Radiation dose associated with multi-detector 64-slice computed tomography brain examinations in Khartoum State, Sudan

Background: Radiation exposure due to computed tomography (CT) has become an important issue, as the number of CT examinations has been increasing worldwide. Radiation doses associated with CT are higher in comparison to other imaging procedures. CT-related radiation doses should be monitored and controlled in order to ensure reduction of radiation exposure and optimization of image quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate radiation doses in adult patient who underwent routine CT brain examinations, and to assess how CT scanning protocols affect patient doses in practice. Material/Methods: A total of 118 patients underwent brain CT at two radiology departments equipped with 64-slice CT scanners, Khartoum, Sudan. Patient doses regarding weighted CT dose index (CTDIw) and dose length product (DLP) values were recorded. Quality control tests were performed for both scanners. Results: The mean CTDIw values ranged from 62.9 to 65.8 mGy, DLP values ranged from 1003.7 to 1192.5 mGy, and the effective dose varied from 2.4 to 3.7 mSv. Conclusions: Patient doses in this study was higher compared to previous research, suggesting that patients exposed to unnecessary radiation. Therefore, optimization of radiation doses with the use of specified imaging protocols, well-documented indications for CT, training of technicians, and quality control programs will reduce the necessary radiation doses. Establishment of the diagnostic reference level is recommended for further dose reduction

The Effect of Chicken Manure on the Yield and Nutritive Value of Fodder Sorghum Sudanese Under Rain-fed Conditions

This experiment was conducted in the field of Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Gadarif, in the autumn season in year (2014-2015). The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of fertilization by chicken manure in the production and nutritive value of fodder Sudan grass (Grawia) under rain-fed conditions. A completely randomized design was used, with three treatments and three replicates per treatment. Three levels of chicken manure namely, 0, 3.3 and 6.7 tons/ha were used. Parameters measured were dry and fresh yield, numbers of leaves/ plant, plant height (cm), diameter of the stem (cm) and the chemical analysis. The results revealed that as chicken manure increased the fresh and dry matter weight increased but the difference was not reach the significant level. The highest forage dry matter yield (1.83kg/m2) was recorded for the highest level of chicken manure applied (6.7tons/ha) compared to 0.67kg/m2 for the control. The highest forage fresh yield (4.53kg/m2) was recorded for the highest level of chicken manure applied (6.7 tons/ha) compared to 2.17kg/m2 for the control. There was no significance difference among treatments in the number of leaves/ plant and diameter of the stem but there was higher significance difference (P<0.001) in height of the plant. The chicken manure significantly affected Ash, CP, CF and NFE and there was no significant effect on DM and EE. Application of chicken manure significantly improved the nutritive value of Sudan grass by increasing the crude protein content

Is there any ‶Dutch Disease″ in Libya's economy?

Purpose: The massive wealth coming from an increase in national resource exports would be normally considered as a blessing. Nevertheless, it has brought about some adverse effects to the country's economy known in the literature as the "Dutch Disease" phenomenon or "deindustrialisation". The main purpose of this study is to explore whether Libya experienced the Dutch Disease following to the oil booms of 1973-1974 and 1978 and also to make policy suggestions to prevent or moderate the Dutch Disease. This study may be the first of its kind to apply the estimation technique to examine whether there is a Dutch Disease in Libyan economy. Methodology: A model was built especially to deal characteristics of Libyan economy. It is noteworthy that a dummy variable was developed to capture the impact of UN sanctions on the Libyan economy. This model is then estimated by using the annual data' over the period from 1970 to 2004 and using co-intergration model. Findings: This thesis has shown that Libya suffered from negative effects of the oil boom in such as the deterioration in manufacturing and agricultural sectors because of an appreciation of the real exchange rate and an expansion of the non-traded goods sector. The booming demand for oil led to shifts in productive resources of economy from the tradable-goods sectors to the non-tradable goods sectors. The results are consistent with the literature prediction that in a boom period the tradable goods sector is squeezed and the non-tradable goods sector expanded. However, the result also shoes that UN sanction affected the tradable goods sector positively and non tradable sector negatively

