Mechanical Property of Plastic Lumber Produced from Recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

Recycling is a strategy to combat environmental pollution due to plastic wastes. Of the many plastic wastes, researchers confirmed the possibility to produce plastic lumber from used HDPE plastics. The aim of this study is to experimentally determine the mechanical property of the plastic lumber produced from pure HDPE and its composite with wood to proof usability and applicability for different purpose. The experiment considered different conditions. Pure plastic lumber and wood plastic composite lumber is initially produced and examined under room temperature and below room temperature. Under each condition, bending, tensile and impact strength were examined. For each test eight specimens were prepared based on international standards and the experiments were conducted using standard testing machines. The result shows that pure plastic lumber has demonstrated superior load carrying capability, tensile load resistance capability and impact load resistance at room temperature. Moreover, the pure plastic lumber has an elastic nature and the wood composite has a brittle nature. In both cases the mechanical property of the plastic lumber permits to use for different applications. This has been also tested and resulted in similar phenomena at 20C below room temperature

Using geospatial tools to optimize cassava agronomy trials in Nigeria and Tanzania

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is an important staple crop for over half a billion people in Africa yet current yield at farmers’ field is only 20% of the potential yield. The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project is initiated to mitigate the yield gap through developing site-specific recommendations based on a demand-driven approach. The project responds to specific agronomy-related needs of partners already engaged in cassava dissemination and value chain activities in Nigeria and Tanzania. ACAI is developing site-specific recommendation, where processing geospatial information related to climate, soil and remote sensing data is crucial. We are using spatial multivariate analysis to delineate our partners’ operational area into homogeneous clusters to ensure the representativeness of trial sites and optimize the number of trial sites for maximum operational efficiency

Sensitive diagnosis and post-treatment follow-up of Schistosoma mansoni infections in asymptomatic Eritrean refugees by Circulating Anodic Antigen (CAA) detection and PCR

The increasing number of refugees coming from or passing through Schistosoma-endemic areas and arriving in Europe highlights the importance of screening for schistosomiasis on arrival, and focuses attention on the choice of diagnostic test. We evaluate the diagnostic performance of circulating anodic antigen (CAA) detection in 92 asymptomatic refugees from Eritrea. Results were compared with already-available stool microscopy, serology, and urine point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (POC-CCA) data. For a full diagnostic comparison, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the POC-CCA were included. All outcomes were compared against a composite reference standard. Urine and serum samples were subjected to the ultra-sensitive and highly specific up-converting particle lateral flow CAA test, Schistosoma spp. real-time PCR was performed on urine and stool, and the POC-CCA was used on urine using the G-score method. CAA was detected in 43% of urine and in 40% of serum samples. Urine PCR was negative in all 92 individuals, whereas 25% showed Schistosoma DNA in stool. POC-CCA was positive in 30% of individuals. The CAA test confirmed all microscopy positives, except for two cases that were also negative by all other diagnostic procedures. Post-treatment, a significant reduction in the number of positives and infection intensity was observed, in particular regarding CAA levels. Our findings confirm that microscopy, serology, and POC-CCA lack the sensitivity to detect all active Schistosoma infections. Accuracy of stool PCR was similar to microscopy, indicating that this method also lacks sensitivity. The CAA test appeared to be the most accurate method for screening active Schistosoma infections and for monitoring treatment efficacy

Biased M1-muscarinic-receptor-mutant mice inform the design of next-generation drugs

Cholinesterase inhibitors, the current frontline symptomatic treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), are associated with low efficacy and adverse effects. M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M1 mAChRs) represent a potential alternate therapeutic target; however, drug discovery programs focused on this G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) have failed, largely due to cholinergic adverse responses. Employing novel chemogenetic and phosphorylation-deficient, G protein-biased, mouse models, paired with a toolbox of probe molecules, we establish previously unappreciated pharmacologically targetable M1 mAChR neurological processes, including anxiety-like behaviors and hyper-locomotion. By mapping the upstream signaling pathways regulating these responses, we determine the importance of receptor phosphorylation-dependent signaling in driving clinically relevant outcomes and in controlling adverse effects including ‘epileptic-like’ seizures. We conclude that M1 mAChR ligands that promote receptor phosphorylation-dependent signaling would protect against cholinergic adverse effects in addition to driving beneficial responses such as learning and memory and anxiolytic behavior relevant for the treatment of AD

Bioelectrical signals and ion channels in the modeling of multicellular patterns and cancer biophysics

Bioelectrical signals and ion channels are central to spatial patterns in cell ensembles, a problem of fundamental interest in positional information and cancer processes. We propose a model for electrically connected cells based on simple biological concepts: i) the membrane potential of a single cell characterizes its electrical state; ii) the long-range electrical coupling of the multicellular ensemble is realized by a network of gap junction channels between neighboring cells; and iii) the spatial distribution of an external biochemical agent can modify the conductances of the ion channels in a cell membrane and the multicellular electrical state. We focus on electrical effects in small multicellular ensembles, ignoring slow diffusional processes. The spatio-temporal patterns obtained for the local map of cell electric potentials illustrate the normalization of regions with abnormal cell electrical states. The effects of intercellular coupling and blocking of specific channels on the electrical patterns are described. These patterns can regulate the electrically-induced redistribution of charged nanoparticles over small regions of a model tissue. The inclusion of bioelectrical signals provides new insights for the modeling of cancer biophysics because collective multicellular states show electrical coupling mechanisms that are not readily deduced from biochemical descriptions at the individual cell level

Fabrication and Characterization of Perovskite Ferroelectric Batio3 Ceramics From Baco3 and Tio2

In this research project, a comprehensible way of preparing Barium Titanate is conducted through series of steps and then gone through specific sorts of analyzing and characterization of particular material undergone. The BaTiO3 precursor solution was made by using BaCO3 and TiO2 in deionized water and milled the mixed powders to get fine grain size and uniform mixing throughout the product after that dried the powder. We followed the specific experimental procedures, which is firstly, we weighed the powder by balance and then mix and crush by ball milling (12 hrs.) then drying by 100 oC for 12 hrs. After that, we sieved using mesh and calcination took place at 1100 oC for 10 hrs. Additionally, the powder samples are remilled for 12 hrs. then dry and fire at 100 oC for 12 hours ;again for fining sieved and green body is formed ultimately so that advanced heat treatments like sintering has been accounted in the process ;chilling and finally characterization took place Using X-ray Diffraction machine and also Differential Thermal analysis which means The thermal Decomposition of BaTiO3 powders were studied using DTG. More specifically; the phase transformation of the crystals due to milling and firing of the has been investigated as result the elevation in sintering temperature gave rise to the increase in density with grain size and the more crystalline the powder gets ,more high peak diffraction patterns are registered. The crystallite sizes (t) of different samples were estimated from the (110) peaks of XRD patterns