Search results for: wastewater treatment

Authors: A. Panacek, M. Kilianova, R. Prucek, V. Husickova, R. Vecerova, M. Kolar, L. Kvitek, R. Zboril

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In this work we describe the preparation of NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel containing silver nanoparticles (NPs) for topical bactericidal applications. Highly concentrated dispersion of silver NPs as high as of 5g/L of silver with diameter of 10nm was prepared by reduction of AgNO₃ via strong reducing agent NaBH₄. Silver NPs were stabilized by addition of sodium polyacrylate in order to prevent their aggregation at such high concentration. This way synthesized silver NPs were subsequently incorporated into methylcellulose suspension at elevated temperature resulting in formation of NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel when temperature cooled down to laboratory conditions. In vitro antibacterial activity assay proved high bactericidal and fungicidal efficiency of silver NPs alone in the form of dispersion as well as in the form of hydrogel against broad spectrum of bacteria and yeasts including highly multiresistant strains such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. A very low concentrations of silver as low as 0.84mg/L Ag in as-prepared dispersion gave antibacterial performance. NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel showed antibacterial action at the lowest used silver concentration equal to 25mg/L. Such prepared NanoSilver/methylcellulose hydrogel represent promising topical antimicrobial formulation for treatment of burns and wounds.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, burn, hydrogel, silver NPs.

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Authors: Ghias ul Hassan, Bilal Nasir, Israr ul Haque, ShafiqAwan, Ghias Un NabiTayyab, S. Hassan Akhtar Bokhari, Khawar Saeed, Qazi Masroor

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Introduction: Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin combination is standard of care in the management of chronic HCV infected patients. Efficacy of the therapy is judged by the ability to achieve biochemical and virological response as judged by RVR, EVR, ETR and SVR.Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of newly marketed biosimilar Pegylated Interferon Alpha 40KD (Peg INF) in chronic HCV patients. Materials and methods: This was observational, prospective multicentre study to evaluate the ability of biosimilar pegylated interferon alfa 2a (40KD) along with Ribavirin (weight based) to achieve SVR. The enrolled patients were separated into Naïve (A), Relapsers (B) and Non Responders(C) based on the previous history of interferon exposure and its response. The RGT was followed on ALT and RVR, EVR, ETR and SVR.Results:As per protocol analysis estimated SVR for three groups is 86.6% for naïve, 89.4% for relapsers and 52.4% for non-responders to standard interferon. Conclusion: It is concluded that Bio-similar pegylated interferon alfa-2a (40kD) along with Ribavirin has good anti-viral efficacy in Naïve, Relapsers and Non-responders to standard IFN of chronic HCV infected patients requiring treatment.

Keywords: SVR (Sustained virological response), NR (Nonresponders), Pegylated Interferon.

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Authors: Amir Mirzaei, Rahim Naseri, Parvaneh Vafa, Meysam Moradi

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In order to investigate the effect of drought stress and row spacing on grain yield and associated traits of Mungbean, an experiment was conducted as a factorial in based on randomized complete block design with three replications in Ilam station, Iran during 2008-2009 growing season. This experiment was conducted in four stages on one kind of Mungbean named Gohar. The experimental factors including (80, 110 and 140mm cumulative evaporation from class A pan) and row spacing (25, 50, and 75cm) were selected. The results of the experiment showed that the varieties affected by the treatment showed significant differences. The highest total yield was obtained in the condition in which evaporation of water was 80mm. Of course some traits such as grain yield did not show a significant difference between the conditions in which evaporation of the irrigation water was 80 and 110mm. The traits under study also showed a significant difference to different raw spacing. Row spacing of 50cm had a higher total yield compared to other raw spaces. It was due to the higher number of pods per plant and grain weight. The interaction of drought stress and row spacing showed that in the condition in which the row space is 50 cm and the evaporation of the irrigation water is 80mm, the highest number of grain is achieved.

Keywords: Stress, Grain yield, Mungbean, Row spacing.

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Authors: P. Martínez-Nieto, M. Vanegas-Hoyos, M. Zapata-Pineda, J. Robles-Camargo

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The aquatic plants are a promising renewable energy resource. Lake Fúquene polluting macrophytes, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes C. Mart.) and Brazilian elodea (Egeria densa Planch.), were saccharifiedby different treatments and fermented to ethanol by native yeasts. Among the tested chemical and biological methods for the saccharification, Pleurotus ostreatus at 10% (m/v) was chosen as the best pre-treatment in both macrophytes (P<0.01). Subsequently 49 yeasts were isolated from Lake Fúquene and nine strains were selected, which presented the highest precipitates characteristic of ethanol in the iodoform test. The fermentations from water hyacinth and Brazilian elodea hydrolysates using these yeasts produced ethanol at a rate between 0.38 to 0.80gL-1h-1 and 0.15 to 0.27gL-1h-1 respectively. The ethanol presence was confirmed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The nine yeasts chosen were preliminarily identified as belonging to the genera Candida spp., Brettanomyces sp. and Hansenula spp.

