Search results for: microbial fuel cells.

Authors: Joan Iliopoulou-Georgudaki, Chris Theodoropoulos, Danae Venieri, Maria Lagkadinou

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Monitoring of microbial flora in aquacultured sea bream, in relation to the physicochemical parameters of the rearing seawater, ended to a model describing the influence of the last to the quality of the fisheries. Fishes were sampled during eight months from four aqua farms in Western Greece and analyzed for psychrotrophic, H2S producing bacteria, Salmonella sp., heterotrophic plate count (PCA), with simultaneous physical evaluation. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, TDS, salinity, NO3 - and NH4 + ions were recorded. Temperature, dissolved oxygen and conductivity were correlated, respectively, to PCA, Pseudomonas sp. and Shewanella sp. counts. These parameters were the inputs of the model, which was driving, as outputs, to the prediction of PCA, Vibrio sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Shewanella sp. counts, and fish microbiological quality. The present study provides, for the first time, a ready-to-use predictive model of fisheries hygiene, leading to an effective management system for the optimization of aquaculture fisheries quality.

Keywords: Microbiological, model, physicochemical, Seabream.

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Authors: Abdullah Alotaiq

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The transition to low-carbon power generation is essential for mitigating climate change and achieving sustainability. This process, however, entails considerable costs, and understanding the factors influencing these costs is critical. This is necessary to cater to the increasing demand for low-carbon electricity across heating, industry, and transportation sectors. A crucial aspect of this transition is identifying cost-effective and feasible paths for decarbonization, which is integral to global climate mitigation efforts. It is concluded that hybrid solutions, combining different low-carbon technologies, are optimal for minimizing costs and enhancing flexibility. These solutions also address the challenges associated with phasing out existing fossil fuel-based power plants and broadening the spectrum of low-carbon power generation options.

Keywords: Review, power generation, energy transition, decarbonization.

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Authors: Sandra Muizniece-Brasava, Lija Dukalska, Solvita Kampuse, Irisa Murniece, Martins Sabovics, IlonaDabina-Bicka, Emils Kozlinskis, Svetlana Sarvi

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The research object was apple-black currant marmalade candies. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Latvia University of Agriculture. An active packaging in combination with modified atmosphere (MAP, CO2 100%) was examined and compared with traditional packaging in air ambiance. Polymer Multibarrier 60 and paper bags were used. Influence of iron based oxygen absorber in sachets of 500 cc obtained from Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Europe Ageless® was tested on the quality during the shelf of marmalade. Samples of 80±5 g were packaged in polymer pouches (110 mm x 110 mm), hermetically sealed by MULTIVAC C300 vacuum chamber machine, and stored in room temperature +20.0±1.0 °C. The physiochemical properties – weight losses, moisture content, hardness, aw, pH, colour, changes of atmosphere content (CO2 and O2) in headspace of packs, and microbial conditions were analysed before packaging and in the 1st, 3rd , 5th, 8th, 11th and 15th weeks of storage.

Keywords: Active packaging, marmalade candies, shelf life

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Authors: Ana Paula Monte, Christiane Fontenete

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As current business environment is demanding a constant adaptation of companies, the planning and strategic management should be an ongoing and natural process in all kind of organizations. The use of management and monitoring strategic performance tools such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) have been popular; even to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. This paper aims to investigate whether the BSC is being used in monitoring the performance of small businesses, particularly in small fuel retailers companies, which are competing in co-branding; and if not, it aims to identify its strategic orientation in order to recommend a possible strategy map for those managers that are willing to adopt this model as an alternative to traditional ones for organizational performance evaluation, which often focus only on evaluation of the organizational financial performance.

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard, Performance Management and Evaluation, SMEs, Strategy Maps

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Authors: Sudip Ghosh, Probir Kumar Ghosh, Paramita Bhattacharjee

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Supercritical carbon dioxide extracts of Cinnamomum tamala (bay) leaves obtained at 55°C, 512 bar was found to have appreciable nutraceutical properties and was successfully employed as value-added ingredients in preparation of tofu. The bay leaf formulated tofu sample was evaluated for physicochemical properties (pH, texture analysis and lipid peroxidation), proximate analysis, phytochemical properties (total phenol content, antioxidant properties and total reducing sugar), microbial load and sensory profile analysis for a storage period of ten days, vis-à-vis an experimental control sample. These assays established the superiority of the tofu sample formulated with supercritical carbon dioxide extract of bay leaf over the control sample. Bay leaf extract formulated tofu is a new green functional food with promising nutraceutical benefits. 

