Spreading of Persian Gulf water in the northwestern Arabian sea during the month of January

The presence of different water masses in the North Arabian Sea continues to remain of interest to scientists and researchers. Focus on these water masses is due to the unique monsoonal reversal features of the Arabian Sea. The encroachment of Persian Gulf water into the Arabian Sea has been acknowledged and traced. This paper presents the results of an investigation on the spreading patterns of Persian Gulf water in the northwestern Arabian Sea. The study incorporated two different techniques: the core-layer method and the constant sigma-theta surface method on data collected during the North Arabian Sea Environment and Ecosystem Research (NASEER) programme. Horizontal curves of temperature and salinity plotted by both methods show that the Persian Gulf water reduces in concentration as it moves from west to east, whereas the major direction of flow is along the coast of Oman. The results of the study indicate that features of the Persian Gulf water in the northwestern Arabian Sea are so pronounced that either of the method can be used to study and identify the water mass fairly well

Nutritional value of Pleurotus (Flabellatus) Djamor (R-22) cultivated on sawdusts of different woods

The sawdust of different woods were investigat ed for the cultivation of exotic strain of Pleurotus (flabellatus) djamor (R-22) to find out the efficiency of different nutrients including protein, fat, crude fiber, ash, dry matter and moisture. Among all type of nutrients, protein, fat, cr ude fiber, ash, dry matter and moisture of Pleurotus ostreatus on sawdust of different woods were observed. Protein was observed on cont rol treatment (cotton waste, kikar, mango, mixed sawdust, simbal and kail (21.89), (21.64), (21.34), (21.16), (21.03) and (20.75) % respectively. Fat was observed on control treatment (cotton waste, kikar, mango, mi xed sawdust, simbal and kail (0.80), (0.53), (0 .41), (0.33), (0.24) and (0.11)% respectively. Crude fiber was observed on control treatment (cotton waste, kikar, mango, mixed sawdust, simbal and kail (8.92), (8.45), (8.17), (7.96), (7.70) and (7.32) % respectively. Ash was observ ed on control treatment (cotton waste, kikar, mango, mixed sawdust, simbal and kail (7.65), (6.75), (6 .47), (6.39), (6.33) and (6.23%) respectively. Dry matter was observed on control treatment (cotton waste, kikar, mango, mixed sawdust, simbal and kail (6.47), (6.27), (6.13), (6.01), (5.87) and (5.67) % respectively. Moisture was observed on control treatment (c otton waste, kikar, mango, mixed sawdust, simbal and kail (84.55), (81.20), (79.85), (76.26), (74.35) and (71.14) % respectively. Oyster mushroom showed relatively more contents on control treatment cotton waste as compared to other substrates. The maximum protein, fat, crude fiber, ash, dry matter and moisture contents in Pleurotus (flabellatus) djamor (R-22) was obtained on Kikar sawdust .The lowest contents was obtained on kail sawdust

Fructose separation from sorghum syrup by using HPLC approach: a review

Liquid sugar available today is usually the result of dissolving granulated sugar using hot water. Sorghum syrup can be obtained from the concentrate without involving crystallization, centrifugation, sieving and drying and dissolving processes. However, the sorghum syrup produced from the concentrate still containing complex sugar components such as sucrose, sugar, fructose and others. This review was examined the separation of fructose from sorghum syrup using the HPLC approach. Compared with artificial sweeteners or sugar derivative products such as dextrose, maltodextrin, sorbitol, saccharin, sucralose, and xylitol, sorghum syrup still has lower economic value. The manufacture of these sugar derivatives generally uses chemical processes such as chlorination of sucralose, hydrogenation of xylitol or enzymatic processes and fermentation of fructose. Chemical processes in general can pose a danger to consumer health, while enzymatic and biological processes require high operational costs and complex processes of enzyme and cell separation such corn fructose production. Chromatography is a technology for separating complex mixtures such as sorghum concentrates to obtain separate components, such as fructose syrup and byproducts. On a laboratory scale, sugar fractionation or fructose purification is generally carried out using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with the Carbopac ion exchange column as the stationary phase and ultrapure water as the mobile phase. The industrial scale fractionation in the food sector is still applied to palm oil processing. This is a great opportunity to conduct research related to the components of sorghum concentrates using chromatography column fractionation technology to obtain pure fructose with greater process efficiency and economics

