Determining the presence of carbofuran in agro-ecosystems is important because it can influence negative effects on the environment and public health. The objective of study is to determine the use of carbofuran from molecular markers in soil samples that are immersed in the problem of pesticide residues, although at present are not in use, thus generating an acknowledgment of free soil of carbofuran. As of soil samples was made microbial isolation, mcd gene amplification, molecular enzymatic determination, UV-vis spectroscopy and physicochemical characterization of the soil is performed. The results obtained showed a Pseudomonas sp., as the most frequent isolation. In total samples, the mcd gene is not amplified, but the enzyme (70-85 kDa) was detected in S5 and S7. UV-vis spectrums show a maximum absorbance (254 nm) in S1, S3 and S7. Enzymatic determination results may be efficient for detection of carbofuran use in agro-ecosystems soils.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the postural balance with clinical and laboratory assessment for static and dynamic postural balance. \nMethods:Clinically stable within the last 6 weeks 21 stage II and III patients with COPD and 20 healthy adults were included to the study.Demographic and clinical data (age, height, body weight, body mass index-BMI, gender, smoking history) were recorded. History of falls, pulmonary function, quadriceps femoris muscle strength handgrip muscle strength and exercise capacity and balance were assessed.\n\nResults: Quadriceps femoris muscle strength for the percentage that they achieved over than 80 % percentage for both of the groups. The 6MWD of the COPD patients was shorter than that of healthy individuals even though both of the groups achieved 80 % percentage for the 6MWD (p < 0.05). The BBS scores were not significantly different between COPD patients and healthy individuals (p > 0.05). Balance master tests; unilateral stance test was significantly different between COPD patients and healthy individuals during EOR single leg test (p < 0.05). Patients with COPD had high scores on only reaction time in LOS test compared to healthy individuals t in terms of impaired postural control of the COPD patients (p < 0.05). \nConclusion: In conclusion, the present study indicated that lower functional exercise performance and muscle strength which affects the static and dynamic postural balance control which was measured by laboratory tests. So the assessment of postural balance by laboratory test is important. \nKey Words:Postural balance, COPD, muscle strength, exercise capacity.
The rational modes of blade deformation which allow getting the compressor blades without causing any defects to the material with the fine-grained structure are defined in this article by the ways of computer modeling of the technological process of broaching in flat strikers and radial-forging machine, upending in the convex strikers and isothermal forging as well.
Oral administration of pharmaceuticals is one of the most popular methods of drug delivery. Many orally administered drugs elicit bitter taste. Palatability is an extremely important factor in ensuring the likelihood that the recipients will intake the pharmaceuticals. A constant problem in treatment of patients is their inability or unwillingness to swallow solid dosage forms such as tablets especially in children and the elderly. These types of dosage forms permit perceptible exposure of active drug ingredient to the taste buds. Accordingly, masking of unpleasant taste characteristics of drug ciprofloxacin HCL is an important factor in formulation of this agent. The mask of the taste of this important drug was carried out by many techniques to enhance bitterness reduction.In the present work, the technique for masking the drug bitter taste was the use of the effervescent base in the drug formulation, guargum, flavor and saccharin. The method proved to be successful mechanical taste of the formulated tablet. The aim of this study is to develop an effective and pH stable taste
Corticosteroids are often prescribed in systemic inflammatory diseases, very common in females especially during breastfeeding. Side effects have indeed been reported, but they are very rare and the data on the subsequent development of the offspring is often limited. The aim of this work is to study dexamethasone administration to lactating females on impacts on the progeny testicular activity at 30 and 60 days of age. The endocrine activity is estimated by radioimmuno and radioimmunometric assays of plasma hormones (Testosterone, FSH and LH) and glandular hormones (Testosterone and œstradiol). Structural changes of the testis were observed on histological sections, and the apoptotic nuclei were detected by the TUNEL method. The results revealed, in adult male rats, a decline in body (p<0.01) and testicular weights (p<0.001).The plasma and glandular rates of testosterone were highly significantly decreased (p<0.001) and very significantly reduced (p<0.01) respectively. The plasma FSH decreased (p<0.001), while plasma LH and glandular estradiol did not change compared to the controls. The histological study of testes at 30 days of age showed significant modifications, they are lower in animals at 60 days. According to our results, dexamethasone administered indirectly via a breastfeeding mother, affects testicular activity of the offspring in adulthood.
