Biomarker assessment of the ecotoxicological impact of environmental concentrations of oilfield corrosion inhibitors and produced water

The oil and gas industries contaminate the environment through the generation of waste products known as produced water (PW). Globally, large volumes of treated PW, originating from offshore oil and gas installations are discharged into the sea, potentially affecting the marine environment. The substances most commonly present in PW are corrosion (CIs) and scale (SIs) inhibitors. These are chemical compounds comprised of quaternary ammonium salts (QUATs), imidazoline, phosphate esters (PEs) and other chemical substances, and are commonly used in the oil and gas industry to prevent corrosion problems arising during both exploration and production operations (E&P). The present study evaluates the effects of QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and all components of PW on the marine environment, using a range of biomarker indices. The Comet assay was used to investigate DNA damage, expressed as% tail DNA, in individual haemocytes and gill cells derived from marine mussels Mytilus edulis that had been exposed to environmental concentrations of QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and PW. DNA damage is often an indirect effect of the oxidative radicals generated by a chemical or its metabolites. The oxidative stress assay employed was superoxide dismutase (SOD), and the associated lipid peroxidation was determined using the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay. Lysosomal membrane instability, a measure of cytotoxicity, was assessed using the neutral red retention (NRR) assay found in haemocytes cells. Bioaccumulation of the QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and PW were also determined. The results of the study show a significant increase in DNA damage in the haemocytes and gills taken from adult mussels exposed to QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and PW within a concentration range of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/L, when compared to control groups. Oxidative stress was measured, showing that QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and PW increased SOD activity and lipid peroxidation in a concentration-dependent manner (≥ 0.5, 0.001, 0.1 and 0.001 mg/L and 0.1, 0.1, 0.5, 0.001 mg/L, respectively). Lysosomal membrane stability was affected at concentrations of ≥ 0.1 mg/L for QUATs, imidazoline and PW. Moreover, it was affected by PEs at concentrations ≥ 0.5 mg/L. In addition, QUATs and imidazoline were found to have accumulated in mussel tissues at concentrations of ≥ 0.1 and 0.001 mg/L, respectively, but PEs were not found in tissues. This work suggests that very low concentrations of QUATs, imidazoline, PEs and PW may be harmful to marine organisms and the biomarkers described could be further developed as tools for monitoring and regulating the disposal of PW at sea

Dynamic Carpooling System For UUM

With the increasing of energy resource's prices these days, the demands of energy resources already decreased in most countries of the world in general especially benzene resource, beside that rural areas in various countries suffers from lack of transportation services. Therefore Dynamic Carpooling by using mobile phone is proposed to overcome such problems, by allowing a many passengers and drivers to be matched with each other automatically and instantly. By using mobile phone will create automatic process in which drivers and passengers are matched to a shared ride wherever and whenever they need it, In fact during this work the dynamic system is going to be available in UUM, where the students and staff are going to eliminate from transportation problems inside the campus by using their mobile phone, also it is will be as a social-networking service

Dynamic carpooling notification system for rural areas

With the increasing of energy resource's prices these days, the demands of energy resources already decreased in most countries of the world in general especially fuel resource.Beside that, rural areas in various countries suffer from lack of transportation services. Therefore, Dynamic Carpooling Notification System (DCNS) by using mobile phone is proposed to overcome such problems, by allowing many passengers and drivers to be matched with each other instantly. By using mobile phone, an automatic process will be created in which drivers and passengers are matched to a shared ride wherever and whenever they need it.This paper describes the initial stage of this system by discussing the functionalities of this prototype

ANN Models to Correlate Structural and Functional Conditions in AC Pavements at Network Level

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was developed to estimate the correlation between structural capacity and functional conditions in Asphalt Cement (AC) pavements at the network level. To achieve this objective, the relevant data were obtained and integrated from the Iowa Pavement Management Program (IPMP) including construction parameters, traffic loading and subgrade stiffness, and Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) for climate data. The ANN model proves its ability to learn and generalize from the input data. Overall, rutting data were found to be appropriate indicator of the structural capacity. Since the deflection tests are expensive and require experience and knowledge to deal with such data, this approach might be feasible for small transportation agencies (cities and counties) that do not have these capabilities

Database Development for Pavement Performance Modeling

Pavement Management System (PMS) is defined as set of tools or methods that can support decision makers in finding the optimum strategies for providing, evaluating, and maintaining pavement condition in acceptable level. The Iowa Pavement Management Program (IPMP) provides information about Iowa highways such as distress data and maintenance activates. One of the most factors that affect pavement performance is weather factors (temperature, freeze-thaw cycles, and rainfall). The historical climate data was obtained from Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) for counties in the state of Iowa. The pavement condition and climate data can be integrated for pavement performance modeling. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is identified as an effective tool for data integration. The primary goal of this paper is to utilize the GIS tools to integrate pavement conditions and climate data for improving Iowa PMS

Application of surface enhanced Raman scattering to the solution based detection of a popular legal high, 5,6-methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane (MDAI)

