The Bangladesh Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) Elimination Programme has made significant progress in interrupting transmission through mass drug administration (MDA) and has now focussed its efforts on ...scaling up managing morbidity and preventing disability (MMDP) activities to deliver the minimum package of care to people affected by LF clinical conditions. This paper highlights the Bangladesh LF Programme's success in conducting a large-scale cross-sectional survey to determine the number of people affected by lymphoedema and hydrocoele, which enabled clinical risk maps to be developed for targeted interventions across the 34 endemic districts (19 high endemic; 15 low endemic).
In the 19 high endemic districts, 8,145 community clinic staff were trained to identify and report patients in their catchment area. In the 15 low endemic districts, a team of 10 trained field assistants conducted active case finding with cases reported via a SMS mHealth tool. Disease burden and prevalence maps were developed, with morbidity hotspots identified at sub-district level based on a combination of the highest prevalence rates per 100,000 and case-density rates per square kilometre (km2). The relationship between morbidity and baseline microfilaria (mf) prevalence was also examined. In total 43,678 cases were identified in the 19 high endemic districts; 30,616 limb lymphoedema (70.1%; female 55.3%), 12,824 hydrocoele (29.4%), and 238 breast/female genital swelling (0.5%). Rangpur Division reported the highest cases numbers and prevalence of lymphoedema (26,781 cases, 195 per 100,000) and hydrocoele (11661 cases, 169.6 per 100,000), with lymphoedema predominately affecting females (n = 21,652). Rangpur and Lalmonirhat Districts reported the highest case numbers (n = 11,199), and prevalence (569 per 100,000) respectively, with five overlapping lymphoedema and hydrocoele sub-district hotspots. In the 15 low endemic districts, 732 cases were identified; 661 lymphoedema (90.2%; female 39.6%), 56 hydrocoele (7.8%), and 15 both conditions (2.0%). Spearman's correlation analysis found morbidity and mf prevalence significantly positively correlated (r = 0.904; p<0.01).
The Bangladesh LF Programme has developed one of the largest, most comprehensive country databases on LF clinical conditions in the world. It provides an essential database for health workers to identify local morbidity hotspots, deliver the minimum package of care, and address the dossier elimination requirements.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This work aims to use consumed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to prepare new amphiphilic gemini ionic liquids (GILs). PET was converted into bis(2-hydroxyethylene) terephthalate (BHET). The ...produced BHET was reacted with thionyl chloride to produce the corresponding dialkyl halide, bis(2-chloroethyl) terephthalate (BCET). N,N-bis-hexaoxyethlene octadecylamine (HEOD) and N,N-bis-hexaoxyethlene dodecylamine (DOAD) were quaternized with BCET to produce the corresponding GILs: HEOD-IL and DOAD-IL, respectively. The chemical structures were confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). The surface tension, interfacial tension, and solubility were also investigated. In addition, the ability of the prepared amphiphilic GILs to demulsify Arabian heavy crude oil was evaluated. The results showed that their efficiency increased when the water content in the water-in-oil emulsion increased.
Two new amphiphilic ionic liquids (AILs) were synthesized through the opening reaction of the epoxy ring of glycidyl 4-nonylphenyl ether (GNE) using ethanol amine (EA), followed by quaternization ...using bis(2-chloroethyl) ether (BCE) to form the corresponding IL (GEB-Cl). The chloride ion was replaced by a trifluoroacetate (TFA) ion to form the second IL (GEB-TFA). The chemical structures, surface tension, interfacial tension (IFT), and ζ-potential of the synthesized AILs were determined. Moreover, the efficiency of these AILs for breaking Arabian heavy crude oil emulsions was investigated. GEB-TFA showed high ability to reduce surface tension and IFT as well as high efficiency for demulsifying water/oil emulsions even at low concentrations of this IL.
•Sodium alginate (S.ALG) was used as precursor for synthesis of two new poly ionic liquids (PILs).•The low cost and a green character of S.ALG increases its chance to serve as a natural precursor as ...compared to the conventional ones.•Alginate-based PILs exhibited good surface activity.•Alginate-based PILs displayed promising performance as demulsifier for W/O emulsions.
