Search results for: Blood chemical parameters

Authors: Rui Magalhães, Sohel Rana, Raul Fangueiro, Clara Gonçalves, Pedro Nunes, Gustavo Dias

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Auxetic fibrous structures and composites with negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) have huge potential for application in ballistic protection due to their high energy absorption and excellent impact resistance. In the present research, re-entrant lozenge auxetic fibrous structures were produced through weft knitting technology using high performance polyamide and para-aramid fibres. Fabric structural parameters (e.g. loop length) and machine parameters (e.g. take down load) were varied in order to investigate their influence on the auxetic behaviours of the produced structures. These auxetic structures were then impregnated with two types of polymeric resins (epoxy and polyester) to produce composite materials, which were subsequently characterized for the auxetic behaviour. It was observed that the knitted fabrics produced using the polyamide yarns exhibited NPR over a wide deformation range, which was strongly dependant on the loop length and take down load. The polymeric composites produced from the auxetic fabrics also showed good auxetic property, which was superior in case of the polyester matrix. The experimental results suggested that these composites made from the auxetic fibrous structures can be properly designed to find potential use in the body amours for personal protection applications.

Keywords: Auxetic fabrics, high performance, composites, impact resistance, energy absorption.

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Authors: Ender Bulgun, Arzu Vuruskan

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Apparel product development is an important stage in the life cycle of a product. Shortening this stage will help to reduce the costs of a garment. The aim of this study is to examine the production parameters in knitwear apparel companies by defining the unit costs, and developing a software to calculate the unit costs of garments and make the cost estimates. In this study, with the help of a questionnaire, different companies- systems of unit cost estimating and cost calculating were tried to be analyzed. Within the scope of the questionnaire, the importance of cost estimating process for apparel companies and the expectations from a new cost estimating program were investigated. According to the results of the questionnaire, it was seen that the majority of companies which participated to the questionnaire use manual cost calculating methods or simple Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to make cost estimates. Furthermore, it was discovered that many companies meet with difficulties in archiving the cost data for future use and as a solution to that problem, it is thought that prior to making a cost estimate, sub units of garment costs which are fabric, accessory and the labor costs should be analyzed and added to the database of the programme beforehand. Another specification of the cost estimating unit prepared in this study is that the programme was designed to consist of two main units, one of which makes the product specification and the other makes the cost calculation. The programme is prepared as a web-based application in order that the supplier, the manufacturer and the customer can have the opportunity to communicate through the same platform.

Keywords: Apparel, cost estimating, design archive.

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Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayed, Saeideh Mohammadi

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Soft soil is used in many of civil engineering projects like coastal, marine and road projects. Because of low shear strength and stiffness of soft soils, large settlement and low bearing capacity will occur under superstructure loads. This will make the civil engineering activities more difficult and costlier. In the case of soft soils, improvement is a suitable method to increase the shear strength and stiffness for engineering purposes. In recent years, the artificial cementation of soil by cement and lime has been extensively used for soft soil improvement. Cement stabilization is a well-established technique for improving soft soils. Artificial cementation increases the shear strength and hardness of the natural soils. On the other hand, in soft soils, the use of piles to transfer loads to the depths of ground is usual. By using cement treated soil around the piles, high bearing capacity and low settlement in piles can be achieved. In the present study, lateral bearing capacity of short piles in cemented soils is investigated by numerical approach. For this purpose, three dimensional (3D) finite difference software, FLAC 3D is used. Cement treated soil has a strain hardening-softening behavior, because of breaking of bonds between cement agent and soil particle. To simulate such behavior, strain hardening-softening soil constitutive model is used for cement treated soft soil. Additionally, conventional elastic-plastic Mohr Coulomb constitutive model and linear elastic model are used for stress-strain behavior of natural soils and pile. To determine the parameters of constitutive models and also for verification of numerical model, the results of available triaxial laboratory tests on and insitu loading of piles in cement treated soft soil are used. Different parameters are considered in parametric study to determine the effective parameters on the bearing of the piles on cemented treated soils. In the present paper, the effect of various length and height of the artificial cemented area, different diameter and length of the pile and the properties of the materials are studied. Also, the effect of choosing a constitutive model for cemented treated soils in the bearing capacity of the pile is investigated.

Keywords: Cement-treated soils, pile, lateral capacity, FLAC 3D.

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Authors: S. Bougrine, S. Ouchraa, B. Ahiod, A. A. El Imrani

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Ant colony optimization is an ant algorithm framework that took inspiration from foraging behavior of ant colonies. Indeed, ACO algorithms use a chemical communication, represented by pheromone trails, to build good solutions. However, ants involve different communication channels to interact. Thus, this paper introduces the acoustic communication between ants while they are foraging. This process allows fine and local exploration of search space and permits optimal solution to be improved.

