An analysis of the cellular defence reaction in bark boring beetles infected by the haemocoelic nematode Contortylenchus sp.

Imperial Users onl

Study the Associations between Age and Levels of Glucose, Renal Function Tests in Type 2 Diabetic Patients.

مقدمة: يعاني مرضى السكري عادة من بعض اضطرابات وظائف الكلى السكري. يعد قياس اليوريا والكرياتينين في مصل الدم من المؤشرات السريرية الجيدة لتقييم معدل الترشيح الكبيبي والوظيفة الكلوية. هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى دراسة العلاقة بين مستويات الكلوكوز واليوريا والكرياتينين في الدم لدى مرضى السكري من النوع الثاني وأعمارهم. طرق العمل: عينات الدم  تم الحصول عليها من المشاركين أثناء زيارتهم لمستشفى الهاشمية ، بابل ، العراق. حوالي 50 مريضًا تم تقسيمهم وفقًا للأعمار إلى 4 مجموعات هي: 20-29 ، 30-39 ، 40-49 و 50 عامًا واكثر. تضمنت مجموعة السيطرة أيضًا 50 من الأشخاص الأصحاء وتم تقسيمهم إلى نفس الفئات العمرية المذكورة أعلاه. النتائج:  أظهرت النتائج أن هناك علاقة ارتباط  موجبة معنوية (P = 0.029 , r = 0.308) وعالية المعنوية (P=0.001,  r=0.728 )    بين كل من مستوى الكلوكوز و مستوى اليوريا في الدم  وعمر مرضى السكري على التوالي ، ولكن لا توجد علاقة ارتباط معنوية بين مستوى الكرياتينين في الدم وعمر مرضى السكري وكذلك بين جميع المتغيرات المدروسة المتعلقة بمجموعة السيطرة وأعمارهم. استنتاج:  تزداد مستويات الكلوكوز واليوريا في الدم مع تقدم العمر لمرضى السكري مما  يؤدي إلى المزيد من المضاعفات لدى هؤلاء المرضى ، لذلك من الضروري إجراء متابعة فائقة لمرضى السكري ذوي الاعمار المتقدمة. الكلمات المفتاحية:  مرض السكري ، اختبار وظائف الكلى ، اليوريا ، الكرياتينين.Background: Diabetic patients commonly suffer from some diabetic renal function disorder. Estimation urea and creatinine in the serum are considered as a good clinical indicators to assess glomerular filtration rate and renal function.  This study aimed to study the relation between the levels of serum glucose, urea and creatinine with type 2 diabetic patients and  their ages. Materials and Methods: The blood samples obtained from the participants when they attended AL-Hashymmia Hospital, Babylon, Iraq. About 50 patients who are subdivided according to the age into 4 groups are: 20-29 , 30-39, 40-49  and  ≥ 50 years old. Control group also included 50 healthy subjects and subdivided into the same above age groups. Results:  The results show that there is a positive significant (P = 0.029 , r = 0.308 ) and highly significant (P=0.001 , r=0.728 ) correlation between each of the serum glucose level, serum urea level and the age of diabetic patients  respectively, but there is no significant correlation between level of serum creatinine and the age of diabetic patients as well as between all studied parameters related to control subjects  and their age. Conclusion:  In diabetic patients the levels of serum glucose and serum urea increase with the progression of age which may result  more complications in diabetic patients, so it is necessary to give a super follow up to older diabetic patients

Admixtures to reduce chloride ingress into concrete

Imperial Users onl

Environmental Reporting and Financial Performance of Listed Industrial and Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

This study examines the effect of environmental reporting on financial performance of listed Nigerian industrial and consumer goods firms for the period of ten (10) years from 2012 to 2021. The population of the study comprises forty-two (42) listed industrial and consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Eleven (11) firms were selected as the study sample size, which comprises 5 industrial goods and 6 consumer goods firms. The remaining 31 firms were filtered out, because they did not report their environmental disclosure throughout the period of this study and some were delisted. Return on Asset (ROA) is considered as proxy of financial performance. Secondary data were used and extracted from the firm’s annual reports using environmental reporting Index (ISO 14031) content analysis, provided at appendix A1. In relation to financial performance the data was also collected from the firm’s annual reports. The study analyses were conducted using STATA 13 statistical software. The regression result revealed that environmental information has significant positive effect on return on asset (ROA); employee health and safety have negative significant effect on ROA; product safety has negative significant effect on ROA. Based on these findings, this study therefore, concludes that environmental reporting influence financial performance of listed industrial and consumer goods firms in Nigeria. This study therefore, recommends among others that, listed Nigerian industrial and consumer goods firms should emphasize more on reporting their environmental issues as it is capable of improving their financial performance

