The study of kinetics and thermodynamics of selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products on agriculture soil

Pollution of the aquatic environment by human and veterinary waste pharmaceuticals is an increasing area of concern but little is known about their ecotoxicological effects on wildlife. In this study, three pharmaceuticals were selected (ibuprofen, amoxicillin and caffeine) as examples that are released in the environment. All of them are marketed in the Palestinian market (Pharmacies), private clinics and hospitals. The adsorption of the selected pharmaceuticals was examined by batch sorption experiments onto agriculture soil. Pharmaceuticals adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order adsorption model. Adsorption isotherms were best fitted by the Freundlich isotherm model. The “n” parameters were higher than 1 and the Kf values for all of them were less than 1. High removal rates of amoxicillin and ibuprofen were achieved in acidic media (pH = 1-4) and reached more than 88% Except for the caffeine increased at higher pH and reached more than 92%. The thermodynamics parameters showed that the adsorption process on soil was spontaneous and exothermic

Development of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform: Modeling, Simulating, and Flight Testing

The Advanced Navigation Technology (ANT) Center at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) conducts extensive research in advanced guidance, navigation, and control to exploit the full potential of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The research in this thesis describes a UAV research platform developed to support the ANT Center\u27s goals. This platform is now the bedrock for UAV simulation and local flight test at AFIT. The research has three major components. The first component is development of a physical, inertial, and aerodynamic model representing an existing aircraft. A systematic analysis of the airframe leads to a complete geometric, inertial, and aerodynamic representation. The airframe analysis included the use of USAF Digital Datcom, an aerodynamic modeling software tool. Second is the development and implementation of a non-linear, six degree of freedom simulation, employing the developed model. Constructed in Matlab/SIMULINK, the simulation enables control design and pre-flight analysis throughout the entire flight envelope. Detailed post-flight analysis was also performed in Matlab/SIMULINK. Additionally, Hardware in the Loop benchmark simulation was constructed and used for initial flight test plans as well as test team training. The third and final component of the research was an experimental flight test program. Both open loop and autonomous flights were conducted. Openloop flights characterized the aircraft dynamics for comparison with the Matlab simulation results. Autonomous flights tuned the autopilot controller through waypoint tracking in preparation for future advanced navigation research and provided data for Hardware in the Loop simulation validation. This report, along with other significant legacy documentation and procedures, builds the foundation from which future AFIT and ANT Center UAV simulations and flight tests are based

Optimal UAS Assignments and Trajectories for Persistent Surveillance and Data Collection from a Wireless Sensor Network

This research developed a method for multiple Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to efficiently collect data from a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). WSN are composed of any number of fixed, ground-based sensors that collect and upload local environmental data to over flying UAS. The three-step method first uniquely assigns aircraft to specific sensors on the ground. Second, an efficient flight path is calculated to minimize the aircraft flight time required to verify their assigned sensors. Finally, sensors reporting relatively higher rates of local environmental activity are re-assigned to dedicated aircraft tasked with concentrating on only those sensors. This work was sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Control Sciences branch, at Wright Patterson AFB. Based on simulated scenarios and preliminary flight tests, optimal flight paths resulted in a 14 to 32 reduction in flight time and distance when compared to traditional flight planning methods

Health Risk Associated with Some Trace and Some Heavy Metals Content of Harvested Rainwater in Yatta Area, Palestine

Rainwater is considered a dependable source for domestic purposes within rural areas in Palestine. Harvested rainwater stored in cisterns is used to leverage deficits from municipal water supplies. Harvested rainwater in areas surrounded with industrial and agricultural activities is usually contaminated with heavy and trace metals. To study the effects of human exposure to heavy and trace metals, 74 harvested rainwater samples of rain-fed cisterns were collected from different localities in the Yatta area of Palestine in the months of January and February of 2016. The water samples were analysed for Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, K, Na, Ag, Li, Co, Ba, Bi, Sr, Ga, V, Rb, Mo, Beand Tl elements utilizing ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). The selected trace metals were found within the concentration limits of the acceptable values, in accordance with WHO and Palestinian standards, except for K and Al, which were found above the allowed limits. The potential risks of the selected trace metals on the health of the local residents, as well as the possible sources of such heavy metals, were also studied. The Chronic daily intake (CDI) of each metal and health risk indexes (HRI) were calculated for both adults and children residents. The oral ingestion pathway was studied, including exposure via drinking water. The values for CDI were found in the descending order of: Ca > Mg > Na > K > Sr > Fe > Al > Ba > Li > V > Rb > Ag > Mo > Ga > Co > Bi > TI > Be. The values of HRI were below 1 for most of the selected heavy metals, expect for Li for children, indicating potential health risk. The study also predicted that the local residents have a higher chance of developing cancer in their lifetime, especially children, with respect to the carcinogenic risk (CRing) values for Na, Mg, Al, Ba, K, Ca, Fe and Sr, which were greater than standardized limits (>106). The rest of the selected elements were within the acceptable limit in the five different studied locations. Furthermore, univariate, multivariate and statistical analysis depending on one-way ANOVA, inter-metal correlation, cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) results revealed that geogenic and anthropogenic activities were major sources of drinking water contamination by heavy metals in the Yatta area.The authors would like to thank Yatta municipality for helping in samples collection, the households that facilitated our sampling, and Al-Quds University where water samples were analysed