Keywords: Acoustic Communication, Ant Colony Optimization, Local Search, Traveling Salesman Problem.

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Authors: Mohammadreza Nezamirad, Nasim Sabetpour, Azadeh Yazdi, Amirmasoud Hamedi

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In this study OpenFOAM 4.4.2 was used to investigate flow inside the coronary artery of the heart. This step is the first step of our future project, which is to include conjugate heat transfer of the heart with three main coronary arteries. Three different velocities were used as inlet boundary conditions to see the effect of velocity increase on velocity, pressure, and wall shear of the coronary artery. Also, three different fluids, namely the University of Wisconsin solution, gelatin, and blood was used to investigate the effect of different fluids on flow inside the coronary artery. A code based on Reynolds Stress Navier Stokes (RANS) equations was written and implemented with the real boundary condition that was calculated based on MRI images. In order to improve the accuracy of the current numerical scheme, hex dominant mesh is utilized. When the inlet velocity increases to 0.5 m/s, velocity, wall shear stress, and pressure increase at the narrower parts.

Keywords: CFD, heart, simulation, OpenFOAM.

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Authors: A. Biran, P. Sobhe Bidari, K. Raahemifar

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Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is an eye disease that leads to blindness. The earliest signs of DR are the appearance of red and yellow lesions on the retina called hemorrhages and exudates. Early diagnosis of DR prevents from blindness; hence, many automated algorithms have been proposed to extract hemorrhages and exudates. In this paper, an automated algorithm is presented to extract hemorrhages and exudates separately from retinal fundus images using different image processing techniques including Circular Hough Transform (CHT), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE), Gabor filter and thresholding. Since Optic Disc is the same color as the exudates, it is first localized and detected. The presented method has been tested on fundus images from Structured Analysis of the Retina (STARE) and Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction (DRIVE) databases by using MATLAB codes. The results show that this method is perfectly capable of detecting hard exudates and the highly probable soft exudates. It is also capable of detecting the hemorrhages and distinguishing them from blood vessels.

Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy, fundus, CHT, exudates, hemorrhages.

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Authors: Qassun S. Mohammed Shafiqu, Murtadha A. Abdulrasool

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The design of shallow foundations to withstand different dynamic loads has given considerable attention in recent years. Dynamic loads may be due to the earthquakes, pile driving, blasting, water waves, and machine vibrations. But, predicting the behavior of shallow foundations during earthquakes remains a difficult task for geotechnical engineers. A database for dynamic and static parameters for different soils in seismic active zones in Iraq is prepared which has been collected from geophysical and geotechnical investigation works. Then, analysis of a typical 3-D soil-raft foundation system under earthquake loading is carried out using the database. And a parametric study has been carried out taking into consideration the influence of some parameters on the dynamic behavior of the raft foundation, such as raft stiffness, damping ratio as well as the influence of the earthquake acceleration-time records. The results of the parametric study show that the settlement caused by the earthquake can be decreased by about 72% with increasing the thickness from 0.5 m to 1.5 m. But, it has been noticed that reduction in the maximum bending moment by about 82% was predicted by decreasing the raft thickness from 1.5 m to 0.5 m in all sites model. Also, it has been observed that the maximum lateral displacement, the maximum vertical settlement and the maximum bending moment for damping ratio 0% is about 14%, 20%, and 18% higher than that for damping ratio 7.5%, respectively for all sites model.

Keywords: Shallow foundation, seismic behavior, raft thickness, damping ratio.

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Authors: Corné J. Coetzee, Etienne Horn

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One of the main challenges in using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is to specify the correct input parameter values. In general, the models are sensitive to the input parameter values and accurate results can only be achieved if the correct values are specified. For the linear contact model, micro-parameters such as the particle density, stiffness, coefficient of friction, as well as the particle size and shape distributions are required. There is a need for a procedure to accurately calibrate these parameters before any attempt can be made to accurately model a complete bulk materials handling system. Since DEM is often used to model applications in the mining and quarrying industries, a calibration procedure was developed for materials that consist of relatively large (up to 40 mm in size) particles. A coarse crushed aggregate was used as the test material. Using a specially designed large shear box with a diameter of 590 mm, the confined Young’s modulus (bulk stiffness) and internal friction angle of the material were measured by means of the confined compression test and the direct shear test respectively. DEM models of the experimental setup were developed and the input parameter values were varied iteratively until a close correlation between the experimental and numerical results was achieved. The calibration process was validated by modelling the pull-out of an anchor from a bed of material. The model results compared well with experimental measurement.

