Search results for: Total organic carbon
2175 The Toxicity of Doxorubicin with Nanotransporters
Authors: I. Blazkova, A. Moulick, V. Milosavljevic, P. Kopel, M. Vaculovicova, V. Adam, R. Kizek
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Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline drug used to treat many cancer diseases. Similarly to other cytostatic drugs, DOX has serious side effects; the biggest obstacle is the cardiotoxicity. With the aim of lowering the negative side effects and to target the DOX into the tumor tissue, the different nanoparticles (NPs) are studied. The aim of this work was to synthetized different NPs and conjugated them with DOX and determine the binding capacity of the NPs. For this experiment, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene oxide (GO), fullerene (FUL) and liposomes (LIP) were used. The highest binding capacity was observed in GO (85%). Subsequently the toxicity of NPs and NPs-DOX conjugates was analyzed in in vivo system (chicken embryos). Some NPs (GO) can increase the toxicity of DOX, whereas other NPs (LIP, CNTs) decrease DOX toxicity.
Keywords: Chicken embryos, Doxorubicin, Nanotransporters, Toxicity
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20792174 Nigerian Bread Contribute One Half of Recommended Vitamin a Intake in Poor-Urban Lagosian Preschoolers
Authors: Florence Uchendu, Tola Atinmo
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Nigerian bread is baked with vitamin A fortified wheat flour. Study aimed at determining its contribution to preschoolers- vitamin A nutriture. A cross-sectional/experimental study was carried out in four poor-urban Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria. A pretested food frequency questionnaire was administered to randomly selected mothers of 1600 preschoolers (24-59 months). Retinyl Palmitate content of fourteen bread samples randomly collected from bakeries in all LGAs was analyzed at 0 and 5 days at 25oC using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Data analysis was done at p<.05. Mean total intake of vitamin A from bread was 220.40μgRAE (733.94±775.68i.u). Bread contributed 6.5–178.4% of preschoolers RDA (1333i.u/400μgRAE). Mean contribution to vitamin A intake was 55.06±58.18%. Strong statistical significant relationship existed between total vitamin A intake and % RDA which was directly proportional (p<.01). Result indicates that bread made an important contribution towards vitamin A intake in poor-urban Lagosian preschoolers.
Keywords: Bread, dietary intake, Lagos metropolis, preschoolers
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21442173 Identification of Non-Lexicon Non-Slang Unigrams in Body-enhancement Medicinal UBE
Authors: Jatinderkumar R. Saini, Apurva A. Desai
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Email has become a fast and cheap means of online communication. The main threat to email is Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE), commonly called spam email. The current work aims at identification of unigrams in more than 2700 UBE that advertise body-enhancement drugs. The identification is based on the requirement that the unigram is neither present in dictionary, nor is a slang term. The motives of the paper are many fold. This is an attempt to analyze spamming behaviour and employment of wordmutation technique. On the side-lines of the paper, we have attempted to better understand the spam, the slang and their interplay. The problem has been addressed by employing Tokenization technique and Unigram BOW model. We found that the non-lexicon words constitute nearly 66% of total number of lexis of corpus whereas non-slang words constitute nearly 2.4% of non-lexicon words. Further, non-lexicon non-slang unigrams composed of 2 lexicon words, form more than 71% of the total number of such unigrams. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to analyze usage of non-lexicon non-slang unigrams in any kind of UBE.Keywords: Body Enhancement, Lexicon, Medicinal, Slang, Unigram, Unsolicited Bulk e-mail (UBE)
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18202172 Application of a Modified BCR Approach to Investigate the Mobility and Availability of Trace Elements (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo,Ni, Pb, Zn, and Hg) from a Solid Residue Matrix Designed for Soil Amendment
Authors: Mikko Mäkelä, Risto Pöykiö, Gary Watkins, Hannu Nurmesniemi, Olli Dahl
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Trace element speciation of an integrated soil amendment matrix was studied with a modified BCR sequential extraction procedure. The analysis included pseudo-total concentration determinations according to USEPA 3051A and relevant physicochemical properties by standardized methods. Based on the results, the soil amendment matrix possessed neutralization capacity comparable to commercial fertilizers. Additionally, the pseudo-total concentrations of all trace elements included in the Finnish regulation for agricultural fertilizers were lower than the respective statutory limit values. According to chemical speciation, the lability of trace elements increased in the following order: Hg < Cr < Co < Cu < As < Zn < Ni < Pb < Cd < V < Mo < Ba. The validity of the BCR approach as a tool for chemical speciation was confirmed by the additional acid digestion phase. Recovery of trace elements during the procedure assured the validity of the approach and indicated good quality of the analytical work.Keywords: BCR, bioavailability, trace element, industrialresidue, sequential extraction
