Measurement of lignin and organic carbon in Lake Mead sediment

Lignin distribution in sediment is a useful tool for tracing the transport of land derived organic matter in an aquatic environment. Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) thermochemolysis at sub-pyrolysis temperatures of 300°C followed by GC-MS analysis showed a great promise in being able to semi quantitatively assess the nature of organic carbon in sediments. TMAH chemopyrolysis produces methylated syringyl (S), vanillyl (V), and cinnamyl (C) phenols from lignin, these methylated phenols are an indirect measure of lignin in sediment. The concentration of lignin phenols is indicative of the contribution of terrestrial runoff to lake sediments because lignin is exclusively a product of land plants. The S/V ratio is a powerful tool to trace the terrestrial origin of organic matter in sediment; Two chemolysis methods (on-line and off-line) were examined and compared. Organic carbon and lignin in several cores from Lake Mead were investigated. The results from sediment cores indicate significant variations in the sources of sedimentary materials. The concentration of organic carbon and the composition and amount of lignin provides an interpretable record of historical changes

Qatar’s vision of global problems, challenges and solutions

Since Qatar first signed the Biodiversity Convention in Rio in 1992, Qatar has been a strong advocate with keen interest in sustainability and the preservation of its biodiversity noting that advancement in industry should not compensate Qatar environment for future generations. This is spelled out in the Constitution of Qatar. Qatar's National Vision 2030 set in 2008 sets 4 main development focus points for the country. These are: Human, Social, Economic and the Environment. Government authorities are all working in collaboration with local stockholders and interested partners including foreign companies to advance aspects of Qatar Vision 2030 through world solutions with applicable operations. Climate Change is now known to have an impact on both natural and cultural resources. Meanwhile, the World has been seeking solutions to safeguard our Planet. Recent awareness of the colossal effect of Climate Change on the whole Plant brought the world partners once more together (Paris COP21) to seek a solution that in their hope would restrict the Global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius!!! New concepts include the initiative “North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA) –(Application of Climate Science to Agriculture and Forestry) to find means to cope with climatic warming. The prospect is to introduce in farming what would be highly productive and sustainable. Combating pollution and bio invasions is yet another aspect for concern. In 2010, it was reported that 14% of global gas emission were from the Transport Sector. Recently Smart Transportation to combat climate change came in as a solution. To reduce/prevent pollution and introduce sustainable Solid waste Management is yet another world concern linked to Climate Change. Qatar is a small country that is highly populated due to the large numbers of workers in all aspects of life in Qatar. Major concerns are food and water security and waste management. Qatar has no natural rivers or lakes and the only source of their water's needs come from the numerous desalination plants. Fish is a main diet for Qatar and the Natural Gas, the main revenue of Qatar, lies in the sea. The negative impact of desalination plants, coastal development, overfishing, and others couples with rising temperatures and high evaporation threaten these vital resources. These also have a negative impact on marine life in the Arabian Gulf and threaten Qatar marine biodiversity and sustainability (bearing in mind that a number of other Gulf States are in the same situation). The Arabian Gulf is now the sea with the highest salinity. Ground water resource has been used for Agriculture which does not sustain the local needs. This is suffering from overuse and poor precipitation. Qatar with over 85% of its land a stony desert, cannot practice agriculture following the old traditional methods. Qatar stands unique in providing financial means for advance and applied research to address relevant problems. Energy, Food Security, Water resource, Sustainability, Climate Change, Combating desertification are a few of some of Qatar's set priorities. Smart solutions must be found and Qatar has already taken steps addressing some of these challenges

Performance Analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 Transceiver System under Adaptive White Gaussian Channel