Modeling combined cycle performance at full and part loads

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.A block of 460 MW (two gas turbines and one steam turbine) combined cycle power plant has been modeled and simulated. The model equations have been solved by the constructed MATLAB computer program. The model accounts for the actual operating parameters within the block components; compressor, combustion chamber, gas turbine, HRSG and steam turbine. The developed program is utilized to investigate the effect of load, and heat losses in the combustion chamber on the block performance. To validate the present model, the gas turbine performances at different loads are calculated. The results of the present model are compared with the corresponding ones given by the block’s manufacturer. The comparison has shown that the deviations are in the range of 3-5%. Exergy analysis is performed based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Its results have shown that the maximum exergy destruction is found to be in the combustion chamber at full and part loads. The effects of the percentage of heat losses within the combustion chamber on the fuel consumption, gas turbine cycle efficiency and turbine work net are investigated. The fuel mass flow rate and work net of the gas turbine increase as the heat losses increase while the thermal efficiency decreases.dc201

Functional and genetic evidence that nucleoside transport is highly conserved in Leishmania species: Implications for pyrimidine-based chemotherapy

Leishmania pyrimidine salvage is replete with opportunities for therapeutic intervention with enzyme inhibitors or antimetabolites. Their uptake into cells depends upon specific transporters; therefore it is essential to establish whether various Leishmania species possess similar pyrimidine transporters capable of drug uptake. Here, we report a comprehensive characterization of pyrimidine transport in L. major and L. mexicana. In both species, two transporters for uridine/adenosine were detected, one of which also transported uracil and the antimetabolites 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) and 5F,2′deoxyuridine (5F,2′dUrd), and was designated uridine-uracil transporter 1 (UUT1); the other transporter mediated uptake of adenosine, uridine, 5F,2′dUrd and thymidine and was designated Nucleoside Transporter 1 (NT1). To verify the reported L. donovani model of two NT1-like genes encoding uridine/adenosine transporters, and an NT2 gene encoding an inosine transporter, we cloned the corresponding L. major and L. mexicana genes, expressing each in T. brucei. Consistent with the L. donovani reports, the NT1-like genes of either species mediated the adenosine-sensitive uptake of [3H]-uridine but not of [3H]-inosine. Conversely, the NT2-like genes mediated uptake of [3H]-inosine but not [3H]-uridine. Among pyrimidine antimetabolites tested, 5-FU and 5F,2′dUrd were the most effective antileishmanials; resistance to both analogs was induced in L. major and L. mexicana. In each case it was found that the resistant cells had lost the transport capacity for the inducing drug. Metabolomics analysis found that the mechanism of action of 5-FU and 5F-2′dUrd was similar in both Leishmania species, with major changes in deoxynucleotide metabolism. We conclude that the pyrimidine salvage system is highly conserved in Leishmania species - essential information for the development of pyrimidine-based chemotherapy

Development of Quality Standards of Aegle marmelos L. Leaves

Aegle marmelos L (Rutaceae) is a moderately size deciduous tree, growing wild throughout the deciduous forest of India. It is commonly used in day to day life. In present investigation an attempt has been made for the pharmacognostical standardization and evaluation of Aegle marmelos leaves. The pharmacognostical evaluation comprises of detailed macroscopy, powdered microscopy, fluorescence analysis, quantitative microscopy and physical constants such as ash and extractive values. The leaves extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. The data obtained in present study will serve as valuable tool for identification, authentication and detection of adulterants, standardization and quality control of the drug. The developed technique will also be useful for the standardization of formulations containing A. marmelos.ÂÂ

Skin Conductance as Proxy for the Identification of Hydration Level in Human Body

