Corrosion Inhibition Study of Mild Steel in Acidic Medium by Antibiotic Drugs: A Comparative Study

Abstract - A comparison of the inhibiting efficiency of antibiotic drugs (ciprofloxacin, cloxacillin, and amoxicillin) on the corrosion of mild steel in 1 mol·L−1 HCl were studied at room temperature using mass loss measurement. The main reason is probably be due to the formation of protective coverage by the inhibitor as other authors reported previously. Adsorption characteristics of the inhibitor has also been studied using simple equation and it was found that drugs inhibits the corrosion of mild steel by being adsorbed on the surface of mild steel by a physical adsorption mechanism. The adsorption of drugs on the mild steel surface was found to be spontaneous and obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. It was observed that the test drug has a promising inhibitory action in acid medium against corrosion of mild steel. Moreover it was revealed that an inhibition efficiency of 80.1 % can be achieved with 3×10-3M ciprofloxacin drug treatment on mild steel.Keywords: Steel corrosion; Antibiotic drugs; Adsorption isotherm; Inhibition mechanism

Cataract prevalence, cataract surgical coverage and barriers to uptake of cataract surgical services in Pakistan: the Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey.

AIM: To estimate the prevalence of visual impairment and blindness caused by cataract, the prevalence of aphakia/pseudophakia, cataract surgical coverage (CSC) and to identify barriers to the uptake of cataract services among adults aged >or=30 years in Pakistan. METHODS: Probability proportional-to-size procedures were used to select a nationally representative sample of adults. Each subject underwent interview, visual acuity measurement, autorefraction, biometry and ophthalmic examination. Those that saw <6/12 in either eye underwent a more intensive examination procedure including corrected visual acuity, slit lamp and dilated fundus examination. CSC was calculated for different levels of visual loss by person and by eye. Individuals with <6/60 in the better eye as a result of cataract were interviewed regarding barriers. RESULTS: 16 507 Adults were examined (95.5% response rate). The crude prevalence of blindness (presenting <3/60 in the better eye) caused by bilateral cataract was 1.75% (95% CI 1.55%, 1.96%). 1317 Participants (633 men; 684 women) had undergone cataract surgery in one or both eyes, giving a crude prevalence of 8.0% (95% CI 7.6%, 8.4%). The CSC (persons) at <3/60, <6/60 and <6/18 were 77.1%, 69.3% and 43.7%, respectively. The CSC (eyes) at <3/60, <6/60 and <6/18 were 61.4%, 52.2% and 40.7%, respectively. Cost of surgery (76.1%) was the main barrier to surgery. CONCLUSION: Approximately 570 000 adults are estimated to be blind (<3/60) as a result of cataract in Pakistan, and 3,560000 eyes have a visual acuity of <6/60 because of cataract. Overall, the national surgical coverage is good but underserved populations have been identified

Water Purification and Disinfection by Using Solar Energy: Towards Green Energy Challenge

The aim of this work was to design a solar water treatment plant for household purpose. Water purification is the process of eradicating detrimental chemicals, biological poisons, suspended solids and gases from contaminated water. In this work we have reported an investigation of compact filter which is cost effective for developing countries and ease of maintenance. We have arranged a solar water disinfection system that improves the microbiological quality of drinking water at household level. We get 14 L pure water and 16 ml water vapour within 240 min by using filtration method. From our work we get hot water up to 49°C. The efficiency of the system at sunny days and cloudy days are 18.23% and 18.13% respectively. This simple solar hybrid system helps to remove turbidity as well as chemical and pathogenic contaminants from water sources in the most affordable, and expedient manner possibly

Fatigue crack analysis of ferrite material by acoustic emission technique

Among various methods of Non-destructive techniques (NDT), analysis using released acoustic emission (AE) waves due to crack propagation is very effective due to its dynamic monitoring features. In fragmentation theory for AE there are some proportional relationships among the AE parameters i.e. AE event, AE energy, area and volume of cracks etc., which are calculated from the released AE waves from the dynamic crack inside any material. The necessity of calculating the fractal dimension has been found in such relationships and the value is emphasized for determining the geometry of the irregularity in crack surface and crack volume. In this paper a novel approach for evaluating that value based on image processing by MATLAB is proposed. The images of the cracks during propagation are preserved and utilized to find out the fractal dimension for analyzing the crack propagation characteristics. The AE energy is also estimated from the received AE waves. The positioning of the sensors plays a great impact on this calculation. Finally, the theoretical proportionality relations of AE parameters are interpreted experimentally during crack propagation behavior in ferrite cast iron under fatigue loading

