Search results for: curing agents

Authors: Koosha Rezaei, Mehdi Moghri bidgoli, Mazyar Khakpour

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Wood-plastic composites foam is one of the most used products were the industry today. In this study, composite foam polypropylene in the presence of different biofilers such as Spruce wood, wheat and rice husk as well as 3 different types toughening agents such as polyolefin elastomer, styrene butadiene styrene and styrene-ethylene butadiene styrene, and two types of cause blowing agents azodicarbonamide and sodium bicarbonate was prepared. For improving dispersion of biofilers, in the mixing process we used polypropylene coupling agent grafted with maleic anhydride. Due to the large number of variables, the statistical analysis of response surface to analyze the results of the impact test, tensile modulus and tensile strength and modeling were used. Co-rotating twine extruder was made composite melt mixing method and then to perform mechanical tests using injection molding, respectively.Images from electron microscopy showed cell sandwich structure in composite amply demonstrates.

Keywords: polypropylene, wood plastic composite foam, response surface analysis, morphology, mechanical properties

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Authors: A. González-Caro, A. M. Merino-Lechuga, D. Suescum-Morales, E. Fernández-Ledesma, J. R. Jiménez, J. M. Fernández-Rodríguez

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Climate change is one of the most significant issues today. Since the 19th century, the rise in temperature has not only been due to natural change, but also to human activities, which have been the main cause of climate change, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The boom in the construction sector in recent years is also one of the main contributors to CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere; for example, for every tonne of cement produced, 1 tonne of CO₂ is emitted into the atmosphere. Most of the research being carried out in this sector is focused on reducing the large environmental impact generated during the manufacturing process of building materials. In detail, this research focuses on the recovery of waste from olive oil mills. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil, and this sector generates a large amount of waste and by-products such as olive pits, “alpechín” or “alpeorujo”. This olive stone by means of a pyrosilisis process gives rise to the production of active carbon. The process causes the carbon to develop many internal spaces. This study is based on the manufacture of porous mortars with Portland cement and natural limestone sand, with an addition of 5% and 10% of activated carbon. Two curing environments were used: i) dry chamber, with a humidity of 65 ± 10% and temperature of 21 ± 2 ºC and an atmospheric CO₂ concentration (approximately 0.04%); ii) accelerated carbonation chamber, with a humidity of 65 ± 10% and temperature of 21 ± 2 ºC and an atmospheric CO₂ concentration of 5%. In addition to eliminating waste from an industry, the aim of this study is to reduce atmospheric CO₂. For this purpose, first, a physicochemical and mineralogical characterisation of all raw materials was carried out, using techniques such as fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. The particle size and specific surface area of the activated carbon were determined. Subsequently, tests were carried out on the hardened mortar, such as thermogravimetric analysis (to determine the percentage of CO₂ capture), as well as mechanical properties, density, porosity, and water absorption. It was concluded that the activated carbon acts as a sink for CO₂, causing it to be trapped inside the voids. This increases CO₂ capture by 300% with the addition of 10% activated carbon at 7 days of curing. There was an increase in compressive strength of 17.5% with the CO₂ chamber after 7 days of curing using 10% activated carbon compared to the dry chamber.

Keywords: olive stone, activated carbon, porous mortar, CO₂ capture, economy circular

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Authors: Demet Yavuz

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Freeze-thaw cycles are one of the greatest threats to concrete durability. Lately, protection against this threat excites scientists’ attention. Air-entraining admixtures have been widely used to produce freeze-thaw resistant at concretes. The use of air-entraining agents (AEAs) enhances not only freeze-thaw endurance but also the properties of fresh concrete such as segregation, bleeding and flow ability. This paper examines the effects of air-entraining on compressive strength of concrete. Air-entraining is used between 0.05% and 0.4% by weight of cement. One control and four fiber reinforced concrete mixes are prepared and three specimens are tested for each mix. It is concluded from the test results that when air entraining is increased the compressive strength of concrete reduces for all mixes with AEAs.

Keywords: concrete, air-entraining, compressive strength, mechanical properties

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Authors: Tamer M. El-Messery

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By-products from sunflower oil extraction, such as sunflower cakes, are rich sources of proteins with desirable functional properties for the food industry. However, challenges such as sensory drawbacks and the presence of phenolic compounds have hindered their widespread use. In this study, sunflower protein concentrates were obtained from sunflower cakes using different ant-greening solvents (ascorbic acid (ASC) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC)), and their functional properties were evaluated. The color of extracted proteins ranged from dark green to yellow, where the using of ASC and NAC agents enhanced the color. The protein concentrates exhibited high solubility (>70%) and antioxidant activity, with hydrophobicity influencing emulsifying activity. Emulsions prepared with these proteins showed stability and microencapsulation efficiency. Incorporation of protein concentrates into low-fat whipping cream formulations increased overrun and affected color characteristics. Rheological studies demonstrated pseudoplastic behavior in whipped cream, influenced by shear rates and protein content. Overall, sunflower protein isolates showed promising functional properties, indicating their potential as valuable ingredients in food formulations.

