Effect of the cultivation mode on red pigments production from Monascus ruber

In submerged cultures performed in chemically defined fermentation medium containing glucose and glutamate, the growth and production of water‐soluble red pigments and citrinin by the filamentous fungus Monascus ruber were studied under various carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios. The specific production of the red pigments was optimal at a glucose/glutamate ratio of about 10 and then steadily decreased at higher C/N ratio. In contrast, the production of the mycotoxin increased with increased C/N with an optimum in the range of 30–45. In a fed‐batch mode, it was also found that the production of pigments was not favoured in fed‐batch mode by feeding the medium with glucose while keeping the C/N ratio lower than 10. This low production likely resulted from concurrent high accumulation of L‐malic acid that was reported to inhibit this production. In contrast, this mode of cultivation was rather favourable for the production of the mycotoxin.     

Estimation of the Stress-Strength Reliability for Exponentiated Pareto Distribution Using Median and Ranked Set Sampling Methods

In reliability analysis, the stress-strength model is often used to describe the life of a component which has a random strength (X) and is subjected to a random stress (Y). In this paper, we considered the problem of estimating the reliability R=P [Y<X] when the distributions of both stress and strength are independent and follow exponentiated Pareto distribution. The maximum likelihood estimator of the stress strength reliability is calculated under simple random sample, ranked set sampling and median ranked set sampling methods. Four different reliability estimators under median ranked set sampling are derived. Two estimators are obtained when both strength and stress have an odd or an even set size. The two other estimators are obtained when the strength has an odd size and the stress has an even set size and vice versa. The performances of the suggested estimators are compared with their competitors under simple random sample via a simulation study. The simulation study revealed that the stress strength reliability estimates based on ranked set sampling and median ranked set sampling are more efficient than their competitors via simple random sample. In general, the stress strength reliability estimates based on median ranked set sampling are smaller than the corresponding estimates under ranked set sampling and simple random sample methods.     

Trend Analysis and Spatial Prediction of Groundwater Levels Using Time Series Forecasting and a Novel Spatio-Temporal Method

Water Resources Management - Overexploitation of groundwater in the Malayer Plain has resulted in a continuous decline of groundwater levels over recent years with associated risks to water...     

Antimicrobial residues survey by LC-MS in food-producing animals in Lebanon

ABSTRACT

The treatment of animals with antimicrobial products may lead to the contamination of edible tissues by their residues, which may represent a risk to human health. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of antimicrobial residues in food-producing animals (chicken, beef, and milk) in Lebanon. A total of 310 samples were collected and analysed using an LC-MS/MS for the determination of 48 compounds belonging to different families in order to map their compliance according to the European Commission decision 2002/657/EC. Results show that 60% of the analysed samples were not contaminated by any residue, while 12% presented a concentration higher than the MRLs for tetracyclines, sulphonamides, quinolones, and macrolides. Results revealed that chicken were the most contaminated by antimicrobial residues, when compared to beef and milk. The obtained results demonstrate the uncontrolled use of antimicrobials in some Lebanese farms and claim for better management of livestock.     

MINERALOGICAL, PORE AND PETROPHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEVONIAN JAUF SANDSTONE RESERVOIR, HAWIYAH FIELD, EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA

Throughout the subsurface of the Arabian Peninsula, the approximately 460ft thick, Devonian Jauf Formation generally consists of well-compacted, low-porosity sandstones and shales, but it also includes friable and highly porous sandstones which form significant gas and condensate reservoir intervals. The mineralogy and pore properties of these reservoir intervals at the Hawiyah field (part of the giant Ghawar structure) were studied by integrating petrographic data with petrophysical measurements of reservoir sandstone samples.
The reservoir sandstones are mainly composed of quartz arenites containing small amounts of altered potassium feldspar grains, authigenic illite and chlorite. Based on the pore types, which reflect the habits of the intergranular clays, three reservoir sandstone types have been defined: Type A, characterized by macroporosity; Type B, with microporosity; and Type C, with combined laminations of Types A and B. The dominance of pore-lining clay (as in Type A) or pore-filling clay (as in Type B) is the principal factor controlling the petrophysical properties of the samples. Types A and C sandstones contain macro pores, but irreducible water saturation is high (25 to 45%) compared to clean samples elsewhere, because of the presence of micropores associated with clay. In Type B sandstones the irreducible water saturation is commonly greater than 40% because all the pores spaces are in the microporosity range. The irreducible water saturation in Type B sandstones increases rapidly as porosity decreases. When porosity is less than 10%, the corresponding permeability is 0.2 mD, but no economic production can be expected because water saturation is as high as 100%. In the producing intervals, authigenic clays result in low electrical resistivity due to high water saturation; however, water-free gas is produced.     

A multigrid accelerated hybrid unstructured mesh method for 3D compressible turbulent flow

 A cell vertex finite volume method for the solution of steady compressible turbulent flow problems on unstructured hybrid meshes of tetrahedra, prisms, pyramids and hexahedra is described. These hybrid meshes are constructed by firstly discretising the computational domain using tetrahedral elements and then by merging certain tetrahedra. A one equation turbulence model is employed and the solution of the steady flow equations is obtained by explicit relaxation. The solution process is accelerated by the addition of a multigrid method, in which the coarse meshes are generated by agglomeration, and by parallelisation. The approach is shown to be effective for the simulation of a number of 3D flows of current practical interest. Sponsored by The Research Council of Norway, project number 125676/410 Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Mike Crisfield, a respected colleague