Search results for: minimum inhibition concentration.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2283

Search results for: minimum inhibition concentration.

2133 Modelling and Control of Milk Fermentation Process in Biochemical Reactor

Authors: Jožef Ritonja

Abstract:

The biochemical industry is one of the most important modern industries. Biochemical reactors are crucial devices of the biochemical industry. The essential bioprocess carried out in bioreactors is the fermentation process. A thorough insight into the fermentation process and the knowledge how to control it are essential for effective use of bioreactors to produce high quality and quantitatively enough products. The development of the control system starts with the determination of a mathematical model that describes the steady state and dynamic properties of the controlled plant satisfactorily, and is suitable for the development of the control system. The paper analyses the fermentation process in bioreactors thoroughly, using existing mathematical models. Most existing mathematical models do not allow the design of a control system for controlling the fermentation process in batch bioreactors. Due to this, a mathematical model was developed and presented that allows the development of a control system for batch bioreactors. Based on the developed mathematical model, a control system was designed to ensure optimal response of the biochemical quantities in the fermentation process. Due to the time-varying and non-linear nature of the controlled plant, the conventional control system with a proportional-integral-differential controller with constant parameters does not provide the desired transient response. The improved adaptive control system was proposed to improve the dynamics of the fermentation. The use of the adaptive control is suggested because the parameters’ variations of the fermentation process are very slow. The developed control system was tested to produce dairy products in the laboratory bioreactor. A carbon dioxide concentration was chosen as the controlled variable. The carbon dioxide concentration correlates well with the other, for the quality of the fermentation process in significant quantities. The level of the carbon dioxide concentration gives important information about the fermentation process. The obtained results showed that the designed control system provides minimum error between reference and actual values of carbon dioxide concentration during a transient response and in a steady state. The recommended control system makes reference signal tracking much more efficient than the currently used conventional control systems which are based on linear control theory. The proposed control system represents a very effective solution for the improvement of the milk fermentation process.

Keywords: Bioprocess engineering, biochemical reactor, fermentation process, modeling, adaptive control.

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2132 Polyacrylate Modified Copper Nanoparticles with Controlled Size

Authors: Robert Prucek, Aleš Panáček, Jan Filip, Libor Kvítek, Radek Zbořil

Abstract:

The preparation of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) through the reduction of copper ions by sodium borohydride in the presence of sodium polyacrylate with a molecular weight of 1200 is reported. Cu NPs were synthesized at a concentration of copper salt equal to 2.5, 5, and 10 mM, and at a molar ratio of copper ions and monomeric unit of polyacrylate equal to 1:2. The as-prepared Cu NPs have diameters of about 2.5–3 nm for copper concentrations of 2.5 and 5 mM, and 6 nm for copper concentration of 10 mM. Depending on the copper salt concentration and concentration of additionally added polyacrylate to Cu particle dispersion, primarily formed NPs grow through the process of aggregation and/or coalescence into clusters and/or particles with a diameter between 20–100 nm. The amount of additionally added sodium polyacrylate influences the stability of Cu particles against air oxidation. The catalytic efficiency of the prepared Cu particles for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol is discussed.

Keywords: Copper, nanoparticles, sodium polyacrylate, catalyst, 4-nitrophenol.

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2131 Application of Neural Network on the Loading of Copper onto Clinoptilolite

Authors: John Kabuba

Abstract:

The study investigated the implementation of the Neural Network (NN) techniques for prediction of the loading of Cu ions onto clinoptilolite. The experimental design using analysis of variance (ANOVA) was chosen for testing the adequacy of the Neural Network and for optimizing of the effective input parameters (pH, temperature and initial concentration). Feed forward, multi-layer perceptron (MLP) NN successfully tracked the non-linear behavior of the adsorption process versus the input parameters with mean squared error (MSE), correlation coefficient (R) and minimum squared error (MSRE) of 0.102, 0.998 and 0.004 respectively. The results showed that NN modeling techniques could effectively predict and simulate the highly complex system and non-linear process such as ionexchange.

Keywords: Clinoptilolite, loading, modeling, Neural network.

