Search results for: rare and endangered tree species

Authors: Bello Ali

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The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in tertiary institutions by lecturers and students has become a necessity for the enhancement of quality teaching and learning. This study examined availability, accessibility and utilization of ICT in Teaching-Learning Islamic Studies in Colleges of Education, North-East, Nigeria. The study adopted multi-stage sampling technique, in which, five out of the eleven Colleges of Education (both Federal and State owned) were purposively selected for the study. Primary data was drawn from the respondents by the use of questionnaire, interviews and observations. The results of the study, generally, indicate that the availability and accessibility to ICT facilities in Colleges of Education in North-East, Nigeria, especially in teaching/learning delivery of Islamic studies were relatively inadequate and rare to lecturers and students. The study further reveals that the respondents’ level of utilization of ICT is low and only few computer packages and internet services were involved in the ICT utilization, which is yet to reach the real expected situation of the globalization and advancement in the application of ICT if compared to other parts of the world, as far as the teaching and learning of Islamic studies is concerned. Observations and conclusion were drawn from the findings and finally, recommendations on how to improve on ICT availability, accessibility and utilization in teaching/ learning were suggested.

Keywords: accessibility, availability, college of education, ICT, Islamic studies, learning, North-East, teaching, utilization

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Authors: Caroline Provost, Francois Dumont

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Production of insects for human and animal consumption is an increasingly important activity in Canada. Protein production is more efficient and less harmful to the environment using insect rearing compared to the impact of traditional livestock, poultry and fish farms. Insects are rich in essential amino acids, essential fatty acids and trace elements. Thus, insect-based products could be used as a food supplement for livestock and domestic animals and may even find their way into the diets of high performing athletes or fine dining. Nevertheless, several parameters remain to be determined to ensure efficient and profitable production that meet the potential of these sectors. This project proposes to improve the production processes, rearing diets and processing methods for three species with valuable gastronomic and nutritional potential: the common mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), the small mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus), and the giant mealworm (Zophobas morio). The general objective of the project is to acquire specific knowledge for mass rearing of insects dedicated to animal and human consumption in order to respond to current market opportunities and meet a growing demand for these products. Mass rearing of the three species of mealworm was produced to provide the individuals needed for the experiments. Mealworms eat flour from different cereals (e.g. wheat, barley, buckwheat). These cereals vary in their composition (protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, antioxidant, etc.), but also in their purchase cost. Seven different diets were compared to optimize the yield of the rearing. Diets were composed of cereal flour (e.g. wheat, barley) and were either mixed or left alone. Female fecundity, larvae mortality and growing curves were observed. Some flour diets have positive effects on female fecundity and larvae performance while each mealworm was found to have specific diet requirements. Trade-offs between mealworm performance and costs need to be considered. Experiments on the effect of flour composition on several parameters related to performance and nutritional and gastronomic value led to the identification of a more appropriate diet for each mealworm.

Keywords: mass rearing, mealworm, human consumption, diet

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Saeed Abbas, Rahilla Tabassum, Haider Abbas, Babar Khan, Shahid Hussain, Muhammad Zafar Khan, Fazal Karim, Yawar Abbas, Rizwan Karim

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Human–carnivore conflict is considered to be a major conservation and rural livelihood concern because many carnivore species have been heavily victimized due to elevated conflict levels with communities. Like other snow leopard range countries, this situation prevails in Pakistan, where WWF is currently working under Asia High Mountain Project (AHMP) in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan. To mitigate such conflicts requires a firm understanding of grazing and predation pattern including human-carnivore interaction. For this purpose we conducted a survey in Hoper valley (one of the AHMP project sites in Pakistan), during August, 2013 through a questionnaire based survey and unstructured interviews covering 647 households, permanently residing in the project area out of the total 900 households. The valley, spread over 409 km2 between 36°7'46" N and 74°49'2"E, at 2900m asl in Karakoram ranges is considered to be one of an important habitat of snow leopard and associated prey species such as Himalayan ibex. The valley is home of 8100 Brusho people (ancient tribe of Northern Pakistan) dependent on agro-pastoral livelihoods including farming and livestock rearing. The total number of livestock reported were (N=15,481) out of which 8346 (53.91%) were sheep, 3546 (22.91%) goats, 2193 (14.16%) cows, 903 (5.83%) yaks, 508 (3.28%) bulls, 28 (0.18%) donkeys, 27 (0.17%) zo/zomo (cross breed of yak and cow), and 4 (0.03%) horses. 83 percent respondent (n=542 households) confirmed loss of their livestock during the last one year July, 2012 to June, 2013 which account for 2246 (14.51%) animals. The major reason of livestock loss include predation by large carnivores such as snow leopards and wolf (1710, 76.14%) followed by diseases (536, 23.86%). Of the total predation cases snow leopard is suspected to kill 1478 animals (86.43%). Among livestock sheep were found to be the major prey of snow leopard (810, 55%) followed by goats (484, 32.7%) cows (151, 10.21%), yaks (15, 1.015%), zo/zomo (7, 0.5%) and donkey (1, 0.07%). The reason for the mass depredation of sheep and goats is that they tend to browse on twigs of bushes and graze on soft grass near cliffs. They are also considered to be very active as compared to other species in moving quickly and covering more grazing area. This makes them more vulnerable to snow leopard attack. The majority (1283, 75%) of livestock killed by predators occurred during the warm season (May-September) in alpine and sub-alpine pastures and remaining (427, 25%) occurred in the winter season near settlements in valley. It was evident from the recent study that Snow leopard kills outside the pen were (1351, 79.76%) as compared to inside pen (359, 20.24%). Assessing the economic loss of livestock predation we found that the total loss of livestock predation in the study area is equal to PKR 11,230,000 (USD 105,797), which is about PRK 17, 357 (USD 163.51) per household per year. Economic loss incurred by the locals due to predation is quite significant where the average cash income per household per year is PKR 85,000 (USD 800.75).

