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Finishing is the final work in the building work element. A delicate and neat finish can describe the status of the building as well as provide a liven up the space. The quality of the finish depends on the finishing method and the tools used while doing the finishing. One of the finishing works is plastering the ceiling. Plastering the ceiling is a way to cover the surface using cement plaster, lime plaster or gypsum. Plastering the ceiling aims to cover defects on the original surface of a ceiling in order to highlight the tidiness and provide protection to the ceiling. The initial surveys obtained by the Department of Public Work (PWD) and construction workers at Taman Merlimau Emas Seksyen 1 , it’s found that the problem faced by theirs non-ergonomic ceiling plastering work. This is because this work requires the process of taking mixed plaster from the mixing bucket as well as the process of levelling the plaster on the ceiling by using existing tools repeatedly which can lead to the risk of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). The objective is to innovate Ceiling Plaster Gun. Secondly, to measure the suitability of the product from the aspect of time taken during ceiling plastering, layer of plaster layer and product design. The effectiveness of this product is to ensure whether this product can be used in the long term or not. Therefore, the tests carried out to measure the effectiveness by comparing existing tools and our products are by conducting on-site tests. In addition, a questionnaire was also conducted to construction workers who use our products to test the effectiveness of the Ceiling Plaster Gun. Overall, the existing plaster tools have a lack of effectiveness compared to the Ceiling Plaster Gun which is able to reduce the risk of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs).

Nature is an essential source of inspiration for designers with the variety of biological and complex organic forms it includes. Such a variation is difficult to capture with conventional design methods. Knowledge of advanced digital tools and parametric modeling, in particular, is crucial for finding a new way to solve design problems and help with creativity and innovation in design. The present research has stressed the importance of parametric modeling use in designing interior architecture, and fostering designers' innovation to come up with innovative and unconventional ideas and activities that satisfy all needs of the user. With parametric modeling methods, we can understand the nature of organic engineering, which will foster its analysis, measurement, and simulation in design thus helping designers to focus more on creativity and innovation. The research followed the descriptive, analytical, and applied methodology to shed light on the use of parametric modeling in designing interior architecture by some parametric modeling software. Furthermore, the research highlighted some of the outstanding global projects of parametric design. And highlighted some suggestions, Results, and recommendations that emphasize the role of parametric in enhancing Interior architecture.

The research entitled "The political dispute between the government of Jaafar Muhammad Nimeiri and the Sudanese Communist Party and its impact on the internal situation 1970-1971". It includes the events that Sudan experienced during the rule of Jaafar Muhammad Nimeiri, as well as the political conflicts between the Sudanese parties and their impact on the internal situation in Sudan, which has become a subject. The problems and instability due to these deteriorating conditions and what worsened the internal situation was the coup of the Communist Party against the Sudanese government led by Major Hashim Al-Atta. Still, that coup was ended, and those involved in the resurrection were executed.

The BRCA1-associated deubiquitylase BAP1 is mutated in several cancers, most notably mesothelioma and melanoma, where it is thought to promote oncogenesis. In this study, we present evidence that BAP1 functions as part of the DNA damage response (DDR). We found that BAP1 mediates rapid poly(ADP-ribose)-dependent recruitment of the polycomb deubiquitylase complex PR-DUB to sites of DNA damage. Furthermore, we identified BAP1 as a phosphorylation target for the DDR kinase ATM. Functionally, BAP1 promoted repair of DNA double-strand breaks, enhancing cell survival after DNA damage. Our results highlight the importance of ubiquitin turnover at sites of DNA damage, and they provide a mechanism to account for the tumor-suppressive function of BAP1. Cancer Res; 74(16); 4282–94. ©2014 AACR.

PDF file - 41KB, Figure S3. Time-lapse microscopy of GFP-BAP1 after laser micro-irradiation in: (A) U2OS cells treated with DMSO or ATM specific inhibitor (ATMi)( 10 uM) for 1 hr. (B) ATM deficient cells (EBS) or ATM deficient cells reconstituted with functional ATM (YZ5). Data are average of two independent experiments (n=15). Error bars represent stand error of the SEM. (C) Inhibition of ATM activity in cells. Immunostaining of U2OS cells treated with DMSO or ATM inhibitor (ATMi) (10 uM) for 1 hr. Cells were then irradiated with 2 Gy, allowed to recover for 30 min and immunostained with gammaH2AX antibody (as an example of ATM substrate) and counterstained with DAPI to reveal DNA. Bars, 5 microm.

PDF file - 46KB, Table S2: Effect of different fixative agents on BAP1 localization in cells after DNA damage. U2OS cells were left untreated or exposed to IR (2 Gy) or UV light for 2 min (60 J/min). Cells were allowed to recover for 1 hr before fixation as outlined in the above table and processed for immunostaining as described in the material and methods. Results are summarized in the above the table. Methanol, Met. Paraformaldehyde, PFA. Acetone, Acet.

