Search results for: Biogas Production Potential

Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Nevila Alliu, Tea Meta

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Background: Plasma levels of inflammatory markers are the expression of the infectious wastes of existing periodontitis, as well as of existing inflammation everywhere in the body. Materials and Methods: The study consists of the clinical part of the measurement of inflammatory markers of 23 patients diagnosed with chronic periodontitis and the recording of parental periodontal parameters of patient periodontal status: hemorrhage index and probe values, before and 7-10 days after non-surgical periodontal treatment. Results: The level of fibrinogen drops according to the categorization of disease progression, active and passive, with the biggest % (18%-30%) at the fluctuation 10-20 mg/d. Fluctuations in fibrinogen level according to the age of patients in the range 0-10 mg/dL under 40 years and over 40 years was 13%-26%, in the range 10-20 mg/dL was 26%-22%, in the 20-40 mg/dL was 9%-4%. Conclusions: Non-surgical periodontal treatment significantly reduces the level of non-inflammatory markers in the blood. Oral health significantly reduces the potential source for periodontal bacteria, with the potential of promoting thromboembolism, through interaction between thrombocytes.

Keywords: Chronic periodontitis, atherosclerosis, risk factor, inflammatory markers.

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Authors: Md. Alamgir Hossain, Md. Raju Ahmed

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Scarcity in energy sector is a major problem, which can hamper the growing development of a country. Bangladesh is one of the electricity-deprived countries; however, the energy demand of Bangladesh is increasing day by day. Due to the shortage of natural resources and environmental issues, many nations are now moving towards renewable energy. Among various form of renewable energy, wind energy is one of most potential source. In this paper, the present energy condition of Bangladesh is discussed and the necessity of moving towards renewable energy is clarified. The wind speed found at different locations at different heights and different years from the survey of several organizations are presented. Although, the results of installed low capacity wind turbines (from few kW to few tens of kW) operated by private or government organization at different places in Bangladesh are not so encouraging; however, it is shown that Bangladesh has a high potential of using large wind turbine (MW range) for capturing wind energy at different places. The present condition of wind energy in Bangladesh and other countries in the world are also presented to emphasize the requisite of moving towards wind energy.

Keywords: Renewable energy, wind speed, wind power, modern wind turbine, scarcity of power and gas crisis.

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Authors: M. T. Asadollahzadeh, A. Ghasemian, A. R. Saraeian, H. Resalati, P. R. Lennartsson, M. J. Taherzadeh

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Since filamentous fungi are capable of assimilating several types of sugars (hexoses and pentoses), they are potential candidates for bioconversion of spent sulfite liquor (SSL). Three filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus oryzae, Mucor indicus, and Rhizopus oryzae were investigated in this work. The SSL was diluted in order to obtain concentrations of 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90% and supplemented with two types of nutrients. The results from cultivations in shake flask showed that A. oryzae and M. indicus were not able to grow in pure SSL and SSL90% while R. oryzae could grow only in SSL50% and SSL60%. Cultivation with A. oryzae resulted in the highest yield of produced fungal biomass, while R. oryzae cultivation resulted in the lowest fungal biomass yield. Although, the mediums containing yeast extract, (NH₄)₂SO₄, KH₂PO₄, CaCl₂∙2H₂O, and MgSO₄∙7H₂O as nutrients supplementations produced higher fungal biomass compared to the mediums containing NH₄H₂PO₄ and ammonia, but there was no significant difference between two types of nutrients in terms of sugars and acetic acid consumption rate. The sugars consumption in M. indicus cultivation was faster than A. oryzae and R. oryzae cultivation. Acetic acid present in SSL was completely consumed during cultivation of all fungi. M. indicus was the best and fastest ethanol producer from SSL among the fungi examined, when yeast extract and salts were used as nutrients supplementations. Furthermore, no further improvement in ethanol concentration and rate of sugars consumption was obtained in medium supplemented with NH₄H₂PO₄ and ammonia compared to medium containing yeast extract, (NH₄)₂SO₄, KH₂PO₄, CaCl₂∙2H₂O, and MgSO₄∙7H₂O. On the other hand, the higher dilution of SSL resulted in a better fermentability, and better consumption of sugars and acetic acid.

Keywords: Ethanol, filamentous fungi, fungal biomass, spent sulfite liquor.