Keywords: carnivores, conflict, predation, livelihood, conservation, rural, snow leopard, livestock

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Authors: Wong Siew Ngan, Lee Chie Tsang, Lee See Ling, Lim Ho Yi

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The selection of Tonewood is critical in defining tonal and acoustic qualities of string instruments, yet limited research exists on indigenous instruments utilizing tropical woods. This gap is addressed by analyzing the "multi-sonic timbre" of the Biula (Bajau Sama Dilaut), crafted by rainforest indigenous communities using locally accessible tropical species such as jackfruit and coconut, whose distinctive grain patterns, density, and moisture content, significantly contribute to the instrument’s rich harmonic spectrum and dynamic range. Unlike Western violins that utilize temperate woods like Maple and Spruce, the Biula's sound is shaped by the unique acoustic properties of these tropical tonewoods. To further investigate the impact of tropical tonewoods on the biula’s acoustics, frequency response tests were conducted on instruments constructed from various local species using SPEAR (Sinusoidal Partial Editing Analysis and Resynthesis) software for spectral analysis, measurements were taken of resonance frequencies, harmonic content, and sound decay rates. These analyses reveal that jackfruit wood produces warmer tones with enhanced lower frequencies, while coconut wood contributes to brighter timbres with pronounced higher harmonics. Building upon these findings, the materials and construction methods of biula bows were also examined. The study found that the variations in tropical hardwoods and locally sourced bow hair significantly influence the instrument's responsiveness and articulation, shaping its distinctive 'multi-sonic timbre.' These findings deepen the understanding of indigenous instrument acoustics, offering valuable insights for modern luthiers interested in tropical tonewoods. By documenting traditional crafting techniques, this research supports the preservation of cultural heritage and promotes appreciation of indigenous craftsmanship.

Keywords: multi-sonic timbre, biula (bajau sama dilaut bowed lute), tropical tonewoods, spectral analysis, indigenous instrument acoustics

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Authors: Karam Ignaim, Joao M. Fernandes, Andre L. Ferreira

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Mapping the artifacts coming from a set of similar products family developed in an ad-hoc manner to make up the resulting software product line (SPL) plays a key role to maintain the consistency between requirements and code. This paper presents a feature mapping approach that focuses on tracing the artifact coming from the migration process, the current feature model (FM), to the other artifacts of the resulting SPL, the reference architecture, and code. Thus, our approach relates each feature of the current FM to its locations in the implementation code, using the reference architecture as an intermediate artifact (as a centric point) to preserve consistency among them during an SPL evolution. The approach uses a particular artifact (i.e., traceability tree) as a solution for managing the mapping process. Tool support is provided using friendlyMapper. We have evaluated the feature mapping approach and tool support by putting the approach into practice (i.e., conducting a case study) of the automotive domain for Classical Sensor Variants Family at Bosch Car Multimedia S.A. The evaluation reveals that the mapping approach presented by this paper fits the automotive domain.

Keywords: feature location, feature models, mapping, software product lines, traceability

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Ali M. Elgerbi, Obied A. Alwan, Al-Taher O. Alzwei, Abdurrahim A. Elouzi

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The binding of AFM1 to bacteria in phosphate buffer solution depended on many factors such as: availability of energy, incubation period, species and strain of bacteria. Increase in concentration of sugar showed higher removal of AFM1 and faster than in phosphate buffer alone. With 1.0% glucose lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria showed toxin removal ranging from 7.7 to 39.7% whereas with 10.0% glucose the percentage removal was 21.8 to 45.4% at 96 hours of incubation.

Keywords: aflatoxin M1, lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria , binding, phosphate buffer

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Authors: Sina Mahdavi

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Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that affects the myelination process in the CNS. Complex interactions of various "environmental or infectious" factors may act as triggers in autoimmunity and disease progression. The association between viral infections, especially the John Cunningham virus (JCV) and MS is one potential cause that is not well understood. This study aims to summarize the available data on JCV infection in MS disease progression. Materials and Methods: For this study, the keywords "Multiple sclerosis", " John Cunningham virus ", and "central nervous system" in the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Sid, and MagIran between 2019 and 2022 were searched, and 12 articles were chosen, studied, and analyzed. Results: MS patients are candidates for natalizumab therapy, which inhibits lymphocyte migration and increases the risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare lytic infection of glial cells caused by JCV. Oligodendrocytes may be the target of JCV infection in the central nervous system (CNS). Conclusion: There is a high expression of JCV during the natalizumab treatment period for MS patients, suggesting that the virus may play a role in the development of MS by inducing an inflammatory state. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate anti-JCV antibody serum as an important risk factor for the development of PML before deciding on the treatment course for these patients.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, John Cunningham virus, central nervous system, autoimmunity

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Authors: S. Y. Ozkan, S. Taftaf

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This study aims to investigate the possible effects of guerrilla advertising on consumers' attitudes as well as purchase intentions in comparison with traditional advertising. Participants who were over 18 years of age were recruited and completed an online questionnaire. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the four well-known brand conditions. The study had a within-subjects design where each participant evaluated two advertisements, one guerrilla advertisement, and one traditional advertisement od one respective brand. Participants rated both traditional advertisement and guerrilla advertisement on ad attitude, ad likability, and purchase intention scales. Ad attitude was measured by using both positive and negative adjectives. The hypotheses were tested by paired samples t-test analysis. The results indicated that perceivers were able to differentiate advertisements that include guerrilla techniques and advertisements that include traditional methods from one another. Regardless of the brand manipulation, guerrilla advertisements lead significantly higher positive ad attitude, negative ad attitude, ad likability, and purchase intention compared to traditional advertisements. Therefore, the results showed that while using guerrilla advertising, companies should be aware of any ethical concerns that may emerge in consumers' minds. Present study is one of the rare studies that measures the perceptions of guerrilla and traditional advertisements in an empirical manner in Turkish context, showing that guerrilla advertisements may stimulate negative ad attitudes together with positive ad attitudes, increasing ad likability and purchase intention.

