Search results for: proline accumulation

Authors: Adel A. S. Al-Gheethi, M. O. Abdul-Monem

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Cellulase-producing bacteria were isolated from wastewater and sludge, and identified as Bacillus megaterium 1295S, Sporosarcina pasteurii 586S, Bacillus subtilis 117S, Burkholderia cepacia 120S and Staphylococcus xylosus 222W. Among bacteria, B. megaterium 1295S was the best cellulase producer under the catabolic repression and was therefore selected to study the factors affecting cellulase production. The optimum conditions for cellulase production were observed in CMC-Yeast Extract (CYE) agar medium (pH 6.5) inoculated with 0.4 mL of bacterial culture and incubated at 45˚C for 72 h. Twenty amino acids were introduced into the production medium as nitrogen source to investigate the production of cellulase in presence of amino acids in comparison to peptone (as an organic source) and sodium nitrate (as an inorganic source). The results found that the maximum production of cellulase was recorded at 50 ppm when L-hydroxy proline, L-arginine, glycine, L-histidine, L-leucine, DL-isoleucine, DL-β-phenylalanine were used as sole nitrogen sources and at 100 ppm when DL-threonine, L-ornithine 12.29, L-proline were used as sole nitrogen sources. The highest biomass yield was found when glycine 5 ppm and DL-serine 100 ppm used as a nitrogen source.

Keywords: CMCase, Bacillus megaterium 1295S, factors, amino acids

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Authors: I. Muslih, A. Alkhalailah, A. Merdji

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Photovoltaic efficiency is highly affected by dust accumulation; the dust particles prevent direct solar radiation from reaching the panel surface; therefore a reduction in output power will occur. A study of dust and soiling accumulation effect on the output power of PV panels was conducted for different periods of time from May to October in three countries of the MENA region, Jordan, Egypt, and Algeria, under local weather conditions. This study leads to build a more realistic equation to estimate the power reduction as a function of time. This logarithmic function shows the high reduction in power in the first days with 10% reduction in output power compared to the reference system, where it reaches a steady state value after 60 days to reach a maximum value of 30%.

Keywords: dust effect, MENA, solar energy, PV system

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Farid Shekari

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Salicylic Acid (SA) is a plant hormone that improves some physiological responses of plants under stress conditions. Seeds of two desi type chickpea cultivars, viz., Kaka and Pirooz, primed with 250, 500, 750, and 1000 μM of SA and a group of seeds without any treating (as control) were evaluated under rain fed conditions. Seed priming in both cultivars led to higher efficiency compare to non-primed treatments. In general, seed priming with 500 and 750 μM of SA had appropriate effects; however the cultivars responses were different in this regard. Kaka showed better performance both in primed and non-primed seed than Pirooz. Results of this study revealed that not only yield quantity but also yield quality, as seed protein amounts, could positively affect by SA treatments. It seems that SA by enhancing of soluble sugars and proline amounts enhanced total water potential (ψ) and RWC. The increment in RWC led to rose of chlorophyll content of plants chlorophyll stability. In general, SA increased water use efficiency, both in biologic and seed yield base, and drought tolerance of chickpea plants. HI was a little decreased in SA treatments and it shows that SA more effective in biomass production than seed yield.

Keywords: chlorophyll, harvest index, proline, seed protein, soluble sugar, water use efficiency, yield component

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Authors: Mohamed Bagues, Ikbel Souli, Feiza Boussora, Kamel Nagaz

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In southern Tunisia, two local barley accessions CV. Ardhaoui; 'Bengardeni' and 'Karkeni' were cultivated in the field under deficit drip irrigation with saline water. Three treatments were used: control or full irrigation T0 (100%ETc) and stressed T1 (75%ETc), T2 (50%ETc). Proline and soluble sugars contents increase significantly under drought between accessions compared to control and varies between growth stages. Moreover, the increasing of Ca2+ concentration enhances the absorption of Na+ ion, consequently K+/Na+ decrease significantly between accessions, these results suggest that a high tolerance of Bengardeni accession to drought stress. Therefore, drought tolerance indices (STI, SSI, MP, GMP, YSI and TOL) were used to identify high yielding and drought tolerant between accessions. MP explained the variation of GYi. GMP and STI explained the variation of GYs. The high values of MP, STI and GMP were associated with higher yielding accession. Higher TOL value is associated with significant grain yield reduction in stressed environment suggesting higher stress responses of accessions. Significant positive correlations between MP, STI and GMP and negative between YSI and SSI. MP, STI, GMP and YSI, TOL, SSI are not correlated with each other.

Keywords: drought, proline, soluble sugars, minerals, yield, drought tolerance indices, barley

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Iyad Muslih, Azzah Alkhalailah, Ali Merdji

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Photovoltaic efficiency is highly affected by dust accumulation; the dust particles prevent direct solar radiation from reaching the panel surface; therefore a reduction in output power will occur. A study of dust and soiling accumulation effect on the output power of PV panels was conducted for different periods of time from May to October in three countries of the MENA region, Jordan, Egypt, and Algeria, under local weather conditions. This study leads to build a more realistic equation to estimate the power reduction as a function of time. This logarithmic function shows the high reduction in power in the first days with 10% reduction in output power compared to the reference system, where it reaches a steady state value after 60 days to reach a maximum value of 30%.

