Design and implementation of a smart dual axis sun tracker based on astronomical equations

This paper presents a new design algorithm for stand-alone solar tracking system based on ATMEL Microcontroller. The proposed idea of the design is based on astronomical equations to determine the position of the sun in the sky at any time of the day to calculate the tilt angle and polar angle for the two axis tracking purposes. The system is capable of tracking the sun properly at any position on the earth because of the general nature of the algorithm used in the design. At the same time the system reliability, cost effectiveness, precision and flexibility are taken into consideration

Desıgn of a control and data acquısıtıon system for a multı-mode solar trackıng farm

This paper presents a combination network design for a solar tracking farm consisting of n-solar tracking systems. Serial communication protocol has been adopted for this network with developed strategy to make the farm expandable for possible future extension. The master control unit is responsible for managing all the trackers of the sun location in multi-tracking mode, diagnosis all the trackers for any faults and give complete information about the produced power by each of the solar tracking system. This network protocols is designed to deal with the error control, congestion control and flow control for data transmission in the network

Utilizing Attapulgite as Anti-Spill Liners of Crude Oil

تم فحص كفاءة بطانات اطيان الأتبلغايت كمانع لتسرب لنفط الخام. حيث تم استخدام للأتبلغايت الخام والأتبلغايت مخلوط مع القش وقشر جوز الهند كبطانات مانعة للتسريب. الأتبلغايت المستخدم في هذه الدراسة من تكوين إنجانة / الصحراء الغربية في العراق. كما تم استخدام نوعين من النفط الخام من حقول النفط العراقية، خام ثقيل من حقل نفط شرق بغداد وخام خفيف من حقل نفط الناصرية. في البداية تم دراسة الخصائص المعدنية للأتبلغايت بواسطة تحليل اشعة اس والمجهر الالكتروني الكاسح، كم تم استخدام    جهاز قياس الامتصاص الذري لتحديد التركيب الكيميائي للطين. وكذلك تم قياس المواصفات الفيزيائية للنفط  الخام .طحن الأتبلغايت الى ثلاث احجام حبيبية 150 ميكرون و 75 مايكرومتر و 53 ميكرون لتحديد مدى تأثير الحجم الحبيبي على كفاءة الطين كبطانه . أظهرت التجارب أن بطانات المتكونة من طين الأتبلغايت فقط وبحجم حبيبي 53 ميكرون و 75 ميكرون جيدة من حيث الاحتفاظ ومنع التسرب بحيث يمكن استخدامها كطبقة رئيسية لإعاقة تدفق النفط الخام الثقيل. في حين ان بطانة الأتبلغايت بحج حبيبي 150 ميكرون لم تنجح في اعاقة تدفق النفط الخام حيث ان هذا النوع من البطانات غير فعال تمامًا للنفط الخام الثقيل والخفيف على حد سواء.  إضافة القش او قشور جوز الهند إلى الاتبلغايت ساهم في زيادة كفاءة الاتبلغايت بالحجم الحبيبي 150 ميكرون حيث عزز كفاءته كحاجزًا جيدًا يحتفظ بالزيت الخام الثقيل ويمنعه من التسرب لأطول فترة ممكنة. كما ان البطانة المكونة من الطين مع القش او قشور جوز الهند كانت ناجحة مع النفط الخفيف حيث ان بطانة الاتبلغايت فقط لم تنجح في منع تسربه. علاوة على ذلك البطانة المكونة من خليط القش وجوز الهند والأتبلغايت عززت أداء البطانة بشكل كبير مقارنة ببطانات الاتبلغايت فقط او الاتبلغايت مع القش.The efficiency of attapulgite liners as anti-seepage for crude oil is examined. Consideration is given to the potential use of raw attapulgite and mixture attapulgite with prairie hay and coconut husk as liners to prevent crude oil seepage. Attapulgite clay used in this study was brought from Injana formation /Western Desert of Iraq. Two types of Crude oil brought from Iraqi oil fields were used in experiments; heavy crude oil from East-Baghdad oil field and light crude oil from Nassiriya oil field. Initially the basic properties of attapulgite and crude oils were determined. The attapulgite clay was subjected to mineralogical, chemical and scanning electron microscope analyses. Raw Attapulgite 150µm, 75µm, and 53µm were tested as anti-seepage liners for heavy and light crude oil. Experiments showed that raw attapulgite liners 53µm and 75µm are good in terms of retention and prevention of seepage so they can be used as the main layer to impede the flow of heavy crude oil. Raw attapulgite150µm could not be used as a liner to impede the flow of crude oil. This type of liner is totally inefficient for heavy and light crude oil. Adding prairie hay to attapulgite 150µm gives a good barrier medium that retains heavy crude oil and prevents it from seepage as long as possible. Raw attapulgite liners failed to prevent light crude oil seepage whereas the partial substitution of attapulgite by prairie hay or coconut enhanced the performance of the liner. Moreover, the addition of prairie hay with coconut to attapulgite enhanced the performance of the liner to a greater extent compared to raw attapulgite liners and mixture liner attapulgite with prairie hay

