Important factors in selecting Maritime Education in Sri Lanka: Perception of seafarers’ professions

Maritime Education and Training (MET) are presently faced with many challenges thus  sustaining a pool of qualified and competent marine officers and engineers is a serious issue. Given the very complicated nature of the industry certain grades of seafarers are waiting to be deployed while some categories are invariably short staffed. MET institutes compete with other higher education institutes while improving the overall quality standards of global MET. Also, the demand for seafaring by younger generation is seen declined while the quality of limited applicants also deteriorated. As a result, leading MET institutes are pressurised to be flexible in selection criteria. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence students’ choice of maritime education. The study has been conducted by obtaining empirical data from past and present seafarers and the findings may be helpful for MET institutes. It explored key factors pertaining to the seafarers’ profession such as the professional identity and perception; social impact; the family concerns; and gender issues as influencing the choice of maritime education.KeywordsMaritime education; seafarers’ profession; challenges for seafarers; highereducatio

The effect of graphene-poly(methyl methacrylate) fibres on microbial growth

A novel class of ultra-thin fibres, which affect microbial growth, were explored. The microbial properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) fibres containing 2, 4 and 8 wt% of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were studied. GNPs were dispersed in a polymeric solution and processed using pressurized gyration. Electron microscopy was used to characterize GNP and fibre morphology. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the formation of beaded porous fibres. GNP concentration was found to dictate fibre morphology. As the GNP concentration increased, the average fibre diameter increased from 0.75 to 2.71 mm, while fibre porosity decreased. Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used to investigate the properties of 2, 4 and 8 wt% GNP-loaded fibres. GNP-loaded fibres (0 wt%) were used as the negative control. The fibres were incubated for 24 h with the bacteria; bacterial colony-forming units were enumerated by adopting the colony-counting method. The presence of 2 and 4 wt% GNP-loaded fibres promoted microbial growth, while 8 wt% GNP-loaded fibres showed antimicrobial activity. These results indicate that the minimum inhibitory concentration of GNPs required within a fibre is 8 wt%

Exploiting the antiviral potential of intermetallic nanoparticles

Viral pandemic outbreaks cause a significant burden on global health as well as healthcare expenditure. The use of antiviral agents not only reduces the spread of viral pathogens but also diminishes the likelihood of them causing infection. The antiviral properties of novel copper-silver and copper-zinc intermetallic nanoparticles against Escherichia coli bacteriophage MS2 (RNA virus) and Escherichia coli bacteriophage T4 (DNA virus) are presented. The intermetallic nanoparticles were spherical in shape and were between 90 and 120 nm. Antiviral activity was assessed at concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 2.0 wt/v% for 3 and 24 h using DNA and RNA virus model organisms. Both types of nanoparticles demonstrated strong potency towards RNA viruses (> 89% viral reduction), whilst copper-silver nanoparticles were slightly more toxic towards DNA viruses when compared to copper-zinc nanoparticles. Both nanoparticles were then incorporated into polymeric fibres (carrier) to investigate their antiviral effectiveness when composited into polymeric matrices. Fibres containing copper-silver nanoparticles exhibited favourable antiviral properties, with a viral reduction of 75% after 3 h of exposure. The excellent antiviral properties of the intermetallic nanoparticles reported in this study against both types of viruses together with their unique material properties can make them significant alternatives to conventional antiviral therapies and decontamination agents

Viral Filtration Using Carbon-Based Materials

Viral infections alone are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and have a detrimental impact on global healthcare and socioeconomic development. The discovery of novel antiviral treatments has gained tremendous attention and support with the rising number of viral outbreaks. In this work, carbonaceous materials, including graphene nanoplatelets and graphene oxide nanosheets, were investigated for antiviral properties. The materials were characterised using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Analysis showed the materials to be two-dimensional with lateral dimensions ranging between 1 - 4 µm for graphene oxide, 110 ± 0.11nm for graphene nanoplatelets. Antiviral properties were assessed against a DNA virus model microorganism at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 wt/v%. Both carbonaceous nanomaterials exhibited potent antiviral properties and gave rise to a viral reduction of 100% across all concentrations tested. Graphene oxide nanosheets were then incorporated into polymeric fibres and their antiviral behaviour was examined after 3 and 24 hours. A viral reduction of ~39% was observed after 24 hours of exposure. The research presented here showcases, for the first time, the antiviral potential of several carbonaceous nanomaterials, also included in a carrier polymer. These outcomes can be translated and implemented in many fields and devices to prevent viral spread and infection

Subjectively optimised multi-exposure and multi-focus image fusion with compensation for camera shake

