Overview of ground-based generator towers as cloud seeding facilities to optimize water resources in the Larona Basin

The Larona River Basin which cover an area of 2477 km2, including the three cascading lakes: Matano, Mahalona, and Towuti Lakes, is a strategic watershed which acts as the water resource for three hydropower plants that supply 420 Megawatt of electricity to power a nickel processing plant and its supporting facilities and electricity need of the surrounding communities. The maximum and minimum operating levels of Towuti Lake are 319.6 meters (asl) and 317.45 meters (asl) respectively. Total live storage between these two elevations is 1,231,500 m3. Currently, the operation average outflow from Towuti Lake to the power plants is 130.1 m3/second which is resulting in a total annual outflow volume of 4,103,000 m3. By comparing the outflow volume with the live storage volume, it is obvious that present live storage has a limited capability to carry over the capacity from wet to dry years. During a dry year, the outflow drops to 100 m3/second. Thus, the optimization of water resources management in the Larona Basin is important to fulfil the need to produce the energy sources. To deal with the decrease of the Lakes water level, the Weather Modification Technology in the form of cloud seeding is needed to produce rain that will increase the water volume in the Lakes. The dispersion of cloud seeding material into the targeted clouds can be done by surface seeding using the Ground-Based Generator (GBG) which utilize towers to release cloud seeding materials. The tower locations should be in certain altitude or higher locations and amounts in order to operate effectively with optimum results. The water discharges generated from the process is expected in accordance with the planning. The weather modification process is inefficient when the discharge is overflow the spillway channel. Cost incurred is in approximate of US$$11,133,258.36 if the company is utilizing Diesel Power Plant and Steam Power Plant instead of the weather modification technology

Comparison Microbial Killing Efficacy between Sonodynamic Therapy and Photodynamic Therapy

Biofilm is a way used by bacteria to survive from their environmental conditions by forming colony of bacteria. Specific characteristic in biofilm formation is the availability of matrix layer, known as extracellular polymer substance. Treatment using antibiotics may lead bacteria to be to resistant. Other treatments to reduce microbial, like biofilm, can be performed by using photodynamic therapy. Successful of this kind of therapy is induced by penetration of light and photosensitizer into target cells. The sonodynamic therapyoffers greater penetrating capability into tissues. This research aimed to use sonodynamic therapy in reducing biofilm. Moreover, it compares also the killing efficacy of photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, and the combination of both therapeutic schemes (known as sono-photodynamic) to achieve higher microbial killing efficacy. Samples used are Staphylococcus aureus biofilm. Treatments were divided into 4 groups, i.e. group under ultrasound treatment with variation of 5 power levels, group of light treatment with exposure of 75s, group of combined ultrasound-light with variation of ultrasound power levels, and group of combined lightultrasound with variation of ultrasound powerlevels. Results obtained for each treatment, expressed in % efficacy of log CFU/mL,showed that the treatment of photo-sonodynamic provides greater killing efficacy in comparison to either sonodynamic and sono-photodynamic. The photo-sonodynamic shows also greater efficacy to photodynamic.So combination of light-ultrasound (photo-sonodynamic) can effectively kill microbial biofilm. The combined therapy will provide even better efficacy using exogenous photosensitizer

Overview of ground-based generator towers as cloud seeding facilities to optimize water resources in the Larona Basin

The Larona River Basin which cover an area of 2477 km2, including the three cascading lakes: Matano, Mahalona, and Towuti Lakes, is a strategic watershed which acts as the water resource for three hydropower plants that supply 420 Megawatt of electricity to power a nickel processing plant and its supporting facilities and electricity need of the surrounding communities. The maximum and minimum operating levels of Towuti Lake are 319.6 meters (asl) and 317.45 meters (asl) respectively. Total live storage between these two elevations is 1,231,500 m3. Currently, the operation average outflow from Towuti Lake to the power plants is 130.1 m3/second which is resulting in a total annual outflow volume of 4,103,000 m3. By comparing the outflow volume with the live storage volume, it is obvious that present live storage has a limited capability to carry over the capacity from wet to dry years. During a dry year, the outflow drops to 100 m3/second. Thus, the optimization of water resources management in the Larona Basin is important to fulfil the need to produce the energy sources. To deal with the decrease of the Lakes water level, the Weather Modification Technology in the form of cloud seeding is needed to produce rain that will increase the water volume in the Lakes. The dispersion of cloud seeding material into the targeted clouds can be done by surface seeding using the Ground-Based Generator (GBG) which utilize towers to release cloud seeding materials. The tower locations should be in certain altitude or higher locations and amounts in order to operate effectively with optimum results. The water discharges generated from the process is expected in accordance with the planning. The weather modification process is inefficient when the discharge is overflow the spillway channel. Cost incurred is in approximate of US$$11,133,258.36 if the company is utilizing Diesel Power Plant and Steam Power Plant instead of the weather modification technology

Effectiveness of Photodynamic Inactivation with Exogenous Photosensitizer Curcuma longa Extract Activated by Laser Diode 403 nm on Staphylococcus Aureus

Photodynamic Inactivation (PDI) is a modality of antimicrobial therapy. Oxygen peroxidation in cell membranes has caused antimicrobial effects by inhibiting cell metabolism. The effectiveness of PDI depends on light sources, photosensitizer agents (Ps) and oxygen. This study is to investigate the antimicrobial effect of PDI using Curcuma longa (CL) extract as a photosensitizer (Ps) agent activated by 403 nm laser diode on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). CL extract was prepared by maceration of turmeric rhizome using 96% ethanol with concentration 0.15% (Ps1) and 0.3% (Ps2), respectively. The samples were divided into three groups; control (C1), treatments with Ps1 (C2) and Ps2 (C2’), treatment with laser irradiations (T1), PDI treatment with Ps1 (T2) and Ps2 (T3). The bacterial growth has been monitored by ELISA reader and measured by Colony Counter. The percentage of bacterial reduction was analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. PDI treatment with CL extract is more effective to reduce S. aureus compared without exogenous CL extract. The highest reduction was given at high level irradiation with an energy density of 15.83 J/cm2 where treatment with Ps1 and Ps2 gave 79.18% and 85.48% reduction, respectively. Exogenous photosensitizer addition in PDI can increased bacterial reduction to 85.48% with 0.3% CL extracts at high level irradiation. CL extracts as exogenous photosensitizer activated by laser diode provides an increase the effectiveness of PDI on S. aureu