Abstract: The main cause of Alzheimer disease (AD) was
believed to be mainly due to the accumulation of free radicals owing
to oxidative stress (OS) in brain tissue. The mechanism of the
neurotoxicity of Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) induced AD in
hippocampus Albino wister rat brain tissue, the curative & the
protective effects of Lipidium sativum group (LS) water extract were
assessed after 8 weeks by attenuated total reflection spectroscopy
ATR-IR and histologically by light microscope. ATR-IR results
revealed that the membrane phospholipid undergo free radical
attacks, mediated by AlCl3, primary affects the polyunsaturated fatty
acids indicated by the increased of the olefinic -C=CH sub-band area
around 3012 cm-1 from the curve fitting analysis. The narrowing in
the half band width (HBW) of the sνCH2 sub-band around 2852 cm-1
due to Al intoxication indicates the presence of trans form fatty acids
rather than gauch rotomer. The degradation of hydrocarbon chain to
shorter chain length, increasing in membrane fluidity, disorder, and
decreasing in lipid polarity in AlCl3 group indicated by the detected
changes in certain calculated area ratios compared to the control.
Administration of LS was greatly improved these parameters
compared to the AlCl3 group. Al influences the Aβ aggregation and
plaque formation, which in turn interferes to and disrupts the
membrane structure. The results also showed a marked increase in
the β-parallel and antiparallel structure, that characterize the Aβ
formation in Al-induced AD hippocampal brain tissue, indicated by
the detected increase in both amide I sub-bands around 1674, 1692
cm-1. This drastic increase in Aβ formation was greatly reduced in the
curative and protective groups compared to the AlCl3 group and
approached nearly the control values. These results supported too by
the light microscope. AlCl3 group showed significant marked
degenerative changes in hippocampal neurons. Most cells appeared
small, shrieked and deformed. Interestingly, the administration of LS
in curative and protective groups markedly decreases the amount of
degenerated cells compared to the non-treated group. In addition, the
intensity of congo red stained cells was decreased. Hippocampal
neurons looked more/or less similar to those of control. This study showed a promising therapeutic effect of Lipidium
sativum group (LS) on AD rat model that seriously overcome the
signs of oxidative stress on membrane lipid and restore the protein
misfolding.
Abstract: Lagos urban mini bus drivers play a critical role in the
transportation sector. The current major mode of transportation
within Lagos metropolis remains road transportation and this
confirms the relevance of urban mini-bus drivers in transporting the
populace to their various destinations. Other modes of transportation
such as the train and waterways are currently inadequate. Various
threats to the well-being of urban bus drivers include congested
traffic typical of modern day lifestyles, dwindling financial returns
due to long hours in traffic, fewer hours of sleep, inadequate diet,
time pressure, and assaults related to fare disputes. Several healthrelated
problems have been documented to be associated with urban
bus driving. For instance, greater rates of hypertension, obesity and
cholesterol level have been reported. Research studies are yet to
identify the influence of age and marital status on the well-being of
urban mini-bus drivers in Lagos metropolis. A study of this nature is
necessary as it is culturally perceived in Nigeria that older and
married people are especially influenced by family affiliation and
would behave in ways that would project positive outcomes. The
study sample consisted of 150 urban mini-bus drivers who were
conveniently sampled from six (6) different terminuses where their
journey begins and terminates. The well-being questionnaire was
administered to participants. The criteria for inclusion in the study
included the ability to read in English language and the confirmation
that interested participants were on duty and suited to be driving
mini-buses. Due to the nature of the job of bus driving, the researcher
administered the questionnaires on participants who were free and
willing to respond to the survey. All participants were males of
various age groups and of different marital statuses. Results of
analyses conducted revealed no significant influence of age and
marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers. This
indicates that the well-being of urban mini bus drivers is not
influenced by age or marital status. The findings of this study have
cultural implications. It negates the popularly held belief that older
and married people care more about their well-being than younger
and single people. It brings to fore the need to also identify and
consider other factors when certifying people for the job of urban bus
driving.