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18442171 Hypothesis of a Holistic Treatment of Cancer: Crab Method
Authors: Devasis Ghosh
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The main hindrance to total cure of cancer is a) the failure to control continued production of cancer cells, b) its sustenance and c) its metastasis. This review study has tried to address this issue of total cancer cure in a more innovative way. A 10-pronged “CRAB METHOD”, a novel holistic scientific approach of Cancer treatment has been hypothesized in this paper. Apart from available Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and Oncosurgery, (which shall not be discussed here), seven other points of interference and treatment has been suggested, i.e. 1. Efficient stress management. 2. Dampening of ATF3 expression. 3. Selective inhibition of Platelet Activity. 4. Modulation of serotonin production, metabolism and 5HT receptor antagonism. 5. Auxin, its anti-proliferative potential and its modulation. 6. Melatonin supplementation because of its oncostatic properties. 7. HDAC Inhibitors especially valproic acid use due to its apoptotic role in many cancers. If all the above stated seven steps are thoroughly taken care of at the time of initial diagnosis of cancer along with the available treatment modalities of Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and Oncosurgery, then perhaps, the morbidity and mortality rate of cancer may be greatly reduced.Keywords: ATF3 dampening, auxin modulation, cancer, platelet activation, serotonin, stress, valproic acid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14452170 Argon/Oxygen Plasma Surface Modification of Biopolymers for Improvement of Wettability and Wear Resistance
Authors: Binnur Sagbas
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Artificial joint replacements such as total knee and total hip prosthesis have been applied to the patients who affected by osteoarthritis. Although different material combinations are used for these joints, biopolymers are most commonly preferred materials especially for acetabular cup and tibial component of hip and knee joints respectively. The main limitation that shortens the service life of these prostheses is wear. Wear is complicated phenomena and it must be considered with friction and lubrication. In this study, micro wave (MW) induced argon+oxygen plasma surface modification were applied on ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and vitamin E blended UHMWPE (VE-UHMWPE) biopolymer surfaces to improve surface wettability and wear resistance of the surfaces. Contact angel measurement method was used for determination of wettability. Ball-on-disc wear test was applied under 25% bovine serum lubrication conditions. The results show that surface wettability and wear resistance of both material samples were increased by plasma surface modification.Keywords: Artificial joints, plasma surface modification, UHMWPE, vitamin E, wear.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16282169 Soil Moisture Content in Hill-Filed Side Slope
Authors: A. Aboufayed
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The soil moisture content is an important property of the soil. The results of mean weekly gravimetric soil moisture content, measured for the three soil layers within the A horizon, showed that it was higher for the top 5 cm over the whole period of monitoring (15/7/2004 up to 10/11/05) with the variation becoming greater during winter time. This reflects the pattern of rainfall in Ireland which is spread over the whole year and shows that light rainfall events during summer time were compensated by loss through evapotranspiration, but only in the top 5 cm of soil. This layer had the highest porosity and highest moisture holding capacity due to the high content of organic matter. The gravimetric soil moisture contents of the top 5 cm and the underlying 5-15 and 15-25 cm layers show that bottom site of the Hill Field had higher soil moisture content than the middle and top sites during the whole period of monitoring.Keywords: Soil, Soil moisture, Gravimetric soil moisture content.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23722168 Wind Interference Effect on Tall Building
Authors: Atul K. Desai, Jigar K. Sevalia, Sandip A. Vasanwala
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When a building is located in an urban area, it is exposed to a wind of different characteristics then wind over an open terrain. This is development of turbulent wake region behind an upstream building. The interaction with upstream building can produce significant changes in the response of the tall building. Here, in this paper, an attempt has been made to study wind induced interference effects on tall building. In order to study wind induced interference effect (IF) on Tall Building, initially a tall building (which is termed as Principal Building now on wards) with square plan shape has been considered with different Height to Width Ratio and total drag force is obtained considering different terrain conditions as well as different incident wind direction. Then total drag force on Principal Building is obtained by considering adjacent building which is termed as Interfering Building now on wards with different terrain conditions and incident wind angle. To execute study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Code namely Fluent and Gambit have been used.
Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Tall Building, Turbulent, Wake Region, Wind.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 38002167 Green, Smooth and Easy Electrochemical Synthesis of N-Protected Indole Derivatives
Authors: Sarah Fahad Alajmi, Tamer Ezzat Youssef
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Here, we report a simple method for the direct conversion of 6-Nitro-1H-indole into N-substituted indoles via electrochemical dehydrogenative reaction with halogenated reagents under strongly basic conditions through N–R bond formation. The N-protected indoles have been prepared under moderate and scalable electrolytic conditions. The conduct of the reactions was performed in a simple divided cell under constant current without oxidizing reagents or transition-metal catalysts. The synthesized products have been characterized via UV/Vis spectrophotometry, 1H-NMR, and FTIR spectroscopy. A possible reaction mechanism is discussed based on the N-protective products. This methodology could be applied to the synthesis of various biologically active N-substituted indole derivatives.
Keywords: Green chemistry, 1H-indole, NH-containing heteroaromatic, organic electrosynthesis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9312166 Bioleaching of Heavy Metals from Sewage Sludge Using Indigenous Iron-Oxidizing Microorganisms: Effect of Substrate Concentration and Total Solids
Authors: Ashish Pathak, M. G. Dastidar, T. R. Sreekrishnan
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In the present study, the effect of ferrous sulfate concentration and total solids on bioleaching of heavy metals from sewage sludge has been examined using indigenous iron-oxidizing microorganisms. The experiments on effects of ferrous sulfate concentrations on bioleaching were carried out using ferrous sulfate of different concentrations (5-20 g L-1) to optimize the concentration of ferrous sulfate for maximum bioleaching. A rapid change in the pH and ORP took place in first 2 days followed by a slow change till 16th day in all the sludge samples. A 10 g L-1 ferrous sulfate concentration was found to be sufficient in metal bioleaching in the following order: Zn: 69%>Cu: 52%>Cr: 46%>Ni: 45. Further, bioleaching using 10 g/L ferrous sulfate was found to be efficient up to 20 g L-1 sludge solids concentration. The results of the present study strongly indicate that using 10 g L-1 ferrous sulfate indigenous iron-oxidizing microorganisms can bring down pH to a value needed for significant metal solubilization.
Keywords: Bioleaching, heavy metals, sewage sludge, iron oxidizing microorganisms
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20262165 Stress Evaluation of Rotary Injector Pump Parts in MF285 Tractor Using Finite Element Method
Authors: M. Azadbakht, Y. Fadakar
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Since fuel must be injected with appropriate pressure and time for accurate performance of diesel engines, then proper function of engine is influenced by accurate function of injector pump. At first total pump was designed by SolidWorks 2012 software. Then the total relationship of rotor, roller, internal cam ring, pole shoe and plunger in injector pump in MF285 tractor and their performance was shown. During suction state rollers connect with dents in internal cam ring and in pressure course pole shoes have drawer move in rotor and perform tappet action between rollers and plungers. The maximum stress was obtained by using analysis of finite element method. The maximum stress in contact surface of roller and internal cam ring and on roller surface. The maximum amount of this stress is 288.12 MPa. According to conducted analyses, the minimum value for safety factor is related to roller surface and it equals to 2.0477.
