeration systems can replace vapor compression systems in many applications as they can operate on a low-grade heat source and are environment-friendly. Widely used refrigerants such as CFCs and HFCs cause significant global warming. Natural refrigerants can be an alternative to them, among which carbon dioxide is promising for use in automotive air conditioning systems. Its inherent safety, ability to withstand high pressure and high heat transfer coefficient coupled with easy availability make it a likely choice for refrigerant. Various properties of the ionic liquid [bmim][PF₆], such as non-toxicity, stability over a wide temperature range and ability to dissolve gases like carbon dioxide, make it a suitable absorbent for a vapor absorption refrigeration system. In this paper, an absorption chiller consisting of a generator, condenser, evaporator and absorber was studied at an operating temperature of 70⁰C. A thermodynamic model was set up using the Peng-Robinson equations of state to predict the behavior of the refrigerant and absorbent pair at different points in the system. A MATLAB code was used to obtain the values of enthalpy and entropy at selected points in the system. The exergy destruction in each component and exergetic coefficient of performance (ECOP) of the system were calculated by performing an exergy analysis based on the second law of thermodynamics. Graphs were plotted between varying operating conditions and the ECOP obtained in each case. The effect of every component on the ECOP was examined. The exergetic coefficient of performance was found to be lesser than the coefficient of performance based on the first law of thermodynamics.

Keywords: [bmim][PF₆] as absorbent, carbon dioxide as refrigerant, exergy analysis, Peng-Robinson equations of state, vapor absorption refrigeration

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Authors: Ibtihal D. Mustafa, Mawia A. Hassan

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Tumor segmentation from MRI image is important part of medical images experts. This is particularly a challenging task because of the high assorting appearance of tumor tissue among different patients. MRI images are advance of medical imaging because it is give richer information about human soft tissue. There are different segmentation techniques to detect MRI brain tumor. In this paper, different procedure segmentation methods are used to segment brain tumors and compare the result of segmentations by using correlation and structural similarity index (SSIM) to analysis and see the best technique that could be applied to MRI image.

Keywords: MRI, segmentation, correlation, structural similarity

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Remy Kulagowski, Tobias Sturm, Audrey Leopold, Aurelie Metay, Josephine Peigne, Alexis Thoumazeau, Alain Brauman, Bruno Fogliani, Florent Tivet

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A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity while limiting the impact on the environment. Conservation agriculture (CA) is one strategy whereby both sustainability and productivity can be achieved by preserving and improving the soil quality. Soils provide and regulate a large number of ecosystem services (ES) such as agricultural productivity and climate change adaptation and mitigation. The aim of this study is to assess the impacts of contrasted CA crop management on soil functions for maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation in an eight years field experiment (2010-2018). The study included two CA practices: direct seeding in dead mulch (DM) and living mulch (LM), and conventional plough-based tillage (CT) practices on a fluvisol in New Caledonia (French Archipelago in the South Pacific). In 2018, soil quality of the cropping systems were evaluated with the Biofunctool® set of indicators, that consists in twelve integrative, in-field, and low-tech indicators assessing the biological, physical and chemical properties of soils. Main soil functions were evaluated including (i) carbon transformation, (ii) structure maintenance, and (iii) nutrient cycling in the ten first soil centimeters. The results showed significant higher score for soil structure maintenance (e.g., aggregate stability, water infiltration) and carbon transformation function (e.g., soil respiration, labile carbon) under CA in DM and LM when compared with CT. Score of carbon transformation index was higher in DM compared with LM. However, no significant effect of cropping systems was observed on nutrient cycling (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus). In conclusion, the aggregated synthetic scores of soil multi-functions evaluated with Biofunctool® demonstrate that CA cropping systems lead to a better soil functioning. Further analysis of the results with agronomic performance of the soil-crop systems would allow to better understand the links between soil functioning and production ES of CA.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, cropping systems, ecosystem services, soil functions

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Authors: M. A. Hernández-Ceballos, M. Marín-Ferrer, G. Cinelli, L. De Felice, T. Tollefsen, E. Nweke, P. V. Tognoli, S. Vanzo, M. De Cort

