Performance study of wireless optical communication system under Euphrates River Water

An underwater wireless optical communication system has implemented utilizing IM/DD-FM through Euphrates river water channel. the wavelengths (650,532,405) nm has used to modulated the frequency over optical signals with an optical power (50) mw, (7) mw and (6) mw receptively. The information signal (3.3) kHz has achieved for Euphrates river water channel. The results benefit that the wavelength 650 nm outperforms than 532nm and 405nm in the proposed water channel. The maximum transmission reaches to (3) m for 650nm wavelength and (2) m for the others wavelengths. Signal to noise ratio, Power and laser beam profile has calculated then demonstrated an accepted value for the utilized wavelengths under the proposed system. Keywords: Optical Communications, Signal to Noise ratio, Direct Detection -Intensity Modulation, Euphrates River

Performance of FSO Communication System under Various Weather Condition

In this paper, the performance FSO communication under different weather condition is theoretically analyzed, using L-PPM modulation technique and a Si PIN photodiodes receiver over FSO channels. Based on the attenuation coefficient of different weather and impacts on a received signal power, SNR, BER, and channel are analyzed. Simulation results indicate that the performance of 16-PPM is more suited for FSO communication. Keywords: Communications, FSO Communications, Bit Error Rate, Channel Capacity

Study the spectroscopic characteristics of Rhodamine B Dye in Ethanol and Methanol mixture and Calculation the Quantum Efficiency

The effect of ethanol and methanol solvent, and their mixture has been studied on the absorption and fluorescence spectra of laser dye Rhodamine B at concentration of (10-4) Molar at room temperature. The molar absorption coefficient has been determined for mixture which was (3.223) at wave number (18181.8 cm-1), Also the Quantum Efficiency of the two solvents (ethanol and methanol) and their mixture have been calculated ,which was for mixture spectrum (38.94%) and it was larger comparing with other and solvents. The characteristics of spectrum has been determined by calculating (??) of absorption spectrum for the solvents and its mixture at maximum wave number ( ) cm-1 depending on solvent polarity and the transitions between molecular energy levels in each solvent of Rhodamine B dye

Correlations of complete blood count, liver enzyme and serum uric Acid in Sudanese pre-eclamptic cases

Background: Pre-eclampsia is a serious disorder of pregnancy with unknown ethological factors that may occur at any stage of second or third trimester of pregnancy. The objectives of the present study were to assess changes in complete blood counts including platelets, liver enzymes and serum uric acid in pre-eclamptic cases compared to second-half normal pregnant and non-pregnant Sudanese women and their correlations to other biomarkers.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, case-control study performed from December 2008 to December 2010; in Omdurman Maternity Hospital, in concomitance with other studies in pre-eclampsia. The sample size included three groups, 72 up pre-eclamptic cases in their recent pregnancies, 96 normal pregnant in their second half of pregnancy and 63 non- pregnant (control) women; a total of 231 subjects. Questionnaire Interviews and clinical examination were done for all participants. Laboratory investigations were done including complete blood picture, liver enzymes and uric acid.  Results: The mean Hb concentration of the pre-eclamptic (11.3g/dl±1.7) was statistically significantly lower than that of the non-pregnant (12.1g/dl±0.2) (P=0.01) but not from that of the normal pregnant (11.4g/dl±0.1) (P=0.882) .There was no statistical significant difference in the mean WBC count between the pre-eclamptic (7.4x103/mm3±0.3) and non-pregnant (7.3x103/mm3±0.3) (P=0.797) and between the pre-eclamptic and normal pregnant (7.7x103/mm3±0.2) (P=0.270). There was a considerable statistical significant decrease in the mean platelets count of the pre-eclamptic (236.4/mm3±8.3) compared to the non-pregnant group (322.0/mm3±10.4) (P=0.0001) s well as to the normal pregnant (275.0/mm3±8.9) (P = 0.003). In the pre-eclamptic cases, serum ALT correlated significantly with TWCC (r=0.26, P=0.03) and serum AST (r=0.65, P=0.000). In the pre-eclamptic cases, serum AST correlated significantly with Hb (r=0.26, P=0.03), serum ALT and serum uric acid (r=0.36, P=0.01).Conclusions: There was a considerable statistical significant decrease in mean platelets count of the pre-eclamptic compared to the non-pregnant group and to the normal pregnant may be explained by hemodilution; whereas further decrease was due to pre-eclampsia. ALT and AST are strong prognostic indicators of pre-eclampsia

