Influences of Metals and Acids on the Photo Reduction of CO2 under Catalysis of TiO2

Conversion of green house CO2 into fuel gas in the presence of reducing agent sources that are Fe and Zn powder, as well as hydrogen ions supplier such as nitric and acetic acids by photo catalytic reduction with water vapor on TiO2 has been studied. The photo reduction was carried out by batch technique, using a UV lamp with a wave length of 290-400 nm, as a photon source. The gasses produced from the photo reduction were determined by gas chromatography. The research results indicate that the photo reduction of CO2 has successfully produced methane as a dominant product. The presence of the metals in addition to be able to improve the methane yield, it is also able to induce ethylene formation. Meanwhile the acids can considerably enhance the methane yield without formation of ethylene. Furthermore, the enhancement is observed to be controlled by mass of the metals, and the acid concentrations. It is also found that Zn and HNO3 show stronger effect in the increasing CO2 photo reduction.

Kinetic Parameter of Alfa-amylase and Glucoamylase Enzymatic Reaction on the Glucose Yield from Hydrolyzed Processes of Tapioca Solid Waste

The increasing of tapioca production nowadays effected the production of waste. The waste of tapioca industries consists of two kinds, which were liquid waste and solid waste. Further more, tapioca solid waste treatment was ineffective. Weather solid waste produced from the extraction process still contains high concentration of starch that can be used to produce high quality product, for example, bio ethanol or other alternative energy sources. Objective of these experimental work was utilizing solid waste of tapioca industries and looking for the exactly composition of n-amylase and gluco-amylase enzymes on the hydrolysis processes of the solid waste of tapioca. The exact composition from both enzymes can be expected to increase the yield of glucose. Variables of cx-amylase enzyme for this research were 0.3% （w/w） and 0.5% （w/w） with liquefaction time were 1 hour and 1.5 hours, and variables of glucoamylase enzyme were 0.3% （w/w） and 0.5% （w/w）. To achieve these goals, the experimental work was held in laboratory scale with batch process. Firstly, tapioca solid waste was pretreated at 90 ~C and added u-amylase enzyme for 1 hour and 1.5 hours （variable of liquefaction time）. Then, substrate was cooled down to 60 ~C added with proposed variables of glucoamylase enzyme, and was analysed 24 hours after added. This experiment showed the best ratio between a-amylase and glucoamylase enzymes 0.5%：0.5% with 1 hour of liquefaction time. The highest glucose reaches 8.468% and yields 0.892 （g glucose/g starch） with starch conversion of 59.94%. KM = 0.0468 g/mL and rmax = 0.311 g/mL·h,

Isolation and Characterization of Novel Chlorpyrifos Degrading Fungus Isaria Farinosa

Chlorpyrifos is a well known organophosphorus pesticide used worldwide. Microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes have been reported to be efficient degraders of chlorpyrifos. The present study was successful in isolating a novel fungus that could degrade chlorpyrifos effectively upto 800 ppm concentration. Morphological and molecular characterization studies revealed the identity of the fungus as Isariafarinosa.

Possible Evolution of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria into Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Rare Transformation

PNH is a rare acquired clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorder characterized by abnormal sensitivity of red blood cells to lysis by complement. It is caused by genetic mutation resulting in deficiency of glycosyl phosphatidylinositol anchor (GPA) for cell membrane proteins including complement regulating proteins CD55 and CD59. PNH tends to be associated with Aplastic Anemia (anemia due to failure of the bone marrow to produce red and white blood cells as well as platelets), Myelodysplastic Syndrome (a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells) or rarely Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) (also known as acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, representing a group of clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders in which both a block in differentiation and unchecked proliferation result in the accumulation of myeloblasts at the expense of normal hematopoietic precursors). Here we report a case and assume possible evolution of PNH into CML (a myeloproliferative malignant clonal disease characterized by presence of fusion BCR/ABL fusion oncogene).

Proposed Procedure to Design an Optimum Ventilation System for Chemical Laboratory

The safe environmental condition of biological and chemical laboratories at universities in Sudan is a real and tangible problem that needs to be properly addressed due to the increased number of universities which grew up to 25 State-Level Universities. This could sum up to 200 students per academic year. One of the significant problems is the proper ventilation inside the laboratories. This paper aims to provide a proposal for design of an optimum ventilation system for: 1) Good and safe environment;2) Comfortable workplace for laboratories occupants;3) Ensure the health of the surrounding environment while minimizing the energy consumption. Five chemicals are selected for this study as the most consumed and the most hazardous (permissible exposure limits) inside the laboratories of the department of chemistry faculty of science, Al-Neelain university;formaldehyde, nitric acid, acetic acid, xylene and ethanol. Concentration level of materials in laboratory is calculated in correlation with air exchange rate, vapor pressure and area of laboratory. Results concluded to that up 15 ACH the concentration of formaldehyde and nitric acid is still high. Recommendations are given with the limitation of using the suggested mathematical model, regarding laboratory conditions, severity of the material hazardousness, number of people.

Magnesium/Nano-hydroxyapatite Composite for Bone Reconstruction: The Effect of Processing Method

Nano-ceramic particles can serve as reinforcing agents for metallic materials to improve their mechanical properties.However,it is important to ensure chemical compatibility between the matrix and particles.In the present study,magnesium composites with and without nano-hydroxyapatite(nHA)particles were fabricated for bone reconstruction applications.Two different techniques were used,Conventional Sintering(CS)of powder compacts and Spark Plasma Sintering(SPS)of pre-compacted powder.Results showed that a 10 wt%addition of nHA particles to magnesium,followed by SPS improved the compression strength by 27%.CS did not lead to any significant improvement compared to SPS processing.X-ray diffraction data after CS revealed the formation of unfavorable phases due to chemical reactions between nHA particles and the magnesium matrix,while these phases were absent after SPS processing.The mechanical properties of the specimens fabricated by CS were much inferior to those processed using SPS.The shorter processing time associated with SPS leaded to reduced interaction between nHA particles and the Mg-matrix,compared to CS.

Accuracy Improvement of ASTER Stereo Satellite Generated DEM Using Texture Filter

The grid DEM(digital elevation model) generation can be from any of a number of sources:for instance,analogue to digital conversion of contour maps followed by application of the TIN model,or direct elevation point modelling via digital photogrammetry applied to airborne images or satellite images.Currently,apart from the deployment of point-clouds from LiDAR data acquisition,the generally favoured approach refers to applications of digital photogrammetry.One of the most important steps in such deployment is the stereo matching process for conjugation point(pixel) establishment:very difficult in modelling any homogenous areas like water cover or forest canopied areas due to the lack of distinct spatial features.As a result,application of automated procedures is sure to generate erroneous elevation values.In this paper,we present and apply a method for improving the quality of stereo DEMs generated via utilization of an entropy texture filter.The filter was applied for extraction of homogenous areas before stereo matching so that a statistical texture filter could then be applied for removing anomalous evaluation values prior to interpolation and accuracy assessment via deployment of a spatial correlation technique.For exemplification,we used a stereo pair of ASTER 1B images.