Search results for: incremental forming

Authors: Zhe Wang

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The fashion week, as a critical international fashion event in shaping world fashion cities, is one of the most significant world events that serves as the core medium for designers to stage new collections. However, its role in bringing about and shaping design ideologies of major fashion cities have long been neglected from a fashion ecosystem perspective. With the expanding scale of international fashion weeks in terms of culture and commerce, the organizational structures of these fashion weeks are becoming more complex. In the emerging fashion city, typified by Shanghai, a newly-formed 'hodgepodge' transforming the current global fashion ecosystem. A city’s legitimate fashion institutions, typically the organizers of international fashion weeks, have cultivated various cultural characteristics via rules and regulations pertaining to international fashion weeks. Under these circumstances, designers’ participatory behaviors, specifically show design and production, are influenced by the cultural ideologies of official organizers and institutions. This research compares international based Chinese (IBC) independent designers’ participatory behavior in London and Shanghai Fashion Weeks: specifically, the way designers present their clothing and show production. both of which are found to be profoundly influenced by cultural and design ideologies of fashion weeks. They are, to a large degree, manipulated by domestic institutions and organizers. Shanghai fashion week has given rise to a multiple, mass-ended entertainment carnival design and cultural ideology in Shanghai, thereby impacting the explicit cultural codes or intangible rules that IBC designers must adhere to when designing and producing fashion shows. Therefore, influenced by various cultural characteristics in the two cities, IBC designers’ show design and productions, in turn, play an increasingly vital role in shaping the design characteristic of an international fashion week. Through researching the organizational systems and design preferences of organizers of London and Shanghai fashion weeks, this paper demonstrates the embeddedness of design systems in the forming of design ideologies under various cultural and institutional contexts. The core methodology utilized in this research is ethnography. As a crucial part of a Ph.D. project on innovations in fashion shows under a cross-cultural context run by Edinburgh College of Art, School of Design, the fashion week’s organizational culture in various cultural contexts is investigated in London and Shanghai for approximately six months respectively. Two IBC designers, Angel Chen and Xuzhi Chen were followed during their participation of London and Shanghai Fashion Weeks from September 2016 to June 2017, during which two consecutive seasons were researched in order to verify the consistency of design ideologies’ associations with organizational system and culture.

Keywords: institutional ideologies, international fashion weeks, IBC independent designers; fashion show

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Authors: Serap Gedikli, Hakan Çakmak, M. Buğra Güldiken, Duygu Yalnızoğlu

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Air, which is necessary for living things to survive; while it carries some useful substances in it, it can also carry foreign particles of different sizes that may be harmful to the health. All airborne organic substances of biological origin, including bacteria, fungi, fungal spores, viruses, pollen, and their components, are called "bioaerosols". Nowadays, everyone spends most of their time in closed areas such as home, workplace, school, etc. Although it is known that outdoor air pollution affects health, it is not known that indoor air pollution has harmful effects in terms of health. In this study, indoor air microbial load and SARS-CoV-2 virus cleaning efficiency of Froumann brand air cleaners were studied. This work in 300 m³, 600 m³, and 1000 m³ completely closed areas without any air circulation with Froumann N80, N90, and N100 air-cleaning devices. Analyzes were performed for both areas at 60 minutes before and after the device was operated using a particle measuring device (Particles Plus 7302) and an air sampler (Mas-100 ECO). The measurements were taken by placing the test equipment 1.5-2 m away from the air cleaner. At the same time, the efficiency of the HEPA filter was evaluated by taking samples from the air outlet point of the HEPA filter using the air sampling device (Mas-100 ECO) after the device was started. Nutrient agar and malt agar are used as total mesophilic bacteria and total fungi. The number of colony-forming units per m³ (cfu/m³) was calculated by counting colonies in Petri dishes after incubation for 48 hours at 37°C for bacteria and 72 hours at 30°C for fungi. The change in the number of colonies and the decrease in the microbial load was calculated as a percentage value. SARS-CoV-2 activity analysis studies were carried out by İnönü University Microbiology Department in accordance with the World Health Organization regulations. Finally, the HEPA filter in the devices used was taken and kept under a certain temperature and humidity, and the change in the microbial load on it was monitored over a 6-month period. At the end of the studies, a 91%-94% reduction was determined in the total mesophilic bacteria count of Frouman brand N80, N90, and N100 model air cleaners. A decrease of 94%-96% was detected in the total number of yeast/molds. HEPA filter efficiency was evaluated, and at the end of the analysis, 98% of the bacterial load and approximately 100% of yeast/mold load at the HEPA filter air outlet point were decreased. According to the SARS- CoV-2 analysis results, when the device is operating at the medium airflow level 3, it can filter virus-carrying aerosols by 99%. As a result, it was determined that the Froumann model air cleaner was effective in controlling and reducing the microbial load in the indoor air.

Keywords: HEPA filter, indoor air quality, microbial load, SARS-CoV-2

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Authors: Kuniko Muramoto, Tadashi Nakamura, Shiro Dan

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On March 11, 2011 the Great East Japan Disaster caused widespread damage. In the aftermath, we searched for ways to provide long-term support and enhanced resilience to affected areas, arriving at the Family Manga Exhibition: an art collection portraying family life. It became a tool for community outreach and intervention, and we implemented support programs by collaborating with local support agencies. This 10-year project has been touring through four prefectures in Tohoku since the disaster struck, bearing witness to the effects of disaster and recovery alike. At this five-year mark, we use a narrative perspective to present our findings and reflect on post-disaster community support. It is important to note that the exhibition’s art does not directly depict the disaster; it portrays stories of anonymous families instead. They stimulate viewers’ memories and remind them of their own family stories. We analyzed viewers' oral and written responses to the exhibition and discovered that family manga as an art form enhances the viewer’s sense of connection to people close to them. We also discovered that the viewers gained more universal perspective on their own situations by viewing the exhibition. Manga, we found, offered a certain safety by enabling the viewers to control how they would interact with the exhibition's content and themes. In addition, the purpose of the project was for us to become witnesses of the disaster and recovery. Supporters of the project became active listeners, functioning as interactive agents who helped forming stories. Voices of the story tellers and the listeners layered upon each other and, as a result, converged into brand new narratives. The essence of traumatic experience is ‘the sense of overwhelming powerlessness and isolation’. When we redefine trauma as ‘broken relationships’, we can say that ‘enhancing relationships’ and ‘weaving relationships’ are what strengthen our resilience. This project used narrative as a modality to fortify the resilience of people involved by enhancing the social capital of bonding, bridging, and linking. The manga exhibition functioned as a tool to achieve this end, suggesting that similar applications are possible. Programs we held in-between manga exhibitions also served to enhance narratives of resiliency in the regions. However, we will save that story for another time. We hope to continue collecting the precious and polyphonic voices of people to present as stories born out of the Great East Japan Disaster. This effort extends beyond the immediately affected area by helping us prepare our resilience for future disasters.

Keywords: community, manga, narrative, resilience

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Authors: Aldila Dyas Nurfitri

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Nowadays, leadership has became the one of main issues in forming organization groups even countries. The concept of a social contract between the leaders and subordinates become one of the explanations for the leadership process. The interests of the two parties are not always the same, but they must work together to achieve both goals. Based on the concept at the previous it comes “The Leader Member Exchange Theory”—well known as LMX Theory, which assumes that leadership is a process of social interaction interplay between the leaders and their subordinates. High-quality LMX relationships characterized by a high carrying capacity, informal supervision, confidence, and power negotiation enabled, whereas low-quality LMX relationships are described by low support, large formal supervision, less or no participation of subordinates in decision-making, and less confidence as well as the attention of the leader Application of formal supervision system in a low LMX behavior was in line with strict controls on toxic leadership model. Leaders must be able to feel toxic control all aspects of the organization every time. Leaders with this leadership model does not give autonomy to the staff. This behavior causes stagnation and make a resistant organizational culture in an organization. In Indonesia, the pattern of toxic leadership later evolved into a dysfunctional system that is growing rapidly. One consequence is the emergence of corrupt behavior. According to Kellerman, corruption is defined as a pattern and some subordinates behave lie, cheat or steal to a degree that goes beyond the norm, they put self-interest than the common good.According to the corruption data in Indonesia based on the results of ICW research on 2012 showed that the local government sector ranked first with 177 cases. Followed by state or local enterprises as much as 41 cases. LMX is defined as the quality of the relationship between superiors and subordinates are implications for the effectiveness and progress of the organization. The assumption of this theory that leadership as a process of social interaction interplay between the leaders and his followers are characterized by a number of dimensions, such as affection, loyalty, contribution, and professional respect. Meanwhile, the toxic leadership is dysfunctional leadership in organization that is led by someone with the traits are not able to adjust, do not have integrity, malevolent, evil, and full of discontent marked by a number of characteristics, such as self-centeredness, exploiting others, controlling behavior, disrespecting others, suppress innovation and creativity of employees, and inadequate emotional intelligence. The leaders with some characteristics, such as high self-centeredness, exploiting others, controlling behavior, and disrespecting others, tends to describe a low LMX relationships directly with subordinates compared with low self-centeredness, exploiting others, controlling behavior, and disrespecting others. While suppress innovation and creativity of employees aspect and inadequate emotional intelligence, tend not to give direct effect to the low quality of LMX.

