Abstract: No negative control nor control to prevent microbes from escaping was set when the S-shaped flask experiments were performed by Pasteur. Microscope was not used to observe the media in the flasks. Louis Pasteur’s S-shaped flask experiment was re-examined by using U-shaped flasks, modified S-shaped flasks and microscope. A mixture of microbes was isolated from the room air, from which one rod-shaped Bacillus species with proposed name Bacillus gaso-mobilis sp nov and one grape-shaped Staphylococcus species with proposed name of Staphylococcus gaso-mobilis sp nov were identified. Their penicillin and ampicillin resistant strains containing plasmids were isolated. These bacteria could change color, produce odor and automatically move in the air. They did not form colonies on solid media. They had a high suspension capacity in liquid media. Their light absorbance peaked at the wave length of 320 nm. It was concluded that there were flaws with Louis Pasteur’s S-shaped flask experiments.
Abstract: Intercalation imparts interesting features to the host graphite material. Two different types of intercalated compounds called (GIC-bisulphate or Nyex 1000 and GIC-nitrate or Nyex 3000) were tested for their adsorption capacity and ability to undergo electrochemical regeneration. It was found that Nyex 3000 showed comparatively slow kinetics along with reduced adsorption capacity to one half for acid violet 17 as adsorbate. Acid violet 17 was selected as model organic pollutant for evaluating comparative performance of said adsorbents. Both adsorbent materials showed 100% regeneration efficiency as achieved by passing a charge of 36 C g-1 at a current density of 12 mA cm-2 and a treatment time of 60 min.
Abstract: Thousands of masters athletes participate
quadrennially in the World Masters Games (WMG), yet this cohort
of athletes remains proportionately under-investigated. Due to a
growing global obesity pandemic in context of benefits of physical
activity across the lifespan, the prevalence of obesity in this unique
population was of particular interest. Data gathered on a sub-sample
of 535 football code athletes, aged 31-72 yrs ( =47.4, s =±7.1),
competing at the Sydney World Masters Games (2009) demonstrated
a significantly (p
Abstract: In recent years fuel cell vehicles are rapidly appearing
all over the globe. In less than 10 years, fuel cell vehicles have gone
from mere research novelties to operating prototypes and demonstration
models. At the same time, government and industry in development
countries have teamed up to invest billions of dollars in partnerships
intended to commercialize fuel cell vehicles within the early
years of the 21st century.
The purpose of this study is evaluation of model and performance
of fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle in different drive cycles. A fuel
cell system model developed in this work is a semi-experimental
model that allows users to use the theory and experimental relationships
in a fuel cell system. The model can be used as part of a complex
fuel cell vehicle model in advanced vehicle simulator (ADVISOR).
This work reveals that the fuel consumption and energy efficiency
vary in different drive cycles. Arising acceleration and speed in a
drive cycle leads to Fuel consumption increase. In addition, energy
losses in drive cycle relates to fuel cell system power request. Parasitic
power in different parts of fuel cell system will increase when
power request increases. Finally, most of energy losses in drive cycle
occur in fuel cell system because of producing a lot of energy by fuel
cell stack.
Abstract: Image Edge Detection is one of the most important
parts of image processing. In this paper, by fuzzy technique, a new
method is used to improve digital image edge detection. In this
method, a 3x3 mask is employed to process each pixel by means of
vicinity. Each pixel is considered a fuzzy input and by examining
fuzzy rules in its vicinity, the edge pixel is specified and by utilizing
calculation algorithms in image processing, edges are displayed more
clearly. This method shows significant improvement compared to
different edge detection methods (e.g. Sobel, Canny).
Abstract: Antioxidants contribute to endogenous photoprotection
and are important for the maintenance of skin health. The study was carried out to compare the skin hydration and transepidermal
water loss (TEWL) effects of a stable cosmetic preparation
containing flavonoids, following two applications a day over a period
of tenth week. The skin trans-epidermal water loss and skin hydration
effect was measured at the beginning and up to the end of study period of ten weeks. Any effect produced was measured by Corneometer and TEWA meter (Non-invasive probe).