This work deals with the synthesis, characterization, and application of alginate-based poly ionic liquids for efficient demulsification of water in oil emulsions. For the formation of renewable poly ionic liquid (PIL), sodium alginate (S.ALG) was converted to alginic acid (H.ALG), followed by an esterification process to produce corresponding polyester, (N.ALG). In the later stages, the formed N.ALG was subjected to a quaternization reaction using either 1-bromohexadecane or 1-bromononane in order to produce PILs (BH-ALG) and (BN-ALG), respectively. Then, the two formed PILs (BH-ALG and BN-ALG) were evaluated in terms of the chemical structure, surface and interfacial tensions, thermal stability, relative solubility number (RSN), and micelle size. While testing the efficiency of as-synthesized two PILs towards the demulsification of water in heavy crude oil (W/O) emulsions, both PILs were found to be efficient. Furthermore, an increase in efficiency was observed with the increase of PIL concentration and ratio of water in the emulsions. Among the two PILs, the BH-ALG displayed higher demulsification efficiency as against the BN-ALG, and this can be due to its higher hydrophobicity, and hence its ability to disperse in heavy crude oil as a continuous phase.
In this study, inexpensive magnetite nanoparticles (Fe
3
O
4
) were prepared and applied to oil spill remediation. To do so, two novel hydrophobic amides, HADN and HATN, were prepared and applied to ...Fe
3
O
4
surface modification, producing HAN-Fe
3
O
4
and HAT-Fe
3
O
4
, respectively. The efficiency of HAN-Fe
3
O
4
and HAT-Fe
3
O
4
for oil spill remediation (EOSR) was investigated using different HAN-Fe
3
O
4
and HAT-Fe
3
O
4
weights and at various contact times. The data indicated that the EOSR increased with increased HAN-Fe
3
O
4
and HAT-Fe
3
O
4
weights, as their EOSR reached 100% and 89%, respectively, using 100 mg. The results also revealed that the optimum time for HAN-Fe
3
O
4
and HAT-Fe
3
O
4
(50 mg) to achieve the highest EOSR is 8 min, as their EOSR reached 98% and 84%, respectively, at this time. In addition, HAN-Fe
3
O
4
exhibited higher EOSR than HAT-Fe
3
O
4
, which could be linked to the presence of an aromatic ring in HADN that is used for surface modification of Fe
3
O
4
, making them more compatible with crude oil components.
•The lightly reinforced-SFRC slabs attained the designed moment redistribution.•The lightly reinforced-SFRC slabs showed a softening behaviour after the peak load.•The ductility of the R-SFRC slabs ...decreased with increasing moment redistribution.•The post-peak behaviour of R-SFRC flexural members was formulated mathematically.•The AS 3600:2018 predicted the capacity of R-SFRC slabs with reasonable accuracy.
The ductility and post-peak behaviour of conventionally reinforced steel fibre reinforced concrete (R-SFRC) flexural members have been found to be dependent on the volume of tensile reinforcement. Although few studies have investigated the effect of low reinforcement volume on the ductility and post-peak behaviour of simply supported and continuous members, no study was found for continuous members that were designed for moment redistribution. Further, no prior studies have investigated the ability of lightly reinforced-SFRC continuous members to redistribute moment, or if the achievement of the maximum amount of moment redistribution in design standards is possible. Because of the lack of research in this area, strict limitations are placed in standards for moment redistribution in lightly reinforced-SFRC continuous members. Thus, an experimental study was undertaken for six full-scale two-span continuous one-way slabs with the objectives of determining the moment redistribution capability of lightly reinforced-SFRC continuous members and effect of low reinforcement volume on the ductility and post-peak behaviour of R-SFRC continuous members. The nominal dosage of steel fibres in the R-SFRC slabs was 60 kg/m3 and the tensile reinforcement ratios were between 0.0021 and 0.0042 to provide for bending moment redistribution up to 30% of the linear elastic bending moments. The test results showed that the lightly reinforced-SFRC slabs achieved the designed and maximum amount of moment redistributions and had sufficient ductility, but the R-SFRC slabs showed a softening behaviour after the ultimate load whereas the reinforced concrete (RC) slabs showed a hardening behaviour. Consequently, the post-peak behaviour of R-SFRC flexural members was formulated mathematically. Finally, the rectangular stress block model of AS 3600:2018 was found to determine the capacity of the R-SFRC slabs with reasonable accuracy.
Amphiphilic poly(ionic liquids), PILs, derived from natural products attracted great attention as a green chemical in the field of the surface chemistry and petroleum industry. In the present work, ...new surface active PILs were synthesized from cardanol cashew nut oil as a hydrophobic alkyl phenol. The phenol group was etherified with diethanolamine, ethanolamine, and tetraethylene glycol using linking agent based on β,β-dicholorodiethyl ether to insert nonionic hydrophilic groups into cardanol. The amine group was quaternized with 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid to produce polymerizable ionic liquids that polymerized to obtain new PILs. The chemical structure of the prepared new PILs was elucidated from 1HNMR and elemental analysis. The surface activity of the prepared PILs was determined from the surface and interfacial tension measurements of their aqueous solution. The ability of the prepared PILs to disperse the asphaltene fractions of the heavy Arabian crude oil was studied. It was used to explain their demulsification performance and efficiency data when they were used as demulsifiers for crude oil water emulsions. The demulsification data elucidate that the PILs have greater ability to reduce IFT and can separate water effectively. Moreover, the PILs have a greater tendency to disperse asphaltene and perform better as demulsifier than that flocculate asphaltenes.