Keywords: ad attitude, guerrilla advertisement, purchase intention, traditional advertisement

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Ahmed Bahieldin, Ahmed Atef, Jamal S. M. Sabir, Nour O. Gadalla, Sherif Edris, Ahmed M. Alzohairy, Nezar A. Radhwan, Mohammed N. Baeshen, Ahmed M. Ramadan, Hala F. Eissa, Sabah M. Hassan, Nabih A. Baeshen, Osama Abuzinadah, Magdy A. Al-Kordy, Fotouh M. El-Domyati, Robert K. Jansen

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Wild salt-tolerant barley (Hordeum spontaneum) is the ancestor of cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare or H. vulgare). Although the cultivated barley genome is well studied, little is known about genome structure and function of its wild ancestor. In the present study, RNA-Seq analysis was performed on young leaves of wild barley treated with salt (500 mM NaCl) at four different time intervals. Transcriptome sequencing yielded 103 to 115 million reads for all replicates of each treatment, corresponding to over 10 billion nucleotides per sample. Of the total reads, between 74.8 and 80.3% could be mapped and 77.4 to 81.7% of the transcripts were found in the H. vulgare unigene database (unigene-mapped). The unmapped wild barley reads for all treatments and replicates were assembled de novo and the resulting contigs were used as a new reference genome. This resultedin94.3 to 95.3%oftheunmapped reads mapping to the new reference. The number of differentially expressed transcripts was 9277, 3861 of which were uni gene-mapped. The annotated unigene- and de novo-mapped transcripts (5100) were utilized to generate expression clusters across time of salt stress treatment. Two-dimensional hierarchical clustering classified differential expression profiles into nine expression clusters, four of which were selected for further analysis. Differentially expressed transcripts were assigned to the main functional categories. The most important groups were ‘response to external stimulus’ and ‘electron-carrier activity’. Highly expressed transcripts are involved in several biological processes, including electron transport and exchanger mechanisms, flavonoid biosynthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, ethylene production, signaling network and protein refolding. The comparisons demonstrated that mRNA-Seq is an efficient method for the analysis of differentially expressed genes and biological processes under salt stress.

Keywords: electron transport, flavonoid biosynthesis, reactive oxygen species, rnaseq

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Authors: Berrak Yildiz, Hinal Shah, Justine Fernandez, Nazje James, Anna Brown

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Cervical ectopic pregnancy, a rare type of ectopic pregnancies, is defined by blastocyst implantation within the cervical canal rather than the endometrium. Its rarity and potential for severe hemorrhage make cervical ectopic pregnancy a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. A 39-year-old woman, G5P2022, with a history of two cesarean sections and two elective terminations, presented to the emergency department with vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain. Initial assessment showed a beta-hCG level of 2,853 mIU/mL, and transvaginal ultrasound revealed a small, irregular gestational sac at the level of the internal cervical os. Serial betahCG measurements over subsequent visits showed a declining trend, consistent with a nonviable pregnancy. The patient was ultimately treated with methotrexate at a dose of 50 mg/m² (total 100 mg), following which she reported no further symptoms. On follow-up, her beta-hCG level returned to the normal non-pregnant range, with no additional intervention needed. This case highlights the importance of early diagnosis in cervical ectopic pregnancy to avoid complications like hysterectomy. Methotrexate is an effective first-line treatment in hemodynamically stable patients, offering a conservative approach that can preserve fertility. The success in this patient underscores the role of prompt diagnosis and careful management in achieving resolution while minimizing invasive procedures.

Keywords: beta-hCG, cervical, ectopic, methotrexate

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Authors: Bedilu Tafesse

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Home gardens are important social and cultural spaces where knowledge related to agricultural practice is transmitted and through which households may improve their income and livelihood. High levels of inter- and intra-specific plant genetic diversity are preserved in home gardens. Plant diversity is threatened by rapid and unplanned urbanization, which increases environmental problems such as heating, pollution, loss of habitats and ecosystem disruption. Tropical home gardens have played a significant role in conserving plant diversity while providing substantial benefits to households. This research aimed to understand the relationship between household characteristics and plant diversity in western Ethiopia home gardens and the contributions of plants to the household economy. Plant diversity and different uses of plants were studied in a random sample of 111 suburban home gardens in the Ilu Ababora, Jima and Wellega suburban area, western Ethiopia, based on complete garden inventories followed by household surveys on socio-economic status during 2012. A total of 261 species of plants were observed, of which 41% were ornamental plants, 36% food plants, and 22% medicinal plants. Of these 16% were sold commercially to produce income. Avocado, bananas, and other fruits produced in excess. Home gardens contributed the equivalent of 7% of total annual household income in terms of food and commercial sales. Multiple regression analysis showed that education, time spent in gardening, land for cultivation, household expenses, primary conservation practices, and uses of special techniques explained 56% of the total plant diversity. Food, medicinal and commercial plant species had significant positive relationships with time spent gardening and land area for gardening. Education and conservation practices significantly affected food and medicinal plant diversity. Special techniques used in gardening showed significant positive relations with ornamental and commercial plants. Reassessments in different suburban and urban home gardens and proper documentation using same methodology is essential to build a firm policy for enhancing plant diversity and related values to households and surroundings.

