FIELDBUS INTEROPERABILITY TESTING AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

This report discusses the progress that has been done and the results from Foundation Fieldbus interoperability testing for Honeywell Host. The project work is in line with UTP team and PETRONAS Group Technology Solutions(PGTS) initiatives in FFIT. There are four vendors who supplied and installed the field bus system in the laboratory: Emerson, Honeywell, Foxboro & Yokogawa. But the author will only focus on segment 1 by using the Honeywell system. The main target of this project is to apply the basic interoperability tests for the system including device commissioning, decommissioning, online device replacement & calibration function checks, plus developing a plant model based on the test results as a step towards efficient real life application. This will give a better understanding of the Foundation Fieldbus system, elaborating strength and weakness points in the system, so this information and results could be implemented in PETRONAS’ Plants with absolute effectiveness. The tests are completed and the results will be recorded for future reference by PETRONAS. Also a plant model is done using a transmitter form segment 1. All the results from the test will be discussed and analyzed by the author in the next chapters

Coronary artery bypass grafting in non-dialysis dependent chronic renal disease

Background: Renal impairment is associated with increased morbidity and mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Therefore, we aimed to study the risk factors of increased morbidity and mortality after CABG in patients with non-dialysis-dependent mild-to-moderate chronic kidney disease. Methods: This prospective study included 50 patients with non-dialysis-dependent renal impairment (renal disease stage II or III) with off-pump (n= 25) or on-pump (n= 25) CABG. Postoperative outcomes and creatinine levels were compared between both groups. Results: The mean age of all patients was 48.4±12.3 years, and females presented 54% (n= 27). There were no differences in postoperative myocardial infarction (P= 0.923), atrial fibrillation (P= 0.776), blood transfusion (P=0.794), and ICU (P=0.772) and hospital stay (P= 0.698) between groups. Mechanical ventilation was longer in patients with on-pump CABG (16.4 ± 10.9 vs. 6.1 ± 3.2 hours; P˂0.001). Creatinine levels were significantly lower in patients who had off-pump CABG (P˂0.001). The cumulative mortality hazard increases to 56.7% in patients with preoperative creatinine levels above 2 mg/dl.   Conclusion: High preoperative creatinine levels could increase mortality in patients undergoing CABG. Off-pump CABG could be a better approach in patients with mild to moderate renal dysfunction

Clinical evaluation of inter-implant distance influence on the wear characteristics of low-profile stud attachments used in mandibular implant?retained overdentures

This study was aimed to evaluate the influence of inter-implant distance on the wear characteristics of low-profile stud attachments used in mandibular implant retained overdentures. Forty Completely edentulous participants aged between 50 ? 70 years were enrolled in this study. Each patient received 2-implants by 2-stage submerged surgical protocol. Participants categorized into 4-groups. Group I: 19 mm inter-implant distance with Locator retained overdentures; Group II: 19 mm inter-implant distance with OT Equator retained overdentures; Group III: 25 mm inter-implant distance with Locator retained overdentures; Group IV: 25 mm inter-implant distance with OT Equator retained overdentures. The female housings of each attachment were picked up to the mandibular overdenture. 12 month later the male inserts were replaced by new one. The used retentive male inserts were examined by Stereomicroscopic. Stereomicroscopic examination revealed wear were detected on both inner surface and, the core of male inserts. Comparison between the unused and the used Locator and OT equator retentive male inserts at various inter-implant distance revealed highly significant wear changes between them at either 19 mm, or 25 mm inter-implant distance P1= .000, P2=.000 respectively. After one year of implant overdenture clinical use; both locator and OT equator retentive male inserts revealed significant surface deformities and wear. Wear were more notable on both locator and OT equator retentive male inserts with 25 mm interimplant distance than with 19 mm interimplant distance

3D fibrous structures as cardiovascular implants

Medical textiles are a highly specialised stream of technical textiles industry with a growing range of applications. A significant advancement has been achieved in surgical products or biomedical textiles (implantable/non-implantable) with the advent of 3D textile manufacturing techniques. Cardiovascular soft tissue implants (vascular grafts) have been a field of interest over decades for use of innovative 3D tubular structures in treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In the field of soft tissue implants, knitted and woven tubular structures are being used for large diameter blood vessel replacements. Advent of electrospinning and tissue engineering techniques has been able to provide promising answers to small diameter vascular grafts. The aim of this review is to outline the approaches in vascular graft development utilising different 3D tubular structure forming techniques. The emphasis is on vascular graft development techniques that can help improve treatment efficacy in future.<br /

Antifouling activity of crude extracts from some Red Sea soft corals

EnThe antifouling activity of crude extracts of 5 common Red Sea soft corals was examined. The extracts were mixed with a marine paint, applied to PVC panels immersed in the seawater of Suez Bay (Red Sea). The barnacle Balanus amphitrite (Crustacea) and tube worms Hydroides elegans (Polychaeta) are the dominant fouling organisms in this area. The results demonstrated that all the tested soft coral extracts exhibited significant antifouling activities with varying degrees. Extracts of Sinularia heterospiculata and Sinularia variabilis showed the highest and potent wide spectrum antifouling activity, particularly in the first 17 days of fouling formation. Extracts of Sinularia polydactyla exhibited significant selective inhibition against settlement of barnacle, while the extracts of Lithophyton arboreum showed significant antifouling activity against the latter successional stages of tube worms. The results of the current study propose that these soft corals may contain bioactive compounds with antifouling activity. These bioactive molecules can be isolated, purified, identified and chemically synthesized for commercial uses in the development of nontoxic and environmentally acceptable antifouling coatings