Abstract: Various nanomaterials can be used as a drug delivery
vehicles in nanomedicine, called nanocarriers. They can either be
organic or inorganic, synthetic or natural-based. Although synthetic
nanocarriers are easier to produce, they can often be toxic for the
organism and thus not suitable for use in treatment. From naturalbased
nanocarriers, the most commonly used are protein cages or
viral capsids. In this work, virus bacteriophage λ was used for
delivery of different cytotoxic drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin,
oxaliplatin and doxorubicin). Large quantities of phage λ were
obtained from phage λ-producing strain of E. coli cultivated in
medium with 0.2% maltose. After killing of E. coli with chloroform
and its removal by centrifugation, the phage was concentrated by
ultracentrifugation at 130 000×g and 4°C for 3 h. The encapsulation
of the drugs was performed by infusion method and four different
concentrations of the drugs were encapsulated (200; 100; 50; 25
μg·mL-1). Free drug molecules were removed by filtration. The
encapsulation was verified using the absorbance for doxorubicin and
atomic absorption spectrometry for platinum cytostatics. The amount
of encapsulated drug linearly increased with the increasing
concentration of applied drug with the determination coefficient
R2=0.989 for doxorubicin; R2=0.967 for cisplatin; R2=0.989 for
carboplatin and R2=0.996 for oxaliplatin. The overall encapsulation
efficiency was calculated as 50% for doxorubicin; 8% for cisplatin;
6% for carboplatin and 10% for oxaliplatin.
Abstract: The effects of the contact ball-lens on the soda lime
glass in laser thermal cleavage with a cw Nd-YAG laser were
investigated in this study. A contact ball-lens was adopted to generate
a bending force on the crack formation of the soda-lime glass in the
laser cutting process. The Nd-YAG laser beam (wavelength of 1064
nm) was focused through the ball-lens and transmitted to the soda-lime
glass, which was coated with a carbon film on the surface with a
bending force from a ball-lens to generate a tensile stress state on the
surface cracking. The fracture was controlled by the contact ball-lens
and a straight cutting was tested to demonstrate the feasibility.
Experimental observations on the crack propagation from the leading
edge, main section and trailing edge of the glass sheet were compared
with various mechanical and thermal loadings. Further analyses on the
stress under various laser powers and contact ball loadings were made
to characterize the innovative technology. The results show that the distributions of the side crack at the
leading and trailing edges are mainly dependent on the boundary
condition, contact force, cutting speed and laser power. With the
increase of the mechanical and thermal loadings, the region of the side
cracks might be dramatically reduced with proper selection of the
geometrical constrains. Therefore the application of the contact
ball-lens is a possible way to control the fracture in laser cleavage with
improved cutting qualities.
Abstract: Experience is what makes a man perfect. Though we
tend to learn many a different things in life through practice still we
need to go an extra mile to gain experience which would be profitable
only when it is integrated with regular practice. A clear phenomenal
idea is that every teacher is a learner. The centralized idea of this paper would focus on the integrated
practices carried out among the students of Jizan University which
enhances learning through experiences. Integrated practices like
student-directed activities, balanced curriculum, phonological based
activities and use of consistent language would enlarge the vision and
mission of students to earn experience through learning. Students
who receive explicit instruction and guidance could practice the skills
and strategies through student-directed activities such as peer tutoring
and cooperative learning. The second effective practice is to use
consistent language. Consistent language provides students a model
for talking about the new concepts which also enables them to
communicate without hindrances. Phonological awareness is an
important early reading skill for all students. Students generally have
phonemic awareness in their home language can often transfer that
knowledge to a second language. And also a balanced curriculum
requires instruction in all the elements of reading. Reading is the
most effective skill when both basic and higher-order skills are
included on a daily basis. Computer based reading and listening skills
will empower students to understand language in a better way.
