Abstract: Heavy metals are one of the major groups of
contaminants in the environment and many of them are toxic even at
very low concentration in plants and animals. However, some metals
play important roles in the biological function of many enzymes in
living organisms. Metals such as zinc, iron, and cooper are important
for survival and activity of enzymes in plants, however heavy metals
can inhibit enzyme which is responsible for defense system of plants.
Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is a copper-containing metalloenzyme
which is responsible for enzymatic browning reaction of plants.
Enzymatic browning is a major problem for the handling of
vegetables and fruits in food industry. It can be increased and
effected with many different futures such as metals in the nature and
ground. In the present work, PPO was isolated and characterized
from green leaves of red poppy plant (Papaverr hoeas). Then, the
effect of some known antibrowning agents which can form
complexes with metals and metals were investigated on the red poppy
PPO activity. The results showed that glutathione was the most
potent inhibitory effect on PPO activity. Cu(II) and Fe(II) metals
increased the enzyme activities however, Sn(II) had the maximum
inhibitory effect and Zn(II) and Pb(II) had no significant effect on the
enzyme activity. In order to reduce the effect of heavy metals, the
effects of metal-antibrowning agent complexes on the PPO activity
were determined. EDTA and metal complexes had no significant
effect on the enzyme. L-ascorbic acid and metal complexes decreased
but L-ascorbic acid-Cu(II)-complex had no effect. Glutathione–metal
complexes had the best inhibitory effect on Red poppy leaf PPO
activity.
Abstract: In Capitalism all economic activity rests upon a set of
core institutional foundations, main from which are privately owned
capital assets and profit. How these core institutional foundations are
working in former soviet countries, in particular in Travel and
Tourism Industry of Georgia?
The role of Travel and Tourism as a key pillar of economic growth
is being increasingly recognized by governments in all regions of the
world. For the last few years Georgia succeeded in the World Bank
and IFC “Doing Business” rankings. Despite of that, during decades
totally different statistical data of the tourism sector were provided by
the different State bodies; economic parameters were published few,
or not published at all.
The frequency and extent of property rights violation in Georgia
has repeatedly been the subject of concern for the last decade. Total
value of abrogated by the former Georgian Government private
property is estimated approximately in US$4-5 billion.
Thus, if economic profitability is unknown and property rights are
not protected – that means that the main institutional foundations of
capitalism in Georgia, are not working properly yet, that cause
management problems at all levels of the national Travel and
Tourism industry of Georgia.
Abstract: Ficus deltoidea from the Moraceae family is a popular
medicinal herb in Malaysia. It possesses strong antioxidant and antiinflammatory
properties. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory
effects of F. deltoidea extract on UVB-irradiated HaCaT
Keratinocytes were investigated. HaCaT Keratinocytes were UVBirradiated
(12.5 mJ/cm3) and were treated with 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% of
F. deltoidea extract. Cell viability following UVB irradiation was
significantly higher in the groups treated with the F. deltoidea extract
at doses of 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% than in control group with UVB
irradiation only. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α
(IL-1α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) play
primary roles in the inflammation process upon UV irradiation and
are known to be stimulated by UVB irradiation. Treatment with the
F. deltoidea extract dramatically inhibited the UV-induced TNF-α,
IL-1α, IL-6, and COX-2 expression. These results suggest that the F.
deltoidea extract inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory
cytokines and may be an effective protective agent for the treatment
of skin diseases.
Abstract: This study focuses on the cooling of a photovoltaic
panel (PV). Indeed, the cooling improves the conversion capacity of
this one and maintains, under extreme conditions of air temperature,
the panel temperature at an appreciable level which avoids the
altering. To do this, a fan provides forced circulation of air. Because
the fan is supplied by the panel, it is necessary to determine the
optimum operating point that unites efficiency of the PV with the
consumption of the fan. For this matter, numerical simulations are
performed at varying mass flow rates of air, under two extreme air
temperatures (50°C, 25°C) and a fixed solar radiation (1000W.m2) in
a case of no wind.
