Izravna i neizravna sterilizacija mikroba plazmom

Atmospheric-pressure parallel-plate dielectric barrier discharge has been designed for sterilization of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and Candida yeasts. Oxygen has been used as the input working gas. The output gas after discharge operation was a mixture of both ozone and oxygen, with concentration that depends on the applied voltage between the electrodes, gap space and gas flow rate. Sterilization process has been done in two ways, by direct exposure to oxygen plasma inside the discharge cell and by indirect exposure to the plasma. Survivor curves, and scanning and transmission electron microscope were used to study the inactivation kinetics and morphology of the yeast surface before and after sterilization. It has been found that the indirect sterilization causes yeast inactivation in a short time, less than three minutes, while the direct sterilization took place in a longer time, more than ten minutes.Sagradili smo posudu s usporednim pločama i dielektričnom pregradom za postizanje izboja na atmosferskom tlaku, namijenjenu za proučavanje sterilizacije mikroba Saccharomyces Cerevisiae i Candida. Radni plin bio je kisik. Izlazni plin iz posude bio je smjesa ozona i kisika, čija je koncentracija ovisna o vaponu izboja među elektrodama, procijepu i brzini protjecanja plina. Sterilizacija se provodila na dva načina, izravnim izlaganjem u izbojnoj posudi i neizravnim izlaganjem plazmi. Za proučavanje kinetike prekida aktivnosti stanične plazme i oblika mikrobne površine rabili smo krivulje preživjelih stanica prije i poslije sterilizacije. Ustanovili smo da neizravna sterilizacija dovodi do prekida aktivnosti mikroba u kratkom vremenu, manje od tri minute, dok je izravna sterilizacija trajala dulje, više od deset minuta

Hand detection and segmentation using smart path tracking fingers as features and expert system classifier

Nowadays, hand gesture recognition (HGR) is getting popular due to several applications such as remote based control using a hand, and security for access control. One of the major problems of HGR is the accuracy lacking hand detection and segmentation. In this paper, a new algorithm of hand detection will be presented, which works by tracking fingers smartly based on the planned path. The tracking operation is accomplished by assuming a point at the top middle of the image containing the object then this point slides few pixels down to be a reference point then branching into two slopes: left and right. On these slopes, fingers will be scanned to extract flip-numbers, which are considered as features to be classified accordingly by utilizing the expert system. Experiments were conducted using 100 images for 10-individual containing hand inside a cluttered background by using Dataset of Leap Motion and Microsoft Kinect hand acquisitions. The recorded accuracy is depended on the complexity of the Flip-Number setting, which is achieved 96%, 84% and 81% in case 6, 7 and 8 Flip_Numbers respectively, in which this result reflects a high level of finite accuracy in comparing with existing techniques

Increasing the Efficiency of Liquid Phase Alkylation of Benzene with Propylene Using the Method of Mathematical Modeling

In this study the existing problems of liquid-phase alkylation of benzene with propylene problems are indicated. The paper describes the stages alkylation of benzene with propylene mathematical model development. The model allows to define the composition of the product stream under changing of plant process parameters: temperature, benzene/propylene molar ratio and feed space velocity. The error of the model does not exceed 7.5%. «Alkylation» computer modeling system is developed in Borland Delphi 7 and the optimization module of the process parameters is called «Optimization». In Aspen HYSYS the technological scheme of rectification products alkylation of benzene with propylene using aluminum chloride catalyst was developed. Integration of computer models allowed to determine the technological modes of production, providing isopropylbenzene outlet with higher quality

Clostridium difficile : Infection, diagnosis and treatment with antimicrobial drugs : A review article

Clostridium difï¬cile infection (CDI) is increasing problem in healthcare, associated with high incidence, mortality, and costs in hospitalized patients.  Dramatic increases in the incidence and severity of healthcare-associated C. difficile infection have occurred since the last decade, including elderly population, young adults, pregnant females, infants and children. C. difï¬cile infections are mainly linked to the prolonged use of wide-spectrum antibiotics that disrupt the intestinal microbiota equilibrium. Toxigenic strains of C. difï¬cile commonly produce two clostridial toxins, toxins A (TcdA) and B (TcdB), to which disease symptoms are attributed. Few strains of C. difï¬cile may also produce another more powerful binary toxin associated with high fatality. The clinical manifestations of infection with toxin-producing strains of C. difï¬cile range from symptomless carriage, to mild or moderate watery-bloody diarrhea, and few percentage developed fulminant and sometimes fatal pseudomembranous colitis. Complications that have been associated with CDI include dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, toxic megacolon, bowel perforation, hypotension, renal failure, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, and death. The most important step in treating CDI is immediately discontinuing use of offending antimicrobial drug. Both metronidazole and vancomycin are equally effective for the treatment of mild CDI, but vancomycin is superior for treating patients with severe C. difï¬cile disease. Recently, fidaxomicin proved to be superior to other drugs in treatment of patients who are at high risk for CDI relapse.Â

