Thickness-dependent thermal properties of amorphous insulating thin films measured by photoreflectance microscopy

In this work, we report on the measurement of the thermal conductivity of thin insulating films of SiO2 obtained by thermal oxidation, and Al2O3 grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), both on Si wafers. We used photoreflectance microscopy to determine the thermal properties of the films as a function of thickness in the 2 nm to 1000 nm range. The effective thermal conductivity of the Al2O3 layer is shown to decrease with thickness down to 70% for the thinnest layers. The data were analyzed upon considering that the change in the effective thermal conductivity corresponds to an intrinsic thermal conductivity associated to an additional interfacial thermal resistance. The intrinsic conductivity and interfacial thermal resistance of SiO2 were found to be equal to 0.95 W/m·K and 5.1 × 10− 9 m2K/W respectively; those of Al2O3 were found to be 1.56 W/m·K and 4.3 × 10− 9 m2K/W

Optimisation of biomass, exopolysaccharide and intracellular polysaccharide production from the mycelium of an identified Ganoderma lucidum strain QRS 5120 using response surface methodology

Wild-cultivated medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum was morphologically identified and sequenced using phylogenetic software. In submerged-liquid fermentation (SLF), biomass, exopolysaccharide (EPS) and intracellular polysaccharide (IPS) production of the identified G. lucidum was optimised based on initial pH, starting glucose concentration and agitation rate parameters using response surface methodology (RSM). Molecularly, the G. lucidum strain QRS 5120 generated 637 base pairs, which was commensurate with related Ganoderma species. In RSM, by applying central composite design (CCD), a polynomial model was fitted to the experimental data and was found to be significant in all parameters investigated. The strongest effect (p lt 0.0001) was observed for initial pH for biomass, EPS and IPS production, while agitation showed a significant value (p lt 0.005) for biomass. By applying the optimized conditions, the model was validated and generated 5.12 g/L of biomass (initial pH 4.01, 32.09 g/L of glucose and 102 rpm), 2.49 g/L EPS (initial pH 4, 24.25 g/L of glucose and 110 rpm) and 1.52 g/L of IPS (and initial pH 4, 40.43 g/L of glucose, 103 rpm) in 500 mL shake flask fermentation. The optimized parameters can be upscaled for efficient biomass, EPS and IPS production using G. lucidum

Fruiting-body-base flour from an oyster mushroom – a waste source of antioxidative flour for developing potential functional cookies and steamed-bun

In a commercial oyster mushroom farm, fruiting body base (FBB) was not harvested compared to the common cap and stem of the fruiting body parts, and thus remained as waste. In the present study, unused FBB was powdered and subjected to proximate analysis as floured FBB (FFBB). FFBB was found to contain 71.2% carbohydrate, 8.93% moisture, 7.18% fibre, 5.72% ash, 5.57% protein, and 1.4% fat, while raw-FBB (RFBB) contained 7.57% carbohydrate, 84.4% moisture, 5.17% fibre, 5.72% ash, 1.54% protein, and 0.85% fat. The high carbohydrate content of FFBB was subjected to hot-water extraction and yielded 7.40 g of FFBB polysaccharide (FFBBP). Total phenolic content (TPC) of FFBBP contained 1.80 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g, exhibiting the reducing activity of 1.74 mM Fe(II)/g by ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, and reduced the stable 2,2’-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate radical forms at IC50 of 25.08 mg/mL, which was comparable with other parts of oyster mushroom species. Different percentages of FFBB mixtures were utilized in the production of cookies (10% and 20%) and steamed buns (10%, 20% and 30%). Thirty-seven panellists were selected for sensory testing, which showed that 10% of FFBB in a steamed bun was more acceptable than 30% of FFBB, while the overall acceptance of cookies with 10% FBB was insignificant (p > 0.05) but 20% FFBB in cookies was significantly different from control (p < 0.05). This study indicates that potential value of FFBB as an economical antioxidative flour in the development of functional foods

Long-term burden of war injuries among civilians in LMICs: case of the July 2006 war in Lebanon

