Bending of inhomogeneous sandwich plates with viscoelastic cores

This article presents the bending analysis of an inhomogeneous composite sandwich rectangular plate with viscoelastic core. The sinusoidal plate theory as well as other familiar shear deformation plate theories is used. Different types of intermediate plates are considered according to the thickness of all layers and the symmetry of the plate. Illyushin's approximation and the effective moduli methods are used to treat the governing equations of sandwich plates that reinforced with inhomogeneous fibers. Various results for deflections of and some stresses in such plates are presented. A comparison study is made to investigate the effect of time, inhomogeneity, and constitutive parameters as well as the effect of span-to-thickness and aspect ratios on the bending response of the sandwich plates

Business and Information Technology Alignment Measurement -- a recent Literature Review

Since technology has been involved in the business context, Business and Information Technology Alignment (BITA) has been one of the main concerns of IT and Business executives and directors due to its importance to overall company performance, especially today in the age of digital transformation. Several models and frameworks have been developed for BITA implementation and for measuring their level of success, each one with a different approach to this desired state. The BITA measurement is one of the main decision-making tools in the strategic domain of companies. In general, the classical-internal alignment is the most measured domain and the external environment evolution alignment is the least measured. This literature review aims to characterize and analyze current research on BITA measurement with a comprehensive view of the works published over the last 15 years to identify potential gaps and future areas of research in the field.Comment: 12 pages, Preprint version, BIS 2018 International Workshops, Berlin, Germany, July 18 to 20, 2018, Revised Paper

Ultrasensitive in-vitro monitoring of monoamine neurotransmitters from dopaminergic cells

The design of biosensing assay of monoamine neurotransmitters (MANTs) such as epinephrine (Ep), norepinephrine (NE), and dopamine (DA), as well as the monitoring of these MANTs released from dopaminergic cells, are of particular interest. Electrochemical sensors based on the novel construction of nickel oxides (NiO) were fabricated and employed for electrochemical screening of MANTs. A novel NiO-lacy flower-like (NLF) geometrical structure with semi-spherical head surfaces connected with a trunk as an arm was achieved. The designed semi-spherical head associated with abundant and the well-dispersed tubular branches with needle-like open ends might lead to the creation of vascular vessels for facile diffusion and suitable accommodation of the released MANTs throughout active and wide-surface-area coverage, multi-diffusive pores, and caves with connective open macro-/meso-windows along the entire top-view nanoneedles of lacy flower head and trunk. These electrode surfaces possess high-index catalytic site facets associated with the formation of ridges/defects on {110}-top-cover surface dominants for strong binding, fast response, and signaling of MANTs. The NLF- modified electrode enabled high sensitivity for MANTs and a low limit of detection of 6 nM. Ultrasensitive in-vitro monitoring of DA released from dopaminergic cells (such as PC12) was realized. The NLF electrode was used to detect MANTs from its sources (PC12), and it could be used for clinical diagnosis

Growth performance, in vitro antioxidant properties and chemical composition of the halophyte Limonium algarvense Erben are strongly influenced by the irrigation salinity

Limonium algarvense Erben (sea lavender) is a halophyte species with potential to provide natural ingredients with in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and antidiabetic properties. This study reports for the first time the 1) cultivation of sea lavender in greenhouse conditions under irrigation with freshwater (approx. 0 mM NaCl) and saline aquaculture wastewater (300 and 600 mM NaCl), and 2) the influence of the irrigation salinity on the plant performance (e.g growth, number of produced leaves and flowers), in vitro antioxidant properties [radical scavenging activity (DPPH and ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), metal chelating properties on copper (CCA) and iron (ICA)], toxicity (in vitro on three mammalian cell lines) and chemical composition (determined by LC-ESI-HRMS/MS). The freshwater-irrigated plants had better growth performance than those irrigated with saltwater. Extracts from wild plants, had the highest antioxidant activity, but those from cultivated ones kept high in vitro antioxidant properties and interesting chemical profile. The flowers' extracts of plants irrigated with 300 mM NaCl had the highest antioxidant activities against DPPH, whereas those from freshwater-irrigated plants were more active on ABTS, CCA and FRAP. Most of the extracts showed nil toxicity. The flowers' extracts displayed the highest diversity of compounds, mainly quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, naringenin and their glycoside derivatives. Moreover, their abundance varied with the irrigation salinity. These data indicate that sea lavender plants can be successfully cultivated in greenhouse conditions under fresh- and saltwater irrigation, maintaining interesting biological and chemical properties.Funding Agency Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Portuguese National Budget CCMAR/Multi/04326/2019 GreenVet project ALG-01-0145-FEDER-028876 XtrerneAquaCrops FA-05-2017-028 Lisboa-01-0145-FEDER-022125-RNEM-IST ID/QUI/00100/201 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BD/116604/2016 CEECIND/00425/2017info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of laser acupuncture combined with a diet-exercise intervention on metabolic syndrome in post-menopausal women