Keywords: solar energy, PV system, soiling, MENA

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Igor Kuzminov

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Till now, the nature of lightning is not established. A hypothesis of the origin of lightning is proposed. The lightning charge is formed by electromagnetic induction. The role of the conductor is performed by the air mass of the cloud. This conductor moves in the Earth's magnetic field. The upper and lower edges of the cloud are the plates of the capacitor. Lightning is a special case of electromagnetic processes in an atmosphere. The category of lightning occurs in the process of accumulation of a charge. The process of accumulation goes constantly, but the charge is not fixed. Naturally, the hypothesis demands the carrying out of additional experiments and official acknowledgement. As the proof of a hypothesis can serve that the maximal lighting activity in an equatorial zone where cosφ it is close to 1. An experiment conducted privately showed that there is a potential difference in the atmosphere at different levels. The probability of applied value development of power installation is great.

Keywords: electromagnetic induction, Earth's magnetic field, plates of the capacitors, charge accumulation

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Authors: Mengqi Wu, Haiping Zhu, Chin J. Leo

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In this study, six experimental cases with different components (dry and wet soils and rocks) were considered to elucidate the influence of material composition on landslide profiles. The results show that the accumulation zone for all cases considered has a quadrilateral shape with two different bottom angles. The asymmetry of the accumulation zone can be attributed to the fact that soils in different parts of the landslide sliding can produce different speeds and suffer different resistances. The higher soil moisture can generate stronger cohesion between soils to reduce the volume of the sliding body during the landslide. The rock content can increase the accumulation angles to improve slope stability. The interaction between the irregular shapes of rocks and soils provides more resistance than that between spherical rocks and soils, which causes the slope with irregular rocks and soils to have higher stability.

Keywords: landslide, soil moisture, rock content, experimental simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Stanley Yap, Mahadevan Supramaniam, Chong Wei Ying, Fatemeh Kimiyaghalam

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Purpose: The paper shows the framework of financial planning in a different paradigm. It highlights the results from a focus group on retirement planning in the aspect of financial literacy and wealth accumulation in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: A focus group consisted of thirty individuals and divided into six different clusters amongst 25 to 55 years old. The selection of focus group members is pertaining to retirement planning behavior and saving profile from the different level of educations. Findings: Our results show, firstly, the focus group reflects individual capacity on saving attitude, financial literacy and awareness towards financial products. Secondly, availability, accessibility and affordability which are the significant factors that influence saving attitude, financial literacy and awareness on personal retirement planning behavior. Practical implications: The participants express the concerns of retirement planning during their golden years and the current financial products in the Malaysian financial market. Originality/value: This study is a different approach that recognizes the needs of the consumers in the context of retirement planning and wealth accumulation. Therefore, customers should obtain financial services and products from financial providers to achieve financial independence.

Keywords: retirement planning, wealth accumulation, financial literacy, focus group, saving attitude, availability, accessibility, affordability

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: Alla V. Goncharova, Tatyana A. Karpenyuk, Yana S. Tsurkan, Rosa U. Beisembaeva, Togzhan D. Mukasheva, Ludmila V. Ignatova, Ramza Z. Berzhanova

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In this work the effect of culturing conditions of filamentous fungi Penicillium raistrickii, Penicillium anatolicum, Fusarium sp. on biomass yield, the content of total lipids and fatty acids was studied. It has been established that in time the process of lipids accumulation correlated with biomass growth of cultures, reaching maximum values in stationary growth phase. Biomass yield and accumulation of general lipids was increased by adding zinc to the culture medium. The more intensive accumulation of biomass and general lipids was observed at temperature 18°C. Lowering the temperature of culturing has changed the ratio of saturated: Unsaturated fatty acids in the direction of increasing the latter.

Keywords: biomass, culturing conditions, fungi, fatty acids (FA), growth dynamics, lipids

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Authors: Nipun Manirajan, Heeralal Gargama, Sushil Guhe, Manoj Prabhakaran

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In railway industry, train sets are designed based on contractual requirements (mission profile), where reliability targets are measured in terms of mean distance between failures (MDBF). However, during the beginning of revenue services, trains do not achieve the designed mission profile distance (mileage) within the timeframe due to infrastructure constraints, scarcity of commuters or other operational challenges thereby not respecting the original design inputs. Since trains do not run sufficiently and do not achieve the designed mileage within the specified time, car builder has a risk of not achieving the contractual MDBF target. This paper proposes a constant failure rate based model to deal with the situations where mileage accumulation is not a part of the design mission profile. The model provides appropriate MDBF target to be demonstrated based on actual accumulated mileage. A case study of rolling stock running in the field is undertaken to analyze the failure data and MDBF target demonstration during low mileage accumulation. The results of case study prove that with the proposed method, reliability targets are achieved under low mileage accumulation.