Keywords: Rotary injector pump, MF285 tractor, finite element, stress.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30962164 A Robust TVD-WENO Scheme for Conservation Laws
Authors: A. Abdalla, A. Kaltayev
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The ultimate goal of this article is to develop a robust and accurate numerical method for solving hyperbolic conservation laws in one and two dimensions. A hybrid numerical method, coupling a cheap fourth order total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme [1] for smooth region and a Robust seventh-order weighted non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme [2] near discontinuities, is considered. High order multi-resolution analysis is used to detect the high gradients regions of the numerical solution in order to capture the shocks with the WENO scheme, while the smooth regions are computed with fourth order total variation diminishing (TVD). For time integration, we use the third order TVD Runge-Kutta scheme. The accuracy of the resulting hybrid high order scheme is comparable with these of WENO, but with significant decrease of the CPU cost. Numerical demonstrates that the proposed scheme is comparable to the high order WENO scheme and superior to the fourth order TVD scheme. Our scheme has the added advantage of simplicity and computational efficiency. Numerical tests are presented which show the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Keywords: WENO scheme, TVD schemes, smoothness indicators, multi-resolution.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20142163 Low Molecular Weight Heparin during Pregnancy
Authors: Sihana Ahmeti Lika, Merita Dauti, Ledjan Malaj
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The objective of this study is to analyze the prophylactic usage of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) along pregnancy and the correlation between their usage and month/week of pregnancy, in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, at Clinical Hospital in Tetovo. A retrospective study was undertaken during 01 January – 31 December 2012. Over of one year, the total number of patients was 4636. Among the 1447 (32.21%) pregnant women, 298 (20.59%) of them were prescribed LMWH. The majority of patients given LMWH, 119 (39.93%) were diagnosed hypercoagulable. The age group with the highest attendance was 25- 35, 141 patients (47.32%). For 195 (65.44%) patients, this was their first pregnancy. Earliest stage of using LMWH was the second month of pregnancy 4 (1.34%) cases. The most common patients were 70 women along the seventh month (23.49%), followed by 68 in the ninth month of pregnancy (22.81%). Women in the 28th gestational week, were found to be the most affected, a total of 55 (78.57%) were in that week. Clexane 2000 and Fraxiparine 0.3 were the most common for which low molecular weight heparin was prescribed. The number of patients which received Clexane 2000 was 84 (28.19%), followed by those with Fraxiparine 0.3 81 (27.18%). The administration of LMWH is associated with long hospitalization (median 14,6 days).
Keywords: Hypercoagulable state, low molecular weight heparin, month of pregnancy, pregnant women.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26422162 The First Prevalence Report of Direct Identification and Differentiation of B. abortus and B. melitensis using Real Time PCR in House Mouse of Iran
Authors: A. Doosti, S. Moshkelani
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Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease; its symptoms and appearances are not exclusive in human and its traditional diagnosis is based on culture, serological methods and conventional PCR. For more sensitive, specific detection and differentiation of Brucella spp., the real time PCR method is recommended. This research has performed to determine the presence and prevalence of Brucella spp. and differentiation of Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis in house mouse (Mus musculus) in west of Iran. A TaqMan analysis and single-step PCR was carried out in total 326 DNA of Mouse's spleen samples. From the total number of 326 samples, 128 (39.27%) gave positive results for Brucella spp. by conventional PCR, also 65 and 32 out of the 128 specimens were positive for B. melitensis, B. abortus, respectively. These results indicate a high presence of this pathogen in this area and that real time PCR is considerably faster than current standard methods for identification and differentiation of Brucella species. To our knowledge, this study is the first prevalence report of direct identification and differentiation of B. abortus and B. melitensis by real time PCR in mouse tissue samples in Iran.
Keywords: Differentiation, B. abortus, B. melitensis, TaqManprobe, Iran.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15672161 Role of Global Fashion System in Turbo-Charging Growth of Apparel Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Rajkishore Nayak, Tarun Panwar, Majo George, Irfan Ulhaq, Soumik Parida
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Factors related to the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are analyzed in this paper. Important factors associated with the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the SSA countries are being identified, underlined, and evaluated in this study. This research performed a SWOT analysis of the garment industries in the SSA region by exploring into various literature in the garment manufacturing and export data. SSA countries need to grow a lot in the fashion and textile manufacturing and export to come in par with the developments in the sector globally. Unlike the developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the total export to the US, the EU and other parts of the world has declined. On the other hand, the total supply of fashion and textiles to the domestic market has been in rise. However, the local communities still need to rely on other countries to meet their demand. Import of cheaper clothes from countries like Bangladesh China and Vietnam is one of the main challenges local manufacturers are facing as it is very difficult to be competitive in pricing.
Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, apparel industry, sustainable fashion, developing countries, fashion, textiles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7152160 Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Different Levels of Black Seed (Nigella Sativa L.) on Growth Performance, Immunological, Hematological and Carcass Parameters of Broiler Chicks
Authors: R. S. Shewita, A. E. Taha
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This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of different levels of black seed (Nigella sativa L.) on the performance and immune response of broiler chicks. A total 240 day-old broiler chicks were used and randomly allotted equally into six experimental groups designated as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 having black seed at the rate of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g /kg diet respectively. The study was lasted for 42 days. Average body weight, weight gain, relative growth rate, feed conversion, antibody titer against Newcastle disease, phagocytic activity and phagocytic index, some blood parameters(GOT, GPT, Glucose, Cholesterol, Triglyceride, Total protein, Albumen, WBCs, RBCs, Hb and PCV), dressing percentage, weight of different body organs, abdominal fat weight, were determined. It was found that, N. Sativa significantly improved final body weight, total body gain and feed conversion ratio of groups 2 and 3 when compared with the control group. Higher levels of N. Sativa did not improve growth performance of the chicks. Non significant differences were observed for antibody titer against Newcastle virus, WBCs count, serum GOT, glucose level, dressing %, relative liver, spleen, heart and head percentages. Lymphoid organs (Bursa and Thymus) improved significantly with increasing N. Sativa level in all supplemented groups. Serum cholesterol, triglyceride and visible fat % significantly decreased with Nigella sativa supplementation while serum GPT level significantly increased with nigella sativa supplementation.Keywords: Nigella Sativa, broiler, growth, carcass traits, serum, blood
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30882159 Value Index, a Novel Decision Making Approach for Waste Load Allocation
Authors: E. Feizi Ashtiani, S. Jamshidi, M.H Niksokhan, A. Feizi Ashtiani
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Waste load allocation (WLA) policies may use multiobjective optimization methods to find the most appropriate and sustainable solutions. These usually intend to simultaneously minimize two criteria, total abatement costs (TC) and environmental violations (EV). If other criteria, such as inequity, need for minimization as well, it requires introducing more binary optimizations through different scenarios. In order to reduce the calculation steps, this study presents value index as an innovative decision making approach. Since the value index contains both the environmental violation and treatment costs, it can be maximized simultaneously with the equity index. It implies that the definition of different scenarios for environmental violations is no longer required. Furthermore, the solution is not necessarily the point with minimized total costs or environmental violations. This idea is testified for Haraz River, in north of Iran. Here, the dissolved oxygen (DO) level of river is simulated by Streeter-Phelps equation in MATLAB software. The WLA is determined for fish farms using multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) in two scenarios. At first, the trade-off curves of TC-EV and TC-Inequity are plotted separately as the conventional approach. In the second, the Value-Equity curve is derived. The comparative results show that the solutions are in a similar range of inequity with lower total costs. This is due to the freedom of environmental violation attained in value index. As a result, the conventional approach can well be replaced by the value index particularly for problems optimizing these objectives. This reduces the process to achieve the best solutions and may find better classification for scenario definition. It is also concluded that decision makers are better to focus on value index and weighting its contents to find the most sustainable alternatives based on their requirements.Keywords: Waste load allocation (WLA), Value index, Multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), Haraz River, Equity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20272158 GIC-Based Adsorbents for Wastewater Treatment through Adsorption and Electrochemical-Regeneration
Authors: H. M. A. Asghar, S. N. Hussain, E. P. L. Roberts, N. W. Brown, H. Sattar
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Intercalation imparts interesting features to the host graphite material. Two different types of intercalated compounds called (GIC-bisulphate or Nyex 1000 and GIC-nitrate or Nyex 3000) were tested for their adsorption capacity and ability to undergo electrochemical regeneration. It was found that Nyex 3000 showed comparatively slow kinetics along with reduced adsorption capacity to one half for acid violet 17 as adsorbate. Acid violet 17 was selected as model organic pollutant for evaluating comparative performance of said adsorbents. Both adsorbent materials showed 100% regeneration efficiency as achieved by passing a charge of 36 C g-1 at a current density of 12 mA cm-2 and a treatment time of 60 min.
