Search results for: Biomass Growing

Authors: L. Plošek, F. Nsanganwimana, B. Pourrut, J. Elbl, J. Hynšt, A. Kintl, D. Kubná, J. Záhora

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Land degradation is of concern in many countries. People more and more must address the problems associated with the degradation of soil properties due to man. Increasingly, organic soil amendments, such as compost are being examined for their potential use in soil restoration and for preventing soil erosion. In the Czech Republic, compost is the most used to improve soil structure and increase the content of soil organic matter. Land reclamation / restoration is one of the ways to evaluate industrially produced compost because Czech farmers are not willing to use compost as organic fertilizer. The most common use of reclamation substrates in the Czech Republic is for the rehabilitation of landfills and contaminated sites.

This paper deals with the influence of reclamation substrates (RS) with different proportions of compost and sand on selected soil properties–chemical characteristics, nitrogen bioavailability, leaching of mineral nitrogen, respiration activity and plant biomass production. Chemical properties vary proportionally with addition of compost and sand to the control variant (topsoil). The highest differences between the variants were recorded in leaching of mineral nitrogen (varies from 1.36mg dm^-3 in C to 9.09mg dm^-3). Addition of compost to soil improves conditions for plant growth in comparison with soil alone. However, too high addition of compost may have adverse effects on plant growth. In addition, high proportion of compost increases leaching of mineral N. Therefore, mixture of 70% of soil with 10% of compost and 20% of sand may be recommended as optimal composition of RS.

Keywords: Biomass, Compost, Reclamation, Respiration.

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Authors: R. Nor Azah, A. R. Roshanida, N. Norzita

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The biomass-based fuels have become great concern in order to replace the petroleum-based fuels. Biofuels are a wide range of fuels referred to liquid, gas and solid fuels produced from biomass. Recently, higher chain alcohols such as 3-methyl-1-butanol and isobutanol have become a better candidate compared to bioethanol in order to replace gasoline as transportation fuel. Therefore, in this study, 3-methyl-1-butanol was produced through a fermentation process by yeast. Several types of yeast involved in this research including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces lactis GG799 and Pichia pastoris (KM71H, GS115 and X33). The result obtained showed that K. lactis GG799 gave the highest concentration of 3-methyl-1-butanol at 274 mg/l followed by S. cerevisiae, P. pastoris GS115, P. pastoris KM71H and P. pastoris X33 at 265 mg/l, 190 mg/l, 182 mg/l and 174 mg/l respectively. Based on the result, it proved that yeast have a potential in producing 3-methyl-1-butanol naturally.

Keywords: Biofuel, fermentation, 3-methyl-1-butanol, yeast.

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Authors: Sumith Matharage, Damminda Alahakoon

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Textual data plays an important role in the modern world. The possibilities of applying data mining techniques to uncover hidden information present in large volumes of text collections is immense. The Growing Self Organizing Map (GSOM) is a highly successful member of the Self Organising Map family and has been used as a clustering and visualisation tool across wide range of disciplines to discover hidden patterns present in the data. A comprehensive analysis of the GSOM’s capabilities as a text clustering and visualisation tool has so far not been published. These functionalities, namely map visualisation capabilities, automatic cluster identification and hierarchical clustering capabilities are presented in this paper and are further demonstrated with experiments on a benchmark text corpus.

Keywords: Text Clustering, Growing Self Organizing Map, Automatic Cluster Identification, Hierarchical Clustering.

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Authors: Jirakarn Nantapipat, Apanee Luengnaruemitchai, Sujitra Wongkasemjit

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Biofuels, like biobutanol, have been recognized for being renewable and sustainable fuels which can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass. To convert lignocellulosic biomass to biofuel, pretreatment process is an important step to remove hemicelluloses and lignin to improve enzymatic hydrolysis. Dilute acid pretreatment has been successful developed for pretreatment of corncobs and the optimum conditions of dilute sulfuric and phosphoric acid pretreatment were obtained at 120 °C for 5 min with 15:1 liquid to solid ratio and 140 °C for 10 min with 10:1 liquid to solid ratio, respectively. The result shows that both of acid pretreatments gave the content of total sugar approximately 34–35 g/l. In case of inhibitor content (furfural), phosphoric acid pretreatment gives higher than sulfuric acid pretreatment. Characterizations of corncobs after pretreatment indicate that both of acid pretreatments can improve enzymatic accessibility and the better results present in corncobs pretreated with sulfuric acid in term of surface area, crystallinity, and composition analysis.