Two formulations were developed for this study design. Formulation one the control formulation in which no apple juice
extract( Flavonoids) was incorporated while second one was the active formulation in which the apple juice extract (3%) containing
flavonoids was incorporated into water in oil emulsion using Abil EM 90 as an emulsifier. Stable formulations (control and Active)
were applied on human cheeks (n = 12) for a study period of 10 weeks. Result of each volunteer of skin hydration and TEWL was
measured by corneometer and TEWA meter. By using ANOVA and Paired sample t test as a statistical evaluation, result of both base and
formulation were compared. Statistical significant results (p≤0.05)
were observed regarding skin hydration and TEWL when two creams, control and Formulation were compared. It showed that
desired formulation (Active) may have interesting application as an
active moisturizing cream on healthy skin.
Abstract: Microbial air contamination of the outdoor air in Marine Durres-s Harbour (Durres, Albania) was estimated by sedimentation technique in August-October 2008. The sampling areas were: Ferry Terminal (FT), Fishery Harbor (FH), East Zone (EZ), Fuel Quay (FQ) and Apollonian Beach (AB). The aim of this study was to measure the number of aerobic plate count (mesophilic aerobic bacteria) and fungi (yeasts and molds) in the outdoor air in these areas. The number of colonies that were formed determines the number of cells at the moment in the outdoor air; respectively the number of mesophilic aerobic bacteria and yeasts and molds. The measure of bacteria and fungi used is CFU (Colony Forming Units) per Petri dish. It is said that marine harbours are very polluted areas. The aim of study was the definition of mesophilic aerobic bacteria and yeasts and molds number, and the comparison of microorganisms number in air sampling areas.
Abstract: Tufting carpet is a very suitable substrate for growing
microorganism such as pathogenic microbes, due to the direct touch
with human body, long washing periods and laying on the floor; in
fact there are 3 major problems: To risk human health, Prepare bad
odors and Destruction of the products.. In the presented research, for
investigation of presence most common microbes on polyester
tufting, first goods laid in a public place (in the corridor fair) for 30
days and the existence of some microbes were investigate on it with
two methods of enrichment in nutrient environments such as
thioglycolate and noutrunt brath, and shake the dust off the polyester
tufting onto cultivation mediums such as blood agar and noutrunt
agar. After the microorganism colonics are grown, the colonies were
separated and six microbial tests such as cataloes and sitrat were
carried out in five phases on the colonics for identifying the varieties
of bacteria. As a result of tests, 5 type of bacteria, such as
Escherichia coli, staphylococcus saprophytic as were identified. Each
of the mentioned bacteria can be seriously harmful for the heath of
human.
Abstract: A robust still image face localization algorithm
capable of operating in an unconstrained visual environment is
proposed. First, construction of a robust skin classifier within a
shifted HSV color space is described. Then various filtering
operations are performed to better isolate face candidates and
mitigate the effect of substantial non-skin regions. Finally, a novel
Bhattacharyya-based face detection algorithm is used to compare
candidate regions of interest with a unique illumination-dependent
face model probability distribution function approximation.
Experimental results show a 90% face detection success rate despite
the demands of the visually noisy environment.
Abstract: In this paper, a new design technique for enhancing
bandwidth that improves the performance of a conventional
microstrip patch antenna is proposed. This paper presents a novel
wideband probe fed inverted slotted microstrip patch antenna. The
design adopts contemporary techniques; coaxial probe feeding,
inverted patch structure and slotted patch. The composite effect of
integrating these techniques and by introducing the proposed patch,
offer a low profile, broadband, high gain, and low cross-polarization
level. The results for the VSWR, gain and co-and cross-polarization
patterns are presented. The antenna operating the band of 1.80-2.36
GHz shows an impedance bandwidth (2:1 VSWR) of 27% and a gain
of 10.18 dBi with a gain variation of 1.12 dBi. Good radiation
characteristics, including a cross-polarization level in xz-plane less
than -42 dB, have been obtained.
Abstract: The impact of rain attenuation on wireless communication signals is predominant because of the used high frequency (above 10 GHz). The knowledge of statistics of attenuation is very important for planning point-to-point microwave links operating in high frequency band. Describing the statistics of attenuation is possible for instance with fade duration or level crossing rate. In our examination we determine these statistics from one year measured data for a given microwave link, and we are going to make an attempt to transform the level crossing rate statistic to fade duration statistic.