PDF file - 35KB, Figure S4. Immunoblot analysis of PARP1/2 expression. (A) U2OS cells were transfected with control (Ctr) or PARP1 siRNA for 48 hr. Nuclear extracts were prepared and immunoblotting was performed using the indicated antibodies. (B) Knockdown of PARP2 in U2OS cells. U2OS cells were transfected with control or PARP2 siRNA for 48 h. Nuclear extracts were prepared and immunoblotted using PARP2 antibody. Actin was used as a loading control. (C) PR-DUB complex does not bind PAR in vitro. SDS-PAGE of 100 ng purified GST-BAP1, GST-ASXL1 or BAP1/ASXL1 blotted onto a nitrocellulose membrane and incubated in 250 nM 32P-labeled PAR in TBS-T. As a control, histones and BSA were included as a positive and a negative control respectively.

PDF file - 47KB, Figure S6. BRCA1 siRNA efficiently knocked down BRCA1 in cells. (A) U2OS cells were transfected with control (Ctr) siRNA or BRCA1 siRNA for 48 hr. Nuclear extracts were prepared from these cells, and BRCA1 expression was determined by immunoblotting using BRCA1 specific antibody. As a loading control, membranes were probed for actin. (B) The specificity of the BRCA1 antibody used in this study. Immunostaining of U2OS cells transfected with control (Ctr) or BRCA1 specific siRNA (BRCA1 siRNA). Cells were transfected with the indicated siRNA for 48 hr. Cells were then irradiated with 2 Gy, allowed to recover for 1 hr and immunostained with BRCA1 antibody and counterstained with DAPI to reveal DNA. (C) Immunostaining of BMI1 and 53BP1 in response to DNA damage. U2OS were transfected with control (Ctr shRNA) or BAP1 specific shRNA (BAP1 shRNA) for 48 hr. Cell were then irradiated with 2 Gy of IR and left to recover for 30 min. Cells were immunostained with BMI1 and 53BP1 antibodies and counterstained with DAPI to reveal DNA. Bars, 5 microm.

PDF file - 70KB, Figure S1: The specificity of the BAP1 antibody used in this study. (A) Immunostaining of U2OS cells transfected with control (Ctr) or BAP1 specific shRNA (BAP1 shRNA). Cells were transfected with the indicated shRNA for 48 hr and immunostained with BAP1 antibody and counterstained with DAPI to reveal DNA. (B) Transfection of the FokI nuclease fusion construct into U2OS cells containing the stably integrated reporter leads to local accumulation of damage response proteins γH2AX and GFP-BAP1. 24 hours after co-transfection of GFP-BAP1 and Fok1 constructs, cells were immunostained with γH2AX antibody and counterstained with DAPI to reveal DNA. GFP-BAP1 enriches at the sites of DSBs. Arrows indicate the enrichment of proteins at sites of DSBs. Bars, 5 microm.

PDF file - 39KB, Figure S5. Effect of MG132 on BAP1 recruitment to sites of DNA damage. (A) U2OS cells expressing GFP-BAP1 were either treated with DMSO or MG132 (1 uM) for 1 hr. Cells were monitored after micro-irradiation using time-lapse microscopy. The integrated intensity in the micro-irradiated areas was determined (n = 15) and the percentage of maximum value was plotted versus time. SEM of at least two independent experiments. (B) Flow cytometer profiles of the experiment done in figure 6A and B.

PDF file - 46KB, Figure S2: ChIP analysis demonstrates enrichment of GFP-BAP1 WT but not GFP-BAP1-ΔUCH across reporter locus compared to IgG control. (A) U2OS cells containing the stably integrated reporter were co-transfected with GFP alone, GFP-BAP1 WT or GFP-BAP1-ΔUCH and Fok1 constructs for 24 hr. Cells were then fixed and subjected to chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) using GFP or IgG antibodies. ch7 represents negative control locus on chromosome 7. Data are from two independent experiments. SEM represent standard error of the mean. (B) Knock down of BAP1 in cells using BAP1 specific shRNA. U2OS cells were transfected with control (Ctr) or one of two different BAP1 shRNA (BAP1 shRNA 1 and BAP1 shRNA2) for 48 hr. Nuclear extracts were prepared and immunoblotting was performed using the indicated antibodies. (C) Knockdown of ASXL1 in U2OS cells. U2OS cells were transfected with control or a ASXL1 shRNA for 48 h. Nuclear extracts were prepared and immunoblotted using ASXL1 and BAP1 antibodies. Actin was used as a loading control. (D) Association of BAP1 and ASXL1 is not altered in response to DNA damage. U2OS cells were left untreated or exposed to radiation (6 Gy) and allowed to recover for 2 hr. Nuclear extracts were prepared and immunoprecipitation was conducted with BAP1 or ASXL1 antibodies. Flow through (FT) and elute (El) and 20% of the input was immunoblotted as indicated.