The skin dehydration level can be used to infer serious health conditions in patients since diseases like cardiovascular abnormality, diabetes and cancer symptoms do exhibit correlation with skin disorders. Therefore a systematic analysis of human skin hydration levels is critical for multiple health care applications. Motivated by this, in this study we proposed a unique approach of measuring body hydration levels against different body postures using skin conductance electrical activity. In this paper, we report the collection, processing and analysis techniques used in the analysis of skin conductance data. Subsequently in order to predict body hydration levels we employed state-of-the-art machine learning models using the skin conductance data and achieved 81.82% and 73.91% recognition accuracy for the data of standing and sitting postures,respectively using KNN model

Physical Properties of Rice Husk-Pine Wood Particleboard

Rice husk is one types of sustainable and economical agricultural wastes that could produce particleboard as the substitute for solid wood. The problems that encourage this research are due to the increasing of deforestation and the increment demand for solid wood in various industries. Malaysia produces a significant amount of agricultural biomass waste every year. It is noteworthy to mention that agricultural wastes can be fully used in an environmentally friendly way. This study aims to evaluate the properties of particleboard made from rice husk at different fibre loading and mixture. Different formulated composition of rice husk and pine wood shaving was prepared for the production of particleboard by hot pressing at temperature 160 °C for 6 min using urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin with additional of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) as a hardener. The results showed the density values and moisture content of particleboards ranging from 0.547 to 0.660 g/cm3 and 8.072 to 8.929 %, respectively. The thickness swelling and water absorption were increased as the increment of soaking time. Besides, the colour of the rice husk-pine particleboards has no significant difference and changes except for particleboard made from 100% rice husk. While the more proportion of pine wood shaving has the better compaction of particleboards, and the addition of grinded rice husk also make the particleboards have fewer voids. This study is expected to reduce deforestation activities and to maximize the usage of agricultural wastes

Sequence-based identification and characterisation of cultivated filamentous fungi in the Alan Bunga peat ecosystems of Sarawak, Malaysia

The identification of cultivated fungal isolates using multiple primer set approaches reveals a lot of information on how soil fungi change as land use changes in tropical peat swamp forest ecosystems. This study aimed to identify the cultivated species of fungi from three different Alan Bunga peat swamp forest ecosystems: secondary forest, logged-over secondary forest, and 3.5 years after oil palm planting. A total of 45 fungal isolates were cultivated on two different types of media (potato dextrose agar [PDA] and malt extract agar [MEA]), and subsequently amplified using two different primer sets, namely ITS (ITS1/ITS4) and 18S rDNA (EF4/fung5). The morphological characteristics of fungal isolates were examined under a light microscope. Forty-two fungal isolates were successfully verified by PCR and DNA sequencing. The majority of the cultivated fungal species belonged to the phylum Ascomycota; one was from the Basidiomycota. Trichoderma asperellum (34 %) was the commonest fungal species detected in secondary forest using ITS primer whereas Aspergillus fumigatus (22 %) was the commonest using 18S rDNA primer. In conclusion, the ITS1/ITS4 primer set showed greater accuracy than the EF4/fung5 primer set in identification of the fungal taxonomic groups to species level

Production of the lactic acid from mango peel waste – Factorial experiment

AbstractThe production of lactic acid from mango peels using the bio-fermentation method was investigated. The possible relationship between the operational factors, namely process temperature (15 and 35 °C), initial medium pH (4 and 10) and duration of fermentation (3 and 6 days) on lactic acid production as the response was determined using the factorial design. Analysis of the data obtained showed there was a strong significant influence of the operational factors and their interactions on lactic acid production (P < 0.0001) of fermenting microorganisms. The regression model for lactic acid production fitted the data adequately and explained more than 99% of the variation in the response. The results also showed that the maximum production of lactic acid can be achieved at initial medium pH of 10; incubation time of 6 days; and at a temperature of 35 °C. The maximum production of lactic acid was 17.484 g/L. This study highlights the potential of mango peels as a low cost and economically viable fermentation substrate for the production of lactic acid