Designing driving and control circuits of four-phase variable reluctance stepper motor using fuzzy logic control

Precise positioning and repeatability of movement for stepper motors require designing a robust control system. To achieve that, an analytical model of a four-phase variable reluctance stepper motor is presented. A proposed open-loop driving circuit is designed to control the motion of a variable reluctance stepper motor. The driving circuit has an ability to drive the motor into two-step angles, i.e. a full step (15◦) and a half step (7.5◦). The direction of movement can be either into clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The operation of the variable reluctance stepper motor in an open-loop control circuit has demonstrated disadvantages of an oscillation and a relatively high settling time. Therefore, a closed-loop control circuit has been introduced using fuzzy logic control to overcome the oscillation problem and to obtain on a precise positioning within a reasonable settling time. The fuzzy logic control is used to improve and enhance the behaviour of the step position response based on oscillatory response and hence to reduce the overshoot significantly. The comparisons between the open- and closed-loop circuits are presented to demonstrate the disparity between both control circuits. The simulation results of the open-loop and the closed-loop circuits show that the time responses have been improved using different loads conditions. The simulation experiments are conducted and investigated using MATLAB–SIMULINK software package

Evaluation of the Effect of Platelet Rich Plasma on Wound Healing in the Tongue of Normal and Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Albino Rats: Histological, Immunohistochemical, and Ultrastructural Study

Background: Delayed healing of diabetic wounds has been well-documented. Currently, the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has attracted great attention in many medical fields including wound healing. Aim: Histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural evaluation of the effect of PRP on wound healing in the tongue of normal and Streptozotocin-induced diabetic albino rats. Methodology: A total number of 108 adult male albino rats with average weight 200gm, were used in the study. The animals were classified into two main groups: non-diabetic and diabetic groups. Each group was further divided into three subgroups: non- treated wound, PRP-treatment before wound, and PRP-treatment after wound. Tongue specimens were dissected on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7. The specimens were examined histologically by H&E, immunohistochemically by p63 and vimentin, and ultra-structurally by TEM. Results:  The most accelerated wound healing was revealed in the subgroups treated with PRP before the wound, whether non-diabetic or diabetic, which occurred very early at the 3rd day postoperative in both cases. While complete wound healing was revealed at the 7th day postoperative in both the non-diabetic and diabetic subgroups treated with PRP after the wound, which was like the non-diabetic control subgroup. Whilst, the diabetic non-treated subgroup only showed partial wound healing at the 7th day postoperative. Conclusion: A single injection of PRP could be used as a prophylactic to prevent expected impaired wound healing in diabetic oral mucosal wounds and to enhance wound healing in non-diabetic wounds. PRP could be used as a therapeutic to enhance wound healing in diabetic and non-diabetic oral mucosal wounds. Key Words: platelet rich plasma, wound healing, diabetes, rat, tongue, p63, vimentin, TEM BACKGROUND: Delayed healing of diabetic wounds has been well-documented. At present, the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has attracted great attention in many medical fields including wound healing. AIM: Histological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural evaluation of the effect of PRP on wound healing in the tongue of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic albino rats. METHODOLOGY: A total number of 108 adult male albino rats with average weight 200 g were used in the study. The animals were classified into two main groups: Non-diabetic and diabetic groups. Each group was further divided into three subgroups: Non-treated wound, PRP-treatment before wound, and PRP-treatment after wound. Tongue specimens were dissected on post-operative days 1, 3, and 7. The specimens were examined histologically by H&E, immunohistochemically by p63 and vimentin, and ultrastructurally by TEM. RESULTS: The most accelerated wound healing was revealed in the subgroups treated with PRP before the wound, whether non-diabetic or diabetic, which occurred very early at the 3rd day post-operative in both cases. While complete wound healing was revealed at the 7th day post-operative in both the non-diabetic and diabetic subgroups treated with PRP after the wound, which was like the non-diabetic control subgroup. While, the diabetic non-treated subgroup only showed partial wound healing at the 7th day post-operative. CONCLUSION: A single injection of PRP could be used as a prophylactic to prevent expected impaired wound healing in diabetic oral mucosal wounds and to enhance wound healing in non-diabetic wounds. PRP could be used as a therapeutic to enhance wound healing in diabetic and non-diabetic oral mucosal wounds

