Characterisation of ionospheric TEC variations over the equatorial and polar regions during solar cycle 24

The TEC variations in the equatorial and polar region are known to be high compared to the mid latitude region. Investigation on ionospheric TEC at individual regions has been carried out by many studies but the investigation between these regions simultaneously is still lacking. TEC values from Libreville (NKLG), Gabon (0.4162°N, 9.4673°E), and Ny-Alesund (NYA1), Norway (78.9235°N, 11.9099°E), each representing equatorial and polar station, respectively, are obtained for the year 2009, 2011, and 2013 to observe their TEC behaviors. The diurnal and seasonal variations of TEC and geomagnetic effects on TEC variations are analyzed for both stations. Besides, the rate of TEC change, K, is obtained to relate the TEC variations between these locations simultaneously. The pseudo-TEC measurement measured by dual frequency GPS which can be obtained from IGS server, is used to calculate vertical TEC. The ranges of maximum diurnal TEC at NKLG and NYA1 station is 23-114 TECU and 8-55 TECU, respectively. The seasonal TEC peak at both stations encountered the highest TEC at equinoctial months and the lowest value at solstitial months. However, in 2009, the seasonal TEC showed the highest and lowest TEC peak, both at equinoctial months at NYA1 station. During geomagnetic days, the enhancement percentages of TEC are found on 22 July 2009 and 17 March 2013 at NKLG station, and 22 July 2009 and 25 October 2011 at NYA1 station. The decrement percentage of TEC observed on 25 October 2011 and 17 March 2013 at NKLG and NYA1 station, respectively. The rate of TEC change shows a same definite pattern over all the years. It can be concluded that the hourly maximum TEC values at NKLG station fell within 0.4-1.9 times larger than that NYA1 station. This study helps to have more understanding of the unique characteristics at the equatorial and polar ionosphere

Ultrasound renal stone diagnosis based on convolutional neural network and VGG16 features

This paper deals with the classification of the kidneys for renal stones on ultrasound images. Convolutional neural network (CNN) and pre-trained CNN (VGG16) models are used to extract features from ultrasound images. Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifiers and random forests are used for classification. The features extracted from CNN and VGG16 are used to compare the performance of XGBoost and random forest. An image with normal and renal stones was classified. This work uses 630 real ultrasound images from Al-Diwaniyah General Teaching Hospital (a lithotripsy center) in Iraq. Classifier performance is evaluated using its accuracy, recall, and F1 score. With an accuracy of 99.47%, CNN-XGBoost is the most accurate model

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Physicians’ Decision-making: Digoxin Toxicity in View of Combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin: A Case Report

BACKGROUND: Since the WHO declaration of COVID-19 being a global pandemic, the population in general and health-care providers, in particular, became under extraordinary pressure that remarkably impacts their decisions at multiple levels as all of us should make decisions quickly while being uncertain in many times. CASE REPORT: We are reporting a 64-year-old lady with a medical history of atrial fibrillation and mitral regurgitation that treated with digoxin and warfarin therapy, she was suspected to be a COVID-19 case and prescribed empirical hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination without proper adjustment of her baseline therapy, accordingly she developed adverse effect of this combination in the form of digoxin toxicity and long QT, this case highlights how this unprecedented pandemic affects the decision-making of physicians. CONCLUSION: We should be critical and vigilant in making a decision of prescription or marketing non-evidence-based therapy, and when we are obligated for this decision, we should take all precautions to minimize the adverse effects of these drugs

Phase Transformation of Rice Husk Ash in the Synthesis of ZSM-5 without Organic Template

Phase transformation of rice husk ash in the synthesis of ZSM-5 without organic template at various crystallization times has been studied. Zeolite has been synthesized using the hydrothermal method at 175 °C with molar ratio 10Na2O : 100SiO2 : 2Al2O3 : 1800H2O with addition of silicalite-1 as seed. Solids were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Analysis of the results of XRD and IR spectroscopy indicated that ZSM-5 crystalstarted to form at 12 h of crystallization time, reaching high crystallinity after 24 h. With a crystallization time of more than 48 h, the ZSM-5 crystals had completely transformed into more stable quartz phase. Results indicated that phase transformation has occurred, in which an amorphous phase of rice husk ash has been transformed to ZSM-5 crystal phase during the early crystallization stage and continued to transform to disordered α-cristobalite phase and lastly quartz phases. SEM showed that the morphology of the ZSM-5 crystal was of an irregular hexagonal shape with particle size distribution around 3-7 μm

