Search results for: minimum bactericidal concentration

Authors: Himanshi Rathore, Shalinee Prasad, Satyawati Sharma, Ajay Singh Yadav

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Medicinal mushrooms are acceptable all over the world not only because they have a unique flavour and texture but also due to the presence of great nutritional, nutraceutical and functional properties. High content of physiologically active substances like ergosterol, vitamin D, phenolic compounds, triterpenoids and steroids make these medicinal mushrooms a key source of nutraceuticals. Calocybe indica is a popular medicinal mushroom of India which is known to possess high amount of secondary metabolites including ergosterol (vitamin D2). The ergosterol gets converted to vitamin D in the presence of UV rays by a photochemical reaction. In lieu of the above facts the present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of UV-B light treatment on the vitamin D2 concentration, phenolic content and non volatile compounds in Calocybe indica. For this study, UV-B light source of intensity 5.3w/m2 was used to expose mushrooms for the time period of 0min, 30min, 60min and 90 min. It was found that the vitamin D2 concentration increased with the time duration i.e. 85±0.15 (0 min), 182±1.6 (30 min), 187±0.4 (60 min) and 182 ±0.8 (90 min) μg/g (dry weight). Highest concentration of vitamin D2 was found at 60 min duration. No discoloration in sliced mushrooms was observed during the exposure time. The results revealed that the exposure of mushrooms for a minimum of 30 min duration under UVB source can be a novel, convenient and cheapest way to increase the vitamin D content in mushrooms. This can be one of richest source to fulfil the recommended dietary allowances of vitamin D in our daily diets. The paper provides information on the enhancement of vitamin D content by UV lights and its effects on the non volatile (soluble sugars, free amino acids, 5′-nucleotides and phenolics) compounds will also be presented.

Keywords: Calocybe indica, ergosterol, nutraceutical, phenolics

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Authors: A. Heshmati, M. Y Alikhani, M. T. Godarzi, M. R. Sadeghimanesh

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Herbal essential oil and extracts are a good source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobial compounds. Hypericum is one of the potential sources of these compounds. In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of essential oil and aqueous, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and acetone extract of Hypericum scabrum was assessed. Flowers of Hypericum scabrum were collected from the surrounding mountains of Hamadan province and after drying in the shade, the essential oil of the plant was extracted by Clevenger and water, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and acetone extract was obtained by maceration method. Essential oil compounds were identified using the GC-Mass. The Folin-Ciocalteau and aluminum chloride (AlCl₃) colorimetric method was used to measure the amount of phenolic acid and flavonoids, respectively. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH and FRAP. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bacterial/fungicide concentration (MBC/MFC) of essential oil and extracts were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans. The essential oil yield of was 0.35%, the lowest and highest extract yield was related to ethyl acetate and water extract. The most component of essential oil was α-Pinene (46.35%). The methanol extracts had the highest phenolic acid (95.65 ± 4.72 µg galic acid equivalent/g dry plant) and flavonoids (25.39 ± 2.73 µg quercetin equivalent/g dry plant). The percentage of DPPH radical inhibition showed positive correlation with concentrations of essential oil or extract. The methanol and ethanol extract had the highest DDPH radical inhibitory. Essential oil and extracts of Hypericum had antimicrobial activity against the microorganisms studied in this research. The MIC and MBC values for essential oils were in the range of 25-25.6 and 25-50 μg/mL, respectively. For the extracts, these values were 1.5625-100 and 3.125-100 μg/mL, respectively. Methanol extracts had the highest antimicrobial activity. Essential oil and extract of Hypericum scabrum, especially methanol extract, have proper antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, and it can be used to control the oxidation and inhibit the growth of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. In addition, it can be used as a substitute for synthetic antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds.

Keywords: antimicrobial, antioxidant, extract, hypericum

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Authors: Saeid Jafari, Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh, Randy W. Worobo, Kitipong Assatarakul

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In this study, the extraction of cocoa shell powder (CSP) was optimized, and the optimized extracts were spray-dried for encapsulation purposes. Temperature (45-65 ◦C), extraction time (30–60 min), and ethanol concentration (60–100%) were the extraction parameters. The response surface methodology analysis revealed that the model was significant (p ≤ 0.05) in interactions between all variables (total phenolic compound, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity as measured by 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP assays), with a lack of fit test for the model being insignificant (p > 0.05). Temperature (55 ◦C), time (45 min), and ethanol concentration (60%) were found to be the optimal extraction conditions. For spray-drying encapsulation, some quality metrics (e.g., water solubility, water activity) were insignificant (p > 0.05). The microcapsules were found to be spherical in shape using a scanning electron microscope. Thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric measurements of the microcapsules revealed nearly identical results. The gum arabic + maltodextrin microcapsule (GMM) showed potential antibacterial (zone of inhibition: 11.50 mm; lower minimum inhibitory concentration: 1.50 mg/mL) and antioxidant (DPPH: 1063 mM trolox/100g dry wt.) activities (p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, the microcapsules in this study, particularly GMM, are promising antioxidant and antibacterial agents to be fortified as functional food ingredients for the production of nutraceutical foods with health-promoting properties.