Keywords: Corncobs, Pretreatment, Sulfuric acid, Phosphoric acid.

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Authors: Sirikarn Satimanont, Apanee Luengnaruemitchai, Sujitra Wongkasemjit

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Lignocellulosic materials are new targeted source to produce second generation biofuels like biobutanol. However, this process is significantly resisted by the native structure of biomass. Therefore, pretreatment process is always essential to remove hemicelluloses and lignin prior to the enzymatic hydrolysis. The goals of pretreatment are removing hemicelluloses and lignin, increasing biomass porosity, and increasing the enzyme accessibility. The main goal of this research is to study the important variables such as pretreatment temperature and time, which can give the highest total sugar yield in pretreatment step by using dilute phosphoric acid. After pretreatment, the highest total sugar yield of 13.61 g/L was obtained under an optimal condition at 140°C for 10 min of pretreatment time by using 1.75% (w/w) H3PO4 and at 15:1 liquid to solid ratio. The total sugar yield of two-stage process (pretreatment+enzymatic hydrolysis) of 27.38 g/L was obtained.

Keywords: Butanol production, Corn cobs, Phosphoric acid, Pretreatment

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Authors: M.V.R.K Sarma, Krishna Saharan, Lalit Kumar, Ashwani Gautam, Avhijeet Kapoor, Nishant Srivastava, Vikram Sahai, V.S Bisaria

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The fluorescent pseudomonad strain R81 is a root colonizing rhizobacteria which promotes the growth of many plants by various mechanisms. Its broth containing siderophore (ironchelating compound) and 2,4- diacetyl phloroglucinol (DAPG) is used for preparing bioinoculant formulations for agronomical applications. Glycerol was found to be the best carbon source for improved biomass production. Splitting of nitrogen source to NH4Cl and urea had a stabilizing effect on pH during batch cultivation. Ltryptophan at 0.5 % in the medium increased the siderophore production to 850 mg/l. During batch cultivation of the strain in a bioreactor, a maximum of 4 g/l of dry cell mass, 1.8 g/l of siderophore and 20 mg/l of DAPG was achieved when glycerol was 15 g/l and C/N ratio was maintained at 12.5. In case of intermittent feeding of fresh medium during fed-batch cultivation, the dry cell mass was increased to 25 g/l with improved production of DAPG to 70 mg/l.

Keywords: Batch cultivation, Fed-batch cultivation, fluorescent pseudomonad, Metabolites

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Authors: Wendong Tao

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Stormwater wetlands have been mainly designed in an empirical approach for water quality improvement, with little quantitative understanding of the internal microbial processes. This study investigated into heterotrophic bacterial production rate, heterotrophic bacterial mineralization percentage, and algal biomass in hypertrophic and eutrophic surface flow stormwater wetlands. Compared to a nearby wood leachate treatment wetland, the stormwater wetlands had much higher chlorophyll-a concentrations. The eutrophic stormwater wetland had improved water quality, whereas the hypertrophic stormwater wetland had degraded water quality. Heterotrophic bacterial activities in water were limited in the stormwater wetlands due to competition of algal growth for nutrients. The relative contribution of biofilms to the overall heterotrophic activities was higher in the stormwater wetlands than that in the wood leachate treatment wetland.

Keywords: chlorophyll-a, constructed wetland, heterotrophicproduction, mineralization, stormwater

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Authors: Balqees A. Al-Thuhli, Ali H. Al-Badi, Khamis Al-Gharbi

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Information technology is changing rapidly and the users’ expectations are also growing. Dealing with these changes in information technology, while satisfying the users’ needs and expectations is a big challenge. IT managers need to explore new mechanisms/strategies to enable them to cope with such challenges.