Keywords: mean distance between failures, mileage-based reliability, reliability target appropriations, rolling stock reliability

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Authors: Ahsan Khan, Nazish Shah, Muhammad Salman

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The present study deals with the toxicological effects of copper, lead and chromium on brain and liver tissues of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). The average length of experimental fish was 8.5 ± 5.5 cm and weighed 9.5 ± 6.5 g. Grass carp was exposed to lethal concentration (LC₁₅) of copper, lead and chromium for 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours respectively. (LC₁₅) for copper was 1.5, 1.4, 1.2 and 1mgL⁻¹. Similarly, LC₁₅ of lead was 250, 235, 225 and 216mgL⁻¹ while (LC₁₅) for chromium was 25.5, 22.5, 20 and 18mgL⁻¹ respectively. During the time of exposure against various doses of heavy metals the grass carp showed some behavioral changes. In the initial stages of experiment, the rapid movements and gulping of air were observed. Several times the fish tried to jump to scat from the toxic median. In addition, the accumulation of heavy metals in different tissues of grass carp particularly in liver and brain tissues were observed. Lead was highly accumulated in brain tissue after the exposure of fish for 24 and 48 hours, while highly accumulated in liver tissues after the exposure of fish for 72 and 96 hours. Chromium was highly accumulated in the liver tissues after the exposure of fish for 24 hours while its accumulation was found highly in the brain tissues after the exposure of fish for 48, 72 and 96 hours. Similarly, accumulation of copper concentration was found highly in brain tissues after the exposure of 48 and 96 hours while its accumulation was high in liver tissues after the exposure of 24 and 72 hours. Comparatively maximum accumulation of lead was found in brain and liver tissues of grass carp followed by chromium and copper. Furthermore, accumulation of these metals caused many abnormalities like gliosis, destruction of cell, change in cell shape and shrinkage of cells in brain tissue while in liver tissues aggregation in hepatocytes, widen space between cells and also destruction of cell was observed. These experiments and observations can be useful to monitor the aquatic pollution and quality of aquatic environment system.

Keywords: brain, grass carp, liver, lethal concentration, toxicity

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Authors: Rini Rahul, Manoj Kumar

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Cadmium (Cd) is a poisonous trace metal, which is responsible for excess reactive oxygen species generation (ROS) in plants, thereby adversely affecting their productivity and commercial potential. Ricinus communis (castor) is an industry-efficient non-edible bioenergy crop used for phytoremediation and re-vegetation. We have determined the total Cd content in castor genotypes and established a relationship between the Cd tolerance mechanism and physiological parameters like chlorophyll fluorescence, the total photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll and carotenoid content as well as ROS generation and malondialdehyde content. This study is an effort to comprehend the interrelation between Cd toxicity (control, 250 µM and 500 µM), proline, various ROS scavenging enzymes (anti-oxidative in nature), nicotianamine synthase (NAS) and Natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP) gene. The antioxidant enzyme activity increased for WM hence conferring Cd toxicity in this genotype. RcNRAMP genes showed differential expression in GCH2 and WM genotypes; this can also be one of the reasons for Cd toxicity and sensitivity in WM and GCH2, respectively. The cause of pronounced Cd tolerance in WM leaves can be because of enhanced expression of RcNAS1, RcNAS2 and RcNAS3 genes. Our results demonstrate that there is an interrelation between Cd toxicity (control, 250 µM and 500 µM), proline, various ROS scavenging enzymes (anti-oxidative in nature), NAS and NRAMP gene.

Keywords: ricinus communis, cadmium, reactive oxygen species, nicotianamine synthase, NRAMP, malondialdehyde

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Authors: Violina R. Angelova, Mariana N. Perifanova-Nemska, Galina P. Uzunova, Elitsa N. Kolentsova

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Comparative research has been conducted to allow us to determine the accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn and Cd) in the vegetative and reproductive organs of safflower, and to identify the possibility of its growth on soils contaminated by heavy metals and efficacy for phytoremediation. The experiment was performed on an agricultural field contaminated by the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works (MFMW) near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The experimental plots were situated at different distances (0.1, 0.5, 2.0, and 15 km) from the source of pollution. The contents of heavy metals in plant materials (roots, stems, leaves, seeds) were determined. The quality of safflower oils (heavy metals and fatty acid composition) was also determined. The quantitative measurements were carried out with inductively-coupled plasma (ICP). Safflower is a plant that is tolerant to heavy metals and can be referred to the hyperaccumulators of lead and cadmium and the accumulators of zinc. The plant can be successfully used in the phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. The processing of safflower seeds into oil and the use of the obtained oil will greatly reduce the cost of phytoremediation.

Keywords: heavy metals, accumulation, safflower, polluted soils, phytoremediation