Keywords: functional foods, coco shell powder, antioxidant activity, encapsulation, extraction

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Authors: Hasan Demiroğlu, Uğur Avcıbaşı, Serhan Sakarya, Perihan Ünak

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Implanted devices are progressively practiced in innovative medicine to relieve pain or improve a compromised function. Implant-associated infections represent an emerging complication, caused by organisms which adhere to the implant surface and grow embedded in a protective extracellular polymeric matrix, known as a biofilm. In addition, the microorganisms within biofilms enter a stationary growth phase and become phenotypically resistant to most antimicrobials, frequently causing treatment failure. In such cases, surgical removal of the implant is often required, causing high morbidity and substantial healthcare costs. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common pathogen causing implant-associated infections. Successful treatment of these infections includes early surgical intervention and antimicrobial treatment with bactericidal drugs that also act on the surface-adhering microorganisms. Linezolid is a promising anti-microbial with ant-staphylococcal activity, used for the treatment of MRSA infections. Linezolid is a synthetic antimicrobial and member of oxazolidinoni group, with a bacteriostatic or bactericidal dose-dependent antimicrobial mechanism against gram-positive bacteria. Intensive use of antibiotics, have emerged multi-resistant organisms over the years and major problems have begun to be experienced in the treatment of infections occurred with them. While new drugs have been developed worldwide, on the other hand infections formed with microorganisms which gained resistance against these drugs were reported and the scale of the problem increases gradually. Scientific studies about the production of bacterial biofilm increased in recent years. For this purpose, we investigated the activity of Lin, Lin radiolabeled with 131I (131I-Lin) and cold iodinated Lin (127I-Lin) against clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus DSM 4910 in biofilm. In the first stage, radio and cold labeling studies were performed. Quality-control studies of Lin and iodo (radio and cold) Lin derivatives were carried out by using TLC (Thin Layer Radiochromatography) and HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography). In this context, it was found that the binding yield was obtained to be about 86±2 % for 131I-Lin. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Lin, 127I-Lin and 131I-Lin for Staphylococcus aureus DSM 4910 strain were found to be 1µg/mL. In time-kill studies of Lin, 127I-Lin and 131I-Lin were producing ≥ 3 log10 decreases in viable counts (cfu/ml) within 6 h at 2 and 4 fold of MIC respectively. No viable bacteria were observed within the 24 h of the experiments. Biofilm eradication of S. aureus started with 64 µg/mL of Lin, 127I-Lin and 131I-Lin, and OD630 was 0.507±0.0.092, 0.589±0.058 and 0.266±0.047, respectively. The media control of biofilm producing Staphylococcus was 1.675±0,01 (OD630). 131I and 127I did not have any effects on biofilms. Lin and 127I-Lin were found less effectively than 131I-Lin at killing cells in biofilm and biofilm eradication. Our results demonstrate that the 131I-Lin have potent anti-biofilm activity against S. aureus compare to Lin, 127I-Lin and media control. This is suggested that, 131I may have harmful effect on biofilm structure.

Keywords: iodine-131, linezolid, radiolabeling, slime layer, Staphylococcus

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Authors: Balgabay Sadepovich Maikanov, Laura Tyulegenovna Auteleyeva, Seidenova Simbat Polatbekovna

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In this article reduced nutritional value of the rabbits’ meat at 1, 1 dimethylhydrazine experimental toxicosis is shown. The assay was performed on liquid chromatograph SHIMADZU LC-20 Prominence (Japan) with fluorometric and spectrophotometric detector. This research has revealed that samples of rabbit meat of the experimental group had significant differences from the control group:in amino acids concentration from 1.2% to 9.1%; vitamin concentration from 11.2% to 60.5%, macro – minerals concentration from 17.4% to 78.1% and saturated fatty acids concentration from 17,1% to 34.5%, respectively. The decrease in the chemical composition of rabbits’ meat at 1,1 dimethylhydrazine toxicosis may be due to changes in the internal processes associated with impaired metabolic homeostasis of animals.