 The objectives of this research are to identify the significant challenges that might face IT managers in higher education institutes in the face of the high and ever growing customer expectations and to propose possible solutions to cope with such high-speed changes in information technology.

To achieve these objectives, interviews with the IT professionals from different higher education institutes in Oman were conducted. In addition, documentation (printed and online) related to these institutions were studied and an intensive literature review of published work was examined.

The findings of this research are expected to give a better understanding of the challenges that might face the IT managers at higher education institutes. This acquired understanding is expected to highlight the importance of being adaptable and fast in keeping up with the ever-growing technological changes. Moreover, adopting different tools and technologies could assist IT managers in developing their organisations’ IT policies and strategies.

Keywords: Information technology, IT rapid changes, CIO roles, challenges, IT managers, coping mechanisms, users' expectations.

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Authors: Nurhayati Abdullah, Fauziah Sulaiman, Muhamad Azman Miskam, Rahmad Mohd Taib

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Banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are agricultural residues that can be used for conversion to bio-char, biooil, and gases by using thermochemical process. The aim of this work is to characterize banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem through proximate analysis, elemental analysis, chemical analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and heating calorific value. The ash contents of the banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 11.0 mf wt.% and 20.6 mf wt.%; while the carbon content of banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are 37.9 mf wt.% and 35.58 mf wt.% respectively. The molecular formulas for banana stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are C24H33NO26 and C19H29NO33 respectively. The measured higher heating values of banana pseudostem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 15.5MJ/kg and 12.7 MJ/kg respectively. By chemical analysis, the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents in the samples will also be presented. The feasibility of the banana wastes to be a feedstock for thermochemical process in comparison with other biomass will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Banana Waste, Biomass, Renewable Energy, Thermo-chemical Characteristics.

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Authors: Francielo Vendruscolo

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This review summarizes the potential of starch agroindustrial residues as substrate for biohydrogen production. Types of potential starch agroindustrial residues, recent developments and bio-processing conditions for biohydrogen production will be discussed. Biohydrogen is a clean energy source with great potential to be an alternative fuel, because it releases energy explosively in heat engines or generates electricity in fuel cells producing water as only by-product. Anaerobic hydrogen fermentation or dark fermentation seems to be more favorable, since hydrogen is yielded at high rates and various organic waste enriched with carbohydrates as substrate result in low cost for hydrogen production. Abundant biomass from various industries could be source for biohydrogen production where combination of waste treatment and energy production would be an advantage. Carbohydrate-rich nitrogendeficient solid wastes such as starch residues can be used for hydrogen production by using suitable bioprocess technologies. Alternatively, converting biomass into gaseous fuels, such as biohydrogen is possibly the most efficient way to use these agroindustrial residues.

Keywords: Biofuel, dark fermentation, starch residues, food waste.

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Authors: Domenico Pirozzi, Angelo Ausiello, Gaetano Zuccaro, Filomena Sannino, Abu Yousuf

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The oleaginous yeasts Lipomyces starkey were grown in the presence of dairy industry wastewaters (DIW). The yeasts were able to degrade the organic components of DIW and to produce a significant fraction of their biomass as triglycerides. When using DIW from the Ricotta cheese production or residual whey as growth medium, the L. starkey could be cultured without dilution nor external organic supplement. On the contrary, the yeasts could only partially degrade the DIW from the Mozzarella cheese production, due to the accumulation of a metabolic product beyond the threshold of toxicity. In this case, a dilution of the DIW was required to obtain a more efficient degradation of the carbon compounds and an higher yield in oleaginous biomass. The fatty acid distribution of the microbial oils obtained showed a prevalence of oleic acid, and is compatible with the production of a II generation biodiesel offering a good resistance to oxidation as well as an excellent cold-performance.

Keywords: Yeasts, Lipids, Biodiesel, Dairy industry wastewaters.