Background: Variable palliative options are now made available for patients suffering metastatic bone deposits, which in turn can be very painful, debilitating and crippling, let alone their negative impact on daily life activities, undermining the whole quality of life for affected individuals. With the wide range of available treatment options, comes wide possible drawbacks for each type of treatment. In our study we aim at assessing the safety and efficacy of thermal ablation guided by imaging tools to treat painful bony metastasis and hopefully providing better overall quality of life. Patients and methods: 12 patients underwent thermal ablation, 10 underwent RF ablation and 2 underwent microwave ablation, follow up was done at baseline, at 24 hours, 1, 2 and weeks as well as 1, 2 and months post-treatment. Pain scores were calculated at each point and compared in correlation to the treatment received. Results: At baseline, mean pain scores were around 9. At 3rd month post-treatment follow up the median value became 2, with a significant p value of about 0.003. Conclusion: radiofrequency/microwave ablation have statistically significant effect in pain reduction hence, quality of life in treatment of patients with metastatic bone tumors.

Urinary schistosomiasis is a tropical parasitic disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium and is usually associated with lesions in the genito-urinary tracts of affected people. A cross-sectional study was designed to examine factors influencing the occurrence of the disease among inhabitants of the IDP camps located in Maiduguri between October 2016 and June 2019. Information on demography, major sources of water supply and water-contact behaviours were obtained using pre-validated structured questionnaire. Urine samples were collected and examined for Schistosoma haematobium eggs using standard methods. A sample yielding at least one egg was considered positive while a sample that did not yield any was considered to be negative. The characteristics and disease risk factors were compared between respondents that tested positive and those that were negative for the infection using univariable statistical analysis and factors found to be significant were further analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. The results showed the overall prevalence of infection among the IDPs to be 21.9% (95% Confidence Interval, 95% CI= 19.54-24.42%). The multivariable logistic regression model showed that the statistically significant (p

Objective: On 6 October 2019, Petaling District Health Office received notification of a possible foodborne outbreak involving a mass gathering event. This report presents the processes of diagnosis verification, case identification, determination of associated risk factors and commencement of control measures in managing the outbreak. Methods: Cases were defined as those who attended the mass gathering event on 6 October 2019, consumed the pre-packaged food and subsequently developed vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea or other symptoms (e.g. fever, nausea and dizziness). Epidemiological, environmental and laboratory investigations were performed. Data were analysed using SPSS software (version 24.0). Results: A total of 169 cases were identified. The attack rate was 7.2%, and cases ranged in age from 7 to 50 years, with a median of 20 years. A total of 156 (92.3%) cases had vomiting, 137 (81.1%) had abdominal pain and 83 (49.1%) had diarrhoea. Consuming nasi lemak at the mass gathering was found to be significantly associated with developing illness (odds ratio: 9.90, 95% confidence interval: 6.46–15.16). The samples from suspected food, food handlers and the environment were positive for Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus or coliforms. Discussion: The outbreak at this mass gathering was probably caused by food contaminated with B. cereus and S. aureus. To prevent future outbreaks, we recommend mass gathering events use certified catering services that have adequate food safety training.

The new fifth generation (5G) mobile cellular network brings enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communication (e.g. IoT), critical machine type communication and fixed wireless access and will accommodate new services and applications such as augmented reality, and seamless streaming to all. 5G will boost security with encrypted data, segmented networks (network slices), enhanced privacy, and user authentication, but the 5G success may also attract attackers to look for vulnerabilities, exploits or eavesdropping. The increase in connected devices creates more targets, and larger attack surfaces, hence attacks on vital connected systems could become more chaotic and consequential. The MITRE Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge (ATT&CK) framework attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the methods (Techniques) by which an attacker can achieve various operational objectives (Tactics). However, some techniques may not be included in the MITRE ATT&CK matrices. This paper proposes to enhance the ATT & CK framework with Adversarial Tactics and Techniques catered for the mobile network infrastructure – CONCORDIA Mobile Threat Modeling Framework (CMTMF).

DNA end resection is a critical step in the homologous recombination pathway of repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that can be visualized in cells by detecting the generation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) intermediates formed during the resection of the DSBs. Here, we describe quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction-based procedures to quantitatively measure ssDNA intermediates formed during the DNA end resection. Using the ER-AsiSI system, we use differential digestion patterns by restriction endonucleases that digest unresected double-stranded DNA at DSB sites. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Fitieh et al. (2022).

