Improving Fractal Image Compression Scheme through Quantization Operation

We explore the transform coefficients of fractal and exploit new method to improve the compression capabilities of these schemes. In most of the standard encoder/ decoder systems the quantization/ de-quantization managed as a separate step, here we introduce new way (method) to work (managed) simultaneously. Additional compression is achieved by this method with high image quality as you will see later

'A boy would be friends with boys... and a girl... with girls' : gender norms in early adolescent friendships in Egypt and Belgium

Purpose: A gender analysis was conducted to illuminate the key elements of friendships highlighted by early adolescent girls and boys in two sites for the purpose of better understanding the impact of gender norms on adolescent friendships in different contexts. Methods: Narrative interviews with early adolescents were conducted in two sites: Assiut, Egypt (n = 37) and Ghent, Belgium (n = 30). The interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated into English, and coded using Atlas.ti for analysis. Results: In both Assiut and Ghent, early adolescents reported some similarities in defining key characteristics of their same-sex friends as well as in the activities they share. However, differences were noticed among boys and girls within each site. In addition, the scope of shared activity was broader in Ghent than in Assiut. In both sites, few opposite-sex friendships were reported. Gender norms influenced choice of friends as well as the type and place of shared activities. Conclusions: Building on knowledge that adolescent friendships guide and reinforce attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that impact immediate and long-term health, our findings indicate that gender norms inform early adolescent friendships, which may impact healthy development

Mapping Dispersion of Urban Air Particulate Matter Over Kirkuk City Using Geographic Information System

Urban air pollution problem is a major concern in many large cities and becomes increasingly critical around the world. The effects of urban air pollution on public health are being felt worldwide. Pollutants can  destroy sensitive tissues (in people, animals and plants), impair respiratory functions, degrade building materials and deteriorate the aesthetic aspects of environment. Mapping of urban air pollution dispersion is very complex as it depends upon various  factors including weather conditions, urban structural features and their topographic. In this research , the relationship between in-suite urban air pollutants (particulates matters - PM and total suspend particulate-TSP) and some metrological factors (Temperature, Humidity and wind speed) has been investigated. Geographic Information System (GIS ) was utilized to map urban air pollution dispersion in Kirkuk city - Iraq. The rapid growth of Kirkuk city as the main petroleum city in Iraq  last years  has resulted in significant increase in environmental pollution. A correlation analysis was performed to establish between air pollutants and metrological parameters. GIS technique was used to investigate the spatial distribution of the pollutants and identification of the city area of high concentration of pollutants. The results shows that there is a weak linear correlation between metrological factors and most of air pollutants. PM10 only shows a significant correlation with temperature. Generally we can conclude that the impact of  metrological factors can be almost ignored. From GIS  distribution maps for  PM and TSP pollutants, the highest concentration pollutants located around oil industrial area and in the center of the city. Keywords Urban Air Pollution, Particulates Matters, Total Suspend Particulate, Geographic Information System (GIS ) , Correlation Analysis

Statistical optimization as a powerful tool for indole acetic acid production by Fusarium oxysporum

Crop production is challenged in our world by increasing food demands, decrease natural resource bases and climatic change. Nowadays plant growth regulators works like fertilizers in increasing plant growth production efficiency and needed to produce in large industrial scale. Fermentation condition and medium constituents can significantly affect on the product production and designing an acceptable fermentation medium is critical importance. In this paper Fusarium sp. could be considered as promising indole-3-acetic acid producers with the ability to improve the production using statistical methods. The results showed that fermentation type, incubation temperature and L-tryptophan were the most influencing parameters on the production. Maximum IAA production by Fusarium oxysporum was 300.4 mg/l obtained under the fermentation conditions: temperature at 25oC, incubation period 5 days, pH 7, inoculums size 2%, shaking rate at 150 rpm and medium constituents: Glucose 40 g/l, yeast extract 3 g/l, L-tryptophan 1 g/l, KH2PO4 2 g/l, NaNO3 4 g/l, MgSO4·7H2O 0.1 g/l with regression analysis (R2) 99.67% and 2.12-fold increase in comparison to the production of the original level (142 mg/l). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.101234

Improved White Blood Cells Classification based on Pre-trained Deep Learning Models

Leukocytes, or white blood cells (WBCs), are microscopic organisms that fight against infectious disease, bacteria, viruses, and others. The manual method to classify and count WBCs is tedious, time-consuming and may has inaccurate results, whereas the automated methods are costly. The objective of this work is to automatically identify and classify WBCs in a microscopic image into four types with higher accuracy. BCCD is the used dataset in this study, which is a scaled down blood cell detection dataset. BCCD is firstly pre-processed by passing through several processes such as segmentation and augmentation,then it is passed to the proposed model. Our model combines the privilege of deep models in automatically extracting features with the higher classification accuracy of traditional machine learning classifiers.The proposed model consists of two main layers; a shallow tuning pre-trained model and a traditional machine learning classifier on top of it. Here, ten different pretrained models with six different machine learning are used in this study. Moreover, the fully connected network (FCN) of pretrained models is used as a baseline classifier for comparison. The evaluation process shows that the hybrid between MobileNet-224 as feature extractor with logistic regression as classifier has a higher rank-1 accuracy with 97.03%. Besides, the proposed hybrid model outperformed the baseline FCN with 25.78% on average