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This study analyses the latitudinal impact of the spatial and temporal distribution on the cosmogenic isotope 7Be in surface air along Europe. The long-term database of the 6 sampling sites (Ivalo, Helsinki, Berlin, Freiburg, Sevilla and La Laguna), that regularly provide data to the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring (REM) network managed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, were used. The selection of the stations was performed attending to different factors, such as 1) heterogeneity in terms of latitude and altitude, and 2) long database coverage. The combination of these two parameters ensures a high degree of representativeness of the results. In the later, the temporal coverage varies between stations, being used in the present study sampling stations with a database more or less continuously from 1984 to 2011. The mean values of 7Be activity concentration presented a spatial distribution value ranging from 2.0 ± 0.9 mBq/m3 (Ivalo, north) to 4.8 ± 1.5 mBq/m3 (La Laguna, south). An increasing gradient with latitude was observed from the north to the south, 0.06 mBq/m3. However, there was no correlation with altitude, since all stations are sited within the atmospheric boundary layer. The analyses of the data indicated a dynamic range of 7Be activity for solar cycle and phase (maximum or minimum), having been observed different impact on stations according to their location. The results indicated a significant seasonal behavior, with the maximum concentrations occurring in the summer and minimum in the winter, although with differences in the values reached and in the month registered. Due to the large heterogeneity in the temporal pattern with which the individual radionuclide analyses were performed in each station, the 7Be monthly index was calculated to normalize the measurements and perform the direct comparison of monthly evolution among stations. Different intensity and evolution of the mean monthly index were observed. The knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of this natural radionuclide in the atmosphere is a key parameter for modeling studies of atmospheric processes, which are important phenomena to be taken into account in the case of a nuclear accident.

Keywords: Berilium-7, latitudinal impact in Europe, seasonal and monthly variability, solar cycle

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Authors: Yehjune Heo

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As biometric systems become widely deployed, the security of identification systems can be easily attacked by various spoof materials. This paper contributes to finding a reliable and practical anti-spoofing method using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) based on the types of loss functions and optimizers. The types of CNNs used in this paper include AlexNet, VGGNet, and ResNet. By using various loss functions including Cross-Entropy, Center Loss, Cosine Proximity, and Hinge Loss, and various loss optimizers which include Adam, SGD, RMSProp, Adadelta, Adagrad, and Nadam, we obtained significant performance changes. We realize that choosing the correct loss function for each model is crucial since different loss functions lead to different errors on the same evaluation. By using a subset of the Livdet 2017 database, we validate our approach to compare the generalization power. It is important to note that we use a subset of LiveDet and the database is the same across all training and testing for each model. This way, we can compare the performance, in terms of generalization, for the unseen data across all different models. The best CNN (AlexNet) with the appropriate loss function and optimizers result in more than 3% of performance gain over the other CNN models with the default loss function and optimizer. In addition to the highest generalization performance, this paper also contains the models with high accuracy associated with parameters and mean average error rates to find the model that consumes the least memory and computation time for training and testing. Although AlexNet has less complexity over other CNN models, it is proven to be very efficient. For practical anti-spoofing systems, the deployed version should use a small amount of memory and should run very fast with high anti-spoofing performance. For our deployed version on smartphones, additional processing steps, such as quantization and pruning algorithms, have been applied in our final model.

Keywords: anti-spoofing, CNN, fingerprint recognition, loss function, optimizer

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Kathryn Nderitu, Atunga Nyachieo, Ezekiel Mecha

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Introduction: Solanum nigrum , also known as black nightshade, biosynthesizes various phytochemical compounds with various pharmacological activities, including treating cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, among others. Materials and Methods: To assess the anti-obesity effects of Solanum nigrum using high-fat-fed diet rats, Sprague Dawley male rats (n = 35) of weights 160–180 g were assigned randomly into seven groups comprising n = 5 rats each. Each group was fed for 11 weeks as follows: normal group (normal chow rat feed); high-fat diet control (HFD); HFD and standard drug (Orlistat 30 mg/kg bw); HFD and methanolic extract 150 mg/kgbw; HFD and methanolic extract 300 mg/kgbw; HFD and dichloromethane extract 150 mg/kgbw; HFD and dichloromethane extract 300 mg/kgbw. Body mass index and food intake were monitored per week, and an oral glucose tolerance test was measured in weeks 5 and 10. Lipid profiles, liver function tests, adipose tissue, liver weights, and phytochemical analysis of Solanum nigrum were later carried out. Results: High-fat diet control group rats exhibited a significant increase in body mass index (BMI), while rats administered with leaf extracts of Solanum nigrum showed a reduction in BMI. Both low doses of dichloromethane (150 mg/kgbw) and high doses of methanol extracts (300 mg/kgbw) showed a better reduction in BMI than the other treatment groups. A significant decrease (p <0.05) in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, and cholesterol was observed among the rats administered with Solanum nigrum extracts compared to those of HFD control. Moreover, the HFD control group significantly increased liver and adipose tissue weights compared to other treatment groups (p<0.05). Solanum nigrum also decreased glycemic levels and normalized the hepatic enzymes of HFD control. However, food intake among the groups showed no significant difference (p>0.05). Qualitative analysis of Solanum nigrum leaf extracts indicated the presence of various bioactive compounds associated with anti-obesity. Conclusion: These results validate the use of Solanum nigrum in controlling obesity.