Abstract: Pollution of the Klip River has caused
microorganisms inhabiting it to develop protective survival
mechanisms. This study isolated and characterized the heavy metal
resistant bacteria in the Klip River. Water and sediment samples were
collected from six sites along the course of the river. The pH,
turbidity, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen were measured
in-situ. The concentrations of six heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb
and Zn) of the water samples were determined by atomic absorption
spectroscopy. Biochemical and antibiotic profiles of the isolates were
assessed using the API 20E® and Kirby Bauer Method. Growth
studies were carried out using spectrophotometric methods. The
isolates were identified using 16SrDNA sequencing. The uppermost
part of the Klip River with the lowest pH had the highest levels of
heavy metals. Turbidity, salinity and specific conductivity increased
measurably at Site 4 (Henley on Klip Weir). MIC tests showed that
16 isolates exhibited high iron and lead resistance. Antibiotic
susceptibility tests revealed that the isolates exhibited multitolerances
to drugs such as Tetracycline, Ampicillin, and
Amoxicillin.
Abstract: A simple, accurate and precise direct spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of cefixime in tablets and capsules. The method is based on the reaction of cefixime with a mixture of potassium iodide and potassium iodate to form yellow coloured product in ethanol-distilled water medium at room temperature which absorbed maximally at 352 nm. The factors affecting the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The validation parameters based on International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH, USA) guidelines were followed. The effect of common excipients used as additives has been tested and the tolerance limit was calculated for the determination of cefixime. Beer’s law is obeyed in the concentration range of 4 – 24 ug mL-1 with apparent molar absorptivity of 1.52 × 104 L mol-1cm-1 and Sandell’s sensitivity of 0.033 ug/cm2/ 0.001 absorbance unit. The limits of detection and quantitation for the proposed method are 0.32 and 1.06 ug mL-1, respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied for the determination of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations. The results obtained by the proposed method were statistically compared with the reference method using t- and F- values and found no significant difference between the two methods. The proposed method can be used as an alternate method for routine quality control analysis of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations.
Abstract: In this study, first thermoplastic composite materials
/plates that have high ballistic impact resistance were produced. For
this purpose, the thermoplastic prepreg and the vacuum bagging
technique were used to produce a composite material. Thermoplastic
prepregs (resin-impregnated fiber) that are supplied ready to be used,
namely high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was chosen as matrix and
unidirectional glass fiber was used as reinforcement. In order to
compare the fiber configuration effect on mechanical properties,
unidirectional and biaxial prepregs were used. Then the
microstructural properties of the composites were investigated with
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Impact properties of
the composites were examined by Charpy impact test and tensile
mechanical tests and then the effects of ultraviolet irradiation were
investigated on mechanical performance.
Abstract: Opportunistic routing is used, where the network has
the features like dynamic topology changes and intermittent network
connectivity. In Delay tolerant network or Disruption tolerant
network opportunistic forwarding technique is widely used. The key
idea of opportunistic routing is selecting forwarding nodes to forward
data packets and coordination among these nodes to avoid duplicate
transmissions. This paper gives the analysis of pros and cons of
various opportunistic routing techniques used in MANET.
Abstract: Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an ancient fruit of great medical interest and rich source of antioxidants. Pesticides as dimethoate play a crucial role in the occurrence many diseases in plants, animal and human. Therefore the ability of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) to alleviate hepatotoxicity induced by organophosphate pesticide dimethoate was investigated. Albino male rats were divided randomly into 4 groups and kept at 7 animals per group in an environmentally controlled condition for 6 weeks. The first group was served as a control group (basal diet), the second group fed on basal diet supplemented with 5% freeze dried pomegranate seeds, the third group fed on 20 ppm dimethoate contaminated diet and the last group fed on dimethoate contaminated diet supplemented with 5% freeze dried pomegranate seeds. The results revealed that administration of dimethoate caused high significant increased in liver functions: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities as well as lipid peroxide (malonaldhyde, MDA); on the other hand high significant decreased on glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), albumin and total protein were observed. However addition of 5% freeze dried pomegranate seeds significantly improved all previously mentioned parameters. These results indicate the dimethoate induced hepatotoxicity and highlight the protective effect of pomegranate seeds as a potential protective agent against dimethoate induced hepatotoxicity. This may be attributed to the powerful antioxidants (polyphenols, total phenols, and total flavonoids) which present in high levels in pomegranate as well as improving the immunity by activation of antioxidant enzymes GSH and GPx.
