Optimization of energy conservation measures to improve efficiency in commercial buildings.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.In addition to international energy concerns, South Africa is facing its own electricity generation challenges. Periodic load shedding leads to a decrease in national revenue as the production of goods and services comes to a halt and investor confidence in the country declines. This particularly affects small businesses and contributes to unemployment. Many South African government buildings are old with poor energy management practices. These buildings tend to consume more energy than necessary, making the buildings highly energy intensive, thus compounding the energy demand on the grid. The country’s energy challenge and the lack of energy efficiency in commercial buildings adds to excessive and wasteful consumption of energy, which negatively impacts the environment and the already hurt economy. The aim of this research was to evaluate energy efficiency in a public commercial building and identify the drivers and barriers to energy efficiency to improve energy management practices and ensure electrical and mechanical systems are energy efficient. The outcome from this research indicates that energy consumption can be improved and reduced by using energy efficient technology, implementing energy efficient design techniques for systems design, and incorporating energy conservation measures where possible. Effective energy management of a commercial building involves operation and maintenance of electro-mechanical equipment and continuously improving energy consumption by monitoring the buildings energy use. Another important outcome from this research is that government regulations, building policies and other regulatory documents play an important role in encouraging the implementation of energy efficiency as well as monitoring and improving energy usage. A review of energy efficiency in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems indicated that energy efficiency can be implemented from the design stage, where the designer selects energy efficient technology so that energy efficiency of the system is optimised. A review of various articles concluded that energy efficiency of lighting systems and miscellaneous electrical loads (MELs) can be improved by the use of energy efficient light bulbs, occupancy sensors, day/night switches and other novel energy efficient technologies. The review on drivers and barriers to energy efficiency showed that drivers and barriers to energy efficiency can be found in various stages of a building’s life cycle, and in some cases decisions made at the inception stages affect the energy consumption during the operation of the facility. The experimental results showed that the energy conservation measures implemented in the buildings in this study were relatively cost effective and produced a significant improvement in the consumption of electrical energy

Implementing the PAWS Model of capacity building in South Africa

Partners for Water and Sanitation (PAWS) is a trisector capacity building programme that supports the development of capacity for improved water and sanitation services in three African countries. The PAWS programme in South Africa, started in 2004, has supported a number of incountry partners at local, provincial and national spheres of government in areas including water quality laboratory accreditation, water demand management, contract management and customer services. Experience of working with a range of municipalities and government agencies has identified lessons relevant to the future of the PAWS programme, which are also relevant to other such capacity building initiatives operating in similar countries

Multiple Patterns of FHIT Gene Homozygous Deletion in Egyptian Breast Cancer Patients

Fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene encodes a putative tumour suppressor protein. Loss of Fhit protein in cancer is attributed to different genetic alterations that affect the FHIT gene structure. In this study, we investigated the pattern of homozygous deletion that target the FHIT gene exons 3 to 9 genomic structure in Egyptian breast cancer patients. We have found that 65% (40 out of 62) of the cases exhibited homozygous deletion in at least one FHIT exon. The incidence of homozygous deletion was not associated with patients' clinicopathological parameters including patients' age, tumour grade, tumour type, and lymph node involvement. Using correlation analysis, we have observed a strong correlation between homozygous deletions of exon 3 and exon 4 (P < 0.0001). Deletions in exon 5 were positively correlated with deletions in exon 7 (P < 0.0001), Exon 8 (P < 0.027), and exon 9 (P = 0.04). Additionally, a strong correlation was observed between exons 8 and exon 9 (P < 0.0001).We conclude that FHIT gene exons are homozygously deleted at high frequency in Egyptian women population diagnosed with breast cancer. Three different patterns of homozygous deletion were observed in this population indicating different mechanisms of targeting FHIT gene genomic structure

Some morphometric relationship traits of Labeo bata (Hamilton, 1822) from Head Panjnad, Pakistan

