Synthesis and Decontamination Effect on Chemical and Biological Agents of Benzoxonium-Like Salts

Benzoxonium chloride belongs to the group of quaternary ammonium salts, which have been widely used for decades as disinfectants because of their high efficacy, low toxicity, and thermal stability. In this study, we have prepared the C10-C18 set of benzoxonium-like salts to evaluate the effect of their chemical and biological decontamination capabilities. In particular, biocidal activity against a panel of bacterial strains including Staphylococcus aureus in biofilm form was screened. In addition, the most promising compounds were successfully tested against Francisella tularensis as a representative of potential biological warfare agents. From a point of view of chemical warfare protection, the efficiency of BOC-like compounds to degrade the organophosphate simulant fenitrothion was examined. Notwithstanding that no single compound with universal effectiveness was identified, a mixture of only two compounds from this group would be able to satisfactorily cover the proposed decontamination spectrum. In addition, the compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity as a basic safety parameter for potential use in practice. In summary, the dual effect on chemical and biological agents of benzoxonium-like salts offer attractive potential as active components of decontamination mixtures in the case of a terrorist threat or chemical or biological accidents.

EFFECT OF GAMMA IRRADIATION TECHNIQUE ON THE MICROBIAL AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF EDIBLE BAMBOO SHOOT (Dendrocalamus asper) FOR SHELF-LIFE ENHANCEMENT

The present investigation was performed to evaluate the potential of gamma radiation as a postharvest technology to preserve bamboo shoots. For this, Dendrocalamus asper shoots were gamma irradiated in the dose range of 0.5 to 5.0 kGy followed by storage at 5 ± 2 °C temperature dipped into 2% NaCl solution. Acceptability of the irradiated product was assessed based on microbial, physicochemical, and organoleptic attributes as well as induced radioactivity (food safety parameter). Results of the study revealed that a dose of 2.5 kGy was sufficient to complete removal of microbial load from the bamboo shoot up to 4 log reductions when compared with the unirradiated sample. No significant changes were found in physicochemical parameters including protein, pH, moisture, HCN content, and minerals. Organoleptic evaluation for different parameters were was within the acceptable criteria up to 240 days, hence 2.5 kGy doses of irradiation had the best preservation effect on the bamboo shoots of D. asper. The result of this study suggests that irradiation could be a potential method for maintaining the quality of bamboo shoots during storage.

Utilization of glass waste in vehicle restraint systems

The growing demand of society requires that engineers should concentrate more and more on recycling of broken road materials and various by-products in order to ensure environmental sustainability for future generations. Concrete technology has evolved to such an extent that it has become an important role in waste/secondary material management by now. There are several benefits of using glass waste in concrete mixtures. The experi-ments carried out at the Hungarian firm Ferrobeton Ltd. concentrated on exploring the possibility of using glass waste in the cement concrete recipe of vehicle restraint systems in order to release reflection in its material and thereby to increase road safety. In the concrete recipe, the maximization of both usability and reflectivity were aimed to. However, it was also necessary to make sure that the resistance to mechanical and environmental loads could not be worse than in the case of reference (basic) mixture recipe. The quality and type of concrete surface finishing is a financial and also lifetime design issue. The surface treatment method actually applied basically influence the light properties (gleam, reflectivity) of concrete surface as a significant traffic safety parameter.

MO668EXTRACORPOREAL REMOVAL OF MYOGLOBIN IN PATIENTS WITH RHABDOMYOLYSIS AND SEVERE ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY: COMPARISON OF HIGH AND MEDIUM CUT-OFF MEMBRANE AND AN ADSORBER CARTRIDGE

Background and Aims Severe rhabdomyolysis often causes acute kidney injury (AKI). If severe, AKI significantly reduces myoglobin removal through the kidneys. Given molecular size of myoglobin, extracorporeal removal using newer hemodialysis membranes and adsorption techniques is possible, although its role on clinically significant outcomes is not yet fully established. We aimed to compare the efficacy of high cut-off (HCO) membrane, medium cut-off (MCO) membrane and Cytosorb® adsorber on myoglobin removal. Method In this retrospective study we included 15 patients with AKI and concomitant rhabdomyolysis with severely increased myoglobin (>20.000 µg/L), who underwent at least one extracorporeal procedure with the intention of extracorporeal myoglobin removal. There were 28 procedures performed: 13 HCO (Theralite®, Gambro) dialysis, 9 MCO (Theranova®, Gambro) dialysis and 6 adsorber (Cytosorb®, Cytosorbents) procedures. Serum myoglobin and albumin levels were recorded from the time frame of up to 12 hours prior to and up to 12 hours after the index procedure and reduction rates (RR) for myoglobin were calculated. Albumin levels were compared before and after procedure as a safety parameter. Results Treatment duration differed significantly and was the longest for Cytosorb® adsorber (median 11 h) and the shortest for MCO membrane (median 5 h). Pre-treatment serum myoglobin levels were comparable across the groups. Reduction in myoglobin during procedure was significant for HCO and MCO and borderline significant in adsorber group, with respective median RR of 0.64, 0.54 and 0.50 (p = 0.83). Routine albumin substitution was implemented only in HCO group, but serum albumin levels were stable in all subgroups. Conclusion In this preliminary observational study we found comparable effectiveness of a novel MCO and ‘standard’ HCO dialysis membrane for serum myoglobin removal in patients with severe AKI. Cytokine adsorber showed borderline effectiveness, but the number of procedures in this group was small. MCO dialysis is associated with lower costs and no need for albumin supplementation and therefore might be the optimal mode of treatment of severe rhabdomyolysis-associated AKI. For patients with multiorgan failure requiring cytokine removal and severe myoglobinemia, hemoadsorption can reduce cytokine and myoglobin levels simultaneously.

