Mortar of lime and natural cement for the restoration of built cultural heritage
Abstract— The cultural heritage built in Algeria shows the diversity and the durability of building materials in use. The need to restore the archaeological monuments requires the use of the long-lasting, successful and compatible materials used by former builders. We propose in this study the exploitation of the natural cement as an addition in the formulations of mortars of restoration.
Samples were developed with air lime with the addition of (5%, 10% and 15%) natural cement. The results of analysis of the physical and mechanical characteristics showed an improvement of the properties of elaborate mortars.
The content of 10% of addition gave better results in terms of absorption (16.60%) and mechanical resistance to the compression (1.62 MPa) and to the flexion (0.10 MPa), with regard to the other percentages, it indicates a compatible use with the restoration in old buildings.
Keywords— Mortar, Lime, Natural cement, Characteristics, Restoration.
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Salicylic Acid Enhanced Phytoremediation of Lead by Maize (Zea mays) Plant
Abstract— The aim of this work was to evaluate the ability of maize seeds (Zea mays) to grow and remove the lead from contaminated soil as well as to study the effect of salicylic acid on lead uptake efficiency. Seeds of maize were grown in soil spiked with different levels of lead (0, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000 mg Pb /kg soil). After two weeks of sowing two levels of salicylic acid (0.0 and 1000 ppm) were applied to the seedling. The growth parameters were measured three times at 30 45 and 60 days after sowing, while the fresh and dry weights, of shoot and root and lead accumulation in shoot and root were done after 60 days of sowing. The results showed that, the increase in lead concentration caused a reduction in the most growth parameters. On the other hand the lead accumulation in shoot and roots was increased by increasing lead concentrations. Also the result indicated that the addition of salicylic acid has appositive influence on the all growth parameter as well as lead uptake by plant.
Keywords— Salicylic acid, maize, lead, phytoremediation.
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A Systematic Approach to Stable Components Synthesis from Legacy Applications
Abstract— Component-based software modernization involves the restructuring of a legacy application into its modernized version with better qualities and maintainability attributes using stable components extracted primarily from the legacy system itself. At the time of modernization, some of the legacy components may not be suitable for reuse due to their poor reusability attributes, especially component instability, yet their services and roles must be provided in the modernized version of the software. The option of creating stable components from the unstable counterparts through a systematic approach, though not widely practiced remains the best option over the development of new components from the scratch or use of COTs with full or partial experience to replace the unstable components considering the risk associated with each of these options. This research therefore, presents a technique called stable components synthesis technique aimed at supporting the process of creating stable components from unstable legacy components and reused in modernization.
Keywords— Components Stability Assessment, Unstable Components, Stable components Synthesis, Software Modernization.
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Quality Evaluation of Entrepreneur Education on Graduate Students Based on AHP-fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Approach
Abstract— With the development of society, high-level applied students have been an urgent demand and the quality of entrepreneurial education of postgraduate has attracted more and more attention. Based on the requirements of universities society and enterprise for the comprehensive ability of postgraduate, we proposed the evaluation index system and used AHP-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach, which organically integrate the quantitative and the objectively of the analytic hierarchy process(AHP) and the inclusive advantage of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach, to evaluate a certain university of its quality of entrepreneur education on graduate students and verified the effectiveness of the approach. This approach can to some extent help government and universities make decisions of how to improve the quality of entrepreneurial education on postgraduate. At the same time, this approach can provide employers a new method of selecting the best staff for enterprises.