The Gln27Glu Polymorphism in β2-Adrenergic receptor gene is linked to hypertriglyceridemia, hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia in Saudis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>β2-adrenoceptor (β2AR) gene polymorphism glutamine 27 glutamic acid (Gln27Glu) and Arg16Gly were reported to have an association with obesity and obesity related disorders in some population. We evaluated Gln27Glu polymorphism in the β2AR gene in obese Saudi populations to investigate the association of β2AR gene with obesity and other related metabolic parameters.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>We studied possible association of Gln27Glu in β2AR gene with body mass index (BMI), anthropometric measurements and other metabolic parameters. The β2AR gene polymorphism (Gln27Glu) was identified by sequencing PCR products representing locus of interest. Based on BMI, the subjects were divided into three groups, normal weight, overweight and obese. The genotype and allele frequency were calculated separately for each group.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The allelic frequency of Glu27 did not differ amongst the three groups, though the Glu27 homozygote (Glu/Glu) were more in obese subjects and had higher concentration of triglyceride, leptin and insulin compared to in the Gln27 heterozygotes and Gln/Gln homozygotes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this study we were able to provide evidence on the influence of Gln27Glu genetic variant of β2AR gene on lipid phenotypes, insulin and leptin levels in the Saudi populations.</p

Spread, circulation, and evolution of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first documented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in 2012 and, to date, has been identified in 180 cases with 43% mortality. In this study, we have determined the MERS-CoV evolutionary rate, documented genetic variants of the virus and their distribution throughout the Arabian peninsula, and identified the genome positions under positive selection, important features for monitoring adaptation of MERS-CoV to human transmission and for identifying the source of infections. Respiratory samples from confirmed KSA MERS cases from May to September 2013 were subjected to whole-genome deep sequencing, and 32 complete or partial sequences (20 were ≥99% complete, 7 were 50 to 94% complete, and 5 were 27 to 50% complete) were obtained, bringing the total available MERS-CoV genomic sequences to 65. An evolutionary rate of 1.12 × 10−3 substitutions per site per year (95% credible interval [95% CI], 8.76 × 10−4; 1.37 × 10−3) was estimated, bringing the time to most recent common ancestor to March 2012 (95% CI, December 2011; June 2012). Only one MERS-CoV codon, spike 1020, located in a domain required for cell entry, is under strong positive selection. Four KSA MERS-CoV phylogenetic clades were found, with 3 clades apparently no longer contributing to current cases. The size of the population infected with MERS-CoV showed a gradual increase to June 2013, followed by a decline, possibly due to increased surveillance and infection control measures combined with a basic reproduction number (R0) for the virus that is less than 1

COVID-19 anomaly detection and classification method based on supervised machine learning of chest X-ray images

The term COVID-19 is an abbreviation of Coronavirus 2019, which is considered a global pandemic that threatens the lives of millions of people. Early detection of the disease offers ample opportunity of recovery and prevention of spreading. This paper proposes a method for classification and early detection of COVID-19 through image processing using X-ray images. A set of procedures are applied, including preprocessing (image noise removal, image thresholding, and morphological operation), Region of Interest (ROI) detection and segmentation, feature extraction, (Local binary pattern (LBP), Histogram of Gradient (HOG), and Haralick texture features) and classification (K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM)). The combinations of the feature extraction operators and classifiers results in six models, namely LBP-KNN, HOG-KNN, Haralick-KNN, LBP-SVM, HOG-SVM, and Haralick-SVM. The six models are tested based on test samples of 5,000 images with the percentage of training of 5-folds cross-validation. The evaluation results show high diagnosis accuracy from 89.2% up to 98.66%. The LBP-KNN model outperforms the other models in which it achieves an average accuracy of 98.66%, a sensitivity of 97.76%, specificity of 100%, and precision of 100%. The proposed method for early detection and classification of COVID-19 through image processing using X-ray images is proven to be usable in which it provides an end-to-end structure without the need for manual feature extraction and manual selection methods.Web of Science31art. no. 10504

Treatment of Forty Adult Patients with Hodgkin Disease; Baghdad Teaching Hospital Experience