In the present research work, 127 Labeo bata having diverse body size ranging from 8.20 to 16.00 cm total length collected from Head Panjnad, Pakistan were used for the analysis of some morphometrics, that is, length-weight and length-length relationships. Condition factor and their relationships to investigate growth external morphometric characters, that is, total length (TL), standard length (SL), fork length (FL), head length (HL), head width (HW), body girth (BG), dorsal fin length (DFL), dorsal fin base (DFB), pectoral fin length (PtFL), pectoral fin base (PtFB), pelvic fin length (PvFL), anal fin length (AFL), caudal fin length (CFL) and caudal fin width (CFW) showed highly significant correlation with both cases, that is, increasing total length and body weight. A significant positive relationship was found between condition factor (K) and body weight, while no significant correlation was found in condition factor and total length.Key words: Morphometry, length-weight, length-length relationship, condition factor, Labeo bata

Kinetics and Thermodynamic Studies for Removal of Trypan Blue and Methylene Blue from Water Using Nano Clay Filled Composite of HTAB and PEG and its Antibacterial Activity

This work describes the preparation of new eco-friendly adsorbents with a simple method. At first, Montmorillonite (MMT) was modified with surfactant HTAB (MMT@HTAB) and then with polymer PEG (MMT@HTAB@PEG). The as-synthesized materials were characterized by several characterization techniques, including XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, TGA, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm analysis by the BET method and zeta potential measurement then evaluated as adsorbents for removal of both methylene blue (MB) as a cationic dye and trypan blue (TB) as the anionic dye from aqueous solution under different contact time, dye concentration, temperature, and pH. The obtained results confirm the intercalation of surfactant within the clay layers, while the obtained nanocomposite showed different morphologies and structures in which the exfoliated and intercalated forms were obtained. The maximum adsorption capacity of TB and MB was found to be 190.81 and 237.22 mg/g, respectively, with MMT@HTAB@PEG adsorbent in an initial concentration of 100 mg/L at alkaline pH in 35 min and a temperature of 25 °C. The adsorption kinetics of TB and MB on MMT@HTAB@PEG was best fitted by the pseudo-second order model, and the isotherms results reveals better consistency of the Langmuir model, indicating that the adsorption is favorable and in the form of multilayers. The thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption processes of TB and MB by the both MMT@HTAB and MMT@HTAB@PEG adsorbents occur in an autonomous way and the temperature has not a significant effect on the adsorption capacity of TB and MB dyes. In addition, MMT@HTAB showed good antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739) and Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 9341) bacteria compared to MMT@HTAB@PEG. The broadcast area was found to be 6 and 5 mm in Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739) and Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 9341), respectively

Catalytic Reduction of Dyes and Antibacterial Activity of AgNPs@Zn@Alginate Composite Aerogel Beads

This work focuses on the preparation of aerogel composite beads based on Zn(II)-crosslinked alginate and loaded with different percentages of AgNPs using a simple approach. The obtained samples were evaluated in two different applications: the first application consists in their use as catalysts for the reduction of MB, MO, OG and CR dyes in a simple and binary system under the presence of NaBH4. For this, several parameters affecting the catalytic behavior of these catalysts have been investigated and discussed such as the catalyst mass, AgNPs content, dye nature, and the selectivity of the catalyst in a binary system. The second application concerns their antibacterial activities towards two Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and a Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923). The physico-chemical properties of different samples were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM/EDS, and TGA analysis. The obtained results confirmed the presence of AgNPs on a highly porous alginate structure. The dispersion of a high percentage of AgNPs leads to the formation of nanoparticles on the outer surface of the alginate which led to their leaching after the catalytic test, while the composite having a low percentage of AgNPs showed good results through all dyes without leaching of AgNPs. For the antibacterial application of the different samples, it was shown that a composite with a higher percentage of AgNPs was the most effective against all bacteria

Bacteriological and sanitary quality of raw cow milk in the central region of Algeria