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Authors: Shafiq R. Qureshi, Syed Noman Danish, Muhammad Saeed Khalid

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Fossil fuels are the major source to meet the world energy requirements but its rapidly diminishing rate and adverse effects on our ecological system are of major concern. Renewable energy utilization is the need of time to meet the future challenges. Ocean energy is the one of these promising energy resources. Threefourths of the earth-s surface is covered by the oceans. This enormous energy resource is contained in the oceans- waters, the air above the oceans, and the land beneath them. The renewable energy source of ocean mainly is contained in waves, ocean current and offshore solar energy. Very fewer efforts have been made to harness this reliable and predictable resource. Harnessing of ocean energy needs detail knowledge of underlying mathematical governing equation and their analysis. With the advent of extra ordinary computational resources it is now possible to predict the wave climatology in lab simulation. Several techniques have been developed mostly stem from numerical analysis of Navier Stokes equations. This paper presents a brief over view of such mathematical model and tools to understand and analyze the wave climatology. Models of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations have been developed to estimate the wave characteristics to assess the power potential. A brief overview of available wave energy technologies is also given. A novel concept of on-shore wave energy extraction method is also presented at the end. The concept is based upon total energy conservation, where energy of wave is transferred to the flexible converter to increase its kinetic energy. Squeezing action by the external pressure on the converter body results in increase velocities at discharge section. High velocity head then can be used for energy storage or for direct utility of power generation. This converter utilizes the both potential and kinetic energy of the waves and designed for on-shore or near-shore application. Increased wave height at the shore due to shoaling effects increases the potential energy of the waves which is converted to renewable energy. This approach will result in economic wave energy converter due to near shore installation and more dense waves due to shoaling. Method will be more efficient because of tapping both potential and kinetic energy of the waves.

Keywords: Energy Utilizing, Wave Shoaling Phenomenon

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Authors: A. Spanou, P. Giannouli

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The effects of coatings based on sodium alginate (S.A) and carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) on the color and moisture characteristics of potato round slices were investigated. It is the first time that this combination of polysaccharides is used as edible coating which alone had the best performance as inhibitor of potato color discoloration during the storage of 15 days at 4oC. When ascorbic acid (AA) and green tea (GT) were added in the above edible coating its effects on potato round slices changed. The mixtures of sodium alginate and carboxyl methyl cellulose with ascorbic acid or with green tea behave as a potential moisture barrier, resulting to the extent of potato samples self–life. These data suggests that both GT and AA are potential inhibitors of dehydration in potatoes and not only natural antioxidants.

Keywords: Ascorbic acid, edible coating, green tea, moisture barrier.

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Authors: N. Manavizadeh, A. Dehghani, M. Rabbani

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Mixed model assembly lines (MMAL) are a type of production line where a variety of product models similar in product characteristics are assembled. The effective design of these lines requires that schedule for assembling the different products is determined. In this paper we tried to fit the sequencing problem with the main characteristics of make to order (MTO) environment. The problem solved in this paper is a multiple objective sequencing problem in mixed model assembly lines sequencing using weighted Sum Method (WSM) using GAMS software for small problem and an effective GA for large scale problems because of the nature of NP-hardness of our problem and vast time consume to find the optimum solution in large problems. In this problem three practically important objectives are minimizing: total utility work, keeping a constant production rate variation, and minimizing earliness and tardiness cost which consider the priority of each customer and different due date which is a real situation in mixed model assembly lines and it is the first time we consider different attribute to prioritize the customers which help the company to reduce the cost of earliness and tardiness. This mechanism is a way to apply an advance available to promise (ATP) in mixed model assembly line sequencing which is the main contribution of this paper.

Keywords: Available to promise, Earliness & Tardiness, GA, Mixed-Model assembly line Sequencing.

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Authors: Emily Hickmann, Peggy Richter, Maren Kählig, Hannes Schlieter

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Patient engagement is a cornerstone of high-quality care and essential for patients with chronic diseases to achieve improved health outcomes. Through digital transformation, possibilities to engage patients in their personal healthcare have multiplied. However, the exploitation of this potential is still lagging. To support the transmission of patient engagement theory into practice, this paper’s objective is to give a state-of-the-art overview of patient engagement tools and methods. A systematic literature review was conducted. Overall, 56 tools and methods were extracted and synthesized according to the four attributes of patient engagement, i.e., personalization, access, commitment, and therapeutic alliance. The results are discussed in terms of their potential to be implemented in digital health solutions under consideration of the “computers are social actors” (CASA) paradigm. It is concluded that digital health can catalyze patient engagement in practice, and a broad future research agenda is formulated.

Keywords: Chronic diseases, digitalization, patient-centeredness, patient empowerment, patient engagement.