Keywords: Intercalation compound of graphite, Adsorption, electrochemical-regeneration, waste water.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 40662157 Landfill Gas Monitoring at Borehole Wells using an Autonomous Environmental Monitoring System
Authors: Breda M. Kiernan, Stephen Beirne, Cormac Fay, Dermot Diamond
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An autonomous environmental monitoring system (Smart Landfill) has been constructed for the quantitative measurement of the components of landfill gas found at borehole wells at the perimeter of landfill sites. The main components of landfill gas are the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide and have been monitored in the range 0-5 % volume. This monitoring system has not only been tested in the laboratory but has been deployed in multiple field trials and the data collected successfully compared with on-site monitors. This success shows the potential of this system for application in environments where reliable gas monitoring is crucial.Keywords: Environmental monitoring, greenhouse gas, landfill gas, sensor deployment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21172156 Effects of Microwave Heating on Biogas Production, Chemical Oxygen Demand and Volatile Solids Solubilization of Food Residues
Authors: Ackmez Mudhoo, Pravish Rye Moorateeah, Romeela Mohee
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This paper presents the results of the preliminary investigation of microwave (MW) irradiation pretreatments on the anaerobic digestion of food residues using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays. Low solids systems with a total solids (TS) content ranging from 5.0-10.0% were analyzed. The inoculum to bulk mass of substrates to water ratio was 1:2:2 (mass basis). The experimental conditions for pretreatments were as follows: a control (no MW irradiation), two runs with MW irradiation for 15 and 30 minutes at 320 W, and another two runs with MW irradiation at 528 W for 30 and 60 minutes. The cumulative biogas production were 6.3 L and 8.7 L for 15min/320 W and 30min/320 W MW irradiation conditions, respectively, and 10.5 L and 11.4 L biogas for 30min/528 W and 60min/528 W, respectively, as compared to the control giving 5.8 L biogas. Both an increase in exposure time of irradiation and power of MW had increased the rate and yield of biogas. Singlefactor ANOVA tests (p<0.05) indicated that the variations in VS, TS, COD and cumulative biogas generation were significantly different for the pretreatment conditions. Results from this study indicated that MW irradiation had enhanced the biogas production and degradation of total solids with a significant improvement in VS and COD solubilization.
Keywords: microwave irradiation, pretreatment, anaerobic digestion, food residues.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24332155 Diversity and Structure of Trichoptera Communities and Water Quality Variables in Streams, Northern Thailand
Authors: T. Prommi, P. Thamsenanupap
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The influence of physicochemical water quality parameters on the abundance and diversity of caddisfly larvae was studied in seven sampling stations in Mae Tao and Mae Ku watersheds, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, northern Thailand. The streams: MK2 and MK8 as reference site, and impacted streams (MT1-MT5) were sampled bi-monthly during July 2011 to May 2012. A total of 4,584 individual of caddisfly larvae belonging to 10 family and 17 genera were found. The larvae of family Hydropsychidae were the most abundance, followed by Philopotamidae, Odontoceridae, and Leptoceridae, respectively. The genus Cheumatopsyche, Hydropsyche, and Chimarra were the most abundance genera in this study. Results of CCA ordination showed the total dissolved solids, sulfate, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH were the most important physicochemical factors to affect distribution of caddisflies communities. Changes in the caddisfly fauna may indicate changes in physicochemical factors owing to agricultural pollution, urbanization, or other human activities. Results revealed that the order Trichoptera, identified to species or genus, can be potentially used to assess environmental water quality status in freshwater ecosystems.Keywords: Caddisfly larvae, environmental variables, diversity, streams.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21192154 Simultaneous Reaction-Separation in a Microchannel Reactor with the Aid of a Guideline Structure
Authors: Salah Aljbour, Hiroshi Yamada, Tomohiko Tagawa
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A microchannel with two inlets and two outlets was tested as a potential reactor to carry out two-phase catalytic phase transfer reaction with phase separation at the exit of the microchannel. The catalytic phase transfer reaction between benzyl chloride and sodium sulfide was chosen as a model reaction. The effect of operational time on the conversion was studied. By utilizing a multiphase parallel flow inside the microchannel reactor with the aid of a guideline structure, the catalytic phase reaction followed by phase separation could be ensured. The organic phase could be separated completely from one exit and part of the aqueous phase was separated purely and could be reused with slightly affecting the catalytic phase transfer reaction.
