Search results for: moving heat source.

Authors: Abdelhalim. N. Mohammed, Mohammed. Y. Esmail

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In the course of recent decades, medical imaging has been dominated by the use of costly film media for review and archival of medical investigation, however due to developments in networks technologies and common acceptance of a standard digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) another approach in light of World Wide Web was produced. Web technologies successfully used in telemedicine applications, the combination of web technologies together with DICOM used to design a web-based and open source DICOM viewer. The Web server allowance to inquiry and recovery of images and the images viewed/manipulated inside a Web browser without need for any preinstalling software. The dynamic site page for medical images visualization and processing created by using JavaScript and HTML5 advancements. The XAMPP ‘apache server’ is used to create a local web server for testing and deployment of the dynamic site. The web-based viewer connected to multiples devices through local area network (LAN) to distribute the images inside healthcare facilities. The system offers a few focal points over ordinary picture archiving and communication systems (PACS): easy to introduce, maintain and independently platforms that allow images to display and manipulated efficiently, the system also user-friendly and easy to integrate with an existing system that have already been making use of web technologies. The wavelet-based image compression technique on which 2-D discrete wavelet transform used to decompose the image then wavelet coefficients are transmitted by entropy encoding after threshold to decrease transmission time, stockpiling cost and capacity. The performance of compression was estimated by using images quality metrics such as mean square error ‘MSE’, peak signal to noise ratio ‘PSNR’ and compression ratio ‘CR’ that achieved (83.86%) when ‘coif3’ wavelet filter is used.

Keywords: DICOM, discrete wavelet transform, PACS, HIS, LAN.

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Authors: Pennapa Palapin

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This research sought to discover the forms of promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom that are used to create occupations among the elderly at Noanmueng Community, Muang Sub-District, Baan Doong District, Udornthani Province. The criteria used to select the research sample group were: having a role involved in the promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly; being an experienced person who the residents of Noanmueng Community find trustworthy; and having lived in Noanmueng Community for a long time so as to be able to see the development and change that occurs. A total of 16 persons were thus selected. Data was gathered through a qualitative study, using semi-structured indepth interviews. The collected data was then summarized and discussed according to the research objectives. Finally, the data was presented in narrative format. Results found that the identifying traditional local wisdom of the community (which grew from the residents’ experience and beneficial usage in daily life, passed down from generation to generation) was the weaving of cloth and basketry. As for the manner of promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom, these skills were passed down through teaching by example to family members, relatives and others in the community. This was largely the initiative of the elders or elderly members of the community. In order for the promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly, the traditional local wisdom should be supported in every way through participation of the community members. For example, establish a museum of traditional local wisdom for the collection of traditional local wisdom in various fields, both from the past and present innovations. This would be a source of pride for the community, simultaneously helping traditional local wisdom to become widely known and to create income for the community’s elderly. Additional ways include organizing exhibitions of products made by traditional local wisdom, finding both domestic and international markets, as well as building both domestic and international networks aiming to find opportunities to market products made by traditional local wisdom.

Keywords: Traditional local wisdom, Occupation, Elderly.

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Authors: Ekin Kıpçak, Sinan Kutluay, Mesut Akgün

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Recently, a growing interest has emerged on the development of new and efficient energy sources, due to the inevitable extinction of the nonrenewable energy reserves. One of these alternative sources which has a great potential and sustainability to meet up the energy demand is biomass energy. This significant energy source can be utilized with various energy conversion technologies, one of which is biomass gasification in supercritical water. Water, being the most important solvent in nature, has very important characteristics as a reaction solvent under supercritical circumstances. At temperatures above its critical point (374.8oC and 22.1 MPa), water becomes more acidic and its diffusivity increases. Working with water at high temperatures increases the thermal reaction rate, which in consequence leads to a better dissolving of the organic matters and a fast reaction with oxygen. Hence, supercritical water offers a control mechanism depending on solubility, excellent transport properties based on its high diffusion ability and new reaction possibilities for hydrolysis or oxidation. In this study the gasification of a real biomass, namely olive mill wastewater (OMW), in supercritical water is investigated with the use of Pt/Al2O3 and Ni/Al2O3 catalysts. OMW is a by-product obtained during olive oil production, which has a complex nature characterized by a high content of organic compounds and polyphenols. These properties impose OMW a significant pollution potential, but at the same time, the high content of organics makes OMW a desirable biomass candidate for energy production. All of the catalytic gasification experiments were made with five different reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C), under a constant pressure of 25 MPa. For the experiments conducted with Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, the effect of five reaction times (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 s) was investigated. However, procuring that similar gasification efficiencies could be obtained at shorter times, the experiments were made by using different reaction times (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 s) for the case of Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Through these experiments, the effects of temperature, time and catalyst type on the gasification yields and treatment efficiencies were investigated.

Keywords: Catalyst, Gasification, Olive mill wastewater, Supercritical water.

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Authors: Ahmed S. Fayed, Umima M. Mansour

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Three polyvinyl chloride membrane sensors were developed for the electrochemical evaluation of ferrous, manganese and zinc ions. The sensors were used for assaying metal ions in cervical mucus (CM) of Egyptian river buffalo-cows (Bubalus bubalis) as their levels vary dependent on cyclical hormone variation during different phases of estrus cycle. The presented sensors are based on using ionophores, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and sulfocalix-4-arene (SCAL) for sensors 1, 2 and 3 for Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺, respectively. Dioctyl phthalate (DOP) was used as the plasticizer in a polymeric matrix of polyvinylchloride (PVC). For increasing the selectivity and sensitivity of the sensors, each sensor was enriched with a suitable complexing agent, which enhanced the sensor’s response. For sensor 1, β-CD was mixed with bathophenanthroline; for sensor 2, porphyrin was incorporated with HP-β-CD; while for sensor 3, oxine was the used complexing agent with SCAL. Linear responses of 10^-7-10^-2 M with cationic slopes of 53.46, 45.01 and 50.96 over pH range 4-8 were obtained using coated graphite sensors for ferrous, manganese and zinc ionic solutions, respectively. The three sensors were validated, according to the IUPAC guidelines. The obtained results by the presented potentiometric procedures were statistically analyzed and compared with those obtained by atomic absorption spectrophotometric method (AAS). No significant differences for either accuracy or precision were observed between the two techniques. Successful application for the determination of the three studied cations in CM, for the purpose to determine the proper time for artificial insemination (AI) was achieved. The results were compared with those obtained upon analyzing the samples by AAS. Proper detection of estrus and correct time of AI was necessary to maximize the production of buffaloes. In this experiment, 30 multi-parous buffalo-cows were in second to third lactation and weighting 415-530 kg, and were synchronized with OVSynch protocol. Samples were taken in three times around ovulation, on day 8 of OVSynch protocol, on day 9 (20 h before AI) and on day 10 (1 h before AI). Beside analysis of trace elements (Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺) in CM using the three sensors, the samples were analyzed for the three cations and also Cu²⁺ by AAS in the CM samples and blood samples. The results obtained were correlated with hormonal analysis of serum samples and ultrasonography for the purpose of determining of the optimum time of AI. The results showed significant differences and powerful correlation with Zn²⁺ composition of CM during heat phase and the ovulation time, indicating that the parameter could be used as a tool to decide optimal time of AI in buffalo-cows.