Keywords— postgraduate, entrepreneurial education, education quality, analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach
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Synergistic antimicrobial activity of apigenin against oral Pathogens
Abstract— Although a broad range of biological and pharmacological activities of apigenin have been reported, the mechanism(s) behind its antibacterial effects are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the synergistic antibacterial activity of apigenin in combination with existing antimicrobial agents against oral bacteria. The combination effect of apigenin was evaluated against oral bacteria, either alone or with antibiotics, via broth dilution method and checkerboard and time kill assay. MIC/MBC values for apigenin, ampicillin, gentamicin, erythromycin, and vancomycin against all the tested bacteria ranged between 50-200/100-800 microg/mL, 0.0313-16/0.125-32 microg/mL, 2-256/4-512 microg/mL, 0.008-32/0.016-64 microg/mL, and 0.25-64/1-128 microg/mL, respectively. Checkerboard assay revealed synergistic activity in the combination of apigenin with antibiotics at fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) <0.5. 1-6 hours of treatment with 1/2 MIC of apigenin with 1/2 MIC of antibiotics resulted from an increase of the rate of killing in units of CFU/mL to a greater degree than was observed with alone. These results suggest that the apigenin is important in the antibacterial actions of oral pathogen agents.
Keywords— Apigenin, antibacterial activity, oral pathogen bacteria, Synergistic effect, Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), Minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs)
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Optimal Power Flow Analysis of IEEE-30 bus System using Genetic Algorithm Techniques
Abstract— This paper is focused at providing a solution to optimal power flow problem in power systems by using Genetic Algorithm approach. The proposed approach finds the optimal setting of OPF control variables which include generator active output, generator bus voltages, transformer tap-setting and shunt devices with the objective function of minimizing the fuel cost. The proposed Genetic Algorithm technique is modelled to be flexible for implementation to any power systems with the given system line, bus data, generator fuel cost parameter and forecasted load demand. Proposed genetic algorithm technique has been analyzed and tested on the standard benchmark IEEE 30-bus system. Results obtained after applying both optimization techniques on American Electric IEEE 30-bus system with the same control variable maximum & minimum limits and system data have been compared and analyzed. Proposed method efficiently optimizes and solves the optimal power flow problem with high efficiency and wide flexibility for implementation and analysis on different power system networks.
Keywords— Optimal power flow, Fuel cost minimization, Genetic algorithm.
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Secretor status, Fut 2 gene and ABH antigens in urogenital tumors
Abstract—
Background: Blood group antigens are polymorphic, inherited structures located on the surface of the red blood cell. The mechanisms of aberrant expression of blood-group antigens are not clear in all cases.
Aim: to evaluate the expression of FUT2 gene in saliva and histo ABH antigens of patients with urogenital tumours in order to determine whether this factor could be a marker risk of urogenital cancer.
Methods: 128 subjects were examined, half of whom suffered from urogenital lesions, while the other half was the healthy control group. All were subjected to clinical examinations and standard evaluation tests in order to establish the secretor status of their saliva. For the molecular studies the saliva samples were subjected to thermal shock, centrifuged and the genomic DNA was extracted by an enzymatic digestion method. The DNA samples were analyzed by ASO-PCR with specific primers for the G428A allele and for the wild type allele of the FUT2 gene. To reveal A, B and H antigens in tissue sections of the patients we used a modified specific red cell adherence technique.
Results: We found a higher intensity of disease in the non-secretor group (OR = 2.44) and the occurrence of epithelial dysplasia was found exclusively in this group. The 51.2% of the patients with urogenital cancerous was non secretors, in contrast with the healthy population (22.1%). In the tissues analyzed the test showed slightly positive results on atypical areas, and there was a complete antigen deletion in areas histological affected by neoplasia. Further it is suggested that areas of blood group isoantigen negative epithelium showing atypia, or in some instances near normal histology, may give rise to relatively low grade carcinomas.
Conclusions: Considering these results we suggest the use of this method to monitor probable preneoplastic lesions in risk population, especially in those with no secretor status.
Keywords— Fut 2 gene, ABH antigens, urogenital, tumors.
