The contribution of human activities to subsurface environment degradation in Greater Jakarta Area, Indonesia

This study examines the factors of human activities causing environmental stresses on the subsurface environments in the urban settings of Jakarta. A major objective of this study is to identify the basin geometry and estimate how critical is the degradation of the subsurface environment within the basin, and it covered micro-palaeontology and chemical analyses, the decrease of water level, and GPS data. New data on shallow groundwater quality is provided and the results indicate strong evidence for human activities have influenced the degradation of the Jakarta subsurface environment.     

Plant intelligence based metaheuristic optimization algorithms

Classical optimization algorithms are insufficient in large scale combinatorial problems and in nonlinear problems. Hence, metaheuristic optimization algorithms have been proposed. General purpose metaheuristic methods are evaluated in nine different groups: biology-based, physics-based, social-based, music-based, chemical-based, sport-based, mathematics-based, swarm-based, and hybrid methods which are combinations of these. Studies on plants in recent years have showed that plants exhibit intelligent behaviors. Accordingly, it is thought that plants have nervous system. In this work, all of the algorithms and applications about plant intelligence have been firstly collected and searched. Information is given about plant intelligence algorithms such as Flower Pollination Algorithm, Invasive Weed Optimization, Paddy Field Algorithm, Root Mass Optimization Algorithm, Artificial Plant Optimization Algorithm, Sapling Growing up Algorithm, Photosynthetic Algorithm, Plant Growth Optimization, Root Growth Algorithm, Strawberry Algorithm as Plant Propagation Algorithm, Runner Root Algorithm, Path Planning Algorithm, and Rooted Tree Optimization.     

Kinetic and intraparticle diffusion studies of carbon nanotubes-titania for desulfurization of fuels

The authors report on the kinetics, pseudo first-order model, pseudo second-order model, and intraparticle diffusion mechanism. Thus, the experimental data of the adsorption of thiophene, benzothiophene, and dibenzothiophene on a material of carbon nanotubes-titania were fitted to the kinetics and intraparticle diffusion models. The kinetics parameters of qe and correlation coefficient indicated that the data are not fitted with the pseudo first-order model while they are well fitted to the pseudo second-order model with R² of more than 0.99 and the maximum adsorption capacities qe calculated from the pseudo second order model are in accordance with the experimental values for the three sulfur compounds in a model fuel. The results indicated that the adsorbent has a higher adsorption efficiency toward DBT over the other two sulfur compounds. Fitting the data to the intraparticle diffusion model indicated the intraparticle diffusion was not only rate-controlling step and hence it can be suggested that the surface adsorption and intraparticle diffusion were concurrently operating. The experimental results demonstrate that the combining of titania and carbon nanotubes is a promising material, which can be used in desulfurization.     

The use of GA-ANNs in the modelling of compressive strength of cement mortar

In this paper, results of a project aimed at modelling the compressive strength of cement mortar under standard curing conditions are reported. Plant data were collected for 6 months for the chemical and physical properties of the cement that were used in model construction and testing. The training and testing data were separated from the complete original data set by the use of genetic algorithms (GAs). A GA-artificial neural network (ANN) model based on the training data of the cement strength was created. Testing of the model was also done within low average error levels (2.24%). The model was subjected to sensitivity analysis to predict the response of the system to different values of the factors affecting the strength. The plots obtained after sensitivity analysis indicated that increasing the amount of C₃S, SO₃ and surface area led to increased strength within the limits of the model. C₂S decreased the strength whereas C₃A decreased or increased the strength depending on the SO₃ level. Because of the limited data range used for training, the prediction results were good only within the same range. The utility of the model is in the potential ability to control processing parameters to yield the desired strength levels and in providing information regarding the most favourable experimental conditions to obtain maximum compressive strength.     

Discovery and Optimization of Piperazine Urea Derivatives as Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase (sEH) Inhibitors

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is implicated as a potential therapeutic target for inflammation-related pathologies in the context of cardiovascular, central nervous system and metabolic diseases. In our search for novel sEH inhibitors, we designed and synthesized novel analogs of the piperazine urea derivative 4 , a previously discovered dual microsomal prostaglandin E₂ synthase-1 (mPGES-1)/soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitor, to evaluate their potential as sEH inhibitors. We identified two 1,3,4-oxadiazol-5-one and -thione congeners (compounds 19 and 20 ), which demonstrated selective sEH inhibition with IC₅₀ values in the two-digit nanomolar range (42 and 56 nM, respectively). These results suggest that the installation of terminal 1,3,4-oxadiazol-5-one/thione functions to the benzyl end can be regarded as a promising secondary pharmacophore in addition to the urea group for sEH inhibition, and compound 19 can be regarded as novel lead structure for further optimization of improved sEH inhibitors.     