Factors associated with early growth in Egyptian infants: implications for addressing the dual burden of malnutrition

Optimal nutrition is critical to the attainment of healthy growth, human capital and sustainable development. In Egypt, infants and young children face overlapping forms of malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and overweight. Yet, in this setting, little is known about the factors associated with growth during the first year of life. A rise in stunting in Lower Egypt from 2005 to 2008 prompted this implementation research study, which followed a longitudinal cohort of infants from birth to 1 year of age within the context of a USAID-funded maternal and child health integrated programme. We sought to determine if growth patterns and factors related to early growth differed in Lower and Upper Egypt, and examined the relationship between weight loss and subsequent stunting at 12 months of age. Growth patterns revealed that length-for-age z-score (LAZ) decreased and weight-for-length z-score (WLZ) increased from 6 to 12 months of age in both regions. One-quarter of infants were stunted and nearly one-third were overweight by 12 months of age in lower Egypt. Minimum dietary diversity was significantly associated with WLZ in Lower Egypt (β = 0.22, P < 0.05), but not in Upper Egypt. Diarrhoea, fever and programme exposure were not associated with any growth outcome. Weight loss during any period was associated with a twofold likelihood of stunting at 12 months in Lower Egypt, but not Upper Egypt. In countries, like Egypt, facing the nutrition transition, infant and young child nutrition programmes need to address both stunting and overweight through improving dietary quality and reducing reliance on energy-dense foods

Factors associated with early growth in Egyptian infants: implications for addressing the dual burden of malnutrition.

Optimal nutrition is critical to the attainment of healthy growth, human capital and sustainable development. In Egypt, infants and young children face overlapping forms of malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and overweight. Yet, in this setting, little is known about the factors associated with growth during the first year of life. A rise in stunting in Lower Egypt from 2005 to 2008 prompted this implementation research study, which followed a longitudinal cohort of infants from birth to 1 year of age within the context of a USAID-funded maternal and child health integrated programme. We sought to determine if growth patterns and factors related to early growth differed in Lower and Upper Egypt, and examined the relationship between weight loss and subsequent stunting at 12 months of age. Growth patterns revealed that length-for-age z-score (LAZ) decreased and weight-for-length z-score (WLZ) increased from 6 to 12 months of age in both regions. One-quarter of infants were stunted and nearly one-third were overweight by 12 months of age in lower Egypt. Minimum dietary diversity was significantly associated with WLZ in Lower Egypt (β = 0.22, P \u3c 0.05), but not in Upper Egypt. Diarrhoea, fever and programme exposure were not associated with any growth outcome. Weight loss during any period was associated with a twofold likelihood of stunting at 12 months in Lower Egypt, but not Upper Egypt. In countries, like Egypt, facing the nutrition transition, infant and young child nutrition programmes need to address both stunting and overweight through improving dietary quality and reducing reliance on energy-dense foods