Keywords: Discrete Element Method (DEM), calibration, shear box, anchor pull-out.

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Authors: Mahmoud Shaker, Ala'a Imran

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Greenhouse is a building, which provides controlled climate conditions to the plants to keep them from external hard conditions. Greenhouse technology gives freedom to the farmer to select any crop type in any time during year. The quality and productivity of plants inside greenhouse is highly dependent on the management quality and a good management scheme is defined by the quality of the information collected from the greenhouse environment. Therefore, Continuous monitoring of environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, and soil moisture gives information to the grower to better understand, how each factor affects growth and how to manage maximal crop productiveness. In this piper, we designed and implemented climate monitoring with irrigation control system based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology. The designed system is characterized with friendly to use, easy to install by any greenhouse user, multi-sensing nodes, multi-PAN ID, low cast, water irrigation control and low operation complexity. The system consists of two node types (sensing and control) with star topology on one PAN ID. Moreover, greenhouse manager can modifying system parameters such as (sensing node addresses, irrigation upper and lower control limits) by updating corresponding data in SDRAM memory. In addition, the designed system uses 2*16 characters. LCD to display the micro climate parameters values of each plants row inside the greenhouse.

Keywords: ZigBee, WSN, Arduino platform, Greenhouse automation, micro climate monitoring, smart Irrigation control.

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Authors: Pingping Zhang, Yanpeng Cai, Jianlong Wang

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Stormwater storage tank (SST) is a popular low impact development technology for reducing stormwater runoff in the construction of sponge city. At present, it is difficult to perform the automatic control of SST for reducing peak flow. In this paper, fuzzy control was introduced into the peak control of SST to improve the efficiency of reducing stormwater runoff. Firstly, the design of SST was investigated. A catchment area and a return period were assumed, a SST model was manufactured, and then the storage capacity of the SST was verified. Secondly, the control parameters of the SST based on reducing stormwater runoff were analyzed, and a schematic diagram of real-time control (RTC) system based on peak control SST was established. Finally, fuzzy control system of a double input (flow and water level) and double output (inlet and outlet valve) was designed. The results showed that 1) under the different return periods (one year, three years, five years), the SST had the effect of delayed peak control and storage by increasing the detention time, 2) rainfall, pipeline flow, the influent time and the water level in the SST could be used as RTC parameters, and 3) the response curves of flow velocity and water level fluctuated very little and reached equilibrium in a short time. The combination of online monitoring and fuzzy control was feasible to control the SST automatically. This paper provides a theoretical reference for reducing stormwater runoff and improving the operation efficiency of SST.

Keywords: Stormwater runoff, stormwater storage tank, real-time control, fuzzy control.

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Authors: E. Moradimaram, H. Sayehvand

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In recent years the increasing use of fossil fuels has led to various environmental problems including urban pollution, ozone layer depletion and acid rains. Moreover, with the increased number of industrial centers and higher consumption of these fuels, the end point of the fossil energy reserves has become more evident. Considering the environmental pollution caused by fossil fuels and their limited availability, renewable sources can be considered as the main substitute for non-renewable resources. One of these resources is the Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs). These cycles while having high safety, have low maintenance requirements. Combining the ORCs with other systems, such as ejector and reheater will increase overall cycle efficiency. In this study, ejector and reheater are used to improve the thermal efficiency (ηth), exergy efficiency (η_ex) and net output power (w_net); therefore, the ORCs with reheater (RORCs) are proposed. A computational program has been developed to calculate the thermodynamic parameters required in Engineering Equations Solver (EES). In this program, the analysis of the first and second law in RORC is conducted, and a comparison is made between them and the ORCs with Ejector (EORC). R245fa is selected as the working fluid and water is chosen as low temperature heat source with a temperature of 95 °C and a mass transfer rate of 1 kg/s. The pressures of the second evaporator and reheater are optimized in terms of maximum exergy efficiency. The environment is at 298.15 k and at 101.325 kpa. The results indicate that the thermodynamic parameters in the RORC have improved compared to EORC.

Keywords: Organic rankine cycle, organic rankine cycle with reheater, organic rankine cycle with ejector, exergy efficiency.