Abstract: The system is designed to show images which are
related to the query image. Extracting color, texture, and shape
features from an image plays a vital role in content-based image
retrieval (CBIR). Initially RGB image is converted into HSV color
space due to its perceptual uniformity. From the HSV image, Color
features are extracted using block color histogram, texture features
using Haar transform and shape feature using Fuzzy C-means
Algorithm. Then, the characteristics of the global and local color
histogram, texture features through co-occurrence matrix and Haar
wavelet transform and shape are compared and analyzed for CBIR.
Finally, the best method of each feature is fused during similarity
measure to improve image retrieval effectiveness and accuracy.
Abstract: In healthy humans, the cortical brain rhythm shows
specific mu (~6-14 Hz) and beta (~18-24 Hz) band patterns in the
cases of both real and imaginary motor movements. As cerebellar
ataxia is associated with impairment of precise motor movement
control as well as motor imagery, ataxia is an ideal model system in
which to study the role of the cerebellocortical circuit in rhythm
control. We hypothesize that the EEG characteristics of ataxic patients
differ from those of controls during the performance of a
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) task. Ataxia and control subjects
showed a similar distribution of mu power during cued relaxation.
During cued motor imagery, however, the ataxia group showed
significant spatial distribution of the response, while the control group
showed the expected decrease in mu-band power (localized to the
motor cortex).
Abstract: Composite materials have important assets compared
to traditional materials. They bring many functional advantages:
lightness, mechanical resistance and chemical, etc. In the present
study we examine the effect of a circular central notch and a precrack
on the tensile fracture of two woven composite materials. The tensile
tests were applied to a standardized specimen, notched and a
precarcked (orientation of the crack 0°, 45° and 90°). These tensile
tests were elaborated according to an experimental planning design of
the type 23.31 requiring 24 experiments with three repetitions. By the
analysis of regression, we obtained a mathematical model describing
the maximum load according to the influential parameters (hole
diameter, precrack length, angle of a precrack orientation). The
specimens precracked at 90° have a better behavior than those having
a precrack at 45° and still better than those having of the precracks
oriented at 0°. In addition the maximum load is inversely
proportional to the notch size.
Abstract: The paper presents the results of clusterization by
Kohonen self-organizing maps (SOM) applied for analysis of array of
Raman spectra of multi-component solutions of inorganic salts, for
determination of types of salts present in the solution. It is
demonstrated that use of SOM is a promising method for solution of
clusterization and classification problems in spectroscopy of multicomponent
objects, as attributing a pattern to some cluster may be
used for recognition of component composition of the object.
Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of political
discourse and its reflection on mass cognition. This article is
dedicated to describe the myth as one of the main features of political
discourse. The dominance of an expressional and emotional
component in the myth is shown. Precedent phenomenon plays an
important role in distinguishing the myth from the linguistic point of
view. Precedent phenomena show the linguistic cognition, which is
characterized by their fame and recognition. Four types of myths
such as master myths, a foundation myth, sustaining myth,
eschatological myths are observed. The myths about the national idea
are characterized by national specificity. The main aim of the
political discourse with the help of myths is to influence on the mass
consciousness in order to motivate the addressee to certain actions so
that the target purpose is reached owing to unity of forces.
Abstract: In this study, a comparative analysis of the approaches
associated with the use of neural network algorithms for effective
solution of a complex inverse problem – the problem of identifying
and determining the individual concentrations of inorganic salts in
multicomponent aqueous solutions by the spectra of Raman
scattering of light – is performed. It is shown that application of
artificial neural networks provides the average accuracy of
determination of concentration of each salt no worse than 0.025 M.
