Exploring Google Reverse Image Search to Detect Visual Plagiarism in Interior Design

This study aims to explore the ability of Google Reverse Image Search (RIS) to detect plagiarism in images in the interior design field. Several image modifications were introduced by retaining the basic concept of the original image. These changes were classified into three categories as follow: a change in the design elements, introduced random changes by adding different objects to the existing image contents, and introduced various image effects. findings show that Google RIS does not take long to find newly uploaded images. Although it cannot detect changes related to the image contents, it can detect changes related to image size and contrast. Overall percentage of the modified images that were detected as matching the original image was only 5%. By contrast, the net percentage of images retrieved by Google RIS with contents actually related to the uploaded original image was 58.5%. Therefore, Google RIS is inaccurate in detecting any changes in the image contents irrespective of their simplicity, which implies that it cannot help in detection of visual plagiarism

Researching the motives behind the acquisition, possession and application of heritage collectibles in home interiors

Previous research considered the significance of the home environment representing the owner’s social identity in general but there is no clear research that identifies the motive behind acquisition, possession and application of heritage collectibles in home interiors. The aim of this research was to discover the reason why people possess heritage collectibles in their home interiors. In addition, this research considered the occupied space of the possessions, location within the home, and the type of heritage collectibles. The sample of this study consisted of 330 female adults residing in the centre of Saudi Arabia. The method of investigation was a self-report questionnaire, which was classified into four main themes: the reason behind having heritage collectibles in home interiors, occupied space, location within the home, and the type of heritage collectibles. The results indicated that there are a diverse number of reasons behind people’s possession of heritage collectibles. The main reason was social identity then gifts, trends, and matching with other furniture within the home. In addition, there was a significant relationship between identity and occupied space (p=0.001) and social identity with the type of heritage collectibles (p=0.001). The contribution to new knowledge in this study should help designers to develop their concepts in their interior design projects and discover the relationship between heritage, interior design, and social identity, which will provide designers with the direct and indirect needs of their clients. Keywords: interior design, home environment, individual’s social identity, heritage collectibles, Saudi Arabia

Demographic Characteristics and Review of Patients with Locally Advanced Breast Cancer in Sudan

No Abstract

Production and Quality Evaluation of Vinegar from Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) Fruit Pulp

ABSTRACT       Vinegar is a liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH3COOH) and water. The acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. This study aimed to produce vinegar from tamarind fruit pulp and evaluation of its quality. Samples of tamarind fruit were collected from different sites in Sudan: Gedaref (GT), Damazin (DT) and Obeid (OT). The vinegar yields from 1 kg tamarind pulp from (GT), (DT) and (KT) were 300, 200, 260 ml, respectively. The physical characteristics of tamarind fruit pulp and its seeds were determined. The average fruit length, width and weight were 14.28± 0.31mm, 11.06± 1.1mm and 12.33± 0.7g, respectively The production of vinegar was carried out at three stages. The concentration of acetic acid of the produced vinegar from (GT), (DT) and (OT) were equivalent to (16.2%), (19%) and (17.7%), and pH values of these samples were found to be (2.2), (1.9) and (2.0), respectively. The study recommends the efficient industrial use of tamarind fruit in many products such as vinegar.&nbsp

The second season of excavations at Jebel Moya (south-central Sudan)

This report presents the latest data from ongoing excavations at Jebel Moya, Sudan. This year saw the opening of five new trenches and continued excavation of an archaeologically rich trench. We have recovered four individual burials, a mud brick wall and a number of animal and archaeobotanical remains. The excavations also yielded a longer pottery sequence, showing clearly that the site was in use by at least the sixth millennium BC. This season confirms the long and complex history of Jebel Moya and provides the material for future studies on population health and subsistence. This season also saw an increase in community engagement and a more detailed study of the various historical trajectories that make up the biography of Jebel Moya

Preparation and characterization of quinoxaline-pyrene-based conjugated copolymers for organic photovoltaic devices

In this study, two novel conjugated polymers, poly(4,5,9,10-tetrakis((2-ethylhexyl)oxy]pyrene-alt-2,3-bis(3-(octyloxy)phenyl)-5,8-di(2-thienyl)-6,7-difluoroquinoxaline) (PPyQxff) and poly(4,5,9,10-tetrakis((2-ethylhexyl)oxy)pyren-alt-2,3-bis(3-(octyloxy)phenyl)-5,8-di(2-thienyl)quinoxaline) (PPyQx), consisting of quinoxaline units with and without fluorine substituents, as electron-accepting moieties and pyrene flanked with dithienyl units as electron-donating moieties were prepared via Stille polymerization reactions for use as electron donor materials in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. PPyQxff and PPyQx were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV−VIS absorption, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. PPyQxff and PPyQx revealed excellent solution processability in common organic solvents. PPyQxff and PPyQx presented decomposition temperatures above 300 °C. The inclusion of F atoms to the quinoxaline moiety made a slight reduction in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level, relative to the unfluorinated polymer, but had no impact on the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level. PPyQxff and PPyQx exhibited similar physical properties with strong and broad absorbance from 400 to 700 nm and an optical band-gap energy of 1.77 eV. The X-ray powder diffraction study indicated that PPyQxff possessed a reduced π–π stacking distance relative to PPyQx

