An Analysis of Harmonic and Interharmonic Contribution of Electric Arc Furnace by Using Periodogram

Fast and accurate detection of the harmonic and interharmonic contribution of electric arc furnace (EAF) is crucial in identifying and to mitigate the undesired effects to the system.  In this paper, periodogram, a fast and accurate technique is introduced for the analysis of the contribution. Based on a rule-based classifier and the threshold settings that referred to the IEEE Standard 1159 2009, the analysis of the harmonic and interharmonic contribution of EAF are carried out successfully. Moreover, the impact of contribution is measured using total harmonic distortion (THD) and total non-harmonic distortion (TnHD). In addition, periodogram also gives 100 percent correct detection and able to analyze the contribution impact. It is proven that the proposed method is accurate, fast and cost efficient for analyzing the impact of harmonic and interharmonic of EAF

Cultivation conditions for phytase production from recombinant escherichia coli DH5α

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the cultivation conditions for the production of phytase by recombinant Escherichia coli DH5α. The optimum predicted cultivation conditions for phytase production were at 3 hours seed age, a 2.5% inoculum level, an L-arabinose concentration of 0.20%, a cell concentration of 0.3 (as measured at 600 nm) and 17 hours post-induction time with a predicted phytase activity of 4194.45 U/mL. The model was validated and the results showed no significant difference between the experimental and the predicted phytase activity (P = 0.305). Under optimum cultivation conditions, the phytase activity of the recombinant E. coli DH5α was 364 times higher compared to the phytase activity of the wild-type producer, Enterobacter sakazakii ASUIA279. Hence, optimization of the cultivation conditions using RSM positively increased phytase production from recombinant E. coli DH5α

Do Nurses Use Discourse Markers Differently when Using Their Second Language as Opposed to Their First while Interviewing Patients?

This study examined whether discourse-marker use changes in nurse-patient interactions as a function of nurses using their first (L1) or second (L2) language. Discourse markers were analyzed as turn-maintenance markers that indicate acknowledgement and discourse-shift markers that signal shifts of a topic or speaker in the conversation. These two categories differ in terms of degree of discourse management and interactional control. Sixteen nurses conducted a pain-assessment interview with a patient native speaker of English and with a patient native speaker of French, where the nurses used their own L1 in one case and their own weaker L2 in the other. The first hypothesis, that nurses would generally use discourse markers more frequently in the L1 than in the L2, was not supported. The second hypothesis, that nurses would use discourse-shift markers less frequently in their L2 compared to the L1, relative to their (baseline) use of turn-maintenance markers, was supported. The findings, especially the support for the second hypothesis, could have implications for the development of L2 training for health practitioners.</p

Influence of palm oil fuel ash in reducing heat of hydration of concrete

The utilisation of pozzolanic materials in concrete construction has become increasingly widespread in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue in the years ahead because of technological, economical and ecological advantages of the materials. This paper highlights test results on the performance behaviour of a relatively new variety of pozzolan called palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in reducing the heat of hydration of concrete. Two concrete mixes namely concrete with 100% OPC, as control and concrete with 70% OPC and 30% POFA were prepared, and the temperature rise due to heat of hydration in both the mixes was recorded. It has been found that palm oil fuel ash not only reduced the total temperature rise but also delayed the time at which the peak temperature occurred

The Knowledge about the Dangerous Effect of Opiates among Adolescent

Statistics from the National Anti Drug Agency (AADK) showed an increase in adolescent who are in the age range 13 to 18 years involved in drug abuse. Realizing this problem, a study was conducted to examine the knowledge about dangerous effect of drug abuse on opiates among adolescent. There are four type of opiates were tested in this study such as opium, morphine, heroin and codeine. Respondent consisted 759 adolescent aged 16 years old. This quantitative study using the “Soal Selidik Kajian Pengaruh Dadah” as an instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics to get the frequency and percentage. The result showed that both male and female adolescent know about the dangerous effect of drug abuse. Findings also identify the most popular drugs among adolescent is heroin followed by opium, codein and morphine

The Knowledge about the Dangerous Effect of Opiates among Adolescent

Statistics from the National Anti Drug Agency (AADK) showed an increase in adolescent who are in the age range 13 to 18 years involved in drug abuse. Realizing this problem, a study was conducted to examine the knowledge about dangerous effect of drug abuse on opiates among adolescent. There are four type of opiates were tested in this study such as opium, morphine, heroin and codeine. Respondent consisted 759 adolescent aged 16 years old. This quantitative study using the “Soal Selidik Kajian Pengaruh Dadah” as an instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics to get the frequency and percentage. The result showed that both male and female adolescent know about the dangerous effect of drug abuse. Findings also identify the most popular drugs among adolescent is heroin followed by opium, codein and morphine

The Effects of Fermentation Process on the Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Spider Flower (Gynandropsis gynandra)