Abstract: In this study, the effect of mechanical activation on the synthesis of Fe3Al/Al2O3 nanocomposite has been investigated by using mechanochemical method. For this purpose, Aluminum powder and hematite as precursors, with stoichiometric ratio, have been utilized and other effective parameters in milling process were kept constant. Phase formation analysis, crystallite size measurement and lattice strain were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) by using Williamson-Hall method as well as microstructure and morphology were explored by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis was used in order to probe the particle distribution. The results showed that after 30-hour milling, the reaction was started, combustibly done and completed.
Abstract: Silver-exchanged zeolites and clays are used in
polymer composites to confer broad-spectrum antimicrobial
properties on a range of functional materials. Tobermorite is a layer
lattice mineral whose potential as a carrier for Ag+ ions in
antibacterial composites has not yet been investigated. Accordingly,
in this study, synthetic tobermorite was ion-exchanged with 10 wt%
silver ions and the resulting material was incorporated into a
composite film with chitosan. Chitosan is a biocompatible,
biodegradable derivative of chitin, a polysaccharide obtained from
the shells of crustaceans. The solvent-cast Ag+-exchanged
tobermorite-chitosan films were found to exhibit antimicrobial action
against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas
aeruginosa.
Abstract: Essential hypertension (HTN) usually clusters with other cardiovascular risk factors such as age, overweight, diabetes, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. The target organ damage (TOD) such as left ventricular hypertrophy, microalbuminuria (MA), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), stroke and cognitive dysfunction takes place early in course of hypertension. Though the prevalence of hypertension is high in India, the relationship between microalbuminuria and target organ damage in hypertension is not well studied. This study aim at detecting MA in essential hypertension and its relation to severity of HTN, duration of HTN, body mass index (BMI), age and TOD such as HTN retinopathy and acute coronary syndrome The present study was done in 100 patients of essential hypertension non diabetics admitted to B.L.D.E.University-s Sri B.M.Patil Medical College, Bijapur, from October 2008 to April 2011. The patients underwent detailed history and clinical examination. Early morning 5 ml of urine sample was collected & MA was estimated by immunoturbidometry method. The relationship of MA with the duration & severity of HTN, BMI, age, sex and TOD's like hypertensive retinopathy, ACS was assessed by univariate analysis. The prevalence of MA in this study was found to be 63 %. In that 42% were male & 21% were female. In this study a significant association between MA and the duration of hypertension (p = 0.036) & (OR =0.438). Longer the duration of hypertension, more possibility of microalbumin in urine. Also there was a significant association between severity of hypertension and MA (p=0.045) and (OR=0.093). MA was positive in 50 (79.4%) patients out of 63, whose blood pressure was >160/100 mm Hg. In this study a significant association between MA and the grades of hypertensive retinopathy (p =0.011) and acute coronary syndrome (p = 0.041) (OR =2.805). Gender and BMI did not pose high risk for MA in this study.The prevalence of MA in essential hypertension is high in this part of the community and MA will increase the risk of developing target organ damage.Early screening of patients with essential hypertension for MA and aggressive management of positive cases might reduce the burden of chronic kidney diseases and cardiovascular diseases in the community.
Abstract: In the current context of globalization, accountability has become a key subject of real interest for both, national and international business areas, due to the need for comparability and transparency of the economic situation, so we can speak about the harmonization and convergence of international accounting. The paper presents a qualitative research through content analysis of several reports concerning the roadmap for convergence. First, we develop a conceptual framework for the evolution of standards’ convergence and further we discuss the degree of standards harmonization and convergence between US GAAP and IAS/IFRS as to October 2012. We find that most topics did not follow the expected progress. Furthermore there are still some differences in the long-term project that are in process to be completed and other that were reassessed as a lower priority project.