This study is concerned a brain tumor growth model with piecewise constant argument, where we embed [t] and [t-k] as coefficients to the equation to emphasize the treatment therapy for specific time. We construct the study as following:\n\ndx(t)/dt=x(t)r(1-αx(t)-β_0 ⟦t⟧x(⟦t⟧ )-β_1 ⟦t-k⟧x(⟦t-k⟧ ) )-γ_1 ⟦t⟧x(t)x(⟦t⟧ )\n-γ_2 ⟦t-k⟧x(t)x(⟦t-k⟧ )\n\nwhere the parameters α,β_0,β_1, γ_1, γ_(2 )and r belongs to R+, [t] is the integer part of t ∈ [0;∞) and k ∈ N. γ_1 is embedded to show the effect of the treatment on the tumor, while γ_(2 ) represents the rate that causes a negative effect from the immune system to the tumor population. In this work we have constructed two models; in the first one we consider a monoclonal growth around the positive equilibrium point, in the second one, we analyzed the growth in case of early detection of the tumor.
Verification is a one-to-one search, and decision with high confidence level is made to verify whether the user is authenticated or imposter. This paper improves iris verification through performing data fusion at matching score level for the highest performance techniques to improve the error metrics. Two categories of minimum distance classifiers of Hamming Distance (HD) and Weighted Hamming Distance (WHD) are used for template matching based on the encoded iris features by different methods of 1D-Log Gabor filter, discrete cosine transform, and discrete wavelet transform. The iris fusion at the matching score level is evaluated using methods of the simple sum, minimum score, and maximum score. The suggested fusion method, using maximum score based on discrete wavelet transform for HD and personalized weighted map based 1D-Log Gabor filter for WHD, gives the highest performance among the state-of-the-art techniques. Experimental results show that the optimum equal error rate is equal to 0.8 times 10-4 which corresponds to a HD value of 0.4872 with average associated error rates of false rejection rate equal to 1.04 times 10-4 and false acceptance rate equal to 1.0 times 10-4. CASIA version-1 iris database is used in the experiments.
Corrosion monitoring for the metal become a technical, economical and environmentally important technique. Utilizing of corrosion inhibitors is preferable selection for protecting metals from the corrosion process. Inhibition of Mild Steel corrosion in acidic Medium by 2-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)hydrazinecarbothioamide as inhibitor was studied by weight loss technique. It was found that the 2-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)hydrazinecarbothioamide has a promising inhibition actions toward corrosion of Mild Steel in hydrochloric acid solution examined. Inhibitory efficiency was found to increase with an increase of the inhibitor concentration and the efficiency reach to 84% at room temperature. It was also found that the adsorption as well as the inhibition process followed a first-order kinetics and obeyed Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm. 2-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethylidene)hydrazinecarbothioamide showed appreciable inhibition efficiency, which decrease with increasing temperature 30-70°C. Calculated quantum chemical parameters appeared the intensive interaction examined inhibitor with Mild Steel surface.
This work presents a performance analysis for a combined heat and power generation system driven by finite thermal energy. The system consists of a regenerative superheated organic Rankine cycle (ORC), using isopentane as the working fluid, in series with an additional process heater. Special attention is paid to the effects of the turbine inlet pressure and the heat source temperature, in the range of 160 °C to 300 °C, on the performance of the system, as evaluated by net power production, process heat, thermal efficiency, and exergy efficiency. Results show that the thermodynamic performance of the system is profoundly influenced by the source temperature as well as by the turbine inlet pressure. When the source temperature is low, the thermal efficiency is high but the exergy efficiency is low. When the source temperature is high enough that the turbine inlet temperature is higher than the critical temperature of the working fluid, the thermal efficiency increases with the source temperature but the exergy efficiency exhibits a peak with respect to the source temperature.
Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have been proposed as alternative colloidal drug-delivery system\nfor water-insoluble drugs such as Nitazoxanide (NTZ). The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize physiochemically NTZ-loaded SLNs to evaluate their effectiveness as a new antiparasitic and antiprotozoal delivery system. In this study, three types of NTZ-loaded SLN with the following compositions: NTZ-SLNa (1mg NTZ + 5mg SLN), NTZ-SLNb (1mg TAM + 10mg SLN) and NTZ-SLNc (1mg TAM + 20mg SLN) were prepared. The NTZ-loaded SLNs were physiochemically characterized by the particle size and polydispersity index, zeta potential, crystallinity and bonding characteristics. The particle size of the NTZ-loaded SLN obtained ranged from 228 to 448 nm. The round-shaped NTZ-loaded SLN particles were less ordered in crystalline structure than either bulk lipid or SLN. NTZ-loaded SLNa showed the highest entrapment efficiency (EE) (91.81%) and the highest drug loading (DL) (18.26%). In vitro drug release of NTZ-loaded SLN in human plasma and phosphate buffer saline (pH=7.4) showed that the amount of drug released approached 14.5% and 8.32% respectively after 8 hours of incubation. In conclusion, the study suggests that NTZ-loaded SLN can be suitable to be used as a new antiparasitic and antiprotozoal drug delivery system. \nKeywords: anti-parasite, anti-protozoa Solid lipid nanoparticles, Nitazoxanide
Abstract.\nThe aim of this paper is to illustrate how parental support can influence self- perception and academic achievement of secondary school students. Two purposes, research questions and two hypotheses were employed. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design. Samples of 300 senior secondary two students were randomly selected. The findings indicated that parental support has significant influence on the self-perception and academic achievement of secondary school students.
Human-robot interaction (HRI) is a significant area of interest in robotics which has attracted a wide variety of studies in recent years. In order to enable natural human-robot interaction, robots will have to acquire the skills to detect and meaningfully integrate information from multiple modalities. In this paper, a practical speech-controlled mobile robot car system is presented and discussed. In this study the developed hidden Markov Model (HMM) with separate word recognition system and real-time control were obtained on a mobile robot. Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) were applied as features for the control design of mobile robot. Commands (İLERİ=forward, GERİ=backward, DUR=stop, SAĞA=right, SOLA=left) of 270 numbers sounds which are collected from 54 different people were applied to a series of mathematical operations and 12 numbers cepstral coefficients were derived. Hence, a database was generated by 12 numbers cepstral coefficients. Next, HMM model was trained and tested according to database. 90 percent training data, 10 percent test data of collected sounds data were classified. Recognition success rate of test commands was measured 94 percent.
Even though there are many measures to put corporate governance (CG) in place and practice, an important tool essential for the success is the efficacy and effective functioning of an audit committee (AC). As the eyes and ears of the board, the AC plays a pivotal role in helping to stop or reverse the rise in reported fraud incidents worldwide. Now-a-days, an AC is being looked upon as a distinct culture for CG and has received a wide-publicity across the globe. Regulation has bolstered the role of the AC in past years. Government authorities, regulators and international bodies all have indicated that they view an AC as a potentially powerful tool that can enhance the reliability and transparency of financial information. Being mandatory under the SEBI’s Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement, an AC can be of great help to the board in implementing, monitoring and continuing ‘good’ CG practices to the benefit of the corporation and all its stakeholders. \n\nThis study performs a ‘content’ analysis on the AC reports of the top 500 listed companies in India during 2010 to 2013 to determine the information content of these reports and the extent to which these reports conform to the Clause 49 requirements of the SEBI. Also, discussed are the various trends about an AC characteristics viz., size, composition, activity, as well as, the extent of non-audit services provided by auditors in the top 500 listed Indian companies. The 2013 Companies Act in India makes comprehensive reforms to virtually all areas affecting corporate governance. The reforms include increased requirements for independent directors, more director duties, introduction of shareholder class action suits and the proposal of the expanded use of e-governance for various company processes. Thus, an effective AC can be a key feature of a strong CG culture, bringing significant benefits to an organization. The effectiveness of the ACs is based on the characteristics of independence, financial expertise and diligence.