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Authors: Rahim Jafari, Tuba Okutucu-Özyurt

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The hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of a vaporized elongated bubble in a rectangular microchannel have been simulated based on Cahn-Hilliard phase-field method. In the simulations, the initially nucleated bubble starts growing as it comes in contact with superheated water. The growing shape of the bubble compared well with the available experimental data in the literature.

Keywords: Microchannel, boiling, Cahn-Hilliard method, Two-phase flow, Simulation.

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Authors: R.Sangeetha, T.Karunanithi

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A combination of photosynthetic bacteria along with anaerobic acidogenic bacteria is an ideal option for efficient hydrogen production. In the present study, the optimum concentration of substrates for the growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was found by response surface methodology. The optimum combination of three individual fatty acids was determined by Box Behnken design. Increase of volatile fatty acid concentration decreased the growth. Combination of sodium acetate and sodium propionate was most significant for the growth of the organism. The results showed that a maximum biomass concentration of 0.916 g/l was obtained when the concentrations of acetate, propionate and butyrate were 0.73g/l,0.99g/l and 0.799g/l, respectively. The growth was studied under an optimum concentration of volatile fatty acids and at a light intensity of 3000 lux, initial pH of 7 and a temperature of 35°C.The maximum biomass concentration of 0.92g/l was obtained which verified the practicability of this optimization.

Keywords: Biohydrogen, Response Surface Methodology, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Volatile fatty acid

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Authors: Andrew R.H. Rigit, Patrick T.K. Low

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Majority of pepper farmers in Malaysia are using the open-sun method for drying the pepper berries. This method is time consuming and exposed the berries to rain and contamination. A maintenance-friendly and properly enclosed dryer is therefore desired. A dryer design with a solar collector and a chimney was studied and adapted to suit the needs of small-scale pepper farmers in Malaysia. The dryer will provide an environment with an optimum operating temperature meant for drying pepper berries. The dryer model was evaluated by using commercially available computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software in order to understand the heat and mass transfer inside the dryer. Natural convection was the only mode of heat transportation considered in this study as in accordance to the idea of having a simple and maintenance-friendly design. To accommodate the effect of low buoyancy found in natural convection driers, a biomass burner was integrated into the solar dryer design.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, heat and masstransfer, solar dryer.

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Authors: Ashutosh Kumar Choudhary, Satish Kumar, Chhaya Sharma

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This study evaluates the performance of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF-CW) for the removal of chlorinated resin and fatty acids (RFAs) from pulp and paper mill wastewater. The dimensions of the treatment system were 3.5 m x 1.5 m x 0.28 m with surface area of 5.25 m2, filled with fine sand and gravel. The cell was planted with an ornamental plant species Canna indica. The removal efficiency of chlorinated RFAs was in the range of 92-96% at the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 5.9 days. Plant biomass and soil (sand and gravel) were analyzed for chlorinated RFAs content. No chlorinated RFAs were detected in plant biomass but detected in soil samples. Mass balance studies of chlorinated RFAs in HSSF-CW were also carried out.

Keywords: Canna indica, Chlorinated resin & fatty acids, Constructed wetland, Pulp and paper mill wastewater.

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Authors: Mohamed Ammar Abbassi, Kamel Guedri, Mohamed Naceur Borjini, Kamel Halouani, Belkacem Zeghmati

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The radiative heat transfer problem is investigated numerically for 2D complex geometry biomass pyrolysis reactor composed of two pyrolysis chambers and a heat recuperator. The fumes are a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapor charged with absorbing and scattering particles and soot. In order to increase gases residence time and heat transfer, the heat recuperator is provided with many inclined, vertical, horizontal, diffuse and grey baffles of finite thickness and has a complex geometry. The Finite Volume Method (FVM) is applied to study radiative heat transfer. The blocked-off region procedure is used to treat the geometrical irregularities. Eight cases are considered in order to demonstrate the effect of adding baffles on the walls of the heat recuperator and on the walls of the pyrolysis rooms then choose the best case giving the maximum heat flux transferred to the biomass in the pyrolysis chambers. Ray effect due to the presence of baffles is studied and demonstrated to have a crucial effect on radiative heat flux on the walls of the pyrolysis rooms. Shadow effect caused by the presence of the baffles is also studied. The non grey radiative heat transfer is studied for the real existent configuration. The Weighted Sum of The Grey Gases (WSGG) Model of Kim and Song is used as non grey model. The effect of soot volumetric fraction on the non grey radiative heat flux is investigated and discussed.