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2130 Comparison of Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in Children Homes at Prenatal Period and One Year Old

Authors: S. Lakestani, B. Karakas, S. Acar Vaizoglu, B. Guciz Dogan, C. Guler, B. Sekerel, A. Taner, G. Gullu

Abstract:

Abstract–Indoor air (VOCs) samples were collected simultaneously from variety of indoors (e.g. living rooms, baby-s rooms) and outdoor environments which were voluntarily selected from the houses in which pregnant residents live throughout Ankara. This is the first comprehensive study done in Turkey starting from prenatal period and continued till the babies had one year old. VOCs levels were measured over 76 homes. Air samples were collected in Tenax TA sorbent filled tubes with active sampling method and analyzed with Thermal Desorber and Gas Chromatography/Mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS). At the first sampling period in the baby-s rooms maximum concentration of toluene was measured about 240.77μg.m-3 and in the living rooms maximum concentration of naphthalene was 180.24μg.m-3. At the second sampling period in the baby-s rooms maximum concentration of toluene was measured about 144.97μg.m-3 and in the living rooms maximum concentration of naphthalene was 247.89μg.m-3. Concentration of TVOCs in the first period was generally higher than the second period.

Keywords: Indoor Air, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Gas Chromatography

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2129 Bioleaching of Heavy Metals from Sewage Sludge Using Indigenous Iron-Oxidizing Microorganisms: Effect of Substrate Concentration and Total Solids

Authors: Ashish Pathak, M. G. Dastidar, T. R. Sreekrishnan

Abstract:

In the present study, the effect of ferrous sulfate concentration and total solids on bioleaching of heavy metals from sewage sludge has been examined using indigenous iron-oxidizing microorganisms. The experiments on effects of ferrous sulfate concentrations on bioleaching were carried out using ferrous sulfate of different concentrations (5-20 g L-1) to optimize the concentration of ferrous sulfate for maximum bioleaching. A rapid change in the pH and ORP took place in first 2 days followed by a slow change till 16th day in all the sludge samples. A 10 g L-1 ferrous sulfate concentration was found to be sufficient in metal bioleaching in the following order: Zn: 69%>Cu: 52%>Cr: 46%>Ni: 45. Further, bioleaching using 10 g/L ferrous sulfate was found to be efficient up to 20 g L-1 sludge solids concentration. The results of the present study strongly indicate that using 10 g L-1 ferrous sulfate indigenous iron-oxidizing microorganisms can bring down pH to a value needed for significant metal solubilization.

Keywords: Bioleaching, heavy metals, sewage sludge, iron oxidizing microorganisms

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2128 Inhibition of Pipelines Corrosion Using Natural Extracts

Authors: Eman Alzahrani, Hala M. Abo-Dief, Ashraf T. Mohamed

Abstract:

The present work is aimed at examining carbon steel oil pipelines corrosion using three natural extracts (Eruca Sativa, Rosell and Mango peels) that are used as inhibitors of different concentrations ranging from 0.05-0.1wt. %. Two sulphur compounds are used as corrosion mediums. Weight loss method was used for measuring the corrosion rate of the carbon steel specimens immersed in technical white oil at 100ºC at various time intervals in absence and presence of the two sulphur compounds. The corroded specimens are examined using the chemical wear test, scratch test and hardness test. The scratch test is carried out using scratch loads from 0.5 Kg to 2.0 Kg. The scratch width is obtained at various scratch load and test conditions. The Brinell hardness test is carried out and investigated for both corroded and inhibited specimens. The results showed that three natural extracts can be used as environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors.

Keywords: Inhibition, natural extract, pipelines corrosion, sulphur compounds.

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2127 Optimization of Thermal and Discretization Parameters in Laser Welding Simulation Nd:YAG Applied for Shin Plate Transparent Mode Of DP600

Authors: Chansopheak Seang, Afia David Kouadri, Eric Ragneau

Abstract:

Three dimensional analysis of thermal model in laser full penetration welding, Nd:YAG, by transparent mode DP600 alloy steel 1.25mm of thickness and gap of 0.1mm. Three models studied the influence of thermal dependent temperature properties, thermal independent temperature and the effect of peak value of specific heat at phase transformation temperature, AC1, on the transient temperature. Another seven models studied the influence of discretization, meshes on the temperature distribution in weld plate. It is shown that for the effects of thermal properties, the errors less 4% of maximum temperature in FZ and HAZ have identified. The minimum value of discretization are at least one third increment per radius for temporal discretization and the spatial discretization requires two elements per radius and four elements through thickness of the assembled plate, which therefore represent the minimum requirements of modeling for the laser welding in order to get minimum errors less than 5% compared to the fine mesh.

