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Commenced in January 2007
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Edition: International
Paper Count: 7115

Search results for: open source

5405 Mobile Genetic Elements in Trematode Himasthla Elongata Clonal Polymorphism

Authors: Anna Solovyeva, Ivan Levakin, Nickolai Galaktionov, Olga Podgornaya

Abstract:

Animals that reproduce asexually were thought to have the same genotypes within generations for a long time. However, some refuting examples were found, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) or transposons are considered to be the most probable source of genetic instability. Dispersed nature and the ability to change their genomic localization enables MGEs to be efficient mutators. Hence the study of MGEs genomic impact requires an appropriate object which comprehends both representative amounts of various MGEs and options to evaluate the genomic influence of MGEs. Animals that reproduce asexually seem to be a decent model to study MGEs impact in genomic variability. We found a small marine trematode Himasthla elongata (Himasthlidae) to be a good model for such investigation as it has a small genome size, diverse MGEs and parthenogenetic stages in the lifecycle. In the current work, clonal diversity of cercaria was traced with an AFLP (Amplified fragment length polymorphism) method, diverse zones from electrophoretic patterns were cloned, and the nature of the fragments explored. Polymorphic patterns of individual cercariae AFLP-based fingerprints are enriched with retrotransposons of different families. The bulk of those sequences are represented by open reading frames of non-Long Terminal Repeats containing elements(non-LTR) yet Long-Terminal Repeats containing elements (LTR), to a lesser extent in variable figments of AFLP array. The CR1 elements expose both in polymorphic and conservative patterns are remarkably more frequent than the other non-LTR retrotransposons. This data was confirmed with shotgun sequencing-based on Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Individual cercaria of the same clone (i.e., originated from a single miracidium and inhabiting one host) has a various distribution of MGE families detected in sequenced AFLP patterns. The most numerous are CR1 and RTE-Bov retrotransposons, typical for trematode genomes. Also, we identified LTR-retrotransposons of Pao and Gypsy families among DNA transposons of CMC-EnSpm, Tc1/Mariner, MuLE-MuDR and Merlin families. We detected many of them in H. elongata transcriptome. Such uneven MGEs distribution in AFLP sequences’ sets reflects the different patterns of transposons spreading in cercarial genomes as transposons affect the genome in many ways (ectopic recombination, gene structure interruption, epigenetic silencing). It is considered that they play a key role in the origins of trematode clonal polymorphism. The authors greatly appreciate the help received at the Kartesh White Sea Biological Station of the Russian Academy of Sciences Zoological Institute. This work is funded with RSF 19-74-20102 and RFBR 17-04-02161 grants and the research program of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (project number AAAA-A19-119020690109-2).

Keywords: AFLP, clonal polymorphism, Himasthla elongata, mobile genetic elements, NGS

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5404 Numerical Analysis of NOₓ Emission in Staged Combustion for the Optimization of Once-Through-Steam-Generators

Authors: Adrien Chatel, Ehsan Askari Mahvelati, Laurent Fitschy

Abstract:

Once-Through-Steam-Generators are commonly used in the oil-sand industry in the heavy fuel oil extraction process. They are composed of three main parts: the burner, the radiant and convective sections. Natural gas is burned through staged diffusive flames stabilized by the burner. The heat generated by the combustion is transferred to the water flowing through the piping system in the radiant and convective sections. The steam produced within the pipes is then directed to the ground to reduce the oil viscosity and allow its pumping. With the rapid development of the oil-sand industry, the number of OTSG in operation has increased as well as the associated emissions of environmental pollutants, especially the Nitrous Oxides (NOₓ). To limit the environmental degradation, various international environmental agencies have established regulations on the pollutant discharge and pushed to reduce the NOₓ release. To meet these constraints, OTSG constructors have to rely on more and more advanced tools to study and predict the NOₓ emission. With the increase of the computational resources, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has emerged as a flexible tool to analyze the combustion and pollutant formation process. Moreover, to optimize the burner operating condition regarding the NOx emission, field characterization and measurements are usually accomplished. However, these kinds of experimental campaigns are particularly time-consuming and sometimes even impossible for industrial plants with strict operation schedule constraints. Therefore, the application of CFD seems to be more adequate in order to provide guidelines on the NOₓ emission and reduction problem. In the present work, two different software are employed to simulate the combustion process in an OTSG, namely the commercial software ANSYS Fluent and the open source software OpenFOAM. RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes) equations combined with the Eddy Dissipation Concept to model the combustion and closed by the k-epsilon model are solved. A mesh sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the independence of the solution on the mesh. In the first part, the results given by the two software are compared and confronted with experimental data as a mean to assess the numerical modelling. Flame temperatures and chemical composition are used as reference fields to perform this validation. Results show a fair agreement between experimental and numerical data. In the last part, OpenFOAM is employed to simulate several operating conditions, and an Emission Characteristic Map of the combustion system is generated. The sources of high NOₓ production inside the OTSG are pointed and correlated to the physics of the flow. CFD is, therefore, a useful tool for providing an insight into the NOₓ emission phenomena in OTSG. Sources of high NOₓ production can be identified, and operating conditions can be adjusted accordingly. With the help of RANS simulations, an Emission Characteristics Map can be produced and then be used as a guide for a field tune-up.

Keywords: combustion, computational fluid dynamics, nitrous oxides emission, once-through-steam-generators

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5403 Monitoring and Improving Performance of Soil Aquifer Treatment System and Infiltration Basins Performance: North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Plant as Case Study

Authors: Sadi Ali, Yaser Kishawi

Abstract:

As part of Palestine, Gaza Strip (365 km2 and 1.8 million habitants) is considered a semi-arid zone relies solely on the Coastal Aquifer. The coastal aquifer is only source of water with only 5-10% suitable for human use. This barely cover the domestic and agricultural needs of Gaza Strip. Palestinian Water Authority Strategy is to find non-conventional water resource from treated wastewater to irrigate 1500 hectares and serves over 100,000 inhabitants. A new WWTP project is to replace the old-overloaded Biet Lahia WWTP. The project consists of three parts; phase A (pressure line & 9 infiltration basins - IBs), phase B (a new WWTP) and phase C (Recovery and Reuse Scheme – RRS – to capture the spreading plume). Currently, phase A is functioning since Apr 2009. Since Apr 2009, a monitoring plan is conducted to monitor the infiltration rate (I.R.) of the 9 basins. Nearly 23 million m3 of partially treated wastewater were infiltrated up to Jun 2014. It is important to maintain an acceptable rate to allow the basins to handle the coming quantities (currently 10,000 m3 are pumped an infiltrated daily). The methodology applied was to review and analysis the collected data including the I.R.s, the WW quality and the drying-wetting schedule of the basins. One of the main findings is the relation between the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) at BLWWTP and the I.R. at the basins. Since April 2009, the basins scored an average I.R. of about 2.5 m/day. Since then the records showed a decreasing pattern of the average rate until it reached the lower value of 0.42 m/day in Jun 2013. This was accompanied with an increase of TSS (mg/L) concentration at the source reaching above 200 mg/L. The reducing of TSS concentration directly improved the I.R. (by cleaning the WW source ponds at Biet Lahia WWTP site). This was reflected in an improvement in I.R. in last 6 months from 0.42 m/day to 0.66 m/day then to nearly 1.0 m/day as the average of the last 3 months of 2013. The wetting-drying scheme of the basins was observed (3 days wetting and 7 days drying) besides the rainfall rates. Despite the difficulty to apply this scheme accurately a control of flow to each basin was applied to improve the I.R. The drying-wetting system affected the I.R. of individual basins, thus affected the overall system rate which was recorded and assessed. Also the ploughing activities at the infiltration basins as well were recommended at certain times to retain a certain infiltration level. This breaks the confined clogging layer which prevents the infiltration. It is recommended to maintain proper quality of WW infiltrated to ensure an acceptable performance of IBs. The continual maintenance of settling ponds at BLWWTP, continual ploughing of basins and applying soil treatment techniques at the IBs will improve the I.R.s. When the new WWTP functions a high standard effluent quality (TSS 20mg, BOD 20 mg/l and TN 15 mg/l) will be infiltrated, thus will enhance I.R.s of IBs due to lower organic load.

Keywords: SAT, wastewater quality, soil remediation, North Gaza

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5402 Approximation to the Hardy Operator on Topological Measure Spaces

Authors: Kairat T. Mynbaev, Elena N. Lomakina

Abstract:

We consider a Hardy-type operator generated by a family of open subsets of a Hausdorff topological space. The family is indexed with non-negative real numbers and is totally ordered. For this operator, we obtain two-sided bounds of its norm, a compactness criterion, and bounds for its approximation numbers. Previously, bounds for its approximation numbers have been established only in the one-dimensional case, while we do not impose any restrictions on the dimension of the Hausdorff space. The bounds for the norm and conditions for compactness earlier have been found using different methods by G. Sinnamon and K. Mynbaev. Our approach is different in that we use domain partitions for all problems under consideration.

Keywords: approximation numbers, boundedness and compactness, multidimensional Hardy operator, Hausdorff topological space

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5401 Comparison Study of 70% Ethanol Effect on Direct and Retrival Culture of Contaminated Umblical Cord Tissue for Expansion of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Authors: Ganeshkumar, Ashika, Valavan, Ramesh, Thangam, Chirayu

Abstract:

MSCs are found in much higher concentration in the Wharton’s jelly compared to the umbilical cord blood, which is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells. Umbilical cord tissue is collected at the time of birth; it is processed and stored in liquid nitrogen for future therapeutical purpose. The source of contamination might be either from vaginal tract of mother or from hospital environment or from personal handling during cord tissue sample collection. If the sample were contaminated, decontamination procedure will be done with 70% ethanol (1 minute) in order to avoid sample rejection. Ethanol is effective against a wide range of bacteria, protozoa and fungi and has low toxicity to humans. Among the 1954 samples taken for the study, 24 samples were found to be contaminated with microorganism. The organisms isolated from the positive samples were found to be E. coli, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pseudomonas aueroginosa, Enterococcus fecalis, Acinetobacter bowmani, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterobacter cloacae, and Proteus mirabilis. Among these organisms 70% ethanol successfully eliminated E. coli, Enterococcus fecalis, Acinetobacter bowmani, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Proteus mirabilis. 70% ethanol was unsuccessful in eliminating Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pseudomonas aueroginosa, and Enterobacter cloacae. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas aueroginosa have the ability to form biofilm that make them resistant to alcohol. Biofilm act as protective layer for bacteria and which protects them from host defense and antibiotic wash. Finally it was found 70% ethanol wash saved 58.3% cord tissue samples from rejection and it is ineffective against 41% of the samples. The contamination rate can be reduced by maintaining proper aseptic techniques during sample collection and processing.

Keywords: umblical cord tissue, decontamination, 70% ethanol effectiveness, contamination

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5400 Evaluation of Molasses and Sucrose as Cabohydrate Sources for Biofloc System on Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Performances

Authors: A. M. Nour, M. A. Zaki, E. A. Omer, Nourhan Mohamed

Abstract:

Performances of mixed-sex Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings (11.33 ± 1.78 g /fish) reared under biofloc system developed by molasses and sucrose as carbon sources in indoor fiberglass tanks were evaluated. Six indoor fiberglass tanks (1m 3 each filled with 1000 l of underground fresh water), each was stocked with 2kg fish were used for 14 weeks experimental period. Three experimental groups were designed (each group 2 tanks) as following: 1-control: 20% daily without biofloc, 2-zero water exchange rate with biofloc (molasses as C source) and 3-zero water exchange rate with biofloc (sucrose as C source). Fish in all aquariums were fed on floating feed pellets (30% crude protein, 3 mm in diameter) at a rate of 3% of the actual live fish body, 3 times daily and 6 days a week. Carbohydrate supplementations were applied daily to each tank two hrs, after feeding to maintain the carbon: nitrogen ratio (C: N) ratio 20:1. Fish were reared under continuous aeration by pumping air into the water in the tank bottom using two sandy diffusers and constant temperature between 27.0-28.0 ºC by using electrical heaters for 10 weeks. Criteria's for assessment of water quality parameters, biofloc production and fish growth performances were collected and evaluated. The results showed that total ammonia nitrogen in control group was higher than biofloc groups. The biofloc volumes were 19.13 mg/l and 13.96 mg/l for sucrose and molasses, respectively. Biofloc protein (%), ether extract (%) and gross energy (kcal/100g DM), they were higher in biofloc molasses group than biofloc sucrose group. Tilapia growth performances were significantly higher (P < 0.05) with molasses group than in sucrose and control groups, respectively. The highest feed and nutrient utilization values for protein efficiency ratio (PER), protein productive (PPV%) and energy utilization (EU, %) were higher in molasses group followed by sucrose group and control group respectively.