Keywords: Baffles, Blocked-off region procedure, FVM, Heat recuperation, Radiative heat transfer, Shadow effect.

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Authors: E. A. Kiridi, A. O. Ogunlela

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Conventional wastewater treatment plants of activated carbon, electrodialysis, ion exchange, reverse osmosis etc. are expensive to install, operate and maintain especially in developing countries; therefore, the use of aquatic macrophytes for wastewater purification is a viable alternative. On the first day of experimentation, approximately 100g of water hyacinth was introduced into the hydroponic units in four replicates. The water quality parameters measured were total suspended solids (TSS), pH and electrical conductivity (EC). Others were concentration of ammonium–nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO₂^--N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃^--N), phosphate–phosphorus (PO₄^3--P), and biomass value. At phytoremediation intervals of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, the biomass recorded were 438.2 g, 600.7 g, 688.2 g and 725.7 g. Water hyacinth was able to reduce the pollutant concentration of all the selected parameter. The percentage reduction of pH ranged from 1.9% to 14.7%, EC from 49.8% to 97.0%, TDS from 50.4% to 97.6%, TSS from 34.0% to 78.3%, NH₄⁺-N from 38.9% to 85.2%, NO₂^--N from 0% to 84.6%, NO₃^--N from 63.2% to 98.8% and PO₄^3--P from 10% to 88.0%. Paired sample t-test shows that at 95% confidence level, it can be concluded statistically that the inequality between the pre-treatment and post-treatment values are significant. This suggests that the use of water hyacinth is valuable in the design and operation of aquaculture effluent treatment and should therefore be adopted by environmental and wastewater managers.

Keywords: Aquaculture effluent, phytoremediation, pollutant, water hyacinth.

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Authors: Shyh-Ming Chern, Wei-Ling Lin

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Lignin is a major constituent of woody biomass, and exists abundantly in nature. It is the major byproducts from the paper industry and bioethanol production processes. The byproducts are mainly used for low-valued applications. Instead, lignin can be converted into higher-valued gaseous fuel, thereby helping to curtail the ever-growing price of oil and to slow down the trend of global warming. Although biochemical treatment is capable of converting cellulose into liquid ethanol fuel, it cannot be applied to the conversion of lignin. Alternatively, it is possible to convert lignin into gaseous fuel thermochemically. In the present work, trans-4-hydroxycinnamic acid, a model compound for lignin, which closely resembles the basic building blocks of lignin, is gasified in an autoclave with ethanol at elevated temperatures and pressures, that are above the critical point of ethanol. Ethanol, instead of water, is chosen, because ethanol dissolves trans-4-hydroxycinnamic acid easily and helps to convert it into lighter gaseous species relatively well. The major operating parameters for the gasification reaction include temperature (673-873 K), reaction pressure (5-25 MPa) and feed concentration (0.05-0.3 M). Generally, more than 80% of the reactant, including trans-4-hydroxycinnamic acid and ethanol, were converted into gaseous products at an operating condition of 873 K and 5 MPa.

Keywords: Ethanol, gasification, lignin, supercritical.

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Authors: Young Nam Chun, Mun Sup Lim

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Carbon dioxide and methane, the major components of biomass pyrolysis/gasification gas and biogas, top the list of substances that cause climate change, but they are also among the most important renewable energy sources in modern society. The purpose of this study is to convert carbon dioxide and methane into high-quality energy using char and commercial activated carbon obtained from biomass pyrolysis as a microwave receptor. The methane reforming process produces hydrogen and carbon. This carbon is deposited in the pores of the microwave receptor and lowers catalytic activity, thereby reducing the methane conversion rate. The deposited carbon was removed by carbon gasification due to the supply of carbon dioxide, which solved the problem of microwave receptor inactivity. In particular, the conversion rate remained stable at over 90% when the ratio of carbon dioxide to methane was 1:1. When the reforming results of carbon dioxide and methane were compared after fabricating nickel and iron catalysts using commercial activated carbon as a carrier, the conversion rate was higher in the iron catalyst than in the nickel catalyst and when no catalyst was used. 