Erosion characteristics of a medium sand breached embankment

Embankment breaching dam studies have been carried out since 1980s and researchers who carried out physical experiments have contributed the understanding in the breaching process. This includes lacking in data and understanding in upgrading the breach models. Therefore, this study is to analyse erosion characteristics of a medium sand of embankment breaching due to overtopping and to produce the breached outflow hydrographs for different inflow rates. Parameters such as sediment sizes, embankment slope and inflow rates were applied to examine the effects of breach parameters towards the breaching process. Experimental works on the breaching embankment were conducted to collect data needed and a dimensional analysis was proposed to get relationship of the dominant parameters that affect the failure of the embankment. The result obtained was presented in hydrographs analysis and a combination of dimensionless group of breached erosion. The finding concluded that the finer sediment produces higher peak outflow compared to a medium sediment size and controlling parameters such as particle diameter, d50, velocity, ub, and water density, ρw are the significant parameters that affect the process of embankment breached. It also observed that the velocity after the breaching process increases once the water flow through an embankment dam and it started to decrease after passing through the middle of embankment due to the large surface area

JTS-1 CATALYSTINPHENOL HYDROXYLA TION REACTION

ABSTRACT Hydroxylation reaction of phenol into diphenol, such as hydroquinone and catechol, has a great role in many industrial applications. Phenol hydroxylation reaction can be carried out using Titanium Silicalite-1 (TS-1) as catalyst and H202as an oxidant. TS-1 catalyst shows high activity and selectivity for phenol hydroxylation reaction. However, its hydrophobic sites lead to slow H202adsorption toward the active site of TS-1. Consequently, the reaction rate of phenol hydroxylation reaction is tends to be low. Addition of metal oxide Ff!203 enhanced hydrophilicity of TS-1 catalyst. Liquid phase catalytic phenol hydroxylation using hydrogen peroxide as oxidant was carried out over iron (11/)oxide-modified TS-1 catalyst (Fe20:/TS-1), that were prepared by impregnation method using iron (11/)nitrate as precursor and characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen-adsorption,pyridine adsorption, and hydrophilicity techniques: Catalysts 1Fe20:/TS-1showed maximum catalytic activity of hydroquinone product. In this research, the increase of hydroquinone formation rate is due to the higher hydrophilicity of Fe20:/TS-1 catalysts compare to the parent catalyst, TS-1. Keywords: Fe20:/TS-1, hydrophilic site, phenol hydroxylatio

Extraction of Omega-3 Fatty Acid from Jade Perch (<i>Scortum barcoo</i>) Using Enzymatic Hydrolysis Technique

Extraction of omega-3 fatty acid from Jade Perch (Scortum barcoo) using enzymatic hydrolysis techniques are expected to be more economically possible techniques due to the uses of the enzyme with the characteristic of environmentally friendly, reusable and less energy required during large-scale production. Design of Experiments (DOE) was used to study the effect of process parameters such as the concentration of alcalase (0.5–1.5%), temperature (50–70 °C) and pH (6.5–8.5) towards the yield of oil. The findings showed 16.55% of oil yield was extracted from the jade perch under an optimum condition at 50 °C, 6.5 pH with 0.5% of enzyme concentration for 2 h incubation time. The fish oil was then undergone enzymatic concentration of omega-3 FA using lipase from Candida rugosa. The acid value and peroxide value of the fish oil was 71.422 mg KOH/g and 0.799 meq/kg, while the acid and peroxide value of the omega-3 concentrated oil was lower to 49.074 mg KOH/g and 0.399 meq/kg. The FTIR spectrum showed the presence of C–H stretch, =C–H stretch and C=O stretch bond justified the existence of lipids as it presents of alkanes, alkene, and carboxylic acids functional group. At the same time, GC-MS analysis showed the fish oil contains higher total PUFA content and omega-3 fatty acid content than omega-3 concentrated oil

Role of Flavonoids as Wound Healing Agent

Flavonoids are found as the most abundant bioactive compounds all around the world. It is found in a number of medicinal plants that are used as wound healing agents in traditional medicinal uses such as Buddleja globosa, Moringa oleifera, Lam, Butea monosperma, Parapiptadenia rigida and Ononis spinosa. Flavonoids nowadays are being used in different formulation and wound healing dressings. Inflammation, proliferation and reepithelialization are involved in wound healing. Most of the wound healing medicinal plants possess multiple flavonoids that act as synergistic effect or combined effect. This chapter briefly reviews the role of flavonoids as wound healing agent in traditional and modern medicine

Developing Human Capital for Rural Community Tourism: Using Experiential Learning Approach

AbstractCommunity awareness, lack of tourism knowledge and skills are the basic constraints that limit the ability of the local people to actively participate in the tourism planning and development. In Malaysia, Miso Walai Homestay at Kinabatangan, Sabah was recognized as one of the best Community Based Tourism Model not only at national level but at the international level. Thus, this study was to explore the process of community capacity building particularly on the aspect of awareness, knowledge, skills as well as attitude of the rural community that enable them to involve themselves in tourism planning. This study applies a qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interview with key informants. All the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study showed that about 3 years has been used by the NGO together with the pioneer MESCOT members for the capacity building particularly on the human capital development. The knowledge, skills as well as awareness of the local people have been developed through experiential learning approach