Abstract: A new and cost effective RP-HPLC method was
developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of non steroidal
anti inflammatory dugs Diclofenac sodium (DFS), Flurbiprofen
(FLP) and an opioid analgesic Tramadol (TMD) in advanced drug
delivery systems (Liposome and Microcapsules), marketed brands
and human plasma. Isocratic system was employed for the flow of
mobile phase consisting of 10 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate
buffer and acetonitrile in molar ratio of 67: 33 with adjusted pH of
3.2. The stationary phase was hypersil ODS column (C18, 250×4.6
mm i.d., 5 μm) with controlled temperature of 30 C°. DFS in
liposomes, microcapsules and marketed drug products was
determined in range of 99.76-99.84%. FLP and TMD in
microcapsules and brands formulation were 99.78 - 99.94 % and
99.80 - 99.82 %, respectively. Single step liquid-liquid extraction
procedure using combination of acetonitrile and trichloroacetic acid
(TCA) as protein precipitating agent was employed. The detection
limits (at S/N ratio 3) of quality control solutions and plasma samples
were 10, 20, and 20 ng/ml for DFS, FLP and TMD, respectively.
The Assay was acceptable in linear dynamic range. All other
validation parameters were found in limits of FDA and ICH method
validation guidelines. The proposed method is sensitive, accurate and
precise and could be applicable for routine analysis in
pharmaceutical industry as well as in human plasma samples for
bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics studies.
Abstract: Web-based systems have become increasingly
important due to the fact that the Internet and the World Wide Web
have become ubiquitous, surpassing all other technological
developments in our history. The Internet and especially companies
websites has rapidly evolved in their scope and extent of use, from
being a little more than fixed advertising material, i.e. a "web
presences", which had no particular influence for the company's
business, to being one of the most essential parts of the company's
core business.
Traditional software engineering approaches with process models
such as, for example, CMM and Waterfall models, do not work very
well since web system development differs from traditional
development. The development differs in several ways, for example,
there is a large gap between traditional software engineering designs
and concepts and the low-level implementation model, many of the
web based system development activities are business oriented (for
example web application are sales-oriented, web application and
intranets are content-oriented) and not engineering-oriented.
This paper aims to introduce Increment Iterative extreme
Programming (IIXP) methodology for developing web based
systems. In difference to the other existence methodologies, this
methodology is combination of different traditional and modern
software engineering and web engineering principles.
Abstract: Pure phase gallosilicate nitrite sodalite has been synthesized in a single step by low temperature (373 oK) hydrothermal technique. The product obtained was characterized using a combination of techniques including X-ray powder diffraction, IR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, MAS NMR spectroscopy as well as thermogravimetry. Sodalite with an ideal composition was obtained after synthesis at 3730K and seven days duration using alkaline medium. The structural features of the Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 sodalite were investigated by IR, MAS NMR spectroscopy of 29Si and 23Na nuclei and by Reitveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction data. The crystal structure of this sodalite has been refined in the space group P 4 3n; with a cell parameter 8.98386Å, V= 726.9 Å, (Rwp= 0.077 and Rp=0.0537) and Si-O-Ga angle is found to be 132.920 . MAS NMR study confirms complete ordering of Si and Ga in the gallosilicate framework. The surface area of single entity with stoichiometry Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 was found to be 8.083 x10-15 cm2/g.
Abstract: In mammalian reproductive tract, the oviduct secretes
huge number of growth factors and cytokines that create an optimal
micro-environment for the initial stages of preimplantation embryos.
Secretion of these growth factors is stage-specific. Among them,
VEGF is a potent mitogen for vascular endothelium and stimulates
vascular permeability. Apart from angiogenesis, VEGF in the oviduct
may be involved in regulating the oocyte maturation and subsequent
developmental process during embryo production in vitro. In
experiment 1, to evaluate the effect of VEGF during IVM of porcine
COC and subsequent developmental ability after PA and SCNT. The
results from these experiments indicated that maturation rates among
the different VEGF concentrations were not significant different. In
experiment 2, total intracellular GSH concentrations of oocytes
matured with VEGF (5-50 ng/ml) were increased significantly
compared to a control and VEGF group (500 ng/ml). In experiment 3,
the blastocyst formation rates and total cell number per blastocyst
after parthenogenesis of oocytes matured with VEGF (5-50 ng/ml)
were increased significantly compared to a control and VEGF group
(500 ng/ml). Similarly, in experiment 4, the blastocyst formation rate
and total cell number per blastocyst after SCNT and IVF of oocytes
matured with VEGF (5 ng/ml) were significantly higher than that of
oocytes matured without VEGF group. In experiment 5, at 10 hour
after the onset of IVF, pronuclear formation rate was evaluated.