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Authors: Abubakar Dikko

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The research investigates the causes of unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa, and the role of Capital Accumulation in reducing the unemployment profile of these economies as proposed by the post-Keynesian economics. This is conducted through extensive review of literature on the NAIRU models and focused on the post-Keynesian view of unemployment within the NAIRU framework. The NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) model has become a dominant framework used in macroeconomic analysis of unemployment. The study views the post-Keynesian economics arguments that capital accumulation is a major determinant of unemployment. Unemployment remains the fundamental socio-economic challenge facing African economies. It has been a burden to citizens of those economies. Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa are great African nations battling with high unemployment rates. In 2013, the countries recorded high unemployment rates of 16.9%, 23.9% and 24.9% respectively. Most of the unemployed in these economies comprises of youth. Roughly about 40% working age South Africans has jobs, whereas in Nigeria and Namibia is less than that. Unemployment in Africa has wide implications on households which has led to extensive poverty and inequality, and created a rampant criminality. Recently in South Africa there has been a case of xenophobic attacks which were caused by the citizens of the country as a result of unemployment. The high unemployment rate in the country led the citizens to chase away foreigners in the country claiming that they have taken away their jobs. The study proposes that there is a strong relationship between capital accumulation and unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa, and capital accumulation is responsible for high unemployment rates in these countries. For the economies to achieve steady state level of employment and satisfactory level of economic growth and development there is need for capital accumulation to take place. The countries in the study have been selected after a critical research and investigations. They are selected based on the following criteria; African economies with high unemployment rates above 15% and have about 40% of their workforce unemployed. This level of unemployment is the critical level of unemployment in Africa as expressed by International Labour Organization (ILO). The African countries with low level of capital accumulation. Adequate statistical measures have been employed using a time-series analysis in the study and the results revealed that capital accumulation is the main driver of unemployment performance in the chosen African countries. An increase in the accumulation of capital causes unemployment to reduce significantly. The results of the research work will be useful and relevant to federal governments and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa to resolve the issue of high and persistent unemployment rates in their economies which are great burden that slows growth and development of developing economies. Also, the result can be useful to World Bank, African Development Bank and International Labour Organization (ILO) in their further research and studies on how to tackle unemployment in developing and emerging economies.

Keywords: capital accumulation, unemployment, NAIRU, Post-Keynesian economics

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Authors: Farhan Ali

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Use of wastewater for growing vegetables has become a common practice around big cities. Wastewater contains organic material and inorganic elements essential for plant growth but also contain heavy metals, which may be lethal for animals and humans if their concentration increases than permissible limit. To monitor this situation, a survey was conducted to ascertain the addition of heavy metals into agricultural fields through wastewater irrigation and their translocation in to the edible parts of the vegetables. The study highlighted that there is a large accumulation of heavy metals in the soil, which is irrigated with industrial wastewater Laden and people consume vegetables grown in soil irrigated with sewage water to absorb a large amount of these metals. This accumulation of heavy metals in food cause possible health risks for the consumer. Regular monitoring of the levels of pathogens and heavy metals from the waste water drain which effluent are used for growing vegetables and other foodstuffs is essential to monitor excessive accumulation of these metals in the food chain.

Keywords: pathogens, wastewater, concentration, effluent

Procedia PDF Downloads 266

Authors: Majid Rasta, Xiaotao Shi, Mian Adnan Kakakhel, Yanqin Bai, Lao Liu, Jia Manke

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Microplastics (MPs; particles <5 mm) pollution is considered as a globally pervasive threat to aquatic ecosystems, and many studies reported this pollution in rivers, wetlands, lakes, coastal waters and oceans. In the aquatic environments, settling and transport of MPs in water column and sediments are determined by different factors such as hydrologic characteristics, watershed pattern, rainfall events, hydraulic conditions, vegetation, hydrodynamics behavior of MPs, and physical features of particles (shape, size and density). In the meantime, hydraulic conditions (such as turbulence, high/low water speed flows or water stagnation) play a key role in the fate of MPs in aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, this study presents a briefly review on the effects of different hydraulic conditions on the fate, transport and accumulation of MPs in aquatic ecosystems. Generally, MPs are distributed horizontally and vertically in aquatic environments. The vertical distribution of MPs in the water column changes with different flow velocities. In the riverine, turbulent flow causing from the rapid water velocity and shallow depth may create a homogeneous mixture of MPs throughout the water column. While low velocity followed by low-turbulent waters can lead to the low level vertical mixing of MP particles in the water column. Consequently, the high numbers of MPs are expected to be found in the sediments of deep and wide channels as well as estuaries. In contrast, observing the lowest accumulation of MP particles in the sediments of straights of the rivers, places with the highest flow velocity is understandable. In the marine environment, hydrodynamic factors (e.g., turbulence, current velocity and residual circulation) can affect the sedimentation and transportation of MPs and thus change the distribution of MPs in the marine and coastal sediments. For instance, marine bays are known as the accumulation area of MPs due to poor hydrodynamic conditions. On the other hand, in the nearshore zone, the flow conditions are highly complex and dynamic. Experimental studies illustrated that maximum horizontal flow velocity in the sandy beach can predict the accumulation of MPs so that particles with high sinking velocities deposit in the lower water depths. As a whole, it can be concluded that the transport and accumulation of MPs in aquatic ecosystems are highly affected by hydraulic conditions. This study provided information about the impacts of hydraulic on MPs pollution. Further research on hydraulics and its relationship to the accumulation of MPs in aquatic ecosystems is needed to increase insights into this pollution.

Keywords: microplastics pollution, hydraulic, transport, accumulation

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Authors: David Glew, Felix Thomas, Matthew Brooke-Peat

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Improving the thermal performance of homes is seen as an essential step in achieving climate change, fuel security, fuel poverty targets. One of the most effective thermal retrofits is to insulate solid walls. However, it has been observed that applying insulation to the internal face of solid walls reduces the surface temperature of the inner wall leaf, which may introduce condensation risk and may interrupt seasonal moisture accumulation and dissipation. This research quantifies the extent to which the risk of condensation and moisture accumulation in the wall increases (which can increase the risk of timber rot) following the installation of six different types of internal wall insulation. In so doing, it compares how risk is affected by both the thermal resistance, thickness, and breathability of the insulation. Thermal bridging, surface temperatures, condensation risk, and moisture accumulation are evaluated using hygrothermal simulation software before and after the thermal upgrades. The research finds that installing internal wall insulation will always introduce some risk of condensation and moisture. However, it identifies that risks were present prior to insulation and that breathable materials and insulation with lower resistance have lower risks than alternative insulation options. The implications of this may be that building standards that encourage the enhanced thermal performance of solid walls may be introducing moisture risks into homes.