Keywords: 1, 1-dimethylhydrazine, metabolic homeostasis, nutritional value, rabbit meat

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Authors: Sri Rahayu, M. Dwi Susan, Aris Soewondo, W. M. Agung Pramana

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Semen is an organic fluid (seminal plasma) that contain spermatozoa. Proteins are one of the major seminal plasma components that modulate sperm functionality, influence sperm capacitation and maintaining the stability of the membrane. Semen freezing is a procedure to preserve sperm cells. The process causes decrease in sperm viability due to temperature shock and oxidation stress. Oxidation stress is a disturbance on phosphorylation that increases ROS concentration, and it produces lipid peroxide in spermatozoa membrane resulted in high MDA (malondialdehyde) concentration. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of freezing on protein and MDA profile of bovine sperm cell and seminal plasma after freezing. Protein and MDA of sperm cell and seminal plasma were isolated from 10 sample. Protein profiles was analyzed by SDS PAGE with separating gel 12,5 %. The concentration of MDA was measured by spectrophotometer. The results of the research indicated that freezing of semen cause lost of the seminal plasma proteins with molecular with 20, 10, and 9 kDa. In addition, the result research showed that protein of the sperm (26, 10, 9, 7, and 6 kDa) had been lost. There were difference MDA concentration of seminal plasma and sperm cell were increase after freezing. MDA concentration of seminal plasma before and after freezing were 2.2 and 2.4 nmol, respectively. MDA concentration of sperm cell before and after freezing were 1,5 and 1.8 nmol, respectively. In conclusion, there were differences protein profiles of spermatozoa before and after semen freezing and freezing cause increasing of the MDA concentration.

Keywords: MDA, semen freezing, SDS PAGE, protein profile

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Authors: Muhammad Waqar Ashraf, Atiq A. Mian

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In the present study, accumulation of eight heavy metals, lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr)was determined in kidney, heart, liver and muscle tissues of Lethrinus miniatus fish caught from Arabian Gulf. Metal concentrations in all the samples were measured using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Analytical validation of data was carried out by applying the same digestion procedure to standard reference material (NIST-SRM 1577b bovine liver). Levels of lead (Pb) in the liver tissue (0.60µg/g) exceeded the limit set by European Commission (2005) at 0.30 µg/g. Zinc concentration in all tissue samples were below the maximum permissible limit (50 µg/g) as set by FAO. Maximum mean cadmium concentration was found 0.15 µg/g in the kidney tissues. Highest content of Mn in the studied tissues was seen in the kidney tissue (2.13 µg/g), whereas minimum was found in muscle tissue (0.87 µg/g). The present study led to the conclusion that muscle tissue is the least contaminated tissue in Lethrinus miniatus and consumption of organs should be avoided as much as possible.

Keywords: lethrinus miniatus, arabian gulf, heavy metals, atomic absorption spectroscopy

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Authors: Behnaz Mahdavi, Hamidreza Khodaei, Alireza Banitaba

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Conjugated Linoleic Acid is a group of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids with more than one double bond and a mixture of 28 isomers of Linoleic acid (C 18:2) and it is counted as one of the essential acids. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of CLA on some reproductive hormones in rams. In this study, six rams 3 to 4 years old with an average weight of 90 kg were selected. Rams were randomly divided into 3 groups and were treated by CLA treatment for 30 days. The first group (as a control group) did not receive CLA, The second group received 0.5 gr and the third group received 1 gram of CLA. The blood testing was done on rams every 15 days using a 20 ml syringe. Data analysis was performed by SAS software. Also mean comparison was done using Duncan's test method (p<0.05). Obtained results showed that the serum concentration of testosterone hormone was decreased numerically as well as the concentration of FSH hormone however the concentration of LH was increased. Also, the CLA had a significant effect on Leptin concentration. CLA in oral form can reduce the concentration of testosterone in rams.

Keywords: CLA, ram, testosterone, conjugated linoleic acid

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Authors: Patel P. Kailash, Patel M. Parimal

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An investigation was conducted to study the different concentration of coal fly ash solution on morphological and biochemical parameters of Helianthus annuus L. The seeds of Helianthus annuus L. were placed in petri dishes in three replicates and allowed to grow for 16 days in different concentration of coal fly ash solution. Shoot length, root length and fresh weight, dry weight declined with increasing concentration of fly ash. Semidiluted and concentrated fly ash solution exhibited significant reduction in chlorophyll, protein,sugar and ascorbic acid. Concentration dependent changes were observed in most of parameters. Diluted solution of fly ash revealed the maximum increase morphological and biochemical changes of seedlings.

Keywords: Helianthus annuus L., protein, sugar, chlorophyll, coal fly ash

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Authors: Robab Abdolkhani, Farzin Halabchi, Reza Safdari, Goli Arji

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Background and purpose: The quality of health record depends on the quality of its content and proper documentation. Minimum data set makes a standard method for collecting key data elements that make them easy to understand and enable comparison. The aim of this study was to determine the minimum data set for Iranian athletes’ health records. Methods: This study is an applied research of a descriptive comparative type which was carried out in 2013. By using internal and external forms of documentation, a checklist was created that included data elements of athletes health record and was subjected to debate in Delphi method by experts in the field of sports medicine and health information management. Results: From 97 elements which were subjected to discussion, 85 elements by more than 75 percent of the participants (as the main elements) and 12 elements by 50 to 75 percent of the participants (as the proposed elements) were agreed upon. In about 97 elements of the case, there was no significant difference between responses of alumni groups of sport pathology and sports medicine specialists with medical record, medical informatics and information management professionals. Conclusion: Minimum data set of Iranian athletes’ health record with four information categories including demographic information, health history, assessment and treatment plan was presented. The proposed model is available for manual and electronic medical records.

