Factors affecting farmers’ willingness to adopt salt-tolerant forage crops in south-eastern Tunisia

This paper analyzed the factors that affect farmers’ willingness to adopt salt-tolerant forage for livestock, using a Tobit model. The data used for the empirical analysis was obtained from a survey of 97 farmers in southeastern Tunisia. The results of this study show that variables related to age, education level, the salinity level of water and membership in a farmers’ association do not significantly influence the degree to which salt-tolerant forage production is adopted. It did, however, find a positive relationship between off-farm income availability and adoption. In addition, the flock size variable, expressed in Standard Livestock Units, has a significant and positive relationship with adoption. This indicates farmers’ need to cover their forage deficit. Agricultural extension services should ensure that the requisite forage species are made available, and work with farmers to encourage them to adopt salt-tolerant forage species and pass on their knowledge to other farmers.Farmers’ willingness to adopt, Salt-tolerant forage, Tobit model, Tunisia, Crop Production/Industries,

Interconnecting outriggers system in tall building structure

Tall building are innovative structure that shall be studies their systems and connections to accept stability in related to certain lateral load such as seismic loads post-earthquake and wind loads. Central core are a major structural element that designed in combination to frames which interact through outriggers to transfer the loads to the foundation. The issue of rigidity is the cooperation between elements in tall building systems. Significantly, type of connections among components based on their stiffness can be defined in the form of percentage of safe distribution of loads in tall building system. The research proposes a design of interconnecting of tall building blocks distribution through tensile force and The effect of soil pressure at underground levels that creates a lateral forces that push the face of the frames below ground level is also another form of loads. In summary, this research is to understand the effect of interconnecting of blocks on overall formation stiffness based on different analysis Models. It figures out the effect of inter connecting at abutment in levels on retaining wall and self -stability of frame related to soil pressure

Metabolic Environment and Cellular Signaling in Haematopoietic Stem Cells and Progenitor Cells

This work demonstrates how the nutrient and physico-chemical environment can indeed affect the self-renewal versus differentiation of haematopoietic progenitor cells in vitro, consistent with the proposed existence of metabolic niches in vivo that contribute to the organization and control of haematopoiesis. The identification of Nme2 as a key link between metabolic and signaling activities should enable more detailed analysis of these relationships in the future

SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES (SLNs) AS NANO DRUG DELIVERY CARRIERS: PREPARATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION

Over the last few years, there has been a significant consideration of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) as an alternative method to other colloidal dispersion methods for drug delivery. Special consideration has been given to the use of SLNs as a drug carrier in recent years. SLNs are aqueous dispersions in which the colloidal particles consist of solid lipids that are biodegradable. As a result of their physical stability, the protection of the entrapped drug from decomposition, the provision of controlled drug release, and the exceptional acceptability, SLNs have several advantages over other drug carriers. This article focuses on the techniques of SLNs preparation and characterization, the effect of formulation variables on SLNs properties, the routes of administration, and the pharmaceutical applications. The data used for this review was collected by searching on Google Scholar and PubMed using the following keywords during the period from 2010 to date

Waging War on the Citizen: State Sovereignty, Citizen Death and the War on Terror

One of the defining features of the contemporary era is the occurrence of non-localized warfare, in which the enemy can be considered fluid and always changing. The above quote reminds us that history has provided multiple examples of how wars are apt to change and shift the foundations of states; but there is something unique to be said about the qualities of modern war and the change it has prompted. A military technological revolution has culminated in the unprecedented use of drones as primary agents of war (specifically in the “War on Terror”), which has in turn shifted the traditional relations of conflict