Keywords: FEA, welding, discretization, ABAQUS user subroutine DFLUX

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2126 Exploratory Tests of Crude Bacteriocins from Autochthonous Lactic Acid Bacteria against Food-Borne Pathogens and Spoilage Bacteria

Authors: M. Naimi, M. B. Khaled

Abstract:

The aim of the present work was to test in vitro inhibition of food pathogens and spoilage bacteria by crude bacteriocins from autochthonous lactic acid bacteria. Thirty autochthonous lactic acid bacteria isolated previously, belonging to the genera: Lactobacillus, Carnobacterium, Lactococcus, Vagococcus, Streptococcus, and Pediococcus, have been screened by an agar spot test and a well diffusion assay against Gram-positive and Gram-negative harmful bacteria: Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa under conditions means to reduce lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide effect to select bacteria with high bacteriocinogenic potential. Furthermore, crude bacteriocins semiquantification and heat sensitivity to different temperatures (80, 95, 110°C, and 121°C) were performed. Another exploratory test concerning the response of St. aureus ATCC 6538 to the presence of crude bacteriocins was realized. It has been observed by the agar spot test that fifteen candidates were active toward Gram-positive targets strains. The secondary screening demonstrated an antagonistic activity oriented only against St. aureus ATCC 6538, leading to the selection of five isolates: Lm14, Lm21, Lm23, Lm24, and Lm25 with a larger inhibition zone compared to the others. The ANOVA statistical analysis reveals a small variation of repeatability: Lm21: 0.56%, Lm23: 0%, Lm25: 1.67%, Lm14: 1.88%, Lm24: 2.14%. Conversely, slight variation was reported in terms of inhibition diameters: 9.58± 0.40, 9.83± 0.46 and 10.16± 0.24 8.5 ± 0.40 10 mm for, Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14and Lm24, indicating that the observed potential showed a heterogeneous distribution (BMS = 0.383, WMS = 0.117). The repeatability coefficient calculated displayed 7.35%. As for the bacteriocins semiquantification, the five samples exhibited production amounts about 4.16 for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25 and 2.08 AU/ml for Lm14, Lm24. Concerning the sensitivity the crude bacteriocins were fully insensitive to heat inactivation, until 121°C, they preserved the same inhibition diameter. As to, kinetic of growth , the µmax showed reductions in pathogens load for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14, Lm24 of about 42.92%, 84.12%, 88.55%, 54.95%, 29.97% in the second trails. Inversely, this pathogen growth after five hours displayed differences of 79.45%, 12.64%, 11.82%, 87.88%, 85.66% in the second trails, compared to the control. This study showed potential inhibition to the growth of this food pathogen, suggesting the possibility to improve the hygienic food quality.

Keywords: Exploratory test, lactic acid bacteria, crude bacteriocins, spoilage, pathogens.

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2125 Resource Leveling in Construction Projects using Re- Modified Minimum Moment Approach

Authors: Abhay Tawalare, Rajesh Lalwani

Abstract:

An attempt in this paper proposes a re-modification to the minimum moment approach of resource leveling which is a modified minimum moment approach to the traditional method by Harris. The method is based on critical path method. The new approach suggests the difference between the methods in the selection criteria of activity which needs to be shifted for leveling resource histogram. In traditional method, the improvement factor found first to select the activity for each possible day of shifting. In modified method maximum value of the product of Resources Rate and Free Float was found first and improvement factor is then calculated for that activity which needs to be shifted. In the proposed method the activity to be selected first for shifting is based on the largest value of resource rate. The process is repeated for all the remaining activities for possible shifting to get updated histogram. The proposed method significantly reduces the number of iterations and is easier for manual computations.

Keywords: Re-Modified, Resource Leveling, Resources Rate, Free Float, Resource Histogram

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2124 Groundwater Quality Improvement by Using Aeration and Filtration Methods

Authors: Nik N. Nik Daud, Nur H. Izehar, B. Yusuf, Thamer A. Mohamed, A. Ahsan

Abstract:

An experiment was conducted using two aeration methods (water-into-air and air-into-water) and followed by filtration processes using manganese greensand material. The properties of groundwater such as pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and heavy metal concentration (iron and manganese) will be assessed. The objectives of this study are i) to determine the effective aeration method and ii) to assess the effectiveness of manganese greensand as filter media in removing iron and manganese concentration in groundwater. Results showed that final pH for all samples after treatment are in range from 7.40 and 8.40. Both aeration methods increased the dissolved oxygen content. Final turbidity for groundwater samples are between 3 NTU to 29 NTU. Only three out of eight samples achieved iron concentration of 0.3mg/L and less and all samples reach manganese concentration of 0.1mg/L and less. Air-into-water aeration method gives higher percentage of iron and manganese removal compare to water-into-air method.

Keywords: Aeration, filtration, groundwater, water quality.