Introduction: Lebanon, a country located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the world’s smaller sovereign states. In the past few decades, Lebanon endured a perpetual political turmoil and several armed conflicts. July 12, 2006, marked the start of a one-month war in Lebanon, which resulted in thousands of casualties. Little is known about the long-term consequences of war injuries inflicted on civilians during the July 2006 war. Methods: The objectives of this paper were to identify and evaluate: 1- civilians’ access to healthcare and medicine under conditions of war; 2- the long-term socioeconomic burden on injured civilians; and 3- their quality of life more than a decade post-war. We adopted a mixed-method research design with an emphasis on the qualitative component. We conducted interviews with patients, collected clinical and financial data from hospital medical records, and administered a self-rated health questionnaire, the EQ-5D-5L. Simple descriptive statistics were calculated using Excel. NVivo 12® was used for data management and thematic analysis. Results: We conducted 25 interviews. Injured civilians were mostly males, average age of 27. The most common mechanism of injury was blast injury. Most patients underwent multiple surgeries as well as revision surgeries. The thematic analysis revealed three themes: 1- recall of the time of the incident, the thousand miles journey, and patients’ access to services; 2- post-trauma sequelae and services; and 3- long-term impact. Patients described the long-term burden including chronic pain, poor mobility, anxiety or depression, and limited activities of daily living. Discussion: Civilians injured during the July 2006 war described the traumatising events they endured during the war and the limited access to medical care during and post-war. Up until this study was conducted, affected civilians were still experiencing physical, psychological, and financial sequelae. Acknowledging the limitations of this study, which include a small sample size and recall bias, the findings underscore the necessity for the expansion of services catering to civilians injured during wartime. Copyright © 2023 Kobeissi, Menassa, Honein-AbouHaidar, El Achi, Abdul-Sater, Farhat, Al Mohtar, Hajjar, Abdul-Khalek, Chaya, Elamine, Hettiaratchy and Abu-Sittah

Performance of wild-serbian ganoderma lucidum mycelium in treating synthetic sewage loading using batch bioreactor

The fluctuation of domestic wastewater characteristic inhibits the current conventional microbial-based treatment. The bioremediation fungi has received attention and reported to be an effective alternative to treat industrial wastewater. Similar efficient performance is envisaged for domestic wastewater whereby assessed performance of fungi for varying carbon-to-nitrogen ratios in domestic wastewater is crucial. Thus, the performance of pre-grown wild-Serbian Ganoderma lucidum mycelial pellets (GLMPs) was evaluated on four different synthetic domestic wastewaters under different conditions of initial pH (pH 4, 5, and 7) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) to nitrogen (COD/N) ratio of 3.6:1, 7.1:1, 14.2:1, and 17.8:1 (C3.6N1, C7.1N1, C14.2N1, and C17.8N1). The COD/N ratios with a constant concentration of ammonia–nitrogen (NH3–N) were chosen on the basis of the urban domestic wastewater characteristics sampled at the inlet basin of a sewage treatment plant (STP). The parameters of pH, COD, and NH3–N were measured periodically during the experiment. The wild-Serbian GLMPs efficiently removed the pollutants from the synthetic sewage. The COD/N ratio of C17.8N1 wastewater had the best COD and NH3–N removal, as compared to the lower COD/N ratio, and the shortest treatment time was obtained in an acidic environment at pH 4. The highest percentage for COD and NH3–N removal achieved was 96.0% and 93.2%, respectively. The results proved that the mycelium of GLMP has high potential in treating domestic wastewater, particularly at high organic content as a naturally sustainable bioremediation system

Evaluation of commercial soy sauce koji strains of Aspergillus oryzae for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production

In this study, four selected commercial strains of Aspergillus oryzae were collected from soy sauce koji. These A. oryzae strains designated as NSK, NSZ, NSJ and NST shared similar morphological characteristics with the reference strain (A. oryzae FRR 1675) which confirmed them as A. oryzae species. They were further evaluated for their ability to produce γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) by cultivating the spore suspension in a broth medium containing 0.4 % (w/v) of glutamic acid as a substrate for GABA production. The results showed that these strains were capable of producing GABA; however, the concentrations differed significantly (P < 0.05) among themselves. Based on the A. oryzae strains, highest GABA concentration was obtained from NSK (194 mg/L) followed by NSZ (63 mg/L), NSJ (51.53 mg/L) and NST (31.66 mg/L). Therefore, A. oryzae NSK was characterized and the sequence was found to be similar to A. oryzae and A. flavus with 99 % similarity. The evolutionary distance (K nuc) between sequences of identical fungal species was calculated and a phylogenetic tree prepared from the K nuc data showed that the isolate belonged to the A. oryzae species. This finding may allow the development of GABA-rich ingredients using A. oryzae NSK as a starter culture for soy sauce production