Preparation and evaluation of poly lactic acid antioxidant packaging films containing thyme, rosemary and oregano essential oils.

Protecting foods from oxidation for appreciable amounts of time is becoming a major challenge for the food industry. Lipid containing foods are the most susceptible types of food to oxidation. In the present research study, thyme, rosemary and oregano essential oils were incorporated into PLA to generate antioxidant active packaging films based on the antioxidant activity of the used essential oils. Antioxidant activity of pure essential oils as well as film extracts were assessed by the DPPH method to ensure their efficiency. The antioxidant effect of prepared active films was also evaluated in contact with minced trout fish meat by using the TBA method. Mechanical properties, oxygen permeability and migration properties of the films were tested. Thyme essential oil showed a Radical Scavenging Activity (RSA) of 84.57% in the DPPH test, while rosemary and oregano had a RSA of 87.92% and 87.73% respectively at 10000 ppm concentration. Antioxidant activity of methanol extracts from thyme, rosemary and oregano films were between 4% and 6% lower than that shown by pure essential oils at the same concentration. TBA test results showed a decrease in degree of oxidation of minced fish packaged in thyme active film by 10.8% as compared to that packaged in control film. While Rosemary active film reduced oxidation by 20.3%. Oregano active film caused the highest decrease in oxidation by 47.9%. PLA films prepared by the solvent casting method containing thyme, rosemary or oregano essential oils may be used as antioxidant active packaging materials

Optimum design of RC affordable housing

Efforts have been made to minimize the cost of affordable housing through modular construction, prefabrication, economies of scale and low cost materials. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the integration of the varying sizes of the units with design optimization to mutually benefit developers and potential residents of affordable homes. This research introduces an optimization model to integrate optimization with ranges of units\u27 dimensions. The model proposed exploits the variations in the reinforced concrete cost versus area through applying several scenarios. Available options are tailored to optimize the reinforced concrete floor cost of housing units through varying the dimensions of the rooms. In addition to this objective, the thesis investigates the sensitivity of selected parameters on the model output. Through these objectives, the model is able to optimize housing units within a specified budget to result in layouts with varying areas where the model would recommend the layout with the least reinforced concrete cost per m2 within the budget range. In addition, it optimizes housing units within a specified area range to result in layouts with varying cost where the model would recommend the layout with the least reinforced concrete cost per m2 in the selected area range. The model has been applied on 2 case studies where it showed promising results. The research was able to optimize the cost for a given area or increase the area for a given cost. For example, it was able to decrease the cost by 15% for the same area. These percentages are based on the selected examples. Different savings may be achieved with other layouts. However, this is dependent largely on the initial design and dimensions of the unit

The Interpretation of International Investment Treaties: The Application of MFN Clauses to Matters of Dispute Settlement in BITs

The decisions of the arbitral tribunals have been under heavy attack for the inconsistent and unintended interpretations that went beyond the intent of the parties as it is expressed in the treaty provisions. One of these misinterpreted provisions is the MFN clause. Many tribunals have used this clause to allocate the adjudicatory authority between international arbitration and domestic courts. The problem of this application is a matter of treaty interpretation that is governed by the international rules of interpretation in the VCLT. These rules provide a balance approach to treaty interpretation and recognize equally the legitimate rights and interests of the host states and foreign investors. The root cause of the interpretive problems in investor-state arbitration is the neglect and misapplication of the international rules on treaty interpretation. Although, interpretation is not an exact science, it is still a science requiring the application of particular rules to produce correct results. These rules are established to respect the states\u27 intentions, not to deny any relevance of these intentions to interpretation. A full compliance with these rules will lead to correct interpretations and ensure that these interpretations are consistent with parties’ intentions as it is expressed in the terms of the treaty. The duty of adjudicators is to discover the meaning of the treaty provisions; examining evidence according to the logical sequence of the rules of interpretation in the VCLT, and provide the parties with impartial interpretations. It is not their duty to harmonize dispute settlement arrangements in BITs or impose this harmonized system upon states against their intent. The actual application of these rules of interpretation works as a roadmap to reach the consistent meanings of the treaty provisions and will give us a negative answer to the question of whether the MFN clause should be applied to dispute settlement provisions in BITs or not