Keywords: condensation risk, hygrothermal simulation, internal wall insulation, thermal bridging

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Authors: Lin Wenli, Fu Linchun, Zhang Yi, Wu Ming

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To meet the demands of long-life and high-intelligence for satellites, the electrical power system should be provided with self-health condition evaluation capability. Any over-stress events in operations should be recorded. Based on Linear stresses accumulation damage theory, accumulative damage analysis was performed on thermal-mechanical-electrical united stresses for three components including the solar array, the batteries and the power conditioning unit. Then an overall health percentage evaluation model for satellite electrical power system was built. To obtain the accurate quantity for system health percentage, an automatic feedback closed-loop correction method for all coefficients in the evaluation model was present. The evaluation outputs could be referred as taking earlier fault-forecast and interventions for Ground Control Center or Satellites self.

Keywords: satellite electrical power system, health percentage, linear stresses accumulation damage, evaluation model

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Authors: Roya Razavizadeh, Razieh Soltaninejad, Hakimeh Oloumi

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Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (Licorice) is one of the oldest medicinal plants in Iran and secondary metabolites present in the plant root is used in food and pharmaceutical industries. With the use of heavy metals as elicitors, plant secondary metabolite production can be increased. In this study, the effects of the concentrations of 1 and 10 μM of zinc oxide and copper oxide on the contents of reducing sugars (as precursor of secondary metabolites), proline, glycyrrhizin, total phenolic compounds, flavonoids and anthocyanin in Glycyrrhiza glabra seedlings were investigated. Also, the correlation between the content of these metabolites in the treated seedlings was examined using Pearson's test. The amount of reducing sugars at concentration of 10 μM zinc oxide was decreased. Whereas, the amounts of proline and glycyrrhizin under treatment 1 and 10 μM copper oxide and 1 μM zinc oxide compared with the control plants was increased. The content of total phenolic compounds was increased with increasing concentrations of copper oxide. The highest amount of flavonoids was observed at concentrations of 1 and 10 μM copper oxide. Anthocyanin content was increased in concentration of 1 μM copper oxide. Also, the tannin content of the Glycyrrhiza glabra seedlings at concentrations of 10 μM zinc oxide was increased. Based on the result it seemed that at concentrations of 1 and 10 μM copper oxide the amount of glycyrrhizin, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, anthocyanins were significantly increased, whereas, zinc oxide had no significant impact on the levels of these metabolites.

Keywords: zinc oxide, copper oxide, phenolic compounds, licorice (glycyrrhiza glabra L.), glycyrrhizin

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Authors: Nasreen Jeelani, Huining Shi , Di An, Lu Xia, Shuqing An

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Heavy metals contamination in aquatic ecosystem is a major environmental problem since its accumulation along the food chain pose public health risk. The concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in soil and plants species collected from different streams of Suoxu River, China was investigated. This aim was to define the level of pollutants in Suoxu River, find which plant species exhibits the greatest accumulation and to evaluate whether these species could be useful for phytoremediation. While total soil Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations varied, respectively, from 0.09 to 0.23 , 58.6 to 98, 9.72 to 80.5, 15.3 to 41, 15.2 to 27.3 and 35 to 156 (mg-kg-1), those in plants ranged from 0.035 to 0.49, 2.91 to 75.6, 4.79 to 32.4, 1.27 to 16.1, 0.62 to10.2, 18.9 to 84.6 (mg-kg-1), respectively. Based on BCFs and TFs values, most of the studied species have potential for phytostabilization. The plants with most effective in the accumulation of metals in shoots are Phragmatis australis (TF=2.29) and Iris tectorum (TF =2.07) for Pb. While Chenopodium album, (BCF =3.55), Ranunculus sceleratus, (BCF= 3.0), Polygonum hydropiper (BCF =2.46) for Cd and Iris tectorum (BCF=2.0) for Cu was suitable for phytostabilization. Among the plant species screened for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, most of the species were efficient to take up more than one heavy metal in roots. Our study showed that the native plant species growing on contaminated sites may have the potential uses for phytoremediation.