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Authors: Leila Rashidian, Abbas Ebrahimi

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The development of industrial activities, increase in fossil fuel consumption, vehicles, destruction of forests and grasslands, changes in land use, and population growth have caused to increase the amount of greenhouse gases especially CO₂ in the atmosphere in recent decades. This has led to global warming and climate change. In the present paper, we have investigated the trend of climate change according to the data simulation during the time interval of 2010-2030 in the Fars province. In this research, the daily climatic parameters such as maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of sunny hours during the 1977-2008 time interval for synoptic stations of Shiraz and Abadeh and during 1995-2008 for Lar stations and also the output of HADCM₃ model in 2010-2030 time interval have been used based on the A₂ propagation scenario. The results of the model show that the average temperature will increase by about 1 degree centigrade and the amount of precipitation will increase by 23.9% compared to the observational data. In conclusion, according to the temperature increase in this province, the amount of precipitation in the form of snow will be reduced and precipitations often will occur in the form of rain. This 1-degree centigrade increase during the season will reduce production by 6 to 10% because of shortening the growing period of wheat.

Keywords: Climate change, Lars.WG, HADCM3 model, Fars province, climatic parameters, A2 scenario.

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Authors: Jahar Sarkar

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In the present study, a steady-state simulation model has been developed to evaluate the system performance of a transcritical carbon dioxide heat pump system for simultaneous water cooling and heating. Both the evaporator (including both two-phase and superheated zone) and gas cooler models consider the highly variable heat transfer characteristics of CO2 and pressure drop. The numerical simulation model of transcritical CO2 heat pump has been validated by test data obtained from experiments on the heat pump prototype. Comparison between the test results and the model prediction for system COP variation with compressor discharge pressure shows a modest agreement with a maximum deviation of 15% and the trends are fairly similar. Comparison for other operating parameters also shows fairly similar deviation between the test results and the model prediction. Finally, the simulation results are presented to study the effects of operating parameters such as, temperature of heat exchanger fluid at the inlet, discharge pressure, compressor speed on system performance of CO2 heat pump, suitable in a dairy plant where simultaneous cooling at 4oC and heating at 73oC are required. Results show that good heat transfer properties of CO2 for both two-phase and supercritical region and efficient compression process contribute a lot for high system COPs.

Keywords: CO2 heat pump, dairy system, experiment, simulation model, validation.

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Authors: Maribel G. Guzmán, Jean Dille, Stephan Godet

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Silver nanoparticles were prepared by chemical reduction method. Silver nitrate was taken as the metal precursor and hydrazine hydrate as a reducing agent. The formation of the silver nanoparticles was monitored using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The UV-Vis spectroscopy revealed the formation of silver nanopart├¡cles by exhibing the typical surface plasmon absorption maxima at 418-420 nm from the UV–Vis spectrum. Comparison of theoretical (Mie light scattering theory) and experimental results showed that diameter of silver nanoparticles in colloidal solution is about 60 nm. We have used energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and, UV–Vis spectroscopy to characterize the nanoparticles obtained. The energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) of the nanoparticles dispersion confirmed the presence of elemental silver signal no peaks of other impurity were detected. The average size and morphology of silver nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM photographs indicate that the nanopowders consist of well dispersed agglomerates of grains with a narrow size distribution (40 and 60 nm), whereas the radius of the individual particles are between 10 and 20 nm. The synthesized nanoparticles have been structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission high-energy electron diffraction (HEED). The peaks in the XRD pattern are in good agreement with the standard values of the face-centered-cubic form of metallic silver (ICCD-JCPDS card no. 4-0787) and no peaks of other impurity crystalline phases were detected. Additionally, the antibacterial activity of the nanopart├¡culas dispersion was measured by Kirby-Bauer method. The nanoparticles of silver showed high antimicrobial and bactericidal activity against gram positive bacteria such as Escherichia Coli, Pseudimonas aureginosa and staphylococcus aureus which is a highly methicillin resistant strain.

Keywords: Silver nanoparticles, surface plasmon, UV-Vis absorption spectrum, chemicals reduction.

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Authors: L. Al Ahmad, C. Latrille, D. Hainos, D. Blanc, M. Clausse

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A two-dimensional finite volume axisymmetric model is developed to predict the simultaneous heat and mass transfers during the drying of industrial sludge. The simulations were run using COMSOL-Multiphysics 3.5a. The input parameters of the numerical model were acquired from a preliminary experimental work. Results permit to establish correlations describing the evolution of the various parameters as a function of the drying temperature and the sludge water content. The selection and coupling of the equation are validated based on the drying kinetics acquired experimentally at a temperature range of 45-65 °C and absolute pressure range of 200-1000 mbar. The model, incorporating the heat and mass transfer mechanisms at different operating conditions, shows simulated values of temperature and water content. Simulated results are found concordant with the experimental values, only at the first and last drying stages where sludge shrinkage is insignificant. Simulated and experimental results show that sludge drying is favored at high temperatures and low pressure. As experimentally observed, the drying time is reduced by 68% for drying at 65 °C compared to 45 °C under 1 atm. At 65 °C, a 200-mbar absolute pressure vacuum leads to an additional reduction in drying time estimated by 61%. However, the drying rate is underestimated in the intermediate stage. This rate underestimation could be improved in the model by considering the shrinkage phenomena that occurs during sludge drying.