Keywords: Green engineering, microchannel reactor, multiphase reaction, process intensification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16012153 Research on the Predict Method of Random Vibration Cumulative Fatigue Damage Life Based on the Finite Element Analysis
Authors: Wang Chengcheng, Li Chuanri, Xu Fei, Guo Ying
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Aiming at most of the aviation products are facing the problem of fatigue fracture in vibration environment, we makes use of the testing result of a bracket, analysis for the structure with ANSYS-Workbench, predict the life of the bracket by different ways, and compared with the testing result. With the research on analysis methods, make an organic combination of simulation analysis and testing, Not only ensure the accuracy of simulation analysis and life predict, but also make a dynamic supervision of product life process, promote the application of finite element simulation analysis in engineering practice.
Keywords: Random vibration, finite element simulation, fatigue, frequency domain.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 47092152 Simulation of Polymeric Precursors Production from Wine Industrial Organic Wastes
Authors: Tanapoom Phuncharoen, Tawiwat Sriwongsa, Kanita Boonruang, Apichit Svang-ariyaskul
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The production of Dimethyl acetal, Isovaleradehyde and Pyridine were simulated using Aspen Plus simulation. Upgrading cleaning water from wine industrial production is the main objective of the project. The winery waste composes of Acetaldehyde, Methanol, Ethyl Acetate, 1-propanol, water, iso-amyl alcohol and iso-butyl alcohol. The project is separated into three parts; separation, reaction, and purification. Various processes were considered to maximize the profit along with obtaining high purity and recovery of each component with optimum heat duty. The results show a significant value of the product with purity more than 75% and recovery over 98%.
Keywords: Dimethyl acetal, Pyridine, wine, Aspen Plus, Isovaleradehyde, polymeric precursors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24382151 Na Promoted Ni/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts Prepared by Solution Combustion Method for Syngas Methanation
Authors: Yan Zeng, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying
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Ni-based catalysts with different amounts of Na as promoter from 2 to 6 wt % were prepared by solution combustion method. The catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction. Carbon oxides conversion and methane selectivity are greatly influenced by sodium loading. Adding 2 wt% Na remarkably improves catalytic activity and long-term stability, attributed to its smaller mean NiO particle size, better distribution, and milder metal-support interaction. However, excess addition of Na results in deactivation distinctly due to the blockage of active sites.
Keywords: Nickel catalysts, Syngas methanation, Sodium, Solution combustion method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 43042150 Efficiency for Sustainable Growth: Evidence from the North African Countries
Authors: Ekrem Erdem, Can Tansel Tugcu
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Improved resource efficiency of production is a key requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth, North African governments should take some measures for increasing the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.
Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Economic efficiency, North African countries, Sustainable growth.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17582149 Multiple Job Shop-Scheduling using Hybrid Heuristic Algorithm
Authors: R.A.Mahdavinejad
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In this paper, multi-processors job shop scheduling problems are solved by a heuristic algorithm based on the hybrid of priority dispatching rules according to an ant colony optimization algorithm. The objective function is to minimize the makespan, i.e. total completion time, in which a simultanous presence of various kinds of ferons is allowed. By using the suitable hybrid of priority dispatching rules, the process of finding the best solution will be improved. Ant colony optimization algorithm, not only promote the ability of this proposed algorithm, but also decreases the total working time because of decreasing in setup times and modifying the working production line. Thus, the similar work has the same production lines. Other advantage of this algorithm is that the similar machines (not the same) can be considered. So, these machines are able to process a job with different processing and setup times. According to this capability and from this algorithm evaluation point of view, a number of test problems are solved and the associated results are analyzed. The results show a significant decrease in throughput time. It also shows that, this algorithm is able to recognize the bottleneck machine and to schedule jobs in an efficient way.