Keywords: heavy metals, huaihe river catchments, sediment, plants

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Authors: Masaki Ohno, Cervinia Manalo, Tetsuji Okuda, Satoshi Nakai, Wataru Nishijima

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Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have been widely used for desalination to purify water for drinking and other purposes. Although at present most RO membranes have no resistance to chlorine, chlorine-resistant membranes are being developed. Therefore, direct chlorine treatment or chlorine washing will be an option in preventing biofouling on chlorine-resistant membranes. Furthermore, if particle accumulation control is possible by using chlorine washing, expensive pretreatment for particle removal can be removed or simplified. The objective of this study was to determine the effective hypochlorite washing condition required for controlling biofilm formation and inorganic particle accumulation on RO membrane in a continuous flow channel with RO membrane and spacer. In this study, direct chlorine washing was done by soaking fouled RO membranes in hypochlorite solution and fluorescence intensity was used to quantify biofilm on the membrane surface. After 48 h of soaking the membranes in high fouling potential waters, the fluorescence intensity decreased to 0 from 470 using the following washing conditions: 10 mg/L chlorine concentration, 2 times/d washing interval, and 30 min washing time. The chlorine concentration required to control biofilm formation decreased as the chlorine concentration (0.5–10 mg/L), the washing interval (1–4 times/d), or the washing time (1–30 min) increased. For the sample solutions used in the study, 10 mg/L chlorine concentration with 2 times/d interval, and 5 min washing time was required for biofilm control. The optimum chlorine washing conditions obtained from soaking experiments proved to be applicable also in controlling biofilm formation in continuous flow experiments. Moreover, chlorine washing employed in controlling biofilm with suspended particles resulted in lower amounts of organic (0.03 mg/cm²) and inorganic (0.14 mg/cm²) deposits on the membrane than that for sample water without chlorine washing (0.14 mg/cm² and 0.33 mg/cm², respectively). The amount of biofilm formed was 79% controlled by continuous washing with 10 mg/L of free chlorine concentration, and the inorganic accumulation amount decreased by 58% to levels similar to that of pure water with kaolin (0.17 mg/cm²) as feed water. These results confirmed the acceleration of particle accumulation due to biofilm formation, and that the inhibition of biofilm growth can almost completely reduce further particle accumulation. In addition, effective hypochlorite washing condition which can control both biofilm formation and particle accumulation could be achieved.

Keywords: reverse osmosis, washing condition optimization, hypochlorous acid, biofouling control

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Authors: Mohammed Althobiti, Patrick Booms, Dorota Fiszer, Philip Hopkins

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Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a pharmacogenetic disorder of skeletal muscle. MH results from anaesthetics induced breakdown of calcium homeostasis. RYR1 and CACN1AS mutations represent the aetiology in ~70% of the MH population. Previous studies indicate that up to 25% of MH patients carry no variants in these genes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between MH susceptibility and genes encoding skeletal muscle Ca2+ channels as well as accessory proteins. The JSRP, encoding JP-45, was previously sequenced and novel genetic variants were identified. The variant p.P108L (c.323C > T) was identified in exon 4 and encodes a change from a proline at amino acid 108 to leucine residue. The variant P108L was detected in two patients out of 50 with 4% frequency in the sample population. The alignment of DNA sequences in different species indicates highly conserved proline sequences involved in the substitution of the P108L variant. In this study, the variant P108L co-segregates with the SNP p.V92A (c.275T > C) at the same exon, both variants being inherited in the same two patients only. This indicates that the two variants may represent a haplotype. Therefore, a set of single nucleotide polymorphisms and statistical analysis will be used to investigate the effects of haplotypes on MH susceptibility. Furthermore, investigating the effect of the P108L variant in combination with RYR1 mutations or other genetic variants in other genes as a combination of two or more genetic variants, haplotypes may then provide stronger genetic evidence indicating that JSRP1 is associated with MH susceptibility. In conclusion, these preliminary results lend a potential modifier role of the variant P108L in JSRP1 in MH susceptibility and further investigations are suggested to confirm these results.

Keywords: JSRP1, malignant hyperthermia, RyR1, skeletal muscle

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Authors: Xingmao Ma, Wenjie Sun

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Rice paddies are frequently co-contaminated by arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd), both of which demonstrate a high propensity for accumulation in rice grains and cause global food safety and public health concern. Even though different agricultural management strategies have been explored for their simultaneous control in rice grains, a viable solution is yet to be developed. Interestingly, several nanoagrichemicals, such as the zinc nanofertilizer and copper nanopesticide have displayed strong potential to reduce As or Cd accumulation in rice tissues. In order to determine whether these nanoagrichemicals can lower the accumulation of both As and Cd in rice, a series of bench studies were performed. Our results show that zinc oxide nanoparticles at 100 mg/Kg significantly lowered both As, and Cd in rice roots and shoots in flood irrigated rice seedlings, while equivalent amount of zinc ions only reduced As concentration in rice shoots. Zinc ions significantly increased Cd concentration in rice shoots by almost 30%. The results demonstrate a unique 'nano-effect' of zinc oxide nanoparticles, which is ascribed to the slow releasing of zinc ions from nanoparticles and the formation of different transformation products in these two treatments. We also evaluated the effect of nanoscale soil amendment, silicon oxide nanoparticles (SiO₂NPs) on the simultaneous reduction in both flooding and alternate wet and dry irrigation scheme. The effect of SiO₂NPs on As and Cd accumulation in rice tissues was strongly affected by the irrigation scheme. While 2000 mg/kg of SiO₂NPs significantly reduced As in rice roots and insignificantly reduced As in rice shoots in flooded rice, it increased As concentration in rice shoots in alternate wet and dry irrigation. In both irrigation scenarios, SiO₂NPs significantly reduced Cd concentration in rice roots, but only reduced Cd concentration in rice shoots in alternate wet and dry irrigation. Our results demonstrate a marked effect of nanoagrichemicals on the accumulation of As and Cd in rice and can be a potential solution to simultaneously control both in certain conditions.