Keywords: Industrial sludge drying, heat transfer, mass transfer, mathematical modelling.

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Authors: Abimbola Motunrayo Folami, Ibironke Titilayo Enitan, Feroz Mohomed Swalaha

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Water is a vital resource that is important in ensuring the growth and development of any country. To sustain the basic human needs and the demands for agriculture, industry, conservational and ecosystem, enough quality and quantity water is needed. Contamination of water resources is now a global and public health concern. Hence, this study assessed the water quality of Ndawuse River by measuring the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals concentrations of the river using standard methods. In total, 16 surface water samples were obtained from five locations along the river, from upstream to downstream as well as samples from the dumpsite. The results obtained were compared with the standard limits set by both the World Health Organization and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for domestic purposes. The results of the measured parameters indicated that biological oxygen demand (85.88 mg/L), turbidity (44.51 NTU), Iron (0.014 - 3.511 mg /L) and chromium (0.078 - 0.14 mg /L) were all above the standard limits. The results further showed that the quality of surface water is being significantly affected by human activities around the Ndawuse River which could pose an adverse health risk to several communities that rely on this river as their primary source of water. Therefore, there is a need for strict enforcement of environmental laws to protect the aquatic ecosystem and to avoid long term cumulative exposure risk that heavy metals may pose on human health.

Keywords: Abuja, contaminants, heavy metals, Ndawuse River, Nigeria, surface water.

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Authors: A. Safaee, M. S. Mehrabani, M. B. Menhaj, V. Mousavi, S. Z. Moussavi

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Monocopter is a single-wing rotary flying vehicle which has the capability of hovering. This flying vehicle includes two dynamic parts in which more efficiency can be expected rather than other Micro UAVs due to the extended area of wing compared to its fuselage. Low cost and simple mechanism in comparison to other vehicles such as helicopter are the most important specifications of this flying vehicle. In the previous paper we discussed the introduction of the final system but in this paper, the experimental design process of Monocopter and its control algorithm has been investigated in general. Also the editorial bugs in the previous article have been corrected and some translational ambiguities have been resolved. Initially by constructing several prototypes and carrying out many flight tests the main design parameters of this air vehicle were obtained by experimental measurements. Eventually the required main monocopter for this project was constructed. After construction of the monocopter in order to design, implementation and testing of control algorithms first a simple optic system used for determining the heading angle. After doing numerous tests on Test Stand, the control algorithm designed and timing of applying control inputs adjusted. Then other control parameters of system were tuned in flight tests. Eventually the final control system designed and implemented using the AHRS sensor and the final operational tests performed successfully.

Keywords: Monocopter, Flap, Heading Angle, AHRS, Cyclic, Photo Diode.

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Authors: Ramadan Ali Bawa, Ebtisam Mohammed Alzaraide

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The spectroscopic study on 4-(9-anthrylazo) phenol has revealed that the azo dye under study exists in two tautomeric forms which are azo phenol and hydrazo keto forms in ratio of almost (1:1). The azo hydrazone tautomerism was confirmed by the use of IR spectroscopy and HNMR in which the characteristic absorption bands and chemical shifts for both tautomers were assigned.

Keywords: Spectroscopic, tautomeric forms, azo hydrazone tautomerism, IR spectroscopy, HNMR.

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Authors: Ahmed Abdulghani Taha, Mohammad Abdulghani Taha

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This study aims at being acquainted with the using the body fat percentage (%BF) with body Mass Index (BMI) as input parameters in fuzzy logic decision support system to predict properly the lifted weight for students at weightlifting class lift according to his abilities instead of traditional manner. The sample included 53 male students (age = 21.38 ± 0.71 yrs, height (Hgt) = 173.17 ± 5.28 cm, body weight (BW) = 70.34 ± 7.87.6 kg, Body mass index (BMI) 23.42 ± 2.06 kg.m-2, fat mass (FM) = 9.96 ± 3.15 kg and fat percentage (% BF) = 13.98 ± 3.51 %.) experienced the weightlifting class as a credit and has variance at BW, Hgt and BMI and FM. BMI and % BF were taken as input parameters in FUZZY logic whereas the output parameter was the lifted weight (LW). There were statistical differences between LW values before and after using fuzzy logic (Diff 3.55± 2.21, P > 0.001). The percentages of the LW categories proposed by fuzzy logic were 3.77% of students to lift 1.0 fold of their bodies; 50.94% of students to lift 0.95 fold of their bodies; 33.96% of students to lift 0.9 fold of their bodies; 3.77% of students to lift 0.85 fold of their bodies and 7.55% of students to lift 0.8 fold of their bodies. The study concluded that the characteristic changes in body composition experienced by students when undergoing weightlifting could be utilized side by side with the Fuzzy logic decision support system to determine the proper workloads consistent with the abilities of students.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, body mass index, body fat percentage, weightlifting.