Philanthropic Motivations of Hausa Muslim Women in Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria: Evidence from a Pilot Study

The study examined “Philanthropic motivations of Hausa Muslim women in Dutse, Jigawa state, Nigeria: evidence from a pilot study.” As an exploratory study, a sample of 42 respondents was selected purposively. Chi square statistic was used for data analysis. The findings showed no differences between women’s age groups and their philanthropic motivations, sources of giving inspirations and charitable role models. The study concluded, tentatively, that regardless of women’s life stage in Dutse, they do not differ in the variables considered, though a more definite conclusion awaits further research. Keywords: Philanthropy, Charity, Hausa, Islam, Women, Jigawa State, Nigeri

A LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AT SIBCA LLC

Occupational health and safety (OHS) refer to practices that businesses use to proactively ensure the health and safety of employees. OHS scholars believe companies can use such practices to improve the health and safety of their organization and employee productivity. This study assesses how OHS practices can impact employee productivity at SIBCA LLC, a UAE-based company. It employed a longitudinal research design with pre- and post-intervention data collection to determine the effect of OHS practices on employee productivity. The study sample comprised 293 SIBCA LLC employees. Participants completed the same questionnaire twice, and productivity data were collected twice, 13 months apart, before and after OHS interventions. Findings reveal that implementing OHS practices is effective at realizing change and can improve employee productivity to a statistically significant degree. This result is theoretically significant because it demonstrates the effectiveness of O’Donnell’s model in describing change. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence for the need to increase employees’ knowledge of OHS-related matters and consider a strategic approach toward OHS. The study bridges a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the need for and potential benefit of change regarding the practical application of OHS practices and their effects on employee productivity

Performance Assessment of Pareto and Non-Pareto Approaches for the Optimal Allocation of DG and DSTATCOM in the Distribution System

This paper proposes a Differential Evolution (DE) optimization algorithm and a Pareto-frontier Multi-Objective Differential Evolution (MODE) optimization algorithm for the optimal allocation of Distributed Generation (DG) and Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) in a radial distribution system. It considers the minimization of active power dissipation, voltage drop and the annual cost as the objectives of this optimization problem. The proposed techniques are tested on an IEEE 33 bus radial distribution system. To compare the performance of the MODE and DE, the weighted sum approach is carried out. This helps to select one solution from the Pareto front of the MODE. Case studies show that the allocation of both DG and DSTATCOM results in a noticeable reduction of system losses, voltage drop and annual cost. Comparative studies also show that the global convergence characteristics of MODE are better than several other optimization algorithms

Chemically radiative dissipative MHD Casson nanofluid flow on a non-linear elongating stretched sheet with numerous slip and convective boundary conditions

The flow of a Casson nanofluid across a nonlinear stretching surface with a velocity slip and a convective boundary condition is investigated in this work in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) domain. This technique emphasizes a variety of effects, including chemical reaction, viscosity dissipation, and velocity ratio. In this study, Brownian motion and thermophoresis are also illustrated. It is assumed that suction exists while a magnetic field is uniform. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations are converted into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations using the required similarity transformations, and the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth-fifth method is then used to solve the system. The updated results are fairly similar to the earlier ones. The graphs and tables examine how various variables affect the speeds, temperatures, concentrations of substances, skin friction values, Sherwood numbers and Nusselt numbers

A New Weighting Scheme in Weighted Markov Model for Predicting the Probability of Drought Episodes

Drought is a complex stochastic natural hazard caused by prolonged shortage of rainfall. Several environmental factors are involved in determining drought classes at the specific monitoring station. Therefore, efficient sequence processing techniques are required to explore and predict the periodic information about the various episodes of drought classes. In this study, we proposed a new weighting scheme to predict the probability of various drought classes under Weighted Markov Chain (WMC) model. We provide a standardized scheme of weights for ordinal sequences of drought classifications by normalizing squared weighted Cohen Kappa. Illustrations of the proposed scheme are given by including temporal ordinal data on drought classes determined by the standardized precipitation temperature index (SPTI). Experimental results show that the proposed weighting scheme for WMC model is sufficiently flexible to address actual changes in drought classifications by restructuring the transient behavior of a Markov chain. In summary, this paper proposes a new weighting scheme to improve the accuracy of the WMC, specifically in the field of hydrology