Large-Scale Mode Impacts on the Sea Level over the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Falling between seasonal cycle variability and the impact of local drivers, the sea level in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has been given less consideration, especially with large-scale modes. With multiple decades of satellite altimetry observations combined with good spatial resolution, the time has come for diagnosis of the impact of large-scale modes on the sea level in those important semi-enclosed basins. While the annual cycle of sea level appeared as a dominant cycle using spectral analysis, the semi-annual one was also found, although much weaker. The first empirical orthogonal function mode explained, on average, about 65 of the total variance throughout the seasons, while their principal components clearly captured the strong La Niña event (1999–2001) in all seasons. The sea level showed a strong positive relation with positive phase El Niño Southern Oscillation in all seasons and a strong negative relation with East Atlantic/West Russia during winter and spring over the study period (1993–2017). We show that the unusually stronger easterly winds that are displaced north of the equator generate an upwelling area near the Sumatra coast and they drive both warm surface and deep-water masses toward the West Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, rising sea level over the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This process could explain the increase of sea level in the basin during the positive phase of El Niño Southern Oscillation events

The HLA class II allele DRB1*1501 is over-represented in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and medically refractory lung disease with a grim prognosis. Although the etiology of IPF remains perplexing, abnormal adaptive immune responses are evident in many afflicted patients. We hypothesized that perturbations of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele frequencies, which are often seen among patients with immunologic diseases, may also be present in IPF patients. Methods/Principal Findings: HLA alleles were determined in subpopulations of IPF and normal subjects using molecular typing methods. HLA-DRB1*15 was over-represented in a discovery cohort of 79 Caucasian IPF subjects who had lung transplantations at the University of Pittsburgh (36.7%) compared to normal reference populations. These findings were prospectively replicated in a validation cohort of 196 additional IPF subjects from four other U.S. medical centers that included both ambulatory patients and lung transplantation recipients. High-resolution typing was used to further define specific HLA-DRB1*15 alleles. DRB1*1501 prevalence in IPF subjects was similar among the 143 ambulatory patients and 132 transplant recipients (31.5% and 34.8%, respectively, p = 0.55). The aggregate prevalence of DRB1*1501 in IPF patients was significantly greater than among 285 healthy controls (33.1% vs. 20.0%, respectively, OR 2.0; 95%CI 1.3-2.9, p = 0.0004). IPF patients with DRB1*1501 (n = 91) tended to have decreased diffusing capacities for carbon monoxide (DLCO) compared to the 184 disease subjects who lacked this allele (37.8±1.7% vs. 42.8±1.4%, p = 0.036). Conclusions/Significance: DRB1*1501 is more prevalent among IPF patients than normal subjects, and may be associated with greater impairment of gas exchange. These data are novel evidence that immunogenetic processes can play a role in the susceptibility to and/or manifestations of IPF. Findings here of a disease association at the HLA-DR locus have broad pathogenic implications, illustrate a specific chromosomal area for incremental, targeted genomic study, and may identify a distinct clinical phenotype among patients with this enigmatic, morbid lung disease

Outdoor Residual Insecticide Spraying (ODRS), a new approach for the control of the exophilic vectors of human visceral Leishmaniasis : phlebotomus orientalis in East Africa

Background. Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) due to Leishmania donovani is a neglected protozoan parasitic disease in humans, which is usually fatal if untreated. Phlebotomus orientalis, the predominant VL vector in East Africa, is a highly exophilic/exophagic species that poses a major challenge to current Integrated Vector Management (IVM). Here we report results of pilot studies conducted in rural villages in Gedarif state, Sudan, to evaluate outdoor residual spraying of 20mg active ingredient (a.i.) /m2 deltamethrin insecticide applied to the characteristic household compound boundary reed fence and to the outside of household buildings (Outdoor Residual Insecticide Spraying, ODRS), and as an alternative, spraying restricted to the boundary fence only (Restricted Outdoor Residual Insecticide Spraying, RODRS). Methods. Four to six clusters of 20 households were assigned to insecticide treatments or control in three experiments. Changes in sand fly numbers were monitored over 2,033 trap-nights over 43-76 days follow-up in four sentinel houses per cluster relative to unsprayed control clusters. Sand fly numbers were monitored by sticky traps placed on the ground on the inside (“outdoor”) and the outside (“peridomestic”) of the boundary fence, and by CDC light traps suspended outdoors in the household compound. The effects of ODRS on sand fly numbers inside sleeping huts were monitored by insecticide knockdown. Results. After a single application, ODRS reduced P. orientalis abundance by 83%-99% in outdoor and peridomestic trap locations. ODRS also reduced numbers of P. orientalis found resting inside sleeping huts. RODRS reduced outdoor and peridomestic P. orientalis by 60%- 88%. By direct comparison, RODRS was 58%-100% as effective as ODRS depending on the trapping method. These impacts were immediate on intervention and persisted during follow-up, representing a large fraction of the P. orientalis activity season. Relative costs of ODRS and RODRS delivery were $5.76 and$3.48 per household, respectively. Conclusions. The study demonstrates the feasibility and high entomological efficacy of ODRS and RODRS, and the expected low costs relative to current IVM practises. These methods represent novel sand fly vector control tools against predominantly exophilic/exophagic sand fly vectors, aimed to lower VL burdens in Sudan, with potential application in other endemic regions in East Africa