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Authors: Murugan. A., Jerlin Nirmala. F .

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Life is beautiful. But, it is decided by genes, environment and the individual and shattered by the natural and / or the invited problems. Most of the global rural helpless masses are struggling for their survival since; they are neglected in all aspects of life including health. Amidst a countless number of miserable diseases in man, diabetes is becoming a dreaded killer and ramifying the entire globe in a jet speed. Diabetes control continues as a Herculean task to the scientific community and the modern society in the 21st century also. T2DM is not pertaining to any age and it can develop even during the childhood. This multifactorial disease abruptly changes the activities of certain vital biomarkers in the present rural T2DM cases. A remarkable variation in the levels of biomarkers like AST, ALT, GGT, ALP, LDH, HbA1C, C- peptide, fasting sugar, post-prandial sugar, sodium, potassium, BUN, creatinine and insulin show the rampant nature of T2DM in this physically active rural agrarian community.

Keywords: Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, Blood urea nitrogen, Glycated haemoglobin, Thyroid stimulating hormone

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Authors: Kashima Arora, Monika Tomar, Vinay Gupta

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Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films of polyaniline (PANI) grown onto ITO coated glass substrates were utilized for the fabrication of Uric acid biosensor for efficient detection of uric acid by immobilizing Uricase via EDC–NHS coupling. The modified electrodes were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The response characteristics after immobilization of uricase were studied using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The uricase/PANI/ITO/glass bioelectrode studied by CV and EIS techniques revealed detection of uric acid in a wide range of 0.05 mM to 1.0 mM, covering the physiological range in blood. A low Michaelis–Menten constant (Km) of 0.21 mM indicates the higher affinity of immobilized Uricase towards its analyte (uric acid). The fabricated uric acid biosensor based on PANI LB films exhibits excellent sensitivity of 0.21 mA/mM with a response time of 4 s, good reproducibility, long shelf life (8 weeks) and high selectivity.

Keywords: Uric acid; biosensor, PANI, Langmuir Blodgett films deposition.

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Godian O. Mbah, Maxwel I. Onyiah, Callistus N. Ude

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Analysis of the properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera) and its oil was evaluated in this work using standard analytical techniques. The analyses carried out include proximate composition of the fruit, extraction of oil from the fruit using different process parameters and physicochemical analysis of the extracted oil. The results showed the percentage (%) moisture, crude lipid, crude protein, ash and carbohydrate content of the coconut as 7.59, 55.15, 5.65, 7.35 and 19.51 respectively. The oil from the coconut fruit was odourless and yellowish liquid at room temperature (30oC). The treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the yield of oil from coconut flour. The oil yield ranged between 36.25%-49.83%. Lipid indices of the coconut oil indicated the acid value (AV) as 10.05Na0H/g of oil, free fatty acid (FFA) as 5.03%, saponification values (SV) as 183.26mgKOH-1g of oil, iodine value (IV) as 81.00 I2/g of oil, peroxide value (PV) as 5.00 ml/ g of oil and viscosity (V) as 0.002. A standard statistical package minitab version 16.0 program was used in the regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical software mentioned above was also used to generate various plots such as single effect plot, interactions effect plot and contour plot. The response or yield of oil from the coconut flour was used to develop a mathematical model that correlates the yield to the process variables studied. The maximum conditions obtained that gave the highest yield of coconut oil were leaching time of 2hrs, leaching temperature of 50oC and solute/solvent ratio of 0.05g/ml.

Keywords: Coconut, oil-extraction, optimization, physicochemical, proximate.