Keywords: Documentation, Health record, Minimum data set, Sports medicine

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Authors: Muhammad Waqar Ashraf

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In the present study, accumulation of eight heavy metals, lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr)was determined in kidney, heart, liver and muscle tissues of Lethrinus Miniatus fish caught from Arabian Gulf. Metal concentrations in all the samples were measured using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GF-AAS). Analytical validation of data was carried out by applying the same digestion procedure to standard reference material (NIST-SRM 1577b bovine liver). Levels of lead (Pb) in the liver tissue (0.60µg/g) exceeded the limit set by European Commission (2005) at 0.30 µg/g. Zinc concentration in all tissue samples were below the maximum permissible limit (50 µg/g) as set by FAO. Maximum mean cadmium concentration was found to be 0.15 µg/g in the kidney tissues. Highest content of Mn in the studied tissues was seen in the kidney tissue (2.13 µg/g), whereas minimum was found in muscle tissue (0.87 µg/g). The present study led to the conclusion that muscle tissue is the least contaminated tissue in Lethrinus Miniatus and consumption of organs should be avoided as much as possible.

Keywords: Arabian gulf, Lethrinus miniatus, heavy metals, atomic absorption spectroscopy

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Authors: Seyed Abbas Tabatabaei, Marjan Naderan Tahan, Arman Kadkhodai

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An efficient optimization approach, called feasible gate (FG), is developed to enhance the computation efficiency and solution quality of the previously developed highway alignment optimization (HAO) model. This approach seeks to realistically represent various user preferences and environmentally sensitive areas and consider them along with geometric design constraints in the optimization process. This is done by avoiding the generation of infeasible solutions that violate various constraints and thus focusing the search on the feasible solutions. The proposed method is simple, but improves significantly the model’s computation time and solution quality. On the other, highway alignment optimization through Feasible Gates, eventuates only economic model by considering minimum design constrains includes minimum reduce of circular curves, minimum length of vertical curves and road maximum gradient. This modelling can reduce passenger comfort and road safety. In most of highway optimization models, by adding penalty function for each constraint, final result handles to satisfy minimum constraint. In this paper, we want to propose a safety-function solution by introducing gift function.

Keywords: safety, highway geometry, optimization, alignment

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Authors: Marwa Fady Abozed, Hemat Abd El Latif, Fathy Serry, Lotfi El Sayed

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of intravenous nutrient(soluvit, vitalipid, aminoven infant, lipovenos) and bisolvon commonly used in neonatal intensive care units against biofilm cells of staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aerguinosa and klebseilla pneumonia as they are the most commonly isolated organisms and are biofilm producers. Also, the synergetic acticity of soluvit, heparin, bisolvon with antibiotics and its effect on minimum biofilm eradication concentration(MBEC) was tested. Intravenous nutrient and bromohexine are widely used in newborns. Numbers of viable cell count released from biofilm after treatment with intravenous nutrient and bromohexine were counted to compare the efficacy. The percentage of reduction in biofilm regrowth in case of using soluvit was 43-51% and 36-42 % for Gram positive and Gram negative respectively, on adding the vitalipid the percentage was 45-50 %and 37-41% for Gram positive and Gram negative respectively. While, in case of using bisolvon the percentage was 46-52% and 47-48% for Gram positive and Gram negative respectively. Adding lipovenos had a reduction percentage of 48-52% and 48-49% for Gram positive and Gram negative respectively. While, adding aminoven infant the percentage was 10-15% and 9-11% for Gram positive and Gram negative respectively. Adding soluvit, heparin and bisolvon to antibiotics had synergic effect. soluvit with ciprofloxacin has 8-16 times decrease than minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) for ciprofloxacin alone. While, by adding soluvit to vancomycin the MBEC reduced by 16 times than MBEC of vancomycin alone. In case of combination soluvit with cefotaxime, amikacin and gentamycin the reduction in MBEC was 16, 8 and 6-32 times respectively. The synergetic effect of adding heparin to ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, cefotaxime, amikacin and gentamicin was 2 times reduction with all except in case of gram negative the range of reduction was 0-2 with both gentamycin and ciprofloxacin. Bisolvon exihited synergetic effect with ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, cefotaxime, amikacin and gentamicin by 16, 32, 32, 8, 32-64 and 32 times decrease in MBEC respectively.