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Authors: S.K. Mazloomi, Nasri b. Sulaiman

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By analyzing the sources of energy and power loss in PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controlled drivers of water electrolysis cells, it is possible to reduce the power dissipation and enhance the efficiency of such hydrogen production units. A PWM controlled power driver is based on a semiconductor switching element where its power dissipation might be a remarkable fraction of the total power demand of an electrolysis system. Power dissipation in a semiconductor switching element is related to many different parameters which could be fitted into two main categories: switching losses and conduction losses. Conduction losses are directly related to the built, structure and capabilities of a switching device itself and indeed the conditions in which the element is handling the switching application such as voltage, current, temperature and of course the fabrication technology. On the other hand, switching losses have some other influencing variables other than the mentioned such as control system, switching method and power electronics circuitry of the PWM power driver. By analyzings the characteristics of recently developed power switching transistors from different families of Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT), Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFET) and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT), some recommendations are made in this paper which are able to lead to achieve higher hydrogen production efficiency by utilizing PWM controlled water electrolysis cells.

Keywords: Power switch, PWM, Semiconductor switch, Waterelectrolysis

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Authors: Ryoko Yoshida, Jyunpei Yoshida, Hua Fang Yu, Yasushi Sasaki, Tetsuya Nagasaka

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Phosphorous is an important element for agriculture and industry and is a non-renewable resource. Especially, yellow phosphorus is an essential material in advanced industrial technology, but phosphorus resources were not produced in Japan at all, and all depend on imports. It has been suggested, however, that the remaining accessible reserves of phosphate ore will be depleted within 50 years. Therefore, alternative resources for phosphate ore must be found. In this research, we have developed a process that enables the production of high-purity yellow phosphorus from domestic unused phosphorus resources such as steelmaking slags. The process consists of two parts: (1) the production of crude phosphoric acid from wastes such as steelmaking slag; (2) producing high-purity yellow phosphorus by low-temperature carbothermic reduction of phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄). The details of the carbothermic reduction of phosphoric acid are presented in this paper. Yellow phosphorus is commercially produced by carbothermic reduction of phosphate ore in an electric arc furnace at more than 1673K. In the newly developed system, gaseous P₄O₁₀ evaporated from H₃PO₄ is successfully reduced to yellow phosphorus by using carbon packed bed at less than 1273K. To meet the depletion of phosphate ore, the proposed process in this study to produce yellow phosphorus by carbothermic reduction of H₃PO₄ that are extracted from dephosphorization slags will be one of the effective and economical solutions.

Keywords: Carbothermic reduction, dephosphorization slags, phosphoric acid, yellow phosphorus.

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Authors: N. Ullah, A. Haddad, F. Van Der Linde

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This paper investigates the effects of breaks in bonds, breaks in the earthing system and breaks in earth wire on the rise of the earth potential (EPR) in a substation and at the transmission tower bases using various models of an L6 tower. Different approaches were adopted to examine the integrity of the earthing system and the terminal towers. These effects were investigated to see the associated difference in the EPR magnitudes with respect to a healthy system at various locations. Comparisons of the computed EPR magnitudes were then made between the healthy and unhealthy system to detect any difference. The studies were conducted at power frequency for a uniform soil with different soil resistivities. It was found that full breaks in the double bond of the terminal towers increase the EPR significantly at the fault location, while they reduce EPR at the terminal tower bases. A fault on the isolated section of the grid can result in EPR values up to 8 times of those on a healthy system at higher soil resistivities, provided that the extended earthing system stays connected to the grid.

Keywords: Bonding, earthing, EPR, integrity, system.

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Authors: D. Toghraie, A. R. Azimian

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In this paper, the Lennard -Jones potential is applied to molecules of liquid argon as well as its vapor and platinum as solid surface in order to perform a non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation to study the microscopic aspects of liquid-vapor-solid interactions. The channel is periodic in x and y directions and along z direction it is bounded by atomic walls. It was found that density of the liquids near the solid walls fluctuated greatly and that the structure was more like a solid than a liquid. This indicates that the interactions of solid and liquid molecules are very strong. The resultant surface tension, liquid density and vapor density are found to be well predicted when compared with the experimental data for argon. Liquid and vapor densities were found to depend on the cutoff radius which induces the use of P3M (particle-particle particle-mesh) method which was implemented for evaluation of force and surface tension.

Keywords: Lennard-Jones Potential, Molecular DynamicsSimulation, Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC), Non-EquilibriumMolecular Dynamics (NEMD).