Abstract: With the aid ZEMAX-EE software, a strategy for designing C-band non-polarizing neutral plate beam splitter is presented. The design construction was based on a certain optical properties of homogeneous, isotropic three dielectric materials TiO2, Al2O3 and SiO2 chosen as \"High\", \" Medium\" and \"Low\" index material, respectively depositing on the BK-7 glass substrate. Result shows that the optimum design consists of 17- layers and can be applied to a wide range of angles and reflectance values.
Intense fragmentation or shrinking of agricultural land is a significant problem in Turkey. The existing inheritance law is the leading significant cause of fragmentation or shrinking of land. Inheritance law prescribes equal distribution of agricultural land which is subject to heritage. When there are disputes towards the inheritance distribution, the new owner’s submission of deed is not done. This situation brings out the truth that an agricultural land which seems as one piece is used by more than one person in reality. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate public and hidden joint ownership in the areas where land consolidation is done. As study field, the data related to Bursa-Karacabey Plain villages were used where the most intensive agricultural activities are done in Turkey. For this purpose, required data were provided from Title Deed Registry Office and Karacabey Irrigation Union. In the study area, in order to determine joint ownership which is off the record Ismetpasa, Beylik and Yenisaribey villages are chosen and survey study was applied. As a result, it was concluded that, after land consolidation hidden joint ownership is still going on in parcels, real joint ownership condition is mostly not recorded to registry of deeds.
This study investigates the alliance of e-services from the perspective of the customer. This paper considers customer assessment as the basis for e-service cooperation, employing Fuzzy theory to estimate the feasibility of alliance by collecting customer value perception. This study used Yahoo! for validation, and selected Google’s online dictionary for comparative purposes with the current partner (Dr. Eye) of Yahoo!. The major contributions are as follows: (1) help companies recognize the key value of e-services for cooperation based on the customer’s perspective; (2) assist resource allocation of firms to improve value; and (3) estimate customer-oriented appropriateness of e-service cooperation.
The present work is to study the corrosion behaveior of carbon steel, in naturally aerated (3.5%wt NaCl) solution. A rotating cylinder electrode (RCE) system was used to produce turbulent flow conditions, polarization experiments were carried at different temperature (298, 308, 318 and 328)K and rotating speed of (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400)r.p.m. at each temperature.\nSimilar experiments were carried out in (3.5%wt NaCl) solution using CO2 gas at (32 ml/sec) flow rate.Corresponding experiments by weight loss were carried out in (3.5%wt NaCl) solution with:-\n1. Kerosene + 10% V salt solution.\n2. Gas oil + 10% V salt solution.\n At 328k and (0, 400) r.p.m .\n3. Similar experiments were carried out in kerosene + 10% V salt solution at (298, 308 and 318)K and rotating speed (0) r.p.m at each temperature.\n4. Experiments were carried out in pure kerosene at temperature (298 and 318)K and speed (0) r.p.m.\n All above experiments were carried out with and with out CO2 gas .\nThe results indicate that the corrosion rate of carbon steel is increasing70% in the presence of CO2 gas.\nKeywords: Corrosion, Carbon steel, rotating cylinder, polarization.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) offers more security than any other major public key cryptosystem. The ElGamal encryption scheme is considered to be one of the most efficient algorithms that provides a high level of confidentiality. In this paper, a hardware design and implementation of ElGamal Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem targeted and tailored for applications requiring speed-area trade off, is described. The design features the calculation of the Elliptic Curve ElGamal encryption/decryption employing the standardised NIST Koblitz curve K-163. The cryptosystem was synthesised on the VIRTEX 4 XC4VFX12 FPGA. It occupies 2675 slices with a maximum frequency of 115 MHz permitting encryption to be accomplished in 11.43 ms and decryption in 10.33 ms.