Keywords: biofilm, neonatal intensive care units, antibiofilm agents, intravenous nutrient

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Authors: Idris Adamu Idris

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The Nigerian construction industry is faced with problems of failure of structures/buildings. These failures are attributed to the use of low quality construction materials of which sand crate bock is inclusive. The research was conducted to determine the compressive strength of hollow sand crate block (6”) using locally made cement (Sokoto cement). Samples were tested for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days for mix ratio of 1:3 to 1:12. From the laboratory results obtained, a mix ratio of 1:10 corresponding to a minimum compressive strength of 1.9N/mm2 at 7 days should be adopted. This satisfies the BS 2028, 1364 1986 which specified a minimum compressive strength of 1.8N/mm2 at 7 days. At 28 days of curing, the same mix ratio meets the minimum BS standard of 2.5N/mm2 .

Keywords: buildings, cement, construction, hollow sand crate block, Nigeria

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Authors: Sylwia Baluta, Joanna Cabaj, Karol Malecha

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The evolution of biosensors was driven by the need for faster and more versatile analytical methods for application in important areas including clinical, diagnostics, food analysis or environmental monitoring, with minimum sample pretreatment. Rapid and sensitive neurotransmitters detection is extremely important in modern medicine. These compounds mainly occur in the brain and central nervous system of mammals. Any changes in the neurotransmitters concentration may lead to many diseases, such as Parkinson’s or schizophrenia. Classical techniques of chemical analysis, despite many advantages, do not permit to obtain immediate results or automatization of measurements.

Keywords: adrenaline, biosensor, dopamine, laccase, tyrosinase

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Authors: Zhenqiu Liu

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Visualizing the heterogeneity within cell-populations for single-cell RNA-seq data is crucial for studying the functional diversity of a cell. However, because of the high level of noises, outlier, and dropouts, it is very challenging to measure the cell-to-cell similarity (distance), visualize and cluster the data in a low-dimension. Minimum volume embedding (MVE) projects the data into a lower-dimensional space and is a promising tool for data visualization. However, it is computationally inefficient to solve a semi-definite programming (SDP) when the sample size is large. Therefore, it is not applicable to single-cell RNA-seq data with thousands of samples. In this paper, we develop an efficient algorithm with an accelerated proximal gradient method and visualize the single-cell RNA-seq data efficiently. We demonstrate that the proposed approach separates known subpopulations more accurately in single-cell data sets than other existing dimension reduction methods.

Keywords: single-cell RNA-seq, minimum volume embedding, visualization, accelerated proximal gradient method

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Authors: Yong-Il Lee, Do-Yeon Hwang, Won-Seog Jeong, Duckshin Park

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Recently, because of the high-speed trains forced ventilation, it is important to control the ventilation. The ventilation is for controlling various contaminants, temperature, and humidity. The high-speed train route is straight to a destination having a high speed. And there are many mountainous areas in Korea. So, tunnel rate is higher then other country. KTX HVAC block off the outdoor air, when entering tunnel. So the high tunnel rate is an effect of ventilation in the KTX cabin. It is important to reduction rate in CO2 concentration prediction. To meet the air quality of the public transport vehicles recommend standards, the KTX cabin of CO2 concentration should be managed. In this study, the concentration change was predicted by CO2 prediction simulation in route to be opened.

Keywords: CO2 prediction, KTX, ventilation, infrastructure and transportation engineering

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Authors: K. L. Kabemba, R. F. Sandenberg

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The usual way to desorb gold is by elution with a hot concentrated alkaline solution of sodium cyanide. The high temperature is necessary because the dielectric constant of water decreases with increasing temperature hence the electrostatic forces between charcoal and the gold cyanide complex decreases. High alkalinity and a high concentration of cyanide are necessary for gold desorption because both OH- and CN- ions are preferentially adsorbed. The rate of elution increases with increasing anion concentration but decreases with increasing cation concentration that means the rate of elution passes through a maximum as the concentration of the eluting salt (NaCN, for example) is increased. The anion that gives the best results, the cyanide ion, decomposes fairly rapidly at elevated temperatures (40% in 6 hours, 90% in 24 hours at 95°C).

Keywords: caustic, cyanide, gold, temperature

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Authors: Harold P. Pareja

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This paper answers the question whether the minimum age of criminal responsibility under the Republic Act No. 9344 (Juvenile Justice Act) as amended by Republic Act No. 10630 should be lowered to 15 years of age or not in the light of international standards and domestic concerns both of which will definitely elicit strong views. It also explores the specific provision on the minimum age of criminal responsibility under the Republic Act No. 9344 (Juvenile Justice Act) and traces the bases of such law by discussing its presented evidences and justifications as reflected in the records of proceedings in the law-making phase. On one hand, the paper discusses the impact of lowering the minimum age to the state of juvenile delinquencies and to the rate of rehabilitation for those CICL who have undergone the DSWD-supervised recovery programs. On the other hand, it presents its impact to the international community specifically to the Committee of the Rights of the Child and the UNICEF considering that the even the current minimum age set in RA 9344 is lower than the international standards. Document review and content analysis are the major research tools. Primary and secondary sources were used as references such as Philippine laws on juvenile justice and from the different states international think-tanks. The absence of reliable evidences on criminal capacity made the arguments in increasing the MACR in the harder position. Studies on criminal capacity vary from different countries and from practitioners in in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and forensics. Juvenile delinquency is mainly contributed by poverty and dysfunctional families. On the other hand, the science of the criminal mind specifically among children has not been established yet. Philippines have the legal obligations to be faithful to the CRC and other related international instruments for the juvenile justice and welfare system. Decreasing MACR does not only send wrong message to the international community but the Philippines is violating its own laws.