Keywords: leader-member exchange, toxic leadership, leadership

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Authors: Rio Hirakawa, Christian Gundlach, Sven Hartwig

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Aluminium has been used in a wide range of industrial applications due to its numerous advantages, including excellent specific strength, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, workability and recyclability. The automotive industry is increasingly adopting multi-materials, including aluminium in structures and components to improve the mechanical usability and performance of individual components. A common method for assembling dissimilar materials is mechanical joining, but mechanical joining requires multiple manufacturing steps, affects the mechanical properties of the base material and increases the weight due to additional metal parts. Fusion bonding is being used in more and more industries as a way of avoiding the above drawbacks. Infusion bonding, and surface pre-treatment of the base material is essential to ensure the long-life durability of the joint. Laser surface treatment of aluminium has been shown to improve the durability of the joint by forming a passive oxide film and roughening the substrate surface. Infusion bonding, the polymer bonds directly to the metal instead of the adhesive, but the sensitivity to interfacial contamination is higher due to the chemical activity and molecular size of the polymer. Laser-treated surfaces are expected to absorb impurities from the storage atmosphere over time, but the effect of such changes in the treated surface over time on the durability of fusion-bonded joints has not yet been fully investigated. In this paper, the effect of the ageing of laser-treated surfaces of aluminum alloys on the corrosion resistance of fusion-bonded joints is therefore investigated. AlMg3 of 1.5 mm thickness was cut using a water-jet cutting machine, cleaned and degreased with isopropanol and surface pre-treated with a pulsed fiber laser at a wavelength of 1060 nm, maximum power of 70 W and repetition rate of 55 kHz. The aluminum surfaces were then stored in air for various periods of time and their corrosion resistance was assessed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For the aluminum joints, induction heating was employed as the fusion bonding method and single-lap shear specimens were prepared. The corrosion resistance of the joints was assessed by measuring the lap shear strength before and after neutral salt spray. Cross-sectional observations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also carried out to investigate changes in the microstructure of the bonded interface. Finally, the corrosion resistance of the surface and the joint were compared and the differences in the mechanisms of corrosion resistance enhancement between the two were discussed.

Keywords: laser surface treatment, pre-treatment, bonding, corrosion, durability, interface, automotive, aluminium alloys, joint, fusion bonding

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Authors: B. D. Patni, Ashwani Jain, Arindom Chakraborty

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The world’s highest mountain range has been forming since the collision of Indian Plate with Asian Plate 40-50 million years ago. The Indian subcontinent has been deeper and deeper in to the rest of Asia resulting upliftment of Himalaya & Tibetan Plateau. The complex domain has become a major challenge for construction of hydro electric projects. The Himalayas are geologically complex & seismically active. Shifting of Indian Plate northwardly and increasing the amount of stresses in the fragile domain which leads to deformation in the form of several fold, faults and upliftment. It is difficult to undergo extensive geological investigation to ascertain the geological problems to be encountered during construction. Inaccessibility of the terrain, high rock cover, unpredictable ground water condition etc. are the main constraints. The hydroelectric projects located in Himalayas have faced many geological and geo-hydrological problems while construction of surface and subsurface works. Based on the experience, efforts have been made to identify the expected geological problems during and after construction of the projects. These have been classified into surface and subsurface problems which include existence of inhomogeneous deep overburden in the river bed or buried valley, abrupt change in bed rock profile, Occurrences of fault zones/shear zones/fractured rock in dam foundation and slope instability in the abutments. The tunneling difficulties are many such as squeezing ground condition, popping, rock bursting, high temperature gradient, heavy ingress of water, existence of shear seams/shear zones and emission of obnoxious gases. However, these problems were mitigated by adopting suitable remedial measures as per site requirement. The support system includes shotcrete, wire mesh, rock bolts, steel ribs, fore-poling, pre-grouting, pipe-roofing, MAI anchors, toe wall, retaining walls, reinforced concrete dowels, drainage drifts, anchorage cum drainage shafts, soil nails, concrete cladding and shear keys. Controlled drilling & blasting, heading & benching, proper drainage network and ventilation system are other remedial measures adopted to overcome such adverse situations. The paper highlights the geological uncertainties and its remedial measures in Himalaya, based on the analysis and evaluation of 20 hydroelectric projects during construction.

Keywords: geological problems, shear seams, slope, drilling & blasting, shear zones

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Authors: Mikhail V. Khachaturyan

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The article analyzes problems of improving the management systems of the ownership risks in the conditions of the transformation of the Russian economy. Among the main sources of threats business owners should highlight is the inefficiency of the implementation of business models and interaction with hired managers. In this context, it is particularly important to analyze the relationship of business models and ownership risks. The analysis of this problem appears to be relevant for a number of reasons: Firstly, the increased risk appetite of the owner directly affects the business model and the composition of his holdings; secondly, owners with significant stakes in the company are factors in the formation of particular types of risks for owners, for which relations have a significant influence on a firm's competitiveness and ultimately determines its survival; and thirdly, inefficient system of management ownership of risk is one of the main causes of mass bankruptcies, which significantly affects the stable operation of the economy as a whole. The separation of the processes of possession, disposal and use in modern organizations is the cause of not only problems in the process of interaction between the owner and managers in managing the organization as a whole, but also the asymmetric information about the kinds and forms of the main risks. Managers tend to avoid risky projects, inhibit the diversification of the organization's assets, while owners can insist on the development of such projects, with the aim not only of creating new values for themselves and consumers, but also increasing the value of the company as a result of increasing capital. In terms of separating ownership and management, evaluation of projects by the ratio of risk-yield requires preservation of the influence of the owner on the process of development and making management decisions. It is obvious that without a clearly structured system of participation of the owner in managing the risks of their business, further development is hopeless. In modern conditions of forming a risk management system, owners are compelled to compromise between the desire to increase the organization's ability to produce new value, and, consequently, increase its cost due to the implementation of risky projects and the need to tolerate the cost of lost opportunities of risk diversification. Improving the effectiveness of the management of ownership risks may also contribute to the revitalization of creditors on implementation claims to inefficient owners, which ultimately will contribute to the efficiency models of ownership control to exclude variants of insolvency. It is obvious that in modern conditions, the success of the model of the ownership of risk management and audit is largely determined by the ability and willingness of the owner to find a compromise between potential opportunities for expanding the firm's ability to create new value through risk and maintaining the current level of new value creation and an acceptable level of risk through the use of models of diversification.

Keywords: improving, ownership risks, problem, Russia

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Authors: R. Kenova, K. Anguelov, R. Nikolova

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The human factor plays a major role in boosting the competitive capacity of logistic enterprises. This is of particular importance when it comes to logistic companies. On the one hand they should be strictly compliant with legislation; on the other hand, they should be competitive in terms of pricing and of delivery timelines. Moreover, their policies should allow them to be as flexible as possible. All these circumstances are reason for very serious challenges for the qualification, motivation and experience of the human resources, working in logistic companies or in logistic departments of trade and industrial enterprises. The geographic place of Bulgaria puts it in position of a country with some specific competitive advantages in the goods transport from Europe to Asia and back. Along with it, there is a number of logistic companies, that operate in this sphere in Bulgaria. In the current paper, the authors aim to establish the condition of the administrative capacity and human resources in the logistic companies and logistic departments of trade and industrial companies in Bulgaria in order to propose some guidelines for improving of their effectiveness. Due to independent empirical research, conducted in Bulgarian logistic, trade and industrial enterprises, the authors investigate both the impact degree and the interdependence of various factors that characterize the administrative capacity. The study is conducted with a prepared questionnaire, in format of direct interview with the respondents. The volume of the poll is 50 respondents, representatives of: general managers of industrial or trade enterprises; logistic managers of industrial or trade enterprises; general managers of forwarding companies – either with own or with hired transport; experts from Bulgarian association of logistics; logistic lobbyist and scientists of the relevant area. The data are gathered for 3 months, then arranged by a specialized software program and analyzed by preset criteria. Based on the results of this methodological toolbox, it can be claimed that there is a correlation between the individual criteria. Also, a commitment between the administrative capacity and other factors that determine the competitiveness of the studied companies is established. In this paper, the authors present results of the empirical research that concerns the number and the workload in the logistic departments of the enterprises. Also, what is commented is the experience, related to logistic processes management and human resources competence. Moreover, the overload level of the logistic specialists is analyzed as one of the main threats for making mistakes and losing clients. The paper stands behind the thesis that there is indispensability of forming an effective and efficient administrative capacity, based on the number, qualification, experience and motivation of the staff in the logistic companies. The paper ends with recommendations about the qualification and experience of the specialists in logistic departments; providing effective and efficient administrative capacity in the logistic departments; interdependence of the human factor and the other factors that influence the enterprise competitiveness.