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Authors: Rezki Akkal, Mohamed Khodja, Slimane Azzi

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Acidification is a technique used in oil reservoirs to improve annual production, reduce the skin and increase the pressure of an oil well while eliminating the formation damage that occurs during the drilling process, completion and, amongst others, to create new channels allowing the easy circulation of oil around a producing well. This is achieved by injecting an acidizing fluid at a relatively low pressure to prevent fracturing formation. The treatment fluid used depends on the type and nature of the reservoir rock traversed as well as its petrophysical properties. In order to understand the interaction mechanisms between the treatment fluids used for the reservoir rock acidizing, several candidate wells for stimulation were selected in the large Hassi Messaoud deposit in southern Algeria. The stimulation of these wells is completed using different fluids composed mainly of HCl acid with other additives such as corrosion inhibitors, clay stabilizers and iron controllers. These treatment fluids are injected over two phases, namely with clean tube (7.5% HCl) and matrix aidizing with HCl (15%). The stimulation results obtained are variable according to the type of rock traversed and its mineralogical composition. These results show that there has been an increase in production flow and head pressure respectively from 1.99 m3 / h to 3.56 m3 / h and from 13 Kgf / cm2 to 20 kgf / cm2 in the sands formation having good petrophysical properties of (porosity = 16%) and low amount of clay (Vsh = 6%).

Keywords: Acidizing, Hassi-Messaoud reservoir, tube clean, matrix stimulation.

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Authors: Arun Prasad Jaganathan

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In today's dynamic industrial world, traditional task allocation methods often fall short in adapting to evolving operational conditions. This paper presents an AI-enabled task assistance and management system designed to overcome the limitations of conventional approaches. By using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the system intelligently interprets user instructions, analyzes tasks, and allocates resources based on real-time data and environmental factors. Additionally, geolocation tracking enables proactive identification of potential delays, ensuring timely interventions. With its transparent reporting mechanisms, the system provides stakeholders with clear insights into task progress, fostering accountability and informed decision-making. The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the system architecture, algorithm, and implementation, highlighting its potential to revolutionize task management across diverse industries.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, task allocation, operational efficiency, resource optimization.

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Authors: D. Bhaskar, N. R. Wadehra, M. Gulati, A. Narula, R. Vishnu, G. Katyal

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With drug resistance becoming widespread in Plasmodium falciparum infections, the development of the alternative drugs is the desired strategy for prevention and cure of malaria. Three drug targets were selected to screen promising drug molecules from the GSK library of 13469 molecules. Using an in silico structure-based drug designing approach, the differences in binding energies of the substrate and inhibitor were exploited between target sites of parasite and human to design a drug molecule against Plasmodium. The docking studies have shown several promising molecules from GSK library with more effective binding as compared to the already known inhibitors for the drug targets. Though stronger interaction has been shown by several molecules as compared to the reference, few molecules have shown the potential as drug candidates though in vitro studies are required to validate the results. In case of thymidylate synthase-dihydrofolatereductase (TS-DHFR), three compounds have shown promise for future studies as potential drugs.

Keywords: Drug resistance, Drug targets, In silico studies, Plasmodium falciparum.

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Authors: Nooshin Salari, Viliam Makis

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In this paper, we propose a condition-based maintenance policy for multi-unit systems considering the existence of economic dependency among units. We consider a system composed of N identical units, where each unit deteriorates independently. Deterioration process of each unit is modeled as a three-state continuous time homogeneous Markov chain with two working states and a failure state. The average production rate of units varies in different working states and demand rate of the system is constant. Units are inspected at equidistant time epochs, and decision regarding performing maintenance is determined by the number of units in the failure state. If the total number of units in the failure state exceeds a critical level, maintenance is initiated, where units in failed state are replaced correctively and deteriorated state units are maintained preventively. Our objective is to determine the optimal number of failed units to initiate maintenance minimizing the long run expected average cost per unit time. The problem is formulated and solved in the semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) framework. A numerical example is developed to demonstrate the proposed policy and the comparison with the corrective maintenance policy is presented.

Keywords: Reliability, production, maintenance optimization, Semi-Markov Decision Process.

