Hydrogen production using Al-Sn alloys prepared by rapid solidification

Air pollution produced by the direct burning of fossil fuels is a serious problem. Therefore, there is a vital demand for renewable and clean fuel replacements for future energy source. Hydrogen, which exhibits high calorific value and is a clean burning product, could be the first choice in the future, as it is a good-looking fuel for fuel cells where the electric energy is directly gotten by the electrochemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen. Rapidly solidified Al100-x-Snx alloy X= (0, 25, 55, 75 all in wt.%) was prepared using melt spinning technique at 800 ºC. The structural and microstructural evolutions of the phases have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and the Rietveld method. Al45Sn55 alloy shows the best volume of hydrogen generation which is (531 ml), this alloy has the highest number of grains (1096) than other prepared alloys in its surface which examined through a Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and analyzed using an SPM data visualization and analysis tool (Gwyddion 2.32). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used for calculating melting temperature for all prepared alloys. Melting temperature reduced from 933.47 K for Al pure to 500.95 K in Al45Sn55 alloy. Temperature dependence of resistivity had been performed for all prepared alloys. Electrical properties of prepared alloys show the decrease in volume of the unit cell V with increasing VEC, which means that the volume of the first Brillouin zone increases by increasing VEC since they are inversely proportional to each other

Microstructural analysis for Sn-Bi-Sb-In alloy prepared by rapid solidification

In the present study, Sn70-X at.% -Bi15 at.% -Sb15 at.%- Inx at.% alloy ( x= 0, 2, 4, 6), were prepared by melt spinning technique. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and Vickers microhardness (Hv); were used to characterize the phase transformation and the microstructure evolution. The results contribute to the understanding of the microstructure evolution in alloys of the type prepared by melt spinning technique. This work reports on a comparative study of the rapidly solidified, in order to compare the microhardness and microstructural analysis

Characterization of Indium addition on Sn-Bi-Sb Lead free Solder alloy

The aim of these work is to measure the effect of the addition of In with different atomic percent weight on structure, melting, Electrical and mechanical properties of Sn70-X at.% -Bi15 at.% -Sb15 at.%- Inx at.% rapidly solidified. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), temperature dependence of resistivity (TDR), and mechanical resonance method are performed. It's found that electrical conductivity (σ) and thermal conductivity (K) increased gradually by increasing In at.%. Melting temperature reduced from 470.12 K for Sn70 at.%- Bi15 at.%- Sb15 at.% to 427.13 K in Sn61 at.%- Bi15 at.%- Sb15 at.%- In9 at.%. Also, elastic moduli, internal friction and thermal diffusivity measured from melt-quenched ribbons

Metallographic study of Sn-Bi-Sb-In alloy prepared by rapid solidification

Sn70-X at.% -Bi15 at.% -Sb15 at.%- Inx at.%  alloy ribbons were produced using melt-spinning technique. The surfaces were characterized with Optical Microscopy. Also, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX). The results contribute to the understanding of the microstructure evolution in alloys of this type prepared by melt spinning technique. Microscopy can give information concerning a materials composition, previous treatment and properties. Particular features of interest are grain size, phases present, Chemical homogeneity, distribution of phases and, elongated structures formed by melt spinning technique

An Integrated ERP with Web Portal

Abstract Making the right decision at the right time requires that the data should be available at internet time not after the event when it is too late to do anything. So the need for a web portal has been increased in order to support decision making in the different organizational levels at internet time by providing features such as, customization, personalization, support for collaboration and notification that support managers in making the right decision at internet time. All this can be achieved by applying the (BI) tools on " One version" data store that contains data from legacy ERP system after applying the ETL tools over it. Also the Data marts will be used in order to shorten the response time of queries generated by the users

Influence of Interleukin-6 (174G/C) Gene Polymorphism on Obesity in Egyptian Children

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a multi-factorial chronic disorder. A considerable number of studies have been performed to figure out whether there is an association between obesity and polymorphisms of gene IL-6 (174G/C), but the results are equivocal.AIM: This study aimed to find out whether the IL-6 (174G/C) gene was associated with the risk of developing obesity in Egyptian children.SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 149 children and adolescents with age ranged between 9.5 – 18 years. Eighty-five of them were obese which BMIZ-score is > 2, and sixty-four children with BMIZ-score ≤ 2 served as control group. Serum level of IL-6 and genetic analysis for IL-6 (174G/C) gene polymorphism were done.RESULTS: Obese children had significantly higher serum levels of IL-6 as compared to those of control children (P = 0.003). A high percentage of IL-6 polymorphism GC was found in obese subjects (93.7%), while the control group had a higher percentage of IL-6 polymorphism GG (70.6 %).CONCLUSION: Our study showed that carriers of the C allele for the IL-6 (174G/C) polymorphism have higher BMI. As the G174C polymorphism is likely to affect IL-6 expression and its physiological regulation; consequently this polymorphism may affect adiposity

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Molecular docking as a tool for the discovery of novel insight about the role of acid sphingomyelinase inhibitors in SARS- CoV-2 infectivity

Abstract Recently, COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, caused > 6 million deaths. Symptoms included respiratory strain and complications, leading to severe pneumonia. SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the ACE-2 receptor of the host cell membrane to enter. Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 entry may effectively inhibit infection. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) is a lysosomal protein that catalyzes the conversion of sphingolipid (sphingomyelin) to ceramide. Ceramide molecules aggregate/assemble on the plasma membrane to form “platforms” that facilitate the viral intake into the cell. Impairing the ASMase activity will eventually disrupt viral entry into the cell. In this review, we identified the metabolism of sphingolipids, sphingolipids' role in cell signal transduction cascades, and viral infection mechanisms. Also, we outlined ASMase structure and underlying mechanisms inhibiting viral entry 40 with the aid of inhibitors of acid sphingomyelinase (FIASMAs). In silico molecular docking analyses of FIASMAs with inhibitors revealed that dilazep (S = − 12.58 kcal/mol), emetine (S = − 11.65 kcal/mol), pimozide (S = − 11.29 kcal/mol), carvedilol (S = − 11.28 kcal/mol), mebeverine (S = − 11.14 kcal/mol), cepharanthine (S = − 11.06 kcal/mol), hydroxyzin (S = − 10.96 kcal/mol), astemizole (S = − 10.81 kcal/mol), sertindole (S = − 10.55 kcal/mol), and bepridil (S = − 10.47 kcal/mol) have higher inhibition activity than the candidate drug amiodarone (S = − 10.43 kcal/mol), making them better options for inhibition