Catalytic Ozonation of Phenolic Wastewater: Identification and Toxicity of Intermediates

A new strategy in catalytic ozonation removal method for degradation and detoxification of phenol from industrial wastewater was investigated. Magnetic carbon nanocomposite, as a novel catalyst, was synthesized and then used in the catalytic ozonation process (COP) and the effects of operational conditions such as initial pH, reaction time, and initial concentration of phenol on the degradation efficiency and the toxicity assay have been investigated. The results showed that the highest catalytic potential was achieved at optimal neutral pH and the removal efficiency of phenol and COD is 98.5% and 69.8%, respectively. First-order modeling demonstrated that the reactions were dependent on the initial concentration of phenol, with kinetic constants varying from 0.038 min−1 ([phenol]o = 1500mg/L) to 1.273 min−1 ([phenol]o = 50mg/L). Bioassay analysis showed that phenol was highly toxic to Daphnia magna (LC50 96 h = 5.6mg/L). Comparison of toxicity units (TU) of row wastewater (36.01) and the treated effluent showed that TU value, after slightly increasing in the first steps of ozonation for construction of more toxic intermediates, severely reduced at the end of reaction (2.23).Thus, COP was able to effectively remove the toxicity of intermediates which were formed during the chemical oxidation of phenolic wastewaters

Personalised Modelling on Integrated Clinical and EEG Spatio-Temporal Brain Data in the NeuCube Spiking Neural Network System

This paper introduces a novel personalised modelling framework and system for analysing Spatio-Temporal Brain Data (STBD) along with person clinical static data. For every individual, based on selected subset of similar to this individual clinical data, a subset of STBD is used for training a personalised Spiking Neural Network (PSNN) model using the recently proposed NeuCube SNN architecture. The proposed method is illustrated on a case study of personalised modelling using clinical and EEG data of two groups of subjects – drug addicts and addicts under medication

Modelling peri-perceptual brain processes in a deep learning spiking neural network architecture

Familiarity of marketing stimuli may affect consumer behaviour at a peri-perceptual processing level. The current study introduces a method for deep learning of electroencephalogram (EEG) data using a spiking neural network (SNN) approach that reveals the complexity of peri-perceptual processes of familiarity. The method is applied to data from 20 participants viewing familiar and unfamiliar logos. The results support the potential of SNN models as novel tools in the exploration of peri-perceptual mechanisms that respond differentially to familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Specifically, the activation pattern of the time-locked response identified by the proposed SNN model at approximately 200 milliseconds post-stimulus suggests greater connectivity and more widespread dynamic spatio-temporal patterns for familiar than unfamiliar logos. The proposed SNN approach can be applied to study other peri-perceptual or perceptual brain processes in cognitive and computational neuroscience

Cryptosporidium infection in patients with gastroenteritis in Sari, Iran

Background: Cryptosporidiosis is a common coccidian parasite infection in patients with diarrhea that has worldwide distribution especially in developed countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of Cryptosporidium infection in patients with gastroenteritis admitted to hospitals of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences by parasitological and molecular methods in Sari, Iran. Methods: Stool samples were collected from 348 patients with gastroenteritis admitted to the hospitals of Medical University in the Sari and Ghaemshahr cities in Mazandaran Province, Northern Iran in 2010-2011. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium identified using Formalin-Ether concentration method and stained by Aacidfast staining (AFS) and Auramine phenol fluorescence (APF). Genomic DAN extracted from microscopically positive samples and nested PCR -RFLP by using SSU rRNA that identifies of the species of cryptosporidium. Results: In 348 patients with gastroenteritis, the most clinical symptoms were diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dehydration, fever and weight loss. 2.3% (8 cases) of diarrheal samples tested by both microscopy and molecular methods were positive for the presence of cryptosporidium. Nested PCR products yielded unique bands of 846 bp, correspond to cryptosporidium. Species diagnosis carried out by digesting the secondary PCR product with SspI restriction enzyme, which noted 3 clearly bands of 449, 254, and 108 bp correspond to Cryptosporidium spp. Conclusion: The results of present study on Cryptosporidium spp. in this area can make a background data for control programs and further molecular analyses. Thus, further work needs to determine the origin of Cryptosporidium species in this area

Comparison of Disinfection Activities of Nicotine with Copper Sulphate in water Containing Limnatis nilotica

In this study, we investigated the potential use of nicotine in controlling water polluted by leeches. The nicotine and copper sulphate LC50 values were also determined following 30 min exposure. The anti parasitic effect of nicotine was also compared with that of copper sulphate as positive control. The anti-leech effect of nicotine was evaluated against Limnatis nilotica in which the number of dead and alive leeches in each utensil was counted for 30 min. The positive control group was copper sulphate and the negative control was distilled water. Our data showed that the LD50 value for nicotine was 6/10(3) ppm with mean death time of 1.25 +/- 0.45 min while the LD50 value for copper sulphate was 637/10(2) ppm with a mean death time of 12.00 +/- 3.69 min. Based on the obtained results nicotine is highly effective on leeches and might be used for disinfection purposes

TDOA based positioning in the presence of unknown clock skew

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper studies the positioning problem of a single target node based on time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements in the presence of clock imperfections. Employing an affine model for the behaviour of a local clock, it is observed that TDOA based approaches suffer from a parameter of the model, called the clock skew. Modeling the clock skew as a nuisance parameter, this paper investigates joint clock skew and position estimation. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is derived for this problem, which is highly nonconvex and difficult to solve. To avoid the difficulty in solving the MLE, we employ suitable approximations and relaxations and propose two suboptimal estimators based on semidefinite programming and linear estimation. To further improve the estimation accuracy, we also propose a refining step. In addition, the Cramer-Rao ´ lower bound (CRLB) is derived for this problem as a benchmark. Simulation results show that the proposed suboptimal estimators can attain the CRLB for sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios

The Effect Of Cyperus Rotundus Ethanolic Extract On Motor Coordination In A Rat Model Of Alzheimer

Background and Objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disorder that leads to progressive cognitive decline. The memory dysfunction of AD has been associated with a cortical cholinergic deficiency and loss of cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM). This study investigated the effect of ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundu tubers (CRT) on motor activity in NBM-lesioned rat model of AD and intact rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study 49 Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups. For this purpose, Wistar rats received bilateral electric lesions of the NBM. The control and sham groups received distilled water while NBM-lesioned group received CRT extract for 20 days with doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg. Intact rats received CRT extract for 20 days without any surgery. The motor activity was assessed with Rotarod apparatus. Data were analyzed using one- way Anova and LSD test. Results: Use of ethanolic extract of CRT for 20 days improved motor activity in NBM-lesioned rats that received extract with a dose of 100 mg/kg. Ethanolic extract of CRT in the intact rats for 20 days significantly reduced motor activity when compared with the control group. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that ethanolic extract of CRT is useful in NBM-induced lesion rats via inducing some changes in acetylcholine levels in the brain