Keywords: PVC sensors, buffalo-cows, cyclodextrins, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, artificial insemination, OVSynch protocol.

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Authors: Shima Fasahat

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This research is an experimental research which was done about microbial fuel cells in order to study them for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. These days, it is very important to find new, clean and sustainable ways for energy supplying. Because of this reason there are many researchers around the world who are studying about new and sustainable energies. There are different ways to produce these kind of energies like: solar cells, wind turbines, geothermal energy, fuel cells and many other ways. Fuel cells have different types one of these types is microbial fuel cell. In this research, an MFC was built in order to study how it can be used for electricity generating and wastewater treatment. The microbial fuel cell which was used in this research is a reactor that has two tanks with a catalyst solution. The chemical reaction in microbial fuel cells is a redox reaction. The microbial fuel cell in this research is a two chamber MFC. Anode chamber is an anaerobic one (ABR reactor) and the other chamber is a cathode chamber. Anode chamber consists of stabilized sludge which is the source of microorganisms that do redox reaction. The main microorganisms here are: Propionibacterium and Clostridium. The electrodes of anode chamber are graphite pages. Cathode chamber consists of graphite page electrodes and catalysts like: O₂, KMnO₄ and C₆N₆FeK₄. The membrane which separates the chambers is Nafion117. The reason of choosing this membrane is explained in the complete paper. The main goal of this research is to generate electricity and treating wastewater. It was found that when you use electron receptor compounds like: O_2, MnO₄, C₆N₆FeK₄ the velocity of electron receiving speeds up and in a less time more current will be achieved. It was found that the best compounds for this purpose are compounds which have iron in their chemical formula. It is also important to pay attention to the amount of nutrients which enters to bacteria chamber. By adding extra nutrients in some cases the result will be reverse.  By using ABR the amount of chemical oxidation demand reduces per day till it arrives to a stable amount.

Keywords: Anaerobic baffled reactor, bioenergy, electrode, energy efficient, microbial fuel cell, renewable chemicals, sustainable.

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Authors: Anna M. Salejda, Urszula Tril, Grażyna Krasnowska

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The aim of this study was to analyze selected quality characteristics of cooked pork sausages manufactured with the addition of Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) berries preparations. Stuffings of model sausages consisted of pork, backfat, water and additives such a curing salt and sodium isoascorbate. Functional additives used in production process were two preparations obtained from dried Sea buckthorn berries in form of powder and brew. Powder of dried berries was added in amount of 1 and 3 g, while water infusion as a replacement of 50 and 100% ice water included in meat products formula. Control samples were produced without functional additives. Experimental stuffings were heat treated in water bath and stored for 4 weeks under cooled conditions (4±1ºC). Physical parameters of colour, texture profile and technological parameters as acidity, weight losses and water activity were estimated. The effect of Sea buckthorn berries preparations on lipid oxidation during storage of final products was determine by TBARS method.

Studies have shown that addition of Sea buckthorn preparations to meat-fatty batters significant (P≤0.05) reduced the pH values of sausages samples after thermal treatment. Moreover, the addition of berries powder caused significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) in weight losses after cooking process. Analysis of results of texture profile analysis indicated, that utilization of infusion prepared from Sea buckthorn dried berries caused increase of springiness, gumminess and chewiness of final meat products. At the same time, the highest amount of Sea buckthorn berries powder in recipe caused the decrease of all measured texture parameters. Utilization of experimental preparations significantly decreased (P≤0.05) lightness (L* parameter of color) of meat products. Simultaneously, introduction of 1 and 3 grams of Sea buckthorn berries powder to meat-fatty batter increased redness (a* parameter) of samples under investigation. Higher content of substances reacting with thiobarbituric acid was observed in meat products produced without functional additives. It was observed that powder of Sea buckthorn berries added to meat-fatty batters caused higher protection against lipid oxidation in cooked sausages.

Keywords: Sea buckthorn, meat products, texture, color parameters, lipid oxidation.

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Authors: Jorge Rodriguez-Guerra, Carlos Calleja, Aron Pujana, Iker Elorza, Ana Maria Macarulla

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Society demands more reliable manufacturing processes capable of producing high quality products in shorter production cycles. New control algorithms have been studied to satisfy this paradigm, in which Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC) plays a significant role. It is suitable to detect, isolate and adapt a system when a harmful or faulty situation appears. In this paper, a general overview about FTC characteristics are exposed; highlighting the properties a system must ensure to be considered faultless. In addition, a research to identify which are the main FTC techniques and a classification based on their characteristics is presented in two main groups: Active Fault-Tolerant Controllers (AFTCs) and Passive Fault-Tolerant Controllers (PFTCs). AFTC encompasses the techniques capable of re-configuring the process control algorithm after the fault has been detected, while PFTC comprehends the algorithms robust enough to bypass the fault without further modifications. The mentioned re-configuration requires two stages, one focused on detection, isolation and identification of the fault source and the other one in charge of re-designing the control algorithm by two approaches: fault accommodation and control re-design. From the algorithms studied, one has been selected and applied to a case study based on an industrial hydraulic-press. The developed model has been embedded under a real-time validation platform, which allows testing the FTC algorithms and analyse how the system will respond when a fault arises in similar conditions as a machine will have on factory. One AFTC approach has been picked up as the methodology the system will follow in the fault recovery process. In a first instance, the fault will be detected, isolated and identified by means of a neural network. In a second instance, the control algorithm will be re-configured to overcome the fault and continue working without human interaction.

Keywords: Fault-tolerant control, electro-hydraulic actuator, fault detection and isolation, control re-design, real-time.

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Authors: S. V. Ukwungwu, A. J. Abbas, G. G. Nasr

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The increasing high price of natural gas and oil with attendant increase in energy demand on world markets in recent years has stimulated interest in recovering residual oil saturation across the globe. In order to meet the energy security, efforts have been made in developing new technologies of enhancing the recovery of oil and gas, utilizing techniques like CO₂ flooding, water injection, hydraulic fracturing, surfactant flooding etc. Surfactant flooding however optimizes production but poses risk to the environment due to their toxic nature. Amongst proven records that have utilized other type of bacterial in producing biosurfactants for enhancing oil recovery, this research uses a technique to combine biosurfactants that will achieve a scale of EOR through lowering interfacial tension/contact angle. In this study, three biosurfactants were produced from three Bacillus species from freeze dried cultures using sucrose 3 % (w/v) as their carbon source. Two of these produced biosurfactants were screened with the TEMCO Pendant Drop Image Analysis for reduction in IFT and contact angle. Interfacial tension was greatly reduced from 56.95 mN.m^-1 to 1.41 mN.m^-1 when biosurfactants in cell-free culture (Bacillus licheniformis) were used compared to 4. 83mN.m^-1 cell-free culture of Bacillus subtilis. As a result, cell-free culture of (Bacillus licheniformis) changes the wettability of the biosurfactant treatment for contact angle measurement to more water-wet as the angle decreased from 130.75^o to 65.17^o. The influence of microbial treatment on crushed rock samples was also observed by qualitative wettability experiments. Treated samples with biosurfactants remained in the aqueous phase, indicating a water-wet system. These results could prove that biosurfactants can effectively change the chemistry of the wetting conditions against diverse surfaces, providing a desirable condition for efficient oil transport in this way serving as a mechanism for EOR. The environmental friendly effect of biosurfactants applications for industrial purposes play important advantages over chemically synthesized surfactants, with various possible structures, low toxicity, eco-friendly and biodegradability.