Keywords: arsenic, cadmium, rice, nanoagrichemicals

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Authors: H. E. Ferrari, R. Farengo, C. F. Clauser

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Tungsten (W) will be used in ITER as one of the plasma facing components (PFCs). The W could migrate to the plasma center. This could have a potentially deleterious effect on plasma confinement. Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) can be used to prevent W accumulation. We simulated a series of H mode discharges in ASDEX U with PFC containing W, where central ECRH was used to prevent W accumulation in the plasma center. The experiments showed that the W density profiles were flat after a sawtooth crash, and become hollow in between sawtooth crashes when ECRH has been applied. It was also observed that a saturated kink mode was active in these conditions. We studied the effect of saturated kink like instabilities on the redistribution of W impurities. The kink was modeled as the sum of a simple analytical equilibrium (large aspect ratio, circular cross section) plus the perturbation produced by the kink. A numerical code that follows the exact trajectories of the impurity ions in the total fields and includes collisions was employed. The code is written in Cuda C and runs in Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), allowing simulations with a large number of particles with modest resources. Our simulations show that when the W ions have a thermal velocity distribution, the kink has no effect on the W density. When we consider the plasma rotation, the kink can affect the W density. When the average passing frequency of the W particles is similar to the frequency of the kink mode, the expulsion of W ions from the plasma core is maximum, and the W density shows a hollow structure. This could have implications for the mitigation of W accumulation.

Keywords: impurity transport, kink instability, tungsten accumulation, tungsten dynamics

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Authors: Vongsathorn Ngampuak, Yutachai Chookaew, Wipawee Dejtisakdi

Abstract:

Dunaliella salina has great potential as a system for generating commercially valuable products, including beta-carotene, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Our goal is to improve this potential by enhancing growth rate and other properties of D. salina under optimal growth conditions. We used ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) to generate random mutants in D. salina KU11, a strain classified in Thailand. In a preliminary experiment, we first treated D. salina cells with 0%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.2%, 1.44% and 1.66% EMS to generate a killing curve. After that, we randomly picked 30 candidates from approximately 300 isolated survivor colonies from the 1.44% EMS treatment (which permitted 30% survival) as an initial test of the mutant screen. Among the 30 survivor lines, we found that 2 strains (mutant #17 and #24) had significantly improved growth rates and cell number accumulation at stationary phase approximately up to 1.8 and 1.45 fold, respectively, 2 strains (mutant #6 and #23) had significantly decreased growth rates and cell number accumulation at stationary phase approximately down to 1.4 and 1.35 fold, respectively, while 26 of 30 lines had similar growth rates compared with the wild type control. We also analyzed cell size for each strain and found there was no significant difference comparing all mutants with the wild type. In addition, mutant #24 had shown an increase of biomass accumulation approximately 1.65 fold compared with the wild type strain on day 5 that was entering early stationary phase. From these preliminary results, it could be feasible to identify D. salina mutants with significant improved growth rate, cell accumulation and biomass production compared to the wild type for the further study; this makes it possible to improve this microorganism as a platform for biotechnology application.

Keywords: Dunaliella salina, ethyl methyl sulfonate, growth rate, biomass

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: E. Kuley, M. Durmuş, E. Balikci, G. Ozyurt, Y. Uçar, F. Kuley, F. Ozogul, Y. Ozogul

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Ammonia and biogenic amine production of fish spoilage bacteria in sardine infusion decarboxylase broth and antimicrobial effect of olive by products (olive leaf extract:OL, olive cake: OC and black water:BW) was monitored using HPLC method. Fish spoilage bacteria produced all biogenic amine tested, mainly histamine and serotonin. Ammonia was accumulated more than 13.60 mg/L. Histamine production was in range 37.50 mg/L by Ser. liquefaciens and 86.71 mg/L by Ent. cloacae. The highest putrescine and cadaverine production was observed by Ent. cloacae (17.80 vs. 17.69 mg/L). The presence of OL, OC and BW in the broth significantly affected biogenic amine accumulation by bacteria. The antibacterial effect of olive by products depended on bacterial strains. OL and OC resulted in significant inhibition effect on HIS accumulation by bacteria apart from Ser. liquefaciens and Prot. mirabilis. The study result revealed that usefulness of OL and OC to prevent the accumulation of this amine which may affect human health.

Keywords: Antimicrobials, biogenic amine, fish spoilage bacteria, olive-by products

Procedia PDF Downloads 457

Authors: M. Bartal

Abstract:

A large empirical evidence points to sizable lifetime earnings losses associated with the displacement of tenured workers. The causes of these losses are still not well-understood. Existing explanations are heavily based on human capital depreciation during non-employment spells. In this paper, a new avenue is explored. Evidence on the role of household liquidity constraints in accounting for the persistence of post-displacement earning losses is provided based on SIPP data. Then, a directed search and matching model with endogenous human capital and wealth accumulation is introduced. The model is computationally tractable thanks to its block-recursive structure and highlights a non-trivial, yet intuitive, interaction between wealth and human capital. Constrained workers tend to accept jobs with low firm-sponsored training because the latter are (endogenously) easier to find. This new channel provides a plausible explanation for why young (highly constrained) workers suffer persistent scars after displacement. Finally, the model is calibrated on US data to show that the interplay between wealth and human capital is crucial to replicate the observed lifecycle pattern of earning losses. JEL— E21, E24, J24, J63.