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Authors: Y. H. Mugahed Amran, Raizal S. M. Rashid, Farzad Hejazi, Nor Azizi Safiee, A. A. Abang Ali

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Experimental and analytical studies were accomplished to examine the structural behavior of precast foamed concrete sandwich panel (PFCSP) under vertical in-plane shear load. PFCSP full-scale specimens with total number of six were developed with varying heights to study an important parameter slenderness ratio (H/t). The production technique of PFCSP and the procedure of test setup were described. The results obtained from the experimental tests were analysed in the context of in-plane shear strength capacity, load-deflection profile, load-strain relationship, slenderness ratio, shear cracking patterns and mode of failure. Analytical study of finite element analysis was implemented and the theoretical calculations of the ultimate in-plane shear strengths using the adopted ACI318 equation for reinforced concrete wall were determined aimed at predicting the in-plane shear strength of PFCSP. The decrease in slenderness ratio from 24 to 14 showed an increase of 26.51% and 21.91% on the ultimate in-plane shear strength capacity as obtained experimentally and in FEA models, respectively. The experimental test results, FEA models data and theoretical calculation values were compared and provided a significant agreement with high degree of accuracy. Therefore, on the basis of the results obtained, PFCSP wall has the potential use as an alternative to the conventional load-bearing wall system.

Keywords: Deflection profiles, foamed concrete, load-strain relationships, precast foamed concrete sandwich panel, slenderness ratio, vertical in-plane shear strength capacity.

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Authors: Munish Garg, Vinni Ahuja

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In the past few years, high consumption of soft drinks has attracted negative attention world-wide due to its possible adverse effects, leading the health conscious people to find alternative nutraceutical or herbal health drinks. In the present study, a nutraceutical soft drink was developed utilizing some easily available and well known traditional herbs having nutritional potential. The key ingredients were selected as bael, amla, lemon juice, ashwagandha and poppy seeds based on their household routine use in the summer with proven refreshing, cooling and energetic feeling since ages. After several trials made, the final composition of nutraceutical summer soft drink was selected as most suitable combination based on the taste, physicochemical, microbial and organoleptic point of view. The physicochemical analysis of the prepared drink found to contain optimum level of titratable acidity, total soluble solids and pH which were in accordance of the commercial recommendations. There were no bacterial colonies found in the product therefore found within limits. During the nine point’s hedonic scale sensory evaluation, the drink was strongly liked for colour, taste, flavour and texture. The formulation was found to contain flavonoids (80mg/100ml), phenolics (103mg/100ml), vitamin C (250mg/100ml) and has antioxidant potential (75.52%) apart from providing several other essential vitamins, minerals and healthy components. The developed nutraceutical drink provides an economical and feasible option for the consumers with very good taste combined with potential health benefits. The present drink is potentially capable to replace the synthetic soft drinks available in the market.

Keywords: Herbal drink, nutraceuticals, summer drink, antioxidant.

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Authors: Neslihan Yuca, Nilgün Karatepe, Fahrettin Yakuphanoğlu

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess unique structural, mechanical, thermal and electronic properties, and have been proposed to be used for applications in many fields. However, to reach the full potential of the CNTs, many problems still need to be solved, including the development of an easy and effective purification procedure, since synthesized CNTs contain impurities, such as amorphous carbon, carbon nanoparticles and metal particles. Different purification methods yield different CNT characteristics and may be suitable for the production of different types of CNTs. In this study, the effect of different purification chemicals on carbon nanotube quality was investigated. CNTs were firstly synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of acetylene (C2H2) on a magnesium oxide (MgO) powder impregnated with an iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)3·9H2O) solution. The synthesis parameters were selected as: the synthesis temperature of 800°C, the iron content in the precursor of 5% and the synthesis time of 30 min. The liquid phase oxidation method was applied for the purification of the synthesized CNT materials. Three different acid chemicals (HNO3, H2SO4, and HCl) were used in the removal of the metal catalysts from the synthesized CNT material to investigate the possible effects of each acid solution to the purification step. Purification experiments were carried out at two different temperatures (75 and 120 °C), two different acid concentrations (3 and 6 M) and for three different time intervals (6, 8 and 15 h). A 30% H2O2 : 3M HCl (1:1 v%) solution was also used in the purification step to remove both the metal catalysts and the amorphous carbon. The purifications using this solution were performed at the temperature of 75°C for 8 hours. Purification efficiencies at different conditions were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis. Thermal and electrical properties of CNTs were also determined. It was found that the obtained electrical conductivity values for the carbon nanotubes were typical for organic semiconductor materials and thermal stabilities were changed depending on the purification chemicals.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, purification, acid digestion, thermalstability, electrical conductivity

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Authors: Ayo Afolabi, Rudzani Sigwadi, Ambali Abdulkareem