Keywords: Microwave, gas reforming, greenhouse gas, microwave receptor, catalyst.

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Authors: Dmitriy Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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The article represents the results of isolation and component chromatographic analysis of essential oils of Polygonum L. plants growing in Kazakhstan in commercial reserves at the territory of Kazakhstan. The results of research of antibacterial and antifungal activity of isolated compounds have been represented.

Keywords: Antibacterial, antifungal, bioactive substances, essential oils, isolation, Polygonum L.

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Authors: S. K. Mohan, T. Viruthagiri, C. Arunkumar

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Tannase (tannin acyl hydrolase, E.C.3.1.1.20) is an important hydrolysable enzyme with innumerable applications and industrial potential. In the present study, a kinetic model has been developed for the batch fermentation used for the production of tannase by A.flavus MTCC 3783. Maximum tannase activity of 143.30 U/ml was obtained at 96 hours under optimum operating conditions at 35oC, an initial pH of 5.5 and with an inducer tannic acid concentration of 3% (w/v) for a fermentation period of 120 hours. The biomass concentration reaches a maximum of 6.62 g/l at 96 hours and further there was no increase in biomass concentration till the end of the fermentation. Various unstructured kinetic models were analyzed to simulate the experimental values of microbial growth, tannase activity and substrate concentration. The Logistic model for microbial growth , Luedeking - Piret model for production of tannase and Substrate utilization kinetic model for utilization of substrate were capable of predicting the fermentation profile with high coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.980, 0.942 and 0.983 respectively. The results indicated that the unstructured models were able to describe the fermentation kinetics more effectively.

Keywords: Aspergillus flavus, Batch fermentation, Kinetic model, Tannase, Unstructured models.

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Authors: Manatchanok Tantiphiphatthana, Lin Peng, Rujira Jitrwung, Kunio Yoshikawa

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Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a technique for obtaining clean biofuel from biomass in the presence of heat and pressure in an aqueous medium which leads to a decomposition of this biomass to the formation of various products. A role of operating conditions is essential for the bio-oil and other products’ yield and also quality of the products. The effects of these parameters were investigated in regards to the composition and yield of the products. Chlorellaceae microalgae were tested under different HTL conditions to clarify suitable conditions for extracting bio-oil together with value-added co-products. Firstly, different microalgae loading rates (5-30%) were tested and found that this parameter has not much significant to product yield. Therefore, 10% microalgae loading rate was selected as a proper economical solution for conditioned schedule at 250oC and 30 min-reaction time. Next, a range of temperature (210-290oC) was applied to verify the effects of each parameter by keeping the reaction time constant at 30 min. The results showed no linkage with the increase of the reaction temperature and some reactions occurred that lead to different product yields. Moreover, some nutrients found in the aqueous product are possible to be utilized for nutrient recovery.

Keywords: Bio-oil, Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Microalgae, Aqueous co-product.

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Authors: M.Paroncini, F.Corvaro, G.Nardini, S.Pistolesi

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The development of renewable energies - particularly energy from wind, water, solar power and biomass - is a central aim of the European Commission's energy policy. There are several reasons for this choice: renewable energies are sustainable, nonpolluting, widely available and clean. Increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy balance enhances sustainability. It also helps to improve the security of energy supply by reducing the Community's growing dependence on imported energy sources.In this paper it was studied the possibility to realize three photovoltaic systems in the Italian Natural Park “Gola della Rossa e di Frasassi". The first photovoltaic system is a grid-connected system for Services and Documentation Center of Castelletta with a nominal power of about 6 kWp. The second photovoltaic system is a grid-connected integrated system on the ticket office-s roof with a nominal power of about 4 kWp. The third project is set up by five grid-connected systems integrated on the roofs of the bungalows in Natural Park-s tourist camping with a nominal power of about 10 kWp. The electricity which is generated by all these plants is purchased according to the Italian program called “Conto Energia". Economical analysis and the amount of the avoided CO2 emissions are elaborated for these photovoltaic systems.

