Power optimization for a hydrocarbon industrial plant using a genetic algorithm

In this paper, a genetic algorithm (GA) is considered for optimizing electrical power loss for a real hydrocarbon industrial plant as a single objective problem. The subject plant electrical system consists of 275 buses, two gas turbine generators, two steam turbine generators, large synchronous motors, and other rotational and static loads. The minimization of power losses (J1) objective is used to guide the optimization process, and, consequently, the injected power into the grid (PRInject) is increased. The results obtained demonstrate the potential and effectiveness of the proposed approach to optimize the power consumption. Also, in this paper a cost appraisal for the potential daily, monthly and annual cost saving will be addressed

What Others Say About This Work? Scalable Extraction of Citation Contexts from Research Papers

This work presents a new, scalable solution to the problem of extracting citation contexts: the textual fragments surrounding citation references. These citation contexts can be used to navigate digital libraries of research papers to help users in deciding what to read. We have developed a prototype system which can retrieve, on-demand, citation contexts from the full text of over 15 million research articles in the Mendeley catalog for a given reference research paper. The evaluation results show that our citation extraction system provides additional functionality over existing tools, has two orders of magnitude faster runtime performance, while providing a 9% improvement in F-measure over the current state-of-the-art

Características físicas y propiedades de disolución de dispersiones sólidas de oxazepam con carbómero 934P

The formulation of solid dispersions is an effective method of increasing the dissolution rate of poorly soluble drugs.The purpose of this study was to prepare and to characterize solid dispersions of oxazepam with carbomer 934P toimprove their dissolution properties. Solid dispersions were prepared by dissolution method and the dissolution rates ofsolid dispersions were compared with those ones of physical mixtures and pure drug. The evaluation of solid dispersionscharacteristics was performed using infrared espectroscopy (IR), X-ray diffractometry (X-R), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and dissolution assay. IR, X-R and DSC data showed no drug-polymer interaction. The results obtainedfrom dissolution studies showed that the dissolution rate of oxazepam was considerably better when it was formulatedin solid dispersions with carbomer 934P compared with those of physical mixtures and pure oxazepam.La formulación de dispersiones sólidas es un método efi caz de aumento de la velocidad de disolución de fármacosmuy poco solubles. El objetivo de este estudio fue la preparación y caracterización de dispersiones sólidas de oxazepamcon carbómero 934P para mejorar sus propiedades de disolución. Las dispersiones sólidas se prepararonmediante el método de disolución y se compararon las velocidades de disolución de dispersiones sólidas con las delas mezclas físicas y el fármaco puro. La evaluación de las características de las dispersiones sólidas se realizó medianteespectroscopia de infrarrojos (IR), difractometría de rayos X (R-X), calorimetría diferencial de barrido (DSC)y ensayo de disolución. Los datos de IR, R-X y DSC no mostraron interacción fármaco-polímero. Los resultadosobtenidos a partir de los estudios de disolución mostraron que la velocidad de disolución del oxazepam mejorabaconsiderablemente cuando se formulaba en dispersiones sólidas con carbómero 934P, en comparación con las demezclas físicas y el oxazepam puro

Antibacterial potentials of aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark

The antibacterial potentials of aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark at varying concentrations of 50, 100 and 150 mg/ml was investigated by measuring the zones of inhibition produced after incubation on nutrient agar. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus substilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhymurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used as test organisms. The results revealed that the zones of inhibition on the bacterial isolates increased (P < 0.05) as the concentration of the plant extract increased. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration produced by the extract on the gram positive bacteria were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the gram negative bacteria. The results revealed that the aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark possessed antibacterial activities on the clinical isolates with more antibacterial effect on the gram-positive than the gram-negative bacteria. The identified alkaloids might be responsible for the antibacterial activities

Recent data on the prevalence of intestinal parasites in N’Djamena, Chad Republic

This cross sectional study assessed the prevalence of intestinal protozoan and helminth infections in N’Djamena, Chad Republic, and determined the main  epidemiological transmission factors of these pathogens in order to develop efficient control strategies of intestinal parasites. Four hundred and sixty two  randomly selected persons, from eight quarters (administrative districts), of age less than one year to seventy six years old of both sexes, were examined in  N’Djamena town. Out of the 462 samples, 235 (51%) were found to harbour at least one parasite species. The prevalences of the eight (8) parasite species detected were: Entamoeba histolytica (30%), Hymenolepis nana (13%), Ascaris  lumbricoides (10%), Trichomonas hominis (6%), Giardia intestinalis (3%),  hookworm (0.5%), and Schistosoma mansoni (0.2%). These pathogens appeared mostly in single infections. The quarters with higher infection indices were those that experienced floods (Abena and Chagoua) and where people do not use latrines (Naga and Goudji). The population customs and the environmental conditions in N’Djamena still favour high faecal- oral transmission of intestinal parasites.Key words: Prevalence, Intestinal Parasites, Protozoans, Helminths, N’Djamena, Chad

Antiglycation and Hypolipidemic Effects of Polyphenols from Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae) in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Purpose: To evaluate the antiglycation and hypolipidemic potential of polyphenols from Zingiber officinale in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats by single intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg body weight (bw) of streptozotocin. This was followed by oral administration of 500 mg/kg each of free and bound polyphenol extracts of Z. officinale to the rats daily for 42 days. Distilled water and glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) were used as normal and positive controls, respectively.Results: Significant increases (p &lt; 0.05) in blood glucose level (369.26 mg/dL), serum advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) (6.80 μg/mL), lipid profile and atherogenic indices, with decrease in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (15.55 mg/dL) were observed in diabetic rats compared to control. Free polyphenol extracts of Z. officinale significantly reduced (p &lt; 0.05) blood glucose (147.96 mg/dL), serum AGEs (1.98 μg/mL), lipid profile and atherogenic indices while it significantly increased HDL-C (23.28 mg/dL). However, bound polyphenol extract did not cause any significant change in the lipid profile of the diabetic rats except for LDL-C.Conclusion: This study indicates that free and bound polyphenols from Z. officinale can ameliorate diabetes as well as its complications, and its effect is comparable to that of the standard drug, glibenclamide.Keywords: Zingiber officinale, Diabetes, Lipid profile, Atherogenic index, Polyphenol, Glycation, Streptozotoci