Keywords: functional properties, sunflower protein concentrates, antioxidant capacity, ant-greening agents, low-fat whipping cream

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Authors: Yasemin Seki, Aysun Akşit

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The goal of this research is to modify the surface characterization of jute yarns with different chemical agents to improve the compatibility with a non-polar polymer, polypropylene, when used as reinforcement. A literature review provided no knowledge on surface treatment of jute fibers with sodium perborate trihydrate. This study also aims to compare the efficiency of sodium perborate trihydrate on jute fiber treatment with other commonly used chemical agents. Accordingly, jute yarns were treated with 0.02% potassium dichromate (PD), potassium permanganate (PM) and sodium perborate trihydrate (SP) aqueous solutions in order to enhance interfacial compatibility with polypropylene in this study. The effect of treatments on surface topography, surface chemistry and interfacial shear strength of jute yarns with polypropylene were investigated. XPS results revealed that surface treatments enhanced surface hydrophobicity by increasing C/O ratios of fiber surface. Surface roughness values increased with the treatments. The highest interfacial adhesion with polypropylene was achieved after SP treatment by providing the highest surface roughness values and hydrophobic character of jute fiber.

Keywords: jute, chemical modification, sodium perborate, polypropylene

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Authors: James Kinsella

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There is currently very little understanding of how the interaction between in- vestors, consumers, the firms (agents) affect a) the transmission of information, and b) the creation and transfer of value and wealth between these two groups. Employing scholarly ideas from multiple research areas (behavioural finance, emotional finance, econo-biology, and game theory) we develop a conceptual the- oretic model (the ‘bow-tie’ model) as a framework for considering this interaction. Our bow-tie model views information transfer, value and wealth creation, and transfer through the lens of “investor-consumer connection facilitated through the communicative medium of the ‘firm’ (agents)”. We confront our bow-tie model with theoretical and practical examples. Next, we utilise consumer and business confidence data alongside index data, to conduct quantitative analy- sis, to support our bow-tie concept, and to introduce the concept of “investor- consumer connection”. We highlight the importance of information persuasiveness, knowledge, and emotional categorization of characteristics in facilitating a communicative relationship between investors, consumers, and the firm (agents), forming academic and practical applications of the conceptual bow-tie model, alongside applications to wider instances, such as those seen within the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: behavioral finance, emotional finance, economy-biology, social mood

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Authors: M. Taheri Tehrani, H. Ajorloo

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In this paper, an intelligent multi-agent framework is developed for each router in which agents have two vital functionalities, traffic shaping and buffer allocation and are positioned in the ports of the routers. With traffic shaping functionality agents shape the traffic forward by dynamic and real time allocation of the rate of generation of tokens in a Token Bucket algorithm and with buffer allocation functionality agents share their buffer capacity between each other based on their need and the conditions of the network. This dynamic and intelligent framework gives this opportunity to some ports to work better under burst and more busy conditions. These agents work intelligently based on Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithm and will consider effective parameters in their decision process. As RL have limitation considering much parameter in its decision process due to the volume of calculations, we utilize our novel method which invokes Principle Component Analysis (PCA) on the RL and gives a high dimensional ability to this algorithm to consider as much as needed parameters in its decision process. This implementation when is compared to our previous work where traffic shaping was done without any sharing and dynamic allocation of buffer size for each port, the lower packet drop in the whole network specifically in the source routers can be seen. These methods are implemented in our previous proposed intelligent simulation environment to be able to compare better the performance metrics. The results obtained from this simulation environment show an efficient and dynamic utilization of resources in terms of bandwidth and buffer capacities pre allocated to each port.

Keywords: principal component analysis, reinforcement learning, buffer allocation, multi- agent systems

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Authors: Aya Belal, Ahmed Maher Eltair, Maggie Ahmed Mashaly

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Geopolymer concrete is gaining recognition as a sustainable alternative to conventional Portland Cement concrete due to its environmentally friendly nature, which is a key goal for Smart City initiatives. It has demonstrated its potential as a reliable material for the design of structural elements. However, the production of Geopolymer concrete is hindered by batch-to-batch variations, which presents a significant challenge to the widespread adoption of Geopolymer concrete. To date, Machine learning has had a profound impact on various fields by enabling models to learn from large datasets and predict outputs accurately. This paper proposes an integration between the current drift to Artificial Intelligence and the composition of Geopolymer mixtures to predict their mechanical properties. This study employs Python software to develop machine learning model in specific Decision Trees. The research uses the percentage oxides and the chemical composition of the Alkali Solution along with the curing conditions as the input independent parameters, irrespective of the waste products used in the mixture yielding the compressive strength of the mix as the output parameter. The results showed 90 % agreement of the predicted values to the actual values having the ratio of the Sodium Silicate to the Sodium Hydroxide solution being the dominant parameter in the mixture.