Zigbee technology has been developed for short range wireless sensor networks and it follows IEEE 802.15.4 standard. For such sensors, several considerations should be taken including; low data rate and less design complexity in order to achieve efficient performance considering to the transceiver systems. This research focuses on implementing a digital transceiver system for Zigbee sensor based on IEEE 802.15.4. The system is implemented using offset quadrature phase shift keying (OQPSK) modulation technique with half sine pulse-shaping method. Direct conversion scheme has been used in the design of Zigbee receiver in order to fulfill the requirements mentioned above. System performance is analyzed considering to BER when it encountered adaptive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), besides showing the effect of using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique

DESIGN OF MODIFIED SECOND ORDER SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER BASED ON ST ALGORITHM FOR BLOOD GLUCOSE REGULATION SYSTEMS

The type1 of diabetes is a chronic situation characterized by abnormally high glucose levels in the blood. Persons with diabetes characterized by no insulin secretion in the pancreas (ß-cell) which also known as insulin-dependent diabetic Mellitus (IDDM). In order to keep the levels of glucose in blood near the normal ranges (70-110mg/dl), the diabetic patients needed to inject by external insulin from time to time. In this paper, a Modified Second Order Sliding Mode Controller (MSOSMC) has been developed to control the concentration of blood glucose levels under a disturbing meal. The parameters of the suggested design controller are optimized by using chaotic particle swarm optimization(CPSO) technique, the model which is used to represent the artificial pancreas is a minimal model for Bergman. The simulation was performed on a MATLAB/ SIMULINK to verify the performance of the suggested controller. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed MSOSMC in controlling the behavior of glucose deviation to a sudden rise in blood glucose

Hiding the Type of Skin Texture in Mice based on Fuzzy Clustering Technique

أمن نقل المعلومات موضوع هام في تبادل الرسائل السرية عبر الإنترنت. فعلى سبيل المثال ، يحرص منتجون ومستهلكون المنتجات الرقمية على معرفة أن منتجاتهم أصلية ويمكن تمييزها عن تلك المنتجات غير الصالحة. علم التشفير هو فن أخفاء البيانات في الملفات الصوتية أو الصور أو مقاطع الفيديو  في الطريقة التي من شأنها تلبية الاحتياجات الأمنية المذكورة أعلاه. إن علم إخفاء المعلومات هو فرع من فروع علم أخفاء البيانات الذي يهدف إلى الوصول إلى مستوى مرغوب فيه من الأمن في تبادل البيانات العسكرية والتجارية الخاصة غير الواضحة.هذا البحث يعرض تقنيه جديده للأخفاء بلأعتماد على أخفاء البيانات داخل العناقيد والتي نتجت من المجاميع الضبابيه.الطريقه أستخدمت المجموعه الضبابيه (C-Mean) لأيجاد مناطق الصوره المتينه لأخفاء صفات نوع نسيج الجلد في الفئران.نفذت عمليه الأخفاء بأستخدام طريقة البت الأقل اهميه.   A substantial matter to confidential messages' interchange through the internet is transmission of information safely. For example, digital products' consumers and producers are keen for knowing those products are genuine and must be distinguished from worthless products. Encryption's science can be defined as the technique to embed the data in an images file, audio or videos in a style which should be met the safety requirements. Steganography is a portion of data concealment science that aiming to be reached a coveted security scale in the interchange of private not clear commercial and military data. This research offers a novel technique for steganography based on hiding data inside the clusters that resulted from fuzzy clustering. The approach has been employed to use Fuzzy C-Mean clustering (FCM) to find the robust image regions for hiding the type of skin texture features in mice. The steganography was implemented using Least Significant Bit (LSB) method

Spherical Approximation on Unit Sphere

في هذا البحث نقدم نظرية جاكسون للدوال في الفضاءات  عندما  على كرات الوحدة و دراسة افضل تقريب للدوال في الفضاءات المعرفه على كرات الوحدة مشكلتنا الاساسية هنا هي وصف عملية التقريب لسلوك الدوال في الفضاءات ,بأستخدام مقاييس معامل النعومة للدالةIn this paper we introduce a Jackson type theorem for functions in LP spaces on sphere And study on best approximation of  functions in  spaces defined on unit sphere. our central problem is to describe the approximation behavior of functions in    spaces for  by modulus of smoothness of functions