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Authors: Rajkumar Verma, Bhu Dev Sharma

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Entropy is a key measure in studies related to information theory and its many applications. Campbell for the first time recognized that the exponential of the Shannon’s entropy is just the size of the sample space, when distribution is uniform. Here is the idea to study exponentials of Shannon’s and those other entropy generalizations that involve logarithmic function for a probability distribution in general. In this paper, we introduce a measure of sample space, called ‘entropic measure of a sample space’, with respect to the underlying distribution. It is shown in both discrete and continuous cases that this new measure depends on the parameters of the distribution on the sample space - same sample space having different ‘entropic measures’ depending on the distributions defined on it. It was noted that Campbell’s idea applied for R`enyi’s parametric entropy of a given order also. Knowing that parameters play a role in providing suitable choices and extended applications, paper studies parametric entropic measures of sample spaces also. Exponential entropies related to Shannon’s and those generalizations that have logarithmic functions, i.e. are additive have been studies for wider understanding and applications. We propose and study exponential entropies corresponding to non additive entropies of type (α, β), which include Havard and Charvˆat entropy as a special case.

Keywords: Sample space, Probability distributions, Shannon’s entropy, R`enyi’s entropy, Non-additive entropies .

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Authors: L. M. Stefan, A. M. Pana, M. Silion, M. Balan, G. Bandur, L. M. Rusnac

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The field of polymeric biomaterials is very important from the socio-economical viewpoint. Synthetic carbohydrate polymers are being increasingly investigated as biodegradable, biocompatible and biorenewable materials. The aim of this study was to synthesize and characterize some derivatives based on D-mannose. D-mannose was chemically modified to obtain 1-O-allyl-2,3:5,6-di- O-isopropylidene-D-mannofuranose and 1-O-(2-,3--epoxy-propyl)- 2,3:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-D-mannofuranose. The chemical structure of the resulting compounds was characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy, and by HPLC-MS.

Keywords: D-mannose, biopolymers , spectroscopy, synthesis.

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Authors: Vahidreza Mahmoudabadi, Omid Bahar, Mohammad Kazem Jafari

Abstract:

In many applied engineering problems, structural analysis is usually conducted by assuming a rigid bed, while imposing the effect of structure bed flexibility can affect significantly on the structure response. This article focuses on investigation and evaluation of the effects arising from considering a soil-structure system in evaluation of dynamic characteristics of a steel structure with respect to elastic and inelastic behaviors. The recorded structure acceleration during Taiwan’s strong Chi-Chi earthquake on different floors of the structure was our evaluation criteria. The respective structure is an eight-story steel bending frame structure designed using a displacement-based direct method assuring weak beam - strong column function. The results indicated that different identification methods i.e. reverse Fourier transform or transfer functions, is capable to determine some of the dynamic parameters of the structure precisely, rather than evaluating all of them at once (mode frequencies, mode shapes, structure damping, structure rigidity, etc.). Response evaluation based on the input and output data elucidated that the structure first mode is not significantly affected, even considering the soil-structure interaction effect, but the upper modes have been changed. Also, it was found that the response transfer function of the different stories, in which plastic hinges have occurred in the structure components, provides similar results.

Keywords: System identification, dynamic characteristics, soil-structure system, bending steel frame structure, displacement-based design.

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Authors: Pegah Farshadmanesh, Jamshid Mohammadi, Mehdi Modares

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In nearly all earthquakes of the past century that resulted in moderate to significant damage, the occurrence of postearthquake fire ignition (PEFI) has imposed a serious hazard and caused severe damage, especially in urban areas. In order to reduce the loss of life and property caused by post-earthquake fires, there is a crucial need for predictive models to estimate the PEFI risk. The parameters affecting PEFI risk can be categorized as: 1) factors influencing fire ignition in normal (non-earthquake) condition, including floor area, building category, ignitability, type of appliance, and prevention devices, and 2) earthquake related factors contributing to the PEFI risk, including building vulnerability and earthquake characteristics such as intensity, peak ground acceleration, and peak ground velocity. State-of-the-art statistical PEFI risk models are solely based on limited available earthquake data, and therefore they cannot predict the PEFI risk for areas with insufficient earthquake records since such records are needed in estimating the PEFI model parameters. In this paper, the correlation between normal condition ignition risk, peak ground acceleration, and PEFI risk is examined in an effort to offer a means for predicting post-earthquake ignition events. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate how such correlation can be employed in a seismic area to predict PEFI hazard.

Keywords: Fire risk, post-earthquake fire ignition (PEFI), risk management, seismicity.