From Fate to Faith and Soil to Cell: Estimation of Phosphate (Pi) Uptake Rate, Pi-Uptake Kinetics and Relative Growth Rate are Important Parameters to Scavenge Pi by Brassica Cultivars under P-Starved Environment

As a rule, ion uptake by plant cells and roots has features of saturation kinetics. This is in accordance with the assumption of control, as for example by the number of binding sites of ions (carriers, permeases), or the capacity of the proton efflux pumps, in the plasma membrane and tonoplast. Solute transport across membranes is carrier mediated transport. Protein macromolecules integrated into the membrane matrix seems to be the carriers. The carrier-mediated process is subject to kinetics assumig that the number of carriers (binding sites) in the membranes is limited. Kinetics of ion transport through a membrane is considered equivalent to relationship between an enzyme and its substrate. To obtain plants of different P status, two genetically diverse Brassica cultivars (P-tolerant 'Con-1' and P-sensitive 'Gold Rush') were grown for several weeks in nutrient solution culture media. P-uptake kinetics of the roots with intact plants in short-term experiments by monitoring P depletion in culture media revealed that P-tolerant 'Con-1' cultivar had favorable characteristics for P-uptake because of high I(max) or V(max) and low K(m) or 1/2 I(max) value than P-sensitive 'Gold Rush' cultivar. By plotting relative growth rate (RGR) and internal P-concentration (PNC) among P-tolerant (group I; Brown Raya, Con-1, Rainbow, Dunkled and Peela Raya) and P-sensitive (group II; Toria, Sultan Raya, B.S.A, Toria Selection and Gold Rush) cultivars revealed that group I cultivars showed large metabolic fraction and small structural fraction than group II cultivars which provided basis for P-stress tolerance

Analyses of the Genetic Parameters (Variability, Heritability, Genetic Advance, Relationship of Yield and Yield Contributing Characters) for some Plant Traits among Brassica Cultivars under Phosphorus Starved Environmental Cues

The potential of a crop favorably respond to breeding/selection and bioengineering programs depends upon the nature and magnitude of genetic variability. For effective selection, information on nature and magnitude of variation in population, association of character with dry matter yield and among themselves and the extent of environmental influence on the expression of these characters are necessary. The estimates of genetic parameters help in understanding the role of various plant traits in establishing the growth behavior of cultivars under a given set of environmental conditions. Genetic analysis leads us to a clear understanding of different morphological, physiological and genetic characters and also the type and extent of their contribution to dry matter yield. Six Brassica cultivars were grown in a P-deficient sandy loam soil for 49 days after sowing. Significant variations were observed for all the characters in all the cultivars used in the experiment. All the characters showed high　heritability coupled with high genetic advance. Heritability (h(2)) is an approximate measure of the expression of a character. The highest estimates of broad sense heritability (h(2)= 0.90) and relative expected genetic advance (85.72%) were noted for root dry matter (RDM), while the estimate of expected genetic advance at 10% selection intensity was quite high (ΔG = 85.30c㎡) for leaf area per plant. The estimates of coheritability were positive and relatively higher for rootshoot ratio (RSR) in combination with shoot dry matter (SDM) (coh(2) = 2.002) and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) (coh(2) = 1.875), whereas coheritability estimates were negative between leaf area per plant and RSR (coh(2) = -0.2010) indicating lack of association between these traits. High heritability with high genetic advance was exhibited by all the studied plant traits of cultivars evidencing that the traits could be further improved through individual plant selection. The innate variations within the Brassica gene-pool impel to drive a concentrated effort to understand the basis of adaptability. Access to the relevant genetic traits and information will provide necessary tools to select the optimal combinations of alleles adapted to local and changing growing environments especially nutrient stress conditions such as phosphorus (P) starvation