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All around the world pulp and paper industries are the biggest plant production with the environmental pollution as the biggest challenge facing the pulp manufacturing operations. The concern among these industries is to produce a high volume of papers with the high quality standard and of low cost without affecting the environment. This result obtained from this bleaching study show that the activation of peroxide was an effective method of reducing the total applied charge of chlorine dioxide which is harmful to our environment and also show that softwood and hardwood Kraft pulps responded linearly to the peroxide treatments. During the bleaching process the production plant produce chlorines. Under the trial stages chloride dioxide has been reduced by 3 kg/ton to reduce the brightness from 65% ISO to 60% ISO of pulp and the dosing point returned to the E stage charges by pre-treating Kraft pulps with hydrogen peroxide. The pulp and paper industry has developed elemental chlorine free (ECF) and totally chlorine free (TCF) bleaching, in their quest for being environmental friendly, they have been looking at ways to turn their ECF process into a TCF process while still being competitive. This prompted the research to investigate the capability of the hydrogen peroxide as catalyst to reduce chloride dioxide.

Keywords: bleaching, chloride dioxide, elemental chlorine free (ECF), hydrogen peroxide, totally chlorine free (TCF).

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Authors: Ashish Pathak, Dong-Jin Kim, S. Singh, H. Srichandan, Byoung-Gon Kim

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The desulfurization of coal using biological methods is an emerging technology. The biodesulfurization process uses the catalytic activity of chemolithotrophic acidpohiles in removing sulfur and pyrite from the coal. The present study was undertaken to examine the potential of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans in removing the pyritic sulfur and iron from high iron and sulfur containing US coal. The experiment was undertaken in 10 L batch stirred tank reactor having 10% pulp density of coal. The reactor was operated under mesophilic conditions and aerobic conditions were maintained by sparging the air into the reactor. After 35 days of experiment, about 64% of pyrite and 21% of pyritic sulfur was removed from the coal. The findings of the present study indicate that the biodesulfurization process does have potential in treating the high pyrite and sulfur containing coal. A good mass balance was also obtained with net loss of about 5% showing its feasibility for large scale application.

Keywords: At.ferrroxidans, Batch reactor, Coal desulfurization, Pyrite.

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Authors: Mohd Azman A. Nurul, Husni Shafik, Almajano P. Maria, Gallego G. Maria

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The potential of using herbal Betula alba (BA) and Convolvulus arvensis (CA) as a natural antioxidant for food applications were investigated. Each plant extract was prepared by using pure ethanol, different concentration of ethanol aqueous solutions, including 50% and 75%, 50% methanol aqueous and water. Total phenolic content (TPC) was determined using Folin–Ciocalteau method and antioxidant activity were analyzed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) respectively. Ethanol extract of CA exhibited the highest TPC and antioxidant activity; however BA showed varies of antioxidant activity value in each assay. The BA and CA exhibit the potential sources of natural antioxidant for food commodities.

Keywords: Solvent effect, Antioxidant activity, Betula Alba, Convolvulus arvensis, Total Phenolic Content.

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Authors: Kgatla T.E, Howard S.S., Hiss D.C.

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Prickly pear (Opuntia spp) fruit has received renewed interest since it contains a betalain pigment that has an attractive purple colour for the production of juice. Prickly pear juice was prepared by homogenizing the fruit and treating the pulp with 48 g of pectinase from Aspergillus niger. Titratable acidity was determined by diluting 10 ml prickly pear juice with 90 ml deionized water and titrating to pH 8.2 with 0.1 N NaOH. Brix was measured using a refractometer and ascorbic acid content assayed spectrophotometrically. Colour variation was determined colorimetrically (Hunter L.a.b.). Hunter L.a.b. analysis showed that the red purple colour of prickly pear juice had been affected by juice treatments. This was indicated by low light values of colour difference meter (CDML*), hue, CDMa* and CDMb* values. It was observed that non-treated prickly pear juice had a high (colour difference meter of light) CDML* of 3.9 compared to juice treatments (range 3.29 to 2.14). The CDML* significantly (p<0.05) decreased as the juice was preserved. Spectrophotometric colour analysis showed that browning was low in all treated prickly juice samples as indicated by high values at 540 nm and low values at 476 nm (browning index). The brightness of prickly pear had been affected by acidification compared to other juice treatments. This study presents evidence that processing has a positive effect on the colour quality attribute that offers a clear advantage for the production of red-purple prickly pear juice.

Keywords: Colour, Hunter L.a.b, Prickly pear juice, processing, physicochemical.