Monospermy was significantly higher in VEGF-matured oocytes than
in the control, and polyspermy and sperm penetration per oocyte
were significantly higher in the control group than in the VEGFmatured
oocytes. Supplementation with VEGF during IVM
significantly improved male pronuclear formation as compared with
the control. In experiment 6, type III cortical granule distribution in
oocytes was more common in VEGF-matured oocytes than in the
control. In conclusion, the present study suggested that
supplementation of VEGF during IVM may enhance the
developmental potential of porcine in vitro embryos through increase
of the intracellular GSH level, higher MPN formation and increased
fertilization rate as a consequence of an improved cytoplasmic
maturation.
Abstract: In this study we present the effect of elevated
temperatures from 300K to 400K on the electrical properties of
copper Phthalocyanine (CuPc) based organic field effect transistors
(OFET). Thin films of organic semiconductor CuPc (40nm) and
semitransparent Al (20nm) were deposited in sequence, by vacuum
evaporation on a glass substrate with previously deposited Ag source
and drain electrodes with a gap of 40 μm. Under resistive mode of
operation, where gate was suspended it was observed that drain
current of this organic field effect transistor (OFET) show an
increase with temperature. While in grounded gate condition metal
(aluminum) – semiconductor (Copper Phthalocyanine) Schottky
junction dominated the output characteristics and device showed
switching effect from low to high conduction states like Zener diode
at higher bias voltages. This threshold voltage for switching effect
has been found to be inversely proportional to temperature and shows
an abrupt decrease after knee temperature of 360K. Change in
dynamic resistance (Rd = dV/dI) with respect to temperature was
observed to be -1%/K.
Abstract: Prediction of sinusoidal signals with time-varying
frequencies has been an important research topic in power electronics
systems. To solve this problem, we propose a new fuzzy
predictive filtering scheme, which is based on a Finite Impulse
Response (FIR) filter bank. Fuzzy logic is introduced here to provide
appropriate interpolation of individual filter outputs. Therefore,
instead of regular 'hard' switching, our method has the advantageous
'soft' switching among different filters. Simulation
comparisons between the fuzzy predictive filtering and conventional
filter bank-based approach are made to demonstrate that the
new scheme can achieve an enhanced prediction performance for
slowly changing sinusoidal input signals.
Abstract: Nano fibers produced by electrospinning are of industrial and scientific attention due to their special characteristics such as long length, small diameter and high surface area. Applications of electrospun structures in nanotechnology are included tissue scaffolds, fibers for drug delivery, composite reinforcement, chemical sensing, enzyme immobilization, membrane-based filtration, protective clothing, catalysis, solar cells, electronic devices and others. Many polymer and ceramic precursor nano fibers have been successfully electrospun with diameters in the range from 1 nm to several microns. The process is complex so that fiber diameter is influenced by various material, design and operating parameters. The objective of this work is to apply genetic algorithm on the parameters of electrospinning which have the most significant effect on the nano fiber diameter to determine the optimum parameter values before doing experimental set up. Effective factors including initial polymer concentration, initial jet radius, electrical potential, relaxation time, initial elongation, viscosity and distance between nozzle and collector are considered to determine finest diameter which is selected by user.
Abstract: The ongoing effort to develop an in-house
compressible solver with multi-disciplinary physics is presented in
this paper. Basic compressible solver combined with IBM technique
provides us an effective numerical tool able to tackle the physics
phenomena and especially physic phenomena involved in Solid
Rocket Motors (SRMs). Main principles are introduced step by step
describing its implementation. This paper sheds light on the whole
potentiality of our proposed numerical model and we strongly believe
a way to introduce multi-physics mechanisms strongly coupled is
opened to ablation in nozzle, fluid/structure interaction and burning
propellant surface with time.
