Effect of connecting shunt capacitor on nonlinear load terminals

This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. Copyright @ 2003 IEEEThe use of terminal shunt capacitance has different effects on the displacement factor and distortion factor components of the power factor. These effects are considered for nonlinear loads with ideal supply, and also where the supply impedance exists but is small compared with the load impedance. Optimization of the displacement factor is found to result in reduction of the distortion factor to a minimum value

GENOTOXIC AND CARCINOGENIC STUDIES OF NORGESTREL IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, the possible in vivo genotoxic and carcinogenic activity associated with exposure to norgestrel (NGT) drug through employing the very recently established and adjusted genotoxic and tumorigenic methods in Drosophila melanogaster.Methods: Two in vivo genotoxic test systems were used; one detects the somatic mutation and recombination effects (somatic mutation and recombination test [SMART] wing-spot test) and the other detects the primary DNA damage (the comet test) in the body cells of D. melanogaster. On the other hand, the warts (wts)-based SMART assay is a vital genetic examination in Drosophila used to identify and characterize cancer potential of compounds.Results: Four experimental doses of NGT were used (ranging from 0.24 μM to 16 μM). NGT was found to be non-genotoxic at all tested concentrations even at the highest dose level 16 μM and failed to increase the frequency of tumors in the somatic cells of D. melanogaster.Conclusion: Our results strengthen the hypothesis that steroidal drugs might act through a non-genotoxic carcinogen mechanism where the carcinogenic properties occur by direct stimulation of cellular proliferation through a steroid receptor-mediated mechanism. In addition, the results obtained in this research work may contribute to highlighting the importance of NGT as a potent neuroprotective antioxidant drug

Decision-Making in Fuzzy Environment: A Survey

Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) is a crucial process in many business and management applications. The final decision is based upon the relative weights to the decision-making team. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has found to be one of the most successful approaches for evaluations of the weights and the importance of the criteria. However, most of the evaluated values are not so precise due to the fuzziness of the evaluating environment. This chapter surveys essentially the basic analytic hierarchy process and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). It depicts through an example the steps for using the original analytic hierarchy process for two levels of criteria. Then, it uses the same example to explain the fuzzy approach in the evaluation. Finally, it compares both approaches

Serum level of interleukin-10 with its gene polymorphism can be predictors of response to treatment in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus

Purpose: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the role of interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene polymorphism and its serum level in predicting response to treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus.Patients and methods: This study was carried out on 35 Egyptian patients with chronic HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects as control. They were divided as follows: Group I: 35 chronic HCV patients. They were subdivided according to their response to combination therapy of pegylated interferon alpha 2b and ribavirin into: Group I (a): 21 responder patients. Group I (b): 14 non responder patients. Group II: 15 healthy subjects as a control group. IL-10 serum level was assessed by ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) before, during and after treatment. IL-10 gene polymorphism and genotype were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).Results: A significant higher level of serum IL-10 was detected in HCV patients compared to the control group. A significant reduction was detected during treatment and a persistent decrease was found in patients with SVR. Low serum level of IL-10 pretreatment was associated with high treatment response. High pretreatment of the serum level of IL-10 was associated with the severity of chronic necroinflammation and non  response to treatment. A positive correlation was found between IL-10 and serum ALT. The frequency of IL-10 592 genotype polymorphism was higher in HCV patients compared to control. A significant higher frequency of the IL-10 592 C/C polymorphism was found in the responder group compared to non responder. No correlation was observed between IL-10 polymorphism and liver histopathology.Conclusion: Serum IL-10 level pretreatment is useful for predicting treatment response in HCV patients. IL-10 may be a useful marker to assess necroinflammation and to monitor the evolution of liver damage. IL-10 gene polymorphism has no relation to liver histopathology. IL-10 592 C/C genotype was more frequent in responder patients

Experimental assessment of different strengthening techniques for opening in reinforced concrete beams

The present experimental study includes testing thirteen reinforced concrete beams with openings at different locations to investigate the efficiency of strengthening such openings. Different strengthening techniques around the opening after and before casting include diagonal bars, upper and lower steel, and carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), were examined. All beams were made from 30 MPa compressive strength and tested under four-point loading.  The cross section of the beams is 400 mm depth x 160 mm width and beam length 2400 mm. The dimensions of the opening are 200 mm x 200 mm. The stiffness, deflection, failure load, and failure mode of the strengthened beams were discussed. Experimental results showed that the beams strengthened with upper and lower steel around opening at mid-span increase the load-carrying capacity by 16.59%. However, beams strengthened by CFRP sheets around the opening in the shear zone increase the load carrying capacity by 47.7% compared to opened beam