The Design of a Uniplanar Printed Triple Band-Rejected UWB Antenna using Particle Swarm Optimization and the Firefly Algorithm

YesA compact planar monopole antenna is proposed for ultra-wideband applications. The antenna has a microstrip line feed and band-rejected characteristics and consists of a ring patch and partial ground plane with a defective ground structure of rectangular shape. An annular strip is etched above the radiating element and two slots, one C-shaped and one arc-shaped, are embedded in the radiating patch. The proposed antenna has been optimized using bio-inspired algorithms, namely Particle Swarm Optimization and the Firefly Algorithm, based on a new software algorithm (Antenna Optimizer). Multi-objective optimization achieves rejection bands at 3.3 to 3.7 GHz for WiMAX, 5.15 to 5.825 GHz for the 802.11a WLAN system or HIPERLAN/2, and 7.25 to 7.745 GHz for C-band satellite communication systems. Validated results show wideband performance from 2.7 to 10.6 GHz with S11 ˂ -10 dB. The antenna has compact dimensions of 28 × 30 mm2. The radiation pattern is comparatively stable across the operating band with a relatively stable gain except in the notched bands.This work was supported in part by the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/E022936A, TSB UK under grant application KTP008734 and the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

First volumetric records of airborne Cladosporium and Alternaria spores in the atmosphere of Al Khor (northern Qatar): a preliminary survey

Daily monitoring of airborne fungal spores was carried out for the first time in Al Khor city, Qatar, using a Hirst type 7-day recording volumetric spore trap, from May 2017 to May 2019. During the sampling period, the annual and monthly fluctuations, as well as intradiurnal variations of airborne fungal spore concentrations, were evaluated. Cladosporium, followed by Alternaria, were the spore types most abundant in the atmosphere of the city, with a strong interannual variability in the atmospheric concentrations being observed. The Annual Spore Integrals (ASIns) were 3334 and 1172 spore * day/m3 (2017–2018), and 6796 and 1538 spore * day/m3 (2018–2019) for Cladosporium and Alternaria, respectively. Total daily spore concentrations showed significantly positive correlations with mean, minimum, and maximum temperatures but significantly negative correlations with relative humidity. However, due to the scarce rainfalls’ days, we did not find a statistically significant correlations between Cladosporium and Alternaria spore concentrations and this parameter. Despite this, the spore peaks were strongly related to precipitations that occurred during the previous month. In general, no significant correlations were found with wind speed but, regarding wind direction, the higher percentage of spores were collected when wind blows from the 4th quadrant (NW). According to the intradiurnal pattern, Cladosporium fungal spores displayed their maximum daily concentration during 8:00–10:00 h in the morning, with a second peak in the afternoon, while for Alternaria, the maximum peaks were observed between 08:00 and 14:00 h. Because no consistent previous aerobiological studies exist from Qatar, the aim of this study is to define the seasonality and intradiurnal behaviour of these two airborne fungal spore and the role that, in such arid scene, the meteorological parameters play on the spore concentrations.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. We declare that the research reported in this manuscript received supported grant funding from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF)-Qatar (Project NPRP 9–241-3–043)

A New Optimization Algorithm Based on the Fungi Kingdom Expansion Behavior for Antenna Applications

This paper presents a new optimization algorithm based on the behavior of the fungi kingdom expansion (FKE) to optimize the radiation pattern of the array antenna. The immobile mass expansion of the fungi is mimicked in this work as a chaotic behavior with a sinusoidal map function, while the mobile mass expansion is realized by a linear function. In addition, the random germination of the spores is utilized for randomly distributing the variables that are far away from the best solution. The proposed FKE algorithm is applied to optimize the radiation pattern of the antenna array, and then its performance is compared with that of some well-known algorithms. The MATLAB simulation results verify the superiority of the proposed algorithm in solving 20-element antenna array problems such as sidelobe reduction with sidelobe ratio (SLR = 25.6 dB), flat-top pattern with SLR = 23.5 dB, rectangular pattern with SLR = 19 dB, and anti-jamming systems. The algorithm also results in a 100% success rate for all of the mentioned antenna array problems