Keywords: Cinnamomum tamala, Physicochemical properties Phytochemical properties, Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, Tofu.

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Authors: Maria E. Manioudaki, Panayiota Poirazi

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Yeast cells live in a constantly changing environment that requires the continuous adaptation of their genomic program in order to sustain their homeostasis, survive and proliferate. Due to the advancement of high throughput technologies, there is currently a large amount of data such as gene expression, gene deletion and protein-protein interactions for S. Cerevisiae under various environmental conditions. Mining these datasets requires efficient computational methods capable of integrating different types of data, identifying inter-relations between different components and inferring functional groups or 'modules' that shape intracellular processes. This study uses computational methods to delineate some of the mechanisms used by yeast cells to respond to environmental changes. The GRAM algorithm is first used to integrate gene expression data and ChIP-chip data in order to find modules of coexpressed and co-regulated genes as well as the transcription factors (TFs) that regulate these modules. Since transcription factors are themselves transcriptionally regulated, a three-layer regulatory cascade consisting of the TF-regulators, the TFs and the regulated modules is subsequently considered. This three-layer cascade is then modeled quantitatively using artificial neural networks (ANNs) where the input layer corresponds to the expression of the up-stream transcription factors (TF-regulators) and the output layer corresponds to the expression of genes within each module. This work shows that (a) the expression of at least 33 genes over time and for different stress conditions is well predicted by the expression of the top layer transcription factors, including cases in which the effect of up-stream regulators is shifted in time and (b) identifies at least 6 novel regulatory interactions that were not previously associated with stress-induced changes in gene expression. These findings suggest that the combination of gene expression and protein-DNA interaction data with artificial neural networks can successfully model biological pathways and capture quantitative dependencies between distant regulators and downstream genes.

Keywords: gene modules, artificial neural networks, yeast, stress

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Authors: Adel Dalilottojari, Bahman Delalat, Frances J. Harding, Michaelia P. Cockshell, Claudine S. Bonder, Nicolas H. Voelcker

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Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) based therapies continue to be of interest to treat ischemic events based on their proven role to promote blood vessel formation and thus tissue re-vascularisation. Current strategies for the production of clinical-grade EPCs requires the in vitro isolation of EPCs from peripheral blood followed by cell expansion to provide sufficient quantities EPCs for cell therapy. This study aims to examine the use of different biomolecules to significantly improve the current strategy of EPC capture and expansion on collagen type I (Col I). In this study, four different biomolecules were immobilised on a surface and then investigated for their capacity to support EPC capture and proliferation. First, a cell microarray platform was fabricated by coating a glass surface with epoxy functional allyl glycidyl ether plasma polymer (AGEpp) to mediate biomolecule binding. The four candidate biomolecules tested were Col I, collagen type II (Col II), collagen type IV (Col IV) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), which were arrayed on the epoxy-functionalised surface using a non-contact printer. The surrounding area between the printed biomolecules was passivated with polyethylene glycol-bisamine (A-PEG) to prevent non-specific cell attachment. EPCs were seeded onto the microarray platform and cell numbers quantified after 1 h (to determine capture) and 72 h (to determine proliferation). All of the extracellular matrix (ECM) biomolecules printed demonstrated an ability to capture EPCs within 1 h of cell seeding with Col II exhibiting the highest level of attachment when compared to the other biomolecules. Interestingly, Col IV exhibited the highest increase in EPC expansion after 72 h when compared to Col I, Col II and VEGF-A. These results provide information for significant improvement in the capture and expansion of human EPC for further application.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease, cell microarray platform, cell therapy, endothelial progenitor cells, high throughput screening.

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Authors: M. Bouguerra, F. Laaouad, I. Habi, R. Azaizia

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In Algeria, now, the oil pumping plants are fed with electric power by independent local sources. This type of feeding has many advantages (little climatic influence, independent operation). However it requires a qualified maintenance staff, a rather high frequency of maintenance and repair and additional fuel costs. Taking into account the increasing development of the national electric supply network (Sonelgaz), a real possibility of transfer of the local sources towards centralized sources appears.These latter cannot only be more economic but more reliable than the independent local sources as well. In order to carry out this transfer, it is necessary to work out an optimal strategy to rebuilding these networks taking in account the economic parameters and the indices of reliability.

