Assessment of microbial quality in household water tanks in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

© 2017 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers. Provision of safe, accessible, and good water quality in the community is an important step towards reducing various waterborne illnesses. However, improving the quality of water should include spreading awareness to the public regarding the importance of cleaning their household water tanks. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial quality of water of household water tanks in Dubai. The water samples from household water tanks were collected from forty houses, and a questionnaire was given to the residents to determine the history of the water tanks. The membrane filtration technique was used to quantify heterotrophic and total coliform bacteria on plate count agar and the violet red bile agar respectively. The overall results of this study have shown that 18 out of total 40 household water tanks contained different types of bacteria concentration level beyond local and widely accepted international standards. The overall results of this study indicated that there is a lack of awareness among residents regarding the importance of maintaining proper sanitation and hygiene of the household water tanks

Emotional Exhaustion as Stressor agent for Job Stress in Call Centers: Empirical evidence from perspective of Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention as Work Outcomes

The purpose of the study is to analyze job burnout component emotional exhaustion as a probable stressor agent that causes job stress and their impact on job satisfaction and turnover intention as work outcomes. The scales were adapted from that measure to analyze the effect of emotional exhaustion causing job stress, also highlights the evidence in support of the conceptual model. Data was collected by the survey that generated 220 respondents. The sample chosen for this research are employees working in telecommunication call centers of Lahore city region in Pakistan. SPSS regression analysis was employed for data analysis. The results showed that emotional exhaustion carried negative and significant relation with job satisfaction (β= -.354,p<.05) and significant positive relation with turnover intention (β= .290, p<.05) also significant relation between dependent variables followed by mediating effect of two dimensions of job stress analyzed by PROCESS procedure of bootstrapping technique contained no and full mediation between emotional exhaustion in relation with job satisfaction and turnover intention respectively. Outcome from the conducted study depicted that stress did not affected the level of satisfaction of employees as they are well trained and informed that job stress is the part of their work activities in call centers and the stress in organizations is needed to be dealt with

Phytochemical screening and assessment of pharmacological properties of Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex fleming) root methanolic extract

Background and Objective: Various parts of medicinal plants have been used to treat specific disorder from ancient times. Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Fleming) is a customary folklore medicine, used in the treatment of liver disorders, fevers, dysentery, diarrhea, stomach problems and other disorders. The present study was carried out in order to assess the antioxidant activity, to evaluate the antifungal properties of the plant’s root and to observe anticancer potential of methanolic extract of Swertia chirayita root. Materials and Methods: Phytochemical analysis and different chemical tests for the screening and identification of bioactive chemical constituents in Swertia chirayita methanolic root extract (SCME) were carried out using the standard procedures. The plants were purchased from local herbal market. In vitro determination of antioxidant properties of SCME were conducted using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)radical scavenging activity, H2O2 scavenging activity, Beta-carotene bleaching assay, total antioxidant activity by phosphomolybdenum method, azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation scavenging activity and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. Anticancer activity of SCME was determined according to the protocol of brine shrimp lethality test. Antifungal potential was determined by measuring zone of inhibition on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plates. The different concentrations of SCME used were 3.0, 1.5, 0.75 and 0.37 mg mL–1. The data were evaluated as Mean±Standard Deviations of 5 independent experimental responses. The results were analyzed using t-test for independent samples with SPSS version 16.0. Results: Phytochemical analysis of SCME showed that phlobatannins, tannins, saponins and terpenoids were present. The SCME exhibited strong antioxidant activity in a concentration dependent manner for in all six models. The SCME at dose of 3 mg mL–1 caused 100% death rate of brine shrimp after 72 h. The SCME showed potent activity against Aspergillus flavus (87%) followed by Aspergillus niger (88%) while the highest activity was shown against Aspergillus fumigatus (92%). Conclusion: The SCME exhibited strong antioxidant, antifungal and cytotoxic potential. Purification of different bioactive compounds should be carried out and in vivo studies are required for further verification.Scopu

Enzyme inhibition and antibacterial potential of 4-Hydroxycoumarin derivatives

The 4-Hydroxycoumarin derivatives are known to show a broad spectrum of pharmacological applications. In this paper we are reporting the synthesis of a new series of 4-Hydroxycoumarin derivatives synthesized through Knovenegal condensation; they were characterized by using UV-Vis, FT-IR, NMR spectroscopies. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium strains. The compounds (2), (3) and (8) showed favorable antibacterial activity with zone of inhibitions 26.5± 0.84, 26.0 ± 0.56 and 26.0 ± 0.26 against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) respectively. However, the compounds (5) and (9) were found more active with 19.5 ± 0.59 and 19.5 ± 0.32 zone of inhibitions against Salmonella typhimurium (Gram-negative). Whereas, in urease inhibition assay, none of the synthesized derivatives showed significant anti-urease activity; although, in carbonic anhydrase-II inhibition assay, the compound (2) and (6) showed enzyme inhibition activity with IC50 values 263±0.3 and 456±0.1, respectively