Keywords: juvenile justice, minimum age of responsibility (MAR), juvenile justice act of the Philippines, children in conflict with the law, international standards on juvenile justice

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Authors: A.Boularouk, F. Chouikh, M. Lamri, H. Moualkia, Y. Bouznit

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The principal aim of this study is to considerably reduce the resistivity of the SnO2 thin layers. In this order, we have doped tin oxide with aluminum and antimony incorporation with different atomic percentages (0 and 4%). All the pure and doped SnO2 films were grown by simple, flexible and cost-effective Automatic Spray Pyrolysis Method (ASPM) on glass substrates at a temperature of 350 °C. The microstructural, optical, morphological and electrical properties of the films have been studied. The XRD results demonstrate that all films have polycrystalline nature with a tetragonal rutile structure and exhibit the (200) preferential orientation. It has been observed that all the dopants are soluble in the SnO2 matrix without forming secondary phases. However, dopant introduction does not modify the film growth orientation. The crystallite size of the pure SnO2 film is about 36 nm. The films are highly transparent in the visible region with an average transmittance reaching up to 80% and it slightly reduces with increasing doping concentration (Al and Sb). The optical band gap value was evaluated between 3.60 eV and 3.75 eV as a function of doping. The SEM image reveals that all films are nanostructured, densely continuous, with good adhesion to the substrate. We note again that the surface morphology change with the type and concentration dopant. The minimum resistivity is 0.689*10-4, which is observed for SnO2 film doped 4% Al. This film shows better properties and is considered the best among all films. Finally, we concluded that the physical properties of the pure and doped SnO2 films grown on a glass substrate by ASPM strongly depend on the type and concentration dopant (Al and Sb) and have highly desirable optical and electrical properties and are promising materials for several applications.

Keywords: tin oxide, automatic spray, Al and Sb doped, transmittance, MEB, XRD and UV-VIS

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Authors: Anita Vidacs, Robert Rajko, Csaba Vagvolgyi, Judit Krisch

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With the optimization of a new disinfectant the number of tests could be decreased and the cost of processing too. Good sanitizers are eco-friendly and allow no resistance evolvement of bacteria. The essential oils (EOs) are natural antimicrobials, and most of them have the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status. In our study, the effect of the EOs cinnamon, marjoram, and thyme was investigated against mixed species bacterial biofilms of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas putida, and Staphylococcus aureus. The optimal concentration of EOs, disinfection time and level of pH were evaluated with the aid of Response Surface Box-Behnken Design (RSD) on 1 day and 7 days old biofilms on metal, plastic, and wood surfaces. The variable factors were in the range of 1-3 times of minimum bactericide concentration (MBC); 10-110 minutes acting time and 4.5- 7.5 pH. The optimized EO disinfectant was compared to industrial used chemicals (HC-DPE, Hypo). The natural based disinfectants were applicable; the acting time was below 30 minutes. EOs were able to eliminate the biofilm from the used surfaces except from wood. The disinfection effect of the EO based natural solutions was in most cases equivalent or better compared to chemical sanitizers used in food industry.

Keywords: biofilm, Box-Behnken design, disinfectant, essential oil

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Authors: M. Z. Abdul Rofiq Badril Rizal

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This research is aimed to know the improvement of students’ English writing skill by using brainstorming technique. The technique used in writing is able to help the students’ difficulties in generating ideas and to lead the students to arrange the ideas well as well as to focus on the topic developed in writing. The research method used is classroom action research. The data sources of the research are an English teacher who acts as an observer and the students of class X.MIA5 consist of 35 students. The test result and observation are collected as the data in this research. Based on the research result in cycle one, the percentage of students who reach minimum accomplishment criteria (MAC) is 76.31%. It shows that the cycle must be continued to cycle two because the aim of the research has not accomplished, all of the students’ scores have not reached MAC yet. After continuing the research to cycle two and the weaknesses are improved, the process of teaching and learning runs better. At the test which is conducted in the end of learning process in cycle two, all of the students reach the minimum score and above 76 based on the minimum accomplishment criteria. It means the research has been successful and the percentage of students who reach minimum accomplishment criteria is 100%. Therefore, the writer concludes that brainstorming technique is able to improve the students’ English writing skill at the tenth grade of SMAN 2 Jember.