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2123 Particle Concentration Distribution under Idling Conditions in a Residential Underground Garage

Authors: Yu Zhao, Shinsuke Kato, Jianing Zhao

Abstract:

Particles exhausted from cars have adverse impacts on human health. The study developed a three-dimensional particle dispersion numerical model including particle coagulation to simulate the particle concentration distribution under idling conditions in a residential underground garage. The simulation results demonstrate that particle disperses much faster in the vertical direction than that in horizontal direction. The enhancement of particle dispersion in the vertical direction due to the increase of cars with engine running is much stronger than that in the car exhaust direction. Particle dispersion from each pair of adjacent cars has little influence on each other in the study. Average particle concentration after 120 seconds exhaust is 1.8-4.5 times higher than the initial total particles at ambient environment. Particle pollution in the residential underground garage is severe.

Keywords: Dispersion, Idling conditions, Particle concentration, Residential underground garage.

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2122 Optimization of Process Parameters Affecting Biogas Production from Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste via Anaerobic Digestion

Authors: Sajeena Beevi. B, Jose P. P., G. Madhu

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to obtain the optimal conditions for biogas production from anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) using response surface methodology (RSM). The parameters studied were initial pH, substrate concentration and total organic carbon (TOC). The experimental results showed that the linear model terms of initial pH and substrate concentration and the quadratic model terms of the substrate concentration and TOC had significant individual effect (p < 0.05) on biogas yield. However, there was no interactive effect between these variables (p > 0.05). The highest level of biogas produced was 53.4 L/Kg VS at optimum pH, substrate concentration and total organic carbon of 6.5, 99gTS/L and 20.32 g/L respectively.

Keywords: Anaerobic Digestion, Biogas, Optimization, Response Surface Methodology.

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2121 Characterization of the Dispersion Phenomenon in an Optical Biosensor

Authors: An-Shik Yang, Chin-Ting Kuo, Yung-Chun Yang, Wen-Hsin Hsieh, Chiang-Ho Cheng

Abstract:

Optical biosensors have become a powerful detection and analysis tool for wide-ranging applications in biomedical research, pharmaceuticals and environmental monitoring. This study carried out the computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based simulations to explore the dispersion phenomenon in the micro channel of an optical biosensor. The predicted time sequences of concentration contours were utilized to better understand the dispersion development occurred in different geometric shapes of micro channels. The simulation results showed the surface concentrations at the sensing probe (with the best performance of a grating coupler) in respect of time to appraise the dispersion effect and therefore identify the design configurations resulting in minimum dispersion.

Keywords: CFD simulations, dispersion, microfluidic, optical waveguide sensors.

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2120 A Study on Removal Characteristics of (Mn2+) from Aqueous Solution by CNT

Authors: Nassereldeen A. Kabashi, Suleyman A. Muyibi. Mohammed E. Saeed., Farhana I. Yahya

Abstract:

It is important to remove manganese from water because of its effects on human and the environment. Human activities are one of the biggest contributors for excessive manganese concentration in the environment. The proposed method to remove manganese in aqueous solution by using adsorption as in carbon nanotubes (CNT) at different parameters: The parameters are CNT dosage, pH, agitation speed and contact time. Different pHs are pH 6.0, pH 6.5, pH 7.0, pH 7.5 and pH 8.0, CNT dosages are 5mg, 6.25mg, 7.5mg, 8.75mg or 10mg, contact time are 10 min, 32.5 min, 55 min, 87.5 min and 120 min while the agitation speeds are 100rpm, 150rpm, 200rpm, 250rpm and 300rpm. The parameters chosen for experiments are based on experimental design done by using Central Composite Design, Design Expert 6.0 with 4 parameters, 5 levels and 2 replications. Based on the results, condition set at pH 7.0, agitation speed of 300 rpm, 7.5mg and contact time 55 minutes gives the highest removal with 75.5%. From ANOVA analysis in Design Expert 6.0, the residual concentration will be very much affected by pH and CNT dosage. Initial manganese concentration is 1.2mg/L while the lowest residual concentration achieved is 0.294mg/L, which almost satisfy DOE Malaysia Standard B requirement. Therefore, further experiments must be done to remove manganese from model water to the required standard (0.2 mg/L) with the initial concentration set to 0.294 mg/L.

Keywords: Adsorption, CNT, DOE, Manganese, Parameters.