Keywords: Optimization, reliability, electric network.

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Authors: M. Nassereddine, J. Rizk, M. Nagrial

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Green house effect has becomes a serious concern in many countries due to the increase consumption of the fossil fuel. There have been many studies to find an alternative power source. Wind energy found to be one of the most useful solutions to help in overcoming the air pollution and global. There is no agreed solution to conversion of wind energy to electrical energy. In this paper, the advantages of using a Switched Reluctance Generator (SRG) for wind energy applications. The theoretical study of the self excitation of a SRG and the determination of the variable parameters in a SRG design are discussed. The design parameters for the maximum power output of the SRG are computed using Matlab simulation. The designs of the circuit to control the variable parameters in a SRG to provide the maximum power output are also discussed.

Keywords: Switched Reluctance Generator, Wind Power, Electrical Machines.

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Authors: Sandra Muizniece-Brasava, Aija Ruzaike, Lija Dukalska, Ilze Stokmane, Liene Strauta

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Experiments have been carried out at the Latvia University of Agriculture Department of Food Technology. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of thermal treatment in flexible retort pouch packaging on the quality of potatoes’ produce during the storage time. Samples were evaluated immediately after retort thermal treatment; and following 1; 2; 3 and 4 storage months at the ambient temperature of +18±2ºC in vacuum packaging from polyamide/polyethylene (PA/PE) and aluminum/polyethylene (Al/PE) film pouches with barrier properties. Experimentally the quality of the potatoes’ produce in dry butter and mushroom dressings was characterized by measuring pH, hardness, color, microbiological properties and sensory evaluation. The sterilization was effective in protecting the produce from physical, chemical, and microbial quality degradation. According to the study of obtained data, it can be argued that the selected product processing technology and packaging materials could be applied to provide the safety and security during four-month storage period.

Keywords: Potatoes’ produce, shelf life, retort thermal treatment and packaging.

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Authors: Ayub V. O. Ofulla, Jackson H. O. Onyuka, Samuel Wagai, Douglas Anyona, Gabriel O. Dida, John Gichuki

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This study was set to determine the antimicrobial activities of brine salting, chlorinated solution, and oil frying treatments on enteric bacteria and fungi in Rastrineobola argentea fish from fish landing beaches within L. Victoria basin of western Kenya. Statistical differences in effectiveness of the different treatment methods was determined by single factor ANOVA, and paired two-tail t-Test was performed to compare the differences in moisture contents before and after storage. Oil fried fish recorded the lowest microbial loads, sodium chloride at 10% concentration was the second most effective and chlorinated solution even at 150ppm was the least effective against the bacteria and fungi in fish. Moisture contents of the control and treated fish were significantly lower after storage. These results show that oil frying of fish should be adopted for processing and preserving Rastrineobola argentea which is the most abundant and affordable fish species from Lake Victoria.

Keywords: Fish landing beaches, Lake Victoria, oil frying, preservatives.

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Authors: Mohammad Khosravi, Ali Kiani, Behroz Dastar, Parvin Showrang

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Review was carried out on important anti-nutritional compounds of livestock and poultry foods and the effect of radiation usage. Nowadays, with advancement in technology, different methods have been considered for the optimum usage of nutrients in livestock and poultry foods. Steaming, extruding, pelleting, and the use of chemicals are the most common and popular methods in food processing. Use of radiation in food processing researches in the livestock and poultry industry is currently highly regarded. Ionizing (electrons, gamma) and non-ionizing beams (microwave and infrared) are the most useable rays in animal food processing. In recent researches, these beams have been used to remove and reduce the anti-nutritional factors and microbial contamination and improve the digestibility of nutrients in poultry and livestock food. The evidence presented will help researchers to recognize techniques of relevance to them. Simplification of some of these techniques, especially in developing countries, must be addressed so that they can be used more widely.

Keywords: Antitrypsin, gamma anti-nutritional components, phytic acid, radiation.