Keywords: Bio-ethanol, Chemical hydrolysis, Invasive aquatic macrophytes, Native yeasts fermenting, P. ostreatus

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Authors: Mohsin T. Mohammed, Zahid A. Khan, Arshad N. Siddiquee

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The field of biomedical materials plays an imperative requisite and a critical role in manufacturing a variety of biological artificial replacements in a modern world. Recently, titanium (Ti) materials are being used as biomaterials because of their superior corrosion resistance and tremendous specific strength, free- allergic problems and the greatest biocompatibility compared to other competing biomaterials such as stainless steel, Co-Cr alloys, ceramics, polymers, and composite materials. However, regardless of these excellent performance properties, Implantable Ti materials have poor shear strength and wear resistance which limited their applications as biomaterials. Even though the wear properties of Ti alloys has revealed some improvements, the crucial effectiveness of biomedical Ti alloys as wear components requires a comprehensive deep understanding of the wear reasons, mechanisms, and techniques that can be used to improve wear behavior. This review examines current information on the effect of thermal and thermomechanical processing of implantable Ti materials on the long-term prosthetic requirement which related with wear behavior. This paper focuses mainly on the evolution, evaluation and development of effective microstructural features that can improve wear properties of bio grade Ti materials using thermal and thermomechanical treatments.

Keywords: Wear Resistance, Heat Treatment, Thermomechanical Processing, Biomedical Titanium Materials.

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Authors: M. Ramezani, Gh. Amin, E. Jalili

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In present study the effects of anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive of vitex hydro-alcoholic extract were evaluated on male mice. In inflammatory test mice were divided into 7 groups: first group was control. The second group, positive control group, received dexamethasone (15 mg/kg) and the other five groups received different doses of hydroalcohol extract of Vitex fruit (265, 365, 465, 565, and 665 mg/kg). The inflammation was caused by xylene-induced ear edema. Formalin test was used for evaluation of antinociceptive effect of extract. In this test, mice were divided into 7 groups: control, morphine (10mg/kg) as positive control group, and Vitex extract groups ((265, 365, 465, 565, and 665 mg/kg). All drugs were administered intrapritoneally, 30 min before each test. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey-kramer multiple comparison test. Results have shown significant antiinflammatory effects of extract at all dosed as compared with control (P<0.05). In the first phase of formalin test (0-5 min) none doses of extract could inhibit acute pain, but in the second phase (15-30 min) chronic pain decreased at 265, 365, 465, and 565 mg/kg doses (P<0.05). The results of this research indicated that Vitex extract remarkably inhibited inflammation and second phase of nociception (inflammatory pain) and can be used for treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, Antinociceptive, Mice, Vitexagnus castus.

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Authors: Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

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Emission regulations for diesel engines are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the standards without exhaust after-treatment systems. Lack of the space in many diesel vehicles, however, make it difficult to design and install stand-alone catalytic converters such as DOC, DPF, and SCR in the vehicle exhaust systems. Accordingly, those have been installed inside the muffler to save the space, and referred to the catalytic muffler. However, that has complex internal structure with perforated plate and pipe for noise and monolithic catalyst for emission reduction. For this reason, flow uniformity and pressure drop, which affect efficiency of catalyst and engine performance, respectively, should be examined when the catalytic muffler is designed. In this work, therefore, the flow uniformity and pressure drop to improve the performance of the catalytic converter and the engine have been numerically investigated by changing various design parameters such as inlet shape, porosity, and outlet shape of the muffler using the three-dimensional turbulent flow of the incompressible, non-reacting, and steady state inside the catalytic muffler. Finally, it can be found that the shape, in which the muffler has perforated pipe inside the inlet part, has higher uniformity index and lower pressure drop than others considered in this work.

Keywords: Catalytic muffler, Perforated inlet cone, Catalysts, Perforated pipe, Flow uniformity, Pressure drop.

