Variations in Haematological and Immunological Parameters among Hospitalized COVID 19 Patients

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2, a novel virus, has spreading globally, leading the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic. This study aims to ascertain the changes in haematological and immunological parameters in COVID-19 patients. Methods: Data from 109 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted for treatment in the Isolation Centre at Al-Zawia city between 16 September and 29 December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were extracted from electronic medical records and compared with those of 52 healthy controls.Results: The laboratory tests included blood routines and cellular and inflammatory biomarkers compared with healthy controls.  Hospitalized patients had higher WBC (p<0.0001), platelet (P= 0.0060), NEU (P<0.0001), and RBC (P<0.0001) counts. C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) scores were compared with the normal range where data were not available from healthy controls and the results showed significantly higher levels in patients with Covid-19 (p<0.0001). Conversely, lymphocyte (LYM) counts were significantly lower in Covid-19 patients (P<0.0001).   Conclusion: Complete blood count (CBC) and inflammatory biomarkers, including CRP and ESR, can help clinicians to assess the severity and prognosis of patients with COVID-19

Dynamic Behavior of Rapeseed Oil Spray in Diesel Engine

Abstract. Fuel-air mixing is important process in diesel combustion which significantly affects the combustion and emission of diesel engine. Due to the nature of biomass fuel that has high viscosity and high distillation temperature, the condition and furthermore the improvement of atomization process is very important. This study investigates the atomization characteristics and droplet dynamic behaviors of diesel engine spray fueled by rapeseed oil (RO). Optical observation of RO spray was carried out using shadowgraph photography technique. Single nano-spark photography technique was used to study the characteristics of the rapeseed oil spray while dual nano-spark shadowgraph technique was used to study the spray droplet behavior. Using in-house image processing algorithm, the images were processed and the boundary condition of RO spray also was studied. The results show that RO has very poor atomization due to the high viscosity nature of the fuel. This is in agreement with the results from spray droplet dynamic behavior studies that shows due to the high viscosity, the droplets are large in size and travel downward, with very little influence of entrainment effect due to its large kinematic energy

CFD Analysis of Thin Film Lubricated Journal Bearing

AbstractThe three dimensional CFD analysis were investigated regarding the performance characteristics of a thin film lubricated journal bearing. In the existing literature, several numerical analyses had been reported. Most of these analyses used two dimensional Reynolds equations to find the pressure distribution in the lubricant flow by neglecting the pressure variation across the film thickness. Besides that, most researchers only consider laminar flow. In this paper, three turbulent models which are the Standard k-ɛ model, Realizable k-ɛ model and Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) had been used to simulate the characteristics of a plain journal bearing. Three dimensional models had been simulated using ANSYS Fluent software package to accurately predict the performance of the three turbulent models on the journal bearing analysis. Design parameter like static pressure, wall shear stress and dimensionless load carrying capacity were considered and transient analysis was carried out for the analysis with different L/D ratio of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. The results showed that for the cases of thin film lubricated journal bearing, the turbulent models did not give any significant to the simulation results. However for the case of complex geometry, another simulation needs to be conduct to determine an effect of the different turbulent models in the simulation of the lubricant in bearing system

Performance and emissions of diesel engine fuelled with preheated biodiesel fuel derived from crude palm, jatropha, and waste cooking oils

Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids of palm, vegetable, and waste cooking oils and animal fat with an alcohol producing fatty acid esters. Biodiesel is not efficient in cold weather and this is biodiesel’s major problem. Viscosity has influences on the fuel flow rate and leads to poor fuel atomisation during the combustion process. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of biodiesel temperature in the range fom 40 °C and 60 °C on engine performance such as torque, brake power, brake mean effective pressure, and fuel consumption. Three types of biodiesel oil were used (crude palm oil (CPO), waste cooking oil (WCO), and jatropha oil) under biodiesel blending ratio of 5vol%. A single cylinder four-stroke engine was used and operated under different load conditions of 0% and 50% and observed emission of CO, CO2, NOx, and HC. The engine operated at 0% and 50% dynamometer load conditions and running speeds of the engine of 800 rpm, 1200 rpm, 1600 rpm, and 2000 rpm. The results of this study showed that the heating temperatures in the range from 40 °C and 60 oC in CPO10 produced the highest brake power as well as torque and BMEP. For the experimental results of exhaust emission, the preheated temperature affected the degradation of the exhaust emission. In addition, preheated biodiesel increased the pressure on the cylinder combustion chamber. It can be concluded that the biodiesel preheated blend influences the performance and emission. For CPO biodiesel, the preheated biodiesel decreased CO and NOx while the standard diesel produced the lower emission of CO2 and HC. WCO biodiesel blend produced a lower emission with increasing fuel temperature

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Not AvailableIn our endeavor to improve the nitrogen fixation efficiency of a soil diazotroph that would be unaffected by synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers, we have deleted a part of the negative regulatory gene nifL and constitutively expressed the positive regulatory gene nifA in the chromosome of Azotobacter chroococcum CBD15, a strain isolated from the local field soil. No antibiotic resistance gene or other foreign gene was present in the chromosome of the engineered strain. Wheat seeds inoculated with this engineered strain, which we have named Azotobacter chroococcum HKD15, were tested for 3 years in pots and 1 year in the field. The yield of wheat was enhanced by 60% due to inoculation of seeds by A. chroococcum HKD15 in the absence of any urea application. Ammonium only marginally affected acetylene reduction by the engineered Azotobacter strain. When urea was also applied, the same wheat yield could be sustained by using seeds inoculated with A. chroococcum HKD15 and using 85 kg less urea (40 kg less nitrogen) than the usual 257 kg urea (120 kg nitrogen) per hectare. Wheat plants arising from the seeds inoculated with the engineered Azotobacter strain exhibited far superior overall performance, had much higher dry weight and nitrogen content, and assimilated molecular 15N much better. A nitrogen balance experiment also revealed much higher total nitrogen content. Indole-3- acetic acid (IAA) production by the wild type and that by the engineered strain were about the same. Inoculation of the wheat seeds with A. chroococcum HKD15 did not adversely affect the microbial population in the field rhizosphere soil. INot Availabl