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Authors: Sudip K. Ganguly

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In order to meet environmental norms, Indian fuel policy aims at producing ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) in near future. A catalyst for meeting such requirements has been developed and kinetics of this catalytic process is being looked into. In the present investigations, effect of mass transfer on kinetics of ultra deep hydrodesulphurization (UDHDS) to produce ULSD has been studied to determine intrinsic kinetics over a pre-sulphided catalyst. Experiments have been carried out in a continuous flow micro reactor operated in the temperature range of 330 to 3600C, whsv of 1 hr-1 at a pressure of 35 bar, and its parameters estimated. Based on the derived rate expression and estimated parameters optimum operation range has been determined for this UDHDS catalyst to obtain ULSD product.

Keywords: Diesel, hydrodesulphurization, kinetics, mass transfer.

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Authors: M.Jalali Azizpour, S.norouzi, H.mohammadi majd, H.Talebi, A.Ghamari

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In this paper, the application of thermal spray coatings in high speed shafts by a revolution up to 23000 RPM has been studied. Gas compressor shafts are worn in contact zone with journal therefore will be undersized. Wear mechanisms of compressor shaft were identified. The predominant wear mechanism is abrasion wear. The worn surface was coated by hard WC-Co cermets using high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) after preparation. The shafts were in satisfactory service in 8000h period. The metallurgical and Tribological studies has been made on the worn and coated shaft using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction.

Keywords: Thermal spray, Residual stress, Wear mechanism, HVOF, Gas compressor shafts.

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Authors: N. Javadian, J. Rezaeian, Y. Maali

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In this paper a multi-objective nonlinear programming model of cellular manufacturing system is presented which minimize the intercell movements and maximize the sum of reliability of cells. We present a genetic approach for finding efficient solutions to the problem of cell formation for products having multiple routings. These methods find the non-dominated solutions and according to decision makers prefer, the best solution will be chosen.

Keywords: Cellular Manufacturing, Genetic Algorithm, Multiobjective, Life-Cycle.

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Authors: Soukaina Oujana, Peggy Zwolinski

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Fines are heterogeneous residues created during the shredding of non-hazardous waste. They are one of the most challenging issues faced by recyclers, because they are at the present time considered as non-sortable and non-reusable mixtures destined to landfill. However, fines contain a large amount of recoverable materials that could be recycled or reused for the production of solid recovered fuel. This research is conducted in relation to a project named ValoRABES. The aim is to characterize fines and establish a suitable sorting process in order to extract the materials contained in the mixture and define their suitable recovery paths. This paper will highlight the importance of a good sampling and will propose a sampling methodology for fines characterization. First results about the characterization will be also presented.

Keywords: Fines, non-hazardous waste, recovery, shredding residues, waste characterization, waste sampling.

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Authors: Nishanth Murugan, Mohammed Niyasdeen Nejaamtheen, S. Sounder Rajan

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The accelerated growth in aircraft industries desire effectual schemes, programs, innovative designs of advanced systems to accomplishing the augmenting need for home-free air transportation. In this paper, a contemporary conceptual design of an airplane has been proposed without landing gear systems in order to reducing accidents, time consumption, and to eliminating drawbacks by using superconducting levitation phenomenon. This invention of an airplane with superconductive material coating, on the solar plexus region assist to reduce weight by approximately 4% of the total takeoff weight, and cost effective. Moreover, we conjectured that superconductor landing system reduces ground friction, mission fuel, total drag, take-off and landing distance.

Keywords: Aircraft landing system, Magnetic levitation, Superconductors, Take-off and landing.

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Authors: Zerrin Erginkaya, Gözde Konuray

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Microbial degradation of foods is defined as a decrease of food safety due to microorganism activity. Organic acids, sulfur dioxide, sulfide, nitrate, nitrite, dimethyl dicarbonate and several preservative gases have been used as chemical preservatives in foods as well as natural preservatives which are indigenous in foods. It is determined that usage of herbal preservatives such as blueberry, dried grape, prune, garlic, mustard, spices inhibited several microorganisms. Moreover, it is determined that animal origin preservatives such as whey, honey, lysosomes of duck egg and chicken egg, chitosan have antimicrobial effect. Other than indigenous antimicrobials in foods, antimicrobial agents produced by microorganisms could be used as natural preservatives. The antimicrobial feature of preservatives depends on the antimicrobial spectrum, chemical and physical features of material, concentration, mode of action, components of food, process conditions, and pH and storage temperature. In this review, studies about antimicrobial components which are indigenous in food (such as herbal and animal origin antimicrobial agents), antimicrobial materials synthesized by microorganisms, and their usage as an antimicrobial agent to preserve foods are discussed.