Here, we present a chromatin-immunoprecipitation-based protocol to quantify the recruitment of proteins adjacent to site-specific DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), such as proteins involved in DSB repair. We describe steps to induce DSBs in U2OS osteosarcoma cells stably expressing the restriction endonucleases FokI or AsiSI. We then detail the procedures of chromatin isolation and immunoprecipitation, followed by protein elution and quantitative-PCR-based quantification of DNA. This protocol cannot be used on DSBs generated at random loci by DNA damaging agents. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Fitieh et al. (2022).

Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic foodborne parasite capable of infecting almost all warm-blooded animal species worldwide. Toxoplasmosis is usually acquired via ingestion of undercooked infected animal tissues resulting in life-threatening consequences for unborn foetus and immunocompromised individuals. A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection, its associated risk factors in farms, and haplotypes isolated from the native village chicken and pig populations in Peninsular Malaysia. The seroprevalence of T. gondii in village chickens at the animal level was low at 7.6% (95% CI: 4.60–11.60), while at the farm level, it was 52.0% (95% CI: 31.30–72.20). For pigs, the animal-level seroprevalence of T. gondii was 3.0% (95% CI: 1.60–5.10), while the farm-level, it was 31.6% (95% CI: 12.60–56.60). The PCR-based DNA detection on meat samples from chickens (n = 250) and pork (n = 121) detected 14.0% (95% CI: 9.95–18.9) and 5.8% (95% CI: 2.4–11.6) positive, respectively. Six unique T. gondii haplotypes were isolated from the tissue samples. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that feeding the chickens farm-produced feeds and allowing wild animals access to pig farms were significant determinants for farm-level seropositivity. Providing hygienic and good quality feeds to chickens and increasing biosecurity in pig farms through prevention of access by wildlife may reduce the risk of transmission of T. gondii infection in the local chickens and pig farms.

High rate of multi drug resistance bacteria caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae is increasing day by day, which in turn becomes medical and economic important to humans. The present study investigates the antibacterial effect of bitter leaf on Klebsiella pneumoniae. Frothing test and agar well diffusion method was used in this study. The former method indicate the presence of phytochemicals such saponin, tannin, flavonoid, alkaloid and carbohydrate in the plant while the later method indicate the potential effect of the plant extract to inhibit the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae under different concentration ranging 2.5, 5, 10 20 mg/mL. The various zones of inhibition obtained under these concentrations were 0.0±0, 7±0.8, 11±0.6 and 14.00±1.3 mm, respectively. The highest zone of inhibition recorded was 26.00±2.3 mm using control experiment whereby no activity was obtained using 2.5 mg/mL plant extract. Thus, increase in the concentrations of extract was found to inhibit the growth of the bacteria under study. This research reports the potential effect of Vernonia amygdalina on the activity of K. pneumoniae.

BackgroundBardet–Biedl syndrome is a rare multisystem autosomal recessive disorder that falls under the spectrum of ciliopathy disorders. It is characterized by rod–cone dystrophy, renal malformations, polydactyly, learning difficulties, central obesity, and hypogonadism. Many minor features that are related with Bardet–Biedl syndrome might aid in diagnosis and are crucial in clinical management. Bardet–Biedl syndrome is diagnosed on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms, which can be confirmed by genetic testing. Here we present four cases of Bardet–Biedl syndrome. To our knowledge, these are the first cases of Bardet–Biedl syndrome reported from Sudan.Case presentationHere, we report four Sudanese patients who presented with a variety of clinical manifestations of Bardet–Biedl syndrome (two males, 50 and 16 years old; two females, 38 and 18 years old). The first two patients presented with features of chronic kidney disease. The third patient had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis. The fourth patient showed signs of retinal dystrophy early on. Case 1: a 38-year-old female presented with vomiting and irritability; the patient was diagnosed with Bardet–Biedl syndrome as she fulfilled six items of the primary features (obesity, retinitis pigmentosa, post-axial polydactyly, renal abnormalities, learning disabilities, and genitourinary malformations), as well as one secondary feature (cardiovascular involvement, that is, left ventricular hypertrophy). Case 2: a 50-year-old male presented with fatigability; the patient was diagnosed with Bardet–Biedl syndrome as he fulfilled four items of the primary features (obesity, retinitis pigmentosa, post-axial polydactyly, and renal abnormalities) in addition to two secondary features (diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular involvement, that is, left ventricular hypertrophy). Case 3: an 18-year-old female presented with polyuria, polydipsia, weight loss, and epigastric pain for 2 days; the patient was diagnosed with Bardet–Biedl syndrome because he had four major features (retinal dystrophy, post-axial polydactyly, obesity, and learning disabilities) in addition to three secondary features (developmental delay, diabetes mellitus, and strabismus). Case 4: a 16-year-old male presented with a blurring of vision; the patient was diagnosed with Bardet–Biedl syndrome as he exhibited four major features (retinal dystrophy, post-axial polydactyly, obesity, and learning disabilities) plus two secondary features (developmental delay and cataract).ConclusionThe scarcity of Bardet–Biedl syndrome necessitates a high index of suspicion to diagnose this syndrome. Increased awareness among physicians is required for the early diagnosis and treatment of Bardet–Biedl syndrome and to avoid complications and mortality.