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High Frequency Sound Waves as Function of the Density and Water Content: Experimental Studies on Calcarenitic Stones of Southern Apulia
Abstract— In Apulia Region there is a dense historical-architectural and archaeological heritage built with soft calcarenitic stones. These materials present significant problems of conservation related to their low durability and therefore know the intrinsic characteristics is crucial to evaluate the performance properties and their susceptibility to degradation. To evaluate the physical-mechanical characteristics of the stone materials is very useful to use non-destructive and non-invasive technologies such as ultrasonic, applicable both in situ and in the laboratory.
The factors influencing the propagation of elastic waves in the rocks are the structure, density, size and shape of the granules, porosity, anisotropy, the water content, stress and temperature. In this paper the effects of saturation on the elastic wave velocity and the relationship between density and elastic wave velocity were studied on some Apulia’s porous calcarenites such as Leccese stone, the Ostuni stone and the calcareous “Tufo delle Murge”. The ultrasonic P and S wave velocity measurements were performed on cubic samples, under natural condictions (e.g. without applying external pressure on the samples), using the transmission method. Variations of P and S wave velocity were related to density and percentages of water content. Furthermore in order to study the frequency influence on seismic velocities.
Keywords— P and S-wave velocity, bulk density, volumetric water content, sedimentary rock.
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Estimation of Global Solar Radiation using Artificial Neural Network in Kathmandu, Nepal
Abstract— There is no doubt that information of the measured data of solar radiation is the best for designing any reliable solar energy systems but in Nepal the measured solar radiation data are not available for most of the sites due to high cost and requirement of daily maintenance of the measuring instruments. The alternative is to use the estimated data of solar radiation using any of available estimation models. In this study an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to estimate the solar radiation in Kathmandu with the help of meteorological data of maximum and daily average temperature, relative humidity, rainfall amount, sunshine hour and solar radiation available for Tribhuvan International Airport. Data from 2002 to 2011 were used to train the Network and it was tested by using the data of 2012 and 2013. A multi-layer feed-forward neural network was devised using MATLAB programming. Five different models with different input combinations were modeled with Feed-Forward Multilayer Preceptors. The results of ANN model were compared with measured data on the basis of root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE), mean percentage error (MPE) and Correlation Coefficients (CC) in order to check the performance of developed model. The obtained result indicate that the ANN based model for estimating solar radiation is precise in the selected location thus the model can be used anywhere in the Nepal having similar climate conditions where the meteorological data are available. The best prediction was from Model 1 as it exhibit minimum value of RMSE (0.2781) and maximum value of CC (0.9880).
Keywords— Artificial Neural Network, Correlation Coefficient, Global Solar Radiation, Mean Bias Error, Mean Percentage Error, Root Mean Square Error
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The Sinkhole Hazard Study at Casalabate (Lecce, Italy) using Geophysical and Geological Surveys
Abstract— In the last two decades the village of Casalabate was affected by a number of sinkhole events, the last episode occurring on 7 January 2012. Due to some geological and geotechnical uncertainties, Casalabate became an intriguing case study of sinkhole hazard in urban areas and three geological-geophysical models were recently proposed by three different studies. In this paper new geophysical data and some epistemological consideration were done. The results are a contribution to an efficient predictive model that could be well define both the geological setting and sinkhole hazard.
Keywords— urban environment, sinkhole geohazard, electrical resistivity tomography, ground penetrating radar, karst coastal plane; new data
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Sentiment Analysis Methodology of Twitter Data with an application on Hajj season
Abstract— With the rapid growth of the internet, millions of people are sharing their views and opinions on a variety of topics on microblogging sites, as it contains simple expressions. Microblogging websites are just social media sites to which user makes real time short and frequent posts about everything. In big event gathering like Hajj, to get rapid and accurate views and impressions of hajji about some quality of service or other views is of a great importance as time and space are limited. In this paper, we utilize tweets during Hajj to do sentiment analysis; the tweets are preprocessed by experience three phases; tokenization, normalization, and part of speech (POS) tagging. In the final step, Naïve Bayes classifier used to classify tweet as positive or negative by comparing each word in the query tweet with the labeled words in the lexicon.