Abstract: A new sythetic gene coding for a Human
Elastin-Like Polypeptide was constructed and expressed. The
recombinant product was tested as coating agent to realize a
surface suitable for cell growth. Coatings showed peculiar
features and different human cell lines were seeded and
cultured. All cell lines tested showed to adhere and proliferate
on this substrate that has been shown also to exert a specific
effect on cells, depending on cell type.
Abstract: An effective approach for extracting document images from a noisy background is introduced. The entire scheme is divided into three sub- stechniques – the initial preprocessing operations for noise cluster tightening, introduction of a new thresholding method by maximizing the ratio of stan- dard deviations of the combined effect on the image to the sum of weighted classes and finally the image restoration phase by image binarization utiliz- ing the proposed optimum threshold level. The proposed method is found to be efficient compared to the existing schemes in terms of computational complexity as well as speed with better noise rejection.
Abstract: In this paper we introduce some subspaces of fuzzy entire sequence space. Some general properties of these sequence spaces are discussed. Also some inclusion relation involving the spaces are obtained. Mathematics Subject Classification: 40A05, 40D25.
Abstract: Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a secondary metabolite
produced by Penicillium brevicompactum, which has antibiotic and
immunosuppressive properties. In this study, the first, mycophenolic
acid was produced in a fermentation process by Penicillium
brevicompactum MUCL 19011 in shake flask using a base medium.
The maximum MPA production, product yield and productivity of
process were 1.379 g/L, 18.6 mg/g glucose and 4.9 mg/L. h,
respectively. Also the glucose consumption, biomass and MPA
production profiles were investigated during batch cultivation.
Obtained results showed that MPA production starts approximately
after 180 hours and reaches to a maximum at 280 h. In the next step,
the effects of some various concentrations of enzymatically
hydrolyzed casein on MPA production were evaluated. Maximum
MPA production, product yield and productivity as 3.63 g/L, 49
mg/g glucose and 12.96 mg/L.h, respectively were obtained with
using 30 g/L enzymatically hydrolyzed casein in culture medium.
These values show an enhanced MPA production, product yield and
process productivity pr as 116.8%, 132.8% and 163.2%, respectively.
Abstract: We used mathematical model to study the
transmission of dengue disease. The model is developed in which
the human population is separated into two populations, pregnant and
non-pregnant humans. The dynamical analysis method is used for
analyzing this modified model. Two equilibrium states are found and
the conditions for stability of theses two equilibrium states are
established. Numerical results are shown for each equilibrium state.
The basic reproduction numbers are found and they are compared by
using numerical simulations.
Abstract: Measuring the effect of perinatal lead exposure on learning ability of offspring is considered as a sensitive and selective index for providing an early marker for central nervous system damage produced by this toxic metal. A total of 35 Sprague-Dawley adult rats were used to investigate the effect of lead acetate toxicity on behavioral patterns of adult female rats and learning ability of offspring. Rats were allotted into 4 groups, group one received 1g/l lead acetate (n=10), group two received 1.5g/l lead acetate (n=10), group three received 2g/l lead acetate in drinking water (n=10) and control group did not receive lead acetate (n=5) from 8th day of pregnancy till weaning of pups.
The obtained results revealed a dose dependent increase in the feeding time, drinking frequency, licking frequency, scratching frequency, licking litters, nest building and retrieving frequencies, while standing time increased significantly in rats treated with 1.5g/l lead acetate than other treated groups and control, on contrary lying time decreased gradually in a dose dependent manner. Moreover, movement activities were higher in rats treated with 1g/l lead acetate than other treated groups and control. Furthermore, time spent in closed arms was significantly lower in rats given 2g/l lead acetate than other treated groups, while, they spent significantly much time spent in open arms than other treated groups which could be attributed to occurrence of adaptation. Furthermore, number of entries in open arms was dose dependent. However, the ratio between open/closed arms revealed a significant decrease in rats treated with 2g/l lead acetate than control group.