Keywords: CO2 emissions, conto energia, photovoltaic systems.

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Authors: Dmitriy Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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The article represents the results of clinical researches of composite herbal medicinal product based on essential oils of Sedum plants growing in Kazakhstan in commercial reserves at the territory of Kazakhstan. The results of comparative analysis are represented in obstetric-gynecologic practice during combined therapy for postnatal complications, inflammatory infiltrates in the area of surgical wounds including wounds after caesarean section.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, bioactive substances, essential oils, isolation, Sedum L., wound healing.

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Authors: Dmitriy Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

Abstract:

The article represents the results of isolation and component chromatographic analysis of essential oils of Polygonym L. plants growing in Kazakhstan in commercial reserves at the territory of Kazakhstan. The results of research of antiviral activity of isolated substances to flu virus have been represented in this article. The main pharmacophore groups in the structure of alkaloids have been identified.

Keywords: Alkaloids, antiviral, bioactive substances, isolation, pharmacophore groups, Polygonum L.

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Authors: M. T. K. Aghamolki, M. K. Yusop, F. C. Oad, H. Zakikhani, Hawa. Ze Jaafar, S. Kharidah S.M., M. M. Hanafi

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The high temperatures during sensitive growth phases are changing rice morphology as well as influencing yield. In the glass house study, the treatments were growing conditions [normal growing (32^oC+2) and heat stress (38^oC+2) day time and 22^oC+2 night time], growth stages (booting, flowering and ripening) and four cultivars (Hovaze, Hashemi, Fajr, as exotic and MR219 as indigenous). The heat chamber was prepared covered with plastic, and automatic heater was adjusted for two weeks in every growth stages. Rice morphological and yield under the influence of heat stress during various growth stages showed taller plants in Hashemi due to its tall character. The total tillers per hill were significantly higher in Fajr. In all growing conditions, Hashemi recorded higher panicle exertion. The flag leaf width in all situations was found higher in Hovaze. The total tillers per hill were more in Fajr, although heat stress was imposed during booting and flowering stages. The indigenous MR219 in all situations of growing conditions, growth stages recorded higher grain yield. However, its grain yield decreased when heat stress was imposed during booting and flowering. However, plants had no effect on heat stress during ripening stage.

Keywords: Rice, growth, heat, stress, morphology, yield.

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Authors: F. Z. Aliyat, B. Ben Messaoud, L. Nassiri, E. Bouiamrine, J. Ibijbijen

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The present study aims to assess the biological nitrogen fixation in the soybean tested in different Moroccan soils combined with the rhizobial inoculation. These effects were evaluated by the plant growth mainly by the aerial biomass production, total nitrogen content and the proportion of the nitrogen fixed. This assessment clearly shows that the inoculation with bacteria increases the growth of soybean. Five different soils and a control (peat) were used. The rhizobial inoculation was performed by applying the peat that contained a mixture of 2 strains Sinorhizobium fredii HH103 and Bradyrhizobium. The biomass, the total nitrogen content and the proportion of nitrogen fixed were evaluated under different treatments. The essay was realized at the greenhouse the Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University. The soybean has shown a great response for the parameters assessed. Moreover, the best response was reported by the inoculated plants compared to non- inoculated and to the absolute control. Finally, good production and the best biological nitrogen fixation present an important ecological technology to improve the sustainable production of soybean and to ensure the increase of the fertility of soils.

Keywords: Biological nitrogen fixation, inoculation, rhizobium, soybean.