Keywords: plant genetic diversity, urbanization, suburban home gardens, Ethiopia

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Authors: Kennedy Efosa Ehimwenma, Sujatha Krishnamoorthy, Safiya Al‑Sharji

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The probability computation of events is in the interval of [0, 1], which are values that are determined by the number of outcomes of events in a sample space S. The probability Pr(A) that an event A will never occur is 0. The probability Pr(B) that event B will certainly occur is 1. This makes both events A and B a certainty. Furthermore, the sum of probabilities Pr(E₁) + Pr(E₂) + … + Pr(Eₙ) of a finite set of events in a given sample space S equals 1. Conversely, the difference of the sum of two probabilities that will certainly occur is 0. This paper first discusses Bayes, the complement of probability, and the difference of probability for occurrences of learning-events before applying them in the prediction of learning objects in student learning. Given the sum of 1; to make a recommendation for student learning, this paper proposes that the difference of argMaxPr(S) and the probability of student-performance quantifies the weight of learning objects for students. Using a dataset of skill-set, the computational procedure demonstrates i) the probability of skill-set events that have occurred that would lead to higher-level learning; ii) the probability of the events that have not occurred that requires subject-matter relearning; iii) accuracy of the decision tree in the prediction of student performance into class labels and iv) information entropy about skill-set data and its implication on student cognitive performance and recommendation of learning.

Keywords: complement of probability, Bayes’ rule, prediction, pre-assessments, computational education, information theory

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Authors: Margareta Rahayuningsih, Nur Rahayu Utami, Tsabit A. M., Muh. Abdullah

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Mount Ungaran is one area that has remaining natural forest in Central Java, Indonesia. Mount Ungaran consists of several habitats that supporting appropriate areas for flora, fauna, and microorganisms biodiversity, particularly of it is protected by government law and IUCN red list data. Therefore, Mount Ungaran also settled up as AZE (Alliance for Zero Extinction) and IBA (Important Bird Area). The land use for agriculture and plantation reduces forest covered areas. It is serious threat to the existence of biodiversity in Moun Ungaran. This research has been identified community local wisdom that possible to be integrated as ethno-biological research and biodiversity conservation. The result showed at least four local wisdom that possible to be integrated to ethno-biological and biodiversity conservation were Wit Weh Woh (a ceremony of life-giving tree), Grebeg Alas Susuk Wangan (a ceremony for forest protection), Iriban (a ceremony of clean water resource protection), and tingkep tandur (a ceremony for ready-harvested plant protection). It is needed ethno-biological researches of local wisdom-contained values, which essential to be developed as a strategy for biodiversity conservation in Mount Ungaran.

Keywords: Mount Ungaran, local wisdom, biodiversity, fragmentation

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Authors: Omar Sorour, Michael Leahy, Thomas Irvine, Vladimir Koren

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Introduction: Covid encephalitis is a rare yet dangerous complication, particularly affecting the older and immunocompromised. Symptoms range from confusion to delirium, coma, and seizures. Although neurological manifestations have become more well-characterized in COVID patients, little is known about whether priorneurological abnormalities may predispose patients to COVID encephalopathy. Case Description: A 73 y.o. male with a CT and MRI-confirmed stable, prior 9 mm cavernoma in the right frontal lobe and no past history of seizures was hospitalized with generalized weakness, abdominal pain, nausea, and shortness of breath with subsequent COVID pneumonia. Three days after the initial presentation, the patient developed a spontaneous generalized tonic-clonic seizure consistent with presumed COVID encephalitis, along with somnolence and confusion. A day later, the patient had two other seizure episodes. Follow-up EEG suggested an inter-ictal epileptic focus with sharp waves corresponding to roughly the same location as the patient’s pre-existing cavernoma. The patient’s seizures stopped shortly thereafter, while his encephalopathy continued for days. Conclusion: We illustrate that a pre-existing anatomic cortical abnormality may act as a potential nidus for new-onset seizure activity in the context of suggested COVID encephalopathy. Future studies may further demonstrate that manifestations of COVIDencephalopathy in certain patients may be more predictable than initially assumed.

Keywords: cavernoma, covid, encephalopathy, seizures

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Desireina Delancy, Tannice Hall, Eric Garraway, Dwight Robinson

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Aphis gossypii, as a pest, directly damages its host plant by extracting phloem sap (sucking) and indirectly damages it by the transmission of viruses, ultimately affecting the yield of the host. Due to its polyphagous nature, this species affects a wide range of host plants, some of which may serve as a reservoir for colonisation of important crops. In Jamaica, there have been outbreaks of viral plant pathogens that were transmitted by Aphis gossypii. Three such examples are Citrus tristeza virus, the Watermelon mosaic virus, and Papaya ringspot virus. Aphis gossypii also heavily colonized economically significant host plants, including pepper, eggplant, watermelon, cucumber, and hibiscus. To facilitate integrated pest management, it is imperative to understand the biology of the aphid and its host preference. Preliminary work in Jamaica has indicated differences in biology and host preference, as well as host variety within the species. However, specific details of fecundity, colony growth, host preference, distribution, and insecticide resistance of Aphis gossypii were unknown to the best of our knowledge. The aim was to investigate the following in relation to Aphis gossypii: influence of the host plant on colonization, life span, fecundity, population size, and morphology; the impact of host transfer on fecundity and population size as a measure of host preference and host transfer success and susceptibility to four commonly used insecticides. Fecundity and colony size were documented daily from aphids acclimatized on Capsicum chinense Jacquin 1776, Cucumis sativus Linnaeus 1630, Gossypium hirsutum Linnaeus 1751 and Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench 1794 for three generations. The same measures were used after third instar aphids were transferred among the hosts as a measure of suitability and success. Mortality, and fecundity of survivors, were determined after aphids were exposed to varying concentrations of Actara®, Diazinon™, Karate Zeon®, and Pegasus®. Host preference results indicated that, over a 24-day period, Aphis gossypii reached its largest colony size on G. hirsutum (x̄ 381.80), with January – February being the most fecund period. Host transfer experiments were all significantly different, with the most significant occurring between transfers from C. chinense to C. sativus (p < 0.05). Colony sizes were found to increase significantly every 5 days, which has implications for regimes implemented to monitor and evaluate plots. Insecticides ranked on lethality are Karate Zeon®> Actara®> Pegasus® > Diazinon™. The highest LC50 values were obtained for aphids on G. hirsutum and C. chinense was with Pegasus® and for those on C. sativus with Diazinon™. Survivors of insecticide treatments had colony sizes on average that were 98 % less than untreated aphids. Cotton was preferred both in the field and in the glasshouse. It is on cotton the aphids settled first, had the highest fecundity, and the lowest mortality. Cotton can serve as reservoir for (re)populating other cotton or different host species based on migration due to overcrowding, heavy showers, high wind, or ant attendance. Host transfer success between all three hosts is highly probable within an intercropping system. Survivors of insecticide treatments can successfully repopulate host plants.

