Achieving carbon neutral research practices at the University of Oulu

Abstract. The European Union accounts for about 10% of global GHG emissions, and it is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050. Finnish universities want to lead this race, as they are aiming to become carbon neutral by 2030. To support these goals, it is imperative to understand the environmental impact of research laboratories, as they operate resource-intensive processes contributing to a significant portion of the university’s carbon footprint (CF). The major sources of emissions within laboratories are found to be attributable to consumption of energy, water and chemicals, and the generation of waste. Climate-friendly laboratories optimize their facilities for resource-efficiency, while incorporating procedures to influence the behavior and working habits of its users. For improving energy efficiency, laboratories quantify energy consumption and assess the pattern of equipment use by collecting data on the electronic loads. The analysis of energy consumption guides the strategies for energy saving. For dealing with waste, laboratories assess their waste streams and implement the waste management hierarchy. To reduce water use, the efficiency of rinsing/cleaning, cooling and flow control operations is improved. Responsible management of chemical use involves undertaking experiments on a smaller scale and using safer alternatives where possible. The insights obtained from the state-of-the-art in laboratory sustainability paved way for the case study documenting the research practices at the University of Oulu’s ‘Paja’ or workshop laboratory. Subsequently, recommendations for reducing the carbon footprint of the university’s research are presented in this thesis

Soft clustering: An overview

Document clustering has been extensively investigated as a methodology for improving document retrieval process. In Traditional clustering algorithm each documents belongs to exactly one cluster & hence cannot detect the multiple themes of a document where as soft clustering algorithm each document can belong to multiple clusters. This paper gives a comparative study of hard clustering & soft clustering algorithm

The enhancement of the aqueous solubility of ritonavir via formulation of a drug-phospholipid complex

Objective: To evaluate the enhancement of aqueous solubility of a poorly water soluble drug ritonavir by forming its complex with a phospholipid (Phospholipon®90H)

Implementation of Congestion Awareness and Adaptivity in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Congestion in mobile ad hoc networks leads to transmission delays and packet losses and causes wastage of time and energy on recovery. In the current designs, routing is not congestion adaptive. Routing may let a congestion happen which is detected by congestion control, but dealing with congestion in this reactive manner results in longer delay and unnecessary packet loss and requires significant overhead if a new route is needed. This problem becomes more visible especially in large-scale transmission of heavy traffic such as multimedia data, where congestion is more probable and the negative impact of packet loss on the service quality is of more significance. Routing should not only be aware of, but also be adaptive to, network congestion. Routing protocols which are adaptive to the congestion status of a mobile ad hoc network can greatly improve the network performance. Many protocols which are congestion aware and congestion adaptive have been proposed. In this paper, we present a survey of congestion adaptive routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks. Ad hoc networks consist of independent self-structured nodes. Nodes utilize a wireless medium for exchange their message or data, as a result two nodes can converse in a straight one to one connection if and only if they are within every other?s transmit range

Gravid uterus in a neglected incisional hernia: a rare case report

Incidence of incisional hernia in pregnancy is rare and is mainly managed conservatively. An ideal technique for repairing incisional hernia in pregnant patients has yet to be established, but it is clear that each case must be dealt with on an individual basis. It is essential for surgeons to consider the length of the surgery, the presence of contamination, the age of the fetus, the size of the defect, and the chances of recurrence before selecting which technique to employ when repairing abdominal wall hernia in pregnancy. We report a case of term pregnancy in a third gravida, aged 30 years with previous two vaginal deliveries with incisional hernia with overlying hyperpigmented lax skin patch. Incisional hernia developed as a complication because of the previous surgical history of open appendectomy 10 years back which was complicated in the post-operative period, 22 days later leading to an emergency laparotomy in view of intestinal obstruction. Caesarean section was done with simultaneous repair of the incisional hernia with nonabsorbable sutures. The post-operative recovery was uneventful

Glucosamine HCl-based solid dispersions to enhance the biopharmaceutical properties of acyclovir

The objective of the work presented here was to assess the feasibility of using glucosamine HCl as a solid-dispersion (SD) carrier to enhance the biopharmaceutical properties of a BCS class III/IV drug, acyclovir (ACV). The solid-dispersions of acyclovir and glucosamine HCl were prepared by an ethanol-based solvent evaporation method. The prepared formulations characterized by photomicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transforms infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), powder x-ray diffractometry (PXRD) and drug content analysis. The functional characterization of ACV-SD was performed by aqueous solubility evaluation, dissolution studies, fasted versus fed state dissolution comparison, ex vivo permeability, and stability studies. Photomicroscopy and SEM analysis showed different surface morphologies for pure ACV, glucosamine HCl and ACV-SD. The physical-chemical characterization studies supported the formation of ACV-SD. A 12-fold enhancement in the aqueous solubility of ACV was observed in the prepared solid dispersions, compared to pure ACV. Results from in vitro dissolution demonstrated a significant increase in the rate and extent of ACV dissolution from the prepared ACV-SD formulations, compared to pure ACV. The rate and extent of ACV permeability across everted rat intestinal membrane were also found to be significantly increased in the ACV-SD formulations. Under fed conditions, the rate and extent of the in vitro dissolution of ACV from the formulation was appreciably greater compared to fasted conditions. Overall, the results from the study suggest the feasibility of utilizing glucosamine HCl as a solid dispersion carrier/excipient for enhancement of biopharmaceutical properties of acyclovir, and similar drugs with low solubility/permeability characteristics