Nerium oleander L. as a Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals in Diyala Governorate – Iraq

The study samples were collected during the months of April and May 2022, samples were collected from different regions in Diyala Governorate – Iraq. The study aimed to assess the role of oleander plant in the phytoremediation  of heavy metals (lead , cadmium , arsenic and selenium)  within Diyala Governorate by estimating their concentration in the leaves of the plant and the soil on which it grows as well as calculating the bioaccumulation factor (BAF). Al-Muqdadiyah Industrial area was one of the most polluted areas with lead,  the highest concentration of lead appeared in the leaves of the oleander plant grown in this area, as well as the soil on which it grows (2.452 and 0.904 ) ppm respectively. The highest concentration of cadmium was recorded for oleander leaves in the old city of Baqubah (2.208ppm), while the highest concentration appeared in the soil on which it grows in the Al-Muqdadiyah Industrial area (0.363ppm). The Al-Muqdadiya industrial area also recorded the highest concentration of arsenic in the leaves of the oleander plant ( 0.559 ppm) ,but the highest concentration in the soil on which it grows was in the central city of Al-Muqdadiyah (0.218ppm) , followed by the industrial city off Al-Muqdadiyah.( 0.132ppm) . The highest concentration of selenium appeared in the industrial city of Al-Muqdadiya in both the leaves of the oleander plant and the soil on which it grows (0.441 and 0.104) ppm. The value of the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) shows the efficiency of the oleander plant in the phytoremediation of cadmium, followed by lead, arsenic and selenium in varying proportions. Keywords : Phytoremediation , Neium oleander , Heavy metals DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-9-04 Publication date:September 30th 202

Performance Evaluation of Power Efficient Mechanisms on Multimedia over LTE-A Networks

Power optimization is a critical challenge in multimedia services over cellular communication systems. Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) has been developed for higher bandwidth access for accommodating today’s heavy data applications to provide better performance. Idle mode permits cellularstations to manipulate power and sources with the aid of limiting its activity for discrete periods and this eliminates the lively requirement for handover and other ordinary operations. Also, provides a periodical method for the cell station for pending downlink traffic directed to the cellularstation and as a result gets rid network handover traffic from basically inactive cellular stations. Discontinuous Reception (DRX) has been carried out to decrease the power intake of the consumer device, and transmission of big quantity of data. At data transfer, mobile device and the network phases negotiation occur. During other times, the device turns its receiver off and enters a low power state. Thereby similarly assisting numerous services and big quantities of information transmissions. This study prepossession of a massive quantity of data. Also proposes the two-power optimization modes idle mode and DRX mode parameters to achieve maximum possible power saving with the higher quality of multimedia services. Furthermore, the effectiveness of using DRX short cycles and DRX long cycles on multimedia services and the overall performance. Using OPNET Simulator 17.5, it concluded that DRX mechanism is preferred to operate compared with the Idle mechanism, also resulted that the DRX long cycles are a very good choice for all multimedia services and the overall network performance

Quantum Fluctuations in the Chirped Pendulum

An anharmonic oscillator when driven with a fast, frequency chirped voltage pulse can oscillate with either small or large amplitude depending on whether the drive voltage is below or above a critical value-a well studied classical phenomenon known as autoresonance. Using a 6 GHz superconducting resonator embedded with a Josephson tunnel junction, we have studied for the first time the role of noise in this non-equilibrium system and find that the width of the threshold for capture into autoresonance decreases as the square root of T, and saturates below 150 mK due to zero point motion of the oscillator. This unique scaling results from the non-equilibrium excitation where fluctuations, both quantum and classical, only determine the initial oscillator motion and not its subsequent dynamics. We have investigated this paradigm in an electrical circuit but our findings are applicable to all out of equilibrium nonlinear oscillators.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Exploring the Power and Promise of In Silico Clinical Trials with Application in COVID-19 Infection