Accounting frauds and scams have occurred in all eras, in all countries and affected equally all organizations, regardless of their size, location, or industry. In the current reporting environment of “digital-age,” forensic accountants are in great demand for their ‘niche’ accounting, auditing, legal and investigative skills. Hence, ‘forensic’ accounting (FA) has been thrown in the “forefront of the crusade” against financial deception and accounting scandals. The motto of the study is to present some evidence on fraud, forensic accounting, the skills and education of the forensic investigator. Many CPAs will need to learn new IT skills due to the rise of Big Data, which is producing plentiful forensic accounting opportunities.\n\nThe present study investigates through a questionnaire, which was conducted in three leading States of the national capital region of India during 2013-14, “if there are differences in the views of the relevant skills of FA’s among accounting practitioners, academics, and users of forensic accounting services.” From the statistical test of the hypotheses propounded for this study, we discovered that “core skills are not enough requirements for FA’s, there are significant differences in the relevant skills of FA’s, as given by previous researchers with the current research, and the necessary skills of FA’s, as identified by both academics and professionals, will hopefully meet employers’ expectations too.” Therefore, FA’s, being professional experts having ‘sixth’ sense and possessing ‘special’ skills are urgently required to counter all the ingenuity of these criminals. The results of this study would provide some guidance to educators for the development of “forensic accounting” curriculum by identifying the pertinent skills to accompany such a program of study.
Purpose: To assess the health-related quality of life of patients with glaucoma which may decrease vision and visual field sensitivity and furtherly result in disability \nMethods: 40 normal adults and 40 volunteers with glaucoma were asked to complete three types of questionnaires about daily activities. The patients with glaucoma in one or two eyes and receiving medical treatment now were for many years. They were evaluated by balthex index and Euro-QoL 5D health-related quality of life questionnaire which is usually used to measure the degree of diminution of physical and psychologic level in clinics. The above data were analyzed by t - test and the value of P > 0.05 revealed statistically significant. Besides, some descriptive results were also recorded from the glaucoma patients’ complaint. \nResults: When compared with healthy subjects, 5 items of daily activities in Barthel index including feeding, hygiene, toilet, dressing and walking stairs in patients with glaucoma showed different significantly. It means that some usual and easy activities for normal subjects should bring about the trouble topics in patients’ life. Besides, we found that the glaucoma patients in long-term treatment may be accompanied with the unstable mood such as, discomfort, anxiety and depression which is easily neglected by the measurement of Euro-QoL 5 D. Furthermore, the common daily activities which interfere with glaucoma patients included using the remote (92%), Washing (88%), sit in the care to stand outside the door (84%), Write (82%) and open door with key.(78%) according the experience themselves. \nConclusion: Glaucoma would result in blindness or loss of stereopsis and the life quality of an individual’s general well-being and their ability would be affected. In our study, glaucoma should influence not only the life qualify, various daily activities but also the psychological condition. Therefore, the patients with glaucoma need the strong support from medical team including various specialists.
Satyam Computers were once the crown jewel of Indian IT industry, but were brought to the ground by its founders in 2009 as a result of financial crime. The debacle of Satyam raised a debate about the role of CEO in driving a company to the heights of success and its relation with the board members and core committees. The scam brought to the light the role of corporate governance (CG) in shaping the protocols related to the working of audit committees and duties of board members. The Satyam scam was a jolt to the market, especially to Satyam stockholders. An attempt is made in this paper to examine in-depth and analyze India’s Enron, Satyam Computer’s “creative-accounting” scandal. In public companies, this type of ‘creative’ accounting leading to fraud and investigations are, therefore, launched by the various governmental oversight agencies. \n\nThe accounting fraud committed by the founders of Satyam in 2009 is a testament to the fact that “the science of conduct is swayed in large by human greed, ambition, and hunger for power, money, fame and glory.” Scandals have proved that “there is an urgent need for good conduct based on strong corporate governance, ethics and accounting & auditing standards.” The Satyam scandal highlights the importance of securities laws and CG in emerging markets. Indeed, Satyam fraud “spurred the government of India to tighten the CG norms to prevent recurrence of similar frauds in future.” Thus, major financial reporting frauds need to be studied for ‘lessons-learned’ and ‘strategies-to-follow’ to reduce the incidents of such frauds in the future. The increasing rate of white-collar crimes “demands stiff penalties, exemplary punishments, and effective enforcement of law with the right spirit.”
Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are vascular anomalies due to a failure in embryogenesis. They involve direct communication between an artery and a vein with no intervening capillary bed. We report a case of unilateral AVM with complication - vitreous hemorrhage.
