Prenatal exposure to the fluoride containing psychiatric drug fluoxetine and anti-oxidative alterations in the neonatal rat brain

Fluoride is a key ingredient of many psychiatric drugs like fluoxetine (Prozac^®, Fluoxetine^®). Pregnant women frequently use this drug as they suffer from depression and anxiety disorders during this period. Fluoxetine is able to reach the fetus through the placenta and passes to the newborn through milk. In the present study, female Wistar rats were treated with 5, 10, and 20 mg/L fluoxetine (containing 94% fluorides) from pregnancy day 10 to day 20. After delivery, the levels of the enzymatic antioxidants in the brain of their offspring at postnatal day 2 were measured. The results showed that, in all fluoxetine exposed groups compared with the control group, there was a significant decrease (P < 0.01) in the glutathione, catalase, glutathione S-transferases and potassium and a non- significant increase (P > 0.05) in the activity of malondialdehyde and creatine kinase. The results suggest that fluoxetine may be a developmental neurotoxicant due to presence of fluoride hence must be used carefully during pregnancy.     

Influence of HMTA ligand in MMA AGET ATRP emulsion polymerization

Interactions of hexamethylenetetramine ligand in atom transfer radical polymerization initiated by activator generated by electron transfer were studied. Polymerization of methyl methacrylate was done using two-step experimental procedure in 2 L emulsion batch reactor at 50, 60, and 80°C. The selection of reactant ratios was quite challenging for a reactor of this size. Replicate runs were conducted for data reproducibility purpose. Gravimetry method and gel permeation chromatography were used to determine monomer conversion, Mn, and PDI of polymer samples. PMMA produced was also characterized by means of dynamic light scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. Results showed high monomer conversion up to 93% and Mn ranging 243–274 kg/mol with PDI from 1.45 to 1.60. Besides, combining HMTA with sodium dodecyl sulfate, an anionic surfactant, a well-controlled polymer with a lower Mn of 201 kg/mol and PDI of 1.56 was obtained in 3 hr reaction time.     

Modification and ionic stimulation of hollow fiber membrane by electric field for water treatment

Hollow fiber membrane (HF) is considered one of the prevalent materials for water treatment; its effectiveness is controlled by permeation and mechanical characteristics. In this study, HF membrane surface was stimulated using electrochemical technique, where binary system of stainless steel cylinder and graphite rod electrodes was used into electrolytic solution of sodium acetate 0.1 M as electrolyte. Two pH of acidic medium (pH = 3.5) and alkaline medium (pH = 8.5) were prepared and different potential between 2 and 10 V were applied. EDX analysis of HF membrane surface revealed the formation of sodium ions on the surface of HF membrane with maximum content of Na⁺ ions 1.84%. Also, HF membrane surface showed variation of roughness (R _a) as, HF membrane surface may undergo distortion by using aggressive conditions of high electric potential (7.5–10 V), The measured raw HF membrane (R _a) was 34.8 nm, while, after electrochemical modification in alkaline medium R _a showed higher values 36, 37, and 41 nm using 2, 2.5, and 5 V, respectively. While, after electrochemical modification in acidic medium (R _a) showed 35, 39, 42, 49, 52 nm for 2, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 V, respectively. Moreover, tensile strength Young's modulus, break stress and break strain were measured after electrochemical modification in both acidic and alkaline mediums and maximum porosity value 76.84% was observed after 30 min in acidic medium.     

A comparative study of accelerated weathering of epoxy resins based on DGEBA and HDGEBA

The durability of epoxy resins is an important factor in applications of composites to timber engineering. We carried out a comparative study of the effect of accelerated weathering on epoxy resins based on the glycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) or hydrogenated diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (HDGEBA) cured with 2,2,4-trimethylene-1,6-hexadiamine, using various characterization tools, including mechanical and thermal testing and SEM to evaluate the effect of exposure to UV light, moisture and elevated temperature cycles on the properties of the resins. Mechanical testing showed that after 6 months accelerated weathering reduced by 50% the tensile strength of DGEBA-TMDA while HDGEBA-TMDA epoxies lost slightly less strength over the same exposure period. Elongation at break increased after 6 months of accelerated weathering from 5.1?±?0.1% to 7.5?±?0.3% for DGEBA-TMDA epoxy specimens, and from 0.9?±?0.3% to 2.0?±?0.1% for HDGEBA-TMDA epoxy specimens. FTIR of the epoxies showed increases in the absorbance of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups for both epoxies on accelerated weathering, but the hydroxyl and carbonyl indexes reached values 90 and 40% higher respectively for DGEBA than HDGEBA-based epoxy resins. While susceptibility to accelerated weathering on the molecular scale was clearly greater for the DGEBA-based epoxy on the molecular scale, this did not translate into a significant deterioration in mechanical properties relative to HDGEBA over the time scale of the accelerated weathering experiments.     

Automatic Segmentation and Detection System for Varicocele Using Ultrasound Images

The enlarged veins in the pampiniform venous plexus, known as varicocele disease, are typically identified using ultrasound scans. The medical diagnosis of varicocele is based on examinations made in three positions taken to the right and left testicles of the male patient. The proposed system is designed to determine whether a patient is affected. Varicocele is more frequent on the left side of the scrotum than on the right and physicians commonly depend on the supine position more than other positions. Therefore, the experimental results of this study focused on images taken in the supine position of the left testicles of patients. There are two possible vein structures in each image: a cross-section (circular) and a tube (non-circular) structure. This proposed system identifies dilated (varicocele) veins of these structures in ultrasound images in three stages: preprocessing, processing, and detection and measurement. These three stages are applied in three different color modes: Grayscale, Red-Green-Blue (RGB), and Hue, Saturation, and Value (HSV). In the preprocessing stage, the region of interest enclosing the pampiniform plexus area is extracted using a median filter and threshold segmentation. Then, the processing stage employs different filters to perform image denoising. Finally, edge detection is applied in multiple steps and the detected veins are measured to determine if dilated veins exist. Overall implementation results showed the proposed system is faster and more effective than the previous work.     