Keywords: brainstorming technique, improving, writing skill, knowledge and innovation engineering

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Authors: Nassim Belkacem, Amina Azzam, Dalila Haouchine, Kahina Bennacer, Samira Soufit

Abstract:

Objective: To evaluate the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract along with the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of the aerial parts of Rosmarinus officinalis L. collected in the region of Bejaia (northern center of Algeria). Materials and methods: The polyphenols and flavonoids contents of the methanolic extract were measured. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using two methods: the ABTS method and DPPH assay. The antimicrobial activity was studied by the agar diffusion method against five bacterial strains (Three Gram positive strains and two Gram negative strains) and one fungus. Results: The total polyphenol and flavonoid content was about 43.8 mg gallic acid equivalent per gram (GA Eq/g) and 7.04 mg quercetin equivalent per gram (Q Eq/g), respectively. In the ABTS assay, the rosemary extract has shown an inhibition of 98.02% at the concentration of 500ug/ml with a half maximal inhibitory concentration value (IC50) of 194.92ug/ml. The results of DPPH assay have shown that the rosemary extract has an inhibition of 94.67 % with an IC50 value of 17.87ug/ml, which is lower than that of Butylhydroxyanisol (BHA) about 6.03ug/ml and ascorbic acid about 1.24μg/ml. The yield in essential oil of rosemary obtained by hydrodistillation was 1.42%. Based on the determination of the diameter of inhibition, different antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was revealed against the six tested microbes. Escherichia coli from the University Hospital (UH), Streptococcus aureus (UH) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC have a minimum inhibitory concentration value (MIC) of 62.5µl/ml. However, Bacillus sp (UH) and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC have an MIC value of 125μl/ml. The inhibition zone against Candida sp was about 24 mm. The aromatograms showed that the essential oil of rosemary exercises an antifungal activity more important than the antibacterial one.

Keywords: Rosmarinus officinalis L., maceration, essential oil, antioxidant, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: Kevin Spencer G. Anglim, Zhenyu Zhang, Qingbin Gao

Abstract:

Reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) present a more environmentally-friendly approach to accessing space when compared to traditional launch vehicles that are discarded after each flight. This paper studies the recyclable nature of RLVs by presenting a solution method for determining minimum-fuel optimal trajectories using principles from optimal control theory and particle swarm optimization (PSO). This problem is formulated as a minimum-landing error powered descent problem where it is desired to move the RLV from a fixed set of initial conditions to three different sets of terminal conditions. However, unlike other powered descent studies, this paper considers the highly nonlinear effects caused by atmospheric drag, which are often ignored for studies on the Moon or on Mars. Rather than optimizing the controls directly, the throttle control is assumed to be bang-off-bang with a predetermined thrust direction for each phase of flight. The PSO method is verified in a one-dimensional comparison study, and it is then applied to the two-dimensional cases, the results of which are illustrated.

Keywords: minimum-fuel optimal trajectory, particle swarm optimization, reusable rocket, SpaceX

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Authors: M. T. Darzi, M. Shirkhodaei, M. R. Haj Seyed Hadi

Abstract:

The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of organic fertilizer and azotobacter and azospirillum bacteria on concentration and composition of essential oil in the coriander essential oil content, essential oil yield, linalool percent, alpha pinene percent and cymene percent in essential oil. The experiment was carried out as factorial experiment in the base of randomized complete blocks design with eight treatments and three replications at research field of Agriculture Company of Ran in Firouzkuh of iran in 2012. The factors were Vermicompost in four levels (0, 3, 6 and 9 ton/ha) and biofertilizer, mixture of Azotobacter chroococcum and Azospirillum lipoferum in two levels (non-inoculated and inoculated seeds). The present results have shown that vermicompost had significant effects on evaluated traits except linalool percent in essential oil, as the highest essential oil content, essential oil yield and alpha pinene percent in essential were obtained after applying 6 ton/ha vermicompost. The minimum cymene percent in essential oil were obtained after applying 6 ton/ha vermicompost. Biofertilizer also showed significant effects on essential oil yield only. The highest essential oil yield were obtained by using the biofertilizer (inoculated seeds).

Keywords: coriander, vermicompost, biofertilizer, essential oil

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Authors: Rory Anthony Hutagalung, Leonardus Widjaja

Abstract:

Microalgae Meyerella planktonica is a potential biofuel source because it can grow in bulk in either autotrophic or heterotrophic condition. However, the quantitative growth of this algal type is still low as it tends to precipitates on the bottom. Beside, the lipid concentration is still low when grown in autotrophic condition. In contrast, heterotrophic condition can enhance the lipid concentration. The combination of autotrophic condition and agitation treatment was conducted to increase the density of the culture. On the other hand, a heterotrophic condition was set up to raise the lipid production. A two-stage experiment was applied to increase the density at the first step and to increase the lipid concentration in the next step. The autotrophic condition resulted higher density but lower lipid concentration compared to heterotrophic one. The agitation treatment produced higher density in both autotrophic and heterotrophic conditions. The two-stage experiment managed to enhance the density during the autotrophic stage and the lipid concentration during the heterotrophic stage. The highest yield was performed by using 0.4% v/v glycerol as a carbon source (2.9±0.016 x 106 cells w/w) attained 7 days after the heterotrophic stage began. The lipid concentration was stable starting from day 7.

