Experimental Performance Characterization of Photovoltaic Modules Using DAQ

AbstractThis paper presents a simple electronic circuit for testing the photovoltaic (PV) modules by tracing their I-V characteristics. A precise PV module electrical model is also introduced. The circuit consists of a fast varying electronic load based on power MOSFET and operational amplifier. A DAQ system with LabVIEW application was developed for controlling the MOSFET gate-source voltage. The circuit is designed, implemented and tested under real conditions. The experimental results verified with simulation results and another way of testing which is resistor method

Dual buoyant/mucoadhesive macroporous polypropylene microparticles for gastric delivery of repaglinide

Preparation and characterization of dual buoyant/mucoadhesive polypropylene microparticles (MPs) loaded with repaglinide (REP) for gastric drug delivery in order to augment the weak mucoadhesion in the stomach.Porous foam powder MPs were prepared using coating polymers with variable permeability (Eudragit L100, Eudragit RSPO) alone or in combination by the soaking method. Thiolated Eudragit L100 (Eudragit L100-SH) was also synthesized and tried in an attempt to enhance the mucoadhesive properties of MPs. All formulae were characterized for their yield, flow properties, particle size, encapsulation efficiency (EE %), morphology, and drug release and its mechanistics. Possible interactions inside MPs matrix were also elucidated using FTIR study. The suitability of the selected formulae for gastroretention was evaluated by in vitro buoyancy and ex-vivo mucoadhesion studies.All REP-loaded MPs demonstrated a passable powder flow, high yield values, promising floatation and mucoadhesion. Encapsulation efficiency % values were nearly tripled upon addition of Eudragit polymers. Compared to the Eudragit free REP loaded foam powder, all formula showed more sustained release features. Eudragit L100-SH was synthesized and confirmed by FTIR. Furthermore, its incorporation, alone or in combination, exhibited a significant increase in mucoadhesion strength compared to the unmodified one.Dual buoyant/mucoadhesive MPs loaded with REP encourage planning for future in-vivo performance studies for the management of diabetes

COMPLETION OF LABEL INFORMATION AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF COMMERCIAL PESTICIDE SAMPLES TRADED IN EGYPTIAN MARKETS

The current study was carried out to check the completion of label information and determine the physico- chemical properties of commercial pesticides samples traded in the Egyptian markets. Twenty-nine market samples were collected during the years 2015 and 2016 for commercial formulations produced by different manufacturers from pesticide shops in four governorates (Cairo, Giza, Qaluobia and Sharqia). The collected samples included 18 preparations in the form of Emulsifiable Concentrates(EC), 11 in the form wettable powder (WP). Physico- chemical properties were determined for each formulation according to international standard methods (CIPAC, 2003) through tests of pH value, Persistent Foam, Emulsion Stability, Suspencibility and Wettability. The obtained results showed that although the label data was complete for many of the packages, some information found be missing. The missing information was related to directions for use (4%), safety precautions and first aid (7%), anti-dote (12%), hazard category (6%), Pre-Harvest Interval, (PHI) (17%), registration number (13%) and Batch number (18%). Regarding physico- chemical properties, the obtained data indicated that there was a difference in the percentage of the foam layer for the tested formulations of chlorprifos-ethyl (6 preparations) (Tafaban 48%EC, Pyrifos El-Nasr 48% EC, Pestiban 48% EC, Pyriban-A 48% EC, Chlorfan 48% EC and Chlorzan 48% EC). These preparations were in accordance with international standards in terms of emulsion stability after half an hour, while the mismatching samples showed that the formed layer exceeded the standard volume after two hours of maximum limits, and failed to test emulsion stability after 24.5 hours, as well as in the free oil layer formed at the same time. The results of the emulsion stability tests showed four other tested formulations, namely, lambda chalothrin (Fly Free 5% EC), chlorpyrifos – methyl (Pyrodan 50% EC), and two different formulations for malathion (Agrothion 57% EC and Malason Extra 57% EC), all of which conform to standard specifications in terms of level of foam layer, as well as complete emulsification after half an hour. The cream layer after half an hour was identical. However, the difference and mismatch in three formulations appeared after two hours of emulsification, where the percentage of the cream layer exceeded the allowed limits, and the free oil layer was not conforming to specifications, (after two hours or 24.5 hours). Also, the tested preparations of abamectin (Demectin 1.8% EC and Gold 1.8% EC) and emamectin benzoate (Basha 1.9% EC and Excellent 1.9% EC) have been successful in the tests of Persistent Foam, Emulsion stability (cream layer and free oil layer formed after half an hour and two hours as well as 24.5 hours). Comparing the efficiency of emulsification among other EC formulations including fenitrothion (Sumithion 50% EC), diazinon (Diazinox 60% EC) and profenofos (Sylian 72% EC and Teleton 72% EC) conformed to specifications in terms of level of foam layer. However, both Sumithion and Diazinox failed to stabilize, forming a creamy layer that exceeded the standard the maximum limit after two hours. For WP formulations, some have successfully passed the suspensibility test, while other formulations, including preparations of Bacillus thuringensis bacteria (Agerin 6.5% WP, Dipel 2X 6.4% WP and Protecto 9.4%WP). have not been successful. These results confirm the importance of developing monitoring and surveillance activities for pesticides formulations traded on the market, and to develop special means for checking the quality of products and detecting products that are counterfeit or non-conforming to the declared specifications or National and International standards