Keywords: Bacillus, biosurfactant, enhanced oil recovery, residual oil, wettability.

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Authors: Jalal Haghighat Monfared, Zahra Akbari

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Today, business executives need to have useful information to make better decisions. Banks have also been using information tools so that they can direct the decision-making process in order to achieve their desired goals by rapidly extracting information from sources with the help of business intelligence. The research seeks to investigate whether there is a relationship between the quality of decision making and the business intelligence capabilities of Mellat Bank. Each of the factors studied is divided into several components, and these and their relationships are measured by a questionnaire. The statistical population of this study consists of all managers and experts of Mellat Bank's General Departments (including 190 people) who use commercial intelligence reports. The sample size of this study was 123 randomly determined by statistical method. In this research, relevant statistical inference has been used for data analysis and hypothesis testing. In the first stage, using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the normalization of the data was investigated and in the next stage, the construct validity of both variables and their resulting indexes were verified using confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, using the structural equation modeling and Pearson's correlation coefficient, the research hypotheses were tested. The results confirmed the existence of a positive relationship between decision quality and business intelligence capabilities in Mellat Bank. Among the various capabilities, including data quality, correlation with other systems, user access, flexibility and risk management support, the flexibility of the business intelligence system was the most correlated with the dependent variable of the present research. This shows that it is necessary for Mellat Bank to pay more attention to choose the required business intelligence systems with high flexibility in terms of the ability to submit custom formatted reports. Subsequently, the quality of data on business intelligence systems showed the strongest relationship with quality of decision making. Therefore, improving the quality of data, including the source of data internally or externally, the type of data in quantitative or qualitative terms, the credibility of the data and perceptions of who uses the business intelligence system, improves the quality of decision making in Mellat Bank.

Keywords: Business intelligence, business intelligence capability, decision making, decision quality.

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Authors: Elena Carcano, Mirzi Betasolo

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This study helps Public Water Bureaus in giving reliable answers to water concession requests. Rapidly increasing water requests can be supported provided that further uses of a river course are not totally compromised, and environmental features are protected as well. Strictly speaking, a water concession can be considered a continuous drawing from the source and causes a mean annual streamflow reduction. Therefore, deciding if a water concession is appropriate or inappropriate seems to be easily solved by comparing the generic demand to the mean annual streamflow value at disposal. Still, the immediate shortcoming for such a comparison is that streamflow data are information available only for few catchments and, most often, limited to specific sites. Subsequently, comparing the generic water demand to mean daily discharge is indeed far from being completely satisfactory since the mean daily streamflow is greater than the water withdrawal for a long period of a year. Consequently, such a comparison appears to be of little significance in order to preserve the quality and the quantity of the river. In order to overcome such a limit, this study aims to complete the information provided by flow duration curves introducing a link between Flow Duration Curves (FDCs) and recession curves and aims to show the chronological sequence of flows with a particular focus on low flow data. The analysis is carried out on 25 catchments located in North-Eastern Italy for which daily data are provided. The results identify groups of catchments as hydrologically homogeneous, having the lower part of the FDCs (corresponding streamflow interval is streamflow Q between 300 and 335, namely: Q(300), Q(335)) smoothly reproduced by a common recession curve. In conclusion, the results are useful to provide more reliable answers to water request, especially for those catchments which show similar hydrological response and can be used for a focused regionalization approach on low flow data. A mathematical link between streamflow duration curves and recession curves is herein provided, thus furnishing streamflow duration curves information upon a temporal sequence of data. In such a way, by introducing assumptions on recession curves, the chronological sequence upon low flow data can also be attributed to FDCs, which are known to lack this information by nature.

Keywords: Chronological sequence of discharges, recession curves, streamflow duration curves, water concession.

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Authors: Benjamin Osei-Tutu, Henrietta Awewole Kolson

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Background: Acute gastroenteritis is one of the frequently reported Out-Patient Department (OPD) cases. However, the causative pathogens of these cases are rarely identified at the OPD due to delay in laboratory results or failure to obtain specimens before antibiotics is administered. Method: A retrospective review of surveillance data from the Adentan Municipality, Accra, Ghana that were recorded in the National foodborne disease surveillance system of Ghana, was conducted with the main aim of describing the epidemiology and food practice of cases reported from the Adentan Municipality. The study involved a retrospective review of surveillance data kept on patients who visited health facilities that are involved in foodborne disease surveillance in Ghana, from January 2015 to December 2016. Results: A total of 375 cases were reviewed and these were classified as viral hepatitis (hepatitis A and E), cholera (Vibrio cholerae), dysentery (Shigella sp.), typhoid fever (Salmonella sp.) or gastroenteritis. Cases recorded were all suspected case and the average cases recorded per week was 3. Typhoid fever and dysentery were the two main clinically diagnosed foodborne illnesses. The highest number of cases were observed during the late dry season (Feb to April), which marks the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. Relatively high number of cases was also observed during the late wet seasons (Jul to Oct) when the rainfall is the heaviest. Home-made food and street vended food were the major sources of suspected etiological food, recording 49.01% and 34.87% of the cases respectively. Conclusion: Majority of cases recorded were classified as gastroenteritis due to the absence of laboratory confirmation. Few cases were classified as typhoid fever and dysentery based on clinical symptoms presented. Patients reporting with foodborne diseases were found to consume home meal and street vended foods as their predominant source of food.

Keywords: Accra, etiologic food, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, illness, surveillance.