Keywords: Aphis gossypii, host-plant preference, colonization sequence, host transfers, insecticide susceptibility

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Authors: Fatima Ghebghoub

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The solvent extraction of cobalt (II) from sulfate medium using di(2-ethylhexy1) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA, HL) at 25°C has been investigated. The influence of the following parameters was studied: the equilibrium pH, the concentration of the extractant and the nature of diluent. The effect of the diluent using polar and non-polar solvents in the extraction of nickel(II) is discussed. The extracted nickel (II species were found to be CoL2 in 1-octanol and methyl isobutyl ketone and CoL2.2HL in toluene, dichloromethane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and cyclohexane. The extraction constants are evaluated for the different diluents.

Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction, cobalt(II), di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid, diluent effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 544

Authors: S. Mamoucha, N.Tsafantakis, T. Ioannidis, S. Chatzipanagiotou, C. Nikolaou, L. Skaltsounis, N. Fokialakis, N. Christodoulakis

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Introduction: Pistacia lentiscus L. (well known as Mastic tree) is an evergreen sclerophyllous shrub that extensively thrives in the eastern Mediterranean area yet only the trees cultivated in the southern region of the Greek island Chios produces mastic resin. Different parts of P. lentiscus L. var. chia have been used in folk medicine for various purposes, such as tonic, aphrodisiac, antiseptic, antihypertensive and management of dental, gastrointestinal, liver, urinary, and respiratory tract disorders. Several studies have focused on the antibacterial activity of its resin (gum) and its essential oil. However, there is no study combining anatomy of the plant organs, phytochemical profile, and antibacterial screening of the plant. In our attempt to discover novel bioactive metabolites from the mastic tree, we screened its antibacterial activity not only against ATCC strains but also against clinical, resistant strains. Materials-methods: Leaves were investigated using Transmission (ΤΕΜ) and Scanning Εlectron Microscopy (SEM). Histochemical tests were performed on fresh and fixed tissue. Extracts prepared from dried, powdered leaves using 3 different solvents (DCM, MeOH and H2O) the waste water obtained after a hydrodistillation process for essential oil production were screened for their phytochemical content and antibacterial activity. Μetabolite profiling of polar and non-polar extracts was recorded by GC-MS and LC-HRMS techniques and analyzed using in-house and commercial libraries. The antibacterial screening was performed against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853 and against clinical, resistant strains Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), Carbapenem-Resistant Metallo-β-Lactamase (carbapenemase) P. aeruginosa (VIM), Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) and Acinetobacter baumanii resistant strains. The antibacterial activity was tested by the Kirby Bauer and the Agar Well Diffusion method. The zone of inhibition (ZI) of each extract was measured and compared with those of common antibiotics. Results: Leaf is compact with inosclereids and numerous idioblasts containing a globular, spiny crystal. The major nerves of the leaf contain a resin duct. Mesophyll cells showed accumulation of osmiophillic metabolites. Histochemical treatments defined secondary metabolites in subcellular localization. The phytochemical investigation revealed the presence of a large number of secondary metabolites, belonging to different chemical groups, such as terpenoids, phenolic compounds (mainly myricetin, kaempferol and quercetin glycosides), phenolic, and fatty acids. Among the extracts, the hydrostillation wastewater achieved the best results against most of the bacteria tested. MRSA, VIM and A. baumanii were inhibited. Conclusion: Extracts from plants have recently been of great interest with respect to their antimicrobial activity. Their use emerged from a growing tendency to replace synthetic antimicrobial agents with natural ones. Leaves of P. lentiscus L. var. chia showed a high antimicrobial activity even against drug - resistant bacteria. Future prospects concern the better understanding of mode of action of the antibacterial activity, the isolation of the most bioactive constituents and the clarification if the activity is related to a single compound or to the synergistic effect of several ones.

Keywords: antibacterial screening, leaf anatomy, phytochemical profile, Pistacia lentiscus var. chia

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Authors: Henry R. Troy

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Corpora are becoming more prevalent in the language classroom, especially in the development of dictionaries and course materials. Nevertheless, corpora are still perceived by many educators as difficult to use directly in the classroom, a process which is also known as “data-driven learning” (DDL). Action research has been identified as a method by which DDL’s efficiency can be increased, but it is also an approach few studies on DDL have employed. Studies into the effectiveness of DDL in language education in Japan are also rare, and investigations focused more on student and teacher reactions rather than pre and post-test scores are rarer still. This study investigates the student and teacher reactions to the use of SkELL, a free online corpus designed to be user-friendly, for vocabulary learning at a university in Japan. Action research is utilized to refine the teaching methodology, with changes to the method based on student and teacher feedback received via surveys submitted after each of the four implementations of DDL. After some training, the students used tablets to study the target vocabulary autonomously in pairs and groups, with the teacher acting as facilitator. The results show that the students enjoyed using SkELL and felt it was effective for vocabulary learning, while the teaching methodology grew in efficiency throughout the course. These findings suggest that action research can be a successful method for increasing the efficacy of DDL in the language classroom, especially with teachers and students who are new to the practice.

