Effect Of Compound Formulation On The Production And Properties Of Epoxidised Natural Rubber (Enr-25) Foams.

In this study, Epoxidized Natural Rubber (ENR-25) formulations are compounded and tested to obtain a stable expandable rubber foam as well as to determine the foam cell physical morphology and its mechanical properties. The experiment was carried out by employing different ratio of rubber blend between ENR-25 and natural rubber (SMR-L), different amount of blowing agent which is Sodium Bicarbonate and different ratio of accelerator between Tetramethylthiuram-disulfenamide (TMTD) and N-cyclohexyl-2-benzotiazolsulfenamide (CBS)

An experimental investigation of cutting temperature and tool wear in 2 dimensional ultrasonic vibrations assisted micro-milling

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.Two dimensional Ultrasonic vibration assisted milling (2D UVAM) well knows process that involved in high tech system to generate ultra range of frequency applied to the milling process. More industries nowadays become aware taking this opportunity to improve their productivity without decreasing their product accuracies. This paper investigate a comparative machining between UVAM and conventional machining (CM) in tool wear and cutting temperature in milling process. Micro amplitude and sine wave frequency will be generate into the workpiece jig by piezo-Actuator. Thus, creating a micro gap that allow heat remove effectively with the chip produces. A more complex tool trajectory mechanics of 2D UVAM has been found during this research. The approaching the tool tip into the workpiece surfaces is affected by the amplitude displacement along the frequency applied. It is found that the tool wear was reduce and surface roughness improvement by applying the 2D UVAM compared to the CM when choosing the optimum amplitude and appropriate frequency

The opportunity of magnetic induction tomography modality in breast cancer detection

The needs for non-invasive technique in breast cancer detection could enhance and preserve the future of medical field in Malaysia as well as countries around the world. Breast cancer has become the main concern nowadays not only for women but for man as well. In overall, the risk of women getting breast cancer is higher than man due to the denser tissue of breast in women compare to man. Beside the unawareness for the disease, the reason which contributes to this increasing number of breast cancer reported is also due to the limitations arising from modalities such as MRI, Mammography, ultrasound and other modalities. An alternative to current technologies should be improved for early detection and treatment which causes no physical harm to patients if possible. Thus, non-invasive and better technology in detecting breast cancer is very much needed in the current market. This paper will be discussing the insights of Magnetic Induction Tomography techniques in breast cancer detection

Finite-length performance analysis of LDPC coded continuous phase modulation

Serial concatenation of LDPC codes and continuous phase modulation (CPM) has recently gained significant attention due to its capacity-approaching performance, efficient detection as well as owing to its constant-envelope nature. Most of the previous contributions on LDPC coded CPM were devoted to the design of LDPC codes and their asymptotic performance analysis. However, there is a paucity of work on the finite-length performance estimation of LDPC coded CPM, primarily because existing performance estimation techniques cannot be readily applied to the LDPC coded CPM. To fill this gap, we conceive an analytical bit error probability estimation technique for finite-length LDPC coded CPM in the waterfall region. Numerical results are provided both for regular and irregular LDPC codes having different codeword lengths, demonstrating that the estimated performances are closely matched by the simulated ones

Substantial consequences and factors leading towards construction project success and failure

The phenomenon on the incompletion of construction projects in Malaysia is something very common at the moment. But to a more positive note, there are also successful projects which has been established in a large scale over the years. When there is an existence of such success, yet the project failures are yet to be apprehended as well. Whether the most appropriate measures have been taken in curbing this problem is yet to be sure off, looking at the existence of project failures. Therefore, this paper gives an outlook on the current situation of abandoned projects in Malaysia, and also takes a look on the factors on both success and failures of projects, where the essential information on this was obtained from statistics provided by Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and also based on the comparison matrix that was established from the causes identified by researches from other countries, including Malaysia itself. Some of the information that was able to gather from this was the types of causes with its ranking from the most to the least, and other underlying factors and driving keys on the successful completion of projects. The outlook on the failures and success of a project could be an absolute strategy that could be implemented in the effort towards restoration of abandoned projects in Malaysia, and in other countries as well which are also experiencing the same adverse situation

Cloning sequencing and characterization of lipopolysaccharides genes of Vibrio alginolyticus

Bacterial lipopolysaccharides are the major outer surface membrane components present in almost all Gram-negative bacteria and act as extremely strong stimulators of innate or natural immunity in diverse eukaryotic species ranging from insects to humans. The DNA sequence of the O-antigen biosynthesis cluster of a putative probiotic and pathogenic strain, Vibrio alginolyticus has been determined. Here, we report the sequence of the LPS biosynthesis genes, wzm, wzt and wbil and the analysis of the genes using Biology Workbench 3.2. From the study, it shows that the sequences of LPS genes in V. alginolyticus are highly homologous to the LPS genes in Vibrio cholerae isolates with more 80% homology. However, several variants of the wbil sequence have been found in the V. alginolyticus isolates compared to the other genes, wzm and wzt

A bright future for colloidal quantum dot lasers

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Prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of stunting, underweight, and overweight among Palestinian school adolescents (13-15 years) in two major governorates in the West Bank

