Sustainable Development and Environmentally Friendly Energy Systems

People are relying upon oil for primary energy and this will continue for a few more decades. Other conventional sources may be more enduring but are not without serious disadvantages. The renewable energy resources are particularly suited for the provision of rural power supplies and a major advantage is that equipment such as flat plate solar driers, wind machines, etc., can be constructed using local resources. Without the advantage results from the feasibility of local maintenance and the general encouragement, such local manufacture gives to the buildup of a small-scale rural-based industry. This communication comprises a comprehensive review of energy sources, the environment, and sustainable development. It includes the renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency systems, energy conservation scenarios, energy savings in greenhouses environment and other mitigation measures necessary to reduce climate change. This study gives some examples of small-scale energy converters, nevertheless, it should be noted that small conventional, i.e., engines are currently the major source of power in rural areas and will continue to be so for a long time to come

Promotion and Implementation of Bioenergy for a Better Environment

- There is strong scientific evidence that the average temperature of the earth's surface is rising and this may be attribute to increased concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere as released by burning fossil fuels. One of the chief sources of greenhouse gases is burning of fossil fuels. Biogas from biomass appears to have potential as an alternative energy source, which is potentially rich in biomass resources. In the present paper, current literature is reviewed regarding the ecological, social, cultural and economic impacts of biogas technology. In this article an attempt has been made to give an overview of present and future use of biomass as an industrial feedstock for production of fuels, chemicals and other materials. However, to be truly competitive in an open market situation, higher value products are required

Performance, Modeling, Measurements, and Simulation of Energy Efficient for Heat Exchanger, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Over the years, all parts of a commercial refrigerator, such as the compressor, heat exchangers, refrigerant, and packaging, have been improved considerably due to the extensive research and development efforts carried out by academia and industry. However, the achieved and anticipated improvement in conventional refrigeration technology are incremental since this technology is already nearing its fundamentals limit of energy efficiency is described is ‘magnetic refrigeration\u27 which is an evolving cooling technology. The word ‘green\u27 designates more than a color. It is a way of life, one that is becoming more and more common throughout the world. An interesting topic on ‘sustainable technologies for a greener world\u27 details about what each technology is and how it achieves green goals. Recently, conventional chillers using absorption technology consume energy for hot water generator but absorption chillers carry no energy saving. With the aim of providing a single point solution for this dual-purpose application, a product is launched but can provide simultaneous chilling and heating using its vapor absorption technology with 40% saving in heating energy. Using energy efficiency and managing customer energy use has become an integral and valuable exercise. The reason for this is green technology helps to sustain life on earth. This not only applies to humans but to plants, animals and the rest of the ecosystem. Energy prices and consumption will always be on an upward trajectory. In fact, energy costs have steadily risen over last decade and are expected to carry on doing so as consumption grows

Analytic Investigation and Numeric Prediction for Biodynamic Response of the Seated Human Body

Abstract: The biodynamic response behaviors of seated human body subject to whole-body vibration have been widely investigated. The biodynamic response characteristics of seated human subjects have been extensively reported in terms of apparent mass and driving-point mechanical impedance while seat-to-head vibration transmissibility has been widely used to characterize response behavior of the seated subjects exposed to vibration. These functions (apparent mass, driving-point mechanical impedance) describe "to-the-body" force-motion relationship at the human-seat interface, while the transmissibility function describes "through-the-body" vibration transmission properties. The current study proposed a 4-DOF analytic biomechanical model of the human body in a sitting posture without backrest in vertical vibration direction to investigate the biodynamic responses of different masses and stiffness. Following the analytical approach, numerical technique developed in the present paper to facilitate and rapid the analysis. The numerical analysis used here applies one of the artificial intelligence technique to simulate and predict the response behaviors of seated human body for different masses and stiffness without the need to go through the analytic solution every time. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique is introduced in the current study to predict the response behaviors for different masses and stiffness rather than those used in the analytic solution. The results of the numerical study showed that the ANN method with less effort was very efficiently capable of simulating and predicting the response behaviors of seated human body subject to whole-body vibration

