Beneficiation of Hard Rock Lithium Ore and the Effect of Calcination

Calcination is a compulsory pre-treatment during the processing of spodumene ores that transforms a-phase of spodumene to ß-phase that is more reactive. This conversion happens at high temperatures above 900 °C. The resultant ß-spodumene has highly altered physical properties with 30% more volume than that of a-spodumene. ß-spodumene is more reactive towards chemical reagents and mechanical treatments due to more open crystal structure. This may result in higher Li grades and recoveries

A Review of Security Issues in SDLC

Software Engineers do not implement security as a continuing process in software development; they give it worth at the end of software development.  Security implementation is an essential on-going routine in each phase of the software development lifecycle. This quantitative type of research investigates the security factors in different phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and evaluates them from the research community and software engineers. Results are analyzed by using a statistical tool (SPSS), and security rules are proposed in each step of SDLC to assist software engineers and research community

Collaborative Public Participatory Web Geographic Information System: A Groupware-Based Online Synchronous Collaboration to Support Municipal Planning

Co-PPGIS has a wide variety of applications like municipal planning, emergency response, public health and security, etc. The main focus of this paper is on the development and design of a web collaborative PPGIS (Co-PPGIS) infrastructure. As part of municipality’s planning and management services, Co-PPGIS is developed for real-time map sharing application system. Co-PPGIS is an effective and essential online meeting system for supporting group collaborations on geographic information such as maps and imageries and capturing and sharing of local/domain knowledge in real time. Co-PPGIS permits amalgamation of geospatial data and collaborator’s input in the form of geo-referenced notations. It incorporates coherent components such as map sharing, real-time chat, video conferencing, and geo-referenced textual and graphical notations. The study aims to focus on public participation and geo-collaboration facilitated with information sharing, interactive geo-conferencing, real-time map, and data sharing with tools to draw features or add annotation to the map while discussions, uploading documents, and live communication. Co-PPGIS provides an efficient and reliable platform that will significantly reduce the time to acquire, process, and analyze data. The significance of this study is to contribute to existing public participation practices, to municipal planning, to decision-making, or to geographic information science

Architectural Design and Prototyping of Co-PPGIS: A Groupware-Based Online Synchronous Collaborative PPGIS to Support Municipality Development and Planning Management Workflows

Co-PPGIS has a wide variety of applications like municipal planning, emergency response, public health and security, etc. The main focus of this chapter is on the development and design of a Web Collaborative PPGIS (Co-PPGIS) infrastructure. As part of municipality’s planning and management services, Co-PPGIS is developed for real-time map sharing application system. Co-PPGIS is an effective and essential online meeting system for supporting group collaborations on geographic information such as maps and imageries, and capturing and sharing of local/domain knowledge in real time. Co-PPGIS permits amalgamation of geospatial data and collaborator’s input in the form of geo-referenced notations. It incorporates coherent components as map sharing, real-time chat, video conferencing, geo-referenced textual and graphical notations. The study aims to focus on public participation and geo-collaboration facilitated with information sharing, interactive geo-conferencing, real-time map, and data sharing with tools to draw features or add annotation to the map while discussions, uploading documents, and live communication. Co-PPGIS provides an efficient and reliable platform that will significantly reduce the time to acquire, process, and analyze data. The significance of this study is to contribute to existing public participation practices, to municipal planning, to decision-making, or to geographic information science

Microwave-vacuum extraction technique as a green and clean label technology: kinetics, efficiency analysis, and effect on bioactive compounds

Grape pomace is a rich source of bioactive compounds and dietary fiber. This study aims to valorize the grape pomace by microwave-vacuum-assisted drying and extraction, which is a novel, green, and clean label technology. The drying and extraction of bioactive compounds from the grape pomace was optimized using response surface methodology. Box-Behnken design was used for three process variables, i.e., time, power, and vacuum levels. The highest drying rate was observed (5.53 g/100 g min after 10 min of drying) at the combination of 80 W and 20 inHg. This combination significantly reduced the drying time (25%) and resulted in the highest yield (64.5%) of bioactive compounds. Equally, changes in moisture ratio behavior were rapid under these processing conditions. Furthermore, Midilli model (R2 = 0.999, RMSE = 0.002, SSE = 3.71 × 10−6) was the best to justify the fitness of experimental values with predicted values. In addition, the diffusion coefficient, activation energy, and extraction yield were increased with increase in power and pressure. The concentration of bioactive components was higher in dried pomace compared to the extract. The extraction was successfully achieved without the use of solvent and the characteristics of extracted phenolics remained unaltered. Based on these findings, the microwave-vacuum-assisted drying and extraction process can be claimed as a sustainable approach.Universidade de Vigo/CISUGAxencia Galega de Innovación | Ref. IN607A2019/0