The AIB1/NCOA3/SRC-3 Oncogene

A member of the NCOA/SRC/p160 co-activator family, AIB1 is amplified and overexpressed in multiple cancer types, notably breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer. Common to all members of the NCOA/SRC/p160 family are bHLH-PAS, receptor interaction, and CBP/p300 interacting activation domains. The protein acts as a scaffold to support the transcriptional activity of many DNA binding transcription factors, such as the ER, AP-1, E2F, NFκB, and TEADs. In doing so, the multi-domain protein facilitates chromatin remodeling and oncogenic gene transcription. Further, the AIB1Δ4 isoform promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis through interaction with chromatin in the nucleus or at the periphery of the cell. Pathologically, AIB1 promotes the transformation of normal tissue to cancerous lesions in multiple diseases, and loss delays progression. AIB1 has also been implicated in cancer recurrence and pharmacological resistance. We will discuss the structure and isoforms of AIB1, the physiological consequences of its interaction with transcription factors and hormone receptors, and clinical significance of the protein

The New Institutionalism and Africa

After briefly reviewing the new institutionalism, this article uses the history of political reform in Africa to test its key tenet: that power, if properly organised, is a productive resource. It does so by exploring the relationship between changes in political institutions and changes in economic performance, both at the macro- and the micro level. The evidence indicates that political reform (Granger) causes increases in GDP per capita in the African subset of global data. And, at the micro level, it demonstrates that changes in national political institutions in Africa strongly relate to changes in total factor productivity in agriculture.African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Behavior of hybrid high-strength fiber reinforced concrete slab-column connections under the effect of high temperature

AbstractConcrete can be modified to perform in a more ductile form by the addition of randomly distributed discrete fibers in the concrete matrix. The combined effect of the addition of two types of fibers (steel fiber and polypropylene fiber with different percentages) to concrete matrix, which is called hybrid effect is currently under investigation worldwide. The current research work presents the conducted experimental program to observe the behavior of hybrid high strength reinforced concrete slab-column connections under the effect of high temperature. For this purpose, ten slab-column connections were casted and tested. The experimental program was designed to investigate the effect of different variables such as concrete mixture, column location and temperature fighting system. All specimens were exposed to a temperature of 500°C for duration of two hours. To observe the effect of each variable, specimens were divided into four groups according to the studied parameters. The test results revealed that using hybrid high strength concrete HFHSC produced more strength in punching failure compared with high strength concrete HSC when exposed to elevated temperature. Fighting by air had higher initial crack load compared with that for without fighting and fighting by water. On the other hand, fighting by water decreased the ultimate load

Impact of Designed Teaching Program for Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes on Maternal outcomes

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with an onset or first recognition during pregnancy. Aim of this research: was to examine the impact of designed teaching program for pregnant women with gestational diabetes on maternal outcomes. Subjects & Methods:- Design: quasi experimental pre-post one group design was utilized for the current study. Setting: The study was carried out at Antenatal outpatient clinic at El-Manial Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. Sample: A convenient sample of 100 gestational diabetic women was recruited for the study. Data collection: different tools were used to collect the data; (1) Structured Interviewing Schedule; (2) Physical assessment sheet; (3) Pretest for assessing knowledge; (4) Follow up tool to asses women's compliance to the given instructions; (5) Post test for assessing knowledge, and Post partum questionnaire. Results: revealed that, the mean post-test knowledge score (18.45) was significantly higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score, there was weak positive relationship between the mean post-test knowledge score and maternal compliance to the given instructions (r = 0.304), no statistically significant relationship were found in relation to post test knowledge score and blood glucose level in the current pregnancy (P=0.37), Moreover, there was high statistically significant relationship between the mean posttest knowledge score and mode of the current delivery (P =0.016). All over there was high statistically significant relationship between post-test knowledge score and maternal outcomes  (P < 0.001). In conclusion:  participating of designed teaching program for gestational diabetic women lead to increase knowledge score about the disease and increase women's awareness of how to decrease its complications. This research recommended that: Raise pregnant mother's awareness regarding Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, definition, diagnosis, symptoms and signs , frequency of antenatal visits, and ways to adopting healthy life style as follow dietary program and practice exercises. Keywords: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Women compliance, , Postpartum questionnair