Keywords: solanum nigrum, High fat diet, phytocompounds, obesity

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Authors: Milton Manyangadze, Joseph Govha, T. Bala Narsaiah, Ch. Shilpa Chakra

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The availability and access to fresh water is today a serious global challenge. This has been a direct result of factors such as the current rapid industrialization and industrial growth, persistent droughts in some parts of the world, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa as well as population growth. Growth of the chemical processing industry has also seen an increase in the levels of pollutants in our water bodies which include heavy metals among others. Heavy metals are known to be dangerous to both human and aquatic life. As such, they have been linked to several diseases. This is mainly because they are highly toxic. They are also known to be bio accumulative and non-biodegradable. Lead for example, has been linked to a number of health problems which include damage of vital internal body systems like the nervous and reproductive system as well as the kidneys. From this background therefore, the removal of the toxic heavy metal, Pb2+ from waste water was investigated using nano silica hollow spheres (NSHS) as the adsorbent. Synthesis of NSHS was done using a three-stage process in which CaCO3 nanoparticles were initially prepared as a template. This was followed by treatment of the formed oxide particles with NaSiO3 to give a nanocomposite. Finally, the template was destroyed using 2.0M HCl to give NSHS. Characterization of the nanoparticles was done using analytical techniques like XRD, SEM, and TGA. For the adsorption process, both thermodynamic and equilibrium studies were carried out. Thermodynamic studies were carried out and the Gibbs free energy, Enthalpy and Entropy of the adsorption process were determined. The results revealed that the adsorption process was both endothermic and spontaneous. Equilibrium studies were also carried out in which the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were tested. The results showed that the Langmuir model best described the adsorption equilibrium.

Keywords: characterization, endothermic, equilibrium studies, Freundlich, Langmuir, nanoparticles, thermodynamic studies

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Authors: Svetlana Guryeva, Inna Kornienko, Andrey Usanov, Dmitry Usanov, Elena Petersen

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Every day cells in our organism are exposed to various factors: chemical agents, reactive oxygen species, ionizing radiation, and others. These factors can cause damage to DNA, cellular membrane, intracellular compartments, and proteins. The fate of cells depends on the exposure intensity and duration. The prolonged and intense exposure causes the irreversible damage accumulation, which triggers the permanent cell cycle arrest (cellular senescence) or cell death programs. In the case of low dose of impacts, it can lead to cell renovation and to cell functional state improvement. Therefore, it is a pivotal question to investigate the factors and doses that result in described positive effects. In order to estimate the influence of different agents, the proliferation index and levels of cell death markers (annexin V/propidium iodide), senescence-associated β-galactosidase, and lipofuscin were measured. The experiments were conducted on primary human fibroblasts of the 8th passage. According to the levels of mentioned markers, these cells were defined as senescent cells. The effect of low-frequency magnetic field was investigated. Different modes of magnetic field exposure were tested. The physical agents were compared with chemical agents: metformin (10 mM) and taurine (0.8 mM and 1.6 mM). Cells were incubating with chemicals for 5 days. The highest decrease in the level of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (21%) and lipofuscin (17%) was observed in the primary senescent fibroblasts after 5 days after double treatments with 48 h intervals with low-frequency magnetic field. There were no significant changes in the proliferation index after magnetic field application. The cytotoxic effect of magnetic field was not observed. The chemical agent taurine (1.6 mM) decreased the level of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (23%) and lipofuscin (22%). Metformin improved the activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase on 15% and the level of lipofuscin on 19% in this experiment. According to these results, the effect of double treatment with 48 h interval with low-frequency magnetic field and the effect of taurine (1.6 mM) were comparable to the effect of metformin, for which anti-aging properties are proved. In conclusion, this study can become the first step towards creation of the standardized system for the investigation of different effects on senescent cells.

Keywords: biomarkers, magnetic field, metformin, primary fibroblasts, senescence, taurine

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