Compressive Stress-strain of Unreinforced Masonry Boundary Element Prisms

Reinforced masonry shear walls (RMSW) with masonry boundary elements (BE) are rectangular walls having integrated masonry BEs at the wall extremities. These BEs can be constructed using half pilaster block (i.e. C-shaped blocks) or regular stretchers. The compressive stress-strain response of the masonry BEs prisms built using stack-bonded C-shaped blocks (C-MSBEP) vary from that of regular stretchers prisms due to the continuity of the grout core (i.e. absence of block’s webs) and the higher grout-to-shell area ratio. Understanding and enhancing the stress-strain response of the masonry BE is a key to enhance the overall response of the RMSW with BEs. One of the challenges limiting the use of RMSW in high-rise buildings is the low compressive strength of masonry compared to reinforced concrete. Many studies showed that for specific block strength increasing the grout strength will not result in a proportional increase in the masonry prism capacity. Although some factors that result in minimizing the grout contribution to the prism strength were previously investigated, a consensus on the main governing factors is yet to be established. In this study, the compressive stress-strain relationships of half-scale fully-grouted C-MSBEP and its constituents (i.e. masonry shell and grout core) are studied. In total, eight fully-grouted masonry BE prisms, six un-grouted masonry BE shells, eighteen grout core prisms, nine running-bonded fully-grouted stretcher block prisms, and nine stack-bonded fully-grouted stretcher block prisms have been tested under concentric compression loading. Both the un-grouted masonry shells and the grout core prisms had the same height as the grouted C-MSBEPs. The test matrix is composed of two different prisms’ aspect ratios, namely two and five. The grouted stretcher block prisms were grouted using normal strength grout while the grouted C-MSBEPs were grouted using two grout strengths, normal and high strength. The study covers the effect of prism construction techniques in Canadian and US standards on the stress-strain response of C-MSBEPs, comparing the stress-strain of C-MSBEPs to regular stretcher block prisms, and the effect of the interaction between the masonry shell and the grouted core on the masonry compressive strength. In addition, the effect of treatment, air and wet, on the stress-strain response was also examined on the grout core prisms. Moreover, the stress-strain relationship of the 200 mm x 100 mm grout cylinders is compared to that of the grout core prisms to study the shape and size effects. The results of the grouted C-MSBEPs were compared to four predictive equations from the literature and to the unit strength values provided by the Canadian and US standards to evaluate their ability to predict the peak strength of the grouted BEs. The stress-strain response of C-MSBEPs was found to be different from that of regular stretcher block prisms and is affected differently by height-to-thickness ratio. Thus, two analytical models were proposed to predict the full stress-strain response of C-MSBEPs and stretcher block prisms. The shape and size effects on grout core prisms are evident especially for normal strength grout. The superposition of the load-displacement response of the grout core and the masonry shell was found to be not comparable to that of the grouted BE. The effect of treatment on the stress-strain relationship of the grout cores was found to be insignificant. The equations available in the literature that were used to predict the capacity of masonry prisms were found to misestimate the experimental results of the tested C-MSBEPs. The US Masonry Structures Joint Committee (MSJC 2013) design standard was found to introduce better estimation for C-MSBEP’s compressive strength compared to the Canadian Standard Association CSA S304 (2014) “Design of Masonry Structures”. Both the CSA A179 (2014) “Mortar and grout for unit masonry” grout cylinders and the ASTM C1019 (2014) “Standard Test Method for Sampling and Testing Grout” grout prisms were found not representing the actual grout stress-strain response within the C-MSBEP, mainly because they do not simulate the effect of grout shrinkage in actual masonry prisms. Therefore, an equation was proposed that considers the different factors affecting the contribution of the grout core to the strength of C-MSBEPs

FIELDBUS INTEROPERABILITY TESTING AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

This report discusses the progress that has been done and the results from Foundation Fieldbus interoperability testing for Honeywell Host. The project work is in line with UTP team and PETRONAS Group Technology Solutions(PGTS) initiatives in FFIT. There are four vendors who supplied and installed the field bus system in the laboratory: Emerson, Honeywell, Foxboro & Yokogawa. But the author will only focus on segment 1 by using the Honeywell system. The main target of this project is to apply the basic interoperability tests for the system including device commissioning, decommissioning, online device replacement & calibration function checks, plus developing a plant model based on the test results as a step towards efficient real life application. This will give a better understanding of the Foundation Fieldbus system, elaborating strength and weakness points in the system, so this information and results could be implemented in PETRONAS’ Plants with absolute effectiveness. The tests are completed and the results will be recorded for future reference by PETRONAS. Also a plant model is done using a transmitter form segment 1. All the results from the test will be discussed and analyzed by the author in the next chapters

Pyrano [2,3-d] thiazole: synthesis, reactions and biological applications

This review describes the synthesis and reactions of Pyrano[2,3-d] thiazole derivatives and to highlight the effects of compounds containing the Pyrano[2,3-d] thiazole moiety in important biological applications