MHD Stability of a Streaming Resistive Hollow Jet Analytic and Numeric Analysis

The axisymmetric magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) stability of streaming resistive hollow jet under oblique varying magnetic fields has been discussed. The stability criterion is established in its general form, studied analytically and the results are confirmed numerically. The destabilizing effect of the capillary force is found in small domain in the axisymmetric perturbation

Isolation and characterization of phenol degrading bacterium strain Bacillus thuringiensis J20 from olive waste in Palestine

This study aimed at isolation of phenol degrading bacteria from olive mill wastes in Palestine. The efficiency of phenol removal and factors affecting phenol degradation were investigated. A bacterial strain (J20) was isolated from solid olive mill waste and identified as Bacillus thuringiensis based on standard morphological, biochemical characteristics and 16SrRNA sequence analysis. The strain was able to grow in a phenol concentration of 700 mg/L as the sole carbon and energy source. The culture conditions showed a significant impact on the ability of these cells to remove phenol. This strain exhibited optimum phenol degradation performance at pH 6.57 and 30 C . Under the optimized conditions, this strain could degrade 88.6% of phenol (700 mg/L) within 96 h when the initial cell density was OD600 0.2. However, the degradation efficiency could be improved from about 88% to nearly 99% by increasing the cell density. Immobilization of J20 was carried out using 4% sodium alginate. Phenol degradation efficiency of the immobilized cells of J20 was higher than that of the free cells, 100% versus 88.6% of 700 mg/L of phenol in 120 h, indicating the improved tolerance of the immobilized cells toward phenol toxicity. The J20 was used in detoxifying crude OMWW, phenolic compounds levels were reduced by 61% compared to untreated OMWW after five days of treatment. Hence, B. thuringiensis-J20 can be effectively used for bioremediation of phenol-contaminated sites in Palestine. These findings may lead to new biotechnological applications for the degradation of phenol, related to olive oil production.The authors thank Prof. Charles Greenblatt from Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Hebrew University – Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel for his help. Suheir I. Ereqat and Ahmad A. Abdelkader contributed equally to this manuscript

Future regenerative medicine developments and their therapeutic applications

: Although the currently available pharmacological assays can cure most pathological disorders, they have limited therapeutic value in relieving certain disorders like myocardial infarct, peripheral vascular disease, amputated limbs, or organ failure (e.g. renal failure). Pilot studies to overcome such problems using regenerative medicine (RM) delivered promising data. Comprehensive investigations of RM in zebrafish or reptilians are necessary for better understanding. However, the precise mechanisms remain poorly understood despite the tremendous amount of data obtained using the zebrafish model investigating the exact mechanisms behind their regenerative capability. Indeed, understanding such mechanisms and their application to humans can save millions of lives from dying due to potentially life-threatening events. Recent studies have launched a revolution in replacing damaged human organs via different approaches in the last few decades. The newly established branch of medicine (known as Regenerative Medicine aims to enhance natural repair mechanisms. This can be done through the application of several advanced broad-spectrum technologies such as organ transplantation, tissue engineering, and application of Scaffolds technology (support vascularization using an extracellular matrix), stem cell therapy, miRNA treatment, development of 3D mini-organs (organoids), and the construction of artificial tissues using nanomedicine and 3D bio-printers. Moreover, in the next few decades, revolutionary approaches in regenerative medicine will be applied based on artificial intelligence and wireless data exchange, soft intelligence biomaterials, nanorobotics, and even living robotics capable of self-repair. The present work presents a comprehensive overview that summarizes the new and future advances in the field of RM

Delay Differential Model for Tumour-Immune Response with Chemoimmunotherapy and Optimal Control

We present a delay differential model with optimal control that describes the interactions of the tumour cells and immune response cells with external therapy. The intracellular delay is incorporated into the model to justify the time required to stimulate the effector cells. The optimal control variables are incorporated to identify the best treatment strategy with minimum side effects by blocking the production of new tumour cells and keeping the number of normal cells above 75% of its carrying capacity. Existence of the optimal control pair and optimality system are established. Pontryagin’s maximum principle is applicable to characterize the optimal controls. The model displays a tumour-free steady state and up to three coexisting steady states. The numerical results show that the optimal treatment strategies reduce the tumour cells load and increase the effector cells after a few days of therapy. The performance of combination therapy protocol of immunochemotherapy is better than the standard protocol of chemotherapy alone