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2119 Thermosolutal MHD Mixed Marangoni Convective Boundary Layers in the Presence of Suction or Injection

Authors: Noraini Ahmad, Seripah Awang Kechil, Norma Mohd Basir

Abstract:

The steady coupled dissipative layers, called Marangoni mixed convection boundary layers, in the presence of a magnetic field and solute concentration that are formed along the surface of two immiscible fluids with uniform suction or injection effects is examined. The similarity boundary layer equations are solved numerically using the Runge-Kutta Fehlberg with shooting technique. The Marangoni, buoyancy and external pressure gradient effects that are generated in mixed convection boundary layer flow are assessed. The velocity, temperature and concentration boundary layers thickness decrease with the increase of the magnetic field strength and the injection to suction. For buoyancy-opposed flow, the Marangoni mixed convection parameter enhances the velocity boundary layer but decreases the temperature and concentration boundary layers. However, for the buoyancy-assisted flow, the Marangoni mixed convection parameter decelerates the velocity but increases the temperature and concentration boundary layers.

Keywords: Magnetic field, mixed Marangoni convection, similarity boundary layers, solute concentration.

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2118 A Computational Model of Minimal Consciousness Functions

Authors: Nabila Charkaoui

Abstract:

Interest in Human Consciousness has been revived in the late 20th century from different scientific disciplines. Consciousness studies involve both its understanding and its application. In this paper, a computational model of the minimum consciousness functions necessary in my point of view for Artificial Intelligence applications is presented with the aim of improving the way computations will be made in the future. In section I, human consciousness is briefly described according to the scope of this paper. In section II, a minimum set of consciousness functions is defined - based on the literature reviewed - to be modelled, and then a computational model of these functions is presented in section III. In section IV, an analysis of the model is carried out to describe its functioning in detail.

Keywords: Consciousness, perception, attention.

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2117 Cr, Fe and Se Contents of the Turkish Black and Green Teas and the Effect of Lemon Addition

Authors: E. Moroydor Derun, A. S. Kipcak, O. Dere Ozdemir, M. B. Piskin

Abstract:

Tea is consumed by a big part of the world-s population. It has an enormous importance for the Turkish culture. Nearly it is brewed every morning and evening at the all houses. Also it is consumed with lemon wedge. Habitual drinking of tea infusions may significantly contribute to daily dietary requirements of elements. Different instrumental techniques are used for determination of these elements. But atomic and mass spectroscopic methods are preferred most. In these study chromium, iron and selenium contents after the hot water brewing of black and green tea were determined by Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Furthermore, effect of lemon addition on chromium, iron and selenium concentration tea infusions is investigated. Results of the investigation showed that concentration of chromium, iron and selenium increased in black tea with lemon addition. On the other hand only selenium is increased with lemon addition in green tea. And iron concentration is not detected in green tea but its concentration is determined as 1.420 ppm after lemon addition.

Keywords: Black tea, green tea, ICP-OES, lemon

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2116 Kinetics Studies on Biological Treatment of Tannery Wastewater Using Mixed Culture

Authors: G.Durai, N.Rajamohan, C.Karthikeyan, M.Rajasimman

Abstract:

In this study, aerobic digestion of tannery industry wastewater was carried out using mixed culture obtained from common effluent treatment plant treating tannery wastewater. The effect of pH, temperature, inoculum concentration, agitation speed and initial substrate concentration on the reduction of organic matters were found. The optimum conditions for COD reduction was found to be pH - 7 (60%), temperature - 30ÔùªC (61%), inoculum concentration - 2% (61%), agitation speed - 150rpm (65%) and initial substrate concentration - 1560 mg COD/L (74%). Kinetics studies were carried by using Monod model, First order, Diffusional model and Singh model. From the results it was found that the Monod model suits well for the degradation of tannery wastewater using mixed microbial consortium.

Keywords: Tannery, Wastewater, Biological treatment, Aerobic, Mixed culture, Kinetics.

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2115 An Investigation into Ozone Concentration at Urban and Rural Monitoring Stations in Malaysia

Authors: Negar Banan, Mohd Talib Latif

Abstract:

This study investigated the relationship between urban and rural ozone concentrations and quantified the extent to which ambient rural conditions and the concentrations of other pollutants can be used to predict urban ozone concentrations. The study describes the variations of ozone in weekday and weekends as well as the daily maximum recorded at selected monitoring stations. The results showed that Putrajaya station had the highest concentrations of O3 on weekend due the titration of NO during the weekday. Additionally, Jerantut had the lowest average concentration with a reading value high on Wednesdays. The comparisons of average and maximum concentrations of ozone for the three stations showed that the strongest significant correlation is recorded in Jerantut station with the value R2= 0.769. Ozone concentrations originating from a neighbouring urban site form a better predictor to the urban ozone concentrations than widespread rural ozone at some levels of temporal averaging. It is found that in urban and rural of Malaysian peninsular, the concentration of ozone depends on the concentration of NOx and seasonal meteorological factors. The HYSPLIT Model (the northeast monsoon) showed that the wind direction can also influence the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere in the studied areas.

