An effective and ecofriendly suggestion to decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide by using NH3 gas

Global warming is increasing permanently, because the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is rising continuously. According to National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 407 ppm in June 2016 and 413 ppm in April 2017 as a last record for now. If the effects of other greenhouse gases, such as CH4, N2O, SF6, NF3, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons are added, the effective concentration may reach or exceed 550 ppm CO2-equivalent.  According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-2014 Climate Change Report, this is about two times higher than 278 ppm CO2 concentration in the pre-industrial year 1765. Thus, very urgent solutions must be found. The aim of this article is to suggest a vital, fast and very meticulous solution using NH3 gas in the atmosphere in order to decrease the atmospheric CO2 without delay. The laboratory experiments in the gas phase for (NH3+ CO2) reaction showed us that to use NH3 gas in the atmosphere will be a very fast, effective method for decreasing CO2 concentration of atmosphere.  (NH3+ CO2) reaction is also quantitative in the cold atmosphere strata and there will be no more free ammonia in the atmosphere and no public health problem

Singapur’daki Helâl Gıda Sertifikasyonuna Kritik Yaklaşım

For the last few decades, global halal industry projections have demonstrated a highly increasing demand for halal products, in case of either halal food or halal services. Among Muslim and even non-Muslim consumers, halal products have been esteemed as a healthy, high quality, reliable and hygienic choice. A great number of local and regional institutions and organizations have been actively engaged in the global halal sector. However, a few institutions have been recognized by each other, in other words, accredited. Researchers have pointed out the need for unique standardized and accredited halal institution, organization or implementation, worldwide. Despite of its relatively small geographical area, Singapore have launched a globally recognized halal certificate subsequently after Malaysia since late 1970’s. Singapore has many implementations regarding halal lifestyle serving the halal accreditation and standardization of the global halal sector. As far as concerned, those implementations can be stated as zoning strategies, halal trustmarks and brand management, integration of halal standardization with both state institutions and Islamic law provisions, and last but not the least, digital infrastructure technologies. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the halal certification system of Singapore critically through the perspective of halal lifestyle.Dünya genelinde yapılan araştırmalarda gerek gıda gerekse hizmet sektörlerinde helal ürünlere talep artışı gözlemlenmektedir. Helal ürünler sadece Müslümanlar tarafından değil diğer kitleler tarafından da daha sağlıklı, daha kaliteli, daha güvenilir ve daha hijyenik bulunarak gittikçe artan bir oranda talep edilmektedir. Global helal sektöründe yerel ve bölgesel yüzlerce kurum ve kuruluş olmasına rağmen çeşitli akreditasyon kurumları bünyesindeki akredite kurum sayısı onlu rakamlarla ifade edilmektedir. Dünya genelinde kabul gören bir helal standardizasyon ve akreditasyon kurum, kuruluş ya da uygulamasına ihtiyaç olduğu değerlendirilmektedir. Helal sektöründe Singapur, coğrafi yüz ölçümü küçük bir ülke olmakla beraber Malezya’nın ardından helal sertifikasını uygulamaya ilk koyan ülke olarak global faaliyetler yürütmektedir. Singapur, Müslüman nüfusu yoğun olan ve helal sertifikasyonuna önem veren Malezya ve Endonezya gibi ülkelerin sınır komşusudur. Ayrıca turistik geziler ve ticari faaliyetler dolayısıyla hem Güneydoğu Asya ülkeleriyle, hem Ortadoğu ve Avrupa ülkeleriyle temas halindedir. Bu çalışmada Singapur’da helal sektörü kapsamında uygulanan bölgelendirme stratejileri, helal güven işaretleri ve marka yönetimi, devlet kurumları ve İslam hukuku hükümleriyle entegre standardizasyon anlayışı, dijital altyapı teknolojileri ele alınarak helal yaşam nazarında sektörün ihtiyaçları doğrultusunda değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmaktadır

Brain-like associative learning using a nanoscale non-volatile phase change synaptic device array

Recent advances in neuroscience together with nanoscale electronic device technology have resulted in huge interests in realizing brain-like computing hardwares using emerging nanoscale memory devices as synaptic elements. Although there has been experimental work that demonstrated the operation of nanoscale synaptic element at the single device level, network level studies have been limited to simulations. In this work, we demonstrate, using experiments, array level associative learning using phase change synaptic devices connected in a grid like configuration similar to the organization of the biological brain. Implementing Hebbian learning with phase change memory cells, the synaptic grid was able to store presented patterns and recall missing patterns in an associative brain-like fashion. We found that the system is robust to device variations, and large variations in cell resistance states can be accommodated by increasing the number of training epochs. We illustrated the tradeoff between variation tolerance of the network and the overall energy consumption, and found that energy consumption is decreased significantly for lower variation tolerance.Comment: Original article can be found here: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00205/abstrac

A discrete MMAP for analysing the behaviour of a multi-state complex dynamic system subject to multiple events.