Background: Hodgkin disease was the first cancer in which the curative potential of combination chemotherapy was demonstrated. The affected patients are often young and there is a great potential for adding years of productive life by giving curative therapy even when the disease is advanced. Objective: to describe the experience of the hematology unit,Baghdad Teaching Hospital, in the management of 40 adult patients with Hodgkin disease. Patients and Methods: a retrospective cohort study of forty adult Iraqi patients with Hodgkin disease between 2005 and 2013 in the hematology unit. Patients were treated initially with 6-8 cycles of ABVD chemotherapy protocol (doxorubicine+ bleomycin+ vinblastin+ dacarbazine) , nine patients received additional involved field radiotherapy for residual masses or bulky disease. Overall survival and progression free survivals were estimated using Kaplan Meier survival plot. Results: The mean age was 28.6±12.88 years with females forming 61.5% of patients, mean duration of follow up was 27.9± 20.6 months. Staging showed that 55% and 27.5% had stage II and III respectively. B symptoms were found in 72.5% patients , bulky disease in 42.5% patients. Complete Response+ Complete Response undetermined was seen in 85% of cases. First Relapse occurred in 14%, and death in 7.5% of the patients. The 8 year overall survival and progression free survival were 82% and 50% respectively while the mean overall survival and progression free survival times were 84.7 and 59.9 months respectively. Conclusion: The results of the treatment of adult patients with Hodgkin disease in our unit is rather comparable to the results from other studies

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 UK Variant of Concern Lineage-Related Perceptions, COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Travel Worry Among Healthcare Workers

Background: Healthcare workers' (HCWs') travel-related anxiety needs to be assessed in light of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 mutations. Methods: An online, cross-sectional questionnaire among HCWs between December 21, 2020 to January 7, 2021. The outcome variables were HCWs' knowledge and awareness of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage that was recently reported as the UK variant of concern, and its associated travel worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) score. Results: A total of 1,058 HCWs completed the survey; 66.5% were female, 59.0% were nurses. 9.0% indicated they had been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. Regarding the B.1.1.7 lineage, almost all (97.3%) were aware of its emergence, 73.8% were aware that it is more infectious, 78.0% thought it causes more severe disease, and only 50.0% knew that current COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing it. Despite this, 66.7% of HCWs were not registered to receive the vaccine. HCWs' most common source of information about the new variant was social media platforms (67.0%), and this subgroup was significantly more worried about traveling. Nurses were more worried than physicians (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Most HCWs were aware of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant and expressed substantial travel worries. Increased worry levels were found among HCWs who used social media as their main source of information, those with lower levels of COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and those with higher GAD-7 scores. The utilization of official social media platforms could improve accurate information dissemination among HCWs regarding the Pandemic's evolving mutations. Targeted vaccine campaigns are warranted to assure HCWs about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines toward SARS-CoV-2 variants

An adaptive protection of flooding attacks model for complex network environments

Currently, online organizational resources and assets are potential targets of several types of attack, the most common being flooding attacks. We consider the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) as the most dangerous type of flooding attack that could target those resources. The DDoS attack consumes network available resources such as bandwidth, processing power, and memory, thereby limiting or withholding accessibility to users. The Flash Crowd (FC) is quite similar to the DDoS attack whereby many legitimate users concurrently access a particular service, the number of which results in the denial of service. Researchers have proposed many different models to eliminate the risk of DDoS attacks, but only few efforts have been made to differentiate it from FC flooding as FC flooding also causes the denial of service and usually misleads the detection of the DDoS attacks. In this paper, an adaptive agent-based model, known as an Adaptive Protection of Flooding Attacks (APFA) model, is proposed to protect the Network Application Layer (NAL) against DDoS flooding attacks and FC flooding traffics. The APFA model, with the aid of an adaptive analyst agent, distinguishes between DDoS and FC abnormal traffics. It then separates DDoS botnet from Demons and Zombies to apply suitable attack handling methodology. There are three parameters on which the agent relies, normal traffic intensity, traffic attack behavior, and IP address history log, to decide on the operation of two traffic filters. We test and evaluate the APFA model via a simulation system using CIDDS as a standard dataset. The model successfully adapts to the simulated attack scenarios' changes and determines 303,024 request conditions for the tested 135,583 IP addresses. It achieves an accuracy of 0.9964, a precision of 0.9962, and a sensitivity of 0.9996, and outperforms three tested similar models. In addition, the APFA model contributes to identifying and handling the actual trigger of DDoS attack and differentiates it from FC flooding, which is rarely implemented in one model