Keywords: Job shops scheduling, Priority dispatching rules, Makespan, Hybrid heuristic algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16692148 Experimental Analysis of the Influence of Water Mass Flow Rate on the Performance of a CO2 Direct-Expansion Solar Assisted Heat Pump
Authors: Sabrina N. Rabelo, Tiago de F. Paulino, Willian M. Duarte, Samer Sawalha, Luiz Machado
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Energy use is one of the main indicators for the economic and social development of a country, reflecting directly in the quality of life of the population. The expansion of energy use together with the depletion of fossil resources and the poor efficiency of energy systems have led many countries in recent years to invest in renewable energy sources. In this context, solar-assisted heat pump has become very important in energy industry, since it can transfer heat energy from the sun to water or another absorbing source. The direct-expansion solar assisted heat pump (DX-SAHP) water heater system operates by receiving solar energy incident in a solar collector, which serves as an evaporator in a refrigeration cycle, and the energy reject by the condenser is used for water heating. In this paper, a DX-SAHP using carbon dioxide as refrigerant (R744) was assembled, and the influence of the variation of the water mass flow rate in the system was analyzed. The parameters such as high pressure, water outlet temperature, gas cooler outlet temperature, evaporator temperature, and the coefficient of performance were studied. The mainly components used to assemble the heat pump were a reciprocating compressor, a gas cooler which is a countercurrent concentric tube heat exchanger, a needle-valve, and an evaporator that is a copper bare flat plate solar collector designed to capture direct and diffuse radiation. Routines were developed in the LabVIEW and CoolProp through MATLAB software’s, respectively, to collect data and calculate the thermodynamics properties. The range of coefficient of performance measured was from 3.2 to 5.34. It was noticed that, with the higher water mass flow rate, the water outlet temperature decreased, and consequently, the coefficient of performance of the system increases since the heat transfer in the gas cooler is higher. In addition, the high pressure of the system and the CO2 gas cooler outlet temperature decreased. The heat pump using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, especially operating with solar radiation has been proven to be a renewable source in an efficient system for heating residential water compared to electrical heaters reaching temperatures between 40 °C and 80 °C.
Keywords: Water mass flow rate, R-744, heat pump, solar evaporator, water heater.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11122147 A New Hybrid Optimization Method for Optimum Distribution Capacitor Planning
Authors: A. R. Seifi
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This work presents a new algorithm based on a combination of fuzzy (FUZ), Dynamic Programming (DP), and Genetic Algorithm (GA) approach for capacitor allocation in distribution feeders. The problem formulation considers two distinct objectives related to total cost of power loss and total cost of capacitors including the purchase and installation costs. The novel formulation is a multi-objective and non-differentiable optimization problem. The proposed method of this article uses fuzzy reasoning for sitting of capacitors in radial distribution feeders, DP for sizing and finally GA for finding the optimum shape of membership functions which are used in fuzzy reasoning stage. The proposed method has been implemented in a software package and its effectiveness has been verified through a 9-bus radial distribution feeder for the sake of conclusions supports. A comparison has been done among the proposed method of this paper and similar methods in other research works that shows the effectiveness of the proposed method of this paper for solving optimum capacitor planning problem.
Keywords: Capacitor planning, Fuzzy logic method, Genetic Algorithm, Dynamic programming, Radial Distribution feeder
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16102146 Biodegradation of Carbazole By a Promising Gram-Negative Bacterium
Authors: G. B. Singh, S. Srivastava, N. Gupta
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In the present work we report a gram negative bacterial isolate, from soil of a dye industry, with promising biorefining and bioremediation potential. This isolate (GBS.5) could utilize carbazole (nitrogen containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) as the sole source of nitrogen and carbon and utilize almost 98% of 3mM carbazole in 100 hours. The specific activity of our GBS.5 isolate for carbazole degradation at 30°C and pH 7.0 was found to be 11.36 μmol/min/g dry cell weight as compared to 10.4 μmol/min/g dry cell weight, the highest reported specific activity till date. The presence of car genes (the genes involved in denitrogenation of carbazole) was confirmed through PCR amplification.Keywords: Biodenitrogenation, Biorefining, Carbazoledegradation, Crude oil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1956