Use of a Cutaneous Body Image (CBI) scale to evaluate self perception of body image in acne vulgaris

 Skin disorders such as acne, which have significant cosmetic implications, can affect the self-perception of cutaneous body image. There are many scales which measure self-perception of cutaneous body image. We evaluated the use of a simple Cutaneous Body Image (CBI) scale to assess self-perception of body image in a sample of young Arab patients affected with acne. A total of 70 patients with acne answered the CBI questionnaire. The CBI score was correlated with the severity of acne and acne scarring, gender, and history of retinoids use. There was no statistically significant correlation between CBI and the other parameters – gender, acne/acne scarring severity, and use of retinoids. Our study suggests that cutaneous body image perception in Arab patients with acne was not dependent on variables like gender and severity of acne or acne scarring. A simple CBI scale alone is not a sufficiently reliable tool to assess self-perception of body image in patients with acne vulgaris.</span

Blood Transfusion in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease Requiring Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with sickle cell disease was found to be safe without preoperative blood transfusion

Calibration-free Text Entry Using Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements

In this paper, we propose a calibration-free gaze-based text entry system that uses smooth pursuit eye movements. We report on our implementation, which improves over prior work on smooth pursuit text entry by 1) eliminating the need of calibration using motion correlation, 2) increasing input rate from 3.34 to 3.41 words per minute, 3) featuring text suggestions that were trained on 10,000 lexicon sentences recommended in the literature. We report on a user study (N=26) which shows that users are able to eye type at 3.41 words per minutes without calibration and without user training. Qualitative feedback also indicates that users positively perceive the system. Our work is of particular benefit for disabled users and for situations when voice and tactile input are not feasible (e.g., in noisy environments or when the hands are occupied)

Effervescent Atomization of Suspensions in a Gaseous Cross Flow

Atomization of liquids (pure liquids and suspensions) plays an important role in numerous industrial fields and applications. One of the main important applications is in thermal spraying processes which is the primary motivation for this study. The main trend in thermal spray processes is to coat with sub-micron and nano sized particles due to the superior performance of fine microstructured coatings. Recently, thermal spraying processes are using the suspension spraying technique. The breakup of a suspension in the atomization process differs from that of a pure liquid by the influence of the suspended particles on the fragmentation kinetics. In suspension spraying process, different types of atomizers are used but clogging problems can occur due to the suspension properties. Effervescent atomizers have shown to be a good alternative to the conventional atomizers to solve clogging issue when liquids with large variety of viscosity and density such as suspensions are atomized. In this study, effervescent atomization of suspensions in a crossflow of air is investigated experimentally. The tests have been performed at different liquid-to-gas momentum flux ratios (q) and different gas to liquid ratios (GLR). Hydrophilic and hydrophobic particles are used in the experiments. Shadowgraphy and image processing have been used in order to capture the penetration height of the spray. New correlations have been developed to predict the spray penetration height of suspensions in case the non-aerated liquid jet (GLR= 0) and for the aerated liquid jet (GLR ≠ 0). Moreover, suspensions properties such as viscosity and surface tension have a crucial effect on the atomization process. Because the atomization process and droplet formation occur in a very short timescale of the order of milliseconds, it is necessary to analyze the rapid change of the affecting suspension properties related to this timescale especially surface tension. Therefore, the time changing (dynamic) surface tension is more appropriate to be analyzed than static surface tension. In this work, the dynamic surface tension of suspensions is investigated using a combined analytical and experimental approach based on the physics governing the oscillation of elliptical jets. The dynamic surface tension of suspensions liquids in the timescale of milliseconds is calculated. The effect of the dynamic surface tension of suspension on its atomization process has been analyzed