Zinc Oxide Hydrogen Sulfide Removal Catalyst/ Preparation, Activity Test and Kinetic Study

Hydrogen sulfide removal catalyst was prepared chemically by precipitation of zinc bicarbonate at a controlled pH. The physical and chemical catalyst characterization properties were investigated. The catalyst was tested for its activity in adsorption of H2S using a plant that generates the H2S from naphtha hydrodesulphurization and a unit for the adsorption of H2S. The results comparison between the prepared and commercial catalysts revealed that the chemical method can be used to prepare the catalyst with a very good activity.<br />It has observed that the hydrogen sulfide removal over zinc oxide catalyst follows first order reaction kinetics with activation energy of 19.26 kJ/mole and enthalpy and entropy of activation of 14.49 kJ/mole and -220.41 J/mole respectively.<br /

Cecropin A improves the antibacterial activity of hen egg white lysozyme against challenging <i>Salmonella enterica</i> serovars

The prevalence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica among animal- and plant-derived food products threatens global healthcare and economic sectors. Hen egg white lysozyme is widely exploited as a food preservative against Gram-positive pathogens. Nevertheless, its limited penetration of the outer membrane renders it ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria. Herein, we present a safe and effective approach to facilitate HEWL access to peptidoglycan layers using cecropin A. In silico analysis of cecropin A peptide revealed an amphipathic α-helical peptide with potential outer membrane permeabilizing activity through its interaction with both hydrophobic and ionic stabilizing forces. Evaluation of HEWL/cecropin A combination showed a cecropin A dose-dependent bacterial count reduction up to 4.16 and 3.18 ± 0.26 log units against Salmonella enterica ATCC 35664 at the logarithmic and stationary growth phases, respectively. Moreover, the combination displayed antibacterial activity of 2.1 ± 0.31 and ~1 log-unit reductions against Salmonella enterica serovars Kentucky, Typhimurium, and Enteritidis, respectively, whereas Hato and Shangani were found irresponsive. The cytotoxicity assay revealed compatibility of cecropin A with oral epithelial cells. These observations suggest HEWL/cecropin A combination as an effective and safe alternative to lysozyme against Salmonella enterica

Design and Implementation of A Software Protection System Against Software Piracy By Using Cryptographic Techniques

Software Piracy becomes a major problem with the fast and vast growth in the useof the internet, and the new computer technologies is aided in increasing softwarepiracy. In this work, a software protection system against piracy is proposed. Thisproposed system uses standard techniques to ease these difficulties such as Zeroknowledge proof, Improved RSA, MD5, and Triple DES. The proposed system use aproposed method to protect all the system files, and a proposed algorithm to generatesoftware Copy Identification Number called (ICN). The implemented system where asoftware application hashes hardware serial numbers to generate a unique InstallationID. This Installation ID is sent to the manufacturer to verify the authenticity of theapplication and to ensure that the product is not being used for multiple installation

Assessment of Dental Anxiety Levels among the University Teaching Faculty from different Fields of Medicine and Healthcare

Dental anxiety is considered to be a multidimensional fear that&nbsp;can be acquired by a number of parameters involving both&nbsp;personality and psychological traits as well as conditioning&nbsp;experiences and vicarious learning from role models. A cluster&nbsp;sampling technique was used for the study purpose. The&nbsp;sample population included faculty members of Baqai Medical&nbsp;University related to different fields of medicine and healthcare.&nbsp;Data were analyzed by SPSS version 19. Chi-square test was&nbsp;done to compare association of dental anxiety with different&nbsp;fields of medicine and healthcare. Group comparisons were&nbsp;done by using one-way ANOVA test and post hoc Tukey’s tes

Nutritional composition and quality of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed with Melaleuca cajuputi leaves extracts as a natural feed additive

African catfish, Clarias gariepinus were treated as; controls (fed with commercial feed); T1, (fed with 5 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed); and T2 (fed with 10 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed) and fed twice daily for 21 days. The effects of the treatments on nutritional composition, microbiological and physicochemical quality of the catfish were analysed. The nutritional composition of the catfish fed with Melaleuca leaves extract formulated in commercial feed were not significantly modified (p>0.05). However, lipid and fibre content in T2 catfish showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher composition compared to the controls. The total bacteria load of T2 were successfully reduced (p<0.05) compared to T1 and the controls. Water holding capacity (WHC) of T2 catfish were recorded higher (77.93±6.95 %) but not significantly (p>0.05) different to the T1 and controls. pH value in all samples were recorded at range of 5.2-5.6. Meanwhile the colour value (L*, a* and b*) were not significantly (p>0.05) different in all samples. Feed additive of 10 mg kg-1 Melaleuca leaves extract are potential invention of aquafeed industry to be applied in aquaculture practice as it offers a good microbiological and physicochemical quality to cultured African catfish