The number of published articles describing associations between mutations and diseases is increasing at a fast pace. There is a pressing need to gather such mutation-disease associations into public ...knowledge bases, but manual curation slows down the growth of such databases. We have addressed this problem by developing a text-mining system (DiMeX) to extract mutation to disease associations from publication abstracts. DiMeX consists of a series of natural language processing modules that preprocess input text and apply syntactic and semantic patterns to extract mutation-disease associations. DiMeX achieves high precision and recall with F-scores of 0.88, 0.91 and 0.89 when evaluated on three different datasets for mutation-disease associations. DiMeX includes a separate component that extracts mutation mentions in text and associates them with genes. This component has been also evaluated on different datasets and shown to achieve state-of-the-art performance. The results indicate that our system outperforms the existing mutation-disease association tools, addressing the low precision problems suffered by most approaches. DiMeX was applied on a large set of abstracts from Medline to extract mutation-disease associations, as well as other relevant information including patient/cohort size and population data. The results are stored in a database that can be queried and downloaded at http://biotm.cis.udel.edu/dimex/. We conclude that this high-throughput text-mining approach has the potential to significantly assist researchers and curators to enrich mutation databases.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Superalloys are a much-needed material for abundant engineering fields, such as nuclear-powered reactor components and aeronautics. Owing to their exceptional characteristics, such as higher thermal ...conductivity, they can be difficult to machine using conventional processes. Modern approaches to machining have evolved to utilize these materials. One of the techniques studied in this project is electrical discharge in a wire machine. This process can help to reduce the energy consumption during machining and negative impact on the environment. In addition, shortening the operation time of the machine can help to minimize its impact on the environment. The duration of the pulse and applied current are independent factors considered in this study. Material removal rate, surface roughness, dimensional deviation, and form/orientation tolerance errors are deemed as performance measures. The goal of this investigation is to reduce the time required to machine and improve the surface finish of components by implementing a Grey-based artificial neural network model. This method is useful in foretelling the conditions of the Wire Electro Discharge Machining (WEDM) process. This paper uses the Taguchi design and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) framework to analyze the model’s variable inputs. The overall best coefficient of correlation (R = 0.9981) is fetched with an RMSE value of 0.0086. The material removal rate has been increased by decreasing the time taken for removal, which gives the possibility of consuming minimum energy. The finishing of the machined surface also improved. Moreover, this paper shows how to use an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model with Grey Analysis. The results of the comparative analysis show that the values envisaged are closer with the actual values. The foretelling capacity of the evolved model is confirmed with the performance analysis of the developed model.
This work aims at synthesizing new cross-linked poly ionic liquids, CPILs, VIMDE-Cl and CPIL, VIMDE-TFA, utilizing polyethylene terephthalate waste as a precursor and applying them to magnetite ...nanoparticles surface modification, producing surface-modified magnetite nanoparticles, SMNPs, VDCL/MNPs, and VDTA/MNPs, respectively. The structures of VIMDE-Cl and VIMDE-TFA, VDCL/MNPs, and VDTA/MNPs, were verified using different techniques. The particle sizes of SMNPs, VDCL/MNPs, and VDTA/MNPs, were evaluated with a transmission electron microscope and dynamic light scattering. The compatibility of VDCL/MNPs and VDTA/MNPs with crude oil components and their response to an external magnet were also measured using contact angle measurements and a vibrating sample magnetometer. The data confirmed the formation of SMNPs, nanosized structure, compatibility with oil components, and response to an external magnet. For that, VDCL/MNPs and VDTA/MNPs were applied for oil spill recovery using different SMNP : crude oil weight ratios. The impact of contact time on SMNPs' performance was also evaluated. The data indicated increased performance with an increase in SMNPs ratio, reaching maximum values of 99% and 96% for VDCL/MNPs and VDTA/MNPs, respectively, at SMNPs : crude oil ratio of 1 : 1. According to the results, the optimal contact time was 6 min, resulting in 89% and 97% performance for VDCL/MNPs and VDTA/MNPs at 1 : 4 SMNPs : crude oil ratio.
Oil spill recovery using surface-modified magnetite nanoparticles.
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