English language learners can benefit from sound reading instruction
even before they are fully proficient in English as long as the
instruction is comprehensible. Thus, if students have to be well
equipped in learning they should foreground themselves in various
integrated practices through multifarious experience for which
teachers are moderators and trainers. This type of learning prepares
the students for a constantly changing society which helps them to
meet the competitive world around them for better employability
fulfilling the vision and mission of the institution.
Abstract: Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) has been
introduced and globally gained increasing attention on its usefulness.
Continuous application of EMS may lead to the increment of muscle
mass and indirectly will increase the strength. This study can be used
as an alternative to help people especially those living a sedentary
lifestyle to improve their muscle activity without having to go
through a heavy workout session. Therefore, this study intended to
investigate the effectiveness of EMS training program in 5 weeks
interventions towards male body composition. It was a quasiexperimental
design, held at the Impulse Studio Bangsar, which
examined the effects of EMS training towards skeletal muscle mass
among the subjects. Fifteen subjects (n = 15) were selected to assist
in this study. The demographic data showed that, the average age of
the subjects was 43.07 years old ± 9.90, height (173.4 cm ± 9.09) and
weight was (85.79 kg ± 18.07). Results showed that there was a
significant difference on the skeletal muscle mass (p = 0.01 < 0.05),
upper body (p = 0.01 < 0.05) and lower body (p = 0.00 < 0.05).
Therefore, the null hypothesis has been rejected in this study. As a
conclusion, the application of EMS towards body composition can
increase the muscle size and strength. This method has been proven
to be able to improve athlete strength and thus, may be implemented
in the sports science area of knowledge.
Abstract: It is quite essential to investigate the causes of
pavement deterioration in order to select the proper maintenance
technique. The objective of this study was to identify factors cause
deterioration of recently constructed roads in Khartoum state. A
comprehensive literature concerning the factors of road deterioration,
common road defects and their causes were reviewed. Three major
road projects with different deterioration reasons were selected for
this study. The investigation involved field survey and laboratory
testing on those projects to examine the existing pavement
conditions. The results revealed that the roads investigated
experienced severe failures in the forms of cracks, potholes, and
rutting in the wheel path. The causes of those failures were found
mainly linked to poor drainage, traffic overloading, expansive
subgrade soils, and the use of low quality materials in construction.
Based on the results, recommendations were provided to help
highway engineers in selecting the most effective repair techniques
for specific kinds of distresses.
Abstract: Introduction: Whole-Body Vibration (WBV) uses
high frequency mechanical stimuli generated by a vibration plate and
transmitted through bone, muscle and connective tissues to the whole
body. Research has shown that long-term vibration-plate training
improves neuromuscular facilitation, especially in afferent neural
pathways, responsible for the conduction of vibration and
proprioceptive stimuli, muscle function, balance and proprioception.
Some researchers suggest that the vibration stimulus briefly inhibits
the conduction of afferent signals from proprioceptors and can
interfere with the maintenance of body balance. The aim of this study
was to evaluate the influence of a single set of exercises associated
with whole-body vibration on the joint position sense and body
balance. Material and methods: The study enrolled 55 people aged
19-24 years. These individuals were randomly divided into a test
group (30 persons) and a control group (25 persons). Both groups
performed the same set of exercises on a vibration plate. The
following vibration parameters: frequency of 20Hz and amplitude of
3mm, were used in the test group. The control group performed
exercises on the vibration plate while it was off. All participants were
instructed to perform six dynamic exercises lasting 30 seconds each
with a 60-second period of rest between them. The exercises involved
large muscle groups of the trunk, pelvis and lower limbs.
Measurements were carried out before and immediately after
exercise. Joint position sense (JPS) was measured in the knee joint
for the starting position at 45° in an open kinematic chain. JPS error
was measured using a digital inclinometer. Balance was assessed in a
standing position with both feet on the ground with the eyes open and
closed (each test lasting 30 sec). Balance was assessed using Matscan
with FootMat 7.0 SAM software. The surface of the ellipse of
confidence and front-back as well as right-left swing were measured
to assess balance. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica
10.0 PL software. Results: There were no significant differences
between the groups, both before and after the exercise (p> 0.05). JPS
did not change in both the test (10.7° vs. 8.4°) and control groups
(9.0° vs. 8.4°). No significant differences were shown in any of the
test parameters during balance tests with the eyes open or closed in
both the test and control groups (p> 0.05). Conclusions: 1.