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Authors: FH. Sarieddeen, R. El Berbari, S. Imad, J. Abdel Baki, M. Hamad, R. Blanc, A. Nakib, Y.Chenoune

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Brain ArterioVenous Malformation (BAVM) is an abnormal tangle of brain blood vessels where arteries shunt directly into veins with no intervening capillary bed which causes high pressure and hemorrhage risk. The success of treatment by embolization in interventional neuroradiology is highly dependent on the accuracy of the vessels visualization. In this paper the performance of clustering techniques on vessel segmentation from 3- D rotational angiography (3DRA) images is investigated and a new technique of segmentation is proposed. This method consists in: preprocessing step of image enhancement, then K-Means (KM), Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) and Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering are used to separate vessel pixels from background and artery pixels from vein pixels when possible. A post processing step of removing false-alarm components is applied before constructing a three-dimensional volume of the vessels. The proposed method was tested on six datasets along with a medical assessment of an expert. Obtained results showed encouraging segmentations.

Keywords: Brain arteriovenous malformation (BAVM), 3-D rotational angiography (3DRA), K-Means (KM) clustering, Fuzzy CMeans (FCM) clustering, Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering, volume rendering.

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Authors: Musa Seymen, Duran Yavuz, Nurcan Yavuz, Önder Türkmen

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Edible seed pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) is one of the important edibles preferred by consumer in Turkey due to its higher nutrient contents. However, there is almost very few study on water consumption and irrigation water requirement of confectionary edible seed pumpkin in Turkey. Therefore, a 2-year study (2013-2014) was conducted to determine the effects of irrigation levels on the seed yield and yield components of drip-irrigated confectionary edible seed pumpkin under Turkey conditions. In the study, the experimental design was made in randomized blocks with three replications. Treatments consisted of five irrigation water levels that compensated for the 100% (I₁₀₀, full irrigation), 75% (I₇₅), 50% (I₅₀), 25% (I₂₅) and 0% (I₀, no irrigation) of crop water requirements at 14-day irrigation intervals. Seasonal evapotranspiration of treatments varied from 194.2 to 625.2 mm in 2013 and from 208.6 to 556.6 mm in 2014. In both years, the highest seasonal evapotranspiration was obtained in I₁₀₀ treatment. Average across years, the seed yields ranged between 1090 (I₁₀₀) and 422 (I₀) kg ha^-1. The irrigation treatments were found to significantly affect the yield parameters such as the seed yield, oil seed yield number of seeds per fruit, seed size, seed width, fruit size, fruit width and fruit index.

Keywords: Irrigation level, edible seed pumpkin, seed quality, seed yield.

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Authors: Zheng Zhang, Xin Chen, Guoqing Ding

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Electronic apex locators (EAL) has been widely used clinically for measuring root canal working length with high accuracy, which is crucial for successful endodontic treatment. In order to maintain high accuracy in different measurement environments, this study presented a system for root canal length measurement based on multifrequency impedance method. This measuring system can generate a sweep current with frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz through a direct digital synthesizer. Multiple impedance ratios with different combinations of frequencies were obtained and transmitted by an analog-to-digital converter and several of them with representatives will be selected after data process. The system analyzed the functional relationship between these impedance ratios and the distance between the file and the apex with statistics by measuring plenty of teeth. The position of the apical foramen can be determined by the statistical model using these impedance ratios. The experimental results revealed that the accuracy of the system based on multifrequency impedance ratios method to determine the position of the apical foramen was higher than the dual-frequency impedance ratio method. Besides that, for more complex measurement environments, the performance of the system was more stable.

Keywords: Root canal length, apex locator, multifrequency impedance, sweep frequency.

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Authors: Luis Fonseca, Filipe Cabral Pinto, Susana Sargento

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The increase of the world population, especially in large urban centers, has resulted in new challenges particularly with the control and optimization of public safety. Thus, in the present work, a solution is proposed for the prediction of criminal occurrences in a city based on historical data of incidents and demographic information. The entire research and implementation will be presented start with the data collection from its original source, the treatment and transformations applied to them, choice and the evaluation and implementation of the Machine Learning model up to the application layer. Classification models will be implemented to predict criminal risk for a given time interval and location. Machine Learning algorithms such as Random Forest, Neural Networks, K-Nearest Neighbors and Logistic Regression will be used to predict occurrences, and their performance will be compared according to the data processing and transformation used. The results show that the use of Machine Learning techniques helps to anticipate criminal occurrences, which contributed to the reinforcement of public security. Finally, the models were implemented on a platform that will provide an API to enable other entities to make requests for predictions in real-time. An application will also be presented where it is possible to show criminal predictions visually.

Keywords: Crime prediction, machine learning, public safety, smart city.

