Geotechnical properties of paper recycling waste streams

This paper studies two waste streams of the paper recycling industry for potential use in geotechnical applications. Namely, de-inking paper sludge from the secondary treatment stage, and paper sludge ash (PSA) obtained from the incineration of this sludge. Salient geotechnical properties of the statically compacted sludge before and after stabilisation with lime or PSA are presented. Tests include shear box testing, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) testing, 1-D swelling and compression in oedometric conditions, p-wave velocity measurements using a Portable Ultrasonic Non-destructive Digital Indicating Tester (PUNDIT), and filter paper testing to determine water retention characteristics. The volume changes of the untreated sludge were found to be considerable in all above tests; however its shear strength at a highly compacted state was overall adequate. Chemical stabilization of the sludge was effective in reducing volume changes. The PSA was also assessed as a silt soil stabiliser. As geomaterial stabiliser, PSA was found to have a similar or better performance than lime. Overall the results are encouraging and indicate that it is possible to use paper industry waste in geotechnical applications

Autonomic Dysfunction Predicts Early Cardiac Affection in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis

Objective: To detect the early preclinical alterations in cardiac autonomic control as well as altered cardiac function in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients and their relevance to the clinical features of the disease using noninvasive methods. Methods: 30 SSc patients and 15 healthy controls matched for age and sex underwent clinical examination, serological analysis, and echocardiographic assessment including Doppler flow imaging to evaluate cardiac function, and 24-hour Holter monitoring analyzed for arrhythmia and heart rate variability (HRV) in the time and frequency domains. Results: The trans-mitral Doppler of early to atrial wave (E/A) ratio was reversed in five patients (16.6%) and the tricuspid E/A ratio was reversed in 10 patients (33.3%). Holter analysis for SSc patients revealed an increased prevalence of premature ventricular contractions (PVC) $ 10/h (P = 0.02), supra-ventricular tachycardias (SVTs) (P = 0.2), and total PVC count (P = 0.0000). Highly significant (P = 0.000) impairment in all HRV parameters was demonstrated in the SSc patients. Total skin thickness score (TSS), Raynaud’s phenomenon and anti-scleroderma 70 (anti-SCL70) showed significant positive correlations with all arrhythmia parameters, while showing a significant negative correlation with the impaired ventricular diastolic function and various HRV parameters. No correlation was found between arrhythmia and HRV parameters and disease duration, disease type, or presence of anti-centromere antibodies. Conclusion: Low heart rate variability, increased TSS and the presence of anti-SCL70 are correlated with preclinical cardiac involvement in SSc patients and may predict the likelihood of malignant arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. Therefore, noninvasive HRV evaluation before clinical cardiac involvement in these patients might be beneficial when added to the clinical and laboratory assessments in detecting high-risk patients, and may allow for implementation of preventive measures and initiation of appropriate therapy early in the course of the disease

Myringoplasty in children: Retrospective analysis of 60 cases

Myringoplasty or type 1 tympanoplasty aims the restoration of the anatomic integrity of the tympanic membrane; it's a very common surgery in otology. The objective was to evaluate the anatomic and functional results of this surgery in children using the retro-auricular approach. Sixty young patients with diagnosis of simple tympanic perforation were evaluated; these patients underwent myringoplasty by a retro-auricular approach (underlay technique) between November 2010 and May 2013. It's a retrospective evaluation of the anatomic and functional results of theses myringoplasties. Mean age at surgery was 8, 5 years old, cartilage was used as graft in our entire patient, closure of perforation was successful in 48 cases (80%), and audiometric results showed functional improvement in 27 (45%) patients, no significant change was noted in the remaining patients. The results of myringoplasty in children seem worse than those in adults. However, a large study with a long follow up is warranted in order to come to definitive conclusions

Controlled Noncontact Manipulation of Nonmagnetic Untethered Microbeads Orbiting Two-Tailed Soft Microrobot

