Shear Strength of Continuous Lightly Reinforced T-Beams

The shear strength of continuous lightly reinforced concrete T -beams is studied. Six twospan T -beams with and without web reinforcement are tested. The primary variables are longitudinal reinforcement ratio (0.75% and 1.0%) and nominal stirrup strength (0 to 82 psi). The test results are analyzed and compared with the shear design provisions of "Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete (ACI 318-89)" and predictions of other investigators, including predictions obtained using the modified compression field theory. The tests indicate that ACI 318-89 overpredicts the concrete shear capacity of lightly reinforced beams without shear reinforcement. Little difference exists between shear cracking stresses in the negative and positive moment regions for beams in the current study. For both the negative and positive moment regions, the stirrup contribution to shear strength exceeds the value predicted by ACI 318-89. Stirrup contribution to shear strength increases with increasing flexural reinforcement ratio. Overall, the ACI 318-89 shear provisions are conservative for the beams tested in the current study. Two procedures based on the modified compression field theory are also conservative. ACI 318-89 better predicts the nominal shear strength of the beams in the current study than either of the modified compression field theory procedures

Traditional handloom practices of Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya

The documentation of traditional handloom practices of Nyishi tribe and their cultural attire was done in Papum pare district of Arunachal Pradesh wherein 7 selected villages were surveyed during May 2018 to February 2019 through random sampling with semi-structured questionnaire. Rubung Ruekio, a traditional loin loom of Nyishi tribe is prepared from locally available resources, viz., Bambusa. tulda, B. pallida, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Gmelina arborea, Michelia species and Terminalia myriocarpa. Most of the weavers were female and weaved culturally important traditional dresses such as Pomo gale, Dumping gale, Jekum/Name-acham gale, Jinjab gale, Juhu/Junghang gale and Luch/lungch gale which are worn especially during auspicious occasions. Of these, Jekum gale, Pomo gale and Dumping gale culturally significant. The market price of gale varied tremendously depending on type of raw material and type of handloom used in the production

Determining the antioxidant activity of certain medicinal plants of Sonitpur, (Assam), India using DPPH assay

As part of a screening program for biologically active compounds in medicinal plants of northeast India, twelve plants were investigated for their phytochemical screening and anti-oxidant activity. The antioxidant activity was estimated by using 2, 2- diphenyl-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical assay. Oroxylum indicum, Ipomoea aquatica and Moringa oleifera exhibited strong antioxidant activity as compared to other plants. Oroxylum indicum showed the highest antioxidant activity. The present study indicated that these plants are of therapeutic potential due to their high free-radical scavenging activity. The role of phytochemical constituents of these important medicinal plants in traditional medicine treatment is discussed

Aqueous extraction of residual oil from sunflower press cake using a twin-screw extruder: Feasibility study

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of an aqueous process to extract the residual oil from sunflower press cakes using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. Two different configurations were tested: the expression from whole seeds followed by the aqueous extraction, in two successive apparatus or in the same one. For the aqueous extraction stage, the oil yield depended on the operating conditions including screw rotation speed, screw profile, and inlet flow rates of press cakes and water. Liquid/solid separation required the addition of a lignocellulosic residue (wheat straw), upstream from the filtration zone. However, even with maximum fiber inlet flow (around 20% of the inlet flow rate of the solid matters for the highest amount of wheat straw), drying of the cake meal did not improve. The lixiviation of the material was also incomplete. Oil yield was better when the expression and the aqueous extraction were conducted in the same extruder. For all the trials carried out using such a configuration, the corresponding cake meal contained less than 10% residual oil, and the total oil yield was 78% in the best operating conditions. Nevertheless, the contribution of the aqueous extraction stage was extremely limited, less than 5% in the best trial, partly due to a ratio of the water to the press cake too low. For the aqueous extraction stage, the oil was extracted in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion whose stability was minimized because of its low proteins content due to their thermomechanical denaturation during the expression stage