Keywords— Naïve Bayes Classifier, Performance Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, Twitter.
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Bio-Oil Production by Thermal Cracking in the Presence of Hydrogen
Abstract— This paper describes the bio-oil production process of a mixture of agricultural wastes: discarded soybean frying oil, coffee and sawdust, by pyrolysis and thermal cracking in the presence of hydrogen. The fractions obtained in the pyrolysis and/or cracking processes were divided into a light fraction and a heavy one. All the fractions were analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection (GC×GC/TOFMS). The characteristics of the fractions obtained in the cracking process in the presence of hydrogen were similar to those of petroleum-based naphtha, while the fractions obtained by pyrolysis contained significant quantities of compounds such as furanmethanol, hexanol, and benzofuran, whose commercial value is high.
Keywords— Biomass pyrolysis, Chromatography, Hydrogen, Thermal cracking.
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Impact of texturing/cooling by Instant controlled pressure drop DIC on pressing and/or solvent extraction of vegetal oil
Abstract— Instant controlled pressure drop process (DIC) was used as a texturing pretreatment in order to recover the highest part of oil content of various oleaginous materials such as jatrophacurcas, rapeseeds, camelina seeds and date seeds at 5% to 6% (dry basis) water content. Pressing and n-hexane 95% solvent extraction of oil from both DIC-textured and non-treated raw material RM seeds was achieved using separately ASE (Accelerated Solvent Extraction at high pressure and temperature,and short time) for quantifying the oil content, and conventional industrial solvent extraction of 2-hour Dynamic Maceration (DM) extraction at 68 oCto establish extraction kinetics and practical yields. Whatever the extraction process and the oilseed species were, optimized DIC treatment allowed increasing oil yields and extraction kinetics whilst perfectly preserving oil quality. It was possible to perform comparative studies and to optimize DIC treatment based on oil extraction yields. DIC treatment performed at 0.63 MPa between 45 and 105 s depending on oleaginous varieties allowed getting much higher oil yields: 96.4% instead of 81%, 92.6% instead of 76%, 93.4%, instead of 86.3%, and 79% instead of 63% of oil contents from rapeseeds, camelina seeds, Jatropha and date seeds, respectively. Besides, in terms of fatty acid composition, instant cooling via DICenabled the preservation of the oil lipid profile.
Keywords— Instant controlled pressures drop (DIC), Solvent extraction, Oil pressing, oil seeds, solvent extraction, Fatty acids.
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Studies on Stigma Receptivity of Grewia asiatica L. with Reference to Esterase and Peroxidase Activity
Abstract— The present paper deals with the stigma receptivity in terms of in vivo pollen germination of Grewia asiatica L. (Tiliaceae), an economically fruit yielding plant, with a view to find out the stigma receptive period and correlation of stigma receptivity with the activity of esterase and peroxidase on stigmatic surface in order to provide information about reproduction as a basis for fertilization and plant breeding programme. Flowers open at 7.00 hrs to 8.30 hrs. Anther dehisces by longitudinal slits just before flower opening. The non-specific esterase and peroxidase are present densely all over the stigmatic head. Stigma showed maximum receptivity (91.5%) with mean pollen tube of 338µm after 3 hrs of anthesis. Conspicuous presence of esterase and peroxidase was observed during higher receptive period. Prominent presence of peroxidase enzyme was also observed after 3hrs of flower opening (45 oxygen bubbles/minute by using hydrogen peroxide) during maximum receptive period of stigma.
Keywords— Stigma receptivity, esterase, peroxidise activity, Grewia asiatica L.