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically engulfed the world causing catastrophic damage to human society. Several therapeutic and vaccines have been suggested for the disease in the past months, with over 150 clinical trials currently running or under process. Nevertheless, these trials are extremely expensive and require a long time, which presents the need for alternative cost-effective methods to tackle this urgent requirement for validated therapeutics and vaccines. Bearing this in mind, here we assess the use of in silico clinical trials as a significant development in the field of clinical research, which holds the possibility to reduce the time and cost needed for clinical trials on COVID-19 and other diseases. Methods: Using the PubMed database, we analyzed six relevant scientific articles regarding the possible application of in silico clinical trials in testing the therapeutic and investigational methods of managing different diseases. Results: Successful use of in silico trials was observed in many of the reviewed evidence. Conclusion: In silico clinical trials can be used in refining clinical trials for COVID-19 infection. Keywords: in silico, clinical trials, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, vaccine Ho

Distribution of Fig Mosaic in Jordan

Fig mosaic (FM) is one of the most important diseases of figs in Jordan. A nationwide survey was conducted to determine the incidence and severity of this disease in trees and in seedlings propagated by cuttings in orchards and nurseries in 13 provinces and cities all over the country. Cultivars surveyed included Khdari, Mwazi, Zraki, Khartamani, Dafoori, Turki, Hamari, Esaili, Ajlouni, in addition to an Italian and a French cultivar. Disease severity varied from moderately severe to extremely severe with leaf malformation and fruit drop FM was found in all provinces. Incidence of FM, averaged over trees of all cultivars and all age categories, was 95.3%. Fig trees 3 years and older had the highest disease incidence, ranging from 93.3% to 100% in the different orchards. The Esaili cultivar had the lowest incidence ranging between 50% and100%, with an average of 76.5%. The highest FM incidence was on Dafoori. Of the most common cultivars, Khdari was the most susceptible. Jerash province had the highest percentage (12.5%) of fig seedlings and trees in the most severe disease category. The highest percentage (27.8%) of healthy fig seedlings and trees was in Irbid province. This paper reports the incidence of FM in various local and imported fig cultivars of different ages, and relates the spread of the disease to the method of fig propagation practiced in Jordan. Suggested solutions for the problem, which include the introduction of disease and pest free fig seedlings derived from tissue culture and the establishment of new rules and regulations to prevent the spread of the disease are discussed

Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Antiparallel β-Sheet Secondary Structure

We investigate the sensitivity of femtosecond Fourier transform two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to protein secondary structure with a study of antiparallel β-sheets. The results show that 2D IR spectroscopy is more sensitive to structural differences between proteins than traditional infrared spectroscopy, providing an observable that allows comparison to quantitative models of protein vibrational spectroscopy. 2D IR correlation spectra of the amide I region of poly-L-lysine, concanavalin A, ribonuclease A, and lysozyme show cross-peaks between the IR-active transitions that are characteristic of amide I couplings for polypeptides in antiparallel hydrogen-bonding registry. For poly-L-lysine, the 2D IR spectrum contains the eight-peak structure expected for two dominant vibrations of an extended, ordered antiparallel β-sheet. In the proteins with antiparallel β-sheets, interference effects between the diagonal and cross-peaks arising from the sheets, combined with diagonally elongated resonances from additional amide transitions, lead to a characteristic “Z”-shaped pattern for the amide I region in the 2D IR spectrum. We discuss in detail how the number of strands in the sheet, the local configurational disorder in the sheet, the delocalization of the vibrational excitation, and the angle between transition dipole moments affect the position, splitting, amplitude, and line shape of the cross-peaks and diagonal peaks.