Relationships between the Parity and Pelvimetry of Egyptian Buffalo Cows: Prediction of Dystocia and Estimation of Age

Background: The current study aimed to determine the most strongly correlated variable of pelvimetry with the parity in our native breed Egyptian buffaloes. Methods: The study was conducted on 36 female buffaloes (nullipara, n=14, primipara n=6 and pluripara, n=16 with 2-4 births) aged between &lt;15 months, n=15 and 65 months, n=21. The internal and external pelvic measurements were obtained using the rice pelvimeter and Freeman’s measuring tape. Results: Strong positive linear relationships were found for the distance between ischiatic tuberosities and the distance between sacral tubercles with the correlation coefficients of 0.64 and 0.62, respectively. The conjugate diameter increased progressively with the age and number of births, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. The pelvic area had a very strong positive linear relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.89. The linear combination of the predictor variable (conjugate diameter), to predict the number of birth was developed successfully. Conclusion: The strong relationship between the conjugate diameter and the number of births could be employed to predict the dystocia and estimate the age of female buffalo. Furthermore, these findings could be aid paleontologists in studying buffalo fossils

Dehydration of traditional dried instant noodle (mee siput) using controlled temperature & humidity dryer

Drying process is an essential step to produce instant noodles. Yet, the industries especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), is seeking for an efficient method to dry the noodles. This paper discusses the performance of an invented drying system which employed heating and humidifying process. The drying system was tested using 30 kilogram of the raw noodle known as “Mee Siput”. Temperature controlled system were used in the study to control the temperature of the drying process and prevent the dried noodles from damage by maintaining the temperature of lower than 80oC. The analysis shows that the system was drastically decreased the humidity from 80% to 40% just after 200 minutes of the drying process. The complete dehydration time of noodle has also decreased to only 4 hours from 16 hours when using traditional drying system without sacrificed the good quality of the dried noodle. In overall, the invented system believed to increase the production capacity of the noodle, reduce cost of production which would highly beneficial for Small Medium Industries (SMEs) in Malaysia

Screening and evaluation of local bacteria isolated from shellfish as potential probiotics against pathogenic Vibrios

The present study was carried out to isolate, screen and evaluate potential candidates of local bacteria isolated from tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon and slipper cupped oysters Crassostrea iredalei as probiotics in shellfish aquaculture. A total of 144 of bacteria were successfully isolated from the intestine and stomach of 20 tails of healthy adult tiger shrimp P. monodon, while 136 were successfully isolated from the digestive tract, gills and inner shells of 10 healthy adult C. iredalei. The number of potential isolates was narrowed down to two from tiger shrimp, and one from slipper cupped oyster after in vitro screening assays. The three isolates, labeled as G11, I24 and S66, were identified as Virgibacillus sp., Bacillus sp. and Exiquobacterium sp., respectively, using 16S rDNA gene analysis. The antagonistic ability of the isolates towards Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio harveyi were conducted in stagnant and liquid modes via spot lawn and broth co-culture assay, respectively. In these assays, all the potential probionts were inhibitory to both pathogenic vibrios. In the in-vivo assay, Artemia was used as host and treated with different concentrations of potential probionts (10⁴, 10⁶ and 10⁸ CFU ml⁻¹), and challenged with V. alginolyticus ana V. harveyiat 10⁵ CFU ml⁻¹ Respectively, Artemia treated with probiont Gl 1 at all concentrations and challenged with V. alginolyticus had increased survival (70-80 %), which was significantly higher as compared with group with only the pathogen (20 %). Meanwhile, probiont I24 increased the survival of Artemia by 70 % at a concentration of 10⁸ CFU ml⁻¹ after being challenged with V. alginolyticus and Artemia treated with 10⁶ CFU ml⁻¹ of probiont S66 had increased survival of 90% after being challenged with V. harveyi. Thus, the three isolates might have potential applications as probiotics in shellfish aquaculture against vibriosis