Critical care nurses' experiences during the Illness of family members : a qualitative study

Introduction: A loved one's hospitalization in a critical care unit is a traumatic experience for families. However, because of their status and professional competence, a family member who is also a critical care nurse has additional obstacles and often long-term consequences. Objectives: To describe the experiences of critical care nurse-family members when a loved one is admitted to a critical care unit at the Hotel-Dieu de France hospital. Methods: A qualitative path based on van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology combining both descriptive and interpretive models were adopted. Results: The lived experience of critical care nurses in providing care for their family members admitted into the same critical care were summarized in five themes. Nurses were torn between roles, consisting of confounding roles, their registered nurse status, and watchfulness. The lived experience of critical care nurses in providing care for their family members admitted into the same critical care was summarized into specialized knowledge that included a double-edged sword of seeking information and difficulty delivering the information. Critical nurses compete for expectations, including those placed on self and family members, resulting in emotional and personal sacrifice while gaining insight into the experiences. Conclusions: Critical care nurse-family members have a unique experience compared to the rest of the family, necessitating specialized care and attention. Increased awareness among healthcare providers could be a start in the right direction

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

Optimizing accuracy and efficacy in data-driven materials discovery for the solar production of hydrogen

The production of hydrogen fuels, via water splitting, is of practical relevance for meeting global energy needs and mitigating the environmental consequences of fossil-fuel-based transportation. Water photoelectrolysis has been proposed as a viable approach for generating hydrogen, provided that stable and inexpensive photocatalysts with conversion efficiencies over 10% can be discovered, synthesized at scale, and successfully deployed (Pinaud et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 1983). While a number of first-principles studies have focused on the data-driven discovery of photocatalysts, in the absence of systematic experimental validation, the success rate of these predictions may be limited. We address this problem by developing a screening procedure with co-validation between experiment and theory to expedite the synthesis, characterization, and testing of the computationally predicted, most desirable materials. Starting with 70 150 compounds in the Materials Project database, the proposed protocol yielded 71 candidate photocatalysts, 11 of which were synthesized as single-phase materials. Experiments confirmed hydrogen generation and favorable band alignment for 6 of the 11 compounds, with the most promising ones belonging to the families of alkali and alkaline-earth indates and orthoplumbates. This study shows the accuracy of a nonempirical, Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory method to predict band gaps and band offsets at a fraction of the computational cost of hybrid functionals, and outlines an effective strategy to identify photocatalysts for solar hydrogen generation

Stock assessment of freshwater crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) in Aras reservoir

360 funnel traps were prepared as 30 in one row. They were bitted and located in different depths in sampling sites. Two rows each composed of 30 traps were located by stone, linking rope and boat with 50 m distance in sampling stations. The results showed that the average of total length of caught crayfish was 106.26±12.89 mm and their mean weight was 38.79 ± 15.54 gr. The largest crayfish had 171 mm length and 216 g weight. Also mean of total CPUE was 9.72±4.49 individuals in the study period. The evaluation by Schnabel approach indicated that fluctuation range of freshwater crayfish biomass with more than 120mm length was 131-313 with an average of 212.59 ±30.23 kilograms per ha. In this study freshwater crayfish biomass with more than 120mm length was 247 × 10^3 kilograms. The Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) was estimated 83 × 10^3 kilograms. In this study ّFecundity and biometry of crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) was investigated during 2012-2013. The results showed that the average of total length of caught crayfish was 106.26±12.89 mm and their mean weight was 38.79 ± 15.54 gr. The largest crayfish had 171 mm length and 216 g weight. Mean number of ovarian and pleopodal eggs were estimated at 286 ± 82 and 246.31 ± 80.41 eggs (with 95% confidence limits), respectively. In this research, male to female ratio was obtained 1.21:1. The time of male moulting at 16°C was started from April and was ended in the late May, when the water temperature reached to 18° C. The second moulting of males and the first moulting of females was performed simultaneously in 18°C water temperature at September. Reproduction of freshwater crayfish was started from November and continued to May of the next year. Harvesting period was from May to late November