Deterioration in proprioception or balance was not observed
immediately after the vibration stimulus. This suggests that vibrationinduced
blockage of proprioceptive stimuli conduction can have only
a short-lasting effect that occurs only as long as a vibration stimulus
is present. 2. Short-term use of vibration in treatment does not impair
proprioception and seems to be safe for patients with proprioceptive
impairment. 3. These results need to be supplemented with an
assessment of proprioception during the application of vibration
stimuli. Additionally, the impact of vibration parameters used in the
exercises should be evaluated.
Abstract: The purposes of hydraulic gate are to maintain the
functions of storing and draining water. It bears long-term hydraulic
pressure and earthquake force and is very important for reservoir and
waterpower plant. The high tensile strength of steel plate is used as
constructional material of hydraulic gate. The cracks and rusts,
induced by the defects of material, bad construction and seismic
excitation and under water respectively, thus, the mechanics
phenomena of gate with crack are probing into the cause of stress
concentration, induced high crack increase rate, affect the safety and
usage of hydroelectric power plant. Stress distribution analysis is a
very important and essential surveying technique to analyze
bi-material and singular point problems. The finite difference
infinitely small element method has been demonstrated, suitable for
analyzing the buckling phenomena of welding seam and steel plate
with crack. Especially, this method can easily analyze the singularity
of kink crack. Nevertheless, the construction form and deformation
shape of some gates are three-dimensional system. Therefore, the
three-dimensional Digital Image Correlation (DIC) has been
developed and applied to analyze the strain variation of steel plate with
crack at weld joint. The proposed Digital image correlation (DIC)
technique is an only non-contact method for measuring the variation of
test object. According to rapid development of digital camera, the cost
of this digital image correlation technique has been reduced.
Otherwise, this DIC method provides with the advantages of widely
practical application of indoor test and field test without the restriction
on the size of test object. Thus, the research purpose of this research is
to develop and apply this technique to monitor mechanics crack
variations of weld steel hydraulic gate and its conformation under
action of loading. The imagines can be picked from real time
monitoring process to analyze the strain change of each loading stage.
The proposed 3-Dimensional digital image correlation method,
developed in the study, is applied to analyze the post-buckling
phenomenon and buckling tendency of welded steel plate with crack.
Then, the stress intensity of 3-dimensional analysis of different
materials and enhanced materials in steel plate has been analyzed in
this paper. The test results show that this proposed three-dimensional
DIC method can precisely detect the crack variation of welded steel
plate under different loading stages. Especially, this proposed DIC
method can detect and identify the crack position and the other flaws
of the welded steel plate that the traditional test methods hardly detect
these kind phenomena. Therefore, this proposed three-dimensional
DIC method can apply to observe the mechanics phenomena of
composite materials subjected to loading and operating.
Abstract: Unemployment among the youth is a significant
problem in South Africa. Large corporations and the public sector
simply cannot create enough jobs. Too many youths in South Africa
currently do not consider entrepreneurship as an option in order to
become independent. Unlike the youth of the Netherlands, South
African youth prefer to find employment in the public or private
sector. The Netherlands has a much lower unemployment rate than
South Africa and the Dutch are generally very entrepreneurial. From
early on, entrepreneurship is considered a desirable career option in
the Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to determine whether
there is a difference in the perceptions of some Dutch and South
African students in terms of unemployment and entrepreneurship.