This study examined the problem of human trafficking, deviant behaviour and the psychological implications in south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study ascertained the reasons for human trafficking, the extent Nigerian government has adopted the requisite strategies for curtailing the problem of human trafficking. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Three research questions and three null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. A sample of three hundred respondents comprising one hundred and twenty women and one hundred and eighty youths were selected for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used in choosing the sample. A 33-item questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on the problem of human trafficking in south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria” was used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation while z-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that factors such as pervasive poverty, migration network, prostitution, moral decadence, unemployment, family pressure and disintegration, lack of access to education among others, contribute to high rate of human trafficking in south -south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The findings of the study showed that there is no significant difference in the mean responses of women and youths on the reasons for high prevalence of human trafficking. The findings equally indicated no significant difference in the mean responses of women and youths on the extent Nigerian government has adopted the requisite strategies for ameliorating human trafficking. Finally, the findings revealed no significant difference in the mean responses of women and youths on the requisite strategies for curbing the problem of human trafficking.
Undoped and doped cadmuim titanium oxide thin films at different percentage (1, 3, 4, and 5) % were fabricated by spray pyrolysis by using a solution of titanium tetrachloride and ethyl alcohol. The films have been deposited on heated quartz substrates at 623 K. After annealing for 120 min at 823 K, the initially amorphous films became polycrystalline with a predominant anatase structure and average crystallite sizes depending on dopant Cd concentration. Atomic force microscope (AFM) results show that the addition of the Cd to TiO2 thin films become smooth. Optical study shows the optical band gap, and transmission has been increasing with increasing doping concentration in TiO2 thin films. The electrical resistivity is decreases with increasing doping concentration Cd in TiO2 thin films could be attributed to the increasing charge concentration. Photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 films were studied by monitoring the degradation of aqueous methylene blue under UV light irradiation and was observed that increasing doping concentration had good photocatalytic activity which was explained as due to the structural and morphological properties of the films.
Banks are the engines that drive the operations in the financial sector, money markets and growth of an economy. With the rapidly growing banking industry in India, frauds in banks are also increasing very fast, and fraudsters have started using innovative methods. As part of the study, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in 2013-14 among 345 bank employees to know their perception towards bank frauds and evaluate the factors that influence the degree of their compliance level. This study provides a frank discussion of the attitudes, strategies, and—most importantly—the technology that specialists will need to combat frauds in banks. In the modern era, there is ―no silver bullet for fraud protection; the double-edged sword of technology is getting sharper, day-in-day-out.‖ The use of neural network-based behavior models in real-time has changed the face of fraud management all over the world. Banks that can leverage advances in technology and analytics to improve fraud prevention will reduce their fraud losses. Recently, forensic accounting has come into limelight due to rapid increase in financial frauds or white-collar crimes.\nSome other promising steps to control frauds are: educate customers about fraud prevention, make application of laws more stringent, leverage the power of data analysis technologies, follow fraud mitigation best practices, and employ multipoint scrutiny. In 2015, the RBI has introduced new mechanisms for banks to check loan frauds by taking pro-active steps by setting up a Central Fraud Registry, introduced the concept of Red Flagged Account, and Indian investigative agencies (CBI, CEIB) will soon start sharing their databases with banks. Although banks cannot be 100% secure against unknown threats, a certain level of preparedness can go a long way in countering fraud risk.
A numerical study is conducted on the cooling of four electronic components arranged in a 3D parallelepiped cavity cooled by its upper wall. The numerical method is based on the projection method and multi-grid technical to accelerate the calculations convergence. The effect of Rayleigh number on the general structure of flow as well as the average heat transfer rate through the top wall are analyzed and discussed. The critical Rayleigh number over which the flow undergoes an unsteady behavior was determined by a new method based on the cancellation of the minimum amplitude of the oscillating variables. Correlation of the heat transfer rate in terms of the Rayleigh number parameter is also established.