For a channel with a constant discharge, the characteristics of the surge wave entering a junction are obtained from the classical Stoker solution, and then the effect of the junction is analysed b...

Diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) via images of colour fundus requires experienced clinicians to determine the presence and importance of a large number of small characteristics. This work proposes and named Adapted Stacked Auto Encoder (ASAE-DNN) a novel deep learning framework for diabetic retinopathy (DR), three hidden layers have been used to extract features and classify them then use a Softmax classification. The models proposed are checked on Messidor's data set, including 800 training images and 150 test images. Exactness, accuracy, time, recall and calculation are assessed for the outcomes of the proposed models. The results of these studies show that the model ASAE-DNN was 97% accurate.

Solid tumours are often poorly oxygenated, which confers resistance to standard treatment modalities. Targeting hypoxic tumours requires compounds, such as nitroimidazoles (NIs), equipped with the ability to reach and become activated within diffusion limited tumour niches. NIs become selectively entrapped in hypoxic cells through bioreductive activation, and have shown promise as hypoxia directed therapeutics. However, little is known about their mechanism of action, hindering the broader clinical usage of NIs. Iodoazomycin arabinofuranoside (IAZA) and fluoroazomycin arabinofuranoside (FAZA) are clinically validated 2-NI hypoxic radiotracers with excellent tumour uptake properties. Hypoxic cancer cells have also shown preferential susceptibility to IAZA and FAZA treatment, making them ideal candidates for an in-depth study in a therapeutic setting. Using a head and neck cancer model, we show that hypoxic cells display higher sensitivity to IAZA and FAZA, where the drugs alter cell morphology, compromise DNA replication, slow down cell cycle progression and induce replication stress, ultimately leading to cytostasis. Effects of IAZA and FAZA on target cellular macromolecules (DNA, proteins and glutathione) were characterized to uncover potential mechanism(s) of action. Covalent binding of these NIs was only observed to cellular proteins, but not to DNA, under hypoxia. While protein levels remained unaffected, catalytic activities of NI target proteins, such as the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and the detoxification enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST) were significantly curtailed in response to drug treatment under hypoxia. Intraperitoneal administration of IAZA was well-tolerated in mice and produced early (but transient) growth inhibition of subcutaneous mouse tumours.

تعد الهوية السمة الدالة لكل عنصر والمميزة لوجوده بين الموجودات فقد ارتبط وجود الإنسان بهويته منذ القدم متمثلة بروابط الدم والإنتماء القبلي اللذان يعدان رمزا لهويته وعنوانا لوجوده ، ولرمزية ذلك في تحديد سمات الفرد ومركزه الاجتماعي سواء أكان ضمن حدود فئته أو قبيلته أو ضمن حدود اوسع بالنسبة لفئات أو قبائل أخرى . كانت تلك السمات الطابع الذي اتسم به عصر ما قبل الإسلام في تحديد هوية قبائله وأفرادها ، ونظراَ لأهمية ذلك فقد نهج البحث دراسة الهوية في نثر عصر ما قبل الإسلام خطبة ووصاياه كاشفا عن مفهوم الهوية وأهميتها في الخطب والوصايا بكونها ثروة لغوية وفكرية وأدبية صدرت عن ملكات متباينة اجتماعيا وذاتيا مبيناً لمدى تاثير ذلك في المتلقين بمختلف مستوياتهم وموضحا لأهم التحديات التي يواجهها صانع النص لتحقيق غاياته المنشودة .