Multi-exposure image fusion algorithms are used for enhancing the perceptual quality of an image captured by sensors of limited dynamic range. This is achieved by rendering a single scene based on multiple images captured at different exposure times. Similarly, multi-focus image fusion is used when the limited depth of focus on a selected focus setting of a camera results in parts of an image being out of focus. The solution adopted is to fuse together a number of multi-focus images to create an image that is focused throughout. In this paper we propose a single algorithm that can perform both multi-focus and multi-exposure image fusion. This algorithm is a novel approach in which a set of unregistered multiexposure/focus images is first registered before being fused. The registration of images is done via identifying matching key points in constituent images using Scale Invariant Feature Transforms (SIFT). The RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is used to identify inliers of SIFT key points removing outliers that can cause errors in the registration process. Finally we use the Coherent Point Drift algorithm to register the images, preparing them to be fused in the subsequent fusion stage. For the fusion of images, a novel approach based on an improved version of a Wavelet Based Contourlet Transform (WBCT) is used. The experimental results as follows prove that the proposed algorithm is capable of producing HDR, or multi-focus images by registering and fusing a set of multi-exposure or multi-focus images taken in the presence of camera shake

Polyphenol-rich fruits attenuate impaired endothelial function induced by glucose and free fatty acids in vitro in human endothelial cells

Elevated concentrations of plasma glucose and free fatty acids (FFA) are associated with impaired endothelial function increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies suggested that fruits rich in polyphenolic compounds modulate endothelial cell migration and capillary-like tube formation via a redox-sensitive mechanism. We hypothesized that polyphenol-rich extracts of strawberry (SB) and wild blueberry (WB) would attenuate relatively high concentrations of glucose and/or FFA–mediated impaired cell migration and capillary-like tube formation in vitro in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HUVECs treated with high FFA and combinations of glucose and FFA showed significantly reduced cell migration and capillary-like tube formation compared to the PBS control (p<0.05). However, HUVEC pre-treated with SB or WB extracts significantly increased cell migration and capillary-like tube formation in cells treated with FFA or a combination of FFA and glucose compared to cells exposed to the same nutrients/combinations alone. The results from this study suggest that berry fruits may play a role in promoting cardiovascular health especially in individuals with high blood glucose and/or FFA levels

Container Inventory Management: Factors influencing Container Interchange

ABSTRACTEfficient and effective management of empty containers and empty container repositioning is an important issue in the liner shipping industry. Many alliance agreements of carriers have provisions to interchange containers but not practiced in real life scenario. It is hard to find any previous literature on container exchange except the technical details of alliance agreements. The researchers reiterate the conditions provided in carriers’ alliance agreements to interchange containers and in principle recommend container interchange as an efficient and effective container inventory management mechanism. Accordingly, the research attempts to find the factors that influence container interchange between carriers. The research was conducted in Sri Lanka. Researchers believe that the sample is adequate because 16 container carriers in the world top 20 list presently call port of Colombo in Sri Lanka. A series of interviews followed by a questionnaire survey have been carried out and data were analysed mainly using Chi-Square Tests. This would lead to understand the critical factors that influence container exchange and thereby develop efficient, sustainable and effective mechanism for container inventory management through container interchange. The study concluded that five factors namely, operational, legal, branding, benefits, and feasibility may influence the container interchange by carriers. There were two limitations noted in the research; the reluctance to provide information pertaining to container inventory by carriers; and the common dislike of carriers to participate in surveys due to their busy work schedules. These findings would help practitioners to expedite the process of developing a user-friendly container interchange system. In addition, this research will fill the serious gap in the present literature on container exchange and provide an incentive to further research on this topic. The container imbalance is a global issue and finding an efficient and effective solution is vital.Key words: container, inventory, management, shipping, maritime, exchang

The Global Impact of Container Inventory Imbalance and the Factors that Influence Container Inventory Management Strategies

Abstract Container shipping celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2016, as an innovation that had a tremendous impact on the global supply chain. This paper focuses on the impact of container inventory imbalance that mounts a substantial pressure on global supply chains. The primary objective of this paper is to explore best market practices and ascertain as to what factors influence these strategies. It also evaluates the impact of container inventory imbalance to the global supply chain. The study refers to interviews with industry experts and questionnaire responses from shipping lines operated in Sri Lanka in addition to the desk research to explain the impact of the container inventory problem in the global scale. If carriers provide the right quantity of containers demanded by exporters at the right location at the right time, the optimum supply chain performance could be guaranteed. The consequences of container fleet imbalances are ultimately borne by exporters, importers, consumers, traders and even—inadvertently—other players in the cargo supply chain of international trade. Therefore, carriers need an effective solution to the global container inventory imbalance problem.Keywords: Container Inventory Imbalance, Freight, Forecasting, Flexibility, Strateg

Reconstruction and Analysis of Central Metabolism in Microbes

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) generated from automated reconstruction pipelines often lack accuracy due to the need for extensive gapfilling and the inference of periphery metabolic pathways based on lower-confidence annotations. The central carbon pathways and electron transport chains are among the most well-understood regions of microbial metabolism, and these pathways contribute significantly toward defining cellular behavior and growth conditions. Thus, it is often useful to construct a simplified core metabolic model (CMM) that is comprised of only the high-confidence central pathways. In this chapter, we discuss methods for producing core metabolic models (CMM) based on genome annotations. With its reduced scope compared to GEMs, CMM reconstruction focuses on accurate representation of the central metabolic pathways related to energy biosynthesis and accurate energy yield predictions. We demonstrate the reconstruction and analysis of CMMs using the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase). The complete workflow is available at http://kbase.us/core-models/