The results of comparative analysis of input data compression
methods are presented. It is demonstrated that use of uniform
aggregation of input features allows decreasing the error of
determination of individual concentrations of components by 16-18%
on the average.
Abstract: The article presents the results of the application of
artificial neural networks to separate the fluorescent contribution of
nanodiamonds used as biomarkers, adsorbents and carriers of drugs
in biomedicine, from a fluorescent background of own biological
fluorophores. The principal possibility of solving this problem is
shown. Use of neural network architecture let to detect fluorescence
of nanodiamonds against the background autofluorescence of egg
white with high accuracy - better than 3 ug/ml.
Abstract: In this paper we make a temperature investigations in
two type of superposed crimped connections using experimental
determinations. All the samples use 8 copper wire 7.1 x 3 mm2
crimped by two methods: the first method uses one crimp indents and
the second is a proposed method with two crimp indents. The ferrule
is a parallel one. We study the influence of number and position of
crimp indents. The samples are heated in A.C. current at different
current values until steady state heating regime. After obtaining of
temperature values, we compare them and present the conclusion.
Abstract: The paper discusses economic policy of Georgia
aiming to increase national competitiveness as well as the tools and
means which will help to improve the competitiveness of the country.
The sectors of the economy, in which the country can achieve the
competitive advantage, are studied. It is noted that the country’s
economic policy plays an important role in obtaining and maintaining
the competitive advantage - authority should take measures to ensure
high level of education; scientific and research activities should be
funded by the state; foreign direct investments should be attracted
mainly in science-intensive industries; adaptation with the latest
scientific achievements of the modern world and deepening of
scientific and technical cooperation. Stable business environment and
export oriented strategy is the basis for the country’s economic
growth.
As the outcome of the research, the paper suggests the strategy for
improving competitiveness in Georgia; recommendations are
provided based on relevant conclusions.
Abstract: The importance of the formal specification in the
software life cycle is barely concealing to anyone. Formal
specifications use mathematical notation to describe the properties of
information system precisely, without unduly constraining the way in
how these properties are achieved. Having a correct and quality
software specification is not easy task. This study concerns with how
a group of rectifiers can communicate with each other and work to
prepare and produce a correct formal software specification. WBCS
has been implemented based mainly in the proposed supported
cooperative work model and a survey conducted on the existing Webbased
collaborative writing tools. This paper aims to assess the
feasibility of executing the web-based collaboration process using
WBCS. The purpose of conducting this test is to test the system as a
whole for functionality and fitness for use based on the evaluation
test plan.
Abstract: Recent perceived climate variability raises concerns
with unprecedented hydrological phenomena and extremes.
Distribution and circulation of the waters of the Earth become
increasingly difficult to determine because of additional uncertainty
related to anthropogenic emissions. The world wide observed
changes in the large-scale hydrological cycle have been related to an
increase in the observed temperature over several decades. Although
the effect of change in climate on hydrology provides a general
picture of possible hydrological global change, new tools and
frameworks for modelling hydrological series with nonstationary
characteristics at finer scales, are required for assessing climate
change impacts. Of the downscaling techniques, dynamic
downscaling is usually based on the use of Regional Climate Models
(RCMs), which generate finer resolution output based on atmospheric
physics over a region using General Circulation Model (GCM) fields
as boundary conditions. However, RCMs are not expected to capture
the observed spatial precipitation extremes at a fine cell scale or at a
basin scale. Statistical downscaling derives a statistical or empirical
relationship between the variables simulated by the GCMs, called
predictors, and station-scale hydrologic variables, called predictands.
The main focus of the paper is on the need for using statistical
downscaling techniques for projection of local hydrometeorological
variables under climate change scenarios. The projections can be then
served as a means of input source to various hydrologic models to
obtain streamflow, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and other
hydrological variables of interest.