Dearomatization of Diesel by Solvent Extraction: Influence of the Solvent Ratio and Temperature on Diesel Raffinate Properties

To comply with the stringent environmental regulations concerning the quality of fuels the production of ultra low sulfur fuels is obligatory. Consequently, the removal of aromatics from fuels has turned to be a serious issue. This is due to the fact that the presence of aromatics in fuel deters the ultra-low sulfur fuel production. Therefore the researcher’s interest has involved the dearomatization of fuels. As a result of the dearomatization, the quality of fuels improves tremendously. Here, solvent extraction was performed to dearomatize a feedstock sample with 20.1% aromatic and 166 ppm sulfur using acetonitrile. The extraction was performed at low temperature and ambient atmospheric pressure. The aromatic contents were determined via HPLC, while the ASTM methods were employed in other parameters determination. The results showed 72% minimum yield, 8.6% aromatic content, 58–64 cetane index, 73.2 ppm sulfur content, 5.4 viscosity, RI 1.4535, aniline point 82.15, specific gravity 0.824–0.812 with API 40.32–42.88 and flash point 70–78°C. The boiling range of the produced diesel fraction raffinate (172–373°C) that corresponds to C₈–C₂₄ cuts render it a potential candidate for other petrochemical applications.     

An iterative approach to synthesize business process templates from compliance rules

Companies have to adhere to compliance requirements. The compliance analysis of business operations is typically a joint effort of business experts and compliance experts. Those experts need to create a common understanding of business processes to effectively conduct compliance management. In this paper, we present a technique that aims at supporting this process. We argue that process templates generated out of compliance requirements provide a basis for negotiation among business and compliance experts. We introduce a semi-automated and iterative approach to the synthesis of such process templates from compliance requirements expressed in Linear Temporal Logic (LTL). We show how generic constraints related to business process execution are incorporated and present criteria that point at underspecification. Further, we outline how such underspecification may be resolved to iteratively build up a complete specification. For the synthesis, we leverage existing work on process mining and process restructuring. However, our approach is not limited to the control-flow perspective, but also considers direct and indirect data-flow dependencies. Finally, we elaborate on the application of the derived process templates and present an implementation of our approach.     

Effects of K2O-Li2O doping on surface and catalytic properties of Fe2O3/Cr2O3 system

The effects of K₂O and Li₂O-doping (0.5, 0.75 and 1.5 mol%) of Fe₂O₃/Cr₂O₃ system on its surface and the catalytic properties were investigated. Pure and differently doped solids were calcined in air at 400-600 °C. The formula of the un-doped calcined solid was 0.85Fe₂O₃:0.15Cr₂O₃. The techniques employed were TGA, DTA, XRD, N₂ adsorption at −196 °C and catalytic oxidation of CO oxidation by O₂ at 200-300 °C. The results revealed that DTA curves of pure mixed solids consisted of one endothermic peak and two exothermic peaks. Pure and doped mixed solids calcined at 400 °C are amorphous in nature and turned to α-Fe₂O₃ upon heating at 500 and 600 °C. K₂O and Li₂O doping conducted at 500 or 600 °C modified the degree of crystallinity and crystallite size of all phases present which consisted of a mixture of nanocrystalline α- and γ-Fe₂O₃ together with K₂FeO₄ and LiFe₅O₈ phases. However, the heavily Li₂O-doped sample consisted only of LiFe₅O₈ phase. The specific surface area of the system investigated decreased to an extent proportional to the amount of K₂O and Li₂O added. On the other hand, the catalytic activity was found to increase by increasing the amount of K₂O and Li₂O added. The maximum increase in the catalytic activity, expressed as the reaction rate constant (k) measured at 200 °C, attained 30.8% and 26.5% for K₂O and Li₂O doping, respectively. The doping process did not modify the activation energy of the catalyzed reaction but rather increased the concentration of the active sites without changing their energetic nature.     

Excess Conductivity Analysis of (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1223 Substituted by Pr and La

Series of superconducting samples of type Cu_0.5Tl_0,5 Ba₂Ca_2?y R _y Cu₃O_10??? , where R=Pr and La with 0??y??0.20, were prepared in a sealed quartz tube via a single-step solid-state reaction technique. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and electron dispersive X-ray (EDX). XRD studies indicated that the tetragonal structure of (Cu_0.5Tl_0.5)-1223 phase does not change by Pr or La-substitutions whereas the lattice parameters a and c do. The elemental compositions analysis, determined from EDX, indicated that both Pr and La were successfully introduced into the microstructure of (Cu_0.5Tl_0.5)-1223 phase. The electrical resistivity ??(T) was measured as a function of temperature using conventional dc four-probe technique. The fluctuation conductivity ????, above the superconducting transition temperature T _c, was analyzed as a function of temperature using Aslamazov and Larkin model. It exhibits four different fluctuation regions namely critical (cr), three-dimensional (3D), two-dimensional (2D), and short-wave (sw). The zero-temperature coherence length, effective layer thickness of the two-dimensional system and inter-layer coupling strength were estimated as a function of the substitution-content y. Furthermore, the thermodynamics critical field, lower critical magnetic field, upper critical magnetic field, critical current density and Fermi energy were calculated from the Ginzburg number. The data indicated that both Pr and La-substitutions have quite similar behaviors.