SERVICEABILITY BEHAVIOR OF NORMAL AND HIGH-STRENGTH REINFORCED CONCRETE T-BEAMS

Serviceability behavior of Normal Strength Concrete (NSC) and High Strength Concrete (HSC) T-beams was experimentally evaluated. The crack pattern was observed, the effect of flange dimensions (breadth and thickness) on the crack pattern and load-deflection response was evaluated experimentally for 10 beams comprising the two studied groups, NSC and HSC T-beams. The short-term deflections were measured experimentally and predicted empirically under mid-span concentrated loading. It was found that increasing the flange width and thickness resulted in higher loads and lower deflections under service loads to a different extent. Prior to failure, the increment in the maximum loads was up to 22% while the deflection reduced by 31% for NSC and 23% for HSC beams. The available equations for determining the effective moment of inertia (Ie) were reviewed and used in predicting the Ie of the cracked beam. The results were compared with the experimental values (Iexp). The Ie showed a noticeable difference, especially for the HSC T-beams. New equations were proposed in which the tensile reinforcement ratio was considered. Compared with the other available equations, the proposed equations demonstrated a better agreement and repeatability of predicting experimental results studied herein. In addition, the proposed equations were used to predict the Ie for experimentally tested T-beams available in the literature. The proposed models showed a high degree of accuracy

Antioxidant and antimicrobial phenolic compounds from extracts of cultivated and wild-grown Tunisian Ruta chalepensis

The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of phenolic compounds from cultivated and wild Tunisian Ruta chalepensis L. leaves, stems, and flowers were assessed. The leaves and the flowers exhibited high but similar total polyphenol, flavonoid, and tannin content. Moreover, two organs showed strong, although not significantly different, total antioxidant activity, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging ability, and reducing power. Investigation of the phenolic composition showed that vanillic acid and coumarin were the major compounds in the two organs, with higher percentages in the cultivated organs than in the spontaneous organs. Furthermore, R. chalepensis extracts showed marked antibacterial properties against human pathogen strains, and the activity was organ- and origin-dependent. Spontaneous stems had the strongest activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. From these results, it was concluded that domestication of Ruta did not significantly affect its chemical composition and consequently the possibility of using R. chalpensis organs as a potential source of natural antioxidants and as an antimicrobial agent in the food industry

Assessment of Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Cystoseira mediterranea and Padina pavonica from Algerian North-East for a Potential Use as a Food Preservative

The aim of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of two marine algae, Cystoseira mediterranea and Padina pavonica, extracts. Total phenols (TPC), carotenoids, and phlorotannins contents of the extracts obtained by four extraction solvents were determined and compared. The highest TPC content was observed for aqueous extract of C. mediterranea with 37.09±0.46 mg GAE/g DE followed by ethanol extract of P. pavonica (24.28±0.99 mg GAE/g DE), which showed the highest phlorotannins content (1.18±0.18 mg PE/g DE), while its methanol extract held carotenoids content of 66.96±4.78 μg g–1 DE. Ethanol extract of C. mediterranea exhibited the best antioxidant activity with an EC50 of 58.3±1.16 μg ml–1. The antibacterial activity screening against MRSA and E. coli showed that ethanol extract of C. mediterranea towards a Methicillin resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (20.33±0.28 mm) and E. coli (15.66±0.57 mm) was more efficient with MICs about 80 mg ml–1 and 20 mg ml–1, respectively. Ethanol extract of C. mediterranea seems to have the highest potential for use in food industries

Relating industrial symbiosis and circular economy to the sustainable development debate

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a business-focused collaborative approach oriented towards resource efficiency that has been theorised and studied mainly over the last twenty-five years. Recently, IS seems to have found a renewed impetus in the framework of the Circular Economy (CE), a novel approach to sustainability and Sustainable Development (SD) that has been rapidly gaining momentum world-wide. This opening chapter of the book provides an introduction to the concepts of IS, CE and SD, and summarizes their complex evolutionary paths, recalling the rel-evant developments and implementation challenges. In addition, the authors point out the divergences and interrelations of these concepts, both among themselves and with other related concepts and research fields, such as industrial ecology, eco-logical modernization and the green economy. Furthermore, the potential contribu-tion of IS and the CE to SD is briefly discussed, also highlighting critical issues and trade-offs, as well as gaps in research and application, especially relating to the so-cial component of sustainability. Particular attention is given to the potential role of IS in the achievement of targets connected to the Sustainable Development Goals set in the UN Agenda 2030. The recent advances in the IS and CE discussion in the context of the SD research community are further explored, with particular empha-sis on the contribution of the International Sustainable Development Research So-ciety (ISDRS) and its 24th annual conference organised in Messina, Italy, in 2018. The programme of that conference, indeed, included specific tracks on the above-mentioned themes, the contents of which are briefly commented on here, after an overview on the whole conference and the main cross-cutting concepts emerged. In the last part of the chapter, a brief description of the chapters collected in the book is presented. These contributions describe and discuss theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches and/or experiences and case studies where IS and the principles of CE are applied in different geographical context and at different scales to ultimately improve the sustainability of the current production patterns

Consensus Middle East and North Africa Registry on Inborn Errors of Immunity

Background: Inborn errors of immunity (IEIs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic defects of immunity, which cause high rates of morbidity and mortality mainly among children due to infectious and non-infectious complications. The IEI burden has been critically underestimated in countries from middle- and low-income regions and the majority of patients with IEI in these regions lack a molecular diagnosis. Methods: We analyzed the clinical, immunologic, and genetic data of IEI patients from 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The data was collected from national registries and diverse databases such as the Asian Pacific Society for Immunodeficiencies (APSID) registry, African Society for Immunodeficiencies (ASID) registry, Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) registry, J Project centers, and International Consortium on Immune Deficiency (ICID) centers. Results: We identified 17,120 patients with IEI, among which females represented 39.4%. Parental consanguinity was present in 60.5% of cases and 27.3% of the patients were from families with a confirmed previous family history of IEI. The median age of patients at the onset of disease was 36 months and the median delay in diagnosis was 41 months. The rate of registered IEI patients ranges between 0.02 and 7.58 per 100,000 population, and the lowest rates were in countries with the highest rates of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and death rates for children. Predominantly antibody deficiencies were the most frequent IEI entities diagnosed in 41.2% of the cohort. Among 5871 patients genetically evaluated, the diagnostic yield was 83% with the majority (65.2%) having autosomal recessive defects. The mortality rate was the highest in patients with non-syndromic combined immunodeficiency (51.7%, median age: 3.5 years) and particularly in patients with mutations in specific genes associated with this phenotype (RFXANK, RAG1, and IL2RG). Conclusions: This comprehensive registry highlights the importance of a detailed investigation of IEI patients in the MENA region. The high yield of genetic diagnosis of IEI in this region has important implications for prevention, prognosis, treatment, and resource allocation