Abstract: Flash floods are considered natural disasters that can
cause casualties and demolishing of infra structures. The problem is
that flash floods, particularly in arid and semi arid zones, take place
in very short time. So, it is important to forecast flash floods earlier to
its events with a lead time up to 48 hours to give early warning alert
to avoid or minimize disasters. The flash flood took place over Wadi
Watier - Sinai Peninsula, in October 24th, 2008, has been simulated,
investigated and analyzed using the state of the art regional weather
model. The Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, which is a
reliable short term forecasting tool for precipitation events, has been
utilized over the study area. The model results have been calibrated
with the real data, for the same date and time, of the rainfall
measurements recorded at Sorah gauging station. The WRF model
forecasted total rainfall of 11.6 mm while the real measured one was
10.8 mm. The calibration shows significant consistency between
WRF model and real measurements results.
Abstract: Cytogenetic analysis still remains the gold standard method for prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome, DS). Nevertheless, the conventional cytogenetic analysis needs live cultured cells and is too time-consuming for clinical application. In contrast, molecular methods such as FISH, QF-PCR, MLPA and quantitative Real-time PCR are rapid assays with results available in 24h. In the present study, we have successfully used a novel MGB TaqMan probe-based real time PCR assay for rapid diagnosis of trisomy 21 status in Down syndrome samples. We have also compared the results of this molecular method with corresponding results obtained by the cytogenetic analysis. Blood samples obtained from DS patients (n=25) and normal controls (n=20) were tested by quantitative Real-time PCR in parallel to standard G-banding analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes. A high precision TaqMan probe quantitative Real-time PCR assay was developed to determine the gene dosage of DSCAM (target gene on 21q22.2) relative to PMP22 (reference gene on 17p11.2). The DSCAM/PMP22 ratio was calculated according to the formula; ratio=2 -ΔΔCT. The quantitative Real-time PCR was able to distinguish between trisomy 21 samples and normal controls with the gene ratios of 1.49±0.13 and 1.03±0.04 respectively (p value
Abstract: In this paper, a new learning algorithm based on a
hybrid metaheuristic integrating Differential Evolution (DE) and
Reduced Variable Neighborhood Search (RVNS) is introduced to train
the classification method PROAFTN. To apply PROAFTN, values of
several parameters need to be determined prior to classification. These
parameters include boundaries of intervals and relative weights for
each attribute. Based on these requirements, the hybrid approach,
named DEPRO-RVNS, is presented in this study. In some cases, the
major problem when applying DE to some classification problems
was the premature convergence of some individuals to local optima.
To eliminate this shortcoming and to improve the exploration and
exploitation capabilities of DE, such individuals were set to iteratively
re-explored using RVNS. Based on the generated results on
both training and testing data, it is shown that the performance of
PROAFTN is significantly improved. Furthermore, the experimental
study shows that DEPRO-RVNS outperforms well-known machine
learning classifiers in a variety of problems.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the linkage between migration,
economic globalization and terrorism concerns. On a broad level, I
analyze Canadian economic and political considerations, searching
for causal relationships between political and economic actors on the
one hand, and Canadian immigration law on the other. Specifically,
the paper argues that there are contradictory impulses affecting state
sovereignty. These impulses are are currently being played out in the
field of Canadian immigration law through several proposed changes
to Canada-s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These
changes reflect an ideological conception of sovereignty that is
intrinsically connected with decision-making capacity centered on an
individual. This conception of sovereign decision-making views
Parliamentary debate and bureaucratic inefficiencies as both equally
responsible for delaying essential decisions relating to the protection
of state sovereignty, economic benefits and immigration control This
paper discusses these concepts in relation to Canadian immigration
policy under Canadian governments over the past twenty five years.
Abstract: In this paper we have numerically analyzed terahertzrange
wavelength conversion using nondegenerate four wave mixing
(NDFWM) in a SOA integrated DFB laser (experiments reported
both in MIT electronics and Fujitsu research laboratories). For
analyzing semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), we use finitedifference
beam propagation method (FDBPM) based on modified
nonlinear SchrÖdinger equation and for distributed feedback (DFB)
laser we use coupled wave approach. We investigated wavelength
conversion up to 4THz probe-pump detuning with conversion
efficiency -5dB in 1THz probe-pump detuning for a SOA integrated
quantum-well