Green Measurements for Software Product Based on Sustainability Dimensions

Software is a central component in the modern world and vastly affects the environment’s sustainability. The demand for energy and resource requirements is rising when producing hardware and software units. Literature study reveals that many studies focused on green hardware; however, limited efforts were made in the greenness of software products. Green software products are necessary to solve the issues and problems related to the long-term use of software, especially from a sustainability perspective. Without a proper mechanism for measuring the greenness of a particular software product executed in a specific environment, the mentioned benefits will not be attained. Currently, there are not enough works to address this problem, and the green status of software products is uncertain and unsure. This paper aims to identify the green measurements based on sustainable dimensions in a software product. The second objective is to reveal the relationships between the elements and measurements through empirical study. The study is conducted in two phases. The first phase is the theoretical phase, where the main components, measurements and practices that influence the sustainability of a software product are identified. The second phase is the empirical study that involved 103 respondents in Malaysia investigating current practices of green software in the industrial environment and further identifying the main sustainability dimensions and measurements and their impact on achieving green software products. This study has revealed seven green measurements of software product: Productivity, Usability, Cost Reduction, Employee Support, Energy Efficiency, Resource Efficiency and Tool Support. The relationships are statistically significant, with a significance level of less than 0.01 (p = 0.000). Thus, the hypothesised relationships were all accepted. The contributions of this study revolve around the research perspectives of the measurements to attain a green software product.     

Al2O3/Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia Hollow‐Fiber Membrane Incorporated with Iron Oxide for Pb(II) Removal

Removal by absorptive ceramic membranes can simultaneously absorb and separate metal ions from water. Alumina/yttria‐stabilized zirconia (Al₂O₃/YSZ) hollow‐fiber membranes, fabricated using phase inversion and sintering process, were deposited with iron oxide by an in‐situ hydrothermal process. The results showed that α‐Fe₂O₃ was produced and incorporated across the membranes. A reduction in flux was recorded with the deposition of α‐Fe₂O_3. However, it improved the adsorption capacity for heavy metal adsorption. The adsorption‐separation test demonstrated that the optimized membrane is able to completely remove Pb(II) ions after two hours.     

Transesterification of Palm-based Methyl Palmitate into Esteramine Catalyzed by Calcium Oxide Catalyst

The technology for transesterification reactions between methyl esters and alcohols is well established by using classical homogeneous alkaline catalysts, which provide high conversion of methyl esters to specialty or nonindigenous esters. However, in certain products where the purity of the esters is of concern, the removal of homogeneous catalysts after the completion of the reaction is a challenge in terms of production cost and water footprint. Therefore, a study to investigate the potential of heterogeneous catalysts was conducted on reactions between methyl palmitate and triethanolamine. The degree of basicity and active surface area of calcium oxide (CaO), zinc oxide (ZnO), and magnesium oxide (MgO) were first characterized by using temperature-programmed desorption (TPD-CO₂) and Brunauere–Emmett–Teller (BET), respectively. Among the metal oxides investigated, the CaO catalyst showed the best catalytic activity toward the transesterification process as it gave the highest conversion of methyl palmitate and yielded fatty esteramine compositions similar to the conventional homogeneous catalyst. The optimum transesterification condition by using the CaO catalyst utilized a lower vacuum system of approximately 200 mbar, which could minimize a considerable amount of energy consumption. Furthermore, low CaO dosage of 0.1% was able to give a conversion of 94.5% methyl ester and formed esteramine at 170 °C for 2 h. Therefore, the production of esterquats from esteramine may become more economically feasible through the methyl ester route by using the CaO catalyst, which can be recycled three times.     

A cost comparison of balloon angioplasty and stenting versus endarterectomy for the treatment of carotid artery stenosis

PURPOSE: Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting (PTAS) of the carotid artery has been advocated as an alternative treatment for high-grade stenosis. Rationale for this approach includes less morbidity, shorter recovery, and lower cost when compared with carotid endarterectomy (CEA). METHODS: The clinical results and hospital charges of patients who underwent elective treatment for carotid stenosis were reviewed. During a concurrent 14-month period, 218 patients were admitted 229 times for 234 procedures for the treatment of 239 carotid bifurcation stenoses, 109 by PTAS and 130 by CEA. Hospital charges were reviewed for each hospitalization and were categorized according to radiology, operating room, cardiac catheterization laboratory, and all other hospital charges. RESULTS: The combined incidence of postprocedure strokes and deaths were: PTAS, eight strokes (7.7%) and one death (0.9%); CEA, two strokes (1.5%) and two deaths (1.5%). Total hospital charges per admission for the two groups were $30,140 for PTAS and $21,670 for CEA. The average postprocedure length of stay for PTAS was 2.9 days (median, 2 days) and for CEA was 3.1 days (median, 3 days). Cardiac catheterization laboratory charges for the PTAS group were $12,968, whereas the operating room charges for the CEA group were $4263. When hospitalizations that were extended by complications were excluded, the average total charges for the PTAS group (n = 84) dropped to $24,848 (mean length of stay, 1.9 days) and for the CEA group (n = 111) to $19,247 (mean length of stay, 2.6 days). CONCLUSIONS: After evaluating hospital charges, PTAS for the treatment of carotid stenosis cannot currently be justified on the basis of reduced costs alone. With future cost-containing measures, total hospital charges can be reduced in both groups.     