Keywords: action research, corpus linguistics, data-driven learning, vocabulary learning

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Authors: Ashneel Ajay Singh, Naoki Suzuki, Kazumi Sakuramoto,

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The North Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) is a temperate tuna species distributed in the North Pacific which is of significant economic importance to the Pacific Island Nations and Territories. Despite its importance, the stock dynamics and ecological characteristics of albacore still, have gaps in knowledge. The stock-recruitment relationship of the North Pacific stock of albacore tuna was investigated for different density-dependent effects and a regime shift in the stock characteristics in response to changes in environmental and climatic conditions. Linear regression analysis for recruit per spawning biomass (RPS) and recruitment (R) against the female spawning stock biomass (SSB) were significant for the presence of different density-dependent effects and positive for a regime shift in the stock time series. Application of Deming regression to RPS against SSB with the assumption for the presence of observation and process errors in both the dependent and independent variables confirmed the results of simple regression. However, R against SSB results disagreed given variance level of < 3 and agreed with linear regression results given the assumption of variance ≥ 3. Assuming the presence of different density-dependent effects in the albacore tuna time series, environmental and climatic condition variables were compared with R, RPS, and SSB. The significant relationship of R, RPS and SSB were determined with the sea surface temperature (SST), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with SST being the principal variable exhibiting significantly similar trend with R and RPS. Recruitment is significantly influenced by the dynamics of the SSB as well as environmental conditions which demonstrates that the stock-recruitment relationship is multidimensional. Further investigation of the North Pacific albacore tuna age-class and structure is necessary for further support the results presented here. It is important for fishery managers and decision makers to be vigilant of regime shifts in environmental conditions relating to albacore tuna as it may possibly cause regime shifts in the albacore R and RPS which should be taken into account to effectively and sustainability formulate harvesting plans and management of the species in the North Pacific oceanic region.

Keywords: Albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga, recruitment, spawning stock biomass, recruits per spawning biomass, sea surface temperature, pacific decadal oscillation, El Niño southern oscillation, density-dependent effects, regime shift

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Authors: Jai Hyung Park, Eugene Kim, Jin Hun Park, Min Joon Oh

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Introduction: Subchondral insufficiency fracture of the femoral head (SIF) is a rare complication; however, it has been recognized to cause femoral head collapse. Subchondral insufficiency fracture (SIF) is caused by normal or physiological stress without any trauma. It has been reported in osteoporotic patients after the fixation of the proximal femur with an Intramedullary nail. Case presentation: We reported 5 cases with SIF of the femoral head after proximal femur fracture fixation with Intra-medullary nail. All patients had osteoporosis as an underlying disease. Good reduction was achieved in all 5 patients. SIF was found from about 3 months to 4 years after the initial operation, and all the fractures were solidly united at the final diagnosis. We investigated retrospectively the feature of those cases and several factors that affected the occurrence of SIF. Discussion: There are a few discussions regarding the SIF of the femoral head. These discussions may include the predisposing risk factors, how to diagnose the SIF in osteoporotic patients, and the peri-operative factors to prevent SIF. Conclusion: Subchondral insufficiency fracture of the femoral head is a considerable complication after the internal fixation of the proximal femur. There are several factors that can be modified. If they could be controlled in the peri-operative period, SIF could be prevented or handled in advance. Other options related to arthroplasty can be considered in old osteoporotic patients.

Keywords: insufficiency fracture of femoral head, intra-medullary nail, osteoporosis, proximal femur fracture

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Authors: Ibrahim Siddig Hamid, Ikram Mohamed Eltayeb

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Trachyspermum ammi belongs to the family Apiaceae, is used traditionally for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments, lack of appetite and bronchial problems as well used as antiseptic, antimicrobial, antipyretic, febrifugal and in the treatment of typhoid fever. Peganum harmala belongs to the family Zygophyllaceae it has been reported to have an antibacterial activity and used to treat depression and recurring fevers. It also used to kill algae, bacteria, intestinal parasites and molds. In Sudan, the combination of two plants are traditionally used for the treatment of bacillary dysentery. Bacillary dysentery is caused by one or more types of Shigella species bacteria mainly Shigella dysenteri and shigella flexneri. Bacillary dysentery is mainly found in hot countries like Sudan with poor hygiene and sanitation. Bacillary dysentery causes sudden onset of high fever and chills, abdominal pain, cramps and bloating, urgency to pass stool, weight loss, and dehydration and if left untreated it can lead to serious complications including delirium, convulsions and coma. A serious infection like this can be fatal within 24 hours. The objective of this study is to investigate the in vitro susceptibility of Sh. flexneri and Sh. dysenteriae to the T. ammi and P. harmala. T. ammi and P. harmala were extracted by 96% ethanol using Soxhlet apparatus. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was investigated according to the disc diffusion method. The discs were prepared by soaking sterilized filter paper discs in 20 microliter of serially diluted solutions of each plant extract with the concentrations (100, 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25mg/dl) then placing them on Muller Hinton Agar plates that were inoculated with bacterial suspension separately, the plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37c and the minimum inhibitory concentration of the extract which was the least concentration of the extract to inhibit fungal growth was determined. The results showed the high antimicrobial activity of T. ammi extract with an average diameter zone ranging from 18-20 mm and its minimum inhibitory concentration was found to be 25 mg/ml against the two shigella species. P. harmala extract was found to have slight antibacterial effect against the two bacteria. This result justified the Sudanese traditional use of Trachyspermum ammi plant for the treatment of bacillary dysentery.