Spider flower (Gynandropsis gynandra), also known as “Maman” that is traditionally fermented and consumed as pickles in Malaysia. In this study, the chemical composition, microbiological content and biological activities of the fresh and fermented Maman leaves and stem were evaluated. Approximate analysis was carried out by using AOAC standard methods, microbial content was determined by using total plate count, antioxidant activity was evaluated DPPH (%) and ferric reducing power. The antimicrobial activity evaluated by 96 well micro-titer plates against Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC14028, Escherichia coli ATCC12229 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538. The results demonstrated reduction in the protein, fiber, and carbohydrate contents of Maman sample after fermentation in both leaves and stem, while the content of ash was increased. Fermented Maman contained significantly high (p<0.05) number of anaerobic bacterial count which is 5.5600 log CFU/mL for the stem and 5.4633 log CFU/mL for the leaves. The aerobic bacterial count was reduced significantly after the fermentation by approximately two logs. The antioxidant activity, phenolic compounds, and flavonoids content of fresh Maman was slightly higher than the fermented samples. The fermented Maman samples demonstrated 90% growth inhibition towards selected pathogens, while fresh samples showed less than 50% bacterial growth inhibition. This indicates that natural fermentation process improved the nutrient content and the biological activity of Maman

Molecular Cloning of Phytase Gene from ASUIA279 and Its Expression in Pichia pastoris System

Phytases catalyze the hydrolysis of phytate (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate), one of the major storage form of phosphate in plants, with subsequent release of myo-inositol, phosphate and phytate-bound minerals. Non-ruminant animals such as chicken, swine and fish can't use the organic phosphorus and minerals from their diet because there is no phytase activity in their digestive tract. Phytate degrading enzyme is added to the animal feed diet to improve phosphorus availability from the dietary phytate and at the same time this lessen the phosphate pollution level in areas of intensive animal production as the phosphate would not be excreted out to the environment. ASUIA279, a bacterial strain isolated from Malaysian soil has potentially shown good phytase activity. In the present work, the gene encoding for phytase has been amplified from the plasmid DNA of recombinant ASUIA279(5) obtained from a previous study (unpublished data) by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodology. The amplified phytase gene was extracted, purified then cloned into the pPICZA plasmid and transformed into Pichia pastorisX-33 strain for enzyme production. ABSTRAK: Fitase pemangkinan hidrolisis fitat (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate), merupakan salah satu cara penyimpanan utama fosfat dalam tumbuhan, dengan pelepasan berturut myo-inositol , fosfat dan galian terikat fitat. Haiwan bukan ruminan seperti ayam, khinzir dan ikan tidak dapat memanfaatkan fosforus organik serta galian yang diperolehi daripada makanan kerana tidak mempunyai aktiviti fitase di dalam saluran pencernaan mereka. Enzim pengecilan fitase dicampurkan ke dalam pemakanan haiwan untuk mempertingkatkan keperolehan fosforus dari fitat diet. Pada masa yang sama ia dapat mengurangkan tahap pencemaran fosfat di kawasan yang terdapat penternakan haiwan secara intensif agar fosfat tidak dikumuhkan ke persekitaran. ASUIA279, satu strain bakteria yang diasingkan daripada tanih di Malaysiamenunjukkan aktiviti fitase yang memberansangkan. Buat masa kini, pengekodan gen fitase telah diperkuatkan dengan plasmid DNA dari ASUIA279(5), rekombinan yang diperolehi daripada kajian terdahulu (data tak diterbitkan) berdasarkan kaedah tindak balas berantai polimerase (polymerase chain reaction (PCR)). Gen fitase yang diperkuatkan, ditulenkan dan kemudian diklonkan menjadi plasmid pPICZαA dan berubah menjadi strain Pichia pastorisX-33 untuk penghasilan enzim. KEYWORDS:  Phytase, animal feed, pollution, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Pichia pastori

Fabrication and Characterization of Graphene-on-Silicon Schottky Diode for Advanced Power Electronic Design

In this study, graphene-on-silicon process technology was developed to fabricate a power rectifier Schottky diode for efficiency improvement in high operating temperature. Trench-MOS-Barrier-Schottky (TMBS) diode structure was used to enhance the device performance. The main objective of this research was to study the effect of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) deposited on silicon surface for Schottky barrier formation and heat transfer in Schottky junction. The study showed RGO deposited on silicon as a heat spreader could help to reduce the effect of heat generated in the Schottky junction that leads to a leakage current reduction and efficiency improvement in the device. With comparison to the conventional metal silicide (titanium silicide and cobalt silicide), the leakage reduced by two-orders of magnitude when tested under high operating temperature (>100°C). TMBS rectifier diode that uses graphene-based heat spreader could produce highly reliable product able to withstand high temperature operating condition