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Authors: Chongyang Ye, Rong Liu

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Compression textiles such as compression stockings (CSs) have been extensively applied for the prevention and treatment of chronic venous insufficiency of lower extremities. The involvement of multiple mechanical factors such as interface pressure, frictional force, and elastic materials make the interactions between lower limb and CSs to be complex. Determination of Poisson’s ratio and elastic moduli of CS materials are critical for constructing finite element (FE) modeling to numerically simulate a complex interactive system of CS and lower limb. In this study, a mixed approach, including an analytic model based on the orthotropic Hooke’s Law and experimental study (uniaxial tension testing and pure shear testing), has been proposed to determine Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and shear modulus of CS fabrics. The results indicated a linear relationship existing between the stress and strain properties of the studied CS samples under controlled stretch ratios (< 100%). The proposed method and the determined key mechanical properties of elastic orthotropic CS fabrics facilitate FE modeling for analyzing in-depth the effects of compression material design on their resultant biomechanical function in compression therapy.

Keywords: Elastic compression stockings, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, shear modulus, mechanical analysis.

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Authors: Khalid Ahmed Elrabie Abdelrasoul

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The present study was carried out on Sahiwal cattle bulls maintained at the Artificial Breeding Complex, NDRI, Karnal, Hayana, India, to assess the effect of cooling using mist cooling and fanning on Sahiwal bulls in the dry hot summer season. Fourteen Sahiwal bulls were divided into two groups of seven each. Sexual behavior and semen quality traits considered were: Reaction time (RT), Dismounting time (DMT), Total time taken in mounts (TTTM), Flehmen response (FR), Erection Score (ES), Protrusion Score (PS), Intensity of thrust (ITS), Temperament Score (TS), Libido Score (LS), Semen volume, Physical appearance, Mass activity, Initial progressive motility, Non-eosinophilic spermatozoa count (NESC) and post thaw motility percent. Data were analyzed by least squares technique. Group-1 was the control, whereas group-2 (treatment group) bulls were exposed to mist cooling and fanning (thrice a day 15 min each) in the dry hot summer season. Group-2 showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher value in DMT (sec), ES, PS, ITS, LS, semen volume (ml), semen color density, mass activity, initial motility, progressive motility and live sperm.

Keywords: Mist cooling, Sahiwal bulls, semen quality, sexual behavior.

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Authors: A. Tarantino, F. Lops, G. Disciglio, E. Tarantino

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Apulia region (southern Italy) is excellent for heavy production of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.). Fruit quality is a combination of physical, chemical and nutritional characteristics. The present experiment was laid in the commercial orchard in Cerignola (Foggia district, Apulia region, 41°15’49’’N; 15°53’59’’E; 126 a.s.l.) during the 2014-2015 season. The experiment consisted of the use of three biostimulant treatments (Hendophyt®, Ergostim® and Radicon®) compared with untreated control on ‘Farbaly’ apricot cultivar, in order to evaluate the vegeto-productive and fruit qualitative attributes. Foliar spray of biostimulants was applied at different times during the growth season (at red ball, fruit setting and fruit development stages). Experimental data showed some specific differences among the biostimulant treatments, which fruit set, growth and productivity were affected. Moderate influences were found regarding the qualitative attributes of fruits. The soluble solid content was positively affected by Hendophyt® treatment. Antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in Hendophyt® and Radicon® treatments respect to the untreated control.

Keywords: Prunus Armeniaca L., biostimulants, fruit set, fruit quality.

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Authors: Zayed N. Alsulami, Asma F. Aldosseri, Ahmed S. Ezziden, Abdulrahman K. Alonazi

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Children are more susceptible to medication errors than adults. Medication administration process is the last stage in the medication treatment process and most of the errors detected in this stage. Little research has been undertaken about medication errors in children in the Middle East countries. This study was aimed to evaluate how the paediatric nurses adhere to the medication administration policy and also to identify any medication preparation and administration errors or any risk factors. An observational, prospective study of medication administration process from when the nurses preparing patient medication until administration stage (May to August 2014) was conducted in Saudi Arabia. Twelve paediatric nurses serving 90 paediatric patients were observed. 456 drug administered doses were evaluated. Adherence rate was variable in 7 steps out of 16 steps. Patient allergy information, dose calculation, drug expiry date were the steps in medication administration with lowest adherence rates. 63 medication preparation and administration errors were identified with error rate 13.8% of medication administrations. No potentially life-threating errors were witnessed. Few logistic and administrative factors were reported. The results showed that the medication administration policy and procedure need an urgent revision to be more sensible for nurses in practice. Nurses’ knowledge and skills regarding to the medication administration process should be improved.

Keywords: Double checking, Medication administration errors, Medication safety, Nurses.

