The efficiency of DBD cold plasma pen treatment on the oyster mushroom bacterial decontamination

Cold plasma provided bacterial inactivation role in food industry. In this study, the cold plasma play a crucial inactivation role when effectively reduces the bacteria colonies on oyster mushroom surface. By development of the dielectric barrier discharge-cold plasma pen (DBD-CPP) system, the mushroom surface was exposed to the cold plasma discharge with variable of exposure treatment time (0 min, 0.5 min, 1 min, 3 min and 5 min) with ~6 kV of power voltage and 5 SLM of atmospheric gas pressure flow rate. In order to identify the reduction of the microbial growth, isolation technique will be carry out by excising the mushroom sample into a suspension and serial dilution follows by identification of its colony morphologies and characteristics. Results screening shows increments of exposure treatment times up to 3 min shows none growth of bacteria colonies. This because the bacteria cell wall was disrupt and destruction by the plasma bombardment. Thus, this study able to extend the lifetime of the mushroom and produce a free microbial fresh mushroom by decontaminate the bacteria on the mushroom surface

Micro-doppler detection in forward scattering radar: theoretical analysis and experiment

Forward scatter radar (FSR) is actively studied in the field of radars, as it has many advantages such as robust to radar absorbing material and possibility in target recognition. In many radar systems, micro-Doppler signature is one of the most distinguished information used for target recognition. Yet, there is lacking in established work on investigating the feasibility of using FSR to detect and analyse micro-Doppler signature generated from micro-motions of moving targets. Hence, a theoretical and experimental investigation of using the FSR to detect micro-Doppler signatures is presented. The preliminary results for both theoretical and experiment investigations verified that the FSR system is capable to detect the micro-Doppler signature for a swinging pendulum attached to the moving trolley

A novel application of Lobatto iiia solver for numerical treatment of mixed convection nanofluidic model

The objective of the current investigation is to examine the influence of variable viscosity and transverse magnetic field on mixed convection fluid model through stretching sheet based on copper and silver nanoparticles by exploiting the strength of numerical computing via Lobatto IIIA solver. The nonlinear partial differential equations are changed into ordinary differential equations by means of similarity transformations procedure. A renewed finite difference based Lobatto IIIA method is incorporated to solve the fluidic system numerically. Vogel's model is considered to observe the influence of variable viscosity and applied oblique magnetic field with mixed convection along with temperature dependent viscosity. Graphical and numerical illustrations are presented to visualize the behavior of different sundry parameters of interest on velocity and temperature. Outcomes reflect that volumetric fraction of nanoparticles causes to increase the thermal conductivity of the fluid and the temperature enhances due to blade type copper nanoparticles. The convergence analysis on the accuracy to solve the problem is investigated viably though the residual errors with different tolerances to prove the worth of the solver. The temperature of the fluid accelerates due the blade type nanoparticles of copper and skin friction coefficient is reduced due to enhancement of Grashof Number

A Review of Forensic Entomology Cases at Ipoh Hospital and Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for the Year 2003

Forensic entomology was utilized to determine the postmortem interval of eleven forensic cases sentfor autopsy examination at Ipoh Hospital and Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia between of Januaryto December 2003. Sixth species of sarcosaprophagous flies: Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya rufifacies,Chrysomya villeneuvi, Chrysomya nigripes, Synthesiomya nudiseta and a sarcophagid fly were found amongthe maggot specimens received by the Forensic Entomology Laboratory, Department of Parasitology &Medical Entomology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Those maggots were collected from dead bodiesfound among others in wrapped in gunny bags, around water tank, hanged with black nylon clothes, insidehome, beside road, drowning in lombong and an estate. Ch. megacephala was the main species found in eightcases examined. Postmortem Interval (PMI) estimated from the cases varied from one day to 10 days

Permeance Based Algorithm For Computation Of Flux Linkage Characteristics Of Non-Linear 6/4 Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)

The concept of permeance is used in the analysis of flux linkage of 6/4 SRM. The aim of this paper is to develop an efficient algorithm exploiting the nonlinear feature of the 6/4 SRM using the aforementioned concept of permeance. The first step is to generate the relevant equations related to permeances of the 6/4 SRM under study. The 6/4 SRM’s magnetization curve is then derived from the summation of mmf drops at various blocks representing the motor. The air gap permeances are derived at various angles and 3-D leakage effects are taken into account. These permeances are used for the mmf drop computation. The algorithm is capable of efficiently computing mmf drop at every block to consequently yield a complete accurate nonlinear flux linkage feature of the 6/4 switched reluctance motor. In this way, the capability of the SRM to produce the expected four times the specific output torque due to operation in high saturation region compared to an equivalent induction motor as special the attribute of the SRM is demonstrated

Molecular epidemiology of hcv among health care workers of khyber pakhtunkhwa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies of the molecular epidemiology and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) in health care workers (HCWs) of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region are scarce. Lack of awareness about the transmission of HCV and regular blood screening is contributing a great deal towards the spread of hepatitis C. This study is an attempt to investigate the prevalence of HCV and its possible association with both occupational and non-occupational risk factors among the HCWs of Peshawar.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Blood samples of 824 HCWs, aged between 20-59 years were analysed for anti-HCV antibodies, HCV RNA and HCV genotypes by Immunochromatographic tests and PCR. All relevant information was obtained from the HCWs with the help of a questionnaire. The study revealed that 4.13% of the HCWs were positive for HCV antibodies, while HCV RNA was detected in 2.79% of the individuals. The most predominant HCV genotype was 3a and 2a.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A program for education about occupational risk factors and regular blood screening must be implemented in all healthcare setups of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in order to help reduce the burden of HCV infection.</p

Rising burden of Hepatitis C Virus in hemodialysis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>High prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported among the dialysis patients throughout the world. No serious efforts were taken to investigate HCV in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) treatment who are at great increased risk to HCV. HCV genotypes are important in the study of epidemiology, pathogenesis and reaction to antiviral therapy. This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of active HCV infection, HCV genotypes and to assess risk factors associated with HCV genotype infection in HD patients of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as comparing this prevalence data with past studies in Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Polymerase chain reaction was performed for HCV RNA detection and genotyping in 384 HD patients. The data obtained was compared with available past studies from Pakistan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Anti HCV antibodies were observed in 112 (29.2%), of whom 90 (80.4%) were HCV RNA positive. In rest of the anti HCV negative patients, HCV RNA was detected in 16 (5.9%) patients. The dominant HCV genotypes in HCV infected HD patients were found to be 3a (n = 36), 3b (n = 20), 1a (n = 16), 2a (n = 10), 2b (n = 2), 1b (n = 4), 4a (n = 2), untypeable (n = 10) and mixed (n = 12) genotype.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggesting that i) the prevalence of HCV does not differentiate between past and present infection and continued to be elevated ii) HD patients may be a risk for HCV due to the involvement of multiple routes of infections especially poor blood screening of transfused blood and low standard of dialysis procedures in Pakistan and iii) need to apply infection control practice.</p