Keywords: decision trees, geopolymer concrete, machine learning, smart cities, sustainability

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Authors: Soheir Mohamed Fathey

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Biofilms are complex biological communities which are hard to be eliminated by conventional antibiotic administration and implemented in eighty percent of humans infections. Green remedies have been used for centuries and have shown obvious effects in hindering and combating microbial biofilm infections. Nowadays, there has been a growth in the number of researches on the anti-biofilm performance of natural agents such as plant essential oil (EOs) and propolis. In this study, we investigated the antibiofilm performance of various natural agents, including four essential oils (EOs), cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia), tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), and clove (Syzygium aromaticum), as well as propolis versus the biofilm of both Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa which are major human and animal pathogens rendering a high risk due to their biofilm development ability. The antibiofilm activity of the tested agents was evaluated by crystal violet staining assay and detected by scanning electron and fluorescent microscopy. Antibiofilm performance declared a potent effect of the tested products versus the tested bacterial biofilms.

Keywords: biofilm, essential oils, electron microscopy, fluorescent

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Authors: Shradha S. Binani, Pravin S. Bodke, Ravi V. Joat

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An efficient method has been described for the synthesis of 6-(substituted aryl)-4-(2'- hydroxy-5'-chlorophenyl)-1, 6-dihydropyrimidine-2-thiol, as a beneficial antibacterial and antifungal agents. The diketones of title compounds were synthesized in four steps and subsequently these diketones were further reacted with thiourea in the presence of DMF, which led to the formation of dihydropyrimidine derivatives 5 (a-f). Compounds 5 (a-f) were screened for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity by agar well method. Compounds 5b, 5c, 5e, and 5f were exhibited significant antimicrobial potential against tested strains at 50ug/ml and 100ug/ml concentrations. Six novel dihydropyrimidine analogues have been synthesized, characterized and found to be promising antibacterial and antifungal agents.

Keywords: diketones, dihyropyrimidine, antimicrobial activity, thiol group

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Authors: Amit Gill, Lalith Wijerathne, Sebastian Poledna

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This research presents the details of the implementation of high performance computing (HPC) extension of agent-based economic models (ABEMs) to simulate hundreds of millions of heterogeneous agents. ABEMs offer an alternative approach to study the economy as a dynamic system of interacting heterogeneous agents, and are gaining popularity as an alternative to standard economic models. Over the last decade, ABEMs have been increasingly applied to study various problems related to monetary policy, bank regulations, etc. When it comes to predicting the effects of local economic disruptions, like major disasters, changes in policies, exogenous shocks, etc., on the economy of the country or the region, it is pertinent to study how the disruptions cascade through every single economic entity affecting its decisions and interactions, and eventually affect the economic macro parameters. However, such simulations with hundreds of millions of agents are hindered by the lack of HPC enhanced ABEMs. In order to address this, a scalable Distributed Memory Parallel (DMP) implementation of ABEMs has been developed using message passing interface (MPI). A balanced distribution of computational load among MPI-processes (i.e. CPU cores) of computer clusters while taking all the interactions among agents into account is a major challenge for scalable DMP implementations. Economic agents interact on several random graphs, some of which are centralized (e.g. credit networks, etc.) whereas others are dense with random links (e.g. consumption markets, etc.). The agents are partitioned into mutually-exclusive subsets based on a representative employer-employee interaction graph, while the remaining graphs are made available at a minimum communication cost. To minimize the number of communications among MPI processes, real-life solutions like the introduction of recruitment agencies, sales outlets, local banks, and local branches of government in each MPI-process, are adopted. Efficient communication among MPI-processes is achieved by combining MPI derived data types with the new features of the latest MPI functions. Most of the communications are overlapped with computations, thereby significantly reducing the communication overhead. The current implementation is capable of simulating a small open economy. As an example, a single time step of a 1:1 scale model of Austria (i.e. about 9 million inhabitants and 600,000 businesses) can be simulated in 15 seconds. The implementation is further being enhanced to simulate 1:1 model of Euro-zone (i.e. 322 million agents).

Keywords: agent-based economic model, high performance computing, MPI-communication, MPI-process

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Authors: Sezen Gurdag, Ayse Ebru Akin

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There is a growing concern all over the world on the health effect of the formaldehyde emission coming from the adhesive used in the MDF production. In this research, we investigated the effect of nanoparticle addition such as nanoclay and halloysite into urea-formadehyde resin on the total emitted formaldehyde from MDF plates produced using the resin modified as such. First, the curing behavior of the resin was studied by monitoring the pH, curing time, solid content, density and viscosity of the modified resin in comparison to the reference resin with no added nanoparticle. The dosing of the nanoparticle in the dry resin was kept at 1wt%, 3wt% or 5wt%. Consecutively, the resin was used in the production of 50X50 cm MDF samples using laboratory scale press line with full automation system. Modulus of elasticity, bending strength, internal bonding strength, water absorption were also measured in addition to the main interested parameter formaldehyde emission levels which is determined via spectrometric technique following an extraction procedure. Threshold values for nanoparticle dosing levels were determined to be 5wt% for both nanoparticles. However, the reinforcing behavior was observed to be occurring at different levels in comparison to the reference plates with each nanoparticle such that the level of reinforcement with nanoclay was shown to be more favorable than the addition of halloysite due to higher surface area available with the former. In relation, formaldehyde emission levels were observed to be following a similar trend where addition of 5wt% nanoclay into the urea-formaldehyde adhesive helped decrease the formaldehyde emission up to 40% whereas addition of halloysite at its threshold level demonstrated as the same level, i.e., 5wt%, produced an improvement of 18% only.