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Authors: Deepak K. Semwal, Ruchi B. Semwal, Aijaz Ahmad, Guy P. Kamatou, Alvaro M. Viljoen

Abstract:

Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth. (Bignoniaceae) is a reputed traditional remedy for various human ailments such as skin diseases, microbial infections, melanoma, stomach troubles, metabolic disorders, malaria and general pains. In spite of the fruit being widely used for purposes related to its antibacterial and antifungal properties, the chemical constituents associated with the activity have not been fully identified. To elucidate the active principles, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of fruit extracts and purified fractions against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Moraxella catarrhalis, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis. Shade-dried fruits were powdered and extracted with hydroalcoholic (1:1) mixture by soaking at room temperature for 72 h. The crude extract was further fractionated by column chromatography, with successive elution using hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol. The dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions were combined and subjected to column chromatography to furnish a wax and oil from the eluates of 20% and 40% ethyl acetate in hexane, respectively. The GC-MS and GC×GC-MS results revealed that linoleic acid, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, arachidic acid and stearic acid were the major constituents in both oil and wax. The crude hydroalcoholic extract exhibited the strongest activity with MICs of 0.125-0.5 mg/mL, followed by the ethyl acetate (MICs = 0.125-1.0 mg/mL), dichloromethane (MICs = 0.250-2.0 mg/mL), hexane (MICs = 0.25- 2.0 mg/mL), acetone (MICs = 0.5-2.0 mg/mL) and methanol (MICs = 1.0-2.0 mg/mL), whereas the wax (MICs = 2.0-4.0 mg/mL) and oil (MICs = 4.0-8.0 mg/mL) showed poor activity. The study concludes that synergistic interactions of chemical constituents could be responsible for the antimicrobial activity of K. africana fruits, which needs a more holistic approach to understand the mechanism of its antimicrobial activity.

Keywords: Kigelia Africana, traditional medicine, antimicrobial activity, Candida albicans, palmitic acid, synergistic interaction.

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Authors: M. Seifi, S. Fallah, M. Firoozrai

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Matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3) is key member of the MMP family, and is known to be present in coronary atherosclerotic. Several studies have demonstrated that MMP-3 5A/6A polymorphism modify each transcriptional activity in allele specific manner. We hypothesized that this polymorphism may play a role as risk factor for development of coronary stenosis. The aim of our study was to estimate MMP-3 (5A/6A) gene polymorphism on interindividual variability in risk for coronary stenosis in an Iranian population.DNA was extracted from white blood cells and genotypes were obtained from coronary stenosis cases (n=95) and controls (n=100) by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques. Significant differences between cases and controls were observed for MMP3 genotype frequencies (X2=199.305, p< 0.001); the 6A allele was less frequently seen in the control group, compared to the disease group (85.79 vs. 78%, 6A/6A+5A/6A vs. 5A/5A, P≤0.001). These data imply the involvement of -1612 5A/6A polymorphism in coronary stenosis, and suggest that probably the 6A/6A MMP-3 genotype is a genetic susceptibility factor for coronary stenosis.

Keywords: Coronary artery stenosis, matrixmetalloproteinase-3, polymorphism, polymerase chain reaction.

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Authors: Insaf Mehani, Bachir Bouchekima

Abstract:

In Algeria, the conditioning units of dates, generate significant quantities of waste arising from sorting deviations. This biomass, until then considered as a waste with high impact on the environment can be transformed into high value added product. It is possible to develop common dates of low commercial value, and put on the local and international market a new generation of products with high added values such as bio ethanol. Besides its use in chemical synthesis, bio ethanol can be blended with gasoline to produce a clean fuel while improving the octane.

Keywords: Bioenergy, dates, bioethanol, valorisation.

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Authors: Amir Gandomkar

Abstract:

Global warming and continental changes have been one of the people's issues in the recent years and its consequences have appeared in the most parts of the earth planet or will appear in the future. Temperature and Precipitation are two main parameters in climatology. Any changes in these two parameters in this region cause widespread changes in the ecosystem and its natural and humanistic structure. One of the important consequences of this procedure is change in surface and underground water resources. Zayanderood watershed basin which is the main central river in Iran has faced water shortage in the recent years and also it has resulted in drought in Gavkhuni swamp and the river itself. Managers and experts in provinces which are the Zayanderood water consumers believe that global warming; raining decrease and continental changes are the main reason of water decrease. By statistical investigation of annual Precipitation and 46 years temperature of internal and external areas of Zayanderood watershed basin's stations and by using Kendal-man method, Precipitation and temperature procedure changes have been analyzed in this basin. According to obtained results, there was not any noticeable decrease or increase procedure in Precipitation and annual temperature in the basin during this period. However, regarding to Precipitation, a noticeable decrease and increase have been observed in small part of western and some parts of eastern and southern basin, respectively. Furthermore, the investigation of annual temperature procedure has shown that a noticeable increase has been observed in some parts of western and eastern basin, and also a noticeable increasing procedure of temperature in the central parts of metropolitan Esfahan can be observed.

Keywords: Zayanderood, Man_Kendal, Climate Change

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