A rotating two-tailed soft microrobot induces a frequency dependent flow-field in low Reynolds number fluids. We use this flow-field to achieve noncontact manipulation of nonmagnetic microbeads with average diameter of 30 μ m in 2-D space. Our noncontact manipulation strategy capitalizes on exerting a rotational magnetic torque on the magnetic dipole of the microrobot. The induced flow-field enables microbeads in the surrounding fluid to orbit the microrobot along a sprocketlike trajectory due to a periodic and asymmetric flow-field caused by the two tails. A hydrodynamic model of the two-tailed microrobot and the orbiting microbeads is developed based on the method of regularized Stokeslets for computing Stokes flows. The relations between the angular velocity of the orbiting microbeads and the rotation frequency of the microrobot, their proximity (p), and tail length ratio of the microrobots are studied theoretically and experimentally. Our simulations and experimental results show that the angular velocity of the orbiting microbeads decreases nearly as |p|-2 with the distance to the microrobot and its tail length ratio. We also demonstrate closed-loop control of the microbeads toward target positions along sprocketlike trajectories with an average position error of 23.1 ± 9.1 μ m (n=10), and show the ability to swim away without affecting the positioning accuracy after manipulation

Oral contraceptive pills use and adverse effects

Background: Egyptian women value contraceptive methods for their effectiveness against pregnancy. Objective: This study aimed to determine the usage and side effects of oral contraceptive pills among the target group.Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 350 women from family health centers and units in Abo Hammad District, Sharkia Governorate. Data were collected through a questionnaireResults: Majority (81.1%) of the studied group used combined pills The most frequent side effects found among them were depression, breast pain & inflammation, weight gain and abnormal vaginal secretions (63.7%, 57.7%, 56.6% & 56.3% respectively).Conclusion The present study revealed that prevalence of pills usage among 350 studied females in Abo Hammad District, Sharkia Governorate was 62.9%. The prevalence of combined pills was 81.1% and Mini pills was 18.9%

GREEN VORTEX-ASSISTED IONIC LIQUID-BASED DISPERSIVE LIQUID-LIQUID MICROEXTRACTION FOR ENRICHMENT AND DETERMINATION OF CADMIUM AND LEAD IN WATER, VEGETABLES AND TOBACCO SAMPLES

Objective: An eco-friendly, simple and sensitive vortex-assisted ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction method (VA-IL-DLLµE) has been proposed to enrich and determine trace levels of cadmium (Cd2+ ) and lead (Pb2+ ) ions in water, vegetables and tobacco samples, prior to its FAAS determination. Methods: The proposed method based on utilization of ionic liquid (IL) (1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate [HMIM][FAP]) as an extraction solvent for both ions after the complexation with 4,5-dihydroxy-3-phenylazo-2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid, disodium salt (Chromotrope 2R) at pH 6.5. The impact of different analytical parameters on microextraction efficiency was optimized. Results: In the ranges of 1.0–300 and 2.0-400 μg/ml, the calibration graphs were linear. The limits of detection were 0.3 and 0.6 μg/ml for Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions, respectively. The preconcentration factor was 100. The relative standard deviation (RSD %)<3.0%, which indicates the proposed method has high precision. Conclusion: The proposed VA-IL-DLLµE method was developed and applied for the estimation of Cd2+ and Pb2+ ion content in various water, vegetables and tobacco samples, and satisfactory results were obtained. The obtained recovery values showed good agreement with the certified values

Parallel Tabu Search in a Heterogeneous Environment

Abstract In this paper, we discuss a parallel tabu search algorithm with implementation in a heterogeneous environment. Two parallelization strategies are integrated: functional decomposition and multi-search threads. In addition, domain decomposition strategy is implemented probabilistically. The performance of each strategy is observed and analyzed in terms of speeding up the search and finding better quality solutions. Experiments were conducted for the VLSI cell placement. The objective was to achieve the best possible solution in terms of interconnection length, timing performance circuit speed, and area. The multiobjective nature of this problem is addressed using a fuzzy goal-based cost computation

Parallel Tabu Search in a Heterogeneous Environment

Abstract In this paper, we discuss a parallel tabu search algorithm with implementation in a heterogeneous environment. Two parallelization strategies are integrated: functional decomposition and multi-search threads. In addition, domain decomposition strategy is implemented probabilistically. The performance of each strategy is observed and analyzed in terms of speeding up the search and finding better quality solutions. Experiments were conducted for the VLSI cell placement. The objective was to achieve the best possible solution in terms of interconnection length, timing performance circuit speed, and area. The multiobjective nature of this problem is addressed using a fuzzy goal-based cost computation