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Authors: Ghada Salem, Nihal Kabel

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Objective: This in vitro study was carried out to assess the microleakage properties of nano-filled glass ionomer in comparison to resin-reinforced glass ionomers. Material and Methods: 40 deciduous molar teeth were included in this study. Class-II cavity was prepared in a standard form for all the specimens. The teeth were randomly distributed into two groups (20 per group) according to the restorative material used either nano-glass ionomer or Photac Fill glass ionomer restoration. All specimens were thermocycled for 1000 cycles between 5 and 55 °C. After that, the teeth were immersed in 2% methylene blue dye then sectioned and evaluated under a stereomicroscope. Microleakage was assessed using linear dye penetration and on a scale from zero to five. Results: Two way ANOVA test revealed a statistically significant lower degree of microleakage in both occlusal and gingival restorations (0.4±0.2), (0.9±0.1) for nano-filled glass ionomer group in comparison to resin modified glass ionomer (2.3±0.7), (2.4±0.5). No statistical difference was found between gingival and occlusal leakage regarding the effect of the measured site. Conclusion: Nano-filled glass ionomer shows superior sealing ability which enables this type of restoration to be used in minimum invasive treatment.

Keywords: Microleakage, nano-ionomer, resin-reinforced glass ionomer, proximal cavity preparation.

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Authors: María José Benítez Jiménez

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Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (E.C.H.R.) proclaims that no one may be subjected to torture, punishment or degrading treatment. The legislative correlate in Spain is embodied in Article 15 of the Spanish Constitution, and there must be an overlapping interpretation of both precepts on the ideal plane. While it is true that there are not many cases in which the European Court of Human Rights (E.C.t.H.R. (The Strasbourg Court)) has sanctioned Spain for its failure to investigate complaints of torture, it must be emphasized that the tendency to violate Article 3 of the Convention appears to be on the rise, being necessary to know possible factors that may be affecting it. This paper addresses the analysis of sentences that directly or indirectly reveal the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention. To carry out the analysis, sentences of the Strasbourg Court have been consulted from 2012 to 2016, being able to address any previous sentences to this period if it provided justified information necessary for the study. After the review it becomes clear that there are two key groups of subjects that request a response to the Strasbourg Court on the understanding that they have been tortured or degradingly treated. These are: immigrants and terrorists. Both phenomena, immigration and terrorism, respond to patterns that have mutated in recent years, and it is important for this study to know if national regulations begin to be dysfunctional.

Keywords: European convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, European Court of Human Rights, sentences, Spanish Constitution, torture.

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Authors: Yu Shi, Rong Liu, Jingyun Lv

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Compression textiles with ergonomic-fit and controllable pressure performance have demonstrated positive effect on prevention and treatment of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). Well-designed compression textile products contribute to improving user compliance in their daily application. This study explored the effects of multiple knitting variables (yarn-machinery settings) on the physical-mechanical properties and the produced pressure magnitudes of tubular compression fabrics (TCFs) through experimental testing and multiple regression modeling. The results indicated that fabric physical (stitch densities and circumference) and mechanical (tensile) properties were affected by the linear density of inlay yarns, which, to some extent, influenced pressure magnitudes of the TCFs. Knitting variables (e.g., feeding velocity of inlay yarns and loop size settings) can alter circumferences and tensile properties of tubular fabrics, respectively, and significantly varied pressure values of the TCFs. This study enhanced the understanding of the effects of knitting factors on pressure controlling of TCFs, thus facilitating dimension and pressure design of compression textiles in future development.

Keywords: Laid-in knitted fabric, yarn-machinery settings, pressure magnitudes, quantitative analysis, compression textiles.

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Authors: Sh. Khoshemehry, M. E. Bahram, M. J. Pourvaghar

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Sport has found a special place as an effective phenomenon in all societies of the contemporary world. The relationship between physical activity and exercise with different sciences has provided new fields for human study. The range of issues related to exercise and physical education is such that it requires specialized sciences and special studies. In this article, the psychological and social sections of exercise have been investigated for children and adults. It can be used for anyone in different age groups. Exercise and regular physical movements have a great impact on the mental and social health of the individual in addition to body health. It affects the individual's adaptability in society and his/her personality. Exercise affects the treatment of diseases such as depression, anxiety, stress, body image, and memory. Exercise is a safe haven for young people to achieve the optimum human development in its shelter. The effects of sensorimotor skills on mental actions and mental development are such a way that many psychologists and sports science experts believe these activities should be included in training programs in the first place. Familiarity of students and scholars with different programs and methods of sensorimotor activities not only causes their mental actions; but also increases mental health and vitality, enhances self-confidence and, therefore, mental health.

Keywords: Anxiety, mental health, physical activity, serotonin.

