Review of Hosein Aabad Sugar Factory (HASF) Wastewater and Assessment of its Pollution Load

Sugar industry is one of the largest industries in the world. Hosein Abad sugar factory (HASF) is located in Hamadan province of Iran. The aim of this research was to evaluate the quality and quantity of wastewater of the said factory and to estimate the pollution load and its emission factor as prerequisite of the management and environmental pollutions control in the region. Random grab sampling is used in twelve days between October 2010 and March 2011 during peak hours of activity. In this research, nine quality parameters as the key variables are measured to evaluate the quality of wastewater. The obtained results indicate that, the amount of wastewater produced by HASF is about 2740 m3/day. Based on the said results, the average amount of five days Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) in the raw wastewater was 1296 and 2328 mg/l respectively. The results of this research showed that the effluent wastewater of HASF in the present conditions is highly polluted due to inappropriate treating and is not appropriate for artificial recharge use, discharge in rivers and lakes or utilization in agriculture, according to the DoE standards

Direct probabilistic load flow in radial distribution systems including wind farms: An approach based on data clustering

© 2018 by the authors. The ongoing study aims to establish a direct probabilistic load flow (PLF) for the analysis of wind integrated radial distribution systems. Because of the stochastic output power of wind farms, it is very important to find a method which can reduce the calculation burden significantly, without having compromising the accuracy of results. In the proposed approach, a K-means based data clustering algorithm is employed, in which all data points are bunched into desired clusters. In this regard, probable agents are selected to run the PLF algorithm. The clustered data are used to employ the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. In this paper, the analysis is performed in terms of simulation run-time. Also, this research follows a two-fold aim. In the first stage, the superiority of data clustering-based MCS over the unsorted data MCS is demonstrated properly. Moreover, the impact of data clustering-based MCS and unsorted data-based MCS is investigated using an indirect probabilistic forward/backward sweep (PFBS) method. Thus, in the second stage, the simulation run-time comparison is carried out rigorously between the proposed direct PLF and the indirect PFBS method to examine the computational burden effects. Simulation results are exhibited on the IEEE 33-bus and 69-bus radial distribution systems

The Effects of Nicotine on the Stimulation of the Cholinergic System and Immune Responses Changes in Animal Models of Multiple Sclerosis

Background & aim: Lately, it has been demonstrated that the signaling by the α7 nicotinic receptors produces the anti-inflammatory condition in both macrophages and T cells. Moreover, activation of macrophages and T cells play an important role in multiple sclerosis (MS).  In the present study, the therapeutic effect of nicotine on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, and its effects on T-helper cells responses was evaluated. Methods: In the present experimental study, EAE was induced by homogenised guinea pig spinal cord and complete Freund’s adjuvant in wistar rats. Animals were allocated in two therapeutic groups (n=7 per group). Treatment with nicotine (2.5 mg/kg-daily) was started in treatment group when the treatment group developed a disability score (at day 12). At the same time, the control group received only the solvent with the same program. Signs of disease were recorded daily until the day 36 when animals were sacrificed. The Splenocytes were checked for proliferation by MTT test and cytokine production by ELISA. The level of nitric oxide in serum was checked by griess test. The data was analyzed using the Student t test and Mann-Whitney U. Results: Nicotine administration in the treatment group significantly reduced the clinical symptoms after the onset of symptoms. Simultaneously with the decrease of the level of serum nitric oxide, nicotine significantly decreased the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 and IFN-γ. The levels of anti-inflammatory IL-10 were not changed significantly. Lymphocyte proliferation was significantly decreased in treatment group compared to control group Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that nicotine had immune modulatory effects and could be used to control MS disease

The Effect of Quercetin on the Physiological Funtions of Rats Peripheral Plood Neutrophils in Vitro Condition

Background & aim: In traditional medicine, medicinal plants containing flavonoid compounds were used for several years in the treatment of various diseases. Quercetin is one of the flavonoid composition family that has a maximum antioxidant flavonoid content. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological features of rats peripheral blood neutrophils treated with quercetin. &nbsp; Methods: In the present experimental study, the rats peripheral blood neutrophils was isolated and then teated with various concentrations of quercetin (0, 5, 10 and 20 &micro;g/ml). The metabolic activity, phagocytosis capabilities, germicidal and respiratory burst of neutrophils were measured. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the analysis. &nbsp; Results: The results demonestrated that the respiratory burst of neutrophils treated by quercitine was significantly increased at minimum concentrations of 10 micrograms per ml. Simmilary, the phagocytic ability of neutrophils was significantly increased at minimum concentrations of 10 micrograms per ml. Albith, the phagocytic ability of neutrophils was increasesd in 5 micrograms per ml, howevet this finding didn&rsquo;t show any significant change.Moreover, the application of quercetin at minimum concentrations of 10 micrograms per ml lead to a significant reduction in killing and survival of neutrophils in the treatment group compared to that of the control group (P<0/05). &nbsp; Conclusion: Quercetin could be considered as a natural immunomodulator of innate responses. This might be due to the inflammation control of neutrophils. &nbsp; &nbsp