Differentially expressed genes in platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify genes and pathways differentially expressed in platinum resistant high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) when compared to sensitive HGSOC. Methods: A total of 37 patients with HGSOC tissue samples underwent RNA sequencing performed by TEMPUS (N=37, 21 platinum sensitive, 16 resistant; 85% Stage III-IV; 58% received neoadjuvant chemotherapy). RNA gene expression data and significantly impacted pathways were analyzed using Advaita Bio\u27s iPathwayGuide. Differentially expressed (DE) genes were identified using FDR of 0.05 and fold-change of 1.5. Genes from several impacted canonical metabolic pathways were validated by PCR against external data sets in a separate ovarian cancer sample group (n=15), platinum resistant ovarian cancer mouse tumor model, and wild-type sensitive and platinum resistant ovarian cancer cell lines. Relative gene expression was calculated using the comparative Ct method, also referred to as the “2 DDCT”, using L27 as internal control gene. Results: We identified 177 differentially expressed (DE) genes out of a total of 16,607 genes (1.1%) with measured expression. 15 pathways were found to be significantly impacted. Of the 15 canonical pathways, all were up regulated in the resistant HGSOC and the majority of the most significantly altered (5/10) were related to metabolism (Retinol metabolism (p-value = 0.002); Tyrosine Metabolism (p-value = 0.005); Tryptophan Metabolism (p-value = 0.009); and Phenylalanine Metabolism (p-value = 0.012); CYP Drug Metabolism (p-value = 0.022)). A total of 3 separate genes from the CYP family and two from the Dopa Decarboxylase family of genes were validated against an external data set of human ovarian tissue samples, cell lines, mouse ovarian tumor model, and found to have similarly increased gene expression in the genes tested in the platinum resistant groups. Compilation of KEGG analysis and the common network genes revealed pathways associated with amino acid metabolism to be most significantly altered. Conclusions: We describe the identification of a unique transcriptomic profile associated with platinum resistance. Interestingly, the main pathways identified are related to metabolism, suggesting that the survival to chemotherapy demands a major metabolic adaptation. These findings also represent a first step towards the identification of biomarkers for the detection of chemo-resistant disease and metabolism-based drug targets specific for chemo-resistant tumors. Further validation of this model is required in order to determine its clinical value

Direct extraction of oil from sunflower seeds by twin-screw extruder according to an aqueous extraction process: Feasibility study and influence of operating conditions

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of an aqueous process to extract sunflower seed oil using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. Aqueous extraction was carried out using whole seeds and the influence of the operating conditions on oil yield was examined. Operating conditions included screw profile, screw rotation speed, and input flow rates of sunflower seeds and water. Liquid/solid separation required the addition of a lignocellulosic residue upstream from the filtration zone. However, even with maximum fiber input flow, drying of the cake meal did not improve. The lixiviation of the sunflower seeds was also incomplete. The aqueous extraction of the oil was more efficient in the twin-screw extruder than the reference trial conducted in a batch reactor. The best oil extraction yield obtained was approximately 55% and the residual oil content of the cake meal was approximately 30%. The hydrophobic phases produced were oil-in-water emulsions. These emulsions were stabilized by phospholipids and proteins at the interface, which are natural surface-active agents co-extracted during the process

Racemic Resolution of some dl-Amino Acids using Aspergillus fumigatusl-Amino Acid Oxidase

The ability of Aspergillus fumigatus L-amino acid oxidase (L-aao) to cause the resolution of racemic mixtures of DL-amino acids was investigated with DL-alanine, DL-phenylalanine, DL-tyrosine, and DL-aspartic acid.A chiralcolumn,Crownpak CR?wasusedfortheanalysisof the amino acids. The enzyme was able to cause the resolution of the three DL-amino acids resulting in the production of optically pure D-alanine (100% resolution), D-phenylalanine (80.2%), and D-tyrosine (84.1%), respectively. The optically pure D-amino acids have many uses and thus can be exploited industrially. This is the first report of the use of A. fumigatus L-amino acid oxidase for racemic resolution of DL-amino acids