Keywords: Animal origin preservatives, antimicrobial, chemical preservatives, herbal preservatives.

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Authors: Pranav Raghav Sood

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India is currently the second most populous nation in the world with over 1.2 billion people, growing annually at the rate of 1.5%. It is experiencing a surge in energy demands, expected to grow more than three to four times in 25 years. Most of the energy requirements are currently satisfied by the import of fossil fuels – coal, petroleum-based products and natural gas. Biofuels can satisfy these energy needs in an environmentally benign and cost effective manner while reducing dependence on import of fossil fuels, thus providing National Energy Security. Among various forms of bioenergy, bioethanol is one of the major options for India because of availability of feed stock crops. This paper presents an overview on bioethanol production and technology, steps taken by the Indian government to facilitate and bring about optimal development and utilization of indigenous biomass feedstocks for production of this biofuel.

Keywords: Bioethanol, Fossil fuel, Biofuel, energy

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Authors: Nahid A. Ali, Salma H. Ahmed, ElShazali A. Mohamed, Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed, Elfadil E.Babiker

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The effect of cross linking of the protein isolates of three legumes with the microbial enzyme transglutaminase (EC 2.3.2.13) on the functional properties at different NaCl concentration was studied. The reduction in the total free amino groups (OD340) of the polymerized protein showed that TGase treatment cross-linking the protein subunit of each legume. The solubility of the protein polymer of each legume was greatly improved at high concentration of NaCl. At 1.2 M NaCl the solubility of the native legumes protein was significantly decreased but after polymerization slightly improved. Cross linked proteins were less turbid on heating to higher temperature as compared to native proteins and the temperature at which the protein turns turbid also increased in the polymerized proteins. The emulsifying and foaming properties of the protein polymer were greatly improved at all concentrations of NaCl for all legumes.

Keywords: Functional properties, Legumes, Protein isolate, NaCl, Transglutaminase.

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Authors: Ali Zaker, Zhi Chen

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Due to the concerns about the depletion of fossil fuel sources and the deteriorating environment, the attempt to investigate the production of renewable energy will play a crucial role as a potential to alleviate the dependency on mineral fuels. One particular area of interest is generation of bio-oil through sewage sludge (SS) pyrolysis. SS can be a potential candidate in contrast to other types of biomasses due to its availability and low cost. However, the presence of high molecular weight hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds in the SS bio-oil hinders some of its fuel applications. In this context, catalytic pyrolysis is another attainable route to upgrade bio-oil quality. Among different catalysts (i.e., zeolites) studied for SS pyrolysis, activated chars (AC) are eco-friendly alternatives. The beneficial features of AC derived from SS comprise the comparatively large surface area, porosity, enriched surface functional groups and presence of a high amount of metal species that can improve the catalytic activity. Hence, a sludge-based AC catalyst was fabricated in a single-step pyrolysis reaction with NaOH as the activation agent and was compared with HZSM5 zeolite in this study. The thermal decomposition and kinetics were invested via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for guidance and control of pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis and the design of the pyrolysis setup. The results indicated that the pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis contain four obvious stages and the main decomposition reaction occurred in the range of 200-600 °C. Coats-Redfern method was applied in the 2nd and 3rd devolatilization stages to estimate the reaction order and activation energy (E) from the mass loss data. The average activation energy (Em) values for the reaction orders n = 1, 2 and 3 were in the range of 6.67-20.37 kJ/mol for SS; 1.51-6.87 kJ/mol for HZSM5; and 2.29-9.17 kJ/mol for AC, respectively. According to the results, AC and HZSM5 both were able to improve the reaction rate of SS pyrolysis by abridging the Em value. Moreover, to generate and examine the effect of the catalysts on the quality of bio-oil, a fixed-bed pyrolysis system was designed and implemented. The composition analysis of the produced bio-oil was carried out via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The selected SS to catalyst ratios were 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1. The optimum ratio in terms of cracking the long-chain hydrocarbons and removing oxygen-containing compounds was 1:1 for both catalysts. The upgraded bio-oils with HZSM5 and AC were in the total range of C4-C17 with around 72% in the range of C4-C9. The bio-oil from pyrolysis of SS contained 49.27% oxygenated compounds while the presence of HZSM5 and AC dropped to 7.3% and 13.02%, respectively. Meanwhile, generation of value-added chemicals such as light aromatic compounds were significantly improved in the catalytic process. Furthermore, the fabricated AC catalyst was characterized by BET, SEM-EDX, FT-IR and TGA techniques. Overall, this research demonstrated that AC is an efficient catalyst in the pyrolysis of SS and can be used as a cost-competitive catalyst in contrast to HZSM5.

