New Statistical Concepts for Prediction Viscosity, Critical Temperature, and Critical Pressure of Homologous Hydrocarbon Series (CnH2n 2)

A new model for prediction viscosity, critical temperature, and critical pressure for homologous hydrocarbon series C_nH_2n+2 as a function of carbon number only. The new model has a general formula: η or T_c or P = A₁ C^A₂(2+2C)^A₃. This new model provides accurate and computationally reliable prediction for the corresponding properties (η, T_c, and P_c) value.     

A review of the stabilization of tropical lowland peats

The Deep Mixing Method, which involves the formation of in situ stabilized peat columns, is suitable for deep peat stabilization, whereas the mass stabilization technique is used to stabilize the soil of shallow peat deposits instead of the costly and problematic removal and replacement method. The concept of soil-cement stabilization involves the addition of water to cement, resulting in a chemical process known as cement hydration. Stabilization of peat by cement, which requires a significant strength increase in the cement-stabilized peat or organic soil, is attributed largely to physicochemical reactions that include cement hydration, hardening of the resulting cement paste and interactions between soil substances and primary and secondary cementation hydration products. The factors that affect these physicochemical reactions and the interactions of peat soil-cementation products that influence peat stabilization are the amount of solid particles, the water: soil ratio, the quantity of binder, the presence of humic and/or fulvic acids, the soil pH and the amount of organic matter in the peat. With the Air Curing Technique, stabilized peat samples for unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were kept at a normal air temperature of 30 ± 2 °C and strengthened by gradual moisture content reduction instead of the usual water-curing technique or water submersion methods that have been common practice in past experiments involving the stabilization of peat with cement. The principle of using the Air Curing Technique to strengthen stabilized peat is that peat soil at its natural moisture content contains sufficient water (water content from 198 to 417 %) that, when mixed with cement, a curing process takes place that causes the stabilized peat soil to gradually lose its moisture content and to become drier and harder throughout the curing period. This process does not require the addition of water.     

Performance Evaluation of Cost-Effective Multicast–Unicast Key Management Method

Group key management is one of the key security issues in multicast networks. The main challenge is to provide a secure group key management method which avoids high key update cost in terms of the number of transmitted keys. In order to achieve low key update cost for group key management, most of the existing methods increase their encryption/decryption cycles which requires a strong cryptographic function. In this paper, a cost-effective key management method is proposed to address the problem of high key update cost without increasing the encryption/decryption cycles. We evaluated our proposed method with existing tree-based methods by using Markov chain and Poisson Arrival Process. Results indicate the efficiency of our proposed method in reducing the key update cost significantly compared to the existing tree-based key management methods.     

Magnetic Properties of Mechanically Alloyed Cobalt-Zinc Ferrite Nanoparticles

In this work, the physical and the magnetic properties of cobalt-zinc ferrite nanoparticles, synthesized via high-energy ball milling (HEBM), were examined. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FeSEM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to study changes of the powder structure and morphology analyses. Hysteresis and permeability measurement were carried out using a BH hysteresisgraph system and an impedance analyzer, respectively. The results suggested improved magnetic properties of Co_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ with increasing sintering temperature from 950 °C up to 1200 °C. However, the variations of the magnetic responses were consistent with the varying volume concentration of the ferrite composites. Unlike the highly crystalline pure ferrite which showed magnetic resonance within the measured frequency, the crystallineamorphous composites showed no visible resonance peak. This proved that the resonance peak shifted to higher frequency as a result of the single domain spin behavior in the absence of domain walls movement.     

Performance evaluation of supported ionic liquid membrane for removal of phenol

This work evaluates the performance of ionic liquid in supported liquid membrane (SLM) for the removal of phenol from wastewater. Ionic liquids are organic salts entirely composed of organic cations and either organic or inorganic anions. Due to the fact that the vapor pressure of ionic liquid is not detectable and they are sparingly soluble in most conventional solvents, they can be applied in SLM as the organic phase. In this work, 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium salts, [C_nMIM]⁺[X]⁻ have been investigated so as to determine an optimal supported ionic liquid membrane. The effect of operational parameters such as pH, stirring speed and the concentration of stripping agent has been studied, and an evaluation of different membrane supports were also carried out. With a minimal amount of the ionic liquid 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogensulfate, 85% phenol removal could be achieved by using polytetrafluoroethylene hydrophobic membrane filter in the SLM.     