Keywords: biofloc, Nile tilapia, cabohydrates, performances

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5399 Basal Cell Carcinoma Excision Intraoperative Frozen Section for Tumor Clearance and Reconstructive Surgery: A Prospective Open Label Interventional Study

Authors: Moizza Tahir, Uzma Bashir, Aisha Akhtar, Zainab Ansari, Sameen Ansari, Muhammad Ali Tahir

Abstract:

Cancer burden has globally increased. Among cutaneous cancers basal cell carcinoma constitute vast majority of skin cancer. There is need for appropriate diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic significance evaluation for skin cancers Present study report intraoperative frozen section (FS) histopathological clearance for excision of BCC in a tertiary care center and find the frequency of involvement of surgical margin with reference to anatomical site, with size and surgical technique. It was prospective open label interventional study conducted at Dermatology department of tertiary care hospital Rawalpindi Pakistan in lais on with histopathology department from January 2023 to April 2024. Total of thirty-six (n = 36) patients between age 45-80 years with basal cell carcinoma of 10-20mm on face were included following inclusion exclusion criteria by purposive sampling technique. Informed consent was taken. Surgical excision was performed and intraoperative frozen section histopathology clearance of tumor margin was taken from histopathologist on telephone. Surgical reconstruction was done. Final Histopathology report was reexamined on day 10th for margin and depth clearance. Descriptive statistics were calculated for age, gender, sun exposure, reconstructive technique, anatomical site, and tumor free margin report on frozen section analysis. Chi square test was employed for statistical significance of involvement of surgical margin with reference to anatomical site, size and decision on reconstructive surgical technique, p value of <0.05 was considered significant. Total of 36 patients of BCC were enrolled, males 12 (33.3%) and females were 24 (66.6%). Age ranged from 45 year to 80 year mean of 58.36 ±SD7.8. Size of BCC ranged from 10mm to 35mm mean of 25mm ±SD 0.63. Morphology was nodular 18 (50%), superficial spreading 11(30.6%), morphoeic 1 (2.8%) and ulcerative in 6(16.7%) cases. Intraoperative frozen section for histopathological margin clearance with 2-3 mm safety margin and surgical technique has p-value0.51, for anatomical site p value 0.24 and size p-0.84. Intraoperative frozen section (FS) histopathological clearance for BCC face with 2-3mm safety margin with reference to reconstructive technique, anatomical site and size of BCC were insignificant.

Keywords: basal cell carcinoma, tumor free amrgin, basal cell carcinoma and frozen section, safety margin

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5398 Review of Concepts and Tools Applied to Assess Risks Associated with Food Imports

Authors: A. Falenski, A. Kaesbohrer, M. Filter

Abstract:

Introduction: Risk assessments can be performed in various ways and in different degrees of complexity. In order to assess risks associated with imported foods additional information needs to be taken into account compared to a risk assessment on regional products. The present review is an overview on currently available best practise approaches and data sources used for food import risk assessments (IRAs). Methods: A literature review has been performed. PubMed was searched for articles about food IRAs published in the years 2004 to 2014 (English and German texts only, search string “(English [la] OR German [la]) (2004:2014 [dp]) import [ti] risk”). Titles and abstracts were screened for import risks in the context of IRAs. The finally selected publications were analysed according to a predefined questionnaire extracting the following information: risk assessment guidelines followed, modelling methods used, data and software applied, existence of an analysis of uncertainty and variability. IRAs cited in these publications were also included in the analysis. Results: The PubMed search resulted in 49 publications, 17 of which contained information about import risks and risk assessments. Within these 19 cross references were identified to be of interest for the present study. These included original articles, reviews and guidelines. At least one of the guidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission were referenced in any of the IRAs, either for import of animals or for imports concerning foods, respectively. Interestingly, also a combination of both was used to assess the risk associated with the import of live animals serving as the source of food. Methods ranged from full quantitative IRAs using probabilistic models and dose-response models to qualitative IRA in which decision trees or severity tables were set up using parameter estimations based on expert opinions. Calculations were done using @Risk, R or Excel. Most heterogeneous was the type of data used, ranging from general information on imported goods (food, live animals) to pathogen prevalence in the country of origin. These data were either publicly available in databases or lists (e.g., OIE WAHID and Handystatus II, FAOSTAT, Eurostat, TRACES), accessible on a national level (e.g., herd information) or only open to a small group of people (flight passenger import data at national airport customs office). In the IRAs, an uncertainty analysis has been mentioned in some cases, but calculations have been performed only in a few cases. Conclusion: The current state-of-the-art in the assessment of risks of imported foods is characterized by a great heterogeneity in relation to general methodology and data used. Often information is gathered on a case-by-case basis and reformatted by hand in order to perform the IRA. This analysis therefore illustrates the need for a flexible, modular framework supporting the connection of existing data sources with data analysis and modelling tools. Such an infrastructure could pave the way to IRA workflows applicable ad-hoc, e.g. in case of a crisis situation.

Keywords: import risk assessment, review, tools, food import

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5397 Photonic Dual-Microcomb Ranging with Extreme Speed Resolution

Authors: R. R. Galiev, I. I. Lykov, A. E. Shitikov, I. A. Bilenko

Abstract:

Dual-comb interferometry is based on the mixing of two optical frequency combs with slightly different lines spacing which results in the mapping of the optical spectrum into the radio-frequency domain for future digitizing and numerical processing. The dual-comb approach enables diverse applications, including metrology, fast high-precision spectroscopy, and distance range. Ordinary frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser-based Light Identification Detection and Ranging systems (LIDARs) suffer from two main disadvantages: slow and unreliable mechanical, spatial scan and a rather wide linewidth of conventional lasers, which limits speed measurement resolution. Dual-comb distance measurements with Allan deviations down to 12 nanometers at averaging times of 13 microseconds, along with ultrafast ranging at acquisition rates of 100 megahertz, allowing for an in-flight sampling of gun projectiles moving at 150 meters per second, was previously demonstrated. Nevertheless, pump lasers with EDFA amplifiers made the device bulky and expensive. An alternative approach is a direct coupling of the laser to a reference microring cavity. Backscattering can tune the laser to the eigenfrequency of the cavity via the so-called self-injection locked (SIL) effect. Moreover, the nonlinearity of the cavity allows a solitonic frequency comb generation in the very same cavity. In this work, we developed a fully integrated, power-efficient, electrically driven dual-micro comb source based on the semiconductor lasers SIL to high-quality integrated Si3N4 microresonators. We managed to obtain robust 1400-1700 nm combs generation with a 150 GHz or 1 THz lines spacing and measure less than a 1 kHz Lorentzian withs of stable, MHz spaced beat notes in a GHz band using two separated chips, each pumped by its own, self-injection locked laser. A deep investigation of the SIL dynamic allows us to find out the turn-key operation regime even for affordable Fabry-Perot multifrequency lasers used as a pump. It is important that such lasers are usually more powerful than DFB ones, which were also tested in our experiments. In order to test the advantages of the proposed techniques, we experimentally measured a minimum detectable speed of a reflective object. It has been shown that the narrow line of the laser locked to the microresonator provides markedly better velocity accuracy, showing velocity resolution down to 16 nm/s, while the no-SIL diode laser only allowed 160 nm/s with good accuracy. The results obtained are in agreement with the estimations and open up ways to develop LIDARs based on compact and cheap lasers. Our implementation uses affordable components, including semiconductor laser diodes and commercially available silicon nitride photonic circuits with microresonators.