Reports of avian malaria parasites in village chicken in Nigeria generally remain fragmentary and scarce. The study was conducted in Gombe Local Government Area of Gombe State, Nigeria to investigate avian malaria parasites in Village Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) and to determine the risk factors associated with the prevalence of the haemoparasites. A total of 530 village chickens blood samples were obtained from apparently healthy village chickens' brachial veins using sterile 2mls syringes and 23 gauge needles. Thin blood smear was made from each blood sample, and Giemsa stained and examined for the presence of avian haemoparasites under an electro-microscope. The result indicates 23.8% overall prevalence rate of three species of avian malaria parasites consisting of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon species.Plasmodium spp. has the highest prevalent rate of 13.0% followed by Haemoproteus spp. (5.1%), mixed Plasmodium spp. + Haemoproteus spp. (4.9%) infection and Leucocytozoon spp. (0.8%). Prevalence of avian malaria parasites was significantly higher in cocks compared to hens (p < 0.05), as well as higher in adults compared to growers chickens (p < 0.05). This study also showed a higher prevalence of avian malaria parasites during the rainy season compared to the dry season of the study period. It was concluded that haemoparasites of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon species that occur in both single and mixed infections are prevalent among village chickens that are apparently healthy in Gombe Local Government Area of Gombe State, Nigeria.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effect of particle size on semiconductor properties; artificial intelligence is being used for the research methods. As a result, we picked cadmium sulfide (CdS), which is a unique semiconductor material that is employed in a broad variety of current applications. Given that CdS has distinct electrical and optical characteristics, it may be employed in the production of solar cells, for example. Solar cells, as is also well known, have become an essential source of energy in the world. Within the visible range (500-700 nm), we create one layer of bulk CdS and one layer of nano-CdS air bulk CdS air and air nano-CdS air. We used a number of instrumentation methods to investigate the naked CdS nanoparticles, including XRD, SEM-EDX, UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM, XPS, and PL spectroscopy, among others. The results show that for bulk CdS at normal incidence, the transmittance is T = 45 , and for nano-CdS with particle size 3 nm, the transmittance is T = 85.8 , with transverse-electric (S-polarized) and transverse-magnetic (P-polarized) transmittances of TE = 75 and TM = 80 , respectively.

Background Breast cancer is a major health problem in women and early detection is of prime importance. Objective We aimed to evaluate the role of diffusion-weighted imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) in detection of breast lesions and characterization of these detected lesions. Patients and methods 40 female patients with suspicious 50 breast lesions detected by sonomammography, in addition to the routine protocol that includes T1Wi's, T2Wi's, STIR, DCE-MRI and DWI sequences (with ADC maps) all participants underwent DWIBS sequence (with ADC maps). The histopathology served as reference standard. First, we compared the detectability of breast lesions on DWIBS with that of the DWI. We then compared the ADCs of the malignant lesions (n = 35) to that of the benign lesions (n = 15) in both DWI and DWIBS. Results Thirty seven lesions were detected via DWIBS (detectability of 74.0%) which was less than that of DWI (detectability of 78.0%). In DWIBS, the mean ADC value of the malignant lesions (0.80 ± 0.27 × 10-3mm2/s) was significantly lower than that of the benign lesions (1.40 ± 0.41 × 10-3mm2/s). With a cut-off value of 1.3 × 10-3mm2/s for ADC, DWIBS achieved 85.7% sensitivity and 80% specificity for differentiating between benign and malignant lesions. Conclusion Although it showed lower detectability for breast lesions than DWI, our study suggests that DWIBS is superior to DWI in the characterization of malignant breast lesions.. Also based on ADC, DWIBS provides additional information that may further increase the specificity of breast lesion characterization.

The Wadi Faliq El Sahl–Faliq El Waar area comprises four various types of rocks including metavolcanics, older granites, Hammamat sediments, and younger granites of monzogranite and syenogranite composition. From the various structural analyses in the investigated area, the main trends controlling the structural and tectonic framework are ENE-WSW and NE-SW, while the trends NNE-SSW, WNW-ESE, and N-S are less abundant. Three major phases of deformation are detected in the study area, each of which gives its specific trends according to the applied stress axis during the time of deformation. The first phase shows compressive stress whose σ1 maximum compressional axis was E-W trend (N81°W). The second phase is a compression phase in which the σ1 maximum compression axis was directed N13°W. The third phase represents a trans-tensional (extensional) stress system, in which the maximum tension force (σ1) is in the N-S trend. The study area passed through four stages of evolution, which are (1) the arc-metavolcanic formation with island arc assemblage and the intrusion of older granitoids during the inter-collision of the island arcs; (2) the tectonic processes forming the inter-mountainous basins; (3) the folding of the Hammamat basin under Najd-related shear zones; and (4) the intrusion of syenogranite and uplifting of the Hammamat sediments during the Late Precambrian rifting. The potash-rich outer zone of pegmatite bosses in the younger granites recorded high values of gamma radioactivity with U content.

Typical engineering design of rock weirs rely on simplified one-dimensional equations dependent on empirical coefficients. However, most simplified methods fail to accurately predict the hy...

Understanding the complex flow and sediment transport on vegetated slopes is important for ecological restoration and conservation projects. This study quantifies the erodibility of sand in...

The market pressure on the mobile operators to improve bottom line, network performance, competence needs and rapid changing business environment led the operators to adopt managed services at different levels in their operation. Transferring value chain activities to an expert service provider is called a “managed service”.Managed services are a spectrum of solutions offering incremental levels. Existing practices indicate five levels of managed services in the spectrum viz transaction, task, project, service management, service and capacity management based.The purpose of this research is to identify the factors influencing managed services at different levels in the context of a developing country. For this intent, this research adopted a case study approach of the Sri Lankan telecom industry covering all mobile operators of the country.The findings of this study show a clear pattern between levels from Level-1 to Level-5. Level 1 is almost as subset of level 2, and level 4 is a subset of level 5. Five levels of managed services can be divided into three distinct groups, levels 1&2, level 3 and levels 4 & 5. Organizational and industry dynamics factors influence all levels. However, national regulatory environment factors are very important in adopting managed services at levels 4&5. The existing studies look the factors influencing managed services in general. This study is unique as it identifies the factors influencing managed services at each level and prioritized them. This will help operators to select a level of adoption instead of adopting managed services on a trial and error basis.