Keywords: Ozone, Hysplit model, Weekend effect, Daily Average and Daily maximum, Malaysia

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2114 Biological Control of Tomato Wilt Fungi Using Leaf Extracts of Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina)

Authors: Terna T. Paul, Agbara D. Onwoke

Abstract:

The antifungal potential of ethanolic leaf extracts of Vernonia amygdalina in the biological control of some common tomato wilt fungi was investigated. The experiment was set up in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with eight treatments and three replicates. 5 mm diameter agar discs of 7 days old cultures of Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotium rolfsii were obtained using a sterile 5 mm diameter cork borer and cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) inoculated with 5 ml of various concentrations of V. amygdalina ethanolic leaf extracts in petri dishes, and incubated for 10 days at 28 0C. The highest radial growth inhibitions of F. oxysporum (34.98%) and S. rolfsii (31.05%) were recorded 48 hours post-inoculation, both at 75% extract concentration. The leaf extracts of V. amygdalina used in the study exhibited significant inhibition of radial growth of the test organisms (P ≤ 0.05) and could be applied in the biological control of fungal wilt pathogens of tomato as a means of enhancing tomato yield and productivity.

Keywords: Biological control, fungi, leaf extracts, tomato wilt, V. amygdalina.

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2113 Antioxydant and Antibacterial Activity of Alkaloids and Terpenes Extracts from Euphorbia granulata

Authors: Bousselessela H., Yahia M., Mahboubi A., Benbia S., Yahia Massinissa

Abstract:

In order to enhance the knowledge of certain phytochemical Algerian plants that are widely used in traditional medicine and to exploit their therapeutic potential in modern medicine, we have done a specific extraction of terpenes and alkaloids from the leaves of Euphorbia granulata to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of this extracts. After the extraction it was found that the terpene extract gave the highest yield 59.72% compared with alkaloids extracts. The disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial activity against different bacterial strains: Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923). All extracts have shown inhibition of growth bacteria. The different zones of inhibition have varied from (7 -10 mm) according to the concentrations of extract used. Testing the antiradical activity on DPPH-TLC plates indicated the presence of substances that have potent anti-free radical. As against, the BC-TLC revealed that only terpenes extract which was reacted positively. These results can validate the importance of Euphorbia granulata in traditional medicine.

Keywords: Euphorbia granulata, Euphorbiaceae, alkaloids, terpenoids, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity.

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2112 Higher Order Statistics for Identification of Minimum Phase Channels

Authors: Mohammed Zidane, Said Safi, Mohamed Sabri, Ahmed Boumezzough

Abstract:

This paper describes a blind algorithm, which is compared with two another algorithms proposed in the literature, for estimating of the minimum phase channel parameters. In order to identify blindly the impulse response of these channels, we have used Higher Order Statistics (HOS) to build our algorithm. The simulation results in noisy environment, demonstrate that the proposed method could estimate the phase and magnitude with high accuracy of these channels blindly and without any information about the input, except that the input excitation is identically and independent distribute (i.i.d) and non-Gaussian.

Keywords: System Identification, Higher Order Statistics, Communication Channels.

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2111 Antimicrobial Agents Produced by Yeasts

Authors: T. Buyuksirit, H. Kuleasan

Abstract:

Natural antimicrobials are used to preserve foods that can be found in plants, animals, and microorganisms. Antimicrobial substances are natural or artificial agents that produced by microorganisms or obtained semi/total chemical synthesis are used at low concentrations to inhibit the growth of other microorganisms. Food borne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms are inactivated by the use of antagonistic microorganisms and their metabolites. Yeasts can produce toxic proteins or glycoproteins (toxins) that cause inhibition of sensitive bacteria and yeast species. Antimicrobial substance producing phenotypes belonging different yeast genus were isolated from different sources. Toxins secreted by many yeast strains inhibiting the growth of other yeast strains. These strains show antimicrobial activity, inhibiting the growth of mold and bacteria. The effect of antimicrobial agents produced by yeasts can be extremely fast, and therefore may be used in various treatment procedures. Rapid inhibition of microorganisms is possibly caused by microbial cell membrane lipopolysaccharide binding and in activation (neutralization) effect. Antimicrobial agents inhibit the target cells via different mechanisms of action.

