The progress in the computing and communication industries together with the fast evolution of the semiconductor industry has made possible advances in the communications field. These advances have been used by other related applications to improve the services that they bring about. On the other hand, business crimes have increased three digits orders of magnitude in one decade, making from 20% to 30% of small businesses fail. These conditions demand new solutions to make security systems more reliable and efficient. The present work combines ISDN as a network with a security system to create a security network (SECNET). It will create intelligent and distributed security devices that communicate information from different places to a main security office by using the ISDN lines available at the premises. This work also introduces a new idea of individual equipment protection.

This research was conducted to study the use of radiation in water treatment as an alternative to chlorination which has caused health concerns due to the formation of harmful disinfection by-products. Groundwater solutions from the Biscayne aquifer were radiated with Cobalt-60 gamma radiation and studied for changes in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), UV absorbance at 254 nm (UV254), fluorescence and trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP). Molecular fractionations were conducted by ultrafiltration. Effect of the combination of radiation/peroxide was studied for DOC and UV254. Radiation showed significant removal in DOC and THMFP. Similar results were seen in the fluorescence and UV absorbance experiments. Radiation/peroxide did not improve the DOC removal. Radiation of the groundwater samples broke the larger molecular weight fractions in to smaller fractions.

The aim of this study was to prepare composite materials based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), and to evaluate their photo-catalytic and antimicrobial properties. Carbon and nitrogen doped TiO2nano-particles were prepared via a sol gel synthesis, which is a simple hydrolysis and condensation technique. In situ doping was carried out using glucose and urea as carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. Doping increased the spectral response of titanium dioxide photo-catalyst, allowing it to utilise the visible region which is much wider than the UV region (about 40 % of the solar spectrum), thus making it a more efficient photo-catalyst. The carbon and nitrogen doped TiO2-SiO2nano-particles were immobilized on glass support material to allow for easy separation of the spent photo-catalyst after the photo-degradation process. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was employed as both a binder and precursor for silicon dioxide. A mixture of TiO2 and TEOS in a 1:1 ratio was allowed to polymerize on a glass support which had been treated with hydrofluoric acid to introduce OH groups. The prepared photo-catalytic material was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, DRS, TEM, EDX, and BET analyses. Carbon was found to be more effective as a dopant than nitrogen. It brought about a band gap reduction of 0.30 eV and a BET surface area of 95.4 m2g-1 on the photo-catalyst as compared to a gap reduction of 0.2 eV and surface area of 52.2 m2g-1 for nitrogen doped TiO2. On the other hand, introduction of SiO2 allowed utilization of visible light by the TiO2-SiO2 nano-composite leading to an improved rate of photo-degradation of both methyl orange and phenol red. However, the immobilization of TiO2 on support material made it less effective towards inactivation of E. coli ATCC 25922 bacterial cells when compared to powdered TiO2 which was able to inactivate about 98 % of the bacterial cells within an hour of treatment.

M.Sc. (Chemistry) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. (Chemistry) / This study presents work on the preparation, characterisation and application of agricultural waste residue, maize tassel in the production of activated carbon (AC) using both physical and chemical methods of activation in their production. The activated carbon produced from maize tassel (MTAC) or steam-produced activated carbon (STAC) were later added as a filler – together with beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD), and raw tassel (RT) – in the production of polyurethane composite adsorbent (PUCAD) material for the removal of selected inorganic (such as Cd2+, Cr3+, Pb2+) and organic pollutants (phenolic compound - bisphenol A (BPA), ortho-nitrophenol (O-NTP), para-chlorophenol (PCP), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), and methylene blue (MB) as adsorbate/analytes from aqueous medium. Both batch and solid-phase extraction adsorption methods (SPE), were used for separation and preconcentration. The investigations included reactivity using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, surface morphology analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal stability using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), heat flow using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and crystallinity using X-ray diffraction (XRD) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). The FT-IR analysis revealed that there was interaction between the polymeric material and all the fillers. The hydrogen bonding and N-H group interaction between all the materials and the polyurethane polymer composite (PCAD) showed compatibility between the polymeric materials and the fillers.