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Authors: Suman Chaudhary, Rinku Dhanker, Tanvi, Sneh Goyal

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Sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) have marked their significant role in perspectives of maintaining healthy environment as researchers from all over the world tested and apply these in waste water treatment plants, bioleaching of heavy metals, deterioration of bridge structures, concrete and for bioremediation purposes, etc. Also, these SOB are well adapted in all kinds of environment ranging from normal soil, water habitats to extreme natural sources like geothermal areas, volcanic eruptions, black shale and acid rock drainage (ARD). SOB have been isolated from low pH environment of anthropogenic origin like acid mine drainage (AMD) and bioleaching heaps, hence these can work efficiently in different environmental conditions. Besides having many applications in field of environment science, they may be proven to be very beneficial in area of agriculture as sulphur is the fourth major macronutrients required for the growth of plants. More amount of sulphur is needed by pulses and oilseed crops with respect to the cereal grains. Due to continuous use of land for overproduction of more demanding sulphur utilizing crops and without application of sulphur fertilizers, its concentration is decreasing day by day, and thus, sulphur deficiency is becoming a great problem as it affects the crop productivity and quality. Sulphur is generally found in soils in many forms which are unavailable for plants (cannot be use by plants) like elemental sulphur, thiosulphate which can be taken up by bacteria and converted into simpler forms usable by plants by undergoing a series of transformations. So, keeping the importance of sulphur in view for various soil types, oilseed crops and role of microorganisms in making them available to plants, we made an effort to isolate, optimize, and characterize SOB. Three potential strains of bacteria were isolated, namely SSF7, SSA21, and SSS6, showing sulphate production of concentration, i.e. 2.268, 3.102, and 2.785 mM, respectively. Also, these were optimized for various culture conditions like carbon, nitrogen source, pH, temperature, and incubation time, and characterization was also done.

Keywords: Sulphur oxidizing bacteria, isolation, optimization, characterization, sulphate production.

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Authors: L.C. Ram, R.E. Masto, Smriti Singh, R.C. Tripathi, S.K. Jha, N.K. Srivastava, A.K. Sinha, V.A. Selvi, A. Sinha

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Coal will continue to be the predominant source of global energy for coming several decades. The huge generation of fly ash (FA) from combustion of coal in thermal power plants (TPPs) is apprehended to pose the concerns of its disposal and utilization. FA application based on its typical characteristics as soil ameliorant for agriculture and forestry is the potential area, and hence the global attempt. The inferences drawn suffer from the variations of ash characteristics, soil types, and agro-climatic conditions; thereby correlating the effects of ash between various plant species and soil types is difficult. Indian FAs have low bulk density, high water holding capacity and porosity, rich silt-sized particles, alkaline nature, negligible solubility, and reasonable plant nutrients. Findings of the demonstrations trials for more than two decades from lab/pot to field scale long-term experiments are developed as FA soil amendment technology (FASAT) by Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad. Performance of different crops and plant species in cultivable and problematic soils, are encouraging, eco-friendly, and being adopted by the farmers. FA application includes ash alone and in combination with inorganic/organic amendments; combination treatments including bio-solids perform better than FA alone. Optimum dose being up to 100 t/ha for cultivable land and up to/ or above 200 t/ha of FA for waste/degraded land/mine refuse, depending on the characteristics of ash and soil. The elemental toxicity in Indian FA is usually not of much concern owing to alkaline ashes, oxide forms of elements, and elemental concentration within the threshold limits for soil application. Combating toxicity, if any, is possible through combination treatments with organic materials and phytoremediation. Government initiatives through extension programme involving farmers and ash generating organizations need to be accelerated

Keywords: Fly ash, soil quality, CIMFR, FASAT, agriculture, forestry, toxicity, remediation

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Authors: Katie Emerson, Sara Perez-Ojalvo, Jim Komorowski, Danielle Greenberg

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate arginase activity levels in response to combinations of an inositol-stabilized arginine silicate (ASI; Nitrosigine®), L-arginine, and Inositol. Arginine acts as a vasodilator that promotes increased blood flow resulting in enhanced delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain and other tissues. Arginase, found in human serum, catalyzes the conversion of arginine to ornithine and urea, completing the last step in the urea cycle. Decreasing arginase levels maintains arginine and results in increased nitric oxide production. This study aimed to determine the most effective combination of ASI, L-arginine and inositol for minimizing arginase levels and therefore maximize ASI’s effect on cognition. Serum was taken from untreated healthy donors by separation from clotted factors. Arginase activity of serum in the presence or absence of test products was determined (QuantiChrom™, DARG-100, Bioassay Systems, Hayward CA). The remaining ultra-filtrated serum units were harvested and used as the source for the arginase enzyme. ASI alone or combined with varied levels of Inositol were tested as follows: ASI + inositol at 0.25 g, 0.5 g, 0.75 g, or 1.00 g. L-arginine was also tested as a positive control. All tests elicited changes in arginase activity demonstrating the efficacy of the method used. Adding L-arginine to serum from untreated subjects, with or without inositol only had a mild effect. Adding inositol at all levels reduced arginase activity. Adding 0.5 g to the standardized amount of ASI led to the lowest amount of arginase activity as compared to the 0.25 g, 0.75 g or 1.00g doses of inositol or to L-arginine alone. The outcome of this study demonstrates an interaction of the pairing of inositol with ASI on the activity of the enzyme arginase. We found that neither the maximum nor minimum amount of inositol tested in this study led to maximal arginase inhibition. Since the inhibition of arginase activity is desirable for product formulations looking to maintain arginine levels, the most effective amount of inositol was deemed preferred. Subsequent studies suggest this moderate level of inositol in combination with ASI leads to cognitive improvements including reaction time, executive function, and concentration.

Keywords: Arginine, blood flow, colorimetry, urea cycle.

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Authors: Hanaa M. M. El-Khayat, Hanan S. Gaber, Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Kadria M. A. Mahmoud, Hoda M. A. Abu Taleb

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This work aimed to examine Oreochromis niloticus fish from Lake Manzala in Port Said, Dakahlya and Damietta governorates, Egypt, as a bio-indicator for the lake water pollution through recording alterations in their hematological, physiological, and histopathological parameters. All fish samples showed a significant increase in levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine and glutathione-S-transferase (GST); only Dakahlya samples showed a significant increase (p<0.01) in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level and most Dakahlya and Damietta samples showed reversed albumin and globulin ratio and a significant increase in γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) level. Port-Said and Damietta samples showed a significant decrease of hemoglobin (Hb) while Dakahlya samples showed a significant decrease in white blood cell (WBC) count. Histopathological investigation for different fish organs showed that Port-Said and Dakahlya samples were more altered than Damietta. The muscle and gill followed by intestine were the most affected organs. The muscle sections showed severe edema, neoplasia, necrotic change, fat vacuoles and splitting of muscle fiber. The gill sections showed dilated blood vessels of the filaments, curling of gill lamellae, severe hyperplasia, edema and blood vessels congestion of filaments. The intestine sections revealed degeneration, atrophy, dilation in blood vessels and necrotic changes in sub-mucosa and mucosa with edema in between. The recorded significant alterations, in most of the physiological and histological parameters in O. niloticus samples from Lake Manzala, were alarming for water pollution impacts on lake fish community, which constitutes the main diet and the main source of income for the people inhabiting these areas, and were threatening their public health and economy. Also, results evaluate the use of O. niloticus fish as important bio-indicator for their habitat stressors.

Keywords: Lake Manzala, Oreochromis niloticus fish, water pollution, physiological, hematological and histopathological parameters.