Keywords: Antimicrobial agents, Glycoprotein, Toxic protein, Yeast.

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2110 The Concentration Effects for the Adsorption Behavior of Heptyl Viologen Cation Radicals on Indium-Tin-Oxide Electrode Surfaces

Authors: Yusuke Ayato, Takashi Itahashi, Akiko Takatsu, Kenji Kato, Naoki Matsuda

Abstract:

In situ observation of absorption spectral change of heptil viologen cation radical (HV+.) was performed by slab optical waveguide (SOWG) spectroscopy utilizing indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes. Synchronizing with electrochemical techniques, we observed the adsorption process of HV+.on the ITO electrode. In this study, we carried out the ITO-SOWG observations using KBr aqueous solution containing different concentration of HV to investigate the concentration dependent spectral change. A few specific absorption bands, which indicated HV+.existed as both monomer and dimer on ITO electrode surface with a monolayer or a few layers deposition, were observed in UV-visible region. The change in the peak position of the absorption spectra from adsorption species of HV+. were correlated with the concentration of HV as well as the electrode potential.

Keywords: absorption phenomena, heptil viologen, indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrode, in situ, slab optical waveguide(SOWG) spectroscopy,

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2109 Quality Parameters of Offset Printing Wastewater

Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Kecić S. Vesna, Aksentijević M. Snežana

Abstract:

Samples of tap and wastewater were collected in three offset printing facilities in Novi Sad, Serbia. Ten physicochemical parameters were analyzed within all collected samples: pH, conductivity, m - alkalinity, p - alkalinity, acidity, carbonate concentration, hydrogen carbonate concentration, active oxygen content, chloride concentration and total alkali content. All measurements were conducted using the standard analytical and instrumental methods. Comparing the obtained results for tap water and wastewater, a clear quality difference was noticeable, since all physicochemical parameters were significantly higher within wastewater samples. The study also involves the application of simple linear regression analysis on the obtained dataset. By using software package ORIGIN 5 the pH value was mutually correlated with other physicochemical parameters. Based on the obtained values of Pearson coefficient of determination a strong positive correlation between chloride concentration and pH (r = -0.943), as well as between acidity and pH (r = -0.855) was determined. In addition, statistically significant difference was obtained only between acidity and chloride concentration with pH values, since the values of parameter F (247.634 and 182.536) were higher than Fcritical (5.59). In this way, results of statistical analysis highlighted the most influential parameter of water contamination in offset printing, in the form of acidity and chloride concentration. The results showed that variable dependence could be represented by the general regression model: y = a0 + a1x+ k, which further resulted with matching graphic regressions.

Keywords: Pollution, printing industry, simple linear regression analysis, wastewater.

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2108 Immunomodulatory Effects of Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells on T-Cell Populations at Tissue-Related Oxygen Level

Authors: A. N. Gornostaeva, P. I. Bobyleva, E. R. Andreeva, L. B. Buravkova

Abstract:

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) possess immunomodulatory properties. The effect of MSCs on the crucial cellular immunity compartment – T-cells is of a special interest. It is known that MSC tissue niche and expected milieu of their interaction with T- cells are characterized by low oxygen concentration, whereas the in vitro experiments usually are carried out at a much higher ambient oxygen (20%). We firstly evaluated immunomodulatory effects of MSCs on T-cells at tissue-related oxygen (5%) after interaction implied cell-to-cell contacts and paracrine factors only. It turned out that MSCs under reduced oxygen can effectively suppress the activation and proliferation of PHAstimulated T-cells and can provoke decrease in the production of proinflammatory and increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines. In hypoxia some effects were amplified (inhibition of proliferation, antiinflammatory cytokine profile shift). This impact was more evident after direct cell-to-cell interaction; lack of intercellular contacts could revoke the potentiating effect of hypoxia.

Keywords: Cell-to-cell interaction, low oxygen, MSC immunosuppression, T-cells.

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2107 Probability of Globality

Authors: Eva Eggeling, Dieter W. Fellner, Torsten Ullrich

Abstract:

The objective of global optimization is to find the globally best solution of a model. Nonlinear models are ubiquitous in many applications and their solution often requires a global search approach; i.e. for a function f from a set A ⊂ Rn to the real numbers, an element x0 ∈ A is sought-after, such that ∀ x ∈ A : f(x0) ≤ f(x). Depending on the field of application, the question whether a found solution x0 is not only a local minimum but a global one is very important. This article presents a probabilistic approach to determine the probability of a solution being a global minimum. The approach is independent of the used global search method and only requires a limited, convex parameter domain A as well as a Lipschitz continuous function f whose Lipschitz constant is not needed to be known.