A complex multi-state system subject to different types of failures, repairable and/or nonrepairable, external shocks and preventive maintenance is modelled by considering a discrete Markovian arrival process with marked arrivals (D-MMAP). The internal performance of the system is composed of several degradation states partitioned into minor and major damage states according to the risk of failure. Random external events can produce failures throughout the system. If an external shock occurs, there may be an aggravation of the internal degradation, cumulative external damage or extreme external failure. The internal performance and the cumulative external damage are observed by random inspection. If major degradation is observed, the unit goes to the repair facility for preventive maintenance. If a repairable failure occurs then the system goes to corrective repair with different time distributions depending on the failure state. Time distributions for corrective repair and preventive maintenance depend on the failure state. Rewards and costs depending on the state at which the device failed or was inspected are introduced. The system is modelled and several measures of interest are built into transient and stationary regimes. A preventive maintenance policy is shown to determine the effectiveness of preventive maintenance and the optimum state of internal and cumulative external damage at which preventive maintenance should be taken into account. A numerical example is presented, revealing the efficacy of the model. Correlations between the numbers of different events over time and in non-overlapping intervals are calculated. The results are expressed in algorithmic-matrix form and are implemented computationally with Matlab.Junta de Andalucía, Spain, under the grant FQM307Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, España, MTM2017-88708-PEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF

Collagen fleeces do not improve colonic anastomotic strength but increase bowel obstructions in an experimental rat model

To investigate whether a collagen fleece kept in place by fibrin glue might seal off a colorectal anastomosis, provide reinforcement, and subsequently improve anastomotic healing. Wistar rats underwent a 1-cm left-sided colonic resection followed by a 4-suture end-to-end anastomosis. They were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: no additional intervention (control, n = 20), the anastomosis covered with fibrin glue (fibrin glue, n = 20), the anastomosis covered with a collagen fleece, kept in place with fibrin glue (collagen fleece, n = 21). At either 3 or 7 days follow-up, anastomotic bursting pressure was measured and tissue was obtained for histology and collagen content assessment after which animals were sacrificed. Three rats in the control (15%), three in the fibrin glue (15%), and one in the collagen group (4.8%) died due to anastomotic complications (P = 0.497). Anastomotic bursting pressures were not significantly different between groups at 3 and 7 days follow-up (P = 0.659 and P = 0.427, respectively). However, bowel obstructions occurred significantly more often in the collagen group compared to the control group (14/21 vs. 3/20, P = 0.003). Collagen contents were not different between groups, but histology showed a more severe inflammation in the collagen group compared to the other groups at both 3 and 7 days follow-up. A collagen fleece kept in place by fibrin glue does not improve healing of colonic anastomoses in rats. Moreover, this technique induces significantly more bowel obstructions in rats, warranting further study before being translated to a clinical settin

Early results of coronary artery bypass grafting with coronary endarterectomy for severe coronary artery disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the existence of controversial debates on the efficiency of coronary endarterectomy (CE), it is still used as an adjunct to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This is particularly true in patients with endstage coronary artery disease. Given the improvements in cardiac surgery and postoperative care, as well as the rising number of elderly patient with numerous co-morbidities, re-evaluating the pros and cons of this technique is needed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patient demographic information, operative details and outcome data of 104 patients with diffuse calcified coronary artery disease were retrospectively analyzed with respect to functional capacity (NYHA), angina pectoris (CCS) and mortality. Actuarial survival was reported using a Kaplan-Meyer analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Between August 2001 and March 2005, 104 patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with adjunctive coronary endarterectomy (CE) in the Department of Thoracic-, Cardiac- and Vascular Surgery, University of Goettingen. Four patients were lost during follow-up. Data were gained from 88 male and 12 female patients; mean age was 65.5 ± 9 years. A total of 396 vessels were bypassed (4 ± 0.9 vessels per patient). In 98% left internal thoracic artery (LITA) was used as arterial bypass graft and a total of 114 vessels were endarterectomized. CE was performed on right coronary artery (RCA) (n = 55), on left anterior descending artery (LAD) (n = 52) and circumflex artery (RCX) (n = 7). Ninety-five patients suffered from 3-vessel-disease, 3 from 2-vessel- and 2 from 1-vessel-disease. Closed technique was used in 18%, open technique in 79% and in 3% a combination of both. The most frequent endarterectomized localization was right coronary artery (RCA = 55%). Despite the severity of endstage atherosclerosis, hospital mortality was only 5% (n = 5). During follow-up (24.5 ± 13.4 months), which is 96% complete (4 patients were lost caused by unknown address) 8 patients died (cardiac failure: 3; stroke: 1; cancer: 1; unknown reasons: 3). NYHA-classification significantly improved after CABG with CE from 2.2 ± 0.9 preoperative to 1.7 ± 0.9 postoperative. CCS also changed from 2.4 ± 1.0 to 1.5 ± 0.8</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Early results of coronary endarterectomy are acceptable with respect to mortality, NYHA & CCS. This technique offers a valuable surgical option for patients with endstage coronary artery disease in whom complete revascularization otherwise can not be obtained. Careful patient selection will be necessary to assure the long-term benefit of this procedure.</p