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Authors: George N. Prodromidis, Frank A. Coutelieris

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Biogas can be currently considered as an alternative option for electricity production, mainly due to its high energy content (hydrocarbon-rich source), its renewable status and its relatively low utilization cost. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stacks convert fuel’s chemical energy to electricity with high efficiencies and reveal significant advantages on fuel flexibility combined with lower emissions rate, especially when utilize biogas. Electricity production by biogas constitutes a composite problem which incorporates an extensive parametric analysis on numerous dynamic variables. The main scope of the presented study is to propose a detailed thermodynamic model on the optimization of SOFC-based power plants’ operation based on fundamental thermodynamics, energy and exergy balances. This model named THERMAS (THERmodynamic MAthematical Simulation model) incorporates each individual process, during electricity production, mathematically simulated for different case studies that represent real life operational conditions. Also, THERMAS offers the opportunity to choose a great variety of different values for each operational parameter individually, thus allowing for studies within unexplored and experimentally impossible operational ranges. Finally, THERMAS innovatively incorporates a specific criterion concluded by the extensive energy analysis to identify the most optimal scenario per simulated system in exergy terms. Therefore, several dynamical parameters as well as several biogas mixture compositions have been taken into account, to cover all the possible incidents. Towards the optimization process in terms of an innovative OPF (OPtimization Factor), presented here, this research study reveals that systems supplied by low methane fuels can be comparable to these supplied by pure methane. To conclude, such an innovative simulation model indicates a perspective on the optimal design of a SOFC stack based system, in the direction of the commercialization of systems utilizing biogas.

Keywords: Biogas, Exergy, Optimization, SOFC.

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Authors: B. Cilek Tatar, G. Sumnu, M. Oztop, E. Ayaz

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Encapsulation protects sensitive food ingredients against heat, oxygen, moisture and pH until they are released to the system. It can mask the unwanted taste of nutrients that are added to the foods for fortification purposes. Cherry laurels (Prunus laurocerasus) contain phenolic compounds which decrease the proneness to several chronic diseases such as types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this research was to study the effects of centrifugation, different coating materials and homogenization methods on microencapsulation of powders obtained from cherry laurels. In this study, maltodextrin and mixture of maltodextrin:whey protein with a ratio of 1:3 (w/w) were chosen as coating materials. Total solid content of coating materials was kept constant as 10% (w/w). Capsules were obtained from powders of freeze-dried cherry laurels through encapsulation process by silent crusher homogenizer or microfluidization. Freeze-dried cherry laurels were core materials and core to coating ratio was chosen as 1:10 by weight. To homogenize the mixture, high speed homogenizer was used at 4000 rpm for 5 min. Then, silent crusher or microfluidizer was used to complete encapsulation process. The mixtures were treated either by silent crusher for 1 min at 75000 rpm or microfluidizer at 50 MPa for 3 passes. Freeze drying for 48 hours was applied to emulsions to obtain capsules in powder form. After these steps, dry capsules were grounded manually into a fine powder. The microcapsules were analyzed for total antioxidant activity with DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging method. Prior to high speed homogenization, the samples were centrifuged (4000 rpm, 1 min). Centrifugation was found to have positive effect on total antioxidant activity of capsules. Microcapsules treated by microfluidizer were found to have higher total antioxidant activities than those treated by silent crusher. It was found that increasing whey protein concentration in coating material (using maltodextrin:whey protein 1:3 mixture) had positive effect on total antioxidant activity for both silent crusher and microfluidization methods. Therefore, capsules prepared by microfluidization of centrifuged mixtures can be selected as the best conditions for encapsulation of cherry laurel powder by considering their total antioxidant activity. In this study, it was shown that capsules prepared by these methods can be recommended to be incorporated into foods in order to enhance their functionality by increasing antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, cherry laurel, microencapsulation, microfluidization.

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Authors: Srinivas Bathini, Duraichelvan Raju, Simona Badilescu, Muthukumaran Packirisamy

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A bio-sensing method, based on the plasmonic property of gold nano-islands, has been developed for detection of exosomes in a clinical setting. The position of the gold plasmon band in the UV-Visible spectrum depends on the size and shape of gold nanoparticles as well as on the surrounding environment. By adsorbing various chemical entities, or binding them, the gold plasmon band will shift toward longer wavelengths and the shift is proportional to the concentration. Exosomes transport cargoes of molecules and genetic materials to proximal and distal cells. Presently, the standard method for their isolation and quantification from body fluids is by ultracentrifugation, not a practical method to be implemented in a clinical setting. Thus, a versatile and cutting-edge platform is required to selectively detect and isolate exosomes for further analysis at clinical level. The new sensing protocol, instead of antibodies, makes use of a specially synthesized polypeptide (Vn96), to capture and quantify the exosomes from different media, by binding the heat shock proteins from exosomes. The protocol has been established and optimized by using a glass substrate, in order to facilitate the next stage, namely the transfer of the protocol to a microfluidic environment. After each step of the protocol, the UV-Vis spectrum was recorded and the position of gold Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band was measured. The sensing process was modelled, taking into account the characteristics of the nano-island structure, prepared by thermal convection and annealing. The optimal molar ratios of the most important chemical entities, involved in the detection of exosomes were calculated as well. Indeed, it was found that the results of the sensing process depend on the two major steps: the molar ratios of streptavidin to biotin-PEG-Vn96 and, the final step, the capture of exosomes by the biotin-PEG-Vn96 complex. The microfluidic device designed for sensing of exosomes consists of a glass substrate, sealed by a PDMS layer that contains the channel and a collecting chamber. In the device, the solutions of linker, cross-linker, etc., are pumped over the gold nano-islands and an Ocean Optics spectrometer is used to measure the position of the Au plasmon band at each step of the sensing. The experiments have shown that the shift of the Au LSPR band is proportional to the concentration of exosomes and, thereby, exosomes can be accurately quantified. An important advantage of the method is the ability to discriminate between exosomes having different origins.

Keywords: Exosomes, gold nano-islands, microfluidics, plasmonic biosensing.

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Authors: Dipo Dunsin, Mohamed C. Ghanem, Karim Ouazzane

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Digital investigators often have a hard time spotting evidence in digital information. It has become hard to determine which source of proof relates to a specific investigation. A growing concern is that the various processes, technology, and specific procedures used in the digital investigation are not keeping up with criminal developments. Therefore, criminals are taking advantage of these weaknesses to commit further crimes. In digital forensics investigations, artificial intelligence (AI) is invaluable in identifying crime. Providing objective data and conducting an assessment is the goal of digital forensics and digital investigation, which will assist in developing a plausible theory that can be presented as evidence in court. This research paper aims at developing a multiagent framework for digital investigations using specific intelligent software agents (ISAs). The agents communicate to address particular tasks jointly and keep the same objectives in mind during each task. The rules and knowledge contained within each agent are dependent on the investigation type. A criminal investigation is classified quickly and efficiently using the case-based reasoning (CBR) technique. The proposed framework development is implemented using the Java Agent Development Framework, Eclipse, Postgres repository, and a rule engine for agent reasoning. The proposed framework was tested using the Lone Wolf image files and datasets. Experiments were conducted using various sets of ISAs and VMs. There was a significant reduction in the time taken for the Hash Set Agent to execute. As a result of loading the agents, 5% of the time was lost, as the File Path Agent prescribed deleting 1,510, while the Timeline Agent found multiple executable files. In comparison, the integrity check carried out on the Lone Wolf image file using a digital forensic tool kit took approximately 48 minutes (2,880 ms), whereas the MADIK framework accomplished this in 16 minutes (960 ms). The framework is integrated with Python, allowing for further integration of other digital forensic tools, such as AccessData Forensic Toolkit (FTK), Wireshark, Volatility, and Scapy.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, computer science, criminal investigation, digital forensics.