Morphological and molecular characterization of somaclonal variations in tissue culture-derived banana plants

AbstractIn this study, 40000 tissue culture-derived banana plants (vitroplants) at different growth stages, i.e. acclimatization, nursery and open field of banana (Musa spp.) cultivar ‘Grand Naine’ were screened for somaclonal variations using morphological investigations and molecular characterization. The total detected variants were grouped into 25 off-types (two of them died) in addition to the normal plant. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was carried out to study the differences among the normal cultivar ‘Grand Naine’ and its 23 variants using 17 arbitrary primers. Cluster analysis results revealed that ‘winged petiole’ and ‘deformed lamina’ were more related to the normal plant. However, ‘Giant plant’ and ‘weak plant’ related to each other and clustered with normal plant. According to principal coordinate analysis, most of the variants were aggregated nearly, whereas ‘variegated plant’ was separated apart from the other variants. This may reflect the genetic difference between ‘variegated plant’ and the other variants. The results obtained from both molecular and morphological analyses were in contiguous with better resolution when using the PCOORDA analysis than cluster analysis. Thus, it can be said that molecular markers can be used to eliminate the undesirable somaclonal variants from the lab without additional culture of the vitroplants in the field in order to save time and efforts

Parathormone (PTH) is strongly related to left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in hypertensives, obese, and normal control

No Abstrac

Role of nanoparticles in diagnosis and management of parasitic diseases: Review article

Background: An extensive class of materials, nanoparticles (NPs) include particulate compounds with a minimum diameter of 100 nanometers (nm). This is because of their tiny size and huge surface area, which allows them to traverse the blood-brain barrier, enter the respiratory system and be adsorbable through endothelial cells. Today, nanoparticles for drug administration are being studied to increase their sustained release, intracellular penetrability as well as bioavailability, due to the constant development and innovation of nanomedicine.Objective: To determine how nanoparticles can help diagnose and treat parasitic diseases.Conclusion: Nanoparticles could be conjugated with proteins and immunoglobulins that could help in specific diagnosis of several parasitic diseases, in addition, improved efficacy and reduced harmful side effects can be achieved by immobilizing antiparasitic medicines on or inside nanomaterials

Comparative Study between High Resolution Ultrasound and MRI in Diagnosis of Rotator Cuff Tears

Background: The four muscles that support the humeral head and come from the anterior and posterior sides of the scapula with their tendons situated in the smaller and larger tuberosities are collectively known as the "rotator cuff." The teres minor, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis are among these muscles. Objectives: This study compares dynamic high-resolution ultrasonography to MRI, which was the gold standard to assess the value of each technology in identifying rotator cuff injury. Patients and methods: This was prospective study for fifty patients were sent to the Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Clinic in Qena City suspected to have rotator cuff injury. . Results: Patients' ages ranged from 19 to 70, with a mean age of 36 years, a standard deviation of 16.35 years. In our study, there were a total of 32 affected males (64%) and 18 affected females (36%) with a male to female ratio of 1.78:1. In identifying complete tears in our patients, in general, we found that USG has 100% overall sensitivity, 92.68% overall specificity, and 94% overall diagnostic accuracy. Positive predictive value was 75%, whereas the negative predictive value was 100%. Conclusion: MRI and ultrasound have similar levels of sensitivity and specificity. When high-resolution imaging is feasible, trained radiologists are on hand, and rotator cuff integrity is the main concern, US may be thought of as the screening method because it is less expensive and more widely available

Optimized superpixel and AdaBoost classifier for human thermal face recognition

Infrared spectrum-based human recognition systems offer straightforward and robust solutions for achieving an excellent performance in uncontrolled illumination. In this paper, a human thermal face recognition model is proposed. The model consists of four main steps. Firstly, the grey wolf optimization algorithm is used to find optimal superpixel parameters of the quick-shift segmentation method. Then, segmentation-based fractal texture analysis algorithm is used for extracting features and the rough set-based methods are used to select the most discriminative features. Finally, the AdaBoost classifier is employed for the classification process. For evaluating our proposed approach, thermal images from the Terravic Facial infrared dataset were used. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach achieved (1) reasonable segmentation results for the indoor and outdoor thermal images, (2) accuracy of the segmented images better than the non-segmented ones, and (3) the entropy-based feature selection method obtained the best classification accuracy. Generally, the classification accuracy of the proposed model reached to 99% which is better than some of the related work with around 5%