Keywords: Activated char, bio-oil, catalytic pyrolysis, HZSM5, sewage sludge.

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Authors: A. Ashjaran, M.E. Yazdanshenas, R. Ghazi Saeidi, S. Moghadamifar

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Tufting carpet is a very suitable substrate for growing microorganism such as pathogenic microbes, due to the direct touch with human body, long washing periods and laying on the floor; in fact there are 3 major problems: To risk human health, Prepare bad odors and Destruction of the products.. In the presented research, for investigation of presence most common microbes on polyester tufting, first goods laid in a public place (in the corridor fair) for 30 days and the existence of some microbes were investigate on it with two methods of enrichment in nutrient environments such as thioglycolate and noutrunt brath, and shake the dust off the polyester tufting onto cultivation mediums such as blood agar and noutrunt agar. After the microorganism colonics are grown, the colonies were separated and six microbial tests such as cataloes and sitrat were carried out in five phases on the colonics for identifying the varieties of bacteria. As a result of tests, 5 type of bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, staphylococcus saprophytic as were identified. Each of the mentioned bacteria can be seriously harmful for the heath of human.

Keywords: Microorganisms, Polyester tufting, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus saprophytic, Blood agar, Thioglycolate

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Authors: F. Behrouzi, A. Maimun, M. Nakisa

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The growth of population, rising fossil fuel prices (limited and decreasing day by day), pollution problem due to use of fossil fuels and increasing electrical demand are important factors that encourage the use of green and renewable energy technologies. Among the different renewable energy technologies, hydro power generation (large and small scale) is the prime choice in terms of contribution to the world's electricity generation by using water current turbines. Currently, researchers mainly focused on design and development of different kind of turbines to capture hydropower to generate electricity as clean and reliable energy. This paper is a review of the status of research on water current turbines carried out to generate electricity from hydrokinetic energy especially in places where there is no electricity, but there is access to flowing water.

Keywords: Turbines, Renewable Energy, Hydropower.

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Authors: N. Phanthuna, J. Jaturacherdchaiskul, S. Lerdvanittip, S. Auchariyamet

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This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique to solve the economic load dispatch (ELD) problems. For the ELD problem in this work, the objective function is to minimize the total fuel cost of all generator units for a given daily load pattern while the main constraints are power balance and generation output of each units. Case study in the test system of 40-generation units with 6 load patterns is presented to demonstrate the performance of PSO in solving the ELD problem. It can be seen that the optimal solution given by PSO provides the minimum total cost of generation while satisfying all the constraints and benefiting greatly from saving in power loss reduction.

Keywords: Particle Swarm Optimization, Economic Load Dispatch, Loss Reduction.

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Authors: Antonella Bandiera

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A new sythetic gene coding for a Human Elastin-Like Polypeptide was constructed and expressed. The recombinant product was tested as coating agent to realize a surface suitable for cell growth. Coatings showed peculiar features and different human cell lines were seeded and cultured. All cell lines tested showed to adhere and proliferate on this substrate that has been shown also to exert a specific effect on cells, depending on cell type.

Keywords: elastin, recombinant protein, coating, cell adhesion.

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Authors: Abdullah A. Al Orainy

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Small cell backhaul solutions need to be cost-effective, scalable, and easy to install. This paper presents an overview of small cell backhaul technologies. Wireless solutions including TV white space, satellite, sub-6 GHz radio wave, microwave and mmWave with their backhaul characteristics are discussed. Recent research on issues like beamforming, backhaul architecture, precoding and large antenna arrays, and energy efficiency for dense small cell backhaul with mmWave communications is reviewed. Recent trials of 5G technologies are summarized.

Keywords: Backhaul, Small Cells, Wireless, 5G.