Keywords: dual-comb spectroscopy, LIDAR, optical microresonator, self-injection locking

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5396 Employability Skills: The Route to Achieve Demographic Dividend in India

Authors: Malathi Iyer, Jayesh Vaidya

Abstract:

The demographic dividend of India will last for thirty years from now. However, reduction in birth rate, an increase in working population, improvements in medicine and better health practices lead to an ever-expanding elderly population, bringing additional burden to the economy and putting an end to the demographic dividend. To reap the dividend India needs to train the youth for employability. The need of the hour is to improve their life skills which lead the youth to become industrious and have continuous employment. The study will be conducted in perceiving the skill gaps that exist in commerce students for employability. The analysis results indicate the relation between the core study and the right skills for the workforce, with the steps that are taken to open the window for the demographic dividend.

Keywords: demographic dividend, life skills, employability, workforce

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5395 Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of Limeum indicum and Euphorbia granulata

Authors: Noshaba Dilbar, Hina Ashraf

Abstract:

Medicinal plants are considered as rich source of ingredients which can be used in drug development and synthesis. Moreover, these plants play a vital role in the development of human culture of using ayurvedic medicines around the whole world. Among all plants, dessert plants are being proved as effective source of ayurvedic medicines and remedy against many diseases. Considering the fact, two plant species Limium indicum and Euphorbia granulata were taken from Cholistan dessert of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Firstly, phytochemical screening was done by making dry and fresh plant extracts in five different solvents i.e Petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, ethanol and methanol. Standard confirmation tests for all compounds were applied for analysis. Results revealed the presence of high range of bioactive compounds such as alakaloids, terpenoids, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, saponins, phytosterols, oxalic acid, anthocyanin and quinone in both plants. Best results were obtained by methanolic, chloroform and petroleum ether extracts and methanolic, ethanolic and benzene extracts of Limium indicum and Euphorbia granulate respectively. Considering the results, methanolic extracts of both plants were further analysed for antibacterial activity. Plants were analysed against four pathogens including Escherchia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aruginosa using disc diffusion method. Limium indicum showed highly significant activity against all pathogens while Euphorbia granulata showed significant activity against Klebsiella pneumonia and Proteus vulgaris but lesser against Escherchia coli and Pseudomonas aruginosa. MIC of extracts against each positive bacterium was calculated and recorded. Present plants can be considered for making useful drugs but further studies are needed to isolate active agents from plant extracts for drug development.

Keywords: antibacterial activity, Euphorbia granulata, Limium indicum, medicinal plants, phytochemical screening

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5394 Archaeoseismological Evidence for a Possible Destructive Earthquake in the 7th Century AD at the Ancient Sites of Bulla Regia and Chemtou (NW Tunisia): Seismotectonic and Structural Implications

Authors: Abdelkader Soumaya, Noureddine Ben Ayed, Ali Kadri, Said Maouche, Hayet Khayati Ammar, Ahmed Braham

Abstract:

The historic sites of Bulla Regia and Chemtou are among the most important archaeological monuments in northwestern Tunisia, which flourished as large, wealthy settlements during the Roman and Byzantine periods (2nd to 7th centuries AD). An archaeoseismological study provides the first indications about the impact of a possible ancient strong earthquake in the destruction of these cities. Based on previous archaeological excavation results, including numismatic evidence, pottery, economic meltdown and urban transformation, the abrupt ruin and destruction of the cities of Bulla Regia and Chemtou can be bracketed between 613 and 647 AD. In this study, we carried out the first attempt to use the analysis of earthquake archaeological effects (EAEs) that were observed during our field investigations in these two historic cities. The damage includes different types of EAEs: folds on regular pavements, displaced and deformed vaults, folded walls, tilted walls, collapsed keystones in arches, dipping broken corners, displaced-fallen columns, block extrusions in walls, penetrative fractures in brick-made walls and open fractures on regular pavements. These deformations are spread over 10 different sectors or buildings and include 56 measured EAEs. The structural analysis of the identified EAEs can indicate an ancient destructive earthquake that probably destroyed the Bulla Regia and Chemtou archaeological sites. We then analyzed these measurements using structural geological analysis to obtain the maximum horizontal strain of the ground (e.g., S ₕₘₐₓ) on each building-oriented damage. After the collection and analysis of these strain datasets, we proceed to plot the orientation of Sₕₘₐₓ trajectories on the map of the archaeological site (Bulla Regia). We concluded that the obtained Sₕₘₐₓ trajectories within this site could then be related to the mean direction of ground motion (oscillatory movement of the ground) triggered by a seismic event, as documented for some historical earthquakes across the world. These Sₕₘₐₓ orientations closely match the current active stress field, as highlighted by some instrumental events in northern Tunisia. In terms of the seismic source, we strongly suggest that the reactivation of a neotectonic strike-slip fault trending N50E must be responsible for this probable historic earthquake and the recent instrumental seismicity in this area. This fault segment, affecting the folded quaternary deposits south of Jebel Rebia, passes through the monument of Bulla Regia. Stress inversion of the observed and measured data along this fault shows an N150 - 160 trend of Sₕₘₐₓ under a transpressional tectonic regime, which is quite consistent with the GPS data and the state of the current stress field in this region.

Keywords: NW Tunisia, archaeoseismology, earthquake archaeological effect, bulla regia - Chemtou, seismotectonic, neotectonic fault

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5393 Teachers' Perceptions of Physical Education and Sports Calendar and Conducted in the Light of the Objective of the Lesson Approach Competencies

Authors: Chelali Mohammed

Abstract:

In the context of the application of the competency-based approach in the system educational Algeria, the price of physical education and sport must privilege the acquisition of learning approaches and especially the approach science, which from problem situations, research and develops him information processing and application of knowledge and know-how in new situations in the words of ‘JOHN DEWEY’ ‘learning by practice’. And to achieve these goals and make teaching more EPS motivating, consistent and concrete, it is appropriate to perform a pedagogical approach freed from the constraints and open to creativity and student-centered in the light of the competency approach adopted in the formal curriculum. This approach is not unusual, but we think it is a highly professional nature requires the competence of the teacher.