Questionnaires were distributed to students at the North West
University's Vaal Triangle campus in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng,
South Africa and the Technical University of Delft in the
Netherlands. A descriptive statistical analysis approach was followed
and the means for the independent questions were calculated. The
results demonstrate that the Dutch students are not as concerned
about unemployment after completion of their studies as this is not as
significant a problem as it is in South Africa. Both groups had
positive responses towards the posed questions, but the South African
group felt more strongly about the issues. Both groups of students felt
that there was a need for more practical entrepreneurship training.
The South African education system should focus on practical
entrepreneurship training from a young age.
Abstract: Paper deals with the modeling and simulation of energy consumption and GHG production of two different modes of regional passenger transport – road and railway. These two transport modes use the same type of fuel – diesel. Modeling and simulation of the energy consumption in transport is often used due to calculation satisfactory accuracy and cost efficiency. Paper deals with the calculation based on EN standards and information collected from technical information from vehicle producers and characteristics of tracks. Calculation included maximal theoretical capacity of bus and train and real passenger’s measurement from operation. Final energy consumption and GHG production is calculated by using software simulation. In evaluation of the simulation is used system “well to wheel”.
Abstract: The paper is focused to the evaluation railway tracks
in the Slovakia by using Multi-Criteria method. Evaluation of railway
tracks has important impacts for the assessment of investment in
technical equipment. Evaluation of railway tracks also has an
important impact for the allocation of marshalling yards. Marshalling
yards are in transport model as centers for the operation assigned
catchment area. This model is one of the effective ways to meet the
development strategy of the European Community's railways. By
applying this model in practice, a transport company can guarantee a
higher quality of service and then expect an increase in performance.
The model is also applicable to other rail networks. This model
supplements a theoretical problem of train formation problem of new
ways of looking at evaluation of factors affecting the organization of
wagon flows.
Abstract: The contemporary battlefield creates a demand for
more costly and highly advanced munitions. Training personnel
responsible for operations as well as immediate execution of combat
tasks which engage real asset is unrealistic and economically not
feasible. Owing to a wide array of exploited simulators and various
types of imitators, it is possible to reduce the costs. One of the
effective elements of training, which can be applied in the training of
all service branches, is imitator of aerial targets. This research serves
as an introduction to the commencement of design analysis over a
real aerial target imitator. Within the project, the basic aerodynamic
calculations were made, which enabled to determine its geometry,
design layout, performance as well as mass balance of individual
components. The conducted calculations of the parameters of flight
characteristics come closer to the real performance of such
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Abstract: Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) measure brain
signals activity, intentionally and unintentionally induced by users,
and provides a communication channel without depending on the
brain’s normal peripheral nerves and muscles output pathway.
Feature Selection (FS) is a global optimization machine learning
problem that reduces features, removes irrelevant and noisy data
resulting in acceptable recognition accuracy. It is a vital step
affecting pattern recognition system performance. This study presents
a new Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) based feature
selection algorithm. Multi-layer Perceptron Neural Network
(MLPNN) classifier with backpropagation training algorithm and
Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm classify selected features.
Abstract: The paper is focused on the operational model for
transport the single wagon consignments on railway network by
using two different models of train formation. The paper gives an
overview of possibilities of improving the quality of transport
services. Paper deals with two models used in problematic of train
formatting - time continuously and time discrete. By applying these
models in practice, the transport company can guarantee a higher
quality of service and expect increasing of transport performance.
The models are also applicable into others transport networks. The
models supplement a theoretical problem of train formation by new
ways of looking to affecting the organization of wagon flows.
Abstract: Pure nickel coatings have been successfully
electrodeposited on copper substrates by the pulse plating technique.
The influence of current density, duty cycle and pulse frequency on
the surface morphology, crystal orientation, and microhardness was
determined. It was found that the crystallite size of the deposit
increases with increasing current density and duty cycle. The crystal
orientation progressively changed from a random texture at 1 A/dm2
to (200) texture at 10 A/dm2. Increasing pulse frequency resulted in
increased texture coefficient and peak intensity of (111) reflection.