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Authors: Syed Bahari Ramadzan Syed Adnan, Nor Sabirin Mohamed, Norwati K.A

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In this study, Li4SiO4 powder was successfully synthesized via sol gel method followed by drying at 150oC. Lithium oxide, Li2O and silicon oxide, SiO2 were used as the starting materials with citric acid as the chelating agent. The obtained powder was then sintered at various temperatures. Crystallographic phase analysis, morphology and ionic conductivity were investigated systematically employing X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared, Scanning Electron Microscopy and AC impedance spectroscopy. XRD result showed the formation of pure monoclinic Li4SiO4 crystal structure with lattice parameters a = 5.140 Å, b = 6.094 Å, c = 5.293 Å, β = 90o in the sample sintered at 750oC. This observation was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The bulk conductivity of this sample at room temperature was 3.35 × 10-6 S cm-1 and the highest bulk conductivity of 1.16 × 10-4 S cm-1 was obtained at 100°C. The results indicated that, the Li4SiO4 compound has potential to be used as host for LISICON structured solid electrolyte for low temperature application.

Keywords: Conductivity, LISICON, Li4SiO4, Solid electrolyte, Structure.

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Authors: Lukáš Plošek, Jaroslav Hynšt, Jaroslav Záhora, Jakub Elbl, Antonín Kintl, Ivana Charousová, Silvia Kovácsová

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Compost can influence soil fertility and plant health. At the same time compost can play an important role in the nitrogen cycle and it can influence leaching of mineral nitrogen from soil to underground water.

This paper deals with the influence of compost addition and mineral nitrogen fertilizer on leaching of mineral nitrogen, nitrogen availability in microbial biomass and plant biomass production in the lysimetric experiment. Twenty one lysimeters were filed with topsoil and subsoil collected in the area of protection zone of underground source of drinking water - Březová nad Svitavou. The highest leaching of mineral nitrogen was detected in the variant fertilized only mineral nitrogen fertilizer (624.58 mg m^-2), the lowest leaching was recorded in the variant with high addition of compost (315.51 mg m^-2). On the other hand, losses of mineral nitrogen are not in connection with the losses of available form of nitrogen in microbial biomass. Because lost of mineral nitrogen was detected in variant with the least change in the availability of N in microbial biomass.

The leaching of mineral nitrogen, yields as well as the results concerning nitrogen availability from the first year of long term experiment suggest that compost can positive influence the leaching of nitrogen into underground water.

Keywords: Nitrogen, Compost, Biomass production, Lysimeter.

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Authors: Supriyo Goswami, Debabrata Mazumder

Abstract:

Chrome tannery wastewater causes serious environmental hazard due to its high pollution potential. As a result, rigorous treatment is necessary for abatement of pollution from this type of wastewater. There are many research studies on chrome tannery wastewater treatment in the field of physical, chemical, and biological methods. In general, biological treatment process is found ineffective for direct application because of adverse effects by toxic chromium, sulphide, chloride etc. However, biological methods were employed mainly for a few sub processes generating significant amount of organic matter and without chromium, chlorides etc. In this context the present paper reviews the characteristics feature and pollution potential of wastewater generated from chrome tannery units and treatment of the same. The different biological processes used earlier and their chronological development for treatment of the chrome tannery wastewater are thoroughly reviewed in this paper. In this regard, the scope of hybrid bioreactor - an advanced technology option has also been explored, as this kind of treatment is well suited for the wastewater having inhibitory substances. 

Keywords: Composite tannery wastewater, biological treatment, Hybrid bioreactor, Organic removal

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Authors: Josephine S. Larkings, Patricia M. Brown

Abstract:

Mental health professionals views about mental illness is an important issue which has not received enough attention. The negative stigma associated with mental illness can have many negative consequences. Unfortunately, health professionals working with the mentally ill can also exhibit stigma. It has been suggested that causal explanations or beliefs around the causes of mental illness may influence stigma. This study aims to gain a greater insight into stigma through examining stigma among potential mental health professionals. Firstly, results found that potential mental health professionals had relatively low social distance t(205) = -3.62, p <.001. Secondly, an ANOVA indicated that the participants endorsed some causal beliefs more than others, F(1.82, 311.55) = 88.47, p < .001, partial n2 = .34. Moreover, participants endorsed the biological causal explanation the most. Thirdly, results indicated that combined contact (quality and quantity) and causal beliefs (biological, psychological, and environmental) explained a significant proportion of the variance in stigma, R2 = .35, adjusted R2 = .33, F(5, 153) = 16.66, p < .001. Quality of contact was the strongest predictor, with greater quality of contact associated with lower desired social distance. Also, quantity of contact, psychological and environmental causal explanations were also significant predictors of stigma. Greater quantity of contact and higher levels of environmental causal beliefs were associated with lower levels of stigma while psychological causal explanations were associated with higher levels of stigma. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted that showed the three causal beliefs had different impacts on four factors of stigma (Authoritarian, Benevolence, Social restrictiveness, and Community mental health ideology). These analyses showed that psychological causal beliefs had the most positive impact. More research is required on this topic as it has important implications to the treatment and recovery for people suffering from mental illness.

