Study on removal behavior and separation efficiency of naturally occurring bentonite for sulfate from water by continuous column and batch methods

The removal of sulfate using Jordanian bentonite has been investigated in this study. The surface of the bentonite was modified by calcinations at different temperature. The batch experiments of the equilibrium studies were carried out under different operating conditions. Kinetic modeling for the removal of sulfate ion was investigated using a pseudo-second-order, intraparticle diffusion and Elovich kinetic models to predict the rate constants and equilibrium capacities for this process using column reactor. It was found that intraparticle diffusion of the sulfate ion is the rate limiting step and played an important role in the mechanism of sulfate ion adsorption depending on the obtained activation energy, which was 32.8 kJ/mol. Also, the sorption isotherm analyzed using both the Langmuir and Freundlich models as a function of temperature. The isothermal data found to be fitted Langmuir model rather than Freundlich model. The positive value of ΔH (15.2 kJ/mol) indicated that the adsorption of sulfate ions on the adsorbent was an endothermic process and the positive value of ΔS (22.1 J/mol.K) indicated that the adsorption is favorable with small positive value of the free energy (ΔG)

ArBanking77: Intent Detection Neural Model and a New Dataset in Modern and Dialectical Arabic

This paper presents the ArBanking77, a large Arabic dataset for intent detection in the banking domain. Our dataset was arabized and localized from the original English Banking77 dataset, which consists of 13,083 queries to ArBanking77 dataset with 31,404 queries in both Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Palestinian dialect, with each query classified into one of the 77 classes (intents). Furthermore, we present a neural model, based on AraBERT, fine-tuned on ArBanking77, which achieved an F1-score of 0.9209 and 0.8995 on MSA and Palestinian dialect, respectively. We performed extensive experimentation in which we simulated low-resource settings, where the model is trained on a subset of the data and augmented with noisy queries to simulate colloquial terms, mistakes and misspellings found in real NLP systems, especially live chat queries. The data and the models are publicly available at https://sina.birzeit.edu/arbanking77

Evaluation of Treated Wastewater Quality Changes through the Vadose Zone

Due to water challenges in arid and semi-arid regions including water scarcity and increasing demands, wastewater reuse in irrigation is becoming more widely practiced. This paper presents a case study for Sadat City, Egypt, to assess the impacts of using treated wastewater (TWW) in irrigation on soil and evaluating the natural attenuation of the TWW in the vadose zone. A field and laboratory program was conducted to identify the hydraulic properties of the soil and the contaminant concentration in water and soil. Water flow and solute transport are simulated in the vadose zone using HYDRUS 1D for five soil profiles in the study area through 50 years from 1992 to 2042. Six contaminants of concern were selected to simulate (Mg, Cl, Fe, NH3, NO3 and Fecal Coliform to study the bio-clogging effect on the soil). Six irrigation scenarios were selected to simulate flow and transport according to thewastewater treatment (primary, secondary, oxidation pond, tertiary treated wastewater, tertiary for double field water duty and irrigation with two year rotation(primary treated wastewater and groundwater)). The results show the concentration of contaminants of concern which will reach to groundwater aquifer after the purification and soil leaching.The results indicate that the concentrations of contaminants of concern were affected sensitively by the initial concentration of soil columns. Keywords: Wastewater, groundwater, vadose zone, HYDRUS 1

Reversible color video watermarking scheme based on hybrid of integer-to-integer wavelet transform and Arnold transform

Unauthorized redistribution and illegal copying of digital contents are serious issues which have affected numerous types of digital contents such as digital video. One of the methods, which have been suggested to support copyright protection, is to hide digital watermark within the digital video. This paper introduces a new video watermarking system which based on a combination of Arnold transform and integer wavelet transforms (IWT). IWT is employed to decompose the cover video frames whereby Arnold transform is used to scramble the watermark which is a grey scale image. Scrambling the watermark before the concealment makes the transmission more secure by disordering the information. The system performance was benchmarked against related video watermarking schemes, in which the evaluation processes consist of testing against several video operations and attacks. Consequently, the scheme has been demonstrated to be perfectly robust