Using Fuzzy Clustering to Detect the Tumor Area in Stomach Medical Images

على الرغم من  انخفاض عدد المرضى المصابين بورم في  المعدة بشكل واضح خلال العقود الماضية في الدول الغربية ، إلا أن هذا المرض لا يزال أحد الأسباب الرئيسية للوفاة في البلدان النامية. الهدف من هذا البحث هو اكتشاف منطقة الورم في صور المعدة بالأعتماد على التجميع الضبابي. تتكون الطريقه المقترحة من ثلاث مراحل. تنقسم صور المعدة إلى أربعة أرباع ، ثم يتم استنباط صفات كل ربع في المرحلة الأولى من خلال أستخدام العزوم الثابته السبعه . في المرحله الثانيه تم أستخدام التجميع الضبابي (FCM)  وذلك لجمع صفات كل ربع في مجاميع (clusters). تم حساب مسافة مانهاتن في المرحلة الثالثة بين جميع مراكز التجمعات ( clusters)في جميع الأرباع للكشف عن الربع الذي يحتوي على ورم والذي يعتمد على قيمة النقطه الوسطى للكتله في هذا الربع ، وهوالذي تكون أحداثياته  بعيده  عن إحداثيات مراكز الأرباع المتبقية. من الحسابات التي أجريت على أرباع عدة صور ، أظهرت النتائج التجريبية أن قيمة النقطه الوسطى للكتلة في كل ربع سنة كانت أكبر من 0.9 إذا لم يكن هذا الربع يحتوي على ورم بينما كانت قيمة النقطه الوسطى للكتلة التي تحتوي على ورم أقل من 0.4. على سبيل المثال ، في الربع رقم 1 للصورة الطبية STOMACH_1 ، كانت قيمة النقطة المركزية للكتلة 0.973 بينما كانت قيمة النقطة المركزية للكتلة في الربع الثالث 0.280. لهذا السبب تم العثور على منطقة الورم في الربع رقم (3) من الصورة الطبية STOMACH_1. أيضا ، كانت قيمة النقطة المركزية للكتلة في الربع رقم 2 0.948 لـ STOMACH_2 بينما كانت قيمة النقطة المركزية للكتلة في الربع رقم 4 0.397. لهذا السبب تم العثور على منطقة الورم في الربع رقم 4 من الصورة الطبية STOMACH_2.Although the number of stomach tumor patients reduced obviously during last decades in western countries, but this illness is still one of the main causes of death in developing countries. The aim of this research is to detect the area of a tumor in a stomach images based on fuzzy clustering. The proposed methodology consists of three stages. The stomach images are divided into four quarters and then features elicited from each quarter in the first stage by utilizing seven moments invariant. Fuzzy C-Mean clustering (FCM) was employed in the second stage for each quarter to collect the features of each quarter into clusters. Manhattan distance was calculated in the third stage among all clusters' centers in all quarters to disclosure of the quarter that contains a tumor based on the centroid value of the cluster in this quarter, which is far from the centers of the remaining quarters. From the calculations conducted on several images' quarters, the experimental outcomes show that the centroid value of the cluster in each quarter was greater than 0.9 if this quarter did not contain a tumor while the value of the centroid value for the cluster containing a tumor was less than 0.4.For examples, in a quarter no.1 for STOMACH_1 medical image, the centroid value of the cluster was 0.973 while the value of the cluster centroid in quarter no.3 was 0.280. For this reason the tumor area was found in quarter no.(3) of the medical image STOMACH_1. Also, the centroid value of the cluster in a quarter no.2 was 0.948 for STOMACH_2 while, the value of the cluster centroid in quarter no.4 was 0.397. For this reason the tumor area was found in a quarter no.4 of the medical image STOMACH_2