Keywords: approach competencies, physical, education, teachers

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5392 Quality Business Ethics: A Case Study

Authors: Fotis Vouzas

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This paper is an attempt to investigate the Business Ethics link to Quality Management. Business Ethics as a management practice is well rooted in many organizations, but its contribution to quality management implementation programs and practices is not well documented. The ISO 9000 and the Business Excellence frameworks and Awards seem to provide a basis for the implementation of a TQM philosophy contributing to efficiency, enhanced performance and sustainability. The author examines a series of Corporate Ethics initiatives and investigates the relationship to Total Quality Management in an MNC operating in Greece. The data gathering was carried out through extensive and in-depth interviews with several multiple informants, i.e., the plant manager, the production manager, and the personnel manager, using a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended questions.

Keywords: total quality management, business ethics, Greece, ISO 9000

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5391 Procedures and Strategies in Translation: Two Marathi Translations of Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

Authors: Manoj Gujar

Abstract:

The present paper is an attempt to interpret two Marathi translations of Khushwant Singh’s (1915-2014) novel Train to Pakistan (1956). The 20th century was branded as an era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. Different countries and cultures have enunciated interaction with one another in an unprecedented manner. The world is becoming multilingual and multicultural. The democratic countries such as the U.S.A., the U.K., and India have become pivotal centers of interlingual and cross-cultural exchange. People belonging to different nationalities showed keen interest in knowing the characteristic features of different languages and of their cultures. Here, ‘Translation’ plays an important role in such multilingual and multicultural contexts. Translation is not only translation of a language but a translation of a culture. However, in the act of translation a translator makes use of such procedures as borrowing, definition, literal translation, substitution, lexical creation, omission, addition as well as their various combinations. To him, a text produced in one linguistic and cultural context can reach other linguistic and cultural contexts through these processes of translation. A worthy work of art appeals many readers. India, being a multilingual country we find that there goes multiple translations of the same text in different Indian languages. But sometimes, if can be found that a same text appeals to different ages and the same text gets translated into the same language by the two or more authors. In this reference, the present paper is an attempt to study how different translations of the same text differ in terms of procedures and strategies during the process of the translation of culture. The source text is Khushwant Singh’s historical novel Train to Pakistan (1956). The novel was widely appreciated and so translated into different regional languages in India. The novel has two Marathi translations: Agniratha (1972) by Hidayatkhan and Train to Pakistan (1980) by Anil Kinikar. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the strategies and procedures in translation to analyze these two Marathi translations. Hidayat Khan made a lot of omissions of the significant details and distorted the original text to a large extent, whereas, Anil Kinikar has done justice to the Source Text by rendering it in Marathi as faithfully as possible.

Keywords: culture, multilingual, procedures and strategies, translation

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5390 Happiness Determinants in MBA Student Life

Authors: Vivek Nair

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to find out happiness determinants in MBA student life. To figure out the factors influencing happiness in life is sorted by their personal profiles. This paper used survey method to collect data. The survey was mainly conducted among Management Students and is based on three hypothesis viz. Family relationship, Friendship and God as a source of happiness, and whether happiness is manageable and controllable. The statistics used for interpreting the results included the frequencies, percentages, and z test analysis. The findings revealed that family relationships and friendship have the same effect on individual happiness.

Keywords: happiness, family, MBA students, friends

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5389 Causes of Road Crashes Among Students Attending Schools in Huye District and Kigali City

Authors: Ami Nkumbuye

Abstract:

Background: Every year 1.3 million people die due to Road crashes, according to the Global status report. Road crashes remain the greatest killer aged between 15-29 years. Young people are paying an unacceptable price for their own safer mobility. 23,498 students attending class daily from home crossing the roads of 3 districts Kigali and Southern province is showing a similar trend with 40320 cross road daily. As most of them don't have any idea about the safety, they should have when they are crossing roads and traffic rules and signs as well. Despite the high number of mortality related to road crashes in Rwanda, we don't have any approved calendar to teach young people road safety as the most affected age group. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the causes of road crashes and the outcome of victims after being involved in road crashes over a period of two years, from January 2020 to December 2021, in Huye district and Kigali City. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study with open questions and then data analysis, students were identified from 15 schools in Kigali City and Southern Province and through the Local Action Project supported by Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety and Youth for Road Safety (YOURS), students asked about the cause of road crashes through open and closed question and data analyzed. Result: There were 354 students from 15 schools: 198 males and 156 females. Their age ranged from 10 to 25 years. The commonest cause of road crashes among students attending schools daily was: high speed, lack of education on safe behavior on the road, drinking and driving, and poor road infrastructures, with 47%, 32%, 13% and 8 %, respectively. The hospital admission after road crashes for the victims was 32.3%. In most scenes where road crashes occur, students report that they didn't see any person who could provide post-crash care until the ambulance came, in some cases, resulted in bad outcomes for the victims after road crashes. Conclusion: This study revealed that high speed and lack of education n road safety are the major cause of road crashes among young people in Rwanda. If local Non-Governmental Organization and Decision makers work on these issues like never before, we can see a decrease in road crash among young people and adult as well. We would like to give a recommendation to two institutions: the first is the Rwanda National Police Traffic department to set 30km/m as the maximum speed limit in City and near schools. The second is for the Ministry of Education to put Road Safety and Post Crash Care curricula in both Primary and Secondary schools.

Keywords: road safety, post-crash care, young people, students

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5388 A Survey of Crowdsourcing Technology and Application

Authors: Qianjia Cheng, Hongquan Jiang

Abstract:

Crowdsourcing solves the problems that computers can't handle by integrating computers and the Internet. Its extensive knowledge sources, high efficiency, and high quality have made crowdsourcing attract wide attention in industry and academia in recent years. The development of online crowdsourcing platforms such as Clickworker, Amazon Mechanical Turk(Mturk) tends to mature gradually. This paper sorts out the concept of crowdsourcing, sorts out the workflow of competitive crowdsourcing, summarizes the related technologies of crowdsourcing based on workflow, quality control, cost control, and delay control, and introduces the typical crowdsourcing platform. Finally, we highlight some open problems of the current crowdsourcing and present some future research directions in this area.