Keywords: administrative capacity, human resources, logistic competitiveness, staff qualification

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Authors: Norhayati Ayob, Shamsu Mohamad

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This paper aims to provide an initial background of the process of making traditional ceramic pottery, focusing on the materials and the influence of culture heritage. Ceramic pottery is one of the hallmarks of Sabah’s heirloom, not only use as cooking and storage containers but also closely linked with folk cultures and heritage. The Bajau Laut ethnic community of Semporna or better known as the Sea Gypsies, mostly are boat dwellers and work as fishermen in the coast. This ethnic community is famous for their own artistic traditional heirloom, especially the traditional hand-made clay stove called Lapohan. It is found that in the daily life of Bajau Laut community, Lapohan (clay stove) is used to prepare the meal and as a food warmer while they are at the sea. Besides, Lapohan pottery conveys symbolic meaning of natural objects, which portrays the identity, and values of Bajau Laut community. It is acknowledged that the basic process of making potterywares was much the same for people all across the world, nevertheless, it is crucial to consider that different ethnic groups may have their own styles and choices of raw materials. Furthermore, it is still unknown why and how the Bajau Laut ethnic of Semporna get started making their own pottery and to survive until today by heavily depending on the raw materials available in Semporna. In addition, the emergent problem faced by the pottery maker in Sabah is the absence of young successor to continue the heirloom legacy. Therefore, this research aims to explore the traditional pottery making in Sabah, by investigating the background history of Lapohan pottery and to propose the classification of Lapohan based on design and motifs of traditional pottery that will be recognised throughout the study. It is postulated that different techniques and forms of making traditional pottery may produce different types of pottery in terms of surface decoration, shape, and size that portrays different cultures. This study will be conducted at Selakan Island, Semporna, which is the only location that still has Lapohan making. This study is also based on the chronological process of making pottery and taboos of the process of preparing the clay, forming, decoration technique, motif application and firing techniques. The relevant information for the study will be gathered from field study, including observation, in-depth interview and video recording. In-depth interviews will be conducted with several potters and the conversation and pottery making process will be recorded in order to understand the actual process of making Lapohan. The findings hope to provide several types of Lapohan based on different designs and cultures, for example, the one with flat-shape design or has round-shape on the top of clay stove will be labeled with suitable name based on their culture. In conclusion, it is hoped that this study will contribute to conservation for traditional pottery making in Sabah as well as to preserve their culture and heirloom for future generations.

Keywords: Bajau Laut, culture, Lapohan, traditional pottery

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Authors: Murray David Schane

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Though years of clinical encounters with patients with autism spectrum disorders and those with a schizoid personality the many defining diagnostic features shared between these conditions have been explored and current neurobiological differences have been reviewed; and, critical and different treatment strategies for each have been devised. The paper compares and contrasts the apparent similarities between autism spectrum disorders and the schizoid personality are found in these DSM descriptive categories: restricted range of social-emotional reciprocity; poor non-verbal communicative behavior in social interactions; difficulty developing and maintaining relationships; detachment from social relationships; lack of the desire for or enjoyment of close relationships; and preference for solitary activities. In this paper autism, fundamentally a communicative disorder, is revealed to present clinically as a pervasive aversive response to efforts to engage with or be engaged by others. Autists with the Asperger presentation typically have language but have difficulty understanding humor, irony, sarcasm, metaphoric speech, and even narratives about social relationships. They also tend to seek sameness, possibly to avoid problems of social interpretation. Repetitive behaviors engage many autists as a screen against ambient noise, social activity, and challenging interactions. Also in this paper, the schizoid personality is revealed as a pattern of social avoidance, self-sufficiency and apparent indifference to others as a complex psychological defense against a deep, long-abiding fear of appropriation and perverse manipulation. Neither genetic nor MRI studies have yet located the explanatory data that identifies the cause or the neurobiology of autism. Similarly, studies of the schizoid have yet to group that condition with those found in schizophrenia. Through presentations of clinical examples, the treatment of autists of the Asperger type is revealed to address the autist’s extreme social aversion which also precludes the experience of empathy. Autists will be revealed as forming social attachments but without the capacity to interact with mutual concern. Empathy will be shown be teachable and, as social avoidance relents, understanding of the meaning and signs of empathic needs that autists can recognize and acknowledge. Treatment of schizoids will be shown to revolve around joining empathically with the schizoid’s apprehensions about interpersonal, interactive proximity. Models of both autism and schizoid personality traits have yet to be replicated in animals, thereby eliminating the role of translational research in providing the kind of clues to behavioral patterns that can be related to genetic, epigenetic and neurobiological measures. But as these clinical examples will attest, treatment strategies have significant impact.

Keywords: autism spectrum, schizoid personality traits, neurobiological implications, critical diagnostic distinctions

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Authors: Ganga Brahma

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Boro employs verbs hooked up with morphemes which lead verbs to adjust with their arguments and hence, affecting the whole of sentence structures. This paper is based on few such syntactic parameters which are usually considered as argument decreasing parameters in linguistic works. Passivizing of few transitive clauses which are usually construed from the verbs occurring with certain morphemes and representation in middle constructions are few of such strategies which lead to conceptualizing of decreasing of syntactic arguments from a sentence. This paper focuses on the mentioned linguistic strategies and attempts to describe the linguistic processes as for how these parameters work in languages especially by concentrating on a particular Tibeto-Burman language i.e. Boro. Boro is a Tibeto-Burman language widely spoken in parts of the north-eastern regions of India. It has an agglutinative nature in forming words as well as clauses. There is a morpheme ‘za’ which means ‘to happen, become’ in Boro whose appearances with verb roots denotes an idea of the subject being passivized. Passivization, usually has notions that it is a reversed representation of its active sentence forms in the terms of argument placements. (However, it is not accountably true as passives and actives have some distinct features of their own and independent of one and the other.) This particular work will concentrate on the semantics of passivization at the same time along with its syntactic reality. The verb khɑo meaning ‘to steal’ offers a sense of passivization with the appearance of the morpheme zɑ which means ‘to happen, become’ (e.g Zunu-ɑ lama-ɑo phɯisɑ khɑo-zɑ-bɑi; Junu-NOM road-LOC money steal-PASS-PRES: Junu got her money stolen on the road). The focus, here, is more on the argument placed at the subject position (i.e. Zunu) and the event taken place. The semantics of such construction asks for the agent because without an agent the event could not have taken place. However, the syntactic elements fill the slots of relegated or temporarily deleted agent which, infact, is the actual subject cum agent in its active representation. Due to the event marker ‘zɑ’ in this presentation it affords to reduce one participant from such a situation which in actual is made up of three participants. Hence, the structure of di-transitive construction here reduces to mono-transitive structure. Unlike passivization, middle construction does not allow relegation of the agents. It permanently deletes agents. However, it also focuses on the fore-grounded subject and highlighting on the changed states on the subjects which happens to be the underlying objects of their respective transitive structures (with agents). This work intends to describe how these two parameters which are different at their semantic realization can meet together at a syntactic level in order to create a linguistic parameter that decreases participants from their actual structures which are with more than one participant.

Keywords: argument-decrease, middle-construction, passivization, transitivity-intransitivity

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Authors: Navah Z. Ratzon, Talia Glick, Iris Manor

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic disorder that affects the sufferer’s functioning throughout life and in various spheres of activity, including driving. Difficulties in cognitive functioning and executive functions are often part and parcel of the ADHD diagnosis, and thus form a risk factor in driving. Studies examining the effectiveness of intervention programs for improving and rehabilitating driving in typical teenagers have been conducted in relatively small numbers; while studies on similar programs for teenagers with ADHD have been especially scarce. The aim of the present study has been to examine the effectiveness of a metacognitive occupational therapy intervention program for reducing risk factors in driving among teenagers with ADHD. The present study included 37 teenagers aged 17 to 19. They included 23 teenagers with ADHD divided into experimental (11) and control (12) groups; as well as 14 non-ADHD teenagers forming a second control group. All teenagers taking part in the study were examined in the Tel Aviv University driving lab, and underwent cognitive diagnoses and a driving simulator test. Every subject in the intervention group took part in 3 assessment meetings, and two metacognitive treatment meetings. The control groups took part in two assessment meetings with a follow-up meeting 3 months later. In all the study’s groups, the treatment’s effectiveness was tested by comparing monitoring results on the driving simulator at the first and second evaluations. In addition, the driving of 5 subjects from the intervention group was monitored continuously from a month prior to the start of the intervention, a month during the phase of the intervention and another month until the end of the intervention. In the ADHD control group, the driving of 4 subjects was monitored from the end of the first evaluation for a period of 3 months. The study’s findings were affected by the fact that the ADHD control group was different from the two other groups, and exhibited ADHD characteristics manifested by impaired executive functions and lower metacognitive abilities relative to their peers. The study found partial, moderate, non-significant correlations between driving skills and cognitive functions, executive functions, and perceptions and attitudes towards driving. According to the driving simulator test results and the limited sampling results of actual driving, it was found that a metacognitive occupational therapy intervention may be effective in reducing risk factors in driving among teenagers with ADHD relative to their peers with and without ADHD. In summary, the results of the present study indicate a positive direction that speaks to the viability of using a metacognitive occupational therapy intervention program for reducing risk factors in driving. A further study is required that will include a bigger number of subjects, add actual driving monitoring hours, and assign subjects randomly to the various groups.