Abstract: In this paper we introduced new wavelet based algorithm for speckle reduction of synthetic aperture radar images, which uses combination of undecimated wavelet transformation, wiener filter (which is an adaptive filter) and mean filter. Further more instead of using existing thresholding techniques such as sure shrinkage, Bayesian shrinkage, universal thresholding, normal thresholding, visu thresholding, soft and hard thresholding, we use brute force thresholding, which iteratively run the whole algorithm for each possible candidate value of threshold and saves each result in array and finally selects the value for threshold that gives best possible results. That is why it is slow as compared to existing thresholding techniques but gives best results under the given algorithm for speckle reduction.
Abstract: This paper discusses a new heavy tailed distribution based data hiding into discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of image, which provides statistical security as well as robustness against steganalysis attacks. Unlike other data hiding algorithms, the proposed technique does not introduce much effect in the stegoimage-s DCT coefficient probability plots, thus making the presence of hidden data statistically undetectable. In addition the proposed method does not compromise on hiding capacity. When compared to the generic block DCT based data-hiding scheme, our method found more robust against a variety of image manipulating attacks such as filtering, blurring, JPEG compression etc.
Abstract: Ants are fascinating creatures that demonstrate the
ability to find food and bring it back to their nest. Their ability as a
colony, to find paths to food sources has inspired the development of
algorithms known as Ant Colony Systems (ACS). The principle of
cooperation forms the backbone of such algorithms, commonly used
to find solutions to problems such as the Traveling Salesman
Problem (TSP). Ants communicate to each other through chemical
substances called pheromones. Modeling individual ants- ability to
manipulate this substance can help an ACS find the best solution.
This paper introduces a Dynamic Ant Colony System with threelevel
updates (DACS3) that enhance an existing ACS. Experiments
were conducted to observe single ant behavior in a colony of
Malaysian House Red Ants. Such behavior was incorporated into the
DACS3 algorithm. We benchmark the performance of DACS3 versus
DACS on TSP instances ranging from 14 to 100 cities. The result
shows that the DACS3 algorithm can achieve shorter distance in
most cases and also performs considerably faster than DACS.
Abstract: An important official knowledge in each country is to
have a comprehensive knowledge about markets of each group of
products. Drink markets are one the most important markets of each
country as a sub-group of nourishment markets. This paper is going
to study these markets in Iran. To do so, first, two drink products are
selected as pilot, including milk and concentrate. Then, for each
product, two groups of information are estimated for the last five
years, including 1) total consumption (demand) and 2) total
production. Finally, the two groups of productions are compared
statistically by means of two statistical tests called t test and Mann-
Whitney test. The implemented Different related tables and figures
are also illustrated to show the method more explicitly.
Abstract: The basic aim of our study is to give a possible model for handling uncertain information. This model is worked out in the framework of DATALOG. The concept of multivalued knowledgebase will be defined as a quadruple of any background knowledge; a deduction mechanism; a connecting algorithm, and a function set of the program, which help us to determine the uncertainty levels of the results. At first the concept of fuzzy Datalog will be summarized, then its extensions for intuitionistic- and interval-valued fuzzy logic is given and the concept of bipolar fuzzy Datalog is introduced. Based on these extensions the concept of multivalued knowledge-base will be defined. This knowledge-base can be a possible background of a future agent-model.
Abstract: In Egypt, the concept of Asset Management (AM) is
new; however, the need for applying it has become crucial because
deteriorating or losing an asset is unaffordable in a developing
country like Egypt. Therefore the current study focuses on
educational buildings as one of the most important assets regarding
planning, building, operating and maintenance expenditures. The
main objective of this study is to develop a SAMF for educational
buildings in Egypt. The General Authority for Educational Buildings
(GAEB) was chosen as a case study of the current research as it
represents the biggest governmental organization responsible for
planning, operating and maintaining schools in Egypt. To achieve the
research objective, structured interviews were conducted with senior
managers of GAEB using a pre designed questionnaire to explore the
current practice of AM. Gab analysis technique was applied against
best practices compounded from a vast literature review to identify
gaps between current practices and the desired one. The previous
steps mainly revealed; limited knowledge about strategic asset
management, no clear goals, no training, no real risk plan and lack of
data, technical and financial resources. Based on the findings, a
SAMF for GAEB was introduced and Framework implementation
steps and assessment techniques were explained in detail.