Keywords: halloysite, nanoclay, fiberboard, urea-formaldehyde adhesive

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Authors: Shegufta Zahan, Muhammad A. Zahin, Muhammad M. Hossain, Raquib Ahsan

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Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is one of the agricultural waste byproducts available widely in the world and contains a large amount of silica. In Bangladesh, stones cannot be used as coarse aggregate in infrastructure works as they are not available and need to be imported from abroad. As a result, bricks are mostly used as coarse aggregates in concrete as they are cheaper and easily produced here. Clay is the raw material for producing brick. Due to rapid urban growth and the industrial revolution, demand for brick is increasing, which led to a decrease in the topsoil. This study aims to produce lightweight block aggregates with sufficient strength utilizing RHA at low cost and use them as an ingredient of concrete. RHA, because of its pozzolanic behavior, can be utilized to produce better quality block aggregates at lower cost, replacing clay content in the bricks. The whole study can be divided into three parts. In the first part, characterization tests on RHA and clay were performed to determine their properties. Six different types of RHA from different mills were characterized by XRD and SEM analysis. Their fineness was determined by conducting a fineness test. The result of XRD confirmed the amorphous state of RHA. The characterization test for clay identifies the sample as “silty clay” with a specific gravity of 2.59 and 14% optimum moisture content. In the second part, blocks were produced with six different types of RHA with different combinations by volume with clay. Then mixtures were manually compacted in molds before subjecting them to oven drying at 120 °C for 7 days. After that, dried blocks were placed in a furnace at 1200 °C to produce ultimate blocks. Loss on ignition test, apparent density test, crushing strength test, efflorescence test, and absorption test were conducted on the blocks to compare their performance with the bricks. For 40% of RHA, the crushing strength result was found 60 MPa, where crushing strength for brick was observed 48.1 MPa. In the third part, the crushed blocks were used as coarse aggregate in concrete cylinders and compared them with brick concrete cylinders. Specimens were cured for 7 days and 28 days. The highest compressive strength of block cylinders for 7 days curing was calculated as 26.1 MPa, whereas, for 28 days curing, it was found 34 MPa. On the other hand, for brick cylinders, the value of compressing strength of 7 days and 28 days curing was observed as 20 MPa and 30 MPa, respectively. These research findings can help with the increasing demand for topsoil of the earth, and also turn a waste product into a valuable one.

Keywords: characterization, furnace, pozzolanic behavior, rice husk ash

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Authors: Khadse Saurabh, Talele Gokul, Surana Sanjay

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In an endeavor to find a new class of anti-inflammatory agents, a series of novel benzamides (ab1-ab16) were synthesized by utilizing some arylideneoxazolones (az1-az4) having 2-acetyloxyphenyl substitution on their second position. Structures of these synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. Among the tested benzamide compounds 3ab1, 3ab2, 3ab11, and 3ab16 showed promising anti-inflammatory activity with lessened propensity to cause gastro-intestinal hypermotility and ulceration when compared with standard Indomethacin. Virtual screening was performed by docking the designed compounds into the ATP binding site of COX-2 receptor to predict if these compounds have analogous binding mode to the COX-2 inhibitor.

Keywords: benzamides, anti-inflammatory, gastro-intestinal hypermotility, ulcerogenic activity, docking

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Authors: Olubajo Olumide Olu

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This paper studies the effect of Metakaolin (MK) and Rice husk ash (RHA) on the compressive strength of ternary cement mortar at replacement level up to 30%. The compressive strength test of the blended cement mortars were conducted using Tonic Technic compression and machine. Nineteen ternary cement mortars were prepared comprising of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), Rice husk ash (RHA) and Metakaolin (MK) at different proportion. Ternary mortar prisms in which Portland cement was replaced by up to 30% were tested at various age; 2, 7, 28 and 60 days. Result showed that the compressive strength of the cement mortars increased as the curing days were lengthened for both OPC and the blended cement samples. The ternary cement’s compressive strengths showed significant improvement compared with the control especially beyond 28 days. This can be attributed to the slow pozzolanic reaction resulting from the formation of additional CSH from the interaction of the residual CH content and the silica available in the Metakaolin and Rice husk ash, thus providing significant strength gain at later age. Results indicated that the addition of metakaolin with rice husk ash kept constant was found to lead to an increment in the compressive strength. This can either be attributed to the high silica/alumina contribution to the matrix or the C/S ratio in the cement matrix. Whereas, increment in the rice husk ash content while metakaolin was held constant led to an increment in the compressive strength, which could be attributed to the reactivity of the rice husk ash followed by decrement owing to the presence of unburnt carbon in the RHA matrix. The best compressive strength results were obtained at 10% cement replacement (5% RHA, 5% MK); 15% cement replacement (10% MK and 5% RHA); 20% cement replacement (15% MK and 5% RHA); 25% cement replacement (20% MK and 5% RHA); 30% cement replacement (10%/20% MK and 20%/10% RHA). With the optimal combination of either 15% and 20% MK with 5% RHA giving the best compressive strength of 40.5MPa.