Keywords: ADHD, driving, driving monitoring, metacognitive intervention, occupational therapy, simulator, teenagers

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Authors: K. Petrosyan, R. Piwowarczyk, K. Ruraż, S. Thijs, J. Vangronsveld, W. Kaca

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Holoparasitic plants are flowering heterotrophic angiosperms which with the help of an absorbing organ - haustorium, attach to another plant, the so-called the host. Due to the different hosts, unusual lifestyle, lack of roots, chlorophylls and photosynthesis, these plants are interesting and unique study objects for global biodiversity. The seeds germination of the parasitic plants also is unique: they germinate only in response to germination stimulants, namely strigolactones produced by the root of an appropriate host. Resistance of the seeds on different environmental conditions allow them to stay viable in the soil for more than 20 years. Among the wide range of plant protection mechanisms the endophytic communities have a specific role. In this way, they have the potential to mitigate the impacts of adverse conditions such as soil salinization. The major objective of our study was to compare the bacterial endo-microbiomes from seeds of two holoparasitic plants from Orobanchaceae family, Cistanche – C. armena (Armenia) and C. phelypaea (Portugal) – from saline habitats different in soil water status. The research aimed to perform how environmental conditions influence on the diversity of the bacterial communities of C. armena and C. phelypaea seeds. This was achieved by comparison of the endophytic microbiomes of two species and isolation of culturable bacteria. A combination of culture-dependent and molecular techniques was employed for the identification of the seed endomicrobiome (culturable and unculturable). Using the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene, four main taxa were identified: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, but the relative proportion of the taxa was different in each type of seed. Generally, sixteen phyla, 323 genera and 710 bacterial species were identified, mainly Gram negative, halotolerant bacteria with an environmental origin. However, also some unclassified and unexplored taxonomic groups were found in the seeds of both plants. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis from both species identified the gram positive, endospore forming, halotolerant and alkaliphile Bacillus spp. which suggests that the endophytic bacteria of examined seeds possess traits that are correlated with the natural habitat of their hosts. The cultivable seed endophytes from C. armena and C. phelypaea were rather similar, notwithstanding the big distances between their growth habitats - Armenia and Portugal. Although the seed endophytic microbiomes of C. armena and C. phelypaea contain a high number of common bacterial taxa, also remarkable differences exist. We demonstrated that the environmental conditions or abiotic stresses influence on diversity of the bacterial communities of holoparasiotic seeds. To the best of our knowledge the research is the first report of endophytes from seeds of holoparasitic Cistanche armena and C. phelypaea plants.

Keywords: microbiome, parasitic plant, salinity, seeds

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Authors: Moaawia Abdulgader Gdara

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This work presents a study of Carbone dioxide generation and migration in the Bahi sandstone reservoir over the EPSA 120/136 (conc 72). En Naga Sub Basin, Sirte Basin Libya. The Lower Cretaceous Bahi Sandstone is the result of deposition that occurred between the start of the Cretaceous rifting that formed the area's Horsts, Grabens and Cenomanian marine transgression. Bahi sediments were derived mainly from those Nubian sediments exposed on the structurally higher blocks, transported short distances into newly forming depocenters such as the En Naga Sub-basin and were deposited by continental processes over the Sirte Unconformity (pre-Late Cretaceous surface) Bahi Sandstone facies are recognized in the En Naga Sub-basin within different lithofacies distribution over this sub-base. One of the two lithofacies recognized in the Bahi is a very fine to very coarse, subangular to angular, pebbly and occasionally conglomeratic quartz sandstone, which is commonly described as being compacted but friable. This sandstone may contain pyrite and minor kaolinite. This facies was encountered at 11,042 feet in F1-72 well, and at 9,233 feet in L1-72. Good, reservoir quality sandstones are associated with paleotopographic highs within the sub-basin and around its margins where winnowing and/or deflationary processes occurred. The second Bahi Lithofacies is a thinly bedded sequence dominated by shales and siltstones with subordinate sandstones and carbonates. The sandstones become more abundant with depth. This facies was encountered at 12,580 feet in P1 -72 and at 11,850 feet in G1a -72. This argillaceous sequence is likely the Bahi sandstone's lateral facies equivalent deposited in paleotopographic lows, which received finer-grained material. The Bahi sandstones are generally described as a good reservoir rock, which after prolific production tests for the drilled wells makes Bahi sandstones the principal reservoir rocks for CO₂ where large volumes of CO₂ gas have been discovered in the Bahi Formation on and near EPSA 120/136, (conc 72). CO₂ occurs in this area as a result of the igneous activity of the Al Harouge Al Aswad complex. Igneous extrusive have been pierced in the subsurface and are exposed at the surface. Bahi CO₂ prospectivity is thought to be excellent in the central to western areas of EPSA 120/136 (CONC 72) where there are better reservoir quality sandstones associated with Paleostructural highs. Condensate and gas prospectivity increases to the east as the CO₂ productivity decreases with distance away from the Al Haruj Al Aswad igneous complex. To date, it has not been possible to accurately determine the volume of these strategically valuable reserves, although there are positive indications that they are very large. Three main structures (Barrut I, En Naga A and En Naga O) are thought to be prospective for the lower Cretaceous Bahi sandstone development. These leads are the most attractive on EPSA 120/136 for the deep potential.

Keywords: En Naga Sub Basin, Al Harouge Al Aswad's Igneous complex, carbon dioxide generation, migration in the Bahi sandstone reservoir, lower cretaceous Bahi Sandstone

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Authors: Moaawia Abdulgader Gdara

Abstract:

This work presents a study of carbon dioxide generation and migration in the Bahi sandstone reservoir over the EPSA 120/136 (conc 72), En Naga Sub Basin, Sirte Basin, Libya. The Lower Cretaceous Bahi Sandstone is the result of deposition that occurred between the start of the Cretaceous rifting that formed the area's Horsts, Grabens, and Cenomanian marine transgression. Bahi sediments were derived mainly from those Nubian sediments exposed on the structurally higher blocks, transported short distances into newly forming depocenters such as the En Naga Sub-basin, and were deposited by continental processes over the Sirte Unconformity (pre-Late Cretaceous surface). Bahi Sandstone facies are recognized in the En Naga Sub-basin within different lithofacies distributed over this sub-base. One of the two lithofacies recognized in the Bahi is a very fine to very coarse, subangular to angular, pebbly, and occasionally conglomeratic quartz sandstone, which is commonly described as being compacted but friable. This sandstone may contain pyrite, minor kaolinite. This facies was encountered at 11,042 feet in F1-72 well and at 9,233 feet in L1-72. Good, reservoir quality sandstones are associated with paleotopographic highs within the sub-basin and around its margins where winnowing and/or deflationary processes occurred. The second Bahi Lithofacies is a thinly bedded sequence dominated by shales and siltstones with subordinate sandstones and carbonates. The sandstones become more abundant with depth. This facies was encountered at 12,580 feet in P1 -72 and at 11,850 feet in G1a -72. This argillaceous sequence is likely the Bahi sandstone's lateral facies equivalent deposited in paleotopographic lows, which received finer grained material. The Bahi sandstones are generally described as a good reservoir rock, which after prolific production tests for the drilled wells that makes Bahi sandstones the principal reservoir rocks for CO₂ where large volumes of CO₂ gas have been discovered in the Bahi Formation on and near EPSA 120/136, (conc 72). CO₂ occurs in this area as a result of the igneous activity of the Al Harouge Al Aswad complex. Igneous extrusive have been pierced in the subsurface and are exposed at the surface. Bahi CO₂ prospectivity is thought to be excellent in the central to western areas of EPSA 120/136 (CONC 72), where there are better reservoir quality sandstones associated with Paleostructural highs. Condensate and gas prospectivity increases to the east as the CO₂ prospectivity decreases with distance away from the Al Haruj Al Aswad igneous complex. To date, it has not been possible to accurately determine the volume of these strategically valuable reserves, although there are positive indications that they are very large. Three main structures (Barrut I, En Naga A, and En Naga O) are thought to be prospective for the lower Cretaceous Bahi sandstone development. These leads are the most attractive on EPSA 120/136 for the deep potential.

Keywords: En Naga Sub Basin, Al Harouge Al Aswad’s Igneous Complex, carbon dioxide generation and migration in the Bahi sandstone reservoir, lower cretaceous Bahi sandstone

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Authors: Sihem Bazid, Meriem El Kolli, Aicha Medjahed

Abstract:

Proteins and polysaccharides are the two types of biopolymers most frequently used in the food industry to control the mechanical properties and structural stability and organoleptic properties of the products. The textural and structural properties of these two types of blend polymers depend on their interaction and their ability to form organized structures. From an industrial point of view, a better understanding of mixtures protein / polysaccharide is an important issue since they are already heavily involved in processed food. It is in this context that we have chosen to work on a model system composed of a fibrous protein mixture (gelatin)/anionic polysaccharide (sodium carboxymethylcellulose). Gelatin, one of the most popular biopolymers, is widely used in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and photographic applications, because of its unique functional and technological properties. Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) is an anionic linear polysaccharide derived from cellulose. It is an important industrial polymer with a wide range of applications. The functional properties of this anionic polysaccharide can be modified by the presence of proteins with which it might interact. Another factor may also manage the interaction of protein-polysaccharide mixtures is the triple helix of the gelatin. Its complex synthesis method results in an extracellular assembly containing several levels. Collagen can be in a soluble state or associate into fibrils, which can associate in fiber. Each level corresponds to an organization recognized by the cellular and metabolic system. Gelatin allows this approach, the formation of gelatin gel has triple helical folding of denatured collagen chains, this gel has been the subject of numerous studies, and it is now known that the properties depend only on the rate of triple helices forming the network. Chemical modification of this system is quite controlled. Observe the dynamics of the triple helix may be relevant in understanding the interactions involved in protein-polysaccharides mixtures. Gelatin is central to any industrial process, understand and analyze the molecular dynamics induced by the triple helix in the transitions gelatin, can have great economic importance in all fields and especially the food. The goal is to understand the possible mechanisms involved depending on the nature of the mixtures obtained. From a fundamental point of view, it is clear that the protective effect of NaCMC on gelatin and conformational changes of the α helix are strongly influenced by the nature of the medium. Our goal is to minimize the maximum the α helix structure changes to maintain more stable gelatin and protect against denaturation that occurs during such conversion processes in the food industry. In order to study the nature of interactions and assess the properties of mixtures, polarimetry was used to monitor the optical parameters and to assess the rate of helicity gelatin.