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Authors: Waleed S. Alwaneen

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Dairy industry is flourishing in world to provide milk and milk products to local population. Besides milk products, dairy industries also generate a substantial amount of cow manure that significantly affects the environment. Moreover, heat produced during the decomposition of the cow manure adversely affects the crop germination. Different companies are producing vermicompost using different species of worms/larvae to overcome the harmful effects using fresh manure. Tiger worm treatment enhanced plant growth, especially in the compost-manure ratio (75% compost, 25% cow manure), followed by a ratio of 50% compost, 50% cow manure.  Results also indicated that plant growth in Waxworm treated manure was weak as compared to plant growth in compost treated with Fruit Beetle (FB), Waxworms (WW), and Control (C) especially in the compost (25% compost, 75% cow manure) and 100% cow manure where there was no growth at all. Freshplant weight, fresh leaf weight and fresh root weight were significantly higher in the compost treated with Tiger worms in (75% compost, 25% cow manure); no evidence was seen for any significant differences in the dry root weight measurement between FB, Tiger worms (TW), WW, Control (C) in all composts. TW produced the best product, especially at the compost ratio of 75% compost, 25% cow manure followed by 50% compost, 50% cow manure.

Keywords: Fruit beetle, tiger worms, waxworms, control.

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Authors: Stela Papa, Klementina Puto, Migena Pllaha

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HCV is a hepatotropic RNA virus, transmitted primarily via the blood route, which causes progressive disease such as chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV nowadays is a global healthcare problem. A variety of immunoassays including old and new technologies are being applied to detect HCV in our country. These methods include Immunochromatography assays (ICA), Fluorescence immunoassay (FIA), Enzyme linked fluorescent assay (ELFA), and Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect HCV antibodies in blood serum, which lately is being slowly replaced by more sensitive methods such as rapid automated analyzer chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA). The aim of this study is to estimate HCV infection in carriers and chronic acute patients and to evaluate the use of new diagnostic methods. This study was realized from September 2016 to May 2018. During this study period, 2913 patients were analyzed for the presence of HCV by taking samples from their blood serum. The immunoassays performed were ICA, FIA, ELFA, ELISA, and CLIA assays. Concluding, 82% of patients taken in this study, resulted infected with HCV. Diagnostic methods in clinical laboratories are crucial in the early stages of infection, in the management of chronic hepatitis and in the treatment of patients during their disease.

Keywords: CLIA, ELISA, hepatitis C virus, immunoassay.

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Authors: A. Gruzdz, A. Ihnatowicz, J. Siddiqi, B. Akhgar

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MATCH project [1] entitle the development of an automatic diagnosis system that aims to support treatment of colon cancer diseases by discovering mutations that occurs to tumour suppressor genes (TSGs) and contributes to the development of cancerous tumours. The constitution of the system is based on a) colon cancer clinical data and b) biological information that will be derived by data mining techniques from genomic and proteomic sources The core mining module will consist of the popular, well tested hybrid feature extraction methods, and new combined algorithms, designed especially for the project. Elements of rough sets, evolutionary computing, cluster analysis, self-organization maps and association rules will be used to discover the annotations between genes, and their influence on tumours [2]-[11]. The methods used to process the data have to address their high complexity, potential inconsistency and problems of dealing with the missing values. They must integrate all the useful information necessary to solve the expert's question. For this purpose, the system has to learn from data, or be able to interactively specify by a domain specialist, the part of the knowledge structure it needs to answer a given query. The program should also take into account the importance/rank of the particular parts of data it analyses, and adjusts the used algorithms accordingly.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, gene expression, ontology, selforganizingmaps.

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Authors: Elias Akoury

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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an indispensable technique used in structure determination of small and macromolecules to study their physical properties, elucidation of characteristic interactions, dynamics and thermodynamic processes. Quantum mechanics defines the theoretical description of NMR spectroscopy and treatment of the dynamics of nuclear spin systems. The phenomenon of residual dipolar coupling (RDCs) has become a routine tool for accurate structure determination by providing global orientation information of magnetic dipole-dipole interaction vectors within a common reference frame. This offers accessibility of distance-independent angular information and insights to local relaxation. The measurement of RDCs requires an anisotropic orientation medium for the molecules to partially align along the magnetic field. This can be achieved by introduction of liquid crystals or attaching a paramagnetic center. Although anisotropic paramagnetic tags continue to mark achievements in the biomolecular NMR of large proteins, its application in small organic molecules remains unspread. Here, we propose a strategy for the synthesis of a lanthanide tag and the measurement of RDCs in organic molecules using paramagnetic lanthanide complexes.

Keywords: Lanthanide Tags, NMR spectroscopy, residual dipolar coupling, quantum mechanics of spin dynamics.