Keywords: metakaolin, rice husk ash, compressive strength, ternary mortar, curing days

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Authors: Fatima Doganc, Hakan Goker

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Benzimidazole moiety is an important pharmacophore and privileged structure for the medicinal chemists, since it exhibits various important biological activities. Some clinically used drugs have benzimidazole moiety, such as omeprazole, astemizole, albendazole and domperidone. 2-(4-tert-Butylphenyl)benzimidazole, is a PGC-1α transcriptional regulator shown to have beneficial effects in diabetic mice. We planned to modify the structure of this compound for developing new antidiabetic drug candidates. Hence, a series of guanidino or amidino, benzo/pyrido/pyrimidino-imidazole derivatives were freshly prepared. Mass, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR spectroscopy techniques were used for the new derivatives to clarify their structures and their purity was controlled through the elemental analysis. Antidiabetic activity studies of the synthesized compounds are under the investigation.

Keywords: antidiabetic agents, benzimidazole, imidazopyridine, imidazopyrimidine

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Authors: Shaker Alsharif, Xavier Banquy

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Controlled drug delivery technology represents one of the most rapidly advancing areas of science in which chemists and chemical engineers are contributing to human health care. Such delivery systems provide numerous advantages compared to conventional dosage forms including improved efficacy, and improved patient compliance and convenience. Such systems often use synthetic polymers as carriers for the drugs. As a result, treatments that would not otherwise be possible are now in conventional use. The role of bilayered vesicles as efficient carriers for drugs, vaccines, diagnostic agents and other bioactive agents have led to a rapid advancement in the liposomal drug delivery system. Moreover, the site avoidance and site-specific drug targeting therapy could be achieved by formulating a liposomal product, so as to reduce the cytotoxicity of many potent therapeutic agents. Our project focuses on developing and building hydrogel with nanoinclusion of liposomes loaded with active compounds such as proteins and growth factors able to release them in a controlled fashion. In order to achieve that, we synthesize several liposomes of two different phospholipids concentrations encapsulating model drug. Then, formulating hydrogel with specific mechanical properties embedding the liposomes to manage the release of active compound.

Keywords: controlled release, hydrogel, liposomes, active compounds

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Authors: Emmanuel Barrantes Chaves, Ernesto Rivera Alvarado

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This paper presents a method to enable agents for the Terraria game to evaluate algorithms commonly used in general video game artificial intelligence competitions. The usage of the ‘You Only Look Once’ model in the first layer of the process obtains information from the screen, translating this information into a video game description language known as “Video Game Description Language”; the agents take that as input to make decisions. For this, the state-of-the-art algorithms were tested and compared; Monte Carlo Tree Search and Rolling Horizon Evolutionary; in this case, Rolling Horizon Evolutionary shows a better performance. This approach’s main advantage is that a VGDL beforehand is unnecessary. It will be built on the fly and opens the road for using more games as a framework for AI.

Keywords: AI, MCTS, RHEA, Terraria, VGDL, YOLOv5

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Authors: Jayaraman Muniyappan, Bachchan Kr Mishra, Gautam Salkar, Swetha Manian Sridhar

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Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM), a cost effective method of Liquid Composite Molding (LCM), is a single step process where the resin, at atmospheric pressure, is infused through a preform that is maintained under vacuum. This hydrodynamic pressure gradient is responsible for the flow of resin through the dry fabric preform. The current study has a slight variation to traditional VARTM, wherein, the resin infuses through the fabric placed on a heated mold to reduce its viscosity. The saturated preform is subjected to a cure cycle where the resin hardens as it undergoes curing. During this cycle, an uneven temperature distribution through the thickness of the composite and excess exothermic heat released due to different cure rates result in non-uniform curing. Additionally, there is a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between fiber and resin in a given plane and between adjacent plies. All these effects coupled with orthotropic coefficient of thermal expansion of the composite give rise to process-induced stresses in the laminate. Such stresses lead to part deformation when the laminate tries to relieve them as the part is released off the mold. The current study looks at simulating resin infusion, cure kinetics and the structural response of composite laminate subject to process-induced stresses.