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of laser acupuncture combined with a diet-exercise intervention on features of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Twenty-eight obese post-menopausal women were randomly distributed to the control and laser acupuncture group. The control group received the diet-exercise intervention and the study group received the same intervention and sessions of laser acupuncture, 3 times/week for 12 weeks. Anthropometric measurement, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and lipid profile were assessed before and after the treatment course. Both groups showed a significant decrease in the anthropometric and metabolic parameters. However, laser acupuncture group showed a greater decrease in the waist (P = 0.001) and hip (P = 0.001) circumferences, cholesterol (P = 0.04), and insulin levels (P = 0.043) than the control group. These results suggest that laser acupuncture is a valuable approach that could be added to the diet-exercise intervention to correct features of the MetS

Comparative performance of two bread wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) genotypes under salinity stress

The study was conducted at a greenhouse of the Graduate School of Biosphere Science in Hiroshima University, Japan under the ambient conditions to find out the effect of salinity stress on some physiological and biochemical characteristics of two bread wheat genotypes and also to elucidate the salt tolerance mechanism of these wheat genotypes. Two wheat genotypes namely ‘Sakha 95' and ‘Misr 2' were exposed to 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl levels of salinity. Results showed that both genotypes were varied significantly for all traits under all levels of salt stress. Among the genotypes, growth of the genotype ‘Misr 2' was found much better than the ‘Sakha 95', with the maintaining a higher dry biomass. The genotype ‘Misr 2' also maintained a high concentrations of soluble-sugars, proline, and various antioxidant enzymes activity such as glutathione reductase (GR), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) compared with genotype ‘Sakha 95'; whereas, maintained a lower levels of lipid peroxidation represented by the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Indicating that genotype ‘Misr 2' has ability to survive under salinity stress than the genotype ‘Sakha 95'. Similarly, salinity stress also significantly changed in Ca++ contents and Na+/Ca++ ratio in both wheat genotypes. The relative reduction in Ca++ concentration and Na+/Ca++ ratio was found higher in the genotype ‘Sakha 95' than in ‘Misr 2' and lead to showing the signs injury. Thus, the genotype ‘Misr 2' would be useful to develop a salinity tolerant wheat varieties in the future breeding program. © 2019, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary

Digital construction permit ::a round trip between GIS and IFC

Building design and surrounding environment are influencing each other. Environment is usually described by a Geographic Information System (GIS), while buildings are often designed with Building Information Modeling (BIM) software. Despite some differences on technology and standards, GIS and BIM deal with geometrical data and attributes. Possible links between GIS and BIM using the City Geographic Markup Language (CityGML) and the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) as standard exchange formats have been studied [1, 2, 3, 4]. The present work establishes an exchange between IFC and GIS features. As an open format, IFC files can be handled by AEC-related software. It is therefore of interest, if IFC can be used for a roundtrip between GIS and BIM. A three-step translation protocol has been developed and tested: (1) Data from GIS had to be transformed into an IFC reference environment model. (2) A test building has been designed. Imported environmental elements have been edited as well. (3) The exported IFC file was then imported into GIS data sets in order to update existing data. The process employed the FME software to convert GIS to IFC and back. Data management tasks have been delegated to a database complying with the IFC format (BIMserver). The accurate import and export of data has been monitored over the entire data exchange process. This study uses the development of a digital construction permit submission procedure for the canton of Geneva in Switzerland

Effect of Water Quality on Tilapia Microbiota and its Reflection on Health Status

  Fisheries and aquaculture are the main players in world food security and nutrition as they constitute major sources of animal protein. We aimed to evaluate the effect of water quality on microbiota and its reflection on the health status of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). One hundred Nile tilapia and 60 water samples were collected from the Ismailia canal, Bahr Mowais, river-irrigated aquacultures, and Agriculture drainage irrigated aquacultures. The real-time PCR results indicated that the water as well as the gills and intestine of fish from the Ismailia canal had the lowest load of opportunistic bacteria while Agriculture drainage irrigated aquaculture had the highest load. The prevalence of Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus was higher in tilapia from aquacultures. The gills of fish from aquaculture groups showed hyperplasia and telangiectasia while their spleen showed activated melanomacrophage centers with diffuse leucocytic infiltration and their intestines showed increased villus width and length. The blood of the aquaculture groups showed a decline in hematological parameters, phagocytic activity, IgM values, and leucocytic counts while their neutrophil content was elevated. We concluded that the bad water quality affected the health and immune status of tilapia directly and indirectly by rising the pathogenic load