Keywords: Causal beliefs, contact, health professionals, mental illness stigma, social distance.

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Authors: Ronit Chakraborty, Sugata Banerji

Abstract:

There has been a marked increase in the reported prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among children in the US over the past two decades. This research has analyzed the growth in state-level ASD prevalence against 45 different potentially explanatory factors including socio-economic, demographic, healthcare, public policy and political factors. The goal was to understand if these factors have adequate predictive power in modeling the differential growth in ASD prevalence across various states, and, if they do, which factors are the most influential. The key findings of this study include (1) there is a confirmation that the chosen feature set has considerable power in predicting the growth in ASD prevalence, (2) the most influential predictive factors are identified, (3) given the nature of the most influential predictive variables, an indication that a considerable portion of the reported ASD prevalence differentials across states could be attributable to over and under diagnosis, and (4) Florida is identified as a key outlier state pointing to a potential under-diagnosis of ASD.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, clustering, Machine Learning, predictive modeling.

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Authors: Yasin Bilim, Alaaddin Başoda

Abstract:

The recent growth of internet applications on hospitality and tourism provokes on-line consumer comments and reviews. Many researchers and practitioners have named this enormous potential as “e-WOM (electronic word of mouth)”. Travel comments are important experiential information for the potential travellers. Many researches have been conducted to analyse the effects of e-WOM on hotel consumers. Broadly quantitative methods have been used for analysing online comments. But, a few studies have mentioned about the positive practical aspects of the comments for hotel marketers. The study aims to show different usage and effects of hotel consumers’ comments. As qualitative analysis method, grounded theory, content and discourse analysis, were used. The data based on the 10 resort hotel consumers’ on-line comments. Results show that consumers tend to write comments about service person, rooms, food services and pool in their online space. These indicators can be used by hotel marketers as a marketing information tool.

Keywords: Comments, E-WOM, hotel consumer, qualitative.

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Authors: D. Sujan, Z. Oo, M. E. Rahman, M. A. Maleque, C. K. Tan

Abstract:

Particulate reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) are potential materials for various applications due to their advantageous of physical and mechanical properties. This paper presents a study on the performance of stir cast Al2O3 SiC reinforced metal matrix composite materials. The results indicate that the composite materials exhibit improved physical and mechanical properties, such as, low coefficient of thermal expansion, high ultimate tensile strength, high impact strength, and hardness. It has been found that with the increase of weight percentage of reinforcement particles in the aluminium metal matrix, the new material exhibits lower wear rate against abrasive wearing. Being extremely lighter than the conventional gray cast iron material, the Al-Al2O3 and Al-SiC composites could be potential green materials for applications in the automobile industry, for instance, in making car disc brake rotors.

Keywords: Metal Matrix Composite, Strength to Weight Ratio, Wear Rate

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Authors: W. P. Hu, J. V. Kumar, Jeffrey J. P. Tsai

Abstract:

The inhibition of SH2 domain regulated protein-protein interactions is an attractive target for developing an effective chemotherapeutic approach in the treatment of disease. Molecular simulation is a useful tool for developing new drugs and for studying molecular recognition. In this study, we searched potential drug compounds for the inhibition of SH2 domain by performing structural similarity search in PubChem Compound Database. A total of 37 compounds were screened from the database, and then we used the LibDock docking program to evaluate the inhibition effect. The best three compounds (AP22408, CID 71463546 and CID 9917321) were chosen for MD simulations after the LibDock docking. Our results show that the compound CID 9917321 can produce a more stable protein-ligand complex compared to other two currently known inhibitors of Src SH2 domain. The compound CID 9917321 may be useful for the inhibition of SH2 domain based on these computational results. Subsequently experiments are needed to verify the effect of compound CID 9917321 on the SH2 domain in the future studies.

Keywords: Nonpeptide inhibitor, Src SH2 domain, LibDock, molecular dynamics simulation.

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