L’objectif de l’étude consiste à évaluer et à comparer la qualité bactériologique et sanitaire du lait cru de vache provenant de deux circuits de vente: directe (D) et indirect (ID). Au total, 246 échantillons de laits ont été prélevés pour des fins analytiques. Une analyse microbiologique et un dénombrement de la flore totale (FT), coliformes totaux (CT), coliformes fécaux (CF), Escherichia coli (E. coli) et Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) ont été réalisés. Les résidus d’antibiotiques (R.ATB) ont été détectés au moyen du DELVOTEST SP-NT. Les résultats ont révélé que la majorité des laits présente une FT dépassant le seuil de 105 UFC.ml-1. Des charges moyennes élevées de CT ont été mis en évidence dans les laits du circuit D (2,6 103 UFC.ml-1)et ID (2,5 103 UFC.ml-1). Comparativement au circuit ID, les laits du circuit D ont été significativement plus contaminés par la FT (91,8 % versus 81,0 %, P&lt;0,05) et ont présenté une charge moyenne en E. coli et un taux de contamination en S. aureus significativement plus élevé. Les R.ATB ont été détectés à des taux de 33,3 et 29,8 %. Les laits crus analysés sont fortement contaminés par les germes et les antibiotiques, quelle que soit leur origine. Mots-clés: Lait commercialisé, qualité bactériologique, résidus d’antibiotiques, AlgérieThe objectives of this study were to evaluate and to compare the bacteriological and sanitary quality of raw cow milk coming from two sales circuits: direct (D) and indirect (ID). In all, 246 milk samples were collected for analysis. Microbiological analysis and enumeration of the total flora (TF), total coliforms (TC), faecal coliforms (CF), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were carried out. Antibiotic residues (R.ATB) were investigated using DELVOTEST SP-NT. The results revealed that the majority of milk samples have a TF exceeding the threshold of 105 CFU.ml-1. High TC average loads were isolated in milk samples of D (2.6 103 CFU.ml-1) and ID circuit (2.5 103 CFU.ml-1).Compared to the ID circuit, milks of the D circuit were significantly more contaminated by the TF (91.8% versus 81.0 %, P&lt;0.05), and have presented an E. coli medium load and an S. aureus contamination rate significantly higher. The antibiotics residues were detected at the rates of 33.3 and 29.8 %. Analyzed raw milks were highly contaminated by germs and antibiotics, whatever is their origin. Keywords: Marketed milk, bacteriological quality, antibiotic residues, Algeri

Effective extraction of cephalosporin C from whole fermentation broth of Acremonium chrysogenum utilizing aqueous two phase systems

The downstream processing of biotechnological products from fermentation broth is an important step of production and development of cost effective, efficient downstream processing of many biotechnological products. The present study was conducted by employing aqueous two phase systems (ATPSs) for the extraction of cephalosporin C (CPC) from whole fermentation broth of Acremonium chrysogenum. The biphasic system was prepared by mixing equal aliquots of 15% w/w polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3350 with 15% (NH4)2SO4. The effects of pH, neutral salts, temperature and centrifugal force on partitioning in ATPS to develop efficient extraction system for recovery of CPC from fermentation broth were also examined. The extraction efficiency was improved by enhancing the centrifugal force. Similarly centrifugation for 12.5 min also gave the maximum extraction. Improvement in the recovery yield was also observed by the addition of 0.1% NaCl. The concentration of CPC was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Slight modifications in the mobile phase from 10 to 5% MeOH improved CPC resolution. Further development of more inexpensive systems for extraction can be the future target of research.Keywords: Cephalosporin C, Acremonium chrysogenum, fermentation, aqueous two phase system (ATPS

Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere of saffron (Crocus sativus) plants along with age of plantation in Taliouine region in Morocco

Saffron cultivation is a viable alternative for marginal areas where low soil fertility and water availability severely limit the cultivation of other crops with higher water and input requirments. Under these conditions, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an essential alternative for maintaining fertility and water conservation, stimulating growth, and providing plant protection against soil-borne diseases. The aim of this work is to highlight the diversity of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities associated with saffron roots in plantations of different ages (two, four and ten years old) in the region of Taliouine (Morocco). The highest number of endomycorrhizal spores was recorded in the rhizosphere of saffron plants harvested at the level of plots that have carried saffron for two years (138.66/100 g soil), while the lowest number was observed in the rhizosphere of plants of plots that are occupied for 10 years by saffron. All collected spores from plots under study represent 17 morphotypes belonging to 5 genera: Glomus (7 species), Acaulospora (7 species), Rhizophagus (one species), Densicitata (one species), and Funneliformis (one species)