Keywords: cure kinetics, process-induced stresses, thermal expansion coefficient, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding

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Authors: Elif Tugce Aksun Tumerkan, Chris Lowe, Hannah Krupa

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Fluorescent proteins are self-sufficient in forming chromophores with a visible wavelength from 3 amino acids sequence within their own polypeptide structure. This chromophore – a molecule that absorbs a photon of light and exhibits an energy transition equal to the energy of the absorbed photon. Fluorescent proteins (FPs) consisted of a chain of 238 amino acid residues and composed of 11 beta strands shaped in a cylinder surrounding an alpha helix structure. A better understanding of the system of the chromospheres and the increasing advance in protein engineering in recent years, the properties of FPs offers the potential for new applications. They have used sensors and probes in molecular biology and cell-based research that giving a chance to observe these FPs tagged cell localization, structural variation and movement. For clarifying functional uses of fluorescent proteins, electrophoretic properties of these proteins are one of the most important parameters. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis is used for determining electrophoretic properties commonly. While there are many techniques are used for determining the functionality of protein-based research, SDS-PAGE analysis can only provide a molecular level assessment of the proteolytic fragments. Before SDS-PAGE analysis, fluorescent proteins need to successfully purified. Due to directly purification of the target, FPs is difficult from the animal, gene expression is commonly used which must be done by transformation with the plasmid. Furthermore, used gel within electrophoresis and staining agents properties have a key role. In this review, the different factors that have the impact on the electrophoretic properties of fluorescent proteins explored. Fluorescent protein separation and purification are the essential steps before electrophoresis that should be done very carefully. For protein purification, gene expression process and following steps have a significant function. For successful gene expression, the properties of selected bacteria for expression, used plasmid are essential. Each bacteria has own characteristics which are very sensitive to gene expression, also used procedure is the important factor for fluorescent protein expression. Another important factors are gel formula and used staining agents. Gel formula has an effect on the specific proteins mobilization and staining with correct agents is a key step for visualization of electrophoretic bands of protein. Visuality of proteins can be changed depending on staining reagents. Apparently, this review has emphasized that gene expression and purification have a stronger effect than electrophoresis protocol and staining agents.

Keywords: cell biology, gene expression, staining agents, SDS-page

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Authors: Galatee Levadoux, Trevor Benson, Chris Worrall

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With the rise of public awareness on climate change comes an increasing demand for renewable sources of energy. As a result, the wind power sector is striving to manufacture longer, more efficient and reliable wind turbine blades. Currently, one of the leading causes of blade failure in service is improper cure of the resin during manufacture. The infusion process creating the main part of the composite blade structure remains a critical step that is yet to be monitored in real time. This stage consists of a viscous resin being drawn into a mould under vacuum, then undergoing a curing reaction until solidification. Successful infusion assumes the resin fills all the voids and cures completely. Given that the electrical properties of the resin change significantly during its solidification, both the filling of the mould and the curing reaction are susceptible to be followed using dieletrometry. However, industrially available dielectrics sensors are currently too small to monitor the entire surface of a wind turbine blade. The aim of the present research project is to scale up the dielectric sensor technology and develop a device able to monitor the manufacturing process of large composite structures, assessing the conformity of the blade before it even comes out of the mould. An array of flat copper wires acting as electrodes are embedded in a polymer matrix fixed in an infusion mould. A multi-frequency analysis from 1 Hz to 10 kHz is performed during the filling of the mould with an epoxy resin and the hardening of the said resin. By following the variations of the complex admittance Y*, the filling of the mould and curing process are monitored. Results are compared to numerical simulations of the sensor in order to validate a virtual cure-monitoring system. The results obtained by drawing glycerol on top of the copper sensor displayed a linear relation between the wetted length of the sensor and the complex admittance measured. Drawing epoxy resin on top of the sensor and letting it cure at room temperature for 24 hours has provided characteristic curves obtained when conventional interdigitated sensor are used to follow the same reaction. The response from the developed sensor has shown the different stages of the polymerization of the resin, validating the geometry of the prototype. The model created and analysed using COMSOL has shown that the dielectric cure process can be simulated, so long as a sufficient time and temperature dependent material properties can be determined. The model can be used to help design larger sensors suitable for use with full-sized blades. The preliminary results obtained with the sensor prototype indicate that the infusion and curing process of an epoxy resin can be followed with the chosen configuration on a scale of several decimeters. Further work is to be devoted to studying the influence of the sensor geometry and the infusion parameters on the results obtained. Ultimately, the aim is to develop a larger scale sensor able to monitor the flow and cure of large composite panels industrially.