Keywords: global optimization, probability theory, probability of globality

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2106 Concentration of Micro Minerals in Fiber Fraction of Forages

Authors: Lili Warly, Evitayani, A. Fariani

Abstract:

This study was carried out to evaluate concentration of micro minerals (Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Se) of forages and their distribution in fiber fraction (neutral detergent fiber/NDF and acid detergent fiber/ADF) in South Sumatra during dry and rainy seasons. Seven species of commonly forages namely Axonopus compressus, Panicum maximum, Pennisetum purpuphoides, Leucaena leucocephala, Centrocema pubescens, Calopogonium mucunoides and Acacia mangium were collected at native pasture during rainy and dry seasons. The results showed that micro minerals concentration of forages and their distribution in fiber fraction varied among species and season. In general, concentration of micro minerals was slightly higher in rainy season compared to dry season either in grass or legumes forages. In grass, concentration of Fe and Mn were above the critical level, while 33.3 %, 100 % and 16.7 % of evaluated grass were deficient in Zn, Cu and Se. Data on legume forages show that 75 % of legumes were deficient in Zn and Mn, 62.5 % deficient in Cu and 50 % deficient in Se. There was no species of legume deficient in Fe. Distribution of micro minerals in NDF and ADF were also significantly affected by species and season and depends on the kinds of element measured. Generally, micro minerals were associated in fiber fractions much higher during dry season compared to rainy season. Iron (Fe) and selenium (Se) in forages were the highest elements associated in NDF and ADF, while the lowest was found in Copper (Cu).

Keywords: Seasons, forages, micro mineral distribution, fiberfraction.

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2105 Optical Reflectance of Pure and Doped Tin Oxide: From Thin Films to Poly-Crystalline Silicon/Thin Film Device

Authors: Smaali Assia, Outemzabet Ratiba, Media El Mahdi, Kadi Mohamed

Abstract:

Films of pure tin oxide SnO2 and in presence of antimony atoms (SnO2-Sb) deposited onto glass substrates have shown a sufficiently high energy gap to be transparent in the visible region, a high electrical mobility and a carrier concentration which displays a good electrical conductivity [1]. In this work, the effects of polycrystalline silicon substrate on the optical properties of pure and Sb doped tin oxide is investigated. We used the APCVD (atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition) technique, which is a low-cost and simple technique, under nitrogen ambient, for growing this material. A series of SnO2 and SnO2-Sb have been deposited onto polycrystalline silicon substrates with different contents of antimony atoms at the same conditions of deposition (substrate temperature, flow oxygen, duration and nitrogen atmosphere of the reactor). The effect of the substrate in terms of morphology and nonlinear optical properties, mainly the reflectance, was studied. The reflectance intensity of the device, compared to the reflectance of tin oxide films deposited directly on glass substrate, is clearly reduced on the overall wavelength range. It is obvious that the roughness of the poly-c silicon plays an important role by improving the reflectance and hence the optical parameters. A clear shift in the minimum of the reflectance upon doping level is observed. This minimum corresponds to strong free carrier absorption, resulting in different plasma frequency. This effect is followed by an increase in the reflectance depending of the antimony doping. Applying the extended Drude theory to the combining optical and electrical obtained results these effects are discussed.

Keywords: Doping, oxide, reflectance.

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2104 Biochemical Changes in the Liver of Mice after Exposure to Different Doses of Diclofenac Sodium

Authors: Deepak Mohan, Sushma Sharma

Abstract:

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are a group of widely used drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid diseases and to relieve pain and inflammation due to their analgesic anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory properties. The therapeutic and many of the toxic effects of NSAIDs result from reversible inhibition of enzymes in the cyclooxygenase (COX) group. In the present investigation the effect of the drug on the concentration of lipids, and on the activity of the enzymes i.e. acid and alkaline phosphatase, GOT, GPT and lipid peroxidase were studied. There was a significant enhancement in the activities of both acid and alkaline phosphatase after 21 days of treatment. Proportionate increase in the MDA contents was observed after different days of diclofenac treatment. Cellular damage in the liver resulted in decrease in the activity of both GOT (Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase) and GPT (Glutamate pyruvate transaminase) in both low and high dose groups. Significant decrease in the liver contents was also observed in both dose groups.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, cyclooxygenase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, malondialdehyde.

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