An increase in duty cycle resulted in considerable increase in texture
coefficient and peak intensity of (311) reflection. Coatings obtained
at high current densities and duty cycle present a mixed morphology
of small and large grains. Maximum microhardness of 193 Hv was
achieved at 4 A/dm2, 10 Hz and duty cycle of 50%. Nickel coatings
with (200) texture are ductile while (111) texture improves the
microhardness of the coatings.
Abstract: Introduction: The process to build a better safety
culture, methods of error analysis, and preventive measures, starts
with an understanding of the effects when human factors engineering
refer to remote microscopic diagnosis in surgery and specially in
organ transplantation for the remote evaluation of the grafts. It has
been estimated that even in well-organized transplant systems an
average of 8% to 14% of the grafts (G) that arrive at the recipient
hospitals may be considered as diseased, injured, damaged or
improper for transplantation. Digital microscopy adds information on
a microscopic level about the grafts in Organ Transplant (OT), and
may lead to a change in their management. Such a method will
reduce the possibility that a diseased G, will arrive at the recipient
hospital for implantation. Aim: Ergonomics of Digital Microscopy
(DM) based on virtual slides, on Telemedicine Systems (TS) for
Tele-Pathological (TPE) evaluation of the grafts (G) in organ
transplantation (OT). Material and Methods: By experimental
simulation, the ergonomics of DM for microscopic TPE of Renal
Graft (RG), Liver Graft (LG) and Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues is
analyzed. In fact, this corresponded to the ergonomics of digital
microscopy for TPE in OT by applying Virtual Slide (VS) system for
graft tissue image capture, for remote diagnoses of possible
microscopic inflammatory and/or neoplastic lesions. Experimentation
included: a. Development of an OTE-TS similar Experimental
Telemedicine System (Exp.-TS), b. Simulation of the integration of
TS with the VS based microscopic TPE of RG, LG and PG applying
DM. Simulation of the DM based TPE was performed by 2
specialists on a total of 238 human Renal Graft (RG), 172 Liver Graft
(LG) and 108 Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues digital microscopic
images for inflammatory and neoplastic lesions on four electronic
spaces of the four used TS. Results: Statistical analysis of specialist‘s
answers about the ability to diagnose accurately the diseased RG, LG
and PG tissues on the electronic space among four TS (A,B,C,D)
showed that DM on TS for TPE in OT is elaborated perfectly on the
ES of a Desktop, followed by the ES of the applied Exp.-TS. Tablet
and Mobile-Phone ES seem significantly risky for the application of
DM in OT (p
Abstract: In this study, a general approach to the reliability
based limit analysis of laterally loaded piles is presented. In
engineering practice the uncertainties play a very important role. The
aim of this study is to evaluate the lateral load capacity of free-head
and fixed-head long pile when plastic limit analysis is considered. In
addition to the plastic limit analysis to control the plastic behaviour
of the structure, uncertain bound on the complementary strain energy
of the residual forces is also applied. This bound has significant effect
for the load parameter. The solution to reliability-based problems is
obtained by a computer program which is governed by the reliability
index calculation.
Abstract: In this work, repaired crack in 6061- T6 aluminum
plate with composite patches presented, firstly we determine the
displacement, strain and stress, also the first six mode shape of the
plate, secondly we took the same model adding central crack
initiation, which is located in the center of the plate, its seize vary
from 20 mm to 60 mm and we compare the first results with second.
Thirdly we repair various cracks with composite patch (carbon/
epoxy) and for (2 layers, 4 layers). Finally the comparison of stress,
strain, displacement and six first natural frequencies between un-cracked
specimen, crack propagation and composite patch repair.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of
literature review software on researchers. The aim of this study was
achieved by analyzing models in terms of perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, and acceptance level. Collected data were
analyzed using WarpPLS 4.0 software. This study used two
theoretical frameworks, namely, Technology Acceptance Model and
the Training Needs Assessment Model. The study was experimental
and was conducted at a public university in South Africa. The results
of the study showed that acceptance level has a high impact on
research productivity followed by perceived usefulness and perceived
ease of use.