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Authors: Gul Afreen, Sreedevi Upadhyayula, Mahendra K. Sunkara

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One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures like nanowires, nanotubes, and nanorods find variety of practical application owing to their unique physico-chemical properties. In this work, TiO₂ nanowires were synthesized by direct oxidation of titanium particles in a unique microwave plasma jet reactor. The prepared TiO₂ nanowires manifested the flexible features, and were characterized by using X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyzer, UV-Visible and FTIR spectrophotometers, Scanning electron microscope, and Transmission electron microscope. Further, the photodegradation efficiency of these nanowires were tested against toxic organic dye like methylene blue (MB) and the results were compared with the commercial TiO₂. It was found that TiO₂ nanowires exhibited superior photocatalytic performance (89%) as compared to commercial TiO₂ (75%) after 60 min of reaction. This is attributed to the lower recombination rate and increased interfacial charge transfer in TiO₂ nanowire. Pseudo-first order kinetic modelling performed with the experimental results revealed that the rate constant of photodegradation in case of TiO₂ nanowire was 1.3 times higher than that of commercial TiO₂. Superoxide radical (O₂˙⁻) was found to be the major contributor in the photodegradation mechanism. Based on the trapping experiments, a plausible mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction is discussed.

Keywords: Heterogeneous catalysis, photodegradation, reactive oxygen species, TiO2 nanowires.

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Authors: Simona Dostalova, Ana Maria Jimenez Jimenez, Marketa Vaculovicova, Vojtech Adam, Rene Kizek

Abstract:

Various nanomaterials can be used as a drug delivery vehicles in nanomedicine, called nanocarriers. They can either be organic or inorganic, synthetic or natural-based. Although synthetic nanocarriers are easier to produce, they can often be toxic for the organism and thus not suitable for use in treatment. From naturalbased nanocarriers, the most commonly used are protein cages or viral capsids. In this work, virus bacteriophage λ was used for delivery of different cytotoxic drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin and doxorubicin). Large quantities of phage λ were obtained from phage λ-producing strain of E. coli cultivated in medium with 0.2% maltose. After killing of E. coli with chloroform and its removal by centrifugation, the phage was concentrated by ultracentrifugation at 130 000×g and 4°C for 3 h. The encapsulation of the drugs was performed by infusion method and four different concentrations of the drugs were encapsulated (200; 100; 50; 25 μg·mL-1). Free drug molecules were removed by filtration. The encapsulation was verified using the absorbance for doxorubicin and atomic absorption spectrometry for platinum cytostatics. The amount of encapsulated drug linearly increased with the increasing concentration of applied drug with the determination coefficient R2=0.989 for doxorubicin; R2=0.967 for cisplatin; R2=0.989 for carboplatin and R2=0.996 for oxaliplatin. The overall encapsulation efficiency was calculated as 50% for doxorubicin; 8% for cisplatin; 6% for carboplatin and 10% for oxaliplatin.

Keywords: Bacteriophage λ, doxorubicin, platinum cytostatics, protein-based nanocarrier, viral capsid.

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Authors: Lubis A., Setiawati L., Setyoningrum A. R., Suryawan A., Irwanto

Abstract:

Asthma is a condition that causing chronic health problems in children. In addition to basic therapy against disease, we must try to reduce the impact of chronic health problems and also optimize their medical aspect of growth and development. A boy with mild asthma attack frequent episode did not showed any improvement with medical treatment and his asthma control test was 11. From radiologic examination he got hyperaerated lung and billateral sinusitis maxillaris; skin test results were house dust, food and pet allergy; an overweight body; bad school grades; psychological and environmental problem. We followed and evaluated this boy in 6 months, treated holistically. Even we could not do much on environmental but no more psychological and school problems, his on a good bodyweight and his asthma control test was 22. A case of a child with mild asthma attack frequent episode was reported. Asthma clinical course show no significant improvement when other predisposing factor is not well-controlled and a child’s growth and development may be affected. Improving condition of the patient can be created with the help of loving and caring way of nurturing from the parents and supportive peer group. Therefore, continuous and consistent monitoring is required because prognosis of asthma is generally good when regularly and properly controlled.

Keywords: Asthma, chronic health problems, growth and development.

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Authors: V. Thulasi Bai, Srivatsa S. K.