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Authors: A. Heshmati, M. Y Alikhani, M. T. Godarzi, M. R. Sadeghimanesh

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Herbal essential oil and extracts are a good source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobial compounds. Hypericum is one of the potential sources of these compounds. In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of essential oil and aqueous, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and acetone extract of Hypericum scabrum was assessed. Flowers of Hypericum scabrum were collected from the surrounding mountains of Hamadan province and after drying in the shade, the essential oil of the plant was extracted by Clevenger and water, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and acetone extract was obtained by maceration method. Essential oil compounds were identified using the GC-Mass. The Folin-Ciocalteau and aluminum chloride (AlCl₃) colorimetric method was used to measure the amount of phenolic acid and flavonoids, respectively. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH and FRAP. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bacterial/fungicide concentration (MBC/MFC) of essential oil and extracts were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans. The essential oil yield of was 0.35%, the lowest and highest extract yield was related to ethyl acetate and water extract. The most component of essential oil was α-Pinene (46.35%). The methanol extracts had the highest phenolic acid (95.65 ± 4.72 µg galic acid equivalent/g dry plant) and flavonoids (25.39 ± 2.73 µg quercetin equivalent/g dry plant). The percentage of DPPH radical inhibition showed positive correlation with concentrations of essential oil or extract. The methanol and ethanol extract had the highest DDPH radical inhibitory. Essential oil and extracts of Hypericum had antimicrobial activity against the microorganisms studied in this research. The MIC and MBC values for essential oils were in the range of 25-25.6 and 25-50 μg/mL, respectively. For the extracts, these values were 1.5625-100 and 3.125-100 μg/mL, respectively. Methanol extracts had the highest antimicrobial activity. Essential oil and extract of Hypericum scabrum, especially methanol extract, have proper antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, and it can be used to control the oxidation and inhibit the growth of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. In addition, it can be used as a substitute for synthetic antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, antioxidant, extract, hypericum.

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Authors: S. Hegazy

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Culture sustainability, which reflects a deep respect for people and history, is a cause of concern in contemporary architecture. Adopting ultramodern architecture styles was initiated in the 20th century by a plurality of states worldwide. Only a few countries, including Oman, realized that fashionable architectural designs ignore cultural values, identity, the context of its environment, economic perspective, and social performance. Stirring the Sultanate of Oman from being a listless and closed community to a modern country started in the year 1970. Despite unprecedented development in all aspects of Omani people's life, the leadership and the public had the capability to adjust to the changing global challenges without compromising social values and identity. This research provides a close analysis of one of the recent examples of contemporary vernacular architecture in the Sultanate of Oman, as a case study, Oman International Airport. The airport gained an international appreciation for its Omani-themed architecture, distinguished traveler experience, and advanced technology. Accordingly, it was selected by the World Travel Awards as the Best Tourism Development Project in the Middle East only four weeks afterward after starting its operation. This paper aims to transfer this successful design approach of integrating the latest trends in technology, systems, eco-friendly aspects, and materials with the traditional Omani architectural features, which reflects symbiotic harmony of the community, individuals, and environment to other countries, designers, researchers, and students. In addition, the paper aims to encourage architects and teachers to take responsibility for valorizing-built heritage as a source of inspiration for modern architecture, which could be considered as an added value. The work depends on reviewing the relevant literature, a case study, interviews with two architects who were involved in the project’s site work, and one current high-ranking employee in the airport besides data analysis and conclusion.

Keywords: Contemporary vernacular architecture, culture sustainability, Oman international airport, current Omani architecture type.

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Authors: M. Areekijseree, W. Pongsawat, M. Pumipaiboon, C. Thepsithar, S. Sengsai, T. Chuen-Im

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Morphological interaction of porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (pCOCs) was investigated on in vitro condition using electron microscope (SEM and TEM). The totals of 1,923 oocytes were round in shape, surrounded by Zona pellucida with layer of cumulus cells ranging between 59.29-202.14 μm in size. They were classified into intact-, multi-, partial cumulus cell layer oocyte, and completely denuded oocyte, at the percentage composition of 22.80% 32.70%, 18.60%, and 25.90 % respectively. The pCOCs classified as intact- and multi cumulus cell layer oocytes were further culturing at 37°C with 5% CO2, 95% air atmosphere and high humidity for 44 h in M199 with Earle’s salts supplemented with 10% HTFCS, 2.2 mg/mL NaHCO3, 1 M Hepes, 0.25 mM pyruvate, 15 μg/mL porcine follicle-stimulating hormone, 1 μg/mL LH, 1μg/mL estradiol with ethanol, and 50 μg/mL gentamycin sulfate. On electron microscope study, cumulus cells were found to stick their processes to secrete substance from the sac-shape end into Zona pellucida of the oocyte and also communicated with the neighboring cells through their microvilli on the beginning of incubation period. It is believed that the cumulus cells communicate with the oocyte by inserting the microvilli through this gap and embedded in the oocyte cytoplasm before secreting substance, through the sac-shape end of the microvilli, to inhibit primary oocyte development at the prophase I. Morphological changes of the complexes were observed after culturing for 24-44 h. One hundred percentages of the cumulus layers were expanded and cumulus cells were peeling off from the oocyte surface. In addition, the round-shape cumulus cells transformed themselves into either an elongate shape or a columnar shape, and no communication between cumulus neighboring cells. After 44 h of incubation time, diameter of oocytes surrounded by cumulus cells was larger than 0 h incubation. The effect of hormones in culture medium is exerted by their receptors present in porcine oocyte. It is likely that all morphological changes of the complexes after hormone treatment were to allow maturation of the oocyte. This study demonstrated that the association of hormones in M199 could promote porcine follicle activation in 44 h in vitro condition. This culture system should be useful for studying the regulation of early follicular growth and development, especially because these follicles represent a large source of oocytes that could be used in vitro for cell technology.

Keywords: Cumulus cells, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), in vitro, porcine oocyte.

