Synergizing effect of poly quaternary ammonium salts and metal oxides nanoparticles on wool and wool/polyester fabrics

213-220A new finishing technique using quaternary ammonium groups (QAG) via polymerization of methacryloyloxyethyl ammonium chloride (PMAETAC), in presence of TiO2 /ZnO / TiO2+ZnO nanoparticles in wool, wool/polyester fabrics has been studied, using K2S2O8 as initiator for the graft copolymerization reaction. The antimicrobial activities of the finished fabrics have been assessed against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as Candida albicans. The findings show that, the finished fabrics with PMAETAC and their hydride combination with metal oxide NPs have outstanding activity against E. coli & S. aureus as well as excellent UV protection as compared to that finished with PMAETAC alone. The finished fabrics are also characterized by Fourier transformation infrared. The topography of the fabrics surface is examined by SEM and EDX. After five washing cycles, the acquired properties are found slightly affected, indicating an excellent wash durability

Optimization of mosquitocidal toxins production by Lysinibacillus sphaericus under solid state fermentation using statistical experimental design

Taguchi’s experimental design of surface response methodology was applied to optimize the culture medium conditions for Lysinibacillus sphaericus (Ls) mosquitocidal toxins production under solid state fermentation (SSF). The predicted results of this design revealed that the optimum culture medium conditions for the maximum mosquitocidal activity against second instar Culex pipiens larvae were: 3.08 ± 0.05% substrate concentration, 33 ± 1.5% moisture content, 7.8 ± 0.1 initial pH, 1.35 ± 0.15% (5.7 × 107 CFU) inoculum size and 5.9 ± 0.2 days incubation period. Sporulation titer of Lysinibacillus sphaericus (Ls 14N1) and mortality percentage of second instar Culex pipiens larvae of the fermented culture under these conditions were 2.8 × 1010 CFU/g fermented culture and 97.5 ± 1%, respectively. The results of practical validation of the design were incomparable with the mathematical results. Sporulation titer was 2.7 × 10 10 CFU/g fermented culture; LC50 was 2.8 × 10-5 final fermented culturedilution and toxin protein concentration was 2.24 mg/g fermented culture

Skeletal Muscle Pump Drives Control of Cardiovascular and Postural Systems

The causal interaction between cardio-postural-musculoskeletal systems is critical in maintaining postural stability under orthostatic challenge. The absence or reduction of such interactions could lead to fainting and falls often experienced by elderly individuals. The causal relationship between systolic blood pressure (SBP), calf electromyography (EMG), and resultant center of pressure (COPr) can quantify the behavior of cardio-postural control loop. Convergent cross mapping (CCM) is a non-linear approach to establish causality, thus, expected to decipher nonlinear causal cardio-postural-musculoskeletal interactions. Data were acquired simultaneously from young participants (25 ± 2 years, n = 18) during a 10-minute sit-to-stand test. In the young population, skeletal muscle pump was found to drive blood pressure control (EMG → SBP) as well as control the postural sway (EMG → COPr) through the significantly higher causal drive in the direction towards SBP and COPr. Furthermore, the effect of aging on muscle pump activation associated with blood pressure regulation was explored. Simultaneous EMG and SBP were acquired from elderly group (69 ± 4 years, n = 14). A significant (p = 0.002) decline in EMG → SBP causality was observed in the elderly group, compared to the young group. The results highlight the potential of causality to detect alteration in blood pressure regulation with age, thus, a potential clinical utility towards detection of fall proneness

An Efficient Chaotic Interleaver for Image Transmission over IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee Network

This paper studies a vital issue in wireless communications, which is the transmission of images over wireless networks. IEEE ZigBee 802.15.4 is a short-range communication standard that could be used for small distance multimedia transmissions. In fact, the ZigBee network is a wireless personal area network (WPAN), which needs a strong interleaving mechanism for protection against error bursts. Thispaper presents a novel chaotic interleaving scheme for this purpose. This scheme depends on the chaotic Baker map. A comparison study between the proposed chaotic interleaving scheme and the traditional block and convolutional interleaving schemes for image transmission over a correlated fading channel is presented. The simulation results show the superiority of the proposed chaotic interleaving scheme over the traditional schemes

Efficient Performance and Lower Complexity of Error Control Schemes for WPAN Bluetooth Networks

This paper presents a new technique of reduction retransmission time by decreasing the discarded packets and combating the complexity through error control techniques. The work is based on Bluetooth, one of the most common Wireless Personal Area Network. Its early versions employ an expurgated Hamming code for error correction. In this paper, a new packet format using different error correction coding scheme and new formats for the EDR Bluetooth packets are presented. A study for the Packet Error Probability of classic and Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) packets is also presented to indicate the performance. The simulation experiments are performed over Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh flat-fading channels. The experimental results reveal that the proposed coding scheme for EDR packets enhances the power efficiency of the Bluetooth system and reduce the losses of EDR packets

Assessment of Mode of Action and Histopathological Changes Induces by Bacillus thurengiensis. in Various Tissues and Organs of Spodoptera littoralis Larvae

The present study was devoted to elucidate the mode of action and histopathological effects of the spore delta-endotoxin complex of B.t. var aizawai on the larvae of the cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis.The results obtained has clearly shown that the consequence of symptoms of infection could be divided in morphologically distinct four stages. Furthermore, the results of this investigation have indicated that the sequence of symptoms starts with cessation of feeding followed by movement sluggishness, vomiting and diarrheae, excessive sluggishness, complete paralysis and finally death of the insect. On the other hand, the histopathological effects of the endotoxin observed in the dissected insect fed on diet containing the toxin were followed periodically. The results have clearly demonstrated marked histopathological alterations in the midgut epithelium, layers and clumping of both exo-and endocuticle of the integument. Furthermore, the uptake of bacterial deltaendotoxin has caused a marked degeneration of the nerve cells of the fourth abdominal nerve ganglion. The nerve cells and fibers were partially destroyed. In addition a notable destruction and vacuolation of the fat body cells became evident and the fat tissues became soft and easily crushed as compared to those of the healthy insect