Effect of Alcoholic Catechin Extract on Hyperglycemia, Hyperlipidemia and Liver Functions in Alloxan Diabetic Mice

The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of the hydro-ethanolic catechin extract toward blood glucose, lipid profile and liver functions in alloxan diabetic mice. 50 healthy mice (25-30 g) were divided into five groups of ten animals for each. Group A received normal saline as normal control group. To induce diabetes, alloxan (150 mg/kg), intraperitoneal (i.p.) single dose was injected to groups B, C, D and E. Group B represents diabetic control group. Groups C, D and E received ethanolic catechin extract (30 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg) for different periods of 1, 2 and 3 weeks as treated groups. Blood glucose, serum lipids [Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TGs) and High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)], asparagine transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were estimated after one, two and three weeks. Group B showed a significant increase in blood glucose, TC, TGs, AST, ALT and ALP as compared to group A. Groups C, D, and E showed a significant decrease in mentioned serum biochemical parameters in comparison to group B. In contrast, groups C, D and E showed significant increase in serum HDL as compared to B group. The results clearly revealed that ethanolic catechin extract possesses significant antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic activities together with its ability to improve liver functions in alloxan diabetic mice

Classification of Human Skin Diseases using Data Mining

Many Information can be extracted from the data that are hidden in images. The extraction process can be done using data mining techniques. In this paper, the researcher will use a system based on the decision tree for mining and processing image data. This system will be used for classification of human skin diseases. The researcher will try to use the decision tree and digital image processing principals to detect skin diseases using some features found in a digital image for a skin. The major steps involved in the system are: pre-processing, features extraction and decision tree classifier. This system enhances the classification process to be more accurate. The physicians can make use of this accurate decision tree classification phase for classifying the skin images. The system is designed and implemented on MATLAB and is tested with the images of various databases

Salt-tolerant forages for irrigated saline land in central Iraq

Salinity is a major problem in the irrigated zones of central and southern Iraq. We investigated biomass production from five salt-tolerant forage species, represented by 15 introduced accessions and 3 local accessions, during two successive summer growing seasons. Species included pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sorghum (Sorghum bicolour), guar (Cluster bean; Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and sesbania (Sesbania aculeata and S. sesban). The research site was located in the Al-Dujaila irrigation project area in Wasit. The soil had a silty clay texture with moderate salinity (ECe 10-20 dS/m). The site was irrigated with water (ECw 1.1 dS/m) from the Tigris River on a 3 to 8-day basis. We hypothesised that there would be variation in biomass production, salt accumulation and crude protein both between and within species. In addition, we thought that the legumes would be less productive than grasses as they tend to be more sensitive to salinity. Over 2 experimental seasons, the plants produced an average shoot dry mass of 12.1 t/ha with a range for accessions of 3 to 35 t/ha. There was significant variation both within and between species, supporting the first hypothesis. None of the plants accumulated excessive salt (ash < 12% DM); crude protein was variable (6 to 12%), but higher in two legumes – cowpea and sesbania. Furthermore, there was no evidence that grasses were more productive than legumes, with sesbania and cowpea achieving the highest mean biomass production across the years. We conclude that moderately saline irrigated areas of Iraq can sustain high levels of biomass production for livestock although protein may be limited

An Experimental Study on Behavior of Sustainable Rubberized Concrete Mixes

In terms of recycling and reuse, today's global generation of waste tire well exceeds its consumption. This has resulted in the accumulation of large stocks of toxic rubber waste that raise health and safety risks. The use of waste tire rubber for the construction of the concrete structure was suggested to combat this challenge. This paper explores tests that were performed with samples of waste tire rubber concrete to evaluate compressive strength, flexural tensile strength, modulus of rupture, and impacts resistance. The main parameters investigated were the rubber ratio as a partial volumetric replacement with fine and coarse aggregate. Chip and crumb rubbers were used to replace coarse and fine aggregate respectively in four different amounts by volume (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). Even if the inclusion of waste tire rubber in concrete has specific apparent degradations, the potential benefit seems to overlook the adverse effects and also meet the primary significant value of resolution for rubber waste utilization problems. The results show that the substitution of natural fine or coarse aggregates with crump-chip tier rubber will reduce mechanical properties (compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strength), but increase the impacts resistance to 426% and 396% when 20% coarse aggregates and 20% fine aggregates are replaced by rubber respectively. The proposed mix shows an ability to replace 20% of the aggregate (coarse or fine), and the producing, rubcrete, still structural concrete

Speed and Current Limiting Control Strategies for BLDC Motor Drive System: A Comparative Study

As a result of increasing the use of the brushless direct current (BLDC) motor in many life applications instead of the traditional motors, it is important to list and specify the more for its controlling methods. This paper presents a number of speed and current controlling methods as hysteresis band, variable dc-link bus voltage and pulse width modulation (PWM) controlling methods. These controlling methods have proportional integral derivative (PID) gains which are optimized by using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. By using fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis to study the controller behavior from frequency analysis of the output signals and compute total harmonic distortion (THD), it can specify the more useful controlling method. The framework is modeled and fabricated by using Matlab/Simulink

Exploration the extrudability of aluminum matrix composite (LM6/TIC) through modeling, simulation and experimental process