Biodiesel production from canola oil using TiO2CaO as a heterogenous catalyst

Biodiesel is one of the renewable energy sources that is an alternative to fossil diesel that is non-toxic and produces less CO emissions. Transesterification process is a conventional mechanism to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil with a homogeneous or heterogenous catalyst. However, heterogenous catalysts are considered as more efficient than homogenous catalysts. Recently, TiO2/CaO has been used as a compound heterogenous catalyst to produce biodiesel produce from palm oil, waste cooking oils and algae. In this research, biodiesel was manufactured using canola oil as a feedstock and titanium dioxide / calcium oxide (TiO2/CaO) as a catalyst. The aim of this study is to prepare the catalyst, investigate the transesterification process and measure the chemical and physical biodiesel properties. Catalyst preparation required four stages: dry mixing, wet mixing, water separation and catalyst activation where there were two temperature phases (200 °C and 600 °C). Catalyst mixed with methanol by 1:16 ratio had different mixing time phases (30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes). The Transesterification process was by blending the catalyst-methanol mixture with canola oil under 3 phases (4 hours, 5 hours, and 6 hours). The catalyst characterization was by analysis of X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), temperature activation effects and activation time effects. The transesterification process analysis showed that the optimization conditions to produce biodiesel are 600 °C activation catalyst temperature, 90 minutes of catalyst�methanol mixing, 1.5% wt. catalyst concentration and 5 hours of transesterification time. The biodiesel yield was 96.9%. Moreover, new parameters were applied for this research (time and temperature of activation catalyst, catalyst-methanol mixing parameters and transesterification process conditions). Biodiesel properties (kinematic viscosity, flash point and water content) were measured according to ASTM D6751 standards and similarity was 98%. Therefore, biodiesel can be produced from canola oil and TiO2/CaO, but this still needs more studies on several topics such as the blending of canola with multi feedstocks, the ethanol impact and catalyst poisoning in the case of using TiO2-CaO as a catalyst

Effect of Intradialytic Exercise on Echocardiographic Findings in Hemodialysis Patients

Introduction. Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in hemodialysis patients. Regular aerobic or intradialytic exercise may play a role in reducing cardiovascular mortality in these patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between intradialytic exercise and echocardiographic findings. Methods and Materials. Forty patients were enrolled in the study from Shahrekord Hemodialysis Center. They were randomly assigned into the exercise and control groups. In the exercise group, the patients had a 30-minute exercise program per dialysis session, 3 times a week, for 3 months. Electrocardiography and echocardiography were done at the beginning of the study and 3 months later. Results. The mean age and body mass index of the patients were 43.2 +/- 10.5 years and 21.7 +/- 5.4 kg/m(2), respectively. Left ventricular ejection fraction increased and systolic pulmonary artery pressure and right ventricular size decreased significantly after the study in the exercise group patients. Conclusions. Our results showed the improvement of cardiac systolic and diastolic function in patients who had physical exercise during dialysis sessions. Regular intradialysis exercise can be suggested for hemodialysis patients without cardiac disease

SPRAY DRIED LACTOSE BASED PRONIOSOMES AS STABLE PROVESICULAR DRUG DELIVERY CARRIERS: SCREENING, FORMULATION, AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION

Objective: In the present investigation efforts were considered to optimize the different conditions for the preparation of spray dried lactose based proniosomes. The aim of this research was to investigate the feasibility of proniosomes as stable precursors for the development of niosomes as oral drug delivery system for poorly water-soluble drugs. Methods: A total of twenty-eight plain proniosomal formulae were prepared with various surfactant-cholesterol loading ratios in each formula using spray dried lactose as a carrier. Span 20, 40, 60 and 80 were used in various molar ratios with cholesterol. Different evaluation techniques were performed to study the performance of the prepared proniosomes. The micromeritic properties of the prepared proniosomes were analyzed. The reconstituted niosomes were further evaluated for morphological characterization using transmission electron microscope (TEM), particle size analysis, zeta potential, and polydispersity index (PDI). Finally, selected proniosomal formulae were tested for stability study. Results: The proniosomal formulae prepared using span 40 and span 60 exhibited excellent flowability while those prepared with span 20 and span 80 showed poor flow properties. TEM photographs revealed that the vesicles were discrete, spherical without aggregation. The mean vesicle size of reconstituted niosomes was found to be in the range between (252.9±0.43–624.3±0.23 nm) with perfect PDI values (0.387±0.05–0.835±0.03). The negative values of zeta potential indicated that all prepared formulae were stabilized by electrostatic repulsion forces. Stability studies confirmed that proniosomes give a more stable system that could overcome the problems of standard niosomes. Formulae with the smallest particle size, higher surface charge values and best flow properties were selected to be loaded with poorly soluble drugs for further study. Conclusion: The obtained results offered evidence that spray-dried lactose based proniosomes are promising stable drug delivery carriers and ready to incorporate various poorly water-soluble drugs in order to improve their limited oral bioavailability

CrowdCE: A Collaboration Model for Crowdsourcing Software with Computing Elements

Today’s crowd computing models are mainly used for handling independent tasks with simplistic collaboration and coordination through business workflows. However, the software development processes are complex, intellectually and organizationally challenging business models. We present a model for software development that addresses key challenges. It is designed for the crowd in the development of a social application. Our model presents an approach to structurally decompose the overall computing element into atomic machine-based computing elements and human-based computing elements such that the elements can complement each other independently and socially by the crowd. We evaluate our approach by developing a business application through crowd work. We compare our model with the traditional software development models. The primary result was completed well for empowering the crowd