Water resources management strategy for adaptation to droughts in china

Water Scarcity and drought are recurrent phenomena in China. In the context of environmental change, an increasing tendency in drought frequency and severity is observed in China in recent years. Therefore, it is imperative to take necessary initiatives to reduce the impacts of drought. In this paper, an attempt is made to identify the best water management strategies to cope with droughts. For this objective the records of historical droughts and their impacts in China over the period of 1950-2009 are analyzed. It is observed that the drought affected area has increased nearly by 12 folds and the drought damaged area has increased by about 22 times in China in last 60 years. Over 87,000 reservoirs were built with a total water storage capacity of about 7,064 billion m3 to cope with droughts. However, this structural supply-based management strategy was not enough to meet the increasing water demand caused by rapid economic development and population growth. A typical relationship between socio-economic development and water resources management strategy to attain sustainability in water management is developed in this study. The relationship shows that the demand-side water management strategies can be the best option to meet the challenges posed by increased severity of drought, population growth, economic development and possible climate change. The concept is later verified through the analysis of changing pattern of water consumptions by different sectors in last 60 year

Design of a wideband printed MIMO monopole antenna using neurtralisation lines technique

NoA novel printed diversity monopole antenna is presented for WiFi/WiMAX applications. The antenna comprises two crescent shaped radiators placed symmetrically with respect to a defected ground plane and a wideband zigzag neutralization line is connected between them to achieve good impedance matching and low mutual coupling. Theoretical and experimental characteristics are illustrated for this antenna, which achieves an impedance bandwidth of 54.5% (over 2.4 – 4.2 GHz), at a reflection coefficient < −10 dB, mutual coupling < −16 dB. An acceptable agreement is obtained for the computed and measured gain, radiation patterns, and envelope correlation coefficient. These characteristics demonstrate that the proposed antenna is an attractive candidate for the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) portable mobile devices

A cross-sectional survey to evaluate acquaintance about dental photography among dental students in daily clinical practice

Background: In today’s world of digital dentistry, dental photography plays an important role as multilevel significance and represents the synonym of contemporary dentistry. Thus, we aimed at evaluating the acquaintance of practice, opportunity and morals of dental photography in everyday practice among undergraduate dental students. Design and Methods: The current research was an observational cross-sectional study. Total 233 students participated; each was given questionnaire consisted of three parts covering the following aspects: questions 1 to 3 on the practice of dental photography, questions 4 to 7 on morals in dental photography and question 8 to 11 on opportunities of dental photography. The answers were tabulated and statistically analysed and association with the factors were tested for significance using Chi-square tests, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The total response rate was 86%. Among the 201 respondents, 100 were males and 101 females; 96% male students were taking photographs and 93% females were taking photographs, on regular basis. Phone cameras (41.3%) were the most commonly used device followed by DSLR cameras. Surveyed students mentioned patient education (53.2%) as most needed requirement for taking photographs, followed by treatment planning (49.8%) and monitoring of the treatment outcome (34.3%). Ninety-one percent of students feel that there is an opportunity for advancement in dental photography techniques. Conclusions: The participants aware of dental photography, but they require detail insight on proper capturing of photographs and morals, with regards to confidentiality of the patient and patient consent

Gini coefficient to assess equity in domestic water supply in the Yellow River

Water demand management, Domestic water use, Gini coefficient, Equity, Yellow River,

Indoor localization using received signal strength

NoA comparison between two indoor localization algorithms using received signal strength is carried out. The first algorithm is the vector algorithm; the second is the matrix algorithm. The comparison considered the effects of the reference points, the access point, and the frequency on the accuracy of the localization process. The experiments were carried out using ray tracing software and MATLAB. This paper justifies the use of adopting the matrix algorithm