Keywords: harmala, peganum, shigella, trachyspermum

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Authors: Linyue Jia, Wenbo Du, Zhaohui Wang, Ke Liu, Shubo Li

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Due to the great potential for weight reduction in aerospace and automotive industries, magnesium-rare earth (Mg-RE) based alloys with outstanding mechanical performance have been widely investigated for decades. However, magnesium alloys are still restricted in engineering applications because of their lower strength and ductility. Hence, there are large spaces and challenges in achieving high-performance Mg alloys. This work reports an Mg-Gd-Er-Zn-Zr alloy with ultrahigh strength and good ductility developed via hot extrusion, pre-deformation, and two-stage aging. The extruded alloy comprises fine dynamically recrystallized (DRXed) grains and coarse worked grains with a large aspect ratio. Pre-deformation has little effect on the microstructure and macro-texture and serves primarily to introduce a large number of dislocations, resulting in strain hardening and higher precipitation strengthening during subsequent aging due to more nucleation sites. As a result, the alloy exhibits a yield strength (YS) of 506 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 549 MPa, and elongation (EL) of 8.2% at room temperature, showing superior strength-ductility balance than the other wrought Mg-RE alloys previously reported. The current study proposes a combination of pre-deformation and two-stage aging to further improve the mechanical properties of wrought Mg alloys for engineering applications.

Keywords: magnesium alloys, mechanical properties, microstructure, pre-deformation, two-stage aging

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Authors: Giorgio Bertolazzi, Panayiotis Benos, Michele Tumminello, Claudia Coronnello

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MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression levels of messenger RNAs. MicroRNA regulation activity depends on the recognition of binding sites located on mRNA molecules. ComiR (Combinatorial miRNA targeting) is a user friendly web tool realized to predict the targets of a set of microRNAs, starting from their expression profile. ComiR incorporates miRNA expression in a thermodynamic binding model, and it associates each gene with the probability of being a target of a set of miRNAs. ComiR algorithms were trained with the information regarding binding sites in the 3’UTR region, by using a reliable dataset containing the targets of endogenously expressed microRNA in D. melanogaster S2 cells. This dataset was obtained by comparing the results from two different experimental approaches, i.e., inhibition, and immunoprecipitation of the AGO1 protein; this protein is a component of the microRNA induced silencing complex. In this work, we tested whether including coding region binding sites in the ComiR algorithm improves the performance of the tool in predicting microRNA targets. We focused the analysis on the D. melanogaster species and updated the ComiR underlying database with the currently available releases of mRNA and microRNA sequences. As a result, we find that the ComiR algorithm trained with the information related to the coding regions is more efficient in predicting the microRNA targets, with respect to the algorithm trained with 3’utr information. On the other hand, we show that 3’utr based predictions can be seen as complementary to the coding region based predictions, which suggests that both predictions, from 3'UTR and coding regions, should be considered in a comprehensive analysis. Furthermore, we observed that the lists of targets obtained by analyzing data from one experimental approach only, that is, inhibition or immunoprecipitation of AGO1, are not reliable enough to test the performance of our microRNA target prediction algorithm. Further analysis will be conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the tool with data from other species, provided that validated datasets, as obtained from the comparison of RISC proteins inhibition and immunoprecipitation experiments, will be available for the same samples. Finally, we propose to upgrade the existing ComiR web-tool by including the coding region based trained model, available together with the 3’UTR based one.

Keywords: AGO1, coding region, Drosophila melanogaster, microRNA target prediction

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Authors: A. Porshnev, A. Zaporozhtchuk

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Motivation regarded as a key factor of labor turnover, is especially important for volunteers working on an altruistic basis in NGO. Despite the motivational letter, candidate selection depends on the impression of the selection committee, which can be subject to human bias. We expect that structured and unstructured information provided in motivation letters could be used to improve candidate selection procedures. In our paper, we perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2280 motivation letters, create logistic regression, and build a decision tree to improve selection procedures. Our analysis showed that motivation factors are significant and enable human resources department to forecast labor turnover and provide extra information to demographic, professional and timing questions. In spite of the average level of accuracy the model demonstrates the selection procedures of company of under consideration can be improved. We also discuss interrelation between answers to open and closed motivation questions, recommend changes in motivational letter templates to ensure more relevant information about applicants and further steps to create more accurate model.

Keywords: decision trees, logistic regression, model, motivational letter, non-governmental organization, retention, turnover

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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: Ahmed Auda, Manjree Agarwala, Giles Hardya, Yonglin Rena

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Botrytis cinerea is a major pest for many plants. It can attack a wide range of plant parts. It can attack buds, flowers, and leaves, stems, and fruit. However, B. cinerea can be mixed with other diseases that cause the same damage. There are many species of botrytis and more than one different strains of each. Botrytis might infect the foliage of nursery stock stored through winter in damp conditions. There are no known resistant plants. Botrytis must have nutrients or food source before it infests the plant. Nutrients leaking from wounded plant parts or dying tissue like old flower petals give the required nutrients. From this food, the fungus becomes more attackers and invades healthy tissue. Dark to light brown rot forms in the ill tissue. High humidity conditions support the growth of this fungus. However, we suppose that selection pressure can act on the morphological and neurophysiologic filter properties of the receiver and on both the biochemical and the physiological regulation of the signal. Communication is implied when signal and receiver evolves toward more and more specific matching, culminating. In other hand, receivers respond to portions of a body odor bouquet which is released to the environment not as an (intentional) signal but as an unavoidable consequence of metabolic activity or tissue damage. Each year Botrytis species can cause considerable economic losses to plant crops. Even with the application of strict quarantine and control measures, these fungi can still find their way into crops and cause the imposition of onerous restrictions on exports. Blueberry fruit mould caused by a fungal infection usually results in major losses during post-harvest storage. Therefore, the management of infection in early stages of disease development is necessary to minimize losses. The overall purpose of this study will develop sensitive, cheap, quick and robust diagnostic techniques for the detection of B. cinerea in blueberry. The specific aim was designed to investigate the performance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the detection and discrimination of blueberry fruits infected by fungal pathogens with an emphasis on Botrytis in the early storage stage of post-harvest.