يتناول هذا البحث الموسيقى الداخلية في شعر شاعر إسلامي تابعي وهو الأخضر اللهبي وبيان أهميتها في جمالية النص وإيضاح المعنى ، فالموسيقى الداخلية لم تكن معروفة مثل الموسيقى الخارجية لدى العرب ولكن بعد التطور والدراسات حول دلالة الصوت في العربية أصبحت واضحة ومفهومة بكافة أبعادها . فيتناول هذا البحث الموسيقى التي تربط اجزاء النص لتولد الموسيقى الخارجية التي ترتبط بالعروض الوزن والقافية اما الموسيقى الداخلية فلا علاقة لها بالعروض وانما تتعلق بأصوات الكلمات وبالالفاظ والجمل التي يتألف منها النص لذلك هي تتعلق بالتكرار وانواعه والجناس والطباق بأنواعهما.

Objectives: Information on family planning and use of antenatal care services is vital for understanding the main influences on fertility and evaluating the success of national family planning programmes. This study aimed to explore contraceptive use and its relation to use of antenatal care services in Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among women attending three primary health care centres serving different slum areas of Cairo. Results: Most of women who used antenatal care services obtained contraception from the state sector. Although the number of antenatal care visits was not significantly associated with contraceptive use, it was a significant determining factor for the type of method used. Reasons given for non-use of contraception were related to reproductive health concerns or disapproval of contraceptive use. Conclusion: Contraceptive use is widespread in Egypt, regardless of age and level of education. Antenatal care is no longer viewed with suspicion. Antenatal care visits are an opportunity for health care providers (HCPs) to encourage the use of contraception. Repeated antenatal care visits help to engender a relationship of trust between women and HCPs. Incorporation of family planning programmes into antenatal care programmes would be an opportunity to promote modern contraceptive use.

Background: KC is a bilateral, progressive, non-inflammatory corneal degeneration. Corneal deformation and thinning causes irregular astigmatism and leads to visual impairment. Aim of the work: this study aimed to evaluate simultaneous topography-guided partial PRK and CXL as a therapeutic intervention in patients with KC. Methodology: the present study was designed to evaluate simultaneous topography-guided partial PRK and CXL as a therapeutic intervention in patients with KC. It included 25 keratoconic eyes of 17 patients; 8 cases were bilateral and 9 cases were unilateral. All included cases underwent full history taking and ophthalmologic examinations for preoperative evaluation and postoperative assessment. Follow up was carried out at first postoperative day and at 1, 3 and 6 months post-operatively. Results: when comparing K1, K2, thinnest location and BCVA at 1, 3 and 6 months postoperatively to the corresponding values at first postoperative day, there was non-significant difference at any point of time. Conclusion: simultaneous topography-guided partial PRK and CXL as a therapeutic intervention in patients with keratoconus is an effective without significant complications; thus, it had a good efficacy, stability over time and safety.

Engineered log jams (ELJs) are used widely in practice as a river restoration measure. One desired feature of an ELJ is its porous nature, which plays an important role in hydrodynamics and...

In Information Retrieval (IR), Data Mining (DM), and Machine Learning (ML), similarity measures have been widely used for text clustering and classification. The similarity measure is the cornerstone upon which the performance of most DM and ML algorithms is completely dependent. Thus, till now, the endeavor in literature for an effective and efficient similarity measure is still immature. Some recently-proposed similarity measures were effective, but have a complex design and suffer from inefficiencies. This work, therefore, develops an effective and efficient similarity measure of a simplistic design for text-based applications. The measure developed in this work is driven by Boolean logic algebra basics (BLAB-SM), which aims at effectively reaching the desired accuracy at the fastest run time as compared to the recently developed state-of-the-art measures. Using the term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) schema, the K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and the K-means clustering algorithm, a comprehensive evaluation is presented. The evaluation has been experimentally performed for BLAB-SM against seven similarity measures on two most-popular datasets, Reuters-21 and Web-KB. The experimental results illustrate that BLAB-SM is not only more efficient but also significantly more effective than state-of-the-art similarity measures on both classification and clustering tasks.