Impact of Applying Fraud Detection and Prevention Instruments in Reducing Occupational Fraud: Case study: Ministry of Health (MOH) in Gaza Strip

The study aimed to identify the effect of applying detection and prevention tools for career fraud in combating and preventing fraud and reducing its risks through an applied study on Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza Strip, Palestine. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers used the questionnaire as a main tool to collect data, and the descriptive and analytical approach to conducting the study. The study population consisted of (501) supervisory employees working at MOH in Gaza Strip, Palestine. The researchers used the stratified random sample method and the multiple regression method to measure the effect. The study concluded a set of results, the most important of which is a positive evaluation among respondents about the levels of application of tools to detect and prevent job fraud within MOH, and the presence of a high interest in tools to prevent job fraud during the implementation of its various work. The study recommended the necessity for the Palestinian National Authority to develop and approve laws regulating health sector, so that those laws guarantee the prevention of conflicts of interest, especially for the category of doctors, by preventing job duplication of doctors working in the government sector. Also study recommended the need for MOH to adopt principles of health sector governance and begin immediately to implement them. This process to ensure transparency, disclosure and accountability in the business framework in a manner that realizes the effective protection of stakeholders and does not compromise or discriminate in the application of these principles, which ensures that all forms of job fraud are organized in an organized manner and within fixed legal frameworks

Study of genetic variation of some eggplant cultivars through RAPD-PCR molecular markers and its relatedness to phomopsis blight disease reaction

Disease susceptibility and genetic variability in 10 eggplant genotypes were studied after inoculating Phomopsis vexans under confined field conditions. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to assess genetic variation and relationships among eggplant genotypes. The disease index of leaves ranged 0.208-13.79%, while fruit infection ranged 2.15-42.76%. Two varieties, Dohazari G and Laffa S, were found to be susceptible, 6 were moderately resistant, 1 was moderately susceptible, and BAU Begun-1 was resistant to P. vexans. Amplification of genomic DNA by using 3 RAPD primers produced 20 bands: 14 (70%) were polymorphic and 6 (30%) were monomorphic. The highest intra-variety similarity indices values were found in ISD 006, Ishurdi L, Jessore L, and BAU Begun-1 (100%), while the lowest was in Dohazari G (90%). The lowest genetic distance (0.0513) and the highest genetic identity (0.9500) were observed between the ISD 006 and Ishurdi L combinations. A comparatively higher genetic distance (0.3724) and the lowest genetic identity (0.6891) were observed between the ISD 006 and Dohazari G combinations. A dendogram was constructed based on Nei’s genetic distance, which produced 2 main clusters of the genotypes - Cluster I: ISD 006, Ishurdi L, Marich begun L, BAU Begun-1, Marich begun S, and Chega and Cluster 2: Laffa S, Dohazari G, Jessore L, and Singhnath. Genetic variation and its relationship with disease susceptibility were assessed using RAPD markers, to develop disease-resistant varieties and improve eggplant crops

TRA-954: SOLUTION MODEL FOR URBAN TRAFFIC CONGESTION: EGYPTIAN CASE STUDY

Traffic congestion is a major problem in many cities around the world resulting in massive delays, increased fuel wastage, environmental impact and other negative consequences affecting the daily life of each individual. From a transportation engineering point of view, making the correct decision to eliminate such congestion problems can be very difficult for decision-makers who carry the burden of analyzing large quantities of data which could be vague and conflicting in nature. Therefore, an effective and consistent system is required to simplify the decision-making process of the traffic congestion control. Traffic simulation could be that tool. The seriousness of traffic congestion in Egypt is the main motive for the study presented herein. The study aims at developing a model that sets guidelines on how to approach an urban congested traffic area, be able to tackle the problem and choose the effective engineering solution in terms of either geometry and/or structure. Sectors of El Nasr Road, Cairo with a total length of 2.4 km is chosen as a typical example of an urban area with traffic congestion hotspots. It serves as an excellent location to implement the traffic solution model on. The model is developed and implemented as follows: collection of traffic data, diagnosis of the congestion problems in terms of social, commercial, cultural, and behavioral aspects. The analysis of the data finger points out the flag areas by conducting total and peak traffic volume counts, simulation of the existing traffic conditions to get the delayed travel times of vehicles in that area. The analysis of the output would finally help decide whether such problem would be solved by geometric adjustments of the surface or the problem requires a multi-layered intersection