Keywords: composite manufacture, dieletrometry, epoxy, resin infusion, wind turbine blades

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Authors: Bruno Mazorra Roig

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In the realm of cost-sharing mechanisms, the vulnerability to Sybil strategies, where agents can create fake identities to manipulate outcomes, has not yet been studied. In this paper, we delve into the intricacies of different cost-sharing mechanisms proposed in the literature, highlighting its non-Sybil-resistance nature. Furthermore, we prove that under mild conditions, a Sybil-proof cost-sharing mechanism for public excludable goods is at least (n/2 + 1)−approximate. This finding reveals an exponential increase in the worst-case social cost in environments where agents are restricted from using Sybil strategies. We introduce the concept of Sybil Welfare Invariant mechanisms, where a mechanism maintains its worst-case welfare under Sybil strategies for every set of prior beliefs with full support even when the mechanism is not Sybil-proof. Finally, we prove that the Shapley value mechanism for public excludable goods holds this property and so deduce that the worst-case social cost of this mechanism is the nth harmonic number Hn under the equilibrium of the game with Sybil strategies, matching the worst-case social cost bound for cost-sharing mechanisms. This finding carries important implications for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), indicating that they are capable of funding public excludable goods efficiently, even when the total number of agents is unknown.

Keywords: game theory, mechanism design, cost sharing, false-name proofness

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Authors: K. Asemave, D. O. Abakpa, T. T. Ligom

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The ability of bacteria to develop resistance to many antibiotics cannot be undermined, given the multifaceted health challenges in the present times. For this reason, a lot of attention is on botanicals and their products in search of new antibacterial agents. On the other hand, mango kernel oils (MKO) can be heavily valorized by taking advantage of the myriads bioactive phytochemicals it contains. Herein, we validated the use of MKO as bioactive agent against bacteria. The MKOs for the study were extracted by soxhlet means with ethanol and hexane for 4 h from 3 different mango kernels, namely; 'local' (sample A), 'julie' (sample B), and 'john' (sample C). Prior to the extraction, ground fine particles of the kernels were obtained from the seed kernels dried in oven at 100 °C for 8 h. Hexane gave higher yield of the oils than ethanol. It was also qualitatively confirmed that the mango kernel oils contain some phytochemicals such as phenol, quinone, saponin, and terpenoid. The results of the antibacterial activities of the MKO against both gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) at different concentrations showed that the oils extracted with ethanol gave better antibacterial properties than those of the hexane. More so, the bioactivities were best with the local mango kernel oil. Indeed this work has completely validated the previous claim that MKOs are effective antibacterial agents. Thus, these oils (especially the ethanol-derived ones) can be used as bacteriostatic and antibacterial agents in say food, cosmetics, and allied industries.

Keywords: bacteria, mango, kernel, oil, phytochemicals

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: H. Benmoussa, A. A. El Kalam, A. Ait Ouahman

Abstract:

The design and implementation of intrusion detection systems (IDS) remain an important area of research in the security of information systems. Despite the importance and reputation of the current intrusion detection systems, their efficiency and effectiveness remain limited as they should include active defense approach to allow anticipating and predicting intrusions before their occurrence. Consequently, they must be readapted. For this purpose we suggest a new generation of distributed intrusion detection system based on preventive detection approach and using intelligent and mobile agents. Our architecture benefits from mobile agent features and addresses some of the issues with centralized and hierarchical models. Also, it presents advantages in terms of increasing scalability and flexibility.

Keywords: Intrusion Detection System (IDS), preventive detection, mobile agents, distributed architecture

Procedia PDF Downloads 584

Authors: C. Recchia, M. Bourel, B. Recchia

Abstract:

Microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi) are responsible for most communicable diseases, threatening human health. For domestic use, chemical agents are often criticized because of their potential dangerousness, and natural solutions are needed. Application of the “dry microfine steam” (DMS) technology was tested on a selection of common pathogens (SARS-CoV-2, enterovirus EV-71, human coronavirus 229E, E. coli, S. aureus, C. albicans), on different innate surfaces, for 5 to 10 seconds. Quantification of the remaining pathogens was performed, and the reduction rates ranged from 99.8% (S. aureus on plastic) to over 99.999%. DMS showed high efficacy in the elimination of common microorganisms and could be seen as a natural alternative to chemical agents to improve domestic hygiene.

Keywords: steam, SARS-CoV-2, bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal, sterilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Midhun Xavier

Abstract:

This paper introduces a method to verify multi-agent systems in industrial control systems using blockchain technology. The proposed solution enables to record and verify each process that occurs while generating a customized product using Ethereum-based smart contracts. Node-Red software agents are developed with the help of semantic web technologies, and these software agents interact with IEC 61499 function blocks to execute the processes. The agent associated with each mechatronic component and its controller can communicate with the blockchain to record various events that occur during each process, and the latter smart contract helps to verify these process orders of the customized product.