In this work, we propose an optimized data assignment algorithm for time dependent non-replicated distributed database systems based on a modified Dijkstra shortest path algorithm findings. Fragment assignment is determined from the access cost matrix and a threshold value obtained from the query matrix and site access record. Transmission, storage and computational overhead costs are computed and compared with existing algorithms. This model uses fragment preferred site technique to ensure nonreplication at sites and to avoid constraints violation if fragment replication occurs. The algorithm is demonstrated through detailed example and proved robust in terms of transmission cost while it lags behind in terms of storage cost.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a B cell malignancy marked by genomic instability that arises both through pathogenesis and during disease progression. Despite recent advances in therapy, MM remains incurable. Recently, it has been reported that DNA repair can influence genomic changes and drug resistance in MM. The dysregulation of DNA repair function may provide an alternative explanation for genomic instability observed in MM cells and in cells derived from MM patients. This review provides an overview of DNA repair pathways with a special focus on their involvement in MM and discusses the role they play in MM progression and drug resistance. This review highlights how unrepaired DNA damage due to aberrant DNA repair response in MM exacerbates genomic instability and chromosomal abnormalities, enabling MM progression and drug resistance.

BMI-1 is an essential regulator of transcriptional silencing during development. Recently, the role of BMI-1 in the DNA damage response has gained much attention, but the exact mechanism of how BMI-1 participates in the process is unclear. Here, we establish a role for BMI-1 in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks by homologous recombination (HR), where it promotes DNA end resection. Mechanistically, BMI-1 mediates DNA end resection by facilitating the recruitment of CtIP, thus allowing RPA and RAD51 accumulation at DNA damage sites. Interestingly, treatment with transcription inhibitors rescues the DNA end resection defects of BMI-1-depleted cells, suggesting BMI-1-dependent transcriptional silencing mediates DNA end resection. Moreover, we find that H2A ubiquitylation at K119 (H2AK119ub) promotes end resection. Taken together, our results identify BMI-1-mediated transcriptional silencing and promotion of H2AK119ub deposition as essential regulators of DNA end resection and thus the progression of HR.

Objective: Isolated salpingeal torsion (IST) is a rare cause of acute abdomen in women of the reproductive age group. The lack of pathognomonic clinical, laboratory or radiographic findings makes early diagnosis a challenge. We describe a case of IST in a 13-year-old who suffered from a repeat torsion following initial conservative management. Case Report: A 13-year-old girl presented with acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain of insidious onset. Her past medical history was non-contributory and her initial workup was unremarkable. Exploratory laparoscopy subsequently revealed isolated torsion of the right fallopian tube which was detorted. She presented 10 months later with similar complaints and further workup demonstrated right adnexal torsion which was confirmed by laparoscopy; salpingo-oophorectomy was necessary due to gangrenous necrosis. Conclusion: Conservative management of fallopian tube torsion confers the advantage of fertility preservation but the risk of repeat torsion remains clinically significant.

Neural architecture search (NAS) has achieved great success in different computer vision tasks such as object detection and image recognition. Moreover, deep learning models have millions or billions of parameters and applying NAS methods when considering a small amount of data is not trivial. Unlike computer vision tasks, labeling time series data for supervised learning is a laborious and expensive task that often requires expertise. Therefore, this paper proposes a simple-yet-effective fine-tuning method based on repeated k-fold cross-validation in order to train deep residual networks using only a small amount of time series data. The main idea is that each model fitted during cross-validation will transfer its weights to the subsequent folds over the rounds. We conducted extensive experiments on 85 instances from the UCR archive for Time Series Classification (TSC) to investigate the performance of the proposed approach. The experimental results reveal that our proposed model called NAS-T reaches new state-of-the-art TSC accuracy, by designing a single classifier that is able to beat HIVE-COTE: an ensemble of 37 individual classifiers.

This paper re-examines the nexus between government expenditure and private investment in Nigeria over the period of 1981-2016. The study is rooted on Jorgenson’s theory of investment, the Samuelson’s version of the flexible accelerator theory and Keynesian-classical crowding-in/crowding-out theory of investment. The resulting empirical models comprise three equations; one each for private investment (PI), private domestic investment (PDI) and foreign direct investment (FDI). The study employed Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique to estimate the models. From the study, government expenditure showed positive impact on private investment in Nigeria. Our specific findings showed that: Federal government’s capital expenditure (CAEX) showed positive and significant impact on both PI and PDI in the long run: a N1.00 billion each increase in CAEX increases PI and PDI by N0.12 and N0.238billion respectively. CAEX showed negative but insignificant impact on FDI in both short and long run. State government’s capital expenditure (SCEX) showed positive and significant impact on PI: A N1.00 billion increase in SCEX increases PI by N0.27 billion. Federal government’s recurrent expenditure (REEX) showed positive and negative impact on FDI and PI respectively: A N1.00 billion increase in REEX increases FDI by N1.27 billion, and reduces PI by N0.28 billion. Our findings imply that, if the objective of government policy is to raise private investment or private domestic investment, then both the Federal Government and state governments should boost their capital expenditure.