Prognostic Factors for Decompressive Hemicraniectomy in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Patients with Traumatic Mass Lesions: A Prospective Experience from a Developing Country

Objective:  To evaluate the prognostic factors affecting functional clinical outcomes in severe traumatic brain injury patients with traumatic mass lesions undergoing decompressive hemicraniectomy (DHC). Materials and Methods:  A prospective cohort of 85 patients of severe traumatic brain injury patients with traumatic mass lesions underwent a unilateral decompressive hemicraniectomy. Functional outcomes were assessed using the Glasgow Outcome Score at 28 days, 3 months, and 6 months. Bivariate analysis (chi-squared) was used to identify parameters that resulted in poor outcomes and multiple regression was used to identify independent factors predicting poor outcomes. Results:  85 patients were recruited. Functional outcomes were dichotomised as favourable (Glasgow Outcome Score of 4 – 5) and poor (Glasgow Outcome Score 1-3) and evaluated at 28 days, 3 and 6 months. A total of 59 patients expired (69.4%). Bivariate analysis revealed GCS 3 – 5 at presentation (P = 0.002), midline shift greater than 7.5mm (P < 0.001), the volume of the mass lesion more than 40ml (P = 0.006) resulted in a poor outcome. Age dichotomised to less than or more than 50 years bordered statistical significance (P = 0.063). Only GCS at presentation and midline shift were independent factors that predicted poor outcomes when controlling for covariates.  Conclusion:  Decompressive hemicraniectomy can be a lifesaving intervention in managing severe traumatic brain injury patients with traumatic mass lesions. However, its use needs to be employed judiciously.&nbsp

Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Recycled Aggregate Concrete, Geopolymer Concrete, and Recycled Aggregate-Based Geopolymer Concrete

This study presents a life cycle impact assessment of OPC concrete, recycled aggregate concrete, geopolymer concrete, and recycled aggregate-based geopolymer concrete by using the mid-point approach of the CML 2001 impact-assessment method. The life cycle impact assessment was carried out using OpenLCA software with nine different impact categories, such as global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, photochemical oxidant formation, human toxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, and freshwater and terrestrial aquatic ecotoxicity potential. Subsequently, a contribution analysis was conducted for all nine impact categories. The analysis showed that using geopolymer concrete in place of OPC concrete can reduce global warming potential by up to 53.7%. Further, the use of geopolymer concrete represents the reduction of acidification potential and photochemical oxidant formation in the impact categories, along with climate change. However, the potential impacts of marine aquatic ecotoxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, human toxicity, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, and terrestrial aquatic ecotoxicity potential were increased using geopolymer concrete. The increase in these impacts was due to the presence of alkaline activators such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. The use of recycled aggregates in both OPC concrete and geopolymer concrete reduces all the environmental impacts

PREPARATION OF ASCORBIC ACID AND CHOLECALCIFEROL MICROSPONGES FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION

Objective: Apart from having various physiological functions in the body, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) also have a key role in skin protection. However, their bioavailability is quite limited in the skin, and therefore, many cosmetic products are supplemented with these vitamins, which are usually associated with stability issues. To avoid these issues, here we report on the preparation of microsponges of these vitamins for topical application.Methods: The microsponges were prepared through various emulsification-solvent evaporation methods involving single (O/O, O/W) or double (W/O/O, W/O/W, S/O/W) emulsion. The organic internal phase was consisted of Eudragit® RS 100 polymer dissolved in an organic solvent such as acetone or dichloromethane, at a constant polymer to drug ratio of 2:1. The prepared microsponges were characterized for their entrapment efficiency, droplet size and uniformity, core to wall interaction, and surface morphology.Results: It was found that the W/O/W and S/O/W are suitable methods for the preparation of vitamin C microsponges and O/W is a suitable method for the preparation of vitamin D3 microsponges; ensuring an encapsulation efficiency of around 56-59% and 93%, respectively. The average diameter of vitamin C and D3 microsponges was typically around 56-68 μm and 48 μm, respectively.Conclusion: It is possible to encapsulate both water and oil soluble vitamins in a microsponge system at an appreciable entrapment efficiency. The findings of the present study are expected to play a vital role in the development of cosmeceuticals