M.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

An increase in the number of bacteria resistant to most of the antibiotics or biocides in common use is a problem faced by industries and the community at large. More bacteria are resistant to moderate levels of biocides, with the bacteria in biofilms being the most difficult to control. High levels of biocides are used and this has detrimental effects on the environment, as biocides are toxic to humans, being carcinogenic, corrosive and producing intolerable odours. Electrochemical activation technology provides an alternative way of controlling microorganisms. ECA water was shown in other countries to have antimicrobial properties. Anolyte, the positively charged solution is benign to fumes and corrosion caused by other biocides. Since anolyte is eco-friendly and present no problems to the environment, it provides a good alternative for controlling microorganisms instead of chemical control. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of anolyte and its antimicrobial properties against different microorganisms in suspension was evaluated. The I: 1 0 and neat anolyte gave a 100% kill of all organisms tested while 1 :20 dilution gave variable killing percentages ranging from 31 % to 100%. Minimum inhibitory concentration was found to be 20% for most Gram positives and 50% for most Gram negatives. Anolyte did have some antimicrobial properties with MIC differing amongst different organisms. Biofilm control using different concentrations of anolyte and sodium hypochlorite was evaluated. Neat and 1: 10 anolyte removed biofilm while 1: 100 did not have effect on biofilm. The 100 and 300 ppm sodium hypochlorite were effective in removing the biofilm while 10, 25 and 50 ppm could not remove it. Hand wash trials and hospital disinfection using anolyte resulted in a decrease in the number of cfu/25cm3 after treatment. Effective disinfection of hands and hospital equipment was achieved. Different surfaces in a milking parlour were treated with anolyte to test its suitability to disinfect a milking parlour. High numbers of microorganisms and spreaders were observed from the plates before the surfaces were cleaned with anolyte. All spreaders were identified as sporeformers. Results were generally better when anolyte was used as a disinfectant, being able to eliminate spreaders as well. Treatment of chicken carcasses with anolyte to evaluate its effect on their shelf life was also tested. The number of colony forming units on chicken carcasses decreased after treatment of the carcasses with anolyte. Anolyte is therefore a naturally safe disinfectant that could be used in most fields including water distribution systems and industries for biofilm control, hospitals for minimising cross infection, food industries for increasing quality and shelf life of food and also in households for washing hands. / Dissertation (MSc (Microbiology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / unrestricted

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Unavailability and contamination of available water resources are major factors contributing to adverse health conditions worldwide. AgNPs present a potential strategy for water purification; however, their ability to accumulate in organs such as the kidneys, lungs and spleen is a possible source of toxicity. This study investigates the toxicity of AgNPs to Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae). S. cerevisiae is an excellent model organism for assessing toxic compounds that affect eukaryotic organisms due to their ease of cultivation. AgNPs were prepared by photo-reduction of silver nitrate with OSRAM Vitalux lamp (300 W and 230 V) in the presence of stabilizing agents such as polyvinylpyrrolidone and citric acid, yielding AgNPs. The effects of varying the concentration of the stabilizing agent, time of exposure to the light source, and pH were investigated. The formation of AgNPs was analysed by ultra-violet spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and transmission electron microscope techniques. The results showed that the AgNPs absorbed ultra-violet radiation between 400 and 500 nm and TEM images showed the particles to be both spherical and needle-like in shape. The shapes of the AgNPs were largely dependent on the synthesis method applied. The toxicity of AgNPs was assessed using metabolic activity of yeast cells as biomarker andmonitored with of the chromogenic assay, XTT. S. cerevisiae was introduced into different concentrations of AgNPs and incubated at 37oC for 72 h. After the incubation, XTT assay was performed to assess the cell viability. The XTT results showed that high concentration of AgNPs (100 µg/mL) inhibited the growth of S. cerevisiae. The synthesis of AgNPs and theassessment of their toxicity on S. cerevisiae was thus undertaken and established in this work.

No description available.

Thesis (DTech (Environmental Health))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Trihalomethanes are disinfection byproducts of chlorinated waters, and there is a growing interest to understand plant responses to organohalogens. This study investigates the effects of increasing trihalomethane dose on the physiology of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and determines whether the extent of physiological impacts of trihalomethane exposure on seedling radicle length, biomass accumulation, concentration levels of 12 key nutrients, oxidative stress, fatty acids and α-tocopherol content in membrane lipids of tomato correlated with either the number of bromine or chlorine atoms in the trihalomethane molecules. The 2 x 4 x 5 factorial experiment was laid out in CRD with four replications. Two cultivars of tomato were exposed to 4 levels of trihalomethanes (bromodichloromethane, bromoform, chloroform and dibromochloromethane) and 5 levels of concentration (0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 mg.L-1) in a green house. The decrease in seedling biomass and the inhibition of radicle growth increased with increasing trihalomethane concentrations in a dose dependent manner. Also, both these parameters decreased in response to an increase in the number of bromine atoms in the trihalomethane molecule. However, in growing plants the decrease in concentration levels of seven essential nutrients namely nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) & boron (B) correlated to an increase in the number of chlorine atoms. Increase in trihalomethane dose also induced a decrease in all the above mentioned nutrients with the addition of manganese (Mn), although the decrease in P and S were not significant at P ≤ 0.05. The increase in trihalomethane dose induced an increase in oxidative stress parameters such as the total phenolic content, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and lipid peroxidation. The increase in the above parameters correlated to an increase in the number of chlorine atoms, however, no such correlations were observed in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, general lipid peroxidation, α-tocopherol content and totalsoluble proteins. In plant membrane lipids, increase in the saturated fat hexadecanoic acid was observed in both tomato cultivars that correlated to the degree of chlorination in the trihalomethane molecule. The increase in α-linolenic acid stress signaling correlated with an increase in the degree of chlorination in only one tomato cultivar suggesting variable tolerance between cultivars to chemical action. Membrane lipids adjustments in tomato plants exposed to increasing trihalomethane dose were based on two factors; first the adjustments of membrane fluidity with the increase in plant sterols and fatty acids content and secondly, the increase in lipophyllic antioxidants such as phenols, quinones and α-tocopherol content. The phenolic lipophyllic antioxidant was tentatively identified to be 2,2’-methylenebis [6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl] phenol. In conclusion, the magnitude of plant responses to trihalomethanes is more dependent on the halogenation number of the molecule and less on its concentration.