Keywords: agitation, glycerol, heterotrophic, lipid productivity, Meyerella planktonica

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Authors: B. Guezzen, M.A. Didi, B. Medjahed

Abstract:

A factorial design of experiments and a response surface methodology were implemented to investigate the liquid-liquid extraction process of zinc (II) from acetate medium using the 1-Butyl-imidazolium di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate [BIm⁺][D2EHP^-]. The optimization process of extraction parameters such as the initial pH effect (2.5, 4.5, and 6.6), ionic liquid concentration (1, 5.5, and 10 mM) and salt effect (0.01, 5, and 10 mM) was carried out using a three-level full factorial design (3³). The results of the factorial design demonstrate that all these factors are statistically significant, including the square effects of pH and ionic liquid concentration. The results showed that the order of significance: IL concentration > salt effect > initial pH. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showing high coefficient of determination (R² = 0.91) and low probability values (P < 0.05) signifies the validity of the predicted second-order quadratic model for Zn (II) extraction. The optimum conditions for the extraction of zinc (II) at the constant temperature (20 °C), initial Zn (II) concentration (1mM) and A/O ratio of unity were: initial pH (4.8), extractant concentration (9.9 mM), and NaCl concentration (8.2 mM). At the optimized condition, the metal ion could be quantitatively extracted.

Keywords: ionic liquid, response surface methodology, solvent extraction, zinc acetate

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Authors: Eva Bodi, Szilvia Veres, Farzaneh Garousi, Szilvia Varallay, Bela Kovacs

Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to examine whether increasing molybdenum (Mo) concentration affects on the growth and Mo concentration of maize and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv Arena PR) seedlings within laboratory conditions. In this experiment calcareous chernozem soil was used and Mo was supplemented into the soil as ammonium molybdate [(NH4)6Mo7O24.4H2O] in four different concentrations as follow: 0 (control), 30, 90 and 270 mg/kg. In this study we found that molybdenum in small amount (30 mg/kg) affects positively on growth of maize and sunflower seedlings, however, higher concentration of Mo reduces the dry weights of shoots and roots. In the case of maize the highest Mo treatment (270 mg/kg) and in sunflower 90 mg/kg treatment caused significant reduction in plant growth. In addition, we observed that molybdenum contents in the roots and shoots were very low in case of control soil but were significantly elevated with increasing concentration of Mo treatment. Only in case of sunflower the highest 270 mg/kg Mo treatment caused decrease in Mo concentration.

Keywords: dry weight, maize, molybdenum, sunflower

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Authors: Debajyoti Choudhuri, Ratan Kumar Giri, Shesadev Pradhan

Abstract:

The perturbed nonlinear Schrodinger equation involving the p-biharmonic and the p-Laplacian operators involving a real valued parameter and a continuous real valued potential function defined over the N- dimensional Euclidean space has been considered. By the variational technique, an existence result pertaining to a nontrivial solution to this non-linear partial differential equation has been proposed. Further, by the Concentration lemma, the concentration of solutions to the same problem defined on the set consisting of those elements where the potential function vanishes as the real parameter approaches to infinity has been addressed.

Keywords: p-Laplacian, p-biharmonic, elliptic PDEs, Concentration lemma, Sobolev space

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Authors: Seyed-Ahmad Shahidi, Salemeh Kazemzadeh, Mehdi Sharifi Soltani, Azade Ghorbani-HasanSaraei

Abstract:

The kinetics of colour changes of American Pokeweed extract, due to concentration by various heating methods was studied. Three different heating/evaporation processes were employed for production of American Pokeweed extract concentrate. The American Pokeweed extract was concentrated to a final 40 °Brix from an initial °Brix of 4 by microwave heating, rotary vacuum evaporator and evaporating at atmospheric pressure. The final American Pokeweed extract concentration of 40 °Brix was achieved in 188, 216 and 320 min by using microwave, rotary vacuum and atmospheric heating processes, respectively. The colour change during concentration processes was investigated. Total colour differences, Hunter L, a and b parameters were used to estimate the extent of colour loss. All Hunter colour parameters decreased with time. The zero-order, first-order and a combined kinetics model were applied to the changes in colour parameters. All models were found to describe the L, a and b-data adequately. Results indicated that variation in TCD followed both first-order and combined kinetics models. This model implied that the colour formation and pigment destruction occurred during concentration processes of American Pokeweed extract.

Keywords: American pokeweed, colour, concentration, kinetics

Procedia PDF Downloads 457