Some toxicological studies on house crickets in relation to their circadian rhythms

Imperial Users onl

Adaptive Processing of Spatial-Keyword Data Over a Distributed Streaming Cluster

The widespread use of GPS-enabled smartphones along with the popularity of micro-blogging and social networking applications, e.g., Twitter and Facebook, has resulted in the generation of huge streams of geo-tagged textual data. Many applications require real-time processing of these streams. For example, location-based e-coupon and ad-targeting systems enable advertisers to register millions of ads to millions of users. The number of users is typically very high and they are continuously moving, and the ads change frequently as well. Hence sending the right ad to the matching users is very challenging. Existing streaming systems are either centralized or are not spatial-keyword aware, and cannot efficiently support the processing of rapidly arriving spatial-keyword data streams. This paper presents Tornado, a distributed spatial-keyword stream processing system. Tornado features routing units to fairly distribute the workload, and furthermore, co-locate the data objects and the corresponding queries at the same processing units. The routing units use the Augmented-Grid, a novel structure that is equipped with an efficient search algorithm for distributing the data objects and queries. Tornado uses evaluators to process the data objects against the queries. The routing units minimize the redundant communication by not sending data updates for processing when these updates do not match any query. By applying dynamically evaluated cost formulae that continuously represent the processing overhead at each evaluator, Tornado is adaptive to changes in the workload. Extensive experimental evaluation using spatio-textual range queries over real Twitter data indicates that Tornado outperforms the non-spatio-textually aware approaches by up to two orders of magnitude in terms of the overall system throughput

Effect of gamma irradiation doses and salting solutions (NaCl %) on the fumonisins (B1 &B2) of infected and row maize

The objectives of this investigation were to evaluate the effects and ability of gamma irradiation doses (4, 8 and 12 kGy) and salting solutions (7 %, 14% and 21% NaCl) to remove fumonisins (B1&B2) contaminated maize. Moreover, chemical and microbiological properties of maize affected by gamma irradiation doses were studied. The results indicated that: (i) there were not differences between non-irradiated and irradiated maize samples for its chemical composition; (ii)gamma rays had completely inactivated counts of total bacteria, molds and yeasts; (iii) a dose of 4, 8 and 12 kGy were sufficient for complete destruction of fumonisins infected maize; (iv) the fumonisins content in the row and deliberately infected maize decreased with the increasing concentration of  NaCl; and (v) the combination of gamma irradiation and NaCl solutions inhibited of fumonisins. It can be concluded that gamma irradiation and NaCl solutions can be used for detoxification of fumonisin-contaminated maize and improving its microbial loud. Keywords: Maize,Gamma irradiation, NaCl solution Mycotoxins, Fumonisin

Effect of Mobility on the Quality of Life among Older Adults in Geriatric Home at Makkah Al-Mukarramah

Background: Mobility limitations are common in older adults, affecting the physical, psychological, and social aspects of an older adult's life. The term quality of life (QOL) references the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of living, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standard indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging Quality of life (QOL) is aboard concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, social relationship, and the relationship to salient feature of the environment. Aim: This study aimed to assess the nature of relationship between mobility on QOL in older adults through assessing the older adults’ mobility, Activity of daily living (ADL) and QOL. Subjects and methods: A descriptive study was conducted on a convenient sample of 75 older adults in Social Care Home at Makkah AL-Mukarramah. Tools of data collection were an interview questionnaire form to collect socio-demographic characteristics, Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS), WHOQOL-BREF, and ADL. Results: The current study revealed that nearly half of older adults their ages ranged from (>75- 85 years) and more than two thirds of them had osteoarthritis, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and urinary incontinence, more than half of the study sample were received assistance in bathing, dressing, and continence and more than half of subjects feeds themselves without assistance. Conclusion: There is a strong positively relationship between QOL, ADL, and elderly mobility (EM). Most of the older adults at geriatric home are completely dependent in ADL and mobility. Also there was highly statistically significant difference between QOL and EM. Recommendation: Training exercise must be provided upon initial range of motion of older adult, and encourage the older adult to applied ADLs.Key words: Mobility, Quality of Life, Older Adult and Geriatric Home

Synthesis of Ni-Fe-CO3_3 layered double hydroxide as Effective Adsorbent to remove Cr(VI) and ARS-dye from aqueous media

Ni$^2$/Fe$^{3＋}$LDH, (Ni-Fe-CO3 LDH) with Ni/Fe molar ratio 3.0 was synthesized by co-precipitation for the remediation of chromium (VI), and Alizarine Red-S (ARS-dye) as anionic species. The investigated adsorbent was characterized by TGA, SEM, XRD, BET and FTIR. The effect of the hydrogen ion concentration of the medium, shaking time, ARS-dye and/or Cr(VI) concentration and adsorbents mass on the process was studied. The results of Ni-Fe-CO$_3$ LDH fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model. Langmuir isotherm is more favor than the Freundlich isotherm with maximum capacity ($Q_{max}$) of 69.9 and 6.1 mg/g for ARS-dye and Cr(VI), respectively

Concurrent Acquisition of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in Diverse Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.2 Sub-clades

Highly pathogenic Influenza A H5N1 was first identified in Guangdong Province in 1996, followed by human cases in Hong Kong in 1997 1,2. The number of confirmed human cases now exceeds 300 and the associated Case Fatality Rate exceeds 60% 3. The genetic diversity of the serotype continues to increase. Four distinct clades or sub-clades have been linked to human cases 4-7. The gradual genetic changes identified in the sub-clades have been attributed to copy errors by viral encoded polymerases that lack an editing function, thereby resulting in antigenic drift 8. We report here the concurrent acquisition of the same polymorphism by multiple, genetically distinct, clade 2.2 sub-clades in Egypt, Russia, Kuwait, and Ghana. These changes are not easily explained by the current theory of “random mutation” through copy error, and are more easily explained by recombination with a common source. The recombination role is further supported by the high fidelity replication in swine influenza 9 and aggregation of single nucleotide polymorphisms in H5N1 clade 2.2 hemagglutinin 10

Energy and indoor environmental performance of typical Egyptian offices : survey, baseline model and uncertainties

Egyptian electricity demands have increased in recent years and are projected to grow further with significant economic and social impacts. Recently, mandatory and voluntary building codes based on international standards have been increasingly adopted. The performance of existing Egyptian buildings is not well understood making the impact of these new codes uncertain. This paper aims to provide insights into existing Egyptian building performance, and elaborate a process for developing a representative model to assist in future policy. The work presented is for office buildings but intended to be widely replicable. An energy survey was carried out for 59 Egyptian offices, categorised by building service type, it was observed that energy use increases as building services increase, and existing Egyptian offices use less energy than benchmarks. A more detailed investigation for a case study office was carried out, to inform detailed model calibration. This provided insight into energy use, thermal comfort and environmental conditions, and revealed high variability in behaviours. A calibrated model was created for the case study office, then a baseline model and input parameter sets created to represent generalised performance. Future uses including assessment of the impact of codes are discussed, and further replication potentials highlighted