ENV-625: IMPACTS OF TREATED WASTEWATER REUSE IN IRRIGATION ON GROUNDWATER: CASE STUDY OF SADAT CITY – EGYPT

Groundwater is becoming an essential water resource in Egypt due to the deficit in water balance. It is planned to increase withdrawal in 2017 to 7.5 BCM and 3.5 BCM from renewable and non-renewable groundwater aquifers, respectively. In recent years there have been efforts to protect this water resource. The main objective of this paper is studying the impacts of reusing treated wastewater in irrigation after natural attenuation through the vadose zone. Hydrogeological data were collected to characterize the aquifer in Sadat City. A field program was conducted to identify the saturated hydraulic conductivities of the aquifer and the contaminant concentrations in groundwater. Field investigations were conducted by drilling five boreholes in the study area and five monitoring wells were installed. Groundwater flow and solute transport were simulated by VISUAL MODFLOW and MT3D. Four contaminants of concern were selected for simulation: magnesium, chloride, iron and nitrates. Seven irrigation scenarios were tested: primary treated wastewater, secondary treated wastewater, oxidation pond wastewater, tertiary treated wastewater, tertiary for double field water duty, irrigation with two-year rotation (primary treated wastewater and groundwater) and in the last scenario the study area is divided into 3 zones and irrigated with tertiary treated wastewater, oxidation pond wastewater and groundwater. The simulation results of the seven scenarios were presented and compared to the initial concentrations in groundwater. The results show that the contaminants of concern concentrations depend on initial concentrations in groundwater and the quality of the infiltrated water from the vadose zone

Trends of antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from urine cultures of women in Jordan: A 10-year retrospective study

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common medical condition among women. E.coli is the most common causative organism. Appropriate understanding of the development of antimicrobial resistance over the past helps to establish efficient treatment strategies in the future. The study aims to discover antimicrobial resistance trends exhibited by E.coli strains isolated from women urine cultures over the past 10 years. Methods: A total of 1874 affected urine samples over the years 2009 to 2018 were collectively reviewed and classified according to the response they showed to 24 different antimicrobial disks in the laboratory. Relations between time and resistance evolutionary profiles were calculated. Results: Gentamicin (p value =0.039), Augmentin (p value =0.017), Cefoxitin (p value =0.001), Cefixime (p value =0.026) fulfilled satisfactory figures in terms of average resistance, regression of resistance, speed of resistance evolution, steadiness of performance, side effects, spectrum range and cost with high significance. Conclusion: Drugs that showed satisfactory figures are recommended for future treatment protocols in Jordan. &nbsp

Inhibition of alpha-synuclein seeded fibril formation and toxicity by herbal medicinal extracts.

Recent studies indicated that seeded fibril formation and toxicity of α-synuclein (α-syn) play a main role in the pathogenesis of certain diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy, and dementia with Lewy bodies. Therefore, examination of compounds that abolish the process of seeding is considered a key step towards therapy of several synucleinopathies. Using biophysical, biochemical and cell-culture-based assays, assessment of eleven compounds, extracted from Chinese medicinal herbs, was performed in this study for their effect on α-syn fibril formation and toxicity caused by the seeding process. Salvianolic acid B and dihydromyricetin were the two compounds that strongly inhibited the fibril growth and neurotoxicity of α-syn. In an in-vitro cell model, these compounds decreased the insoluble phosphorylated α-syn and aggregation. Also, in primary neuronal cells, these compounds showed a reduction in α-syn aggregates. Both compounds inhibited the seeded fibril growth with dihydromyricetin having the ability to disaggregate preformed α-syn fibrils. In order to investigate the inhibitory mechanisms of these two compounds towards fibril formation, we demonstrated that salvianolic acid B binds predominantly to monomers, while dihydromyricetin binds to oligomeric species and to a lower extent to monomers. Remarkably, these two compounds stabilized the soluble non-toxic oligomers lacking β-sheet content after subjecting them to proteinase K digestion. Eleven compounds were tested but only two showed inhibition of α-syn aggregation, seeded fibril formation and toxicity in vitro. These findings highlight an essential beginning for development of new molecules in the field of synucleinopathies treatment.The work conducted by Dr. El-Agnaf laboratory was supported by Qatar Biomedical Research Institute under the Start-up Fund SF 2017–007. Funding for this work was provided in part by NIH/NIA grant R37AG019391 to D.E. This study was made possible by NPRP grant 4–1371–1-223 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The funding bodies provided financial support for this study; they had no role in the study design, performance, data collection and analysis, decision to publish and preparation/writing of the manuscript

Altering Murine Leukemia Virus Integration Through Disruption of the Integrase and BET Protein Family Interaction

We report alterations to the murine leukemia virus (MLV) integrase (IN) protein that successfully result in decreasing its integration frequency at transcription start sites and CpG islands, thereby reducing the potential for insertional activation. The host bromo and extraterminal (BET) proteins Brd2, 3 and 4 interact with the MLV IN protein primarily through the BET protein ET domain. Using solution NMR, protein interaction studies, and next generation sequencing, we showthat the C-terminal tail peptide region ofMLV IN is important for the interaction with BET proteins and that disruption of this interaction through truncation mutations affects the global targeting profile of MLV vectors. The use of the unstructured tails of gammaretroviral INs to direct association with complexes at active promoters parallels that used by histones and RNA polymerase II. Viruses bearingMLV IN C-terminal truncations can provide new avenues to improve the safety profile of gammaretroviral vectors for human gene therapy

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London