Development of Film Coated Atrovastatin Calcium Tablet Using OPADRY-OY

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the stability of film coated Atorvastatin Calcium (AtC) tablets using Opadry-OY-B-28920. AtC uncoated tablets were developed and manufactured through the Wet Granulation process. Opadry-OY-B-28920 white aqueous coating dispersion was used as film coating material. The film coated tablets were completely disintegrated within 10 minutes in water media, it was also completely dissolved (more than 85% of the drug was released) within 30 minutes in pH 6.8 buffer solutions. The film coated tablets were studied under both long term and accelerated stability study and the results showed no significant variation in physical characteristics, color, hardness, no obvious defects or signs of peeling or chipping. These results reflect that the film coated system Opadry-OY-B-28920 can be successfully used in order to produce AtC film coated tablet that is protected from environmental conditions such as light and humidity.These findings suggest that aqueous film coating with Opadry-OY-B-28920 system is an easy and economical approach for preparing stable film coated AtC tablet of immediate release

Inhibitive Action of Sodium tetrafluoroborate on the Corrosion of Carbon Steel in Hydrochloric Acid Medieum

The inhibitive action of Sodiumtetrafluoroborate(NaBF4) on corrosion of carbon steel (CS) in 1.0M HCl was studied by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The measurements show that the inhibition efficiencies increase with the increasing of NaBF4 concentrations but decrease with increasing of the temperatures. This reveals that the inhibitive action of the inhibitor was mainly due to the adsorption on the carbon steel surface by blocking of the active sites. The above results showed that NaBF4 acted as a mixed-type corrosion inhibitor. The adsorption of NaBF4on the carbon steel surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. This was supported by the impedance measurements which showed a change in the charge transfer resistance and double layer capacitance, indicating the adsorption of NaBF4 on the carbon steel surface. Thermodynamic parameters of the studied inhibitor were calculated and discussed

Inhibition of c-steel corrosion by green tea extract in hydrochloric solution

Inhibition ability of green tea extract (GTE) on the C38 steel (CS) in 1.0 M HCl was evaluated using different methods such as: weight loss, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) methods at various temperatures. Polarisation curves show that GTE acts essentially as mixed-type inhibitor controlling cathodic and anodic reactions with slight predominant in cathodic branches. EIS results indicate the increase of resistance transfer (Rt) while double layer capacitance (Cdl) decrease in the rise of green tea extract (GTE) concentrations. Obtained results also showed that the inhibition efficiency decreased with a rise in the temperature. Activation energy (Ea), enthalpy (?Ha*) and entropy and (?Sa*) of corrosion process were estimated using experimental measurements

Qualitative Study to Assess Plastic Packaging Materials in Gezira State, Sudan

This study was conducted to assess the quality and safe descriptions of the commercial plastic packaging materials produced in Sudan, which are used for filling, preserving and packaging foodstuffs. A total of 144 plastic samples were collected randomly from a local market in Wad-Medan town, central Sudan. Some of the physical properties of plastic samples were determined. The results shown that overall mean values of thickness ranged between 60.7±7.6 µm and density between 0.084 ± 0.044 mg/cm³ is higher and lower, respectively, when compared with those of plastic packaging materials manufactured in Sudan. In addition, the descriptions of the commercial plastic packaging materials have not been labeled with symbol code numbers and safety symbol as recommended for plastic materials and articles manufactured in the European Union and United States of American countries

The Environmental Impacts of Generated Air Pollution in Omdurman Industrial and Residential Area, Khartoum State, Sudan.

Industrial pollution is considered as one of the most important sources of environmental pollutants, which may have negative impacts on the human health and environment. This study is conducted with the aim of identifying environmental impacts resulting from air pollutants in Omdurman industrial and residential areas in Khartoum state. The study adopted a scientific method including, environmental measurement of air pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter). These pollutants were measured in nine different sites during  the winter and summer seasons of 2012 including two samples per season. The study revealed the following results: the carbon monoxide ( CO) concentration average range was 0 to 7.9 ppm, which fits the allowed locally limits (22.6 ppm) and internationally (35 ppm). Regarding SO2 and NO2, their average concentration ranged between 0 to 0.4 and 0 to 0.27 respectively, and it is also classified within the locally allowed  limits( 11.8 and 26.6ppm) and internationally ( 2 and 20 ppm)  during the entire year. The average concentration of  volatile organic carbon(VOCs) in different locations were between 449 to 2526 ppb which exceeded the  limits of permited value (750 ppb). The average values of the particulate matter were from 1.11 to 27.78 ppm which exceeds the international limits of 9 ppm

Synthesis and Biological Activities of a Novel Naringin based Heterocyclic Derivatives

A number of naringin based heterocyclic derivatives dioxolane and  imidazolidine have been synthesized and evaluated for their antioxidant and biological activities. The chemical structures of the newly synthesized compounds were verified on the basis of spectral and elemental methods of analysis. Investigation of antibacterial activity of these compounds was determined by measuring  MIC value using broth micro dilution method for Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, among the various synthesized compounds. Dioxolane showed the highest antibacterial activity with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.125mg/ml, in addition  this compound exhibit the best antioxidant activity with inhibition concentration (IC50) of 18.7 μg/mL, compared with other semi synthetic derivative