Keywords: application, crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing platform, system architecture

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5387 Ancient Iran Water Technologies

Authors: Akbar Khodavirdizadeh, Ali Nemati Babaylou, Hassan Moomivand

Abstract:

The history of human access to water technique has been one of the factors in the formation of human civilizations in the ancient world. The technique that makes surface water and groundwater accessible to humans on the ground has been a clever technique in human life to reach the water. In this study, while examining the water technique of ancient Iran using the Qanats technique, the water supply system of different regions of the ancient world were also studied and compared. Six groups of the ancient region of ancient Greece (Archaic 480-750 BC and Classical 223-480 BC), Urartu in Tuspa (600-850 BC), Petra (106-168 BC), Ancient Rome (265 BC), and the ancient United States (1450 BC) and ancient Iranian water technologies were studied under water supply systems. Past water technologies in these areas: water transmission systems in primary urban centers, use of water structures in water control, use of bridges in water transfer, construction of waterways for water transfer, storage of rainfall, construction of various types of pottery- ceramic, lead, wood and stone pipes have been used in water transfer, flood control, water reservoirs, dams, channel, wells, and Qanat. The central plateau of Iran is one of the arid and desert regions. Archaeological, geomorphological, and paleontological studies of the central region of the Iranian plateau showed that without the use of Qanats, the possibility of urban civilization in this region was difficult and even impossible. Zarch aqueduct is the most important aqueduct in Yazd region. Qanat of Zarch is a plain Qanat with a gallery length of 80 km; its mother well is 85 m deep and has 2115 well shafts. The main purpose of building the Qanat of Zārch was to access the groundwater source and transfer it to the surface of the ground. Regarding the structure of the aqueduct and the technique of transferring water from the groundwater source to the surface, it has a great impact on being different from other water techniques in the ancient world. The results show that the use of water technologies in ancient is very important to understand the history of humanity in the use of hydraulic techniques.

Keywords: ancient water technologies, groundwaters, qanat, human history, Ancient Iran

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5386 Ensuring Sustainable Urban Mobility in Indian Cities: Need for Creating People Friendly Roadside Public Spaces

Authors: Pushplata Garg

Abstract:

Mobility, is an integral part of living and sustainability of urban mobility, is essential not only for, but also for addressing global warming and climate change. However, very little is understood about the obstacles/hurdles and likely challenges in the success of plans for sustainable urban mobility in Indian cities from the public perspective. Whereas some of the problems and issues are common to all cities, others vary considerably with financial status, function, the size of cities and culture of a place. Problems and issues similar in all cities relate to availability, efficiency and safety of public transport, last mile connectivity, universal accessibility, and essential planning and design requirements of pedestrians and cyclists are same. However, certain aspects like the type of means of public transportation, priority for cycling and walking, type of roadside activities, are influenced by the size of the town, average educational and income level of public, financial status of the local authorities, and culture of a place. The extent of public awareness, civic sense, maintenance of public spaces and law enforcement vary significantly from large metropolitan cities to small and medium towns in countries like India. Besides, design requirements for shading, location of public open spaces and sitting areas, street furniture, landscaping also vary depending on the climate of the place. Last mile connectivity plays a major role in success/ effectiveness of public transport system in a city. In addition to the provision of pedestrian footpaths connecting important destinations, sitting spaces and necessary amenities/facilities along footpaths; pedestrian movement to public transit stations is encouraged by the presence of quality roadside public spaces. It is not only the visual attractiveness of streetscape or landscape or the public open spaces along pedestrian movement channels but the activities along that make a street vibrant and attractive. These along with adequate spaces to rest and relax encourage people to walk as is observed in cities with successful public transportation systems. The paper discusses problems and issues of pedestrians for last mile connectivity in the context of Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, and Roorkee- four Indian cities representing varying urban contexts, that is, of metropolitan, large and small cities.

Keywords: pedestrianisation, roadside public spaces, last mile connectivity, sustainable urban mobility

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5385 Image Processing and Calculation of NGRDI Embedded System in Raspberry

Authors: Efren Lopez Jimenez, Maria Isabel Cajero, J. Irving-Vasqueza

Abstract:

The use and processing of digital images have opened up new opportunities for the resolution of problems of various kinds, such as the calculation of different vegetation indexes, among other things, differentiating healthy vegetation from humid vegetation. However, obtaining images from which these indexes are calculated is still the exclusive subject of active research. In the present work, we propose to obtain these images using a low cost embedded system (Raspberry Pi) and its processing, using a set of libraries of open code called OpenCV, in order to obtain the Normalized Red-Green Difference Index (NGRDI).

Keywords: Raspberry Pi, vegetation index, Normalized Red-Green Difference Index (NGRDI), OpenCV

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5384 Passing-On Cultural Heritage Knowledge: Entrepreneurial Approaches for a Higher Educational Sustainability

Authors: Ioana Simina Frincu

Abstract:

As institutional initiatives often fail to provide good practices when it comes to heritage management or to adapt to the changing environment in which they function and to the audiences they address, private actions represent viable strategies for sustainable knowledge acquisition. Information dissemination to future generations is one of the key aspects in preserving cultural heritage and is successfully feasible even in the absence of original artifacts. Combined with the (re)discovery of natural landscape, open-air exploratory approaches (archeoparks) versus an enclosed monodisciplinary rigid framework (traditional museums) are more likely to 'speak the language' of a larger number of people, belonging to a variety of categories, ages, and professions. Interactive sites are efficient ways of stimulating heritage awareness and increasing the number of visitors of non-interactive/static cultural institutions owning original pieces of history, delivering specialized information, and making continuous efforts to preserve historical evidence (relics, manuscripts, etc.). It is high time entrepreneurs took over the role of promoting cultural heritage, bet it under a more commercial yet more attractive form (business). Inclusive, participatory type of activities conceived by experts from different domains/fields (history, anthropology, tourism, sociology, business management, integrative sustainability, etc.) have better chances to ensure long term cultural benefits for both adults and children, especially when and where the educational discourse fails. These unique self-experience leisure activities, which offer everyone the opportunity to recreate history by him-/her-self, to relive the ancestors’ way of living, surviving and exploring should be regarded not as pseudo-scientific approaches but as important pre-steps to museum experiences. In order to support this theory, focus will be laid on two different examples: one dynamic, in the outdoors (the Boario Terme Archeopark from Italy) and one experimental, held indoor (the reconstruction of the Neolithic sanctuary of Parta, Romania as part of a transdisciplinary academic course) and their impact on young generations. The conclusion of this study shows that the increasingly lower engagement of youth (students) in discovering and understanding history, archaeology, and heritage can be revived by entrepreneurial projects.