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Authors: Tung-Sheng Zhan, Chih-Cheng Kao, Chin-Der Yang, Jong-Ian Tsai

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Fossil fuel-firing power plants dominate electric power generation in Taiwan, which are also the major contributor to Green House gases (GHG). CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas that cause global warming. This paper penetrates the relationship between carbon trading for GHG reduction and power generation expansion planning (GEP) problem for the electrical utility. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Algorithm is presented to deal with the generation expansion planning strategy of the utility with independent power providers (IPPs). The utility has to take both the IPPs- participation and environment impact into account when a new generation unit is considering expanded from view of supply side.

Keywords: Carbon Trading, CO2 Emission, GenerationExpansion Planning (GEP), Green House gases (GHG), ParticleSwarm Optimization (PSO).

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Authors: Seyedeh Mozhgan Seyed-Talebi, Javad Beheshtian

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The toxicity of lead associated with the lifecycle of perovskite solar cells (PSCs( is a serious concern which may prove to be a major hurdle in the path toward their commercialization. The current proposed lead-free PSCs including Ag(I), Bi(III), Sb(III), Ti(IV), Ge(II), and Sn(II) low-toxicity cations are still plagued with the critical issues of poor stability and low efficiency. This is mainly because of their chemical stability. In the present research, utilization of all inorganic CsSnGeI₃ based materials offers the advantages to enhance resistance of device to degradation, reduce the cost of cells, and minimize the carrier recombination. The presence of inorganic halide perovskite improves the photovoltaic parameters of PCSs via improved surface coverage and stability. The inverted structure of simulated devices using a 1D simulator like solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) version 3308 involves TCOHTL/Perovskite/ETL/Au contact layer. PEDOT:PSS, PCBM, and CsSnGeI₃ used as hole transporting layer (HTL), electron transporting layer (ETL), and perovskite absorber layer in the inverted structure for the first time. The holes are injected from highly stable and air tolerant Sn_0.5Ge_0.5I₃ perovskite composition to HTM and electrons from the perovskite to ETL. Simulation results revealed a great dependence of power conversion efficiency (PCE) on the thickness and defect density of perovskite layer. Here the effect of an increase in operating temperature from 300 K to 400 K on the performance of CsSnGeI₃ based perovskite devices is investigated. Comparison between simulated CsSnGeI₃ based PCSs and similar real testified devices with spiro-OMeTAD as HTL showed that the extraction of carriers at the interfaces of perovskite absorber depends on the energy level mismatches between perovskite and HTL/ETL. We believe that optimization results reported here represent a critical avenue for fabricating the stable, low-cost, efficient, and eco-friendly all-inorganic Cs-Sn-Ge based lead-free perovskite devices.

Keywords: Hole transporting layer, lead-free, perovskite Solar cell, SCAPS-1D, Sn-Ge based material.

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Authors: A. El Behiry, R. N. Zahran, R. Tarabees, E. Marzouk, M. Al-Dubaib

Abstract:

Mastitis is one of the most economic disease affecting dairy cows worldwide. Its classic diagnosis using bacterial culture and biochemical findings is a difficult and prolonged method. In this research, using of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) permitted identification of different microorganisms with high accuracy and rapidity (only 24 hours for microbial growth and analysis). During the application of MALDI-TOF MS, one hundred twenty strains of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species isolated from milk of cows affected by clinical and subclinical mastitis were identified, and the results were compared with those obtained by traditional methods as API and VITEK 2 Systems. 37 of totality 39 strains (~95%) of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were exactly detected by MALDI TOF MS and then confirmed by a nuc-based PCR technique, whereas accurate identification was observed in 100% (50 isolates) of the coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) and Streptococcus agalactiae (31 isolates). In brief, our results demonstrated that MALDI-TOF MS is a fast and truthful technique which has the capability to replace conventional identification of several bacterial strains usually isolated in clinical laboratories of microbiology.

Keywords: Identification, mastitis pathogens, mass spectral, phenotypical.

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Authors: Wen-Chi Hou, Cheng Luo, Zhewei Jiang, Feng Yan

Abstract:

In this research, we propose to use the discrete cosine transform to approximate the cumulative distributions of data cube cells- values. The cosine transform is known to have a good energy compaction property and thus can approximate data distribution functions easily with small number of coefficients. The derived estimator is accurate and easy to update. We perform experiments to compare its performance with a well-known technique - the (Haar) wavelet. The experimental results show that the cosine transform performs much better than the wavelet in estimation accuracy, speed, space efficiency, and update easiness.

Keywords: DCT, Data Cube

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