Keywords: gelatin, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, interaction gelatin-NaCMC, the rate of helicity, polarimetry

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Authors: Lei Li, Ming M. Chai, Xiao X. Lu, Jia W. Wang

Abstract:

The mixing process of two liquid layers in a cylindrical container includes the upper liquid with higher density rushing into the lower liquid with lighter density, the lower liquid rising into the upper liquid, meanwhile the two liquid layers having interactions with each other, forming vortices, spreading or dispersing in others, entraining or mixing with others. It is a complex process constituted of flow instability, turbulent mixing and other multiscale physical phenomena and having a fast evolution velocity. In order to explore the mechanism of the process and make further investigations, some experiments about the interfacial instability and mixing behavior between two liquid layers bounded in different volumes are carried out, applying the planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) and the high speed camera (HSC) techniques. According to the results, the evolution of interfacial instability between immiscible liquid develops faster than theoretical rate given by the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI) theory. It is reasonable to conjecture that some mechanisms except the RTI play key roles in the mixture process of two liquid layers. From the results, it is shown that the invading velocity of the upper liquid into the lower liquid does not depend on the upper liquid's volume (height). Comparing to the cases that the upper and lower containers are of identical diameter, in the case that the lower liquid volume increases to larger geometric space, the upper liquid spreads and expands into the lower liquid more quickly during the evolution of interfacial instability, indicating that the container wall has important influence on the mixing process. In the experiments of miscible liquid layers’ mixing, the diffusion time and pattern of the liquid interfacial mixing also does not depend on the upper liquid's volumes, and when the lower liquid volume increases to larger geometric space, the action of the bounded wall on the liquid falling and rising flow will decrease, and the liquid interfacial mixing effects will also attenuate. Therefore, it is also concluded that the volume weight of upper heavier liquid is not the reason of the fast interfacial instability evolution between the two liquid layers and the bounded wall action is limited to the unstable and mixing flow. The numerical simulations of the immiscible liquid layers’ interfacial instability flow using the VOF method show the typical flow pattern agree with the experiments. However the calculated instability development is much slower than the experimental measurement. The numerical simulation of the miscible liquids’ mixing, which applying Fick’s diffusion law to the components’ transport equation, shows a much faster mixing rate than the experiments on the liquids’ interface at the initial stage. It can be presumed that the interfacial tension plays an important role in the interfacial instability between the two liquid layers bounded in finite volume.

Keywords: interfacial instability and mixing, two liquid layers, Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF), High Speed Camera (HSC), interfacial energy and tension, Cahn-Hilliard Navier-Stokes (CHNS) equations

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Authors: Urvi Panwar, Kanchan Mishra, Kanjaksha Ghosh, ShankerLal Kothari

Abstract:

Background: Day-by-day the increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases have become a global issue to manage them by medical sciences. The adult neural stem cells are rare and require an invasive and painful procedure to obtain it from central nervous system. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) therapies have shown remarkable application in treatment of various cell injuries and cell loss. MSCs can be derived from various sources like adult tissues, human bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and cord tissue. MSCs have similar proliferation and differentiation capability, but the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) are proved to be more beneficial with respect to cell procurement, differentiation to other cells, preservation, and transplantation. Material and method: Human umbilical cord is easily obtainable and non-controversial comparative to bone marrow and other adult tissues. The umbilical cord can be collected after delivery of baby, and its tissue can be cultured using explant culture method. Cell culture medium such as DMEMF12+10% FBS and DMEMF12+Neural growth factors (bFGF, human noggin, B27) with antibiotics (Streptomycin/Gentamycin) were used to culture and differentiate mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells, respectively. The characterisations of MSCs were done with Flow Cytometer for surface markers CD90, CD73 and CD105 and colony forming unit assay. The differentiated various neural cells will be characterised by fluorescence markers for neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes; quantitative PCR for genes Nestin and NeuroD1 and Western blotting technique for gap43 protein. Result and discussion: The high quality and number of MSCs were isolated from human umbilical cord via explant culture method. The obtained MSCs were differentiated into neural cells like neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The differentiated neural cells can be used to treat neural injuries and neural cell loss by delivering cells by non-invasive administration via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood. Moreover, the MSCs can also be directly delivered to different injured sites where they differentiate into neural cells. Therefore, human umbilical cord is demonstrated to be an inexpensive and easily available source for MSCs. Moreover, the hUCMSCs can be a potential source for neural cell therapies and neural cell regeneration for neural cell injuries and neural cell loss. This new way of research will be helpful to treat and manage neural cell damages and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer and Parkinson. Still the study has a long way to go but it is a promising approach for many neural disorders for which at present no satisfactory management is available.

Keywords: bone marrow, cell therapy, explant culture method, flow cytometer, human umbilical cord, mesenchymal stem cells, neurodegenerative diseases, neuroprotective, regeneration

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Bipasa Dey, Varsha Panwar, Tanmay Dutta

Abstract:

Laccase, a multicopper oxidase (EC 1.10.3.2) have been at the forefront as a superior industrial biocatalyst. They are versatile in terms of bestowing sustainable and ecological catalytic reactions such as polymerisation, xenobiotic degradation and bioremediation of phenolic and non-phenolic compounds. Regardless of the wide biotechnological applications, the critical limiting factors viz. reusability, retrieval, and storage stability still prevail. This can cause an impediment in their applicability. Crosslinked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) have emerged as a promising technique that rehabilitates these essential facets, albeit at the expense of their enzymatic activity. The carrier free crosslinking method prevails over the carrier-bound immobilisation in conferring high productivity, low production cost owing to the absence of additional carrier and circumvent any non-catalytic ballast which could dilute the volumetric activity. To the best of our knowledge, the ε-amino group of lysyl residue is speculated as the best choice for forming Schiff’s base with glutaraldehyde. Despite being most preferrable, excess glutaraldehyde can bring about disproportionate and undesirable crosslinking within the catalytic site and hence could deliver undesirable catalytic losses. Moreover, the surface distribution of lysine residues in Trametes versicolor laccase is significantly less. Thus, to mitigate the adverse effect of glutaraldehyde in conjunction with scaling down the degradation or catalytic loss of the enzyme, crosslinking with inert substances like gelatine, collagen, Bovine serum albumin (BSA) or excess lysine is practiced. Analogous to these molecules, sugars have been well known as a protein stabiliser. It helps to retain the structural integrity, specifically secondary structure of the protein during aggregation by changing the solvent properties. They are comprehended to avert protein denaturation or enzyme deactivation during precipitation. We prepared crosslinked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) of laccase from T. versicolor with the aid of sugars. The sugar CLEAs were compared with the classic BSA and glutaraldehyde laccase CLEAs concerning physico-chemical properties. The activity recovery for the fructose CLEAs were found to be ~20% higher than the non-sugar CLEA. Moreover, the 𝐾𝑐𝑎𝑡𝐾𝑚⁄ values of the CLEAs were two and three-fold higher than BSA-CLEA and GACLEA, respectively. The half-life (t1/2) deciphered by sugar-CLEA was higher than the t1/2 of GA-CLEAs and free enzyme, portraying more thermal stability. Besides, it demonstrated extraordinarily high pH stability, which was analogous to BSA-CLEA. The promising attributes of increased storage stability and recyclability (>80%) gives more edge to the sugar-CLEAs over conventional CLEAs of their corresponding free enzyme. Thus, sugar-CLEA prevails in furnishing the rudimentary properties required for a biocatalyst and holds many prospects.