Keywords: botrytis cinerea, blueberry, GC/MS, VOCs

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Authors: Kwabena Asare, Ezekiel N. N. Nortey, Felix O. Mettle

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Modelling of extreme events has always been of interest in fields such as hydrology and meteorology. However, after the recent global financial crises, appropriate models for modelling of such rare events leading to these crises have become quite essential in the finance and risk management fields. This paper models the extreme values of the Ghana Stock Exchange All-Shares indices (2000-2010) by applying the Extreme Value Theory to fit a model to the tails of the daily stock returns data. A conditional approach of the EVT was preferred and hence an ARMA-GARCH model was fitted to the data to correct for the effects of autocorrelation and conditional heteroscedastic terms present in the returns series, before EVT method was applied. The Peak Over Threshold (POT) approach of the EVT, which fits a Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) model to excesses above a certain selected threshold, was employed. Maximum likelihood estimates of the model parameters were obtained and the model’s goodness of fit was assessed graphically using Q-Q, P-P and density plots. The findings indicate that the GPD provides an adequate fit to the data of excesses. The size of the extreme daily Ghanaian stock market movements were then computed using the Value at Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) risk measures at some high quantiles, based on the fitted GPD model.

Keywords: extreme value theory, expected shortfall, generalized pareto distribution, peak over threshold, value at risk

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Authors: Siqi Qiu, Yijian Zheng, Xin Guo Ming

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In many reliability and risk analysis, failures of components are supposed to be independent. However, in reality, the ignorance of failure dependencies among components may render the results of reliability and risk analysis incorrect. There are two principal ways to incorporate failure dependencies in system reliability and risk analysis: implicit and explicit methods. In the implicit method, failure dependencies can be modeled by joint probabilities, correlation values or conditional probabilities. In the explicit method, certain types of dependencies can be modeled in a fault tree as mutually independent basic events for specific component failures. In this paper, explicit and implicit methods based on BDD will be proposed to evaluate the reliability of systems considering failure dependencies. The obtained results prove the equivalence of the proposed implicit and explicit methods. It is found that the consideration of failure dependencies decreases the reliability of systems. This observation is intuitive, because more components fail due to failure dependencies. The consideration of failure dependencies helps designers to reduce the dependencies between components during the design phase to make the system more reliable.

Keywords: reliability assessment, risk assessment, failure dependencies, binary decision diagram

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Authors: Thomas Arink, Isam Janajreh

Abstract:

The petroleum industry generates significant amounts of waste in the form of drill cuttings, contaminated soil and oily sludge. Drill cuttings are a product of the off-shore drilling rigs, containing wet soil and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Contaminated soil comes from different on-shore sites and also contains TPH. The oily sludge is mainly residue or tank bottom sludge from storage tanks. The two main treatment methods currently used are incineration and thermal desorption (TD). Thermal desorption is a method where the waste material is heated to 450ºC in an anaerobic environment to release volatiles, the condensed volatiles can be used as a liquid fuel. For the thermal desorption unit dry contaminated soil is mixed with moist drill cuttings to generate a suitable mixture. By thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) of the TD feedstock it was found that less than 50% of the TPH are released, the discharged material is stored in landfill. This study proposes co-gasification of petroleum waste with waste tires as an alternative to thermal desorption. Co-gasification with a high-calorific material is necessary since the petroleum waste consists of more than 60 wt% ash (soil/sand), causing its calorific value to be too low for gasification. Since the gasification process occurs at 900ºC and higher, close to 100% of the TPH can be released, according to the TGA. This work consists of three parts: 1. a mathematical gasification model, 2. a reactive flow CFD model and 3. experimental work on a drop tube reactor. Extensive material characterization was done by means of proximate analysis (TGA), ultimate analysis (CHNOS flash analysis) and calorific value measurements (Bomb calorimeter) for the input parameters of the mathematical and CFD model. The mathematical model is a zero dimensional model based on Gibbs energy minimization together with Lagrange multiplier; it is used to find the product species composition (molar fractions of CO, H2, CH4 etc.) for different tire/petroleum feedstock mixtures and equivalence ratios. The results of the mathematical model act as a reference for the CFD model of the drop-tube reactor. With the CFD model the efficiency and product species composition can be predicted for different mixtures and particle sizes. Finally both models are verified by experiments on a drop tube reactor (1540 mm long, 66 mm inner diameter, 1400 K maximum temperature).

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics (CFD), drop tube reactor, gasification, Gibbs energy minimization, petroleum waste, waste tires

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Authors: Ebtissem Sassi, Abdellatif Benabdelhafid, Sami Hammami

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Congestion, pollution and space misuse are the major risks in the hinterland. Management of these risks is a major issue for all the actors intervening in territory management. A good mastery of these risks is based on the consideration of environmental and physical constraints since the implementation of a policy integrates simultaneously an efficient use, territorial resources, and financial resources which become increasingly rare. Yet, this balance can be difficult to establish simultaneously by all the actors. Indeed, every actor has often the tendency to favor these objectives in detriment to others. In this framework, we have fixed the objective of designing and achieving a model which will centralize multidisciplinary data and serve the analysis tool as well as a decision support tool. In this article, we will elaborate some methodological axes allowing the good management of the territory system through (i) determination of the structural factors of the decision support system, (ii) integration of methods tools favoring the territorial decisional process. Logistics territory geographic information system is a model dealing with this issue. The objective of this model is to facilitate the exchanges between the actors around a common question which was the research subject of human sciences researchers (geography, economy), nature sciences (ecology) as well as finding an optimal solution for simultaneous responses to all these objectives.

Keywords: complexity, territory, logistics, territory planning, conceptual model, GIS, MCA

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