Assessment of future climate change impacts on hydrological behavior of Richmond River Catchment

This study evaluated the impacts of future climate change on the hydrological response of the Richmond River Catchment in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, using the conceptual rainfall-runoff modeling approach (the Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) model). Daily observations of rainfall, temperature, and streamflow and long-term monthly mean potential evapotranspiration from the meteorological and hydrological stations within the catchment for the period of 1972–2014 were used to run, calibrate, and validate the HBV model prior to the streamflow prediction. Future climate signals of rainfall and temperature were extracted from a multi-model ensemble of seven global climate models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3 (CMIP3) with three regional climate scenarios, A2, A1B, and B1. The calibrated HBV model was then forced with the ensemble mean of the downscaled daily rainfall and temperature to simulate daily future runoff at the catchment outlet for the early part (2016–2043), middle part (2044–2071), and late part (2072–2099) of the 21st century. All scenarios during the future periods present decreasing tendencies in the annual mean streamflow ranging between 1% and 24.3% as compared with the observed period. For the maximum and minimum flows, all scenarios during the early, middle, and late parts of the century revealed significant declining tendencies in the annual mean maximum and minimum streamflows, ranging between 30% and 44.4% relative to the observed period. These findings can assist the water managers and the community of the Richmond River Catchment in managing the usage of future water resources in a more sustainable way.     

Dye-tolerant marine Acinetobacter baumannii-mediated biodegradation of reactive red

The objective of this study was to isolate a potent dye-degrading microbe that can be used to reduce the pollution caused by industrial dyes.Reactive red 198 is an extensively used textile dye and is a major environmental pollutant in water bodies. In this study, a bacterial strain was isolated from sea sediments and identified as Acinetobacter baumannii with 16S rRNA sequencing. The isolated bacteria were immobilized in calcium alginate and decolorization studies were carried out to determine the optimum pH, temperature, dye concentration, inoculum volume,and static/agitated condition using the one factor at a time(OFAT) approach. The Box-Behnken design, a type of response surface methodology,was adopted to improve the degradation efficiency. At 37℃ using an inoculum volume of six beads, 96.20% decolorization was observed in 500 mg/L of reactive red 198 after 72 h. Dye degradation was confirmed with UV-visible spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy studies of the dye and degraded metabolites. Microbial toxicity studies using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and phytotoxicity studies using Vigna radiata proved that the toxicity of the dye was significantly reduced after degradation. We can conclude that the isolated A. baumannii strain is an efficient dye-degrading microbe that can be used to reduce the pollution caused by industrial dyes.     

Vascularized fascial patch for repair of suboccipital dural defect

The capabilities of current protein structure prediction methods have been assessed from the outcome of a set of blind tests. In comparative modeling, many of the numerical methods did not perform as well as expected, although the resulting structures are still of great practical use. The new methods of fold identification ('threading') were partially successful, and show considerable promise for the future. Except for secondary structure data, results from traditional ab initio methods were poor. A second blind prediction experiment is underway, and progress in all areas is expected.     

Determination of lumped rate coefficients of proteins: Effect of adsorption

The equilibria and kinetics of adsorption of lysozyme and bovine serum albumin on the Fractogel-EMD tentacle-type cation exchanger and the Fractogel-TSK conventional cation exchanger have been studied experimentally by batch stirred-tank method. Adsorption equilibrium data corresponded well to the Langmuir isotherm. For both proteins, the tentacle-type exchanger exhibited a higher binding capacity than the conventional exchanger. This is attributed to the flexibility of the functional groups in the tentacle-type exchanger which enhance optimal electrostatic interactions. The dynamic data were analyzed by a simplified data model which lumped mass transfer resistances and intrinsic adsorption kinetics into a single rate constant. For both proteins, it was found that the tentacle-type exchanger showed a smaller lumped rate coefficient than the conventional exchanger. The difference in the values of the lumped rate coefficients was shown to be due to the influence of nonlinear equilibrium constants rather than due to any difference in rate of adsorption.     

Treatment of overactive bladder syndrome and detrusor overactivity

The overactive bladder syndrome is a relatively new-term defined by the International Continence Society in 2002. Previous definitions were based on urodynamic diagnoses; however, the overactive bladder syndrome is a symptomatic diagnosis with urgency as the cornerstone symptom, thus allowing treatment to be initiated by primary care physicians before embarking on complex investigations. It affects millions of people worldwide and has considerable economic costs. Its aetiology is unknown but some people suggest that it may be a nerve-related problem while others suggest that it may be a muscle-related problem. The true cause probably lies somewhere between the two theories. With this in mind, treatment is aimed at relief of symptoms and improving quality of life. Conservative treatments combined with antimuscarinic drugs are the main treatment for overactive bladders. There are many antimuscarinics available, with several under development, which have different specificities for the muscarinic receptors. Other drugs have also been tried but with limited success.If conservative and oral medical treatments fail, the options include intravesical therapy, neuromodulation or major surgery. However, urodynamics are essential for patients referred for these treatments, which are mainly initiated by specialists rather than primary care physicians. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the overactive bladder and detrusor overactivity, their diagnosis and treatment options.