Effects of cold storage, rearing temperature, parasitoid age and irradiation on the performance of Trichogramma evanescens Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

In this study, the effects of cold storage, rearing temperature, parasitoid age, and irradiation on the performance of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma evanescens were investigated. Pupae of T. evanescens can be stored at 4 °C for up to 3 weeks without much loss of performance. The longevity and walking speed of adults emerging from chilled pupae significantly decreased after longer storage periods. The F₁ generation of adults which emerged from pupae stored up to 3 weeks was able to parasitize as well as the control. The parasitization rate was similar at 24, 27, and 30 °C, but significantly decreased at 33 and 36 °C. Although T. evanescens developed to the pupal stage at 36 °C, no adult emergence was observed at this temperature. Developmental periods were longer at 24 °C than at higher temperatures. The optimum age for T. evanescens to successfully parasitize host eggs ranged from 24 to 90 h. The parasitization frequency of the 56-78 h aged females was higher than for the other age groups. The daily egg laying pattern of female T. evanescens adults was similar when they were reared on Ephestia kuehniella or Plodia interpunctella eggs. Gamma- or ultraviolet-irradiated and unirradiated host eggs were equally preferred by adult females.     

Transdermal Delivery Devices: Fabrication,Mechanics and Drug Release from Silk

Microneedles are a relatively simple, minimally invasive and painless approach to deliver drugs across the skin. However, there remain limitations with this approach because of the materials most commonly utilized for such systems. Silk protein, with tunable and biocompatibility properties, is a useful biomaterial to overcome the current limitations with microneedles. Silk devices preserve drug activity, offer superior mechanical properties and biocompatibility, can be tuned for biodegradability, and can be processed under aqueous, benign conditions. In the present work, the fabrication of dense microneedle arrays from silk with different drug release kinetics is reported. The mechanical properties of the microneedle patches are tuned by post‐fabrication treatments or by loading the needles with silk microparticles, to increase capacity and mechanical strength. Drug release is further enhanced by the encapsulation of the drugs in the silk matrix and coating with a thin dissolvable drug layer. The microneedles are used on human cadaver skin and drugs are delivered successfully. The various attributes demonstrated suggest that silk‐based microneedle devices can provide significant benefit as a platform material for transdermal drug delivery.     

Empyema thoracis--a series of 230 cases

A retrospective analysis of 230 cases of empyema thoracis which occurred in our clinic during the last 14 years have been presented. The causes, the pathogen organism, treatment with antibiotic are enumerated. The surgical treatment carried in resistant cases have been described Ten patients (4.34 percent) died due to respiratory failure and septic shock. Importance of early and appropriate treatment has been stressed.     

Protein-Assembled Nanocrystal-Based Vertical Flash Memory Devices with Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> Integration

This work presents vertical flash memory devices with protein-assembled PbSe nanocrystals as a floating gate and Al₂O₃ as a control oxide. The advantage of a vertical structure is that it improves cell density. Protein assembly improves uniformity of nanocrystals, which reduces threshold voltage variation among devices. The introduction of Al₂O₃ as a control oxide provided lower voltage/faster operation and hence less power consumption compared with the devices fabricated with SiO₂. The integration of Al₂O₃ appeared to be compatible with the protein assembly approach. In conclusion, Al₂O₃ has the potential to become the high-k control oxide due to its relatively high electron/hole barrier heights, and high permittivity.     

Dielectric properties of Jordanian oil shales

Microwave heating has been suggested by various authors as a suitable technology for extraction of organic material from oil shales. However, one of the limiting factors in the development of this technology is a lack of accurate dielectric property data for design purposes. In this study the dielectric behaviour of El-lajun oil shale is quantified. The dielectric constant and loss factor of El-lajun oil shale were measured at 2470 and 912 MHz using the cavity perturbation technique. The effects of organic content, temperature, and moisture content on the microwave heating efficiency were quantified. Coaxial probe technique was also employed to study the effect of frequency on dielectric properties of oil shale. Generally, it was found that all samples were of low dielectric loss at room temperature with the imaginary part of permittivity falling significantly after the moisture was removed. This suggests that the major contribution in the dielectric loss is due to the presence of free and/or interlayer water. It was found that both the real and imaginary part of complex permittivity increased with a rise in temperature from 20 up to 80 °C, then dropped significantly at about 100 °C before staying approximately constant up to a temperature of about 480 °C. From this temperature both the real and imaginary parts of complex permittivity increased sharply with further increase in temperature. An attempt was also made to correlate the dielectric properties of the bulk shale sample with the organic content. However, no correlation between dielectric properties and organic matter content was found.