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Authors: Rabia Göçmen, Gülşah Kanbur, Sinan Sefa Parlat

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Aim of this study is to determine the effects of cellular insulin receptor stimulators on performance, plasma glucose, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol, triglyceride, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) hormone levels, and incubation features in the breeding Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica). In the study, a total of 84 breeding quails was used, 6 weeks’ age, 24 are male and 60, female. Rations used in experiment are 2900 kcal/kg metabolic energy and 20% crude protein. Water pH is calibrated to 7.45. Ration and water were administered ad-libitum to the animals. As metformin source, metformin-HCl was used and as chrome resource, chromium picolinate was used. Trial groups were formed as control group (basal ration), metformin group (basal ration, added metformin at the level of feed of 20 mg/kg), and chromium picolinate (basal ration, added feed of 1500 ppb Cr) group. When regarded to the results of performance at the end of experiment, it is seen that live weight gain, feed consumption, egg weight, feed conversion ratio (Feed consumption/ egg weight), and egg production were affected at the significant level (p < 0.05). When the results are evaluated in terms of incubation features, hatchability and hatchability of fertile egg ratio were not affected from the treatments. Fertility ratio was significantly affected by metformin and chromium picolinate treatments and fertility rose at the significant level compared to control group (p < 0.05). According to results of experiment, plasma glucose level was not affected by metformin and chromium picolinate treatments. Plasma, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglyceride levels were significantly affected from insulin receptor stimulators added to ration (p < 0.05). Hormone level of Plasma T3 and T4 were also affected at the significant level from insulin receptor stimulators added to ration (p < 0.05).

Keywords: Chromium picolinate, cholesterol, hormone, metformin, quail.

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Authors: I. Rodionov, A. Semenov, E. Gosteva, O. Sokolova

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The venture capital becomes more and more advanced and effective source of the innovation project financing, connected with a high-risk level. In the developed countries, it plays a key role in transforming innovation projects into successful businesses and creating the prosperity of the modern economy. In Russia, there are many necessary preconditions for creation of the effective venture investment system: the network of the public institutes for innovation financing operates; there is a significant number of the small and medium-sized enterprises, capable to sell production with good market potential. However, the current system does not confirm the necessary level of efficiency in practice that can be substantially explained by the absence of the accurate plan of action to form the national venture model and by the lack of experience of successful venture deals with profitable exits in Russian economy. This paper studies the influence of various factors on the venture industry development by the example of the IT-sector in Russia. The choice of the sector is based on the fact, that this segment is the main driver of the venture capital market growth in Russia, and the necessary set of data exists. The size of investment of the second round is used as the dependent variable. To analyse the influence of the previous round, such determinant as the volume of the previous (first) round investments is used. There is also used a dummy variable in regression to examine that the participation of an investor with high reputation and experience in the previous round can influence the size of the next investment round. The regression analysis of short-term interrelations between studied variables reveals prevailing influence of the volume of the first round investments on the venture investments volume of the second round. The most important determinant of the value of the second-round investment is the value of first–round investment, so it means that the most competitive on the Russian market are the start-up teams that can attract more money on the start, and the target market growth is not the factor of crucial importance. This supports the point of view that VC in Russia is driven by endogenous factors and not by exogenous ones that are based on global market growth.

Keywords: Venture industry, venture investment, determinants of the venture sector development, IT-sector.

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Authors: Oqba Basal, András Szabó

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Legume crops are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen by the symbiotic relation with specific bacteria, which allows the use of the mineral nitrogen-fertilizer to be reduced, or even excluded, resulting in more profit for the farmers and less pollution for the environment. Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is one of the most important legumes with its high content of both protein and oil. However, it is recommended to combine the two nitrogen sources under stress conditions in order to overcome its negative effects. Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses that increasingly limits soybean yields. A precise rate of mineral nitrogen under drought conditions is not confirmed, as it depends on many factors; soybean yield-potential and soil-nitrogen content to name a few. An experiment was conducted during 2017 growing season in Debrecen, Hungary to investigate the effects of nitrogen source on the physiology and the yield of the soybean cultivar 'Boglár'. Three N-fertilizer rates including no N-fertilizer (0 N), 35 kg ha^-1 of N-fertilizer (35 N) and 105 kg ha^-1 of N-fertilizer (105 N) were applied under three different irrigation regimes; severe drought stress (SD), moderate drought stress (MD) and control with no drought stress (ND). Half of the seeds in each treatment were pre-inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculant. The overall results showed significant differences associated with fertilization and irrigation, but not with inoculation. Increasing N rate was mostly accompanied with increased chlorophyll content and leaf area index, whereas it positively affected the plant height only when the drought was waived off. Plant height was the lowest under severe drought, regardless of inoculation and N-fertilizer application and rate. Inoculation increased the yield when there was no drought, and a low rate of N-fertilizer increased the yield furthermore; however, the high rate of N-fertilizer decreased the yield to a level even less than the inoculated control. On the other hand, the yield of non-inoculated plants increased as the N-fertilizer rate increased. Under drought conditions, adding N-fertilizer increased the yield of the non-inoculated plants compared to their inoculated counterparts; moreover, the high rate of N-fertilizer resulted in the best yield. Regardless of inoculation, the mean yield of the three fertilization rates was better when the water amount increased. It was concluded that applying N-fertilizer to provide the nitrogen needed by soybean plants, with the absence of N₂-fixation process, is very important. Moreover, adding relatively high rate of N-fertilizer is very important under severe drought stress to alleviate the drought negative effects. Further research to recommend the best N-fertilizer rate to inoculated soybean under drought stress conditions should be executed.

Keywords: Drought stress, inoculation, N-fertilizer, soybean physiology, yield.

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Authors: Barot Jagruti

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The textile industry plays a major role in the economy of India and on the other side of the coin it is the major source for water pollution. As azo dyes is the largest dye class they are extensively used in many fields such as textile industry, leather tanning industry, paper production, food, color photography, pharmaceuticals and medicine, cosmetic, hair colorings, wood staining, agricultural, biological and chemical research etc. In addition to these, they can have acute and/or chronic effects on organisms depending on their concentration and length of exposure when they discharged as effluent in the environment. The aim of this study was to assess the genotoxic and histotoxic potentials of environmentally relevant concentrations of C. I. Reactive Red 120 (RR 120) on Catla catla, important edible freshwater fingerlings. For this, healthy Catla catla fingerlings were procured from the Government Fish Farm and acclimatized in 100 L capacity and continuously aerated glass aquarium in laboratory for 15 days. According to APHA some physic-chemical parameters were measured and maintained such as temperature, pH, dissolve oxygen, alkalinity, total hardness. Water along with excreta had been changed every 24 hrs. All fingerlings were fed artificial food palates once a day @ body weight. After 15 days fingerlings were grouped in 5 (10 in each) and exposed to various concentrations of RR 120 (Control, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg.l-1) and samples (peripheral blood and gills, kidney) were collected and analyzed at 96 hrs. All results were compared with the control. Micronuclei (MN), nuclear buds (NB), fragmented-apoptotic (FA) and bi-nucleated (BN) cells in blood smears and in tissues (gills and kidney cells) were observed. Prominent histopathological alterations were noticed in gills such as aneurism, hyperplasia, degenerated central axis, lifting of gill epithelium, curved secondary gill lamellae etc. Similarly kidney showed some detrimental changes like shrunken glomeruli with increased periglomerular space, degenerated renal tubules etc. Both haematological and histopathological changes clearly reveal the toxic potential of RR 120. This work concludes that water pollution assessment can be done by these two biomarkers which provide baseline to the further chromosomal or molecular work.