Keywords: archeopark, educational tourism, open air museum, Parta sanctuary, prehistory

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5383 Comparing Emotion Recognition from Voice and Facial Data Using Time Invariant Features

Authors: Vesna Kirandziska, Nevena Ackovska, Ana Madevska Bogdanova

Abstract:

The problem of emotion recognition is a challenging problem. It is still an open problem from the aspect of both intelligent systems and psychology. In this paper, both voice features and facial features are used for building an emotion recognition system. A Support Vector Machine classifiers are built by using raw data from video recordings. In this paper, the results obtained for the emotion recognition are given, and a discussion about the validity and the expressiveness of different emotions is presented. A comparison between the classifiers build from facial data only, voice data only and from the combination of both data is made here. The need for a better combination of the information from facial expression and voice data is argued.

Keywords: emotion recognition, facial recognition, signal processing, machine learning

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5382 Monitoring and Improving Performance of Soil Aquifer Treatment System and Infiltration Basins of North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Plant as Case Study

Authors: Sadi Ali, Yaser Kishawi

Abstract:

As part of Palestine, Gaza Strip (365 km2 and 1.8 million habitants) is considered a semi-arid zone relies solely on the Coastal Aquifer. The coastal aquifer is only source of water with only 5-10% suitable for human use. This barely covers the domestic and agricultural needs of Gaza Strip. Palestinian Water Authority Strategy is to find non-conventional water resource from treated wastewater to irrigate 1500 hectares and serves over 100,000 inhabitants. A new WWTP project is to replace the old-overloaded Biet Lahia WWTP. The project consists of three parts; phase A (pressure line & 9 infiltration basins - IBs), phase B (a new WWTP) and phase C (Recovery and Reuse Scheme – RRS – to capture the spreading plume). Currently, phase A is functioning since Apr 2009. Since Apr 2009, a monitoring plan is conducted to monitor the infiltration rate (I.R.) of the 9 basins. Nearly 23 million m3 of partially treated wastewater were infiltrated up to Jun 2014. It is important to maintain an acceptable rate to allow the basins to handle the coming quantities (currently 10,000 m3 are pumped an infiltrated daily). The methodology applied was to review and analysis the collected data including the I.R.s, the WW quality and the drying-wetting schedule of the basins. One of the main findings is the relation between the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) at BLWWTP and the I.R. at the basins. Since April 2009, the basins scored an average I.R. of about 2.5 m/day. Since then the records showed a decreasing pattern of the average rate until it reached the lower value of 0.42 m/day in Jun 2013. This was accompanied with an increase of TSS (mg/L) concentration at the source reaching above 200 mg/L. The reducing of TSS concentration directly improved the I.R. (by cleaning the WW source ponds at Biet Lahia WWTP site). This was reflected in an improvement in I.R. in last 6 months from 0.42 m/day to 0.66 m/day then to nearly 1.0 m/day as the average of the last 3 months of 2013. The wetting-drying scheme of the basins was observed (3 days wetting and 7 days drying) besides the rainfall rates. Despite the difficulty to apply this scheme accurately a control of flow to each basin was applied to improve the I.R. The drying-wetting system affected the I.R. of individual basins, thus affected the overall system rate which was recorded and assessed. Also the ploughing activities at the infiltration basins as well were recommended at certain times to retain a certain infiltration level. This breaks the confined clogging layer which prevents the infiltration. It is recommended to maintain proper quality of WW infiltrated to ensure an acceptable performance of IBs. The continual maintenance of settling ponds at BLWWTP, continual ploughing of basins and applying soil treatment techniques at the IBs will improve the I.R.s. When the new WWTP functions a high standard effluent quality (TSS 20mg, BOD 20 mg/l, and TN 15 mg/l) will be infiltrated, thus will enhance I.R.s of IBs due to lower organic load.

Keywords: soil aquifer treatment, recovery and reuse scheme, infiltration basins, North Gaza

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5381 Wave Powered Airlift PUMP for Primarily Artificial Upwelling

Authors: Bruno Cossu, Elio Carlo

Abstract:

The invention (patent pending) relates to the field of devices aimed to harness wave energy (WEC) especially for artificial upwelling, forced downwelling, production of compressed air. In its basic form, the pump consists of a hydro-pneumatic machine, driven by wave energy, characterised by the fact that it has no moving mechanical parts, and is made up of only two structural components: an hollow body, which is open at the bottom to the sea and partially immersed in sea water, and a tube, both joined together to form a single body. The shape of the hollow body is like a mushroom whose cap and stem are hollow; the stem is open at both ends and the lower part of its surface is crossed by holes; the tube is external and coaxial to the stem and is joined to it so as to form a single body. This shape of the hollow body and the type of connection to the tube allows the pump to operate simultaneously as an air compressor (OWC) on the cap side, and as an airlift on the stem side. The pump can be implemented in four versions, each of which provides different variants and methods of implementation: 1) firstly, for the artificial upwelling of cold, deep ocean water; 2) secondly, for the lifting and transfer of these waters to the place of use (above all, fish farming plants), even if kilometres away; 3) thirdly, for the forced downwelling of surface sea water; 4) fourthly, for the forced downwelling of surface water, its oxygenation, and the simultaneous production of compressed air. The transfer of the deep water or the downwelling of the raised surface water (as for pump versions indicated in points 2 and 3 above), is obtained by making the water raised by the airlift flow into the upper inlet of another pipe, internal or adjoined to the airlift; the downwelling of raised surface water, oxygenation, and the simultaneous production of compressed air (as for the pump version indicated in point 4), is obtained by installing a venturi tube on the upper end of the pipe, whose restricted section is connected to the external atmosphere, so that it also operates like a hydraulic air compressor (trompe). Furthermore, by combining one or more pumps for the upwelling of cold, deep water, with one or more pumps for the downwelling of the warm surface water, the system can be used in an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant to supply the cold and the warm water required for the operation of the same, thus allowing to use, without increased costs, in addition to the mechanical energy of the waves, for the purposes indicated in points 1 to 4, the thermal one of the marine water treated in the process.