Determination of Nickel and Cobalt in Cosmetic Products Marketed in Iraq Using Spectrophotometric and Microfluidic Paper-based Analytical Device (µPADs) Platform

تم تقديم طريقتين كميتين صديقتين للبيئة وسهلتي المراقبة لتقدير النيكل الثنائي والكوبلت الثلاثي في عينات مختلفة من احمر الشفاه والتي تم جمعها من متاجر 500 دينار عراقي في العاصمة بغداد. يعتمد التحليل على تفاعل ايونات النيكل الثنائية مع كاشف ثنائي ميثيل جليوكسيم (DMG) وتفاعل ايونات الكوبالت الثلاثية مع كاشف 1-2 نايتروزو نفثاول (NN) لتكوين مركبات ملونة يمكن قياسها عند الطوليين الموجيين 565 و 430 نانوميتر للنيكل والكوبالت على التوالي. ولقد كانت خطية منحني المعايرة في مدى 0.25-100  مايكروغرام/لتر للنيكل و 0.5-100 مايكروغرام /لتر للكوبالت اما حدود الكشف وحدود التقدير فكانت 0.11 و 0.36  مايكروغرام/لترللنيكل و 0.15 و0.49 مايكروغرام  /لترللكوبلت. تم مقارنه الطريقة الطيفية مع تقنية السوائل المايكروية الورقية الجديدة بنفس حدود منحني المعايرة وهي 0.25-100  مايكروغرام/لتر للنيكل و 0.5-100 مايكروغرام /لترللكوبلت لتقديم طريقة يمكن استخدامها موقعيا وغير مكلفة مقارنة مع الطرق التقليدية بحدود الكشف وحدود التقدير 0.21 و 0.70  مايكروغرام/لترللنيكل و  0.22و0.75 مايكروغرام/لترللكوبلت. بين تحليل التباين (ANOVA)عدم وجود فرق كبير بين تقنية المطيافية الضوئية وتقنية السوائل المايكروية الورقية وتقنية الامتصاص الذري القياسي حيث ان (Ftab=3.46) اعلى بكثير من (Fstat=0.13) للنيكل وكذلك (Ftab=3.46) اعلى بكثير من (Fstat=0.02) للكوبالت لذلك يمكن استخدام منصة السوائل المايكروية الورقية  كقاعدة صلبة لتوفير معلومات قيمة خارج المختبرات .Two quantitative, environment-friendly and easily monitored assays for Ni (II) and Co (III) ions analysis in different lipstick samples collected from 500-Iraqi dinars stores located in Baghdad were introduced. The study was based on the reaction of nickel (II) ions with dimethylglyoxime (DMG) reagent and the reaction of cobalt (III) ions with 1-nitroso-2-naphthol (NN) reagent to produce colored products. The color change was measured by spectrophotometric method at 565 nm and 430 nm for Ni and Co, respectively, with linear calibration graphs in the concentration range 0.25-100 mg L-1 (Ni) and 0.5-100 mg L-1 (Co) and LOD and LOQ of 0.11 mg L-1 and 0.36 mg L-1 (Ni), and 0.15 mg L-1 and 0.49 mg L-1 (Co). The UV/VIS data was compared to the results obtained by a novel microfluidic paper-based analytical device (µPAD) platform offering in-situ and cost-effect assay with a similar calibration graph with LOD and LOQ of 0.21 mg L-1 and 0.70 mg L-1 (Ni), and 0.22 mg L-1 and 0.75 mg L-1 (Co). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated no significant difference between the UV/VIS, µPAD, and standard atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) assay Ftab= 3.46 is much higher than FStat = 0.13 (Ni) and Ftab= 3.46 is much higher than FStat = 0.02 (Co). Also, a good correlation between results via the three methods was found. Thus, the µPAD platform offers a solid base for providing valuable information outside centralized laboratories