Keywords: blockchain, Ethereum, node-red, IEC 61499, multi-agent system, MQTT

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: M. Umar Hafeez, Furqan Khursheed Hashmi, Nadeem Irfan Bukhari, Shahzad Ali, Muzammil Ali

Abstract:

The trend of self-medication is increasing due to various factors and is associated with a large number of complications. A cross-sectional study was aimed to investigate self-medication trend in an urban community and its correlates such as level of education, gender and behavior of using psychoactive medicines. A validated questionnaire was used to collect the data from different locations of Lahore, provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan. The trend of self-medication was noted in reference to difference in educational level and in gender. This study showed that total 110 respondents, all literate,were found to be self-medicating, and their educational status was as 73.13% primary, 63.15% secondary, 61.12% higher secondary and 62.15% university going. In this sample 74.99% were males and 48.00%were females. Twenty nine (26.36%) of the total sample were found to be using psychoactive agents without consulting the physician. The trend of self-medication was 10% higher in individuals having primary level education, whereas there was not much difference of self-medication trend in other levels of education. The main reasons involved in self-medication trend were socio-economic status, medicine accessibility, religious and cultural beliefs, lack of awareness about risks associated with medicine, non-prescription sale of medicines and previous medication experience. The trend of self-medication of psychotropic agents is quite significant.

Keywords: self-medication, educated community, psychotropic drugs, education levels

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Shyaka Eugene

Abstract:

The efficient and safe demolition of structures is a critical challenge in civil engineering and construction. This study focuses on the development of optimal demolition strategies by investigating the crack propagation behavior in beams induced by soundless cracking agents. It is commonly used in controlled demolition and has gained prominence due to its non-explosive and environmentally friendly nature. This research employs a comprehensive experimental and computational approach to analyze the crack initiation, propagation, and eventual failure in beams subjected to soundless cracking agents. Experimental testing involves the application of various cracking agents under controlled conditions to understand their effects on the structural integrity of beams. High-resolution imaging and strain measurements are used to capture the crack propagation process. In parallel, numerical simulations are conducted using advanced finite element analysis (FEA) techniques to model crack propagation in beams, considering various parameters such as cracking agent composition, loading conditions, and beam properties. The FEA models are validated against experimental results, ensuring their accuracy in predicting crack propagation patterns. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into optimizing demolition strategies, allowing engineers and demolition experts to make informed decisions regarding the selection of cracking agents, their application techniques, and structural reinforcement methods. Ultimately, this research contributes to enhancing the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of demolition practices in the construction industry, reducing environmental impact and ensuring the protection of adjacent structures and the surrounding environment.

Keywords: expansion pressure, energy release rate, soundless chemical demolition agent, crack propagation

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Devinder Kaur Sugga, Ekamdeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, C. Rajesh, Preeti Rajesh, Harsimran Kaur

Abstract:

Withanolides are steroidal lactones and are highly oxygenated phytoconstituents that can be developed as potential anti-carcinogenic agents. The two main withanolides, namely Withaferin A and Withanolides D, have been extensively studied for their pharmacological activities. Both these withanolides are present in the Withania somnifera (WS) leaves belonging to the family Solanaceae, also known as “Indian ginseng .”In this study effects of WS leaf extract on the MCF7 breast cancer cell line were investigated by performing a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay to evaluate the cytotoxic effects and in vitro wound-healing assay to study the effect on cancer cell migration. Our data suggest WS extracts have cytotoxic effects and are effective anti-migrating agents and thus can be a source of potential candidates for the development of potential agents against metastasis. Thus, it can be a source of potential candidates for the development of potential agents against metastasis. Insight into these results, the in-silico approach to identify the possible protein targets interacting with withanolides was taken. Protein kinase C alpha (PKCα) was among the selected 5 top-ranked target proteins identified by the Swiss Target Prediction tool. PKCα is known to promote the growth and invasion of cancer cells and is being evaluated as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in clinically aggressive tumors. Molecular docking of Withaferin A and Withanolides D was performed using AutoDock Vina. Both the bioactive compounds interacted with PKCα. The targets predicted using this approach will serve as leads for the possible therapeutic potential of withanolides, the bioactive ingredients of WS extracts, as anti-cancer drugs.

Keywords: withania somnifera, withaferin A, withanolides D, PKCα

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Kiza Rusati Pacifique, Ki-il Song

Abstract:

The cement milk grout has been used for ground improvement. Due to the environmental issues related to cement, the reduction of cement usage is requesting. In this study, inorganic binder is introduced to reduce the use of cement contents for ground improvement. To evaluate transient electrical and mechanical properties of sand-cement-inorganic binder mixture, two non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, Electrical Resistivity (ER) and Free Free Resonant Column (FFRC) tests were adopted in addition to unconfined compressive strength test. Electrical resistivity, longitudinal wave velocity and damping ratio of sand-cement admixture samples improved with addition of inorganic binders were measured. Experimental tests were performed considering four different mixing ratios and three different cement contents depending on the curing time. Results show that mixing ratio and curing time have considerable effects on electrical and mechanical properties of mixture. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) decreases as the cement content decreases. However, sufficient grout strength can be obtained with increase of content of inorganic binder. From the results, it is found that the inorganic binder can be used to enhance the mechanical properties of mixture and reduce the cement content. It is expected that data and trends proposed in this study can be used as reference in predicting grouting quality in the field.

Keywords: damping ratio, electrical resistivity, ground improvement, inorganic binder, longitudinal wave velocity, unconfined compression strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 346