Keywords: Catla catla, genotoxicity, histopathlogicalchanges, RR 120azo dye.

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Authors: M. Nadeem, S. Nasir, K. A. Moazzam, R. Kashif

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The remarkable growth and evolution in information and communication technology (ICT) in the past few decades has transformed modern society in almost every aspect of life. The impact and application of ICT have been observed in almost all walks of life including science, arts, business, health, management, engineering, sports, and education. ICT in education is being used extensively for student learning, creativity, interaction, and knowledge sharing and as a valuable source of teaching instrument. Apart from the student’s perspective, it plays a vital role for teacher education, instructional methods and curriculum development. There is a significant difference in growth of ICT enabled education in developing countries compared to developed nations and according to research, this gap is widening. ICT gradually infiltrate in almost every aspect of life. It has a deep and profound impact on our social, economic, health, environment, development, work, learning, and education environments. ICT provides very effective and dominant tools for information and knowledge processing. It is firmly believed that the coming generation should be proficient and confident in the use of ICT to cope with the existing international standards. This is only possible if schools can provide basic ICT infrastructure to students and to develop an ICT-integrated curriculum which covers all aspects of learning and creativity in students. However, there is a digital divide and steps must be taken to reduce this digital divide considerably to have the profound impact of ICT in education all around the globe. This study is based on theoretical approach and an extensive literature review is being conducted to see the successful implementations of ICT integration in education and to identify technologies and models which have been used in education in developed countries. This paper deals with the modern applications of ICT in schools for both teachers and students to uplift the learning and creativity amongst the students. A brief history of technology in education is presented and discussed are some important ICT tools for both student and teacher’s perspective. Basic ICT-based infrastructure for academic institutions is presented. The overall conclusion leads to the positive impact of ICT in education by providing an interactive, collaborative and challenging environment to students and teachers for knowledge sharing, learning and critical thinking.

Keywords: Information and communication technology, ICT, education, ICT infrastructure, teacher education.

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Authors: Petre Voicu, Mircea Oaida, Radu Vasiu, Catalin Gheorghiu, Aurel Dumitru

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The present work deals with the way in which food and tobacco waste can be used in agriculture. As a result of the lack of efficient technologies for their recycling, we are currently faced with the appearance of appreciable quantities of residual organic residues that find their use only very rarely and only after long storage in landfills. The main disadvantages of long storage of organic waste are the unpleasant smell, the high content of pathogenic agents, and the high content in the water. The release of these enormous amounts imperatively demands the finding of solutions to ensure the avoidance of environmental pollution. The measure practiced by us and presented in this paper consists of the processing of this waste in special installations, testing in pilot experimental perimeters, and later administration on agricultural lands without harming the quality of the soil, agricultural crops, and the environment. The current crisis of raw materials and energy also raises special problems in the field of organic waste valorization, an activity that takes place with low energy consumption. At the same time, their composition recommends them as useful secondary sources in agriculture. The transformation of food scraps and other residues concentrated organics thus acquires a new orientation, in which these materials are seen as important secondary resources. The utilization of food and tobacco waste in agriculture is also stimulated by the increasing lack of chemical fertilizers and the continuous increase in their price, under the conditions that the soil requires increased amounts of fertilizers in order to obtain high, stable, and profitable production. The need to maintain and increase the humus content of the soil is also taken into account, as an essential factor of its fertility, as a source and reserve of nutrients and microelements, as an important factor in increasing the buffering capacity of the soil, and the more reserved use of chemical fertilizers, improving the structure and permeability for water with positive effects on the quality of agricultural works and preventing the excess and/or deficit of moisture in the soil.

Keywords: Organic residue, food and tannery waste, fertilizer, soil.

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Authors: K. Kalaikumar, E. Baburaj

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One of the problems to be addressed in wireless sensor networks is the issues related to cross layer communication. Cross layer architecture shares the information across the layer, ensuring Quality of Services (QoS). With this shared information, MAC protocol adapts effective functionality maintenance such as route selection on changeable sensor network environment. However, time slot assignment and neighbour route selection time duration for cross layer have not been carried out. The time varying physical layer communication over cross layer causes high traffic load in the sensor network. Though, the traffic load was reduced using cross layer optimization procedure, the computational cost is high. To improve communication efficacy in the sensor network, a self-determined time slot based Cross-Layered Neighbour Route Discovery (C-LNRD) method is presented in this paper. In the presented work, the initial process is to discover the route in the sensor network using Dynamic Source Routing based Medium Access Control (MAC) sub layers. This process considers MAC layer operation with dynamic route neighbour table discovery. Then, the discovered route path for packet communication employs Broad Route Distributed Time Slot Assignment method on Cross-Layered Sensor Network system. Broad Route means time slotting on varying length of the route paths. During packet communication in this sensor network, transmission of packets is adjusted over the different time with varying ranges for controlling the traffic rate. Finally, Rayleigh fading model is developed in C-LNRD to identify the performance of the sensor network communication structure. The main task of Rayleigh Fading is to measure the power level of each communication under MAC sub layer. The minimized power level helps to easily reduce the computational cost of packet communication in the sensor network. Experiments are conducted on factors such as power factor, on packet communication, neighbour route discovery time, and information (i.e., packet) propagation speed.

Keywords: Medium access control, neighbour route discovery, wireless sensor network, Rayleigh fading, distributed time slot assignment

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Authors: M. Okan Tasar

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Basel III (or the Third Basel Accord) is a global regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010-2011, and scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2018. Basel III is a comprehensive set of reform measures. These measures aim to; (1) improve the banking sector-s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, (2) improve risk management and governance, (3) strengthen banks- transparency and disclosures. Similarly the reform target; (1) bank level or micro-prudential, regulation, which will help raise the resilience of individual banking institutions to periods of stress. (2) Macro-prudential regulations, system wide risk that can build up across the banking sector as well as the pro-cyclical implication of these risks over time. These two approaches to supervision are complementary as greater resilience at the individual bank level reduces the risk system wide shocks. Macroeconomic impact of Basel III; OECD estimates that the medium-term impact of Basel III implementation on GDP growth is in the range -0,05 percent to -0,15 percent per year. On the other hand economic output is mainly affected by an increase in bank lending spreads as banks pass a rise in banking funding costs, due to higher capital requirements, to their customers. Consequently the estimated effects on GDP growth assume no active response from monetary policy. Basel III impact on economic output could be offset by a reduction (or delayed increase) in monetary policy rates by about 30 to 80 basis points. The aim of this paper is to create a framework based on the recent regulations in order to prevent financial crises. Thus the need to overcome the global financial crisis will contribute to financial crises that may occur in the future periods. In the first part of the paper, the effects of the global crisis on the banking system examine the concept of financial regulations. In the second part; especially in the financial regulations and Basel III are analyzed. The last section in this paper explored the possible consequences of the macroeconomic impacts of Basel III.

Keywords: Banking Systems, Basel III, Financial regulation, Global Financial Crisis.

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