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is little information about height and weight status of Palestinian adolescents. The objective of this paper was to assess the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and overweight/obesity among Palestinian school adolescents (13-15 years) and associated sociodemographic factors in 2 major governorates in the West Bank.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A Cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2005 comprising 1942 students in 65 schools in Ramallah and Hebron governorates. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires from students and parents. Weights and heights were measured. Overweight and obesity were assessed using the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reference and the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria. Stunting and underweight were assessed using the 2000 CDC reference.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overweight/obesity was more prevalent in Ramallah than in Hebron and affected more girls than boys. Using the 2000 CDC reference, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Ramallah among boys was 9.6% and 8.2%, respectively versus 15.6% and 6.0% among girls (P < 0.01). In Hebron, the corresponding figures were 8.5% and 4.9% for boys and 13.5% and 3.4% for girls (P < 0.01). Using the IOTF criteria, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among boys in Ramallah was 13.3% and 5.2%, respectively versus 18.9% and 3.3% for girls. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among boys in Hebron was 10.9% and 2.2%, respectively versus 14.9% and 2.0% for girls. Overweight/obesity was associated with high standard of living (STL) among boys and with the onset of puberty among girls. More boys were underweight than girls, and the prevalence was higher in Hebron (12.9% and 6.0% in boys and girls, respectively (P < 0.01)) than in Ramallah (9.7% and 3.1% in boys and girls, respectively (p < 0.01)). The prevalence of stunting was similar in both governorates, and was higher among boys (9.2% and 9.4% in Ramallah and Hebron, respectively) than among girls (5.9% and 4.2% in Ramallah and Hebron, respectively). Stunting was negatively associated with father's education among boys and with urban residence, medium STL and onset of puberty among girls.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Under- and overnutrition co-exist among Palestinian adolescents, with differences between sexes. Region, residence, STL, and onset of puberty were associated factors.</p

Mapping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Genetic Diversity Profiles in Tanzania and Other African Countries

The aim of this study was to assess and characterize Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) genotypic diversity in Tanzania, as well as in neighbouring East and other several African countries. We used spoligotyping to identify a total of 293 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates (one isolate per patient) collected in the Bunda, Dar es Salaam, Ngorongoro and Serengeti areas in Tanzania. The results were compared with results in the SITVIT2 international database of the Pasteur Institute of Guadeloupe. Genotyping and phylogeographical analyses highlighted the predominance of the CAS, T, EAI, and LAM MTBC lineages in Tanzania. The three most frequent Spoligotype International Types (SITs) were: SIT21/CAS1-Kili (n = 76; 25.94%), SIT59/LAM11-ZWE (n = 22; 7.51%), and SIT126/EAI5 tentatively reclassified as EAI3-TZA (n = 18; 6.14%). Furthermore, three SITs were newly created in this study (SIT4056/EAI5 n = 2, SIT4057/T1 n = 1, and SIT4058/EAI5 n = 1). We noted that the East-African-Indian (EAI) lineage was more predominant in Bunda, the Manu lineage was more common among strains isolated in Ngorongoro, and the Central-Asian (CAS) lineage was more predominant in Dar es Salaam (p-value<0.0001). No statistically significant differences were noted when comparing HIV status of patients vs. major lineages (p-value = 0.103). However, when grouping lineages as Principal Genetic Groups (PGG), we noticed that PGG2/3 group (Haarlem, LAM, S, T, and X) was more associated with HIV-positive patients as compared to PGG1 group (Beijing, CAS, EAI, and Manu) (p-value = 0.03). This study provided mapping of MTBC genetic diversity in Tanzania (containing information on isolates from different cities) and neighbouring East African and other several African countries highlighting differences as regards to MTBC genotypic distribution between Tanzania and other African countries. This work also allowed underlining of spoligotyping patterns tentatively grouped within the newly designated EAI3-TZA lineage (remarkable by absence of spacers 2 and 3, and represented by SIT126) which seems to be specific to Tanzania. However, further genotyping information would be needed to confirm this specificity

EthA/R-Independent Killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Ethionamide.

Ethionamide (ETH) is part of the drug arsenal available to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. The current paradigm of this pro-drug activation involves the mycobacterial enzyme EthA and the transcriptional repressor, EthR. However, several lines of evidence suggest the involvement of additional players. The ethA/R locus was deleted in Mycobacterium bovis BCG and three Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains. While complete resistance to ETH was observed with BCG ethA/R KO, drug susceptibility and dose-dependent killing were retained in the ethA/R KO MTB mutants, suggesting the existence of an alternative pathway of ETH bio-activation in MTB. We further demonstrated that this alternative pathway is EthR-independent, whereby re-introduction of ethR in ethA/R KO MTB did not lead to increased resistance to ETH. Consistently, ethA KO MTB (with intact ethR expression) displayed similar ETH susceptibility profile as their ethA/R KO counterparts. To identify the alternative ETH bio-activator, spontaneous ETH-resistant mutants were obtained from ethA/R KO MTB and whole genome sequencing identified single nucleotide polymorphisms in mshA, involved in mycothiol biosynthesis and previously linked to ETH resistance. Deletion of mshA in ethA/R KO MTB led to complete ETH resistance, supporting that the role of MshA in ETH killing is EthA/R-independent. Furthermore mshA single KO MTB displayed levels of ETH resistance similar or greater than those obtained with ethA/R KO strains, supporting that mshA is as critical as ethA/R for ETH killing efficacy