Schedule of Factors Influencing Adherence (SOFIA) to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia: Validity and Pilot Testing

Qualitative research has highlighted the complex interplay of multiple factors that preclude persons with schizophrenia in rural Indian settings for discontinued psychiatric treatment. In this context, this paper aims to establish the face and content validities of an interview schedule titled „Schedule of Factors Influencing Adherence (SOFIA) to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia‟ which comprehensively assesses factors for discontinued psychiatric treatment and the feasibility of its administration of the schedule. SOFIA contains 16 factors. This schedule involves three phases of interviewing patients and family members. This was given to twelve experts who used likert scales to rate each items wells as the dimensions of the schedule. Later on, fifteen persons with schizophrenia were interviewed with SOFIA to test the feasibility of administration. The results showed that Fourteen items were rated as either satisfactory (score=4) or very much satisfactory (score=5) by all twelve experts; remaining two were rated as 4 or 5 by 11 experts. Regarding comprehensiveness of the factors, scoring methods and general instructions given to the interviewers, all provided scores > 4; regarding method of interviewing, 11 provided score of > 4; with regard to overall interview schedule, all experts provided scores > 4. Pilot testing revealed that it took 60 minutes to administer SOFIA

An Experimental Investigation of Karanja Biodiesel Production in Sarawak, Malaysia

The application of nonedible feedstock for the production of biodiesel has become an area of research interest among clean energy experts in the past few years. This research is aimed at the utilization of Pongamia pinnata (karanja), a nonedible feedstock from the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, to produce biodiesel to be known as crude karanja oil (CKO). A one-step transesterification process utilizing 7: 1-10: 1 wt% methanol (CH3OH) and 0.5-1.2 wt% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 65°C for 1.5 hrs has been used for the biodiesel production yielding 84% conversion. The physiochemical properties of the CKO produced revealed that it conforms with EN14214 standards for brake power (BP), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) as they are all noted be optimal at B40. © 2018 Dewi Harreh et al

Production of Karanja Methyl Ester from Crude Karanja Oil Using Meretrix Lyrata Synthesised Active Cao Catalyst

Active calcium oxide catalyst was synthesised from Meretrix Lyrata (M.Lyrata) following calcination-hydration-dehydration technique. The catalytic feasibility of synthesised CaO was investigated in the production of Karanja methyl ester (KME) from crude Karanja oil (CKO). KME was synthesised through esterification using H2SO4 followed by transesterification utilising CaO in a two-step reaction process of CKO and methanol. The M.Lyrata shells were calcined at 900 ℃ and the catalyst samples were characterised using FTIR, SEM, PSA, and BET-BJH spectrographic techniques. A maximum fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) conversion of 97.3 % was obtained at optimum reaction conditions including methanol-to-oil ratio of 12:1, catalyst concentration of 2 wt.%, reaction temperature of 58 ℃ and reaction time of 2 hrs. In a comparative study with commercial CaO, M.Lyrata showed a higher catalytic activity. The catalyst reusability experiments ascertaining reusability of CaO up to four reuse cycles had shown good efficiency. The economic comparative study confirms that CaO derived from M.Lyrata can be used as an alternative and feasible catalyst for biodiesel production. The KME fuel properties complied to EN-14214 biodiesel fuel standards

Turritella terebra Shell Synthesized Calcium Oxide Catalyst for Biodiesel Production from Chicken Fat

Heterogeneous catalyst has been viewed as a promising catalyst for biodiesel production. This study employed Turritella terebra (TT) shell as a source for synthesizing heterogeneous CaO catalyst for biodiesel production via transesterification by utilizing chicken fat as a feedstock. The TT shell CaO catalyst was characterized and its catalytic performance was studied. The spectrographic methods that include FTIR, SEM, PSA, and BET-BJH were employed for characterization of the synthesized CaO. The TT shell CaO catalyst optimally produced chicken fat biodiesel (CFB) with reaction parameters at catalyst concentration of 4 wt%, chicken fat to methanol molar ratio of 1:12, reaction temperature of 60°C, and reaction time of 90 min. The optimal yield was 94.03% and the TT shell CaO catalyst still yield 79.19% of CFB on the fifth cycle of reaction. This study has implied that TT shell is a feasible and attractive renewable source of heterogeneous CaO catalyst for biodiesel productio

Turritella terebraShell Synthesized Calcium Oxide Catalyst for Biodiesel Productionfrom Chicken Fat

Heterogeneous catalyst has been viewed as a promising catalyst for biodiesel production. This study employed Turritella terebra (TT) shell as a source for synthesizing heterogeneous CaO catalyst for biodiesel production via transesterification by utilizing chicken fat as a feedstock. The TT shell CaO catalyst was characterized and its catalytic performance was studied. The spectrographic methods that include FTIR, SEM, PSA, and BET-BJH were employed for characterization of the synthesized CaO. The TT shell CaO catalyst optimally produced chicken fat biodiesel (CFB) with reaction parameters at catalyst concentration of 4 wt%, chicken fat to methanol molar ratio of 1:12, reaction temperature of 60°C, and reaction time of 90 min. The optimal yield was 94.03% and the TT shell CaO catalyst still yield 79.19% of CFB on the fifth cycle of reaction. This study has implied that TT shell is a feasible and attractive renewable source of heterogeneous CaO catalyst for biodiesel production

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

Isolation and evolutionary analysis of Australasian topotype of bluetongue virus serotype 4 from India

Bluetongue (BT) is a Culicoides-borne disease caused by several serotypes of bluetongue virus (BTV). Similar to other insect-borne viral diseases, distribution of BT is limited to distribution of Culicoides species competent to transmit BTV. In the tropics, vector activity is almost year long, and hence, the disease is endemic, with the circulation of several serotypes of BTV, whereas in temperate areas, seasonal incursions of a limited number of serotypes of BTV from neighbouring tropical areas are observed. Although BTV is endemic in all the three major tropical regions (parts of Africa, America and Asia) of the world, the distribution of serotypes is not alike. Apart from serological diversity, geography-based diversity of BTV genome has been observed, and this is the basis for proposal of topotypes. However, evolution of these topotypes is not well understood. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of several BTV-4 isolates from India. These isolates are distinct from BTV-4 isolates from other geographical regions. Analysis of available BTV seg-2 sequences indicated that the Australasian BTV-4 diverged from African viruses around 3,500 years ago, whereas the American viruses diverged relatively recently (1,684 CE). Unlike Australasia and America, BTV-4 strains of the Mediterranean area evolved through several independent incursions. We speculate that independent evolution of BTV in different geographical areas over long periods of time might have led to the diversity observed in the current virus population