青铜峡灌区水土资源平衡分析的探讨

本文根据青铜峡灌区四水转化的特点和灌区规划的要求，提出灌区节水改造规划的水土资源平衡应进行水资源的3个平衡分析，即水资源供需平衡分析，引水、耗水与排水平衡分析，水资源耗水平衡分析.水资源的3个平衡分析的目标与内容不同，但科学基础与依据都是灌区的四水转化关系.     

Hormonal regulation of the estrogen receptor in primary cultures of hepatocytes from female rats

Estrogen treatment affects the hepatic synthesis and/or secretion of several proteins involved in clinically important pathological processes such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and thrombosis. The endocrine regulation of the estrogen receptor (ER) concentration in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes was studied. Human growth hormone (hGH) and dexamethasone (DEX) in combination increased ER concentration 6-fold and ER mRNA levels 2.5-fold. These effects were not significantly different from those observed after treatment with the purely somatogenic bovine growth hormone (GH) in combination with DEX. Treatment with the lactogen ovine prolactin in the presence or absence of DEX did not significantly affect ER or ER mRNA concentrations. Triiodothyronine treatment at the most effective concentration (50 nM) increased ER and ER mRNA levels twofold. Medium supplementation with estradiol (0.1 nM) throughout the experiment did not affect the response to treatment with hGH and DEX. Treatment with high concentrations of ethinylestradiol in combination with hGH and DEX, however, increased the ER level twice as much as hGH and DEX without addition of estradiol or ethinylestradiol, whereas the ER mRNA concentration was the same in both the GH+DEX group and GH+ DEX+ (estradiol or ethinylestradiol) groups. These data indicate the importance of GH in combination with glucocorticoids for the maintenance of ER concentrations in the rat liver. Thyroid hormones may be of some, although minor importance, whereas the data suggest that prolactin is not directly involved in hepatic ER regulation.     

Electroconvulsive therapy of acute manic episodes: a review of 50 years' experience

OBJECTIVE: The most common indication for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is major depression. It is less recognized that ECT is effective also in the treatment of acute mania. This article aims to provide a comprehensive and critical review of the literature on the use of ECT for manic patients. METHOD: All published papers in the English language on the use of ECT in acute mania that could be found were reviewed with regard to efficacy, frequency and number of treatments, bilateral versus unilateral electrode placement, predictors of antimanic response, stability of therapeutic response, cognitive consequences, and other relevant issues. RESULTS: The evidence indicates that ECT is associated with remission or marked clinical improvement in 80% of manic patients and that it is an effective treatment for patients whose manic episodes have responded poorly to pharmacotherapy. Manic patients do not require a high frequency or prolonged course of treatments to respond to ECT. The seizure threshold appears to be lower in manic patients than in depressed patients. The issues of relapse following response to ECT, cognitive consequences of ECT, and the relative merits of unilateral versus bilateral ECT in manic patients require further study. CONCLUSIONS: ECT is an effective and safe treatment for acute mania. Remission of mania following ECT reflects a primary therapeutic effect rather than a secondary consequence of an ECT-induced organic brain syndrome.     

RNA-diethylstilbestrol interaction studied by Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy

Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen, is known to be a carcinogen in human and in animals. This study was designed to examine the interaction of DES with yeast RNA in aqueous solution at physiological pH with drug/RNA-phosphate (P) molar ratios of 1/80, 1/40, 1/20, 1/10, 1/4, and 1/2. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) difference spectroscopy was used to determine the drug binding mode, the binding constant, the sequence selectivity, and RNA secondary structure in the RNA.DES complexes. Spectroscopic evidence showed that at low drug concentration (1/80 and 1/40), DES is intercalating through both Gua-Cyt and Ade-Urd base pairs with minor interaction with the backbone PO2 group (external binding). The calculated binding constant of K approximately 8.5 x 10(4) M-1 at a drug concentration of 3.12 x 10(-4) M shows that DES is a weaker intercalator than those of the methylene blue, acridine orange, and ethidium bromide. At high drug content (r > 1/40, where r represents the DES/RNA-phosphate molar ratio), a partial helix destabilization occurs with no alteration of RNA conformation upon drug complexation. However, a comparison with DNA.DES complexes showed that drug intercalation causes major reduction of the B-DNA structure in favor of A-DNA with no participation of the backbone PO2 group in the DES. DNA complexation.