Aluminum matrix composites (LM6/TiC) is a mix of excellent properties of aluminum casting alloy (LM6), and particles of (TiC) which make it the first choice in many applications like airplane and marine industries. During this research the extrudability and mechanical specifications of this composite (LM6/TiC) are investigated before and after extrusion theoretically and experimentally. In this research; ABAQUS/CAE software has been successfully employed for Modeling and simulation the extrusion process before experiments in order to predict any error before fabrication. The experimental works includes design and fabrication the extrusion mold. The extruded parts are test by (SEM) to show the microstructure properties. Simulation results indicate the positions of stresses concentration (Mises stresses), and also the velocity of dislocation elements during extrusion. Experimental results show that, many mechanical properties are improved and enhanced after extrusion like stiffness and wear resistance. The microstructure test show that, the addition of (5%) wt. of (TiC) particulate with (T6) heat treatment (treating the solution in (525°C) and then ageing for (8) h at 180 °C) to the master alloy (LM6) will improve the strength about more than (15%) comparing with original matrix (LM6). Comparison between theoretical and practical results before and after extrusion indicates significant improvements after adding (TiC) particulates. This improvement is due to the high interference and bonding forces between the master alloy and composite particulates, which result in a fine grain size after the process. Keywords: Aluminum, Extrusion, Composite, TiC, LM6

An Approximated Solutions for nth Order Linear Delay Integro-Differential Equations of Convolution Type Using B-Spline Functions and Weddle Method

The paper is devoted to solve nth order linear delay integro-differential equations of convolution type (DIDE's-CT) using collocation method with the aid of B-spline functions. A new algorithm with the aid of Matlab language is derived to treat numerically three types (retarded, neutral and mixed) of nth order linear DIDE's-CT using B-spline functions and Weddle rule for calculating the required integrals for these equations. Comparison between approximated and exact results has been given in test examples with suitable graphing for every example for solving three types of linear DIDE's-CT of different orders for conciliated the accuracy of the results of the proposed method

Estimation of Serum Osteocalcin Levels in Osteoporotic Postmenopausal Iraqi Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in an increased risk of fractures and has touched rampant proportions. Osteocalcin, one of the osteoblast-specific proteins, showed that its functions as a hormone improves glucose metabolism and reduces fat mass ratio. This study is aimed to estimate the osteocalcin and glucose level in blood serum of osteoporotic postmenopausal Women with and without Type 2 Diabetes.Materials and methods: 60 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis divided into two groups depending on with or without T2DM, 30 patients for each. Serum samples of 30 healthy postmenopausal women were collected as control group. Osteocalcin was measured by ELISA method using a kit of (CUSABIO. China). Glucose was determined by spectrophotometric method. Results: Mean serum osteocalcin in postmenopausal osteoporotic women without Type II Diabetes is higher than control group and the group with T2DM (p ? 0.001). Conclusion: Bone formation marker increases at postmenopausal osteoporosis women; Hyperglycemia also induces osteoblast function and reduces of production osteocalcin at T2DM

Design and Investigation of LTE 3GPP Baseband Transceiver Based Fourier Signals for Different Channel Estimation Algorithms in SUI Channels

3GPP LTE is the evolution of the UMTS in response to ever?increasing demands for high quality multimedia services according to users’ expectations. These technologies have been selected for LTE 3GPP. Pilot?assisted channel estimation is a method in which known signals, called pilots, are transmitted along with data to obtain channel knowledge for proper decoding of received signals. This paper refers to channel estimation based on time-domain channel statistics. Using a general  channels model for Stanford University Interim (SUI) Channel Models, the aim of the paper is to find out the most suitable channel estimation algorithms for the existing LTE 3GPP Baseband Transceiver and modified the bit error rate for this system. Starting with the analysis of channel estimation algorithms, we present the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE (and Least Square (LS (estimators and compromising between performances under different SUI channel scenarios. Performance of these algorithms has been measured in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). The bit error rate for a 16-QAM system is presented by methods of Matlab simulation results. Keywords: LTE 3GPP, MMSE, LS, OFDM, SUI

Cost-effectiveness analysis of a road improvement proposal based on sustainability Indicators: Case study Al-Nebai-Baghdad highway

Involving the sustainability assessment in the phases of road development project has become necessary to avoid unforeseen consequences. In Iraq, there is a noticeable lack of the environmental and social assessment of the development project. The economic assessment also needs to consider the project life cycle. The unavailability of validated and comprehensive methodologies of assessment is the main obstacle. Therefore, this study aims to outline a methodology of environmental, social and economic (ESE) assessment during pre-construction stages. The rehabilitation and upgrading project of Al-Nebai-Baghdad Highway is selected for this study. The ESE indicators are selected based on the available data and techniques. The needed data; traffic volume, pavement condition, and geometric design characteristics; are collected to process the engineering and the ESE assessment through aggregating several methodologies and analyse the results using thr cost-effectiveness technique. The results of the engineering assessment showed upgrading the traffic level of service to D due to adding a lane when the pavement condition was upgraded to good condition due to a new overlay. The results of the environmental assessment in terms of vehicle emission stated that the new pavement reduced the emission by1831967 tons but the emission due to widening increased by 1046100 tons. The social assessment indicated that the road casualties reduced by 38.5% but it boosted over the service life. The economical assessment demonstrated the worthiness of the project; the Net Present Value is 76,153,580$, the B/C is 3.45 and the IRR is 35.04. It can be concluded that the ESE assessment is applicable and effective in figuring out the negative and positive consequences over the service life. However, improving the data collection system can enhance the comprehensiveness of the adopted methodologies and consider more indicators