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Factors Influencing Grid Interactive Biomass Power Industry
Abstract— Presently, in India only 13% of the total installed generating capacity of electricity is from renewable energy sources while 70 % of electrical power is generated using fossil fuels. Contribution of biomass to the total installed generating capacity of the electricity is mere 2%. As on today, only 23% of the total biomass power potential in India is utilized for power generation. The scope for the biomass power industry enhances with the recent ambitious target of biomass power of 10000 MW by 2022. The present research work aims at identifying the factors and to analyze its influence on biomass power entrepreneurship in India. The factors are identified based on the interviews with the biomass power experts and industry representatives. Presently in India, the primary drivers for installing biomass power are returns to the investments, to provide clean and reliable power to the industries and to save on the electricity bill due to high power tariff for industries. The major barriers influencing biomass power industry is the supply and frequent price fluctuations of the fuel stock (biomass input) which leads to reduced gap between the tariff and the cost of fuel over the period of time. A macro level analysis based on the secondary data collated for 28 states in India reveals that the installed capacities of biomass power presently responds strongly to the level of industrialization and power tariff for industries rather than the state level feed in tariff identified for biomass power. Even the states with high biomass potential and high feed in tariff are not able to utilize the existing biomass potential. Region wise installed generating capacity of electricity (utilities) also has strong influence on promotion of grid interactive biomass power. The paper suggests that such states should encourage biomass power entrepreneurship to supply power to the existing industries in addition to the high feed in tariff rates for the biomass power. Frequent revisions in tariff are recommended for sustenance of biomass power plants along with attempts to develop plan for organized supply of biomass fuel stock for power generation at state level.
Keywords— Grid interactive biomass power; biomass tariff; power tariff for industries; biomass fuel stock supply; Net state domestic product.
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A Novel Oxygenator-Right Ventricular Assist Device Circuit Using the SYNERGY Micropump as Right Heart Support in a Swine Model of Pulmonary Hypertension
Abstract—
Objectives
As clinical experience with extracorporeal life support (ECLS) continues to grow, pulmonary hypertension (PH) remains a potential target for intervention and investigation. PH is a rare but severe, progressive disease that can lead to right heart failure and death. ECLS has the potential to ameliorate both the pulmonary and cardiac dysfunction associated with PH, and thus provide a life saving intervention in this disease.
Methods
In this study, we assessed the blood biocompatibility of the SYNERGY micropump in conjunction with a Quadrox D oxygenator in a novel oxygenator-right ventricular assist device (OxyRVAD) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuit in a swine model of acute PH. Four pigs were placed on OxyRVAD ECMO. PH was induced by banding the pulmonary artery. After banding, mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) increased from 17 mmHg to 39 mmHg.
Results
All animals survived 6 hours without catastrophic biocompatibility issues. There were no significant differences in hemoglobin, plasma-free hemoglobin, or platelets from baseline. Platelet activation – assessed by plasma P-selectin – did not increase during the run. Indirect measurements of hemolysis were assessed by total bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase. Total bilirubin did not change significantly. The average increase in lactate dehydrogenase was significant.Fibrinogen and D-dimer levels were significantly decreased from baseline.
Conclusion
OxyRVAD showed no catastrophic failures in this short-term test. Micropump OxyRVADs may have a role in the management of PH.
Keywords— extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, ECMO, SYNERGY micropump, OxyRVAD
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Extracorporal shock wave induced mechanical transduction for the treatment of low back pain – a randomized controlled trial
Abstract—
Context: Selective application of extracorporal shock waves (ESW) is a well-known treatment for orthopedic diseases, but effects of a complete body application on pain intensity and postural control in low back pain patients have not yet been evaluated.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of a 23Hz extracorporal complete body shock wave (CBSW) therapy (EvoCell) for the treatment of low back pain in comparison to current therapies (Fango).
Design: We conducted a randomized controlled trial in 100 patients admitted to 4 different groups from March till November 2015. The subjects received 9 interventions (ESWT/Fango) within 3 weeks with follow-up measurements after 4 and 8 weeks.Primary outcomes include parameters of posture, assessed by a Lightrasterstereography (LRS), a sitting-stability-check (S3) and changes in pain experience due to a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Heart Rate (HF) and Blood Pressure (BP).
