The antimicrobial activity of oil-in-water microemulsions is predicted by their position within the microemulsion stability zone

It has been shown previously that thermodynamically stable oil-in-water microemulsions have significant antimicrobial activity against planktonic cells and biofilm cells over short periods of exposure. It was the aim of this study to identify whether the position of the microemulsion within the microemulsion stability zone of the pseudo-ternary phase structure predicts the efficiency of the antimicrobial action of the microemulsion. Microemulsions were formulated at different points within the microemulsion stability zone. Experiments were performed to observe the kinetics of killing of these microemulsions against selected test microorganisms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404). The results indicated that the antimicrobial activity of the microemulsion is dependant upon its position within the zone of stability and is greater nearer the centre of that zone. The results indicate that significant antimicrobial activity can be observed at all points within the zone of microemulsion stability, but that maximal activity is to be found at the centre of that area

Collective behaviour of active matter : transition between states and cone of vision effects -

Dissertation. Ph.D. American University of Beirut. Department of Physics , 2016. D:73Advisor : Dr. Jihad Touma, Professor, Physics ; Co-advisor : Dr. Leonid Klushin, Professor, Physics ; Chair of Committee : Dr. Khalil Bitar, Professor, Physics ; Members of Committee : Dr. Kolbjorn Tunstrom, Assistant Professor, Complex System Group, Chalmers University of Technology ; Dr.Sara Najem, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-104)Examples of collective behavior are everywhere around us, from birds flocking, fish schooling, fireflies synchronizing, ants colonizing, crowds flowing, to individuals self-organizing into neighborhoods in cities. How does this all come about? Are these forms of collective behavior governed by unifying principles, and can one apprehend them through mathematical models, with insights, physical? I exhibit serious attempts at dealing with such similar questions, the way a physicist, armed with computational resources would. Working with agent-based models, I studied two-dimensional swarms, explored emergent self-organized states at low energies, their stability, their basins of attraction and the transitions between them. My experiments identify key ingredients for any future first principles theory of such behavior. Then, I shift settings and take a deep look at leader-follower dynamics, with cone-of-vision type coupling. My work is motivated by studies of shoals of fish in tanks. But rather than focusing on leadership behavior (which is fashionable in this field), I identify leader-avoiding states, which have as much to say about conditions of effective leadership, as they do about robots in formation, and-or paradoxical regimes of human behavior in confinement

A method for verifying choreographies and their implementations

Thesis. M.S. American University of Beirut. Department of Computer Science, 2019. T:6978.Advisor : Dr. Paul Attie, Professor, Computer Science ; Members of Committee : Dr. Mohamad Jaber, Assistant Professor, Computer Science ; Dr. Amer Mouawad, Assistant Professor, Computer Science.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 46)A global choreography defines a communication pattern over a set of ports. The ports are partitioned into subsets, each subset being the ports that belong to a given process. From a choreography and an interaction architecture, a distributed implementation can be generated automatically. The implementation can then be analyzed for correctness using standard methods such as model checking, but this is subject to state-explosion. A more efficient approach is to verify that the choreography is correct, and to establish that the implementation automatically inherits the correctness properties of the choreography. Because the choreography is centralized, analyzing it provides a more manageable abstract view and it incurs less state explosion. We present such an approach in this thesis, along with several case studies illustrating its advantages in practice

Determinants Influencing Foreign Students' Decision to Study in UUM: A Study of UUM International Students

It is important that Higher Education Institutions recognized themselves as contributing in the service industry to meet with the increasing demand of their stakeholders. In competing globally, Malaysian institutions are becoming popular destination for overseas studies. This study investigates the relationship between Perception of the International students And Quality of Reputation, Promotion, Institutional Culture and People culture, Price and Quality and expertise of staff. The study involved foreign students who were studying at Universiti Utara Malaysia (Northern Malaysian University). A total number of 123 valid responses were collected through questionnaire-based survey method representing a total of 82% per cent response rate. The result of this study had indicated that there was a significant relationship between the determinants that influencing foreign student's decision to study in UUM

Critique of Orientalism in Contemporary One of the Gulf Province

The subject of Oriental studies primarily focuses on history and heritage. Orientalists have followed various methodologies in their readings of  history, and most of these methodologies have had an ideological character that works to reinforce the idea of European centrality. Based on this, several thinkers have worked on studying and analyzing these methodologies to uncover the ideological objectives employed in addressing issues in history. One great personality is considered one of the prominent contemporary Gulf country intellectuals who criticized Orientalist methodologies. He began his critique of Orientalism by engaging in a debate with Orientalists regarding their methodologies used in critiquing Orientalism. His critique was methodological rather than ideological, as he sought to highlight the flaws and biases in Orientalist methodologies and analyze them with rigorous scientific methodology. In general, towards Oriental studies was a methodological critique aimed at rectifying the shortcomings in the methodologies used in studying history and heritage. It was not an ideological critique aimed at tarnishing the image of Orientalists or proving the superiority of culture over European culture

Performing the Egyptian revolution : origins of collective restraint action in the Midan