Maximum allowable delay bound estimation using Lambert W function

The widespread of communication networks make them very promising to play a great role in future control systems. The communication networks will be present in the feedback control system which makes it a kind of time delay system. Closing the feedback system through a communication network introduces many challenges for the controller designers. Communication networks induce inherent time delay and some of the data may be lost which can destabilize the control system or result in poor system performance. It is important to identify the maximum time delay that the control system can withstand. In this paper, we report the application of the Lambert W function for calculating the maximum allowable delay bound in linear time delay control systems. The results of the calculation are compared with the most widely used Linear Matrix Inequalities based method. © 2017 IEEE

Exact Solutions of Heat and Mass Transfer with MHD Flow in a Porous Medium under Time Dependent Shear Stress and Temperature

This paper aims to study the influence of thermal radiation on unsteady magnetohyrdodynamic (MHD) natural convection flow of an optically thick fluid over a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium with arbitrary shear stress. Combined phenomenon of heat and mass transfer is considered. Closed-form solutions in general form are obtained by using the Laplace transform technique. They are expressed in terms of exponential and complementary error functions. Velocity is expressed as a sum of thermal and mechanical parts. Corresponding limiting solutions are also reduced from the general solutions. It is found that the obtained solutions satisfy all imposed initial and boundary conditions and reduce to some known solutions from the literature as special cases. Analytical results for the pertinent flow parameters are drawn graphically and discussed in detail. It is found that the velocity profiles of fluid decrease with increasing shear stress. The magnetic parameter develops shear resistance which reduces the fluid motion whereas the inverse permeability parameter increases the fluid flow

Myths and fallacies about epilepsy among residents of a Karachi slum area

Misconceptions about epilepsy may explain the considerable stigma accompanying it. We aimed to identify such fallacies through questionnaire-based interviews of 487 adult residents of a slum area in Karachi, Pakistan. Of those interviewed, 25% believed that epilepsy was caused by evil spirits, black magic and envy by others those without a school education were more likely to hold these views (P \u3c 0.05). Perceived complications included impotence and cancer. Shoe-sniffing was considered a treatment modality by 13%. It appears that misconceptions abound regarding epilepsy\u27s causes, complications and methods of treatment. However, those who had received a school education were less likely to link epilepsy with supernatural phenomena

Conjugate effects of heat and mass transfer on free convection past an infinite oscillating vertical flat plate with radiation effect

The conjugate effects of heat and mass transfer on natural convection flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past an infinite oscillating vertical plate with radiation effect have been investigated in this paper. The governing equations are transformed into dimensionless forms by using a set of suitable transformations and solved analytically by the Laplace transform method. The exact solutions for velocity, temperature and concentration are obtained. Numerical results are shown graphically for some selected values of embedded flow parameters and discussed

Simple and sensitive chromatographic method development for in-vitro and in-vivo analysis of doxorubicin-loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles

Purpose: To develop a bioanalytical high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the quantification of doxorubicin in biological fluids and polymeric nano-formulations. Methods: Analysis of doxorubicin in polymeric nanoparticles and biological samples was carried out at 252 nm using Purospher® RP-18 end-capped column (250mm×4.6mm,5µm) secured with a guard column cartridge RP18 (30mm×4.6mm,10µm). The mobile phase used was 0.025M phosphate buffer and acetonitrile (ACN) (65:35, v:v) in isocratic mode at a flow rate of 0.9 ml/min, run time of 10 min, column oven temperature of 30 °C, and injection volume of 40 μL. Results: The standard curve for doxorubicin was linear (0.999) in the concentration range of 0.022 - 1.00 μg/mL in human and albino mice plasma. Nominal retention times of doxorubicin and IS were 3.5 and 5.5 min, respectively. Mean recovery was within acceptable limits (100 ± 2 %). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.012 and 0.022 μg/mL, respectively. Conclusion: A reliable HPLC method has been successfully developed, validated and applied for the in vitro analysis of doxorubicin released from polymeric nanoparticles and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies in albino mice. The method may also be applicable to the analysis of doxorubicin in human fluids

Integration of Bioagent and Bioproduct for the Management of Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne Incognita on Eggplant

Efficacy of bioagent (Paecilomyces lilacinus) and the bioproduct (Radiant) in various combinations was assessed on the reproduction of Meloidogyne incognita on eggplant. The influence of P. lilacinus and Radiant was determined on egg hatching and second stage juvenile (J2) mortality under in vitro conditions. The concentrations of 1% and 100% of Radiant and P. lilacinus respectively both alone and in combined application caused significant mortality and reduction in egg hatching at all time intervals. The interaction of P. lilacinus and Radiant was determined individually, concomitantly, and sequentially on reproduction of M. incognita on eggplant under greenhouse. The reproduction of M. incognita was significantly reduced in the concomitant treatment consisting of both P. lilacinus and Radiant followed by sequential and individual treatment of Radiant and the plant growth parameters incresed significantly. Our findings suggest that P. lilacinus and Radiant have the ability to regulate nematode population and may serve as nematicides. Keywords: P. lilacinus, Radiant, Egg hatching, Mortality, Concomitant, Sequentia