Keywords: directed search, human capital accumulation, job displacement, wealth accumulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: S. Noreen, S. Ahmad

Abstract:

Salinity is one of the most important environmental factors that limit the production of crop plants to the greatest proportion than any other ones. Salt-induced changes in growth, pigment concentration, water status, malondialdehydes (MDA) and H₂O₂ content, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, Na⁺, K⁺ content and yield attributes were examined in the glasshouse on ten pea (Pisum Sativum L.) accessions, namely ‘13240’, ‘18302’, ‘19666’, ‘19700’, ‘19776’, ‘19785’, ‘19788’, ‘20153’, ‘20155’, ‘26719’ were subjected to non-stress (0 mM NaCl) and salt stress (100 mM and150 mM NaCl) in pots containing sand medium. The results showed that salt stress at level150 mM substantially reduced biomass production, leaf water status, pigment concentration (chlorophyll ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘carotenoid content’ total chlorophyll), K⁺ content, quantum yield and yield attributes as compared to plants treated with 100 mM NaCl. Antioxidant enzymes, Catalase (CAT), Peroxidase (POD), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), proline content, total soluble protein, total amino acids, Malondialdehyde content (MDA), Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) content and Na⁺ uptake markedly enhanced due to the influence of salt stress. On the basis of analyses (expressed as percent of control), of 10 accessions of pea plant, two were ranked as salt tolerant namely (‘19666’, ‘20153’), four were moderately tolerant namely (‘19700’, ‘19776’, ‘19785’, ‘20155’), and three were salt sensitive namely (‘13240’, ‘18302’, ‘26719’) at 150 mM NaCl level.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes, ion uptake, pigment concentration, salt stress, yield attributes

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Nuruol S. Mohd, Safia Ahmed, Rumana Riffat, Baoqiang Li

Abstract:

Anaerobic digestion at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures have been widely studied and evaluated by numerous researchers. Limited extensive research has been conducted on anaerobic digestion in the intermediate zone of 45°C, mainly due to the notion that limited microbial activity occurs within this zone. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the performance and the capability of anaerobic digestion at 45°C in producing class A biosolids, in comparison to a mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion system operated at 35°C and 55°C, respectively. In addition to that, the investigation on the possible inhibition factors affecting the performance of the digestion system at this temperature will be conducted as well. The 45°C anaerobic digestion systems were not able to achieve comparable methane yield and high-quality effluent compared to the mesophilic system, even though the systems produced biogas with about 62-67% methane. The 45°C digesters suffered from high acetate accumulation, but sufficient buffering capacity was observed as the pH, alkalinity and volatile fatty acids (VFA)-to-alkalinity ratio were within recommended values. The accumulation of acetate observed in 45°C systems were presumably due to the high temperature which contributed to high hydrolysis rate. Consequently, it produced a large amount of toxic salts that combined with the substrate making them not readily available to be consumed by methanogens. Acetate accumulation, even though contributed to 52 to 71% reduction in acetate degradation process, could not be considered as completely inhibitory. Additionally, at 45°C, no ammonia inhibition was observed and the digesters were able to achieve volatile solids (VS) reduction of 47.94±4.17%. The pathogen counts were less than 1,000 MPN/g total solids, thus, producing Class A biosolids.

Keywords: 45°C anaerobic digestion, acetate accumulation, class A biosolids, salt toxicity

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Soufiane Fal, Abderahim Aasfar, Ali Ouhssain, Hasnae Choukri, Abelaziz Smouni, Hicham El Arroussi

Abstract:

Heavy metals contamination is a major environmental concern around the world. It has a harmful impact on plant productivity and poses a serious risk to humans and animals health. In the present study, the effect of Microalgae Crude Extract (MCE) on tomato growth and nutrients uptake exposed to 2 mM Pb2+ and Cd2+ was investigated. In results, 2 mM Pb2+ and Cd2+ showed a significant reduction of tomatobiomass and perturbation in nutrients absorption. Moreover, MCE application in tomato plant exposed to Pb2+ and Cd2+ showed a significant enhancement of biomass compared to tomato plants under Pb2+ and Cd2+. On the other hand, MCE application favoured heavy metals accumulation in root and inhibited their translocation to shoot as phytostabilisation mechanism. Tomato plants showed biochemical responses to Pb2+ and Cd2+ stress with elevation of scavenging enzymes and molecules such as POD, CAT, SOD, Proline, and polyphenols, etc. In addition, the treatment by MCE showed a significant reduction level of the majority of these parameters. Furthermore, the metabolomic analysis revealed a significant change in important metabolites. Pb2+ and Cd2+ showed decrease in SFA and increase of UFA, VLFA, alkanes, alkenes, sterols, which known accumulated as tolerance and resistance mechanism to heavy metal (H.M) stress. However, MCE treatment showed the inverse of these response to return tomato plants to normal state and enhanced tolerance and resistance to heavy metal stress. In the present study, we emphasized that MCE can alleviate H.M stress, enhance tomato plant growth nutrients absorption and improve biochemical responses.

Keywords: microalgae crude extract, heavy metal stress, nutrient uptake, metabolomic analysis, solanum lycopersicum (Tomato), phytostabilisation

Procedia PDF Downloads 83