Fungicide treatment of high-moisture corn

Two corn hybrids, one resistant the other susceptible to storage fungi, were harvested and hand shelled at 22% moisture, wet basis, and stored at this moisture in aerated bin units each containing 1000 g. For each corn hybrid, four Rovral fungicide treatments and a control treatment were applied prior to storage. Carbon-dioxide evolution was measured in each treatment as the index of grain-deterioration rate. The experiment was terminated when a 2.0% dry-matter loss in the susceptible hybrid untreated sample was observed. Development of fungi growth in the stored samples was observed by determining the percent of fungi infection by Aspergillus and Penicillium spp, visible fungi, and germination on subsamples of each differently treated unit;The resistant corn hybrid manifested a lower deterioration rate and fungi growth than did the susceptible hybrid. Samples treated with fungicide showed a highly significant reduction in grain-deterioration rate and fungi growth compared with untreated samples. The results show that Rovral fungicide is an effective suppressant of fungi growth in corn stored at high-moisture contents;Equations of CO[subscript]2 evolution versus time were utilized in a computer simulation model for 26 years of Des Moines, Iowa, weather data to simulate the effect of fungicide treatments on the production of carbon dioxide in stored high-moisture corn of different hybrids at ambient weather conditions. Allowable storage time (AST) in Wilcke\u27s model (1985) was updated to 1989 and corrected to damage, hybrid, and fungicide multipliers. Simulation prediction showed that resistant corn hybrids suppressed fungi development, increased the AST, and reduced both fan energy use and airflow requirements compared to the susceptible corn hybrid under the same conditions. Also simulation prediction indicated that Rovral fungicide treatments are very effective in slowing down grain deterioration rate and fan energy use compared to untreated samples under the same conditions

The Design of Crude Palm Oil Clarifier

The objective of this research was to study the settling characteristics of crude palm oil (CPO), and use them to design a crude palm oil settler so that to increase the oil recovery , and hence the oil loss in the effluent can be minimized. The apparent viscosity {'1} of CPO after dilution with water was measured and an equation for its behaviour with shear rate (r) and temperature (I') was derived: '1 = 898 exp (19001T)Y-°·61) The equation was used to model CPO settling. Two approaches to determine the design criteria of the CPO settler were followed - conventional solid/liquid analysis, as proposed by Lim (1977), and liquid/liquid analysis . The liquid/liquid analysis underestimated the required settler height by 38-53 %, and the conventional approach by 55-63 %. Finally, a coagulation Jar test was carried out to examine the effects of five coagulants in the oil recovery from the effluent. The results showed that the use of coagulant can reduce oil loss in the clarifier. The recovered oil was 3 % of the plant throughput

Theory And Practice In Capital Budgeting: Evidence From Kuwait

Capital budgeting is an important tool in corporate finance, which is supported with numerous methods. Previous researches in this field shows that simple methods of capital budgeting are preferred over complex methods. With an objective to adopt relevant modification in the academic sector this paper evaluates the preferred capital budgeting practices in Kuwait, one of the strongest economy in the world, through a structured questionnaire distributed among 100 firms. The study also reveals the significance of demographic factors on real life capital budgeting practices as well as it probes in to the significance of the subjects; introductory finance, financial management and risk management. The results of the study are consistent with the previous researches in this field, that majority of the respondents use the NPV.  Furthermore, age, educational qualification, managerial levels, years of experience, company size, among others all have significant effects on most capital budgeting methods

Review on automatic early skin cancer detection

Skin cancer is increasing in different countries especially in Australia. Early detection of skin cancer can treat melanoma successfully, therefore, curability and survival depends directly on removing melanoma in its early stages. Since clinical observations face to different fault for melanoma detection, the automatic diagnosis can help to increase the accuracy of detection. Reviewing the researches have done in skin cancer detection and providing the overview on automatic detection of skin cancer are the ultimate aims of this paper. It presents the literature on automatic skin cancer detection and describes the different steps of such process. © 2011 IEEE

EVOLVING ROLE OF CAR T-CELL IN CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY

Safety profiles of newly developed anti-cancer therapies is the main goal for efficient treatments to improve survival rates. Therefore, continuous efforts carried out to develop a therapeutic strategy with better outcomes. The concept of immune-oncology, which utilizes and enhances the capacity of human immune system was developed as an eventual opportunity to enhance remissions and limit the relaps of the disease. Later progression of cellular immunetherapies involve the introduction of genetically engineered T cells having chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that embraced an antibody-derived antigen recognition domain connected to an internal T-cell signaling domain, so can recognize their targets with high degree of tumor selectivity. This approach showed vigorous antitumor outcomes and full recovery in end-stage patients suffering from liquid cancers as leukemia and lymphoma. However, still there is a challenge for bringing genetically modified T-cell immunotherapy to many patients with different tumor types including solid tumor. On other hand, studies indicated the potential to broaden T-cell–based therapies and foster for other possible applications beyond oncology as organ transplantation and autoimmunity. Therefore, this review aimed to illustrate the clinical applications, challenges, and approaches for more efficient clinical employment of CAR T cell therapies

Screening and Evaluation of Deleterious SNPs in APOE Gene of Alzheimer's Disease

Introduction. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is an important risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is present in 30–50% of patients who develop late-onset AD. Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are present in APOE gene which act as the biomarkers for exploring the genetic basis of this disease. The objective of this study is to identify deleterious nsSNPs associated with APOE gene. Methods. The SNPs were retrieved from dbSNP. Using I-Mutant, protein stability change was calculated. The potentially functional nonsynonymous (ns) SNPs and their effect on protein was predicted by PolyPhen and SIFT, respectively. FASTSNP was used for functional analysis and estimation of risk score. The functional impact on the APOE protein was evaluated by using Swiss PDB viewer and NOMAD-Ref server. Results. Six nsSNPs were found to be least stable by I-Mutant 2.0 with DDG value of >−1.0. Four nsSNPs showed a highly deleterious tolerance index score of 0.00. Nine nsSNPs were found to be probably damaging with position-specific independent counts (PSICs) score of ≥2.0. Seven nsSNPs were found to be highly polymorphic with a risk score of 3-4. The total energies and root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) values were higher for three mutant-type structures compared to the native modeled structure. Conclusion. We concluded that three nsSNPs, namely, rs11542041, rs11542040, and rs11542034, to be potentially functional polymorphic

Ultimate Failure Resistance of Concrete with Partial Replacements of Sand by Polycarbonate Plastic Waste Under Impact Load

Disposal of waste polycarbonate plastic is a serious environmental issue all around the globe, on account of its health hazard and difficulty in land filling. As a possible solution to the problem of polycarbonate plastic waste, an experimental study was conducted to examine the potential of using it as sand replacement in the concrete. This paper examines impact strength properties of concrete in which different amounts 2.5%, 5% and 10% of polycarbonate plastic waste particles were used as sand replacement. For each amount, six beams of 100 mm ×100 mm × 500mm were subjected to 4.5 kg hammer from 480mm height. The number of blows of the hammer required to induce the ultimate failure of the beams were recorded. The results are presented in terms of impact energy required for the ultimate failure. The concrete mixtures exhibited ability to absorb a large amount of impact energy. The polycarbonate plastic waste increased the ultimate failure impact energy of concrete. Keywords: Polycarbonate plastic waste; Cement concrete; Compressive strength; Ultimate failure impact energy. DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-2-06 Publication date: February 29th 2020

Influence of Organisational-Level Factors on Delayed Door-to-Balloon Time among Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Objective: To estimate the door-to-balloon (DTB) time and determine the organisational-level factors that influence delayed DTB times among patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction in the Sultanate of Oman. Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted. All patients who presented to the emergency department at two public hospitals and underwent primary percutaneous interventions during the period of two years were included. Results: The sample included 426 patients. The median door-to-balloon time was 142 minutes. The result of bivariate logistic regression showed that patients who presented to the emergency department with atypical symptoms were three times more likely to have a delayed DTB time compared with patients presenting with typical symptoms (OR = 3.003, 95% CI: 1.409–6.400, p = .004). In addition, patients who presented during off-hours were two times more likely to have a delayed DTB time compared with patients who presented during regular working hours (OR = 2.291, 95% CI: 1.284–4.087, p = .005). Conclusion: To meet the door-to-balloon time recommendation, it is important to ensure that there is adequate staffing during both regular and irregular working hours. Results from this study can be used as a baseline for future studies and inform strategies for improving the quality of care. Keywords: Acute Myocardial Infarction; Clinical Management; Door-to-balloon Time; Emergency Care Systems; Staffing and Scheduling; Oman