The ever increasing numbers and users of designer drugs means that analytical techniques have to evolve constantly to facilitate their identification and detection. We report that surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) offers a relatively fast and inexpensive method for the detection of MDAI at low concentrations. Careful optimisation of the silver sol, and salt concentrations was undertaken to ensure the SERS analysis was both reproducible and sensitive. The optimised system demonstrated acceptable peak variations of less than 15% RSD and resulted in a detection limit of just 8 ppm (5.4 × 10-5 M)

Preparatory Year Students’ Perception of Pharmacy Profession as a Career Choice: A Cross-Sectional Study

The study attempted to assess preparatory year students’ perception towards pharmacists and the pharmacy profession. This cross-sectional survey was conducted between December 2019 and March 2020. The students were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire via Google Forms®. In total, 244 students, of which 53.7% were female with the mean age of 19.2 ± 0.65, from 12 universities participated in this study. As per our findings, the majority of the respondents (91.8%) regard pharmacy as a well-respected profession, 82.4% thought pharmacists are important decision-makers, 68.4% disagreed that most pharmacists were unkind, and 60.7% did not agree that pharmacy was a low-status occupation. Meanwhile, 95.5% agreed that pharmacists must have a university degree, 88.6% agreed pharmacists must take responsibility for patients, and 82.8% believed pharmacists had to work too hard. Moreover, 62.3% did not think pharmacy was a low-skill occupation, 54.9% did not agree pharmacists must do unpleasant things, and 45.1% disagreed pharmacists only did what physicians requested of them. Lastly, 48.8% had low confidence in choosing pharmacy as a career. The students’ overall perception toward pharmacists and the pharmacy profession was favorable. However, only one-fourth of the students displayed a tendency to choose pharmacy as a future career

Numerical investigation of multiple solutions for caputo fractional-order-two dimensional magnetohydrodynamic unsteady flow of generalized viscous fluid over a shrinking sheet using the Adams-type predictor-corrector method

In this paper, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow over a shrinking sheet and heat transfer with viscous dissipation has been studied. The governing equations of the considered problem are transformed into ordinary differential equations using similarity transformation. The resultant equations are converted into a system of fractional differential boundary layer equations by employing a Caputo derivative which is then solved numerically using the Adams-type predictor-corrector method (APCM). The results show the existence of two ranges of solutions, namely, dual solutions and no solution. Moreover, the results indicate that dual solutions exist for a certain range of specific parameters which are in line with the results of some previously published work. It is also observed that the velocity boundary layer decreases as the suction and magnetic parameters increase

Sleep disorders and its effect on community

The main aim of this paper is to analysis the effect of sleep disorders on the community. This study is quantitative. The questionnaire was designed and distributed among the student in school in the city of Riyadh high and intermediate school. The sample of this study consist 100 students. The researcher visited a school in the city of Riyadh high and intermediate school sections and that on December 10 to 11 to measure the impact of sleep disorders through a questionnaire that measures the effects of lack of sleep and then make them aware of the benefits of sleep and harm of lack of sleep from the physical and psychological effects, and it gave a lecture educate the students and then distribute them brochure contain the benefits and harmful effects of sleep. SPSS 21 was used to analysis that data. The results of the study indicated that lack of sleep limits a person's ability to think and solve the problem effectively, which means that people who wake up for a long time influence them to learn at an effective level. Lack of sleep affects the ability of thinking and can limit your ability to accurately interpret events, which can be difficult to respond correctly to situations in which effective decision-making is intelligent. The lack of sleep, even for one night can lead to swelling of the eyes and turn the skin into pale skin. Keywords: Sleep disorders, community

Vitamin D serum level predicts stroke clinical severity, functional independence, and disability—A retrospective cohort study

BackgroundStroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability and one of the most common neurological conditions globally. Many studies focused on vitamin D as a stroke risk factor, but only a few focused on its serum level as a predictor of stroke initial clinical severity and recovery with inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and stroke clinical severity at admission and functional independence and disability at discharge in Saudi Arabia.MethodologyA retrospective cohort study of adult ischemic stroke patients who had their vitamin D tested and admitted within 7 days of exhibiting stroke symptoms at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Based on vitamin D level, the patients were categorized into normal [25(OH)D serum level ≥ 75 nmol/L], insufficient [25(OH)D serum level is 50–75 nmol/L], and deficient [25(OH)D serum level ≤ 50 nmol/L]. The primary outcome was to assess the vitamin D serum level of ischemic stroke patients’ clinical severity at admission and functional independence at discharge. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to assess the clinical severity, whereas the modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess functional independence and disability.ResultsThe study included 294 stroke patients, out of 774, who were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age of the participants was 68.2 ± 13.4 years, and 49.3% were male. The patients’ distribution among the three groups based on their vitamin D levels is: normal (n = 35, 11.9%), insufficient (n = 66, 22.5%), and deficient (n = 196, 65.6%). After adjusting for potential covariates, regression analysis found a significant inverse relationship of NIHSS based on 25(OH)D serum level (beta coefficient: −0.04, SE: 0.01, p = 0.003). Patients with deficient serum vitamin D level also had significantly higher odds of worse functional independence in mRS score [OR: 2.41, 95%CI: (1.13–5.16), p = 0.023] when compared to participants with normal vitamin D level.ConclusionLow vitamin D levels were associated with higher severity of stroke at admission and poor functional independence and disability at discharge in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Further randomized clinical and interventional studies are required to confirm our findings