Results: Only Fango had a significant decreasing acute effect on pain or blood pressure, but the subjects treated with EvoCell showed a significant pain reduction after 4 sessions and a greater pain reducing effect after 3 weeks of treatment. EvoCell had a highly significant reducing effect on heart rate (p<0.001). Additionally, the CBSW seemed to influence the ability to stabilize the trunk in an upright sitting position in the lateral direction above other treatments.
Conclusion: Regarding to the individually different response of proteins and other structures on ESW frequencies, the specific underlying mechanisms remain unclear. But as we were able to show, it can be assumed that the periodic application of a CBSW stimulates mechanical transduction and therefore is advisable to be part of a treatment in low back pain patients.
Keywords— back pain, longitudinal, shock wave, treatment.
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A Silicon-Containing Polytriazole Resin with Long Storage Time
Abstract— A novel silicon-containing polytriazole resin with long storage time was prepared from DMSEPE (internal alkynes) and BPDBA (diazide) through thermal 1, 3-dipolar cycloaddition polymerization. The resin was soluble in common solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF), chloroform and so on. It was easy to be molded due to the low viscosity of the resin at low temperature. The value of apparent activation energy (Ea) of the curing reaction obtained by Kissinger’s method was 105.0 kJ/mol. The non-isothermal DSC tests showed that this kind of polytriazole resin could be cured at around 100 oC. The glass transition temperature and the temperature of 5% weight loss of the cured resin were 289 and 350 oC, respectively. The storage time of this polytriazole resin was more than 40 days at 35 oC.
Keywords— polytriazole resin, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition polymerization, internal alkynes, diazide.
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Securing of elderly houses in term of Elderly’s vision disorders
Abstract—
Research Necessity: While people grow old, specific mental and physical changes of this period start. Vision disorders can be mentioned as one of the aging consequences and it is necessary to consider this fact for designing a secure elderly’s house.
Methodology: In this research, after analysing specific vision diseases of elderlies, symptoms of these diseases and their harmful effects on elderly’s lives is introduced.
Data: finally after giving solution for designing elderly’s house based on these four categories: 1.lighting 2.colors and signs 3.architectural elements 4.materials, the unit “Narvan2” of Kahrizak elderly’s house of Tehran, which is specifically for old women who have vision problems is analysed.
Conclusion: At the end of this paper a table which contains design solutions based on above four categories in order to securing elderly’s houses has been given.
Keywords— Interior architecture, Elderly house, Vision disorders, Securing
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Study of Different Surface Pre-treatment Methods on Bonding Strength of Multilayer Aluminum Alloys/Steel Clad Material
Abstract—Metallic composite materials, as part of a large group of materials, are well known to design materials properties to the customers’ demands. Due to its unique service performance features in comparison with other methods the cold roll bonding process for producing clad metal material has witnessed a rapid growth and development in recent years. The solid state joining technique in the CRB can be applied to a large number of metals, which may be the same or similar, possessing identical attributes, or different, possessing widely varying mechanical or metallurgical property. Here, bonding is caused by adhesion requiring specially prepared surfaces. However, surface cleanliness is difficult to achieve without a controlled atmosphere. In this work the effect of the surface roughness and the initial thickness of the sheets on the bonding strength of Al/St-clad materials were studied using wire brush and belt grinding to reach surfaces of different but defined roughness on the steel. Different Al thicknesses were used, as well. Highest roughness on the surface was achieved using grinding with a grit size of 40. Al-sheet thickness also showed influence on the green bonding strength with the thicker the Al-sheet the better the green bonding strength was. The adhesion between the clad partners exhibited higher when the steel surface was belt grinded.
Keywords—Cold rolling, bending, Al/St clad, roughness, bonding strength, surface pre-treatment.