Keywords: cross-linked enzyme aggregates, laccase immobilization, enzyme reusability, enzyme stability

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Authors: Xiaoling Ren, Guidong Yang

Abstract:

Ammonia, as one of the largest-volume industrial chemicals, is mostly produced by century-old Haber-Bosch process with extreme conditionsand high-cost. Under the circumstance, researchersarededicated in finding new ways to replace the Haber-Bosch process. Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation is a promising sustainable, clear and green strategy for ammonia synthesis, butit is still a big challenge due to the high activation energy for nitrogen. It is essential to develop an efficient photocatalyst for making this approach industrial application. Constructing chemisorption active sites through defect engineering can be defined as an effective and reliable means to improve nitrogen activation by forming the extraordinary coordination environment and electronic structure. Besides, the construction of three-dimensionally orderdmacroporous (3DOM) structured photocatalyst is considered to be one of effectivestrategiesto improve the activity due to it canincrease the diffusion rate of reactants in the interior, which isbeneficial to the mass transfer process of nitrogen molecules in photocatalytic nitrogen reduction. Herein, Fe doped 3DOM WO₃(Fe-3DOM WO₃) without noble metal cocatalysts is synthesized by a polystyrene-template strategy, which is firstly used for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation. To elucidate the chemical nature of the dopant, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysiswas conducted. The pure 3DOM WO₃ has a monoclinic type crystal structure. And no additional peak is observed in Fe doped 3DOM WO₃, indicating that the incorporation of Fe atoms did not result in a secondary phase formation. In order to confirm the morphologies of Fe-3DOM WO₃and 3DOM WO₃, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed. The synthesized Fe-3DOM WO₃and 3DOM WO₃ both exhibit a highly ordered three dimensional inverse opal structure with interconnected pores. From high-resolution TEM image of Fe-3DOM WO₃, the ordered lattice fringes with a spacing of 3.84 Å can be assigned to the (001) plane of WO₃, which is consistent with the XRD results. Finally, the photocatalytic nitrogen reduction performance of 3DOM WO₃ and Fe doped 3DOM WO₃with various Fe contents were examined. As a result, both Fe-3DOM WO₃ samples achieve higher ammonia production rate than that of pure 3DOM WO₃, indicating that the doped Fe plays a critical role in the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation performance. To verify the reaction process upon N2 reduction on the Fe-3DOM WO₃, in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy was employed to monitor the intermediates. The in-situ DRIFTS spectra of Fe-3DOM WO₃ exhibit the increased signals with the irradiation time from 0–60min in the N2 atmosphere. The above results prove that nitrogen is gradually hydrogenated to produce ammonia over Fe-3DOM WO₃. Thiswork would enrich our knowledge in designing efficient photocatalystsfor photocatalytic nitrogen reduction.

Keywords: ammonia, photocatalytic, nitrogen fixation, Fe doped 3DOM WO₃

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Authors: Peter Kus, Anna Ostroverkh, Yurii Yakovlev, Yevheniia Lobko, Roman Fiala, Ivan Khalakhan, Vladimir Matolin

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Hydrogen economy is a concept of low-emission society which harvests most of its energy from renewable sources (e.g., wind and solar) and in case of overproduction, electrochemically turns the excess amount into hydrogen, which serves as an energy carrier. Proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) are the backbone of this concept. By fast-response electricity to hydrogen conversion, the PEMWEs will not only stabilize the electrical grid but also provide high-purity hydrogen for variety of fuel cell powered devices, ranging from consumer electronics to vehicles. Wider commercialization of PEMWE technology is however hindered by high prices of noble metals which are necessary for catalyzing the redox reactions within the cell. Namely, platinum for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), running on cathode, and iridium for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on anode. Possible way of how to lower the loading of Pt and Ir is by using conductive high-surface nanostructures as catalyst supports in conjunction with thin-film catalyst deposition. The presented study discusses unconventional technique of membrane electron assembly (MEA) preparation. Noble metal catalysts (Pt and Ir) were magnetron sputtered in very low loadings onto the surface of porous sublayers (located on gas diffusion layer or directly on membrane), forming so to say localized three-phase boundary. Ultrasonically sprayed corrosion resistant TiC-based sublayer was used as a support material on anode, whereas magnetron sputtered nanostructured etched nitrogenated carbon (CNx) served the same role on cathode. By using this configuration, we were able to significantly decrease the amount of noble metals (to thickness of just tens of nanometers), while keeping the performance comparable to that of average state-of-the-art catalysts. Complex characterization of prepared supported catalysts includes in-cell performance and durability tests, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Our research proves that magnetron sputtering is a suitable method for thin-film deposition of electrocatalysts. Tested set-up of thin-film supported anode and cathode catalysts with combined loading of just 120 ug.cm⁻² yields remarkable values of specific current. Described approach of thin-film low-loading catalyst deposition might be relevant when noble metal reduction is the topmost priority.

Keywords: hydrogen economy, low-loading catalyst, magnetron sputtering, proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Anjula Negi, Sanjay Gupta

Abstract:

Paradigms studied inform inadequacies of financial resources, be it to finance metro rails for construction or to meet operational revenues or to derive profits in the long term. Funding sustainability is far and wide for much-needed public transport modes, like urban rail or metro rails, to be successfully operated. India embarks upon a sustainable transport journey and has proposed metro rail systems countrywide. As an emerging economic leader, its fiscal constraints are paramount, and the land value capture (LVC) mechanism provides necessary support and innovation toward development. India’s metro rail policy promotes multiple methods of financing, including private-sector investments and public-private-partnership. The critical question that remains to be addressed is what factors can make such mechanisms work. Globally, urban rail is a revolution noted by many researchers as future mobility. Researchers in this study deep dive by way of literature review and empirical assessments into factors that can lead to the adoption of LVC mechanisms. It is understood that the adoption of LVC methods is in the nascent stages in India. Research posits numerous challenges being faced by metro rail agencies in raising funding and for incremental value capture. A few issues pertaining to land-based financing, inter alia: are long-term financing, inter-institutional coordination, economic/ market suitability, dedicated metro funds, land ownership issues, piecemeal approach to real estate development, property development legal frameworks, etc. The question under probe is what are the parameters that can lead to success in the adoption of land value capture (LVC) as a financing mechanism. This research provides insights into key parameters crucial to the adoption of LVC in the context of Indian metro rails. Researchers have studied current forms of LVC mechanisms at various metro rails of the country. This study is significant as little research is available on the adoption of LVC, which is applicable to the Indian context. Transit agencies, State Government, Urban Local Bodies, Policy makers and think tanks, Academia, Developers, Funders, Researchers and Multi-lateral agencies may benefit from this research to take ahead LVC mechanisms in practice. The study deems it imperative to explore and understand key parameters that impact the adoption of LVC. Extensive literature review and ratification by experts working in the metro rails arena were undertaken to arrive at parameters for the study. Stakeholder consultations in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) process were undertaken for principal component extraction. 43 seasoned and specialized experts participated in a semi-structured questionnaire to scale the maximum likelihood on each parameter, represented by various types of stakeholders. Empirical data was collected on chosen eighteen parameters, and significant correlation was extracted for output descriptives and inferential statistics. Study findings reveal these principal components as institutional governance framework, spatial planning features, legal frameworks, funding sustainability features and fiscal policy measures. In particular, funding sustainability features highlight sub-variables of beneficiaries to pay and use of multiple revenue options towards success in LVC adoption. Researchers recommend incorporation of these variables during early stage in design and project structuring for success in adoption of LVC. In turn leading to improvements in revenue sustainability of a public transport asset and help in undertaking informed transport policy decisions.

Keywords: Exploratory factor analysis, land value capture mechanism, financing metro rails, revenue sustainability, transport policy

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Pazandeh, Monir Doudi, Sona Rostampour Yasouri

Abstract:

—Results The prudent administration of antibiotics aims to avoid the side effects and the microbes' resistance to antibiotics. An approach developing methods of local administration of antibiotics is especially required for localized infections caused by bacterial colonization of medical devices or implant materials. Among the wide variety of materials used as drug delivery systems, bioactive glasses (BG) have large utilization in regenerative medicine . firstly, the production of bioactive glass/nickel oxide/tin dioxide nanocomposite using sol-gel method, and then, the controlled release of imipenem from the double metal oxide/bioactive glass nanocomposite, and finally, the investigation of the antibacterial property of the nanocomposite. against a number of implant-related infectious agents. In this study, BG/SnO2 and BG/NiO single systema with different metal oxide present and BG/NiO/SnO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by sol-gel as drug carriers for tetracycline and imepinem. These two antibiotics were widely used for osteomyelitis because of its favorable penetration and bactericidal effect on all the probable osteomyelitis pathogens. The antibacterial activity of synthesized samples were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as bacteria model using disk diffusion method. The BG modification using metal oxides results to antibacterial property of samples containing metal oxide with highest efficiency for nancomposite. bioactivity of all samples was assessed by determining the surface morphology, structural and composition changes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, respectively, after soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 28 days. The hydroxyapatite formation was clearly observed as a bioactivity measurement. Then, BG nanocomposite sample was loaded using two antibiotics, separately and their release profiles were studied. The BG nancomposite sample was shown the slow and continuous drug releasing for a period of 72 hours which is desirable for a drug delivery system. The loaded antibiotic nanocomposite sample retaining antibacterial property and showing inactivation effect against bacteria under test. The modified bioactive glass forming hydroxyapatite with controlled release drug and effective against bacterial infections can be introduced as scaffolds for bone implants after clinical trials for biomedical applications . Considering the formation of biofilm by infectious bacteria after sticking on the surfaces of implants, medical devices, etc. Also, considering the complications of traditional methods, solving the problems caused by the above-mentioned microorganisms in technical and biomedical industries was one of the necessities of this research.