Abstract:

Deaths from cardiovascular diseases have decreased substantially over the past two decades, largely as a result of advances in acute care and cardiac surgery. These developments have produced a growing population of patients who have survived a myocardial infarction. These patients need to be continuously monitored so that the initiation of treatment can be given within the crucial golden hour. The available conventional methods of monitoring mostly perform offline analysis and restrict the mobility of these patients within a hospital or room. Hence the aim of this paper is to design a Portable Cardiac Telemedicine System to aid the patients to regain their independence and return to an active work schedule, there by improving the psychological well being. The portable telemedicine system consists of a Wearable ECG Transmitter (WET) and a slightly modified mobile phone, which has an inbuilt ECG analyzer. The WET is placed on the body of the patient that continuously acquires the ECG signals from the high-risk cardiac patients who can move around anywhere. This WET transmits the ECG to the patient-s Bluetooth enabled mobile phone using blue tooth technology. The ECG analyzer inbuilt in the mobile phone continuously analyzes the heartbeats derived from the received ECG signals. In case of any panic condition, the mobile phone alerts the patients care taker by an SMS and initiates the transmission of a sample ECG signal to the doctor, via the mobile network.

Keywords: WET, ECG analyzer, Bluetooth, mobilecellular network, high risk cardiac patients.

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Authors: Alaaddin Cerit, Suheyla Kocaman, Ulku Soydal

Abstract:

During the past two decades, photoinitiated polymerization has been attracting a great interest in terms of scientific and industrial activity. The wide recognition of UV treatment in the polymer industry results not only from its many practical applications but also from its advantage for low-cost processes. Unlike most thermal curing systems, radiation-curable systems can polymerize at room temperature without additional heat, and the curing is completed in a very short time. The advantage of cationic UV technology is that post-cure can continue in the ‘dark’ after radiation. In this study, bio-based acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) was cured with UV radiation using radicalic photoinitiator Irgacure 184. Triarylsulphonium hexafluoroantimonate was used as cationic photoinitiator for curing of 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate. The effect of curing time and the amount of initiators on the curing degree and thermal properties were investigated. The thermal properties of the coating were analyzed after crosslinking UV irradiation. The level of crosslinking in the coating was evaluated by FTIR analysis. Cationic UV-cured coatings demonstrated excellent adhesion and corrosion resistance properties. Therefore, our study holds a great potential with its simple and low-cost applications.

Keywords: Acrylated epoxidized soybean oil, epoxy carboxylate, thermal properties, UV-curing.

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Authors: Youngsub Oh, Youngsoon Kim

Abstract:

As the second largest group among international marriages in Korea, Vietnamese married immigrant women have been exposed to psychological crisis like divorce and family violence. The purpose of this study is to understand how to counsel those women from the perspective of indigenous healing as their own psychological problem-solving way. To this end, this study reviewed Vietnamese cultural literatures on their mentality as well as Vietnamese medical literatures on indigenous healing. The research results are as follows: First, cultural foundations that have formed Vietnamese mentality are Confucian value system, reserved communication, and religious pluralism. These cultural backgrounds play an important role in understanding their own therapeutic tradition. Second, Vietnamese indigenous healing considers cause of mental disease as a collapse of balance between mind and body and environment. Thus, indigenous treatment deals with psychological problems through a recovery of the balance from the holistic perspective. In fact, indigenous healing has been actively practiced in everyday place as well as hospital until today. The implications of Vietnamese indigenous healing for multicultural counseling in Korea are as follows: First, Korean counselors need to interactively understand their own assumptions on indigenous healing as well as counselees’ own assumptions. Second, a variety of psychological intervention strategies can be drawn from Vietnamese indigenous healing. Third, indigenous healing needs to be integrated with modern techniques of counseling and psychotherapy, as both treatments are not mutually exclusive but complementary.

Keywords: Indigenous healing, Vietnamese married immigrant women in Korea, multicultural counseling.

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Authors: Osuagwu Justine Ugochukwu, Sazali Abd Wahab, Sunday Sunday Akpan

Abstract:

Investigating the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the performance of healthcare employees at the University Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu, Nigeria, was the goal of the research. The respondents were asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. The respondents were chosen using a straightforward random sampling technique and consisted of 370 health workers at the hospital. The result of the analysis revealed that transactional and transformational leadership style has a positive while ambidextrous leadership has a negative effect on healthcare workers' performance in UNTH, Enugu. Therefore, the management of public hospitals that have the capacity to change their top management approach to leadership styles will gain substantial support from their employees’ thereby increasing organizational commitment and performance among health workers. This will have remarkable social implications, one of which is a change in the work culture and attitude of medical personnel from the seemingly anti-community of patients to friendly engagement and treatment of patients leading to a harmonious coexistence among these individuals in society. Investigating ambidextrous leadership and the use of nonparametric analysis is unique and has brought knowledge to leadership literature.

Keywords: Workers’ performance, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, governance quality, ambidextrous leadership.

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