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Authors: E. A. Kiridi, A. O. Ogunlela

Abstract:

The control of ammonia build-up and its by-product is a limiting factor for a successful commercial aquaculture in a developing country like Nigeria. The technology for an advanced treatment of fish tank effluent is uneconomical to local fish farmers which have led to indiscriminate disposal of aquaculture wastewater, thereby increasing the concentrations of these nitrogenous compound and other contaminants in surface and groundwater above the permissible level. Phytoremediation using water lettuce could offer cheaper and sustainable alternative. On the first day of experimentation, approximately 100 g of water lettuce were replicated in four hydroponic units containing aquaculture effluents. The water quality parameters measured were concentration of ammonium–nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO₂^--N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃^--N), and phosphate–phosphorus (PO₄^3--P). Others were total suspended solids (TSS), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and biomass value. At phytoremediation intervals of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, the biomass recorded were 361.2 g, 498.7 g, 561.2 g, and 623.7 g. Water lettuce was able to reduce the pollutant concentration of all the selected parameter. The percentage reduction of pH ranged from 3.9% to 14.4%, EC from 49.8% to 96.2%, TDS from 50.4% to 96.2%, TSS from 38.3% to 81.7%, NH₄⁺-N from 38.9% to 90.7%, NO₂^--N from 0% to 74.9%, NO₃^--N from 63.2% to 95.9% and PO₄^3--P from 0% to 76.3%. At 95% confidence level, the analysis of variance shows that F(critical) is less than F(cal) and p < 0.05; therefore, it can be concluded statistically that the inequality between the pre-treatment and post-treatment values are significant. This suggests the potency of water lettuce for remediation of aquaculture effluent.

Keywords: Aquaculture effluent, nitrification, phytoremediation, water lettuce.

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Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Sandeep Khimta, Kiranpreet Kaur

Abstract:

The prediction of Software quality during development life cycle of software project helps the development organization to make efficient use of available resource to produce the product of highest quality. “Whether a module is faulty or not" approach can be used to predict quality of a software module. There are numbers of software quality prediction models described in the literature based upon genetic algorithms, artificial neural network and other data mining algorithms. One of the promising aspects for quality prediction is based on clustering techniques. Most quality prediction models that are based on clustering techniques make use of K-means, Mixture-of-Guassians, Self-Organizing Map, Neural Gas and fuzzy K-means algorithm for prediction. In all these techniques a predefined structure is required that is number of neurons or clusters should be known before we start clustering process. But in case of Growing Neural Gas there is no need of predetermining the quantity of neurons and the topology of the structure to be used and it starts with a minimal neurons structure that is incremented during training until it reaches a maximum number user defined limits for clusters. Hence, in this work we have used Growing Neural Gas as underlying cluster algorithm that produces the initial set of labeled cluster from training data set and thereafter this set of clusters is used to predict the quality of test data set of software modules. The best testing results shows 80% accuracy in evaluating the quality of software modules. Hence, the proposed technique can be used by programmers in evaluating the quality of modules during software development.

Keywords: Growing Neural Gas, data clustering, fault prediction.

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Authors: P. Ninduangdee, V. I. Kuprianov

Abstract:

Palm kernel shell is an important bioenergy resource in Thailand. However, due to elevated alkali content in biomass ash, this oil palm residue shows high tendency to bed agglomeration in a fluidized-bed combustion system using conventional bed material (silica sand). In this study, palm kernel shell was burned in the conical fluidized-bed combustor (FBC) using alumina and dolomite as alternative bed materials to prevent bed agglomeration. For each bed material, the combustion tests were performed at 45kg/h fuel feed rate with excess air within 20–80%. Experimental results revealed rather weak effects of the bed material type but substantial influence of excess air on the behavior of temperature, O2, CO, CxHy, and NO inside the reactor, as well as on the combustion efficiency and major gaseous emissions of the conical FBC. The optimal level of excess air ensuring high combustion efficiency (about 98.5%) and acceptable level of the emissions was found to be about 40% when using alumina and 60% with dolomite. By using these alternative bed materials, bed agglomeration can be prevented when burning the shell in the proposed conical FBC. However, both bed materials exhibited significant changes in their morphological, physical and chemical properties in the course of the time.

Keywords: Palm kernel shell, fluidized-bed combustion, alternative bed materials, combustion and emission performance, bed agglomeration prevention.

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