Keywords: antibacterial, bioglass, drug delivery system, sol- gel

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Authors: Vladimir Messerle, Alfred Mosse, Alexandr Ustimenko, Oleg Lavrichshev

Abstract:

Hygiene and sanitary study of typical medical-biological waste made in Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and other countries show that their risk to the environment is much higher than that of most chemical wastes. For example, toxicity of solid waste (SW) containing cytotoxic drugs and antibiotics is comparable to toxicity of radioactive waste of high and medium level activity. This report presents the results of the thermodynamic analysis of thermal processing of SW and experiments at the developed plasma unit for SW processing. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the maximum yield of the synthesis gas at plasma gasification of SW in air and steam mediums is achieved at a temperature of 1600K. At the air plasma gasification of SW high-calorific synthesis gas with a concentration of 82.4% (СO – 31.7%, H2 – 50.7%) can be obtained, and at the steam plasma gasification – with a concentration of 94.5% (СO – 33.6%, H2 – 60.9%). Specific heat of combustion of the synthesis gas produced by air gasification amounts to 14267 kJ/kg, while by steam gasification - 19414 kJ/kg. At the optimal temperature (1600 K), the specific power consumption for air gasification of SW constitutes 1.92 kWh/kg, while for steam gasification - 2.44 kWh/kg. Experimental study was carried out in a plasma reactor. This is device of periodic action. The arc plasma torch of 70 kW electric power is used for SW processing. Consumption of SW was 30 kg/h. Flow of plasma-forming air was 12 kg/h. Under the influence of air plasma flame weight average temperature in the chamber reaches 1800 K. Gaseous products are taken out of the reactor into the flue gas cooling unit, and the condensed products accumulate in the slag formation zone. The cooled gaseous products enter the gas purification unit, after which via gas sampling system is supplied to the analyzer. Ventilation system provides a negative pressure in the reactor up to 10 mm of water column. Condensed products of SW processing are removed from the reactor after its stopping. By the results of experiments on SW plasma gasification the reactor operating conditions were determined, the exhaust gas analysis was performed and the residual carbon content in the slag was determined. Gas analysis showed the following composition of the gas at the exit of gas purification unit, (vol.%): СO – 26.5, H2 – 44.6, N2–28.9. The total concentration of the syngas was 71.1%, which agreed well with the thermodynamic calculations. The discrepancy between experiment and calculation by the yield of the target syngas did not exceed 16%. Specific power consumption for SW gasification in the plasma reactor according to the results of experiments amounted to 2.25 kWh/kg of working substance. No harmful impurities were found in both gas and condensed products of SW plasma gasification. Comparison of experimental results and calculations showed good agreement. Acknowledgement—This work was supported by Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Agreement on grant No. 14.607.21.0118, project RFMEF160715X0118).

Keywords: coal, efficiency, ignition, numerical modeling, plasma-fuel system, plasma generator

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Authors: Moletsane Makgotso, Mogakabe Elijah, Marrengane Zinhle

Abstract:

South Africa’s water resources quality is becoming more and more weakened by eutrophication, which deteriorates its usability. Thirty five percent of fresh water resources are eutrophic to hypertrophic, including grossly-enriched reservoirs that go beyond the globally-accepted definition of hypertrophy. Failing infrastructure adds to the problem of contaminated urban runoff which encompasses an important fraction of flows to inland reservoirs, particularly in the non-coastal, economic heartland of the country. Eutrophication threatens the provision of potable and irrigation water in the country because of the dependence on fresh water resources. Eutrophicated water reservoirs increase water treatment costs, leads to unsuitability for recreational purposes and health risks to human and animal livelihood due to algal proliferation. Eutrophication is caused by high concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen in water bodies. In South Africa, Microsystis and Anabaena are widely distributed cyanobacteria, with Microcystis being the most dominant bloom-forming cyanobacterial species associated with toxin production. Two impoundments were selected, namely the Klipvoor and Leeukraal dams as they are mainly used for fishing, recreational, agricultural and to some extent, potable water purposes. The total oxidized nitrogen and total phosphorus concentration were determined as causative nutrients for eutrophication. Chlorophyll a and total microcystins, as well as the identification of cyanobacteria was conducted as indicators of cyanobacterial infestation. The orthophosphate concentration was determined by subjecting the samples to digestion and filtration followed by spectrophotometric analysis of total phosphates and dissolved phosphates using Aquakem kits. The total oxidized nitrates analysis was conducted by initially conducting filtration followed by spectrophotometric analysis. Chlorophyll a was quantified spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance of before and after acidification. Microcystins were detected using the Quantiplate Microcystin Kit, as well as microscopic identification of cyanobacterial species. The Klipvoor dam was found to be hypertrophic throughout the study period as the mean Chlorophyll a concentration was 269.4µg/l which exceeds the mean value for the hypertrophic state. The mean Total Phosphorus concentration was >0.130mg/l, and the total microcystin concentration was > 2.5µg/l throughout the study. The most predominant algal species were found to be the Microcystis. The Leeukraal dam was found to be mesotrophic with the potential of it becoming eutrophic as the mean concentration for chlorophyll a was 18.49 µg/l with the mean Total Phosphorus > 0.130mg/l and the Total Microcystin concentration < 0.16µg/l. The cyanobacterial species identified in Leeukraal have been classified as those that do not pose a potential risk to any impoundment. Microcystis was present throughout the sampling period and dominant during the warmer seasons. The high nutrient concentrations led to the dominance of Microcystis that resulted in high levels of microcystins rendering the impoundments, particularly Klipvoor undesirable for utilisation.

Keywords: nitrogen, phosphorus, cyanobacteria, microcystins

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar Mishra, Sanjeeva Nayaka, Dalip Kumar Upreti

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Our nature exhibited presence of a number of unique plants which can be used as indicator of environmental condition of particular place. Lichens are unique plant which has an ability to absorb not only organic, inorganic and metaloties but also absorb radioactive nuclide substances present in the environment. In the present study pyrenocarpous lichens will used as indicator of good forest health in a particular place. The Pyrenocarpous lichens are simple crust forming with black dot like perithecia have few characters for their taxonomical segregation as compared to their foliose and fruticose brethrean. The thallus colour and nature, presence and absence of hypothallus are only few characters of thallus are used to segregate the pyrenocarpous taxa. The fruiting bodies of pyrenolichens i.e. ascocarps are perithecia. The perithecia and the contents found within them posses many important criteria for the segregation of pyrenocarpous lichen taxa. The ascocarp morphology, ascocarp arrangement, the perithecial wall, ascocarp shape and colour, ostiole shape and position, ostiole colour, ascocarp anatomy including type of paraphyses, asci shape and size, ascospores septation, ascospores wall and periphyses are the valuable charcters used for segregation of different pyrenocarpous lichen taxa. India is represented by the occurrence of the 350 species of 44 genera and eleven families. Among the different genera Pyrenula is dominant with 82 species followed by the Porina with 70 species. Recently, systematic of the pyrenocarpous lichens have been revised by American and European lichenologists using phylogenetic methods. Still the taxonomy of pyrenocarpous lichens is in flux and information generated after the completion of this study will play vital role in settlement of the taxonomy of this peculiar group of lichens worldwide. The Indian Himalayan region exhibit rich diversity of pyrenocarpous lichens in India. The western Himalayan region has luxuriance of pyrenocarpous lichens due to its unique topography and climate condition. However, the eastern Himalayan region has rich diversity of pyrenocarpous lichens due to its warmer and moist climate condition. The rich moist and warmer climate in eastern Himalayan region supports forest with dominance of evergreen tree vegetation. The pyrenocarpous lichens communities are good indicator of young and regenerated forest type. The rich diversity of lichens clearly indicates that moist of the forest within the eastern Himalayan region has good health of forest. Due to fast pace of urbanization and other developmental activities will defiantly have adverse effects on the diversity and distribution of pyrenocarpous lichens in different forest type and the present distribution pattern will act as baseline data for carried out future biomonitoring studies in the area.

Keywords: lichen diversity, indicator species, environmental factors, pyrenocarpous

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Authors: Giovana Vesentini, Fernanda Piculo, Gabriela Marini, Debora Damasceno, Angelica Barbosa, Selma Martheus, Marilza Rudge

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Problem statement: Skeletal muscle is highly adaptable, muscle fiber composition and size can respond to a variety of stimuli, such physiologic, as pregnancy, and metabolic abnormalities, as Diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to analyze the effects of pregnancy-associated diabetes on the rectus abdominis muscle (RA), and to compare this changes in rats and women. Methods: Female Wistar rats were maintained under controlled conditions and distributed in Pregnant (P) and Long-term mild pregnant diabetic (LTMd) (n=3 r/group). Diabetes in rats was induced by streptozotocin (100mg/Kg, sc) on the first day of life, for a hyperglycemic state between 120-300 mg/dL in adult life. Female rats were mated overnight, at day 21 of pregnancy were anesthetized, and killed for the harvesting of maternal RA. Pregnant women who attended the Diabetes Prenatal Care Clinic of Botucatu Medical School were distributed in Pregnant non-diabetic (Pnd) and Gestational Diabetic (GDM) (n=3 w/group). The diagnosis of GDM was established according to ADA’s criteria (2016). The harvesting of RA was during the cesarean section. Transversal cross-sections of the RA of both women and rats were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. All procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Experiments of the Botucatu Medical School (Protocol Number 1003/2013) and by the Botucatu Medical School Ethical Committee for Human Research in Medical Sciences (CAAE: 41570815.0.0000.5411). Results: The photomicrographs of the RA of rats revealed disorganized Z lines, thinning sarcomeres, and a usual quantity of intermyofibrillar mitochondria in the P group. The LTMd group showed swollen sarcoplasmic reticulum, dilated T tubes and areas with sarcomere disruption. The ultrastructural analysis of Pnd non-diabetic women in the RA showed well-organized myofibrils forming intact sarcomeres, organized Z lines and a normal distribution of intermyofibrillar mitochondria. The GDM group revealed increase in intermyofibrillar mitochondria, areas with sarcomere disruption and increased lipid droplets. Conclusion: Pregnancy and diabetes induce adaptations in the ultrastructure of the rectus abdominis muscle for both women and rats, changing the architectural design of these tissues. However, in rats these changes are more severe maybe because, besides the high blood glucose levels, the quadrupedal animal may suffer an excessive mechanical tension during pregnancy by gravity. Probably, these findings may suggest that these alterations are a risk factor that contributes to the development of muscle dysfunction in women with GDM and may motivate treatment strategies in these patients.