This research was supported by a Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland grant.In January/February 2011, the world watched with admiration the Egyptian revolution that toppled President Housni Mubarak. The demonstration in Midan al-Tahrir (Liberation Square in central Cairo), which was the nucleus of the revolution, highlighted a largely spontaneous, civil and peaceful political performance. However, this performance was temporary, contradicting subsequent bloody conflicts in post-revolutionary Egypt. This article examines the socio-political origins of the Midan performance. It argues that the demonstrators exercised collective restraint, which was temporary but necessary, in order to topple Mubarak. Building on Norbert Elias’ civilising process theory and social movements literature, it is argued that the origins of this performance are found in a collective knowledge of regime strategy and narrative, Egyptian socio-political values and existing repertoires of contention. Drawing on primary sources and semi-structured interviews, the article contends that the demonstrators exercised collective restraint to reframe regime narrative and draw public support for the revolution.PostprintPeer reviewe

SYNTHESIS, STRUCTURAL ELUCIDATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL EVALUATION OF 2-{4-(T-AMINO)-2-(BUT-2-YN-1-YL)}-1, 3 BENZOTHIAZOLE DERIVATIVES

Objective: A new series of 2-{4-(t-amino)-2-(but-2-yn-1-yl)}-1,3-benzothiazole derivatives, 2-[4-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ2), 2-[4-(2-methylpiperidin-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ3), 2-[4-(piperidin-1-yl) but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ4), 2-[4-(azepan-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ5), 2-[4-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl) but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ6), 2-[4-(2, 6-dimethylpiperidin-1-yl) but-2-yn-1-yl]-1, 3-benzothiazole (BZ7) were synthesized and screened in vitro as potential antimicrobial agents.Methods: In-vitro antimicrobial activity evaluation was done, by agar diffusion method and broth dilution test against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538p, Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, and Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined. The results of antimicrobial testing were compared to two positive control drugs ciprofloxacin (5 µg/ml) and fluconazole (500µg/ml).Results: Compound 2-[4-(azepan-1-yl) but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ5) showed the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus with MIC value of 15.62 µg/ml while; Compound 2-[4-(2,6-dimethylpiperidin-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ7) exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa with MIC value of 31.25 µg/ml. Compounds 2-[4-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ2) and 2-[4-(azepan-1-yl)but-2-yn-1-yl]-1,3-benzothiazole (BZ5) showed the highest antifungal activity against C. albicans with MIC value of 15.62 µg/ml (for both).Conclusion: The results obtained showed variation in the antibacterial and antifungal activity based on the structure of the cyclic amines in these amino acetylenic benzothiazole derivatives. Keywords: Benzothiazole, Aminoacetylenic, Antibacterial, Antifungal, Mannich reactio

Design methodology for general enhancement of a single-stage self-compensated folded-cascode operational transconductance amplifiers in 65 nm CMOS process

The problems resulting from the use of nano-MOSFETs in the design of operational trans-conductance amplifiers (OTAs) lead to an urgent need for new design techniques to produce high-performance metrics OTAs suitable for very high-frequency applications. In this paper, the enhancement techniques and design equations for the proposed single-stage folded-cascode operational trans-conductance amplifiers (FCOTA) are presented for the enhancement of its various performance metrics. The proposed single-stage FCOTA adopts the folded-cascode (FC) current sources with cascode current mirrors (CCMs) load. Using 65 nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process from predictive technology model (PTM), the HSPICE2019-based simulation results show that the designed single-stage FCOTA can achieve a high open-loop differential-mode DC voltage gain of 65.64 dB, very high unity-gain bandwidth of 263 MHz, very high stability with phase-margin of 73°, low power dissipation of 0.97 mW, very low DC input-offset voltage of 0.14 uV, high swing-output voltages from −0.97 to 0.91 V, very low equivalent input-referred noise of 15.8 nV/Hz, very high common-mode rejection ratio of 190.64 dB, very high positive/negative slew-rates of 157.5/58.3 V⁄us, very fast settling-time of 5.1 ns, high extension input common-mode range voltages from −0.44to 1 V, and high positive/negative power-supply rejection ratios of 75.5/68.8 dB. The values of the small/large-signal figures-of-merits (s) are the highest when compared to other reported FCOTAs in the literature

CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF JORDANIAN PROPOLIS AND NIGELLA SATIVA SEED OIL AGAINST CLINICALLY ISOLATED MICROORGANISMS

Objective: Increasing use of medicinal plants in the treatment of infectious diseases are due to the development of multi-antibiotics resistant microorganisms, and had alerted our interest in the examination of some natural products. This study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial activity of Jordanian propolis, black seed oil (Nigella sativa) extract, alone or in combination against clinically isolated microorganisms (bacteria and fungi).Methods: Jordanian propolis samples were collected. Aqueous and alcoholic extractions were done; black seed oil was extracted from Nigella sativa seeds. Seven clinical isolated microorganisms namely: Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus pumilus, Bordetella bronchisptica, Enterococcus fecalis, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus, and one yeast strain namely Candida albicans were used. The antimicrobial activity was investigated by agar diffusion technique and microplate dilution to determine the MIC.Results: The results indicated that the alcoholic propolis extract showed higher antimicrobial activity than the aqueous propolis extract. The antimicrobial activity of black seed oil was significantly higher than that of the propolis. Mixing propolis with black seed oil showed synergism effects against some microorganisms as Enterococcus fecalis (24±1.1), Bordetella bronchisptica (20±0.9) and Candida albicans (40±2.3), and additive with others as Bacillus subtilis (28±1.8).Conclusion: Black seed oil and propolis might be used as a potential source of safe and effective natural antimicrobial in pharmaceutical and food industries