Genetic, serological and biochemical characterization of Leishmania tropica from foci in northern Palestine and discovery of zymodeme MON-307

Background Many cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) have been recorded in the Jenin District based on their clinical appearance. Here, their parasites have been characterized in depth. Methods Leishmanial parasites isolated from 12 human cases of CL from the Jenin District were cultured as promastigotes, whose DNA was extracted. The ITS1 sequence and the 7SL RNA gene were analysed as was the kinetoplast minicircle DNA (kDNA) sequence. Excreted factor (EF) serotyping and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) were also applied. Results This extensive characterization identified the strains as Leishmania tropica of two very distinct sub-types that parallel the two sub-groups discerned by multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) done previously. A high degree of congruity was displayed among the results generated by the different analytical methods that had examined various cellular components and exposed intra-specific heterogeneity among the 12 strains. Three of the ten strains subjected to MLEE constituted a new zymodeme, zymodeme MON-307, and seven belonged to the known zymodeme MON-137. Ten of the 15 enzymes in the profile of zymodeme MON-307 displayed different electrophoretic mobilities compared with the enzyme profile of the zymodeme MON-137. The closest profile to that of zymodeme MON-307 was that of the zymodeme MON-76 known from Syria. Strains of the zymodeme MON-307 were EF sub-serotype A2 and those of the zymodeme MON-137 were either A9 or A9B4. The sub-serotype B4 component appears, so far, to be unique to some strains of L. tropica of zymodeme MON-137. Strains of the zymodeme MON-137 displayed a distinctive fragment of 417 bp that was absent in those of zymodeme MON-307 when their kDNA was digested with the endonuclease RsaI. kDNA-RFLP after digestion with the endonuclease MboI facilitated a further level of differentiation that partially coincided with the geographical distribution of the human cases from which the strains came. Conclusions The Palestinian strains that were assigned to different genetic groups differed in their MLEE profiles and their EF types. A new zymodeme, zymodeme MON-307 was discovered that seems to be unique to the northern part of the Palestinian West Bank. What seemed to be a straight forward classical situation of L. tropica causing anthroponotic CL in the Jenin District might be a more complex situation, owing to the presence of two separate sub-types of L. tropica that, possibly, indicates two separate transmission cycles involving two separate types of phlebotomine sand fly vector

A successful chronic care program in Al Ain-United Arab Emirates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cost effective provision of quality care for chronic diseases is a major challenge for health care systems. We describe a project to improve the care of patients with the highly prevalent disorders of diabetes and hypertension, conducted in one of the major cities of the United Arab Emirates.</p> <p>Settings and Methods</p> <p>The project, using the principles of quality assurance cycles, was conducted in 4 stages.</p> <p>The assessment stage consisted of a community survey and an audit of the health care system, with particular emphasis on chronic disease care. The information gleaned from this stage provided feedback to the staff of participating health centers. In the second stage, deficiencies in health care were identified and interventions were developed for improvements, including topics for continuing professional development.</p> <p>In the third stage, these strategies were piloted in a single health centre for one year and the outcomes evaluated. In the still ongoing fourth stage, the project was rolled out to all the health centers in the area, with continuing evaluation. The intervention consisted of changes to establish a structured care model based on the predicted needs of this group of patients utilizing dedicated chronic disease clinics inside the existing primary health care system. These clinics incorporated decision-making tools, including evidence-based guidelines, patient education and ongoing professional education.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The intervention was successfully implemented in all the health centers. The health care quality indicators that showed the greatest improvement were the documentation of patient history (e.g. smoking status and physical activity); improvement in recording physical signs (e.g. body mass index (BMI)); and an improvement in the requesting of appropriate investigations, such as HbA1c and microalbuminurea. There was also improvement in those parameters reflecting outcomes of care, which included HbA1c, blood pressure and lipid profiles. Indicators related to lifestyle changes, such as smoking cessation and BMI, failed to improve.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Chronic disease care is a joint commitment by health care providers and patients. This combined approach proved successful in most areas of the project, but the area of patient self management requires further improvement.</p