This study covers raw fresh milk of cow, goat and camel (farm and pasture-reared), in addition to two brands of commercial milk samples, liquid milk of powder origin and drinking yoghurt samples. Camel milk showed a relatively lower pH range (6.15 - 6.46) compared cow, goat and commercial milk. The pH of drinking yoghurt was found (4.35 - 4.47). Conductivity of cow milk (6.68-6.78 mS/cm); goat milk (6.31-7.77 mS/cm) and a relatively high range for camel milk (8.30-8.38 mS/cm). Drinking yoghurt samples gave a conductivity range of (6.45 - 7.00 mS/cm). Microwave digestion, was selected for sample preparation for mineral analysis using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry. Raw milk samples of cow, goat and camel (farm and pasture reared), showed concentration of Ca (716 +20.53 - 1298+16.99 mg/L); K (1099 +13.83– 1855+23.18 mg/L); Mg (40+0.39 – 135+1.66 mg/L); Na (253+2.92 – 695+11.68 mg/L) and P (478+4.68 - 1081+20.04 mg/L). Camel pasture-reared, resulted in higher levels of all studied macro minerals compared to farm-reared camel milk. Raw milk of cow (pasture reared), showed higher values in macro minerals compared to that of farm-reared except Na; while raw milk of farm-reared goat gave higher values in Ca, K and Mg compared that of pasture-reared goat. Micro minerals; Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Pb, ranged from not detected to 23.4+0.52 mg/L for Fe while Sr (0.32+0.005 – 2.51+0.043 mg/L) and Zn (1.58+0.01 – 8.91+0.14 mg/L) in all milk samples. Concentrations in commercial milk samples and drinking yoghurt were in the range of: Ca (966+7.63 - 1300+11.18 mg/L); K (1399+8.25 – 1692+2.46 mg/L); Mg (94+4.20 – 130+0.31 mg/L ); Na (366+2.10 – 430+6.22 mg/L) and P (777+5.82 - 1092+9.06 mg/L).
Image interpolation represents an arbitrarily continuously defined function as a discrete sum of weighted and shifted basis functions. By definition, interpolation in image processing can be considered as a method to increase the number of pixels in a digital image. Interpolation has been widely used in many image processing applications such as facial reconstruction, multiple description coding, and super resolution. To enhance the low resolution medical images a novel approach called clock algorithm is proposed. It is based on the operation of analog clock and utilizes a combination of point and neighborhood processing.
Objective: Prolidase is a cytosolic exopeptidase that plays major role in collagen turnover. Previous studies revealed the association of serum prolidase activity (SPA) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Previous reports also indicated that the presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC) was associated with the presence, mortality and morbidity of the cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the CAC and SPA in patients with CAD. \nMaterials and Methods: The study was made two-hundred eighty six stable CAD patients . All cases grouped into two: Group I included 128 cases with the presence of CAC (94 male, mean age = 62.7±9.6 years) and Group II included 156 subjects without presence of CAC (83 male, mean age = 60.1±10.2 years). Coronary calcification was detected with fluoroscopy before radioopaque injection during coronary angiography. Fasting blood samples were used for spectrophotometric assessment of prolidase activity\nResults: Age (62.7 ± 9.6 vs. 60.1 ± 10.2 years, respectively; p = 0.030), frequency of diabetes mellitus (42.2% vs. 27.6%, respectively; p = 0.01) and SPA (701.7 ± 17.3 vs. 685.4 ± 30.0 U/l, respectively; p<0.001), were significantly higher; whereas serum triglyceride level was significantly lower (156.4 ± 74.5 vs. 170.8 ± 69.2 mg/dl, respectively; p = 0.022) in CAD patients with CAC compared to CAD patients without CAC. The SPA was only found to be independent predictor of CAC in the multivariate analysis. The overall findings of this study supports the predictive accuracy of the SPA in our cohort, with a statistically significant AUC value of 0.67 in ROC analysis.\nConclusion: We have shown that the SPA is significiantly increased in CAD patients with CAC. These findings suggest that prolidase may play a significant role about the CAC process in patients with CAD.\nKey Words: Coronary artery calcification, Serum prolidase activity.
The Municipality of Dojran has been labeled as a tourism destination for decades. The socioeconomic parameters are one of the essential prerequisites for promoting tourism. However, in the last years, some of these parameters have continuously been accompanied by adverse processes that have affected the development of tourism negatively. \nWe will discuss, as far as we can, some of the socioeconomic parameters that are worth dwelling on regarding the promotion of tourism in the Municipality of Dojran.