Effects of ammonia toxicity on growth performance, cortisol, glucose and hematological response of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Ammonia is a production limiting factor in the aquaculture media affecting fish production. A study was designed to scrutinize effects of ammonia on growth performance, survival, cortisol and hematological parameters of Tilapia fish. The study examined effects of 96 h-incubation of male and female Tilapia with 3 mg ammonium chloride per a liter of water compared to control. The study has been carried out in the physiology laboratory of the department of animal and fish production, Alexandria University. Fourteen aquaria were used (6 control and 8 ammoniated). Each aquarium contained 6 fish (half the population males and the other have females). Duration of the control reared fish was 30 days, however the duration for ammoniated group was 4 days. In all stressed fish, there found decreases in final body weight, average daily gain and specific growth rate as compared to controls. Hematological parameters revealed increases (P0.05) in total leukocyte counts in both males and females exposed to stressors. There were significant decreases (P0.05) in red blood cell, hematocrit value and hemoglobin concentration in both males and females. There were non-significant differences (P0.10) in these parameters between males and females. Exposing both male and female tilapia to ammonia, resulted in increases (P0.05) in mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) didn’t change in male tilapia, while females expressed increased MCH values in the ammonia condition. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) decreased (P0.05) under ammonia with no differences between males and females. Differential leukocyte count exhibited increases (P0.05) in neutrophils in ammonia-exposed males and females and decreases (P0.05) in eosinophils and monocytes in males, but not in females. However, lymphocytes decreased (P0.05) in both females and males exposed to ammonia. Cortisol level increased (P0.05) by about 2 folds in both sexes of fish exposed to ammonia (2.95 and 2.72 vs6.40 and 6.48 ng/ml in control males and females vs ammonia-exposed males and females).Rearing tilapia fish in media containing high level (3mg/l water) of ammonium chloride not only deteriorated growth rate but it also negatively affected the health wellbeing.

In Vitro Screening for Antimicrobial Activity of Some Medicinal Plant Seed Extracts

Phytochemical screening (saponins, tannins, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and glycosides) of four medicinal plant seeds (Jatropha curcas, Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba), Moringa oleifera and Datura metel) extracted by aqueous, ethanol and Folch solvents, were examined for their antimicrobial activity against three types of plant pathogenic fungi namely; Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, in addition to four types of bacteria, namely; Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Ralstonia solanacearum and Pesudomonas aeruginosa using disc diffusion paper. Results revealed that different concentrations of aqueous extracts were more effective against bacterial activity compared to fungal activity, except for D. metel aqueous extract which showed no antifungal effect and very weak effect on only two of the tested bacteria. B. cereus was more sensitive to J. curcas aqueous extract, while P. aeruginosa was more sensitive to S. chinensis and M. oleifera aqueous extracts. On the other hand, results showed that J. curcas and M. oleifera ethanol extracts were more effective on Staph. aureus growth, while S. chinensis and D. metel did not have any effect on any of the fungi or bacteria under study. The evaluation of the antifungal and antibacterial effect did not confirm the broad spectrum of S. chinensis Folch extract, while M. oleifera and D. metel were more effective on reducing R. solani growth. Also F. oxysporum was affected by J. curcas Folch extract only at high concentrations. These findings support that the traditional use of the plant extracts in the treatment of different infections caused by pathogenic microbes is valuable and should be taken in consideration

Modification of Tillage Implements for Alley Cropping System

Sustainable alley agriculture in the agro-forestry cropping system becomes a great challenge due to the lack of suitable land preparation, using the conventional tillage system “The three-bottom disc plough”. This research is an attempt to modify the conventional tillage implement for better use in agroforestry system. The modified Tillage System, in comparison with 3-bottom disc plough, showed significantly lower tractor actual speed, higher wheel slippage, effective field capacity and higher draught requirements. For the secondary operations, no significant differences were detected between modified tandem and the offset disc harrow, except for the tractor actual speed, where the offset disc harrow resulted in significant higher speed. Moreover, the modified tillage implements shows lower un-ploughed length area within the alley, and two meters increase in the preparation of the available cultivated area compared to the conventional system, and significantly lower bulk density at crop emergence stage only. The modified implements resulted in higher initial and final infiltration rate after seedbed preparation and at harvest in comparison with the conventional system. With regards to crop yield, the modified tillage system resulted in significant higher grain yield in the first and second seasons, in comparison with the use of the conventional tillage system. Keywords: draught requirements, tillage implements, alley cropping, soil cold size, bulk density, superficial lateral root, infiltration rat