Keywords: air lifted upwelling, fish farming plant, hydraulic air compressor, wave energy converter

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5380 Teaching Contemporary Power Distribution and Industrial Networks in Higher Education Vocational Studies

Authors: Rade M. Ciric

Abstract:

The paper shows the development and implementation of the syllabus of the subject 'Distribution and Industrial Networks', attended by the vocational specialist Year 4 students of the Electric Power Engineering study programme at the Higher Education Technical School of Vocational Studies in Novi Sad. The aim of the subject is to equip students with the knowledge necessary for planning, exploitation and management of distributive and industrial electric power networks in an open electricity market environment. The results of the evaluation of educational outcomes on the subject are presented and discussed.

Keywords: engineering education, power distribution network, syllabus implementation, outcome evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 384
5379 A Measurement Device of Condensing Flow Rate, an Order of MilliGrams per Second

Authors: Hee Joon Lee

Abstract:

There are many difficulties in measuring a small flow rate of an order of milli grams per minute (LPM) or less using a conventional flowmeter. Therefore, a flow meter with minimal loss and based on a new concept was designed as part of this paper. A chamber was manufactured with a level transmitter and an on-off control valve. When the level of the collected condensed water reaches the top of the chamber, the valve opens to allow the collected water to drain back into the tank. To allow the water to continue to drain when the signal is lost, the valve is held open for a few seconds by a time delay switch and then closed. After an examination, the condensing flow rate was successfully measured with the uncertainty of ±5.7% of the full scale for the chamber.

Keywords: chamber, condensation, flow meter, milli-grams

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5378 A Methodological Approach to Digital Engineering Adoption and Implementation for Organizations

Authors: Sadia H. Syeda, Zain H. Malik

Abstract:

As systems continue to become more complex and the interdependencies of processes and sub-systems continue to grow and transform, the need for a comprehensive method of tracking and linking the lifecycle of the systems in a digital form becomes ever more critical. Digital Engineering (DE) provides an approach to managing an authoritative data source that links, tracks, and updates system data as it evolves and grows throughout the system development lifecycle. DE enables the developing, tracking, and sharing system data, models, and other related artifacts in a digital environment accessible to all necessary stakeholders. The DE environment provides an integrated electronic repository that enables traceability between design, engineering, and sustainment artifacts. The DE activities' primary objective is to develop a set of integrated, coherent, and consistent system models for the program. It is envisioned to provide a collaborative information-sharing environment for various stakeholders, including operational users, acquisition personnel, engineering personnel, and logistics and sustainment personnel. Examining the processes that DE can support in the systems engineering life cycle (SELC) is a primary step in the DE adoption and implementation journey. Through an analysis of the U.S Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD’s) Digital Engineering Strategy and their implementation, examples of DE implementation by the industry and technical organizations, this paper will provide descriptions of the current DE processes and best practices of implementing DE across an enterprise. This will help identify the capabilities, environment, and infrastructure needed to develop a potential roadmap for implementing DE practices consistent with its business strategy. A capability maturity matrix will be provided to assess the organization’s DE maturity emphasizing how all the SELC elements interlink to form a cohesive ecosystem. If implemented, DE can increase efficiency and improve the systems engineering processes' quality and outcomes.

Keywords: digital engineering, digital environment, digital maturity model, single source of truth, systems engineering life-cycle

Procedia PDF Downloads 79
5377 The Usage of Mudbrick in Historical Structures of Van City

Authors: Mustafa Gulen, Eylem Guzel, Soner Guler

Abstract:

The studies concentrated on the historical background of Van city show the fact that Van city has had a significant position as a settlement since ancient times and that it has hosted many civilizations during history. With the dominance of Ottoman Empire in 16th century, the region had been re-constructed by building new walls at the southern side of Van Castle. These construction activities had mostly been fulfilled by the usage of mudbrick which had been a fundamental material for thousands of years. As a result of natural disasters, battles and the move at the threshold of 20th century to the new settlement which is 9 kilometers away from the Ancient City Van is an open-air museum with the ruins of churches, mosques and baths. In this study, the usage of mudbrick from past till today in historical structures of Van city is evaluated in detail.

Keywords: historical structures, history, mudbrick, Van city

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5376 Fermented Fruit and Vegetable Discard as a Source of Feeding Ingredients and Functional Additives

Authors: Jone Ibarruri, Mikel Manso, Marta Cebrián

Abstract:

A high amount of food is lost or discarded in the World every year. In addition, in the last decades, an increasing demand of new alternative and sustainable sources of proteins and other valuable compounds is being observed in the food and feeding sectors and, therefore, the use of food by-products as nutrients for these purposes sounds very interesting from the environmental and economical point of view. However, the direct use of discarded fruit and vegetables that present, in general, a low protein content is not interesting as feeding ingredient except if they are used as a source of fiber for ruminants. Especially in the case of aquaculture, several alternatives to the use of fish meal and other vegetable protein sources have been extensively explored due to the scarcity of fish stocks and the unsustainability of fishing for these purposes. Fish mortality is also of great concern in this sector as this problem highly reduces their economic feasibility. So, the development of new functional and natural ingredients that could reduce the need for vaccination is also of great interest. In this work, several fermentation tests were developed at lab scale using a selected mixture of fruit and vegetable discards from a wholesale market located in the Basque Country to increase their protein content and also to produce some bioactive extracts that could be used as additives in aquaculture. Fruit and vegetable mixtures (60/40 ww) were centrifugated for humidity reduction and crushed to 2-5 mm particle size. Samples were inoculated with a selected Rhizopus oryzae strain and fermented for 7 days in controlled conditions (humidity between 65 and 75% and 28ºC) in Petri plates (120 mm) by triplicate. Obtained results indicated that the final fermented product presented a twofold protein content (from 13 to 28% d.w). Fermented product was further processed to determine their possible functionality as a feed additive. Extraction tests were carried out to obtain an ethanolic extract (60:40 ethanol: water, v.v) and remaining biomass that also could present applications in food or feed sectors. The extract presented a polyphenol content of about 27 mg GAE/gr d.w with antioxidant activity of 8.4 mg TEAC/g d.w. Remining biomass is mainly composed of fiber (51%), protein (24%) and fat (10%). Extracts also presented antibacterial activity according to the results obtained in Agar Diffusion and to the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) tests determined against several food and fish pathogen strains. In vitro, digestibility was also assessed to obtain preliminary information about the expected effect of extraction procedure on fermented product digestibility. First results indicated that remaining biomass after extraction doesn´t seem to improve digestibility in comparison to the initial fermented product. These preliminary results show that fermented fruit and vegetables can be a useful source of functional ingredients for aquaculture applications and a substitute of other protein sources in the feeding sector. Further validation will be also carried out through “in vivo” tests with trout and bass.

Keywords: fungal solid state fermentation, protein increase, functional extracts, feed ingredients

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