Gas bubbles investigation in contaminated water using optical tomography based on independent component analysis method

This paper presents the results of concentration profiles for gas bubble flow in a vertical pipeline containing contaminated water using an optical tomography system. The concentration profiles for the bubble flow quantities are investigated under five different flows conditions, a single bubble, double bubbles, 25% of air opening, 50% of air opening, and 100% of air opening flow rates where a valve is used to control the gas flow in the vertical pipeline. The system is aided by the independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm to reconstruct the concentration profiles of the liquid-gas flow. The behaviour of the gas bubbles was investigated in contaminated water in which the water sample was prepared by adding 25 mL of colour ingredients to 3 liters of pure water. The result shows that the application of ICA has enabled the system to detect the presence of gas bubbles in contaminated water. This information provides vital information on the flow inside the pipe and hence could be very significant in increasing the efficiency of the process industries

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for palm cooking oil discriminator using planar electromagnetic sensor array

Cooking oil is an important product in the Malaysia food industries. Most of the cooking oil products is based on palm oil. However, there are activities in selling cheaper cooking oil by labelling as high quality in cooking oil product. Traditional methods have been developed to measure the quality of the cooking oil product such as the chromatography technique but the cost for the system setup is expensive and requires a large amount of time to analyse the sample. Thus, a suitable and reliable system with less analysis time is needed for widespread industrial uses. This paper has presented a discriminative technique for palm cooking oil using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) with planar electromagnetic sensor array. The sensor consists of a meander sensor and an interdigital sensors which interact with the test samples. Three types of palm cooking oil such as double refined palm oil, refined and deodorized palm oil with peanut and sesame oil, and filtered palm oil were prepared. The results obtained showed that the presented technique was able to differentiate the samples between 20 kHz to 1 Mhz. The results obtained correlate with the theories on EIS technique and planar electromagnetic sensor which are presented in this paper

Embedded wireless stingless beehive monitoring and data management system

In this paper, an embedded wireless stingless bee monitoring system, which investigates the environment's temperature and humidity effect on the bee activity and honey production of Heterotrigona Itama, a stingless bee species, is presented. The variables observed by the system are the weight of the honey container, the temperature inside the hive, humidity inside the hive, temperature of the environment outside of the hive, the humidity of the environment outside of the hive, and bee activity counter. The sensors used are Strain Gauge Load Cell (SGLC) sensor for weighing purposes, DHT22 sensors for temperature and humidity, and infrared transceivers bee counter sensor for bee activity monitoring. All installed sensors were controlled by using a NodeMCU microcontroller. All data were recorded and transferred to a Google Firebase real-Time database. The proposed system offers an android application to access the recorded data called EMAS apps. EMAS fetches all the information from the database and represents it on graphs and pages in the user smart devices. This paper analyses the data obtained for 36 hours from a single hive. Results obtained represent a relationship between the temperature collected and bee activity with the honey produced. It was observed that in the morning, the increase of temperature leads to high traffic of bees going out of the hive, which decreases the weight of the hive to 2.7 Kg. Meanwhile, in the evening, the decrease in temperature leads to high traffic of bees going into the hive, which increases the hive weight to 4.5 Kg. For future work, to enhance the system's performance, installation of the embedded system into an array of hives was advised and longterm data observation process was required

DESIGN EXPERT SUPPORTED FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT, MATHEMATICAL OPTIMIZATION AND PREDICTABILITY STUDY OF FLOATING TABLETS OF BISOPROLOL FUMARATE

Objective: Focus of the study was to formulate Design expert Software assisted floating tablet of Bisoprolol Fumarate. Bisoprolol Fumarate is a Beta adrenergic blocking agent, used to treat cardiac diseases favorable characters to be formulated as sustained release Gastro retentive floating tablets. Methods: Floating Tablets of Bisoprolol Fumarate were prepared by using polymers such as Polyox N 12 K and Carbapol 940 P. Formulations were prepared by using direct compression method and evaluated for various parameters like Hradness, thickness, weight variations, Floating lag time Total floating time,% drug release and Stability Study etc. Results: FTIR spectroscopic study indicates no drug-excipients interaction in the prepared formulations. Hardness or crushing strength of the tablets of all the formulation was found between 5.8 and 6.5 kg/cm2. Floating lag time of all batches is in range of 1.18±2.0 to 2.43±1.6 (minutes). All other parameters of all batches are within an acceptable range. The polymer Carbopol 940 P had the significant negative effect of on the floating lag times. The In vitro dissolution profiles of optimized A3 Floating formulation of Bisoprolol Fumarate were found to sustain drug release 99.25 % up to 12 h with floating lag time of 1.45 min; Designed formulation was stable after Stability study. Optimization study was carried out by using 32 factorial designs to fabricate formulations. Conclusion: It can be conclude that reproducible results of various parameters in this developed formulation can easily scale up. Furthermore designed formulation will be very effective for controlling blood pressure

Characterization of industrial wastes as raw materials for emulsified modified bitumen (EMB) formulation

This study was conducted to characterize industrial wastes for the formulation of emulsified modified bitumen (EMB), in relation to their physical characteristics and elemental compositions. The aim was to determine which raw materials from industrial wastes could be used for EMB formulation. Bitumen is produced from crude oil extracted from the ground, which categorizes crude oil as one of the non-renewable fossil fuels. Various environmental issues that have risen in Malaysia are caused by the excessive manufacturing activities and the miss-management of industrial wastes. In an effort to mitigate these issues, industrial wastes are being used in various EMB formulations. Industrial wastes, such as polystyrene, polyethylene, and used automotive oil can be used as alternatives to formulate bitumen. Normally, a suitable emulsifier is needed to produce the final product, which is EMB. The emulsifier will yield a charge, depending on its properties, to bind the oily bitumen with water. In this current study, physical characteristic studies were performed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), flash point test, density test, and moisture content test. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was also performed to determine the material’s molecular composition and structure

Structural basis for the RING catalyzed synthesis of K63 linked ubiquitin chains

This work was supported by grants from Cancer Research UK (C434/A13067), the Wellcome Trust (098391/Z/12/Z) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J016004/1).The RING E3 ligase catalysed formation of lysine 63 linked ubiquitin chains by the Ube2V2–Ubc13 E2 complex is required for many important biological processes. Here we report the structure of the RING domain dimer of rat RNF4 in complex with a human Ubc13~Ub conjugate and Ube2V2. The structure has captured Ube2V2 bound to the acceptor (priming) ubiquitin with Lys63 in a position that could lead to attack on the linkage between the donor (second) ubiquitin and Ubc13 that is held in the active “folded back” conformation by the RING domain of RNF4. The interfaces identified in the structure were verified by in vitro ubiquitination assays of site directed mutants. This represents the first view of the synthesis of Lys63 linked ubiquitin chains in which both substrate ubiquitin and ubiquitin-loaded E2 are juxtaposed to allow E3 ligase mediated catalysis.PostprintPeer reviewe

Malaysia high rise residential light well quality satisfactory assessment

Most commonly, residents are always arguing about the quality of their high rise residential property. A growing number of high rise residential buildings in Malaysia with differing light well were designed by the structural design and planning since 15 years ago. This light well is defined as an intermediate space area between indoor and outdoor of the high-rise residential building. The questionnaire survey of three high rise residential buildings that have different sizes of the light well and building designed were conducted to make clear the occupants' evaluation about the real quality conditions of the buildings. As a result, the quality of light well is clearly satisfied and well managed by the property manager in their high rise residential buildings