Keywords: gestational diabetes, muscle dysfunction, pregnancy, rectus abdominis

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Neha Farid

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Due to the abuse of antimicrobial medications in animal feed, the occurrence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens in foods is currently a growing public health concern on a global scale. MDR infections have the potential to penetrate the food chain by posing a serious risk to both consumers and animals. Food pathogens are those biological agents that have the tendency to cause pathogenicity in the host body upon ingestion. The major reservoirs of foodborne pathogens include food-producing fauna like cows, pigs, goats, sheep, deer, etc. The intestines of these animals are highly condensed with several different types of food pathogens. Bacterial food pathogens are the main cause of foodborne disease in humans; almost 66% of the reported cases of food illness in a year are caused by the infestation of bacterial food pathogens. When ingested, these pathogens reproduce and survive or form different kinds of toxins inside host cells causing severe infections. The genus Listeria consists of gram-positive, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria. The disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes is listeriosis or gastroenteritis, which induces fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea in the affected body. Campylobacter jejuni is a gram-negative, curved-rod-shaped bacteria causing foodborne illness. The major source of Campylobacter jejuni is livestock and poultry; particularly, chicken is highly colonized with Campylobacter jejuni. Serious public health concerns include the widespread growth of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and the slowing in the discovery of new classes of medicines. The objective of this study is to provide some potential antibacterial activities with certain broad-range antibiotics and our desired bacteriocins, i.e., Enterococcus faecium from specific strains preventing microbial contamination pathways in order to safeguard the food by lowering food deterioration, contamination, and foodborne illnesses. The food pathogens were isolated from various sources of dairy products and meat samples. The isolates were tested for the presence of Listeria and Campylobacter by gram staining and biochemical testing. They were further sub-cultured on selective media enriched with the growth supplements for Listeria and Campylobacter. All six strains of Listeria and Campylobacter were tested against ten antibiotics. Campylobacter strains showed resistance against all the antibiotics, whereas Listeria was found to be resistant only against Nalidixic Acid and Erythromycin. Further, the strains were tested against the two bacteriocins isolated from Enterococcus faecium. It was found that bacteriocins showed better antimicrobial activity against food pathogens. They can be used as a potential antimicrobial for food preservation. Thus, the study concluded that natural antimicrobials could be used as alternatives to synthetic antimicrobials to overcome the problem of food spoilage and severe food diseases.

Keywords: food pathogens, listeria, campylobacter, antibiotics, bacteriocins

Procedia PDF Downloads 42

Authors: Nikolai A. Khlebnikov, Vladimir N. Krasilnikov, Evgenii V. Polyakov, Anastasia A. Maltceva

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Carbon materials with advanced surfaces are widely used both in modern industry and in environmental protection. The physical-chemical nature of these materials is determined by the morphology of primary atomic and molecular carbon structures, which are the basis for synthesizing the following materials: zero-dimensional (fullerenes), one-dimensional (fiber, tubes), two-dimensional (graphene) carbon nanostructures, three-dimensional (multi-layer graphene, graphite, foams) with unique physical-chemical and functional properties. Experience shows that the microscopic morphological level is the basis for the creation of the next mesoscopic morphological level. The dependence of the morphology on the chemical way and process prehistory (crystallization, colloids formation, liquid crystal state and other) is the peculiarity of the last called level. These factors determine the consumer properties of carbon materials, such as specific surface area, porosity, chemical resistance in corrosive environments, catalytic and adsorption activities. Based on the developed ideology of thin precursor synthesis, the authors discuss one of the approaches of the porosity control of carbon-containing materials with a given aggregates morphology. The low-temperature thermolysis of precursors in a gas environment of a given composition is the basis of the above-mentioned idea. The processes of carbothermic precursor synthesis of two different compounds: tungsten carbide WC:nC and zinc oxide ZnO:nC containing an impurity phase in the form of free carbon were selected as subjects of the research. In the first case, the transition metal (tungsten) forming carbides was the object of the synthesis. In the second case, there was selected zinc that does not form carbides. The synthesis of both kinds of transition metals compounds was conducted by the method of precursor carbothermic synthesis from the organic solution. ZnO:nC composites were obtained by thermolysis of succinate Zn(OO(CH2)2OO), formate glycolate Zn(HCOO)(OCH2CH2O)1/2, glycerolate Zn(OCH2CHOCH2OH), and tartrate Zn(OOCCH(OH)CH(OH)COO). WC:nC composite was synthesized from ammonium paratungstate and glycerol. In all cases, carbon structures that are specific for diamond- like carbon forms appeared on the surface of WC and ZnO particles after the heat treatment. Tungsten carbide and zinc oxide were removed from the composites by selective chemical dissolution preserving the amorphous carbon phase. This work presents the results of investigating WC:nC and ZnO:nC composites and carbon nanopowders with tubular, tape, plate and onion morphologies of aggregates that are separated by chemical dissolution of WC and ZnO from the composites by the following methods: SEM, TEM, XPA, Raman spectroscopy, and BET. The connection between the carbon morphology under the conditions of synthesis and chemical nature of the precursor and the possibility of regulation of the morphology with the specific surface area up to 1700-2000 m2/g of carbon-structured materials are discussed.

Keywords: carbon morphology, composite materials, precursor synthesis, tungsten carbide, zinc oxide

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Authors: Kalaya Sribuddhachart, Mayuree Pumipaiboon, Mayuva Youngsabanant-Areekijseree

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The ultrastructure of 20 species of pheasant eggshells in Thailand, (Simese Fireback, Lophura diardi), (Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera), (Kalij Pheasant, Lophura leucomelanos crawfurdii), (Kalij Pheasant, Lophura leucomelanos lineata), (Red Junglefowl, Gallus gallus spadiceus), (Crested Fireback, Lophura ignita rufa), (Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus), (Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus), (Grey Peacock Pheasant, Polyplectron bicalcaratum bicalcaratum), (Lesser Bornean Fireback, Lophura ignita ignita), (Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius), (Hume's Pheasant, Syrmaticus humiae humiae), (Himalayan Monal, Lophophorus impejanus), Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus, (Ring-Neck Pheasant, Phasianus sp.), (Reeves’s Pheasant, Syrmaticus reevesi), (Polish Chicken, Gallus sp.), (Brahma Chicken, Gallus sp.), (Yellow Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus luteus), and (Lady Amhersts Pheasant, Chrysolophus amherstiae) were studied by Secondary electron imaging (SEI) and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) detectors of scanning electron microscope. Generally, all pheasant eggshells showed 3 layers of cuticle, palisade, and mammillary. The total thickness was ranging from 190.28±5.94-838.96±16.31µm. The palisade layer is the most thickness layer following by mammillary and cuticle layers. The palisade layer in all pheasant eggshells consisted of numerous vesicle holes that were firmly forming as network thorough the layer. The vesicle holes in all pheasant eggshells had difference porosity ranging from 0.44±0.11-0.23±0.05 µm. While the mammillary layer was the most compact layer with a variable shape (broad-base V and U-shape) connect to shell membrane. Elemental analysis by of 20 specie eggshells showed 9 apparent elements including carbon (C), oxygen (O), calcium (Ca), phosphorous (P), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu) at the percentage of 28.90- 8.33%, 60.64-27.61%, 55.30-14.49%, 1.97-0.03%, 0.08-0.03%, 0.50-0.16%, 0.30-0.04%, 0.06-0.02%, and 2.67-1.73%, respectively. It was found that Ca, C, and O showed highest elemental compositions, which essential for pheasant embryonic development, mainly presented as composited structure of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) more than 97%. Meanwhile, Mg, S, Si, Al, and P were major inorganic constituents of the eggshells which directly related to an increase of the shell hardness. Finally, the percentage of heavy metal copper (Cu) has been observed in 4 eggshell species. There are Golden Pheasant (2.67±0.16%), Indian Peafowl (2.61±0.13%), Green Peafowl (1.97±0.74%), and Silver Pheasant (1.73±0.11%), respectively. A non-significant difference was found in the percentages of 9 elements in all pheasant eggshells. This study is useful to provide the information of biology and taxonomic of pheasant study in Thailand for conservation.

Keywords: pheasants eggshells, secondary electron imaging (SEI) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), morphology, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 210