On the possibility of assessment of the level of safety culture automation on the basis of observation of current parameters

Safety culture (SC) is a modern paradigm of safety management of ultra-complex technical systems, primarily NPPs. According to the latest researches, the probability of an error made by a human, who professes the principles of safety culture, and the occurrence of accidents in general, compared to previ-ous methods of safety management, is reduced by hundreds of times. Therefore, it is necessary to pro-vide support as much as possible at all levels of government, to train all specialists and explore new pos-sibilities of this paradigm. This article is aimed at developing offers for an algorithm for automated as-sessment of the level of SC power units based on current indicators and indicators of structural units with a selected discreteness in order to further develop an appropriate cloud-based software which will eliminate subjectivism and record the smallest deviations, which, in its turn, will allow to take appropri-ate measures to improve the safety of nuclear power plants in the early stages of negative processes. The term «safety culture» was first formulated by the IAEA in 1986 in the course of the analysis of the causes of the Chernobyl disaster, and published in INSAG-1. The report stated that the lack of safety culture was one of the main causes of the disaster. Safety culture is defined as a set of values and ac-tions that occur as a result of an agreement reached in the team between the top managers and employ-ees to give security the highest priority in order to protect people and the environment. Further under-standing of this concept has led to a new perspective on the causes of other accidents and incidents at nuclear power plants that occurred in the past. The experience of NPP operation shows that their occur-rence is somehow related to people's behavior (namely, their attitude to safety issues), i.e., the current state of the level of safety culture. But as a current safety parameter (SC) it is estimated with a long pe-riod of time. The article offers automation of the assessment process.

Investigation of a Safety Parameter Observer for Wireless Communication

This paper investigates the possibilities to monitor the degree of disturbances of a wireless communication and to use this information to calculate online the necessary safety parameters in order to estimate the probability of failure per hour (PFH) and the safety integrity level (SIL). Depending of the degree of disturbances, addition actions are performed with the intention of keeping the current safety level. A hardware set-up is introduced to get process data and to evaluate the results.

Evaluation of Road Safety for Roundabout and Signalized Intersection

Traditional intersections have always caused accidents. There are numerous geometric intersection designs that best fit each situation. This study performed an operational and safety comparison with different intersection like signalized, unsignalized and roundabout to decrease the overall travel delay & collision at intersection and increase the safety using case study. This dissertation describes the application of the traffic conflict technique to estimate, traffic safety at intersections. Using data collected from surveys, traffic frequency and severity standards for signalized and roundabout have been established. The methodologies are developed incorporating the relative importance of different severity of different safety indices at intersection. The relative importance (weights) of very low, low, medium and high severity condition is developed using data collection and expert opinions experience people which have knowledge in development/safety development at intersection were obtained by conducting a survey. A questionnaire was prepared to obtain the relative importance of different severity of different parameter performance. The weights are developed in such a way that their values lie between 0 and 1. In proposed work design safety parameter for intersection for enhancement of safety at intersections and all safety design is implemented on MATLAB and analysis of the geometrical design for vehicle system in the intersection by MATLAB, analyses, the status of confliction and desired value obtained by comparison of actual value with available geometric designs and to enhance the safety at intersection and explores methods to solve the problem of collision at intersections. In this paper evaluate safety parameter of roundabout.

Zone of Confidence Impact on Cross Track Limit Determination in ECDIS Passage Planning

The technology breakthrough that Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) has brought to modern navigation has the capability to improve the safety of navigation. This could be achieved only when the capabilities of the system are known by an end-user. Cross Track Limit (XTL) is an ECDIS safety parameter, set by the navigator, which enhances the navigational task automation in the function of workload reduction. Determination of factors affecting the value of XTL safety parameter, with special consideration to chart data reliability, is elaborated in this paper. Chart data reliability depends on the quality of chart survey data, which in many cases are outdated and unreliable. Analysis of past research on this subject is used to define the factors affecting XTL. Practices of different shipping companies with regards to XTL are analyzed and compared in order to confirm if there is a uniform practice between them. Nevertheless, shipping companies have a different or no practice of obtaining XTL, which allows the navigator to define safety parameters by a subjective opinion. In this paper, method of XTL determination for a specific vessel is suggested, considering previously defined factors. Finally, crucial influence of survey data to the safety of navigation is presented in this study.