Requirement Model for Web Based Customer Ordering System - Segar Mart as Case Study

The major concern among the farmers these days are on distributing their products to the right customers at the right time. These farmers have been depending on "middle-person" to take their products to customers, This situation has restricted farmers to be more successful in selling their products and earn better profits. In today's digital economy, selling goods have moved from the traditional way to the new way of doing business on the Web. Seeing this as an opportunity, agricultural goods should not be excluded from this golden opportunity. This research project is intended to propose a requirement model for web-based customer ordering system. Requirement model provides a more structured and integrated guide fix the development of the system and serves is a good starting point for system development to understand users' requirement. To accomplish this research project, a case study has been conducted at Segar Mart which is a shop initiated by MOA for the farmers to sell their products direct to the customers. The requirements captured from the study are modelled out using Unified Modeling Language's (UML) notation. The prototype technique is used to validate the requirements. In this technique, a simple prototype is developed by using ASP as programming language, My SQL, Database server and Macromedia Dreamweaver for interfaces

Renal tissue alterations were size-dependent with smaller ones induced more effects and related with time exposure of gold nanoparticles

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have important application for cell labeling and imaging, drug delivery, diagnostic and therapeutic purposes mainly in cancer. Nanoparticles (NPs) are being increasingly exploited for medical applications. The aim of the present study was to investigate the particle-size and period effects of administration of GNPs on the renal tissue in an attempt to address their potential toxicity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 70 healthy male Wistar-Kyoto rats were exposed to GNPs received 50 or 100 μl of GNPs infusion of size (10, 20 and 50 nm for 3 or 7 days) to investigate particle-size effect of GNPs on the renal tissue. Animals were randomly divided into groups, 6 GNPs-treated rats groups and one control group. Groups 1, 2 and 3 received infusion of 50 μl GNPs of size 10 nm (3 or 7 days), size 20 nm (3 or 7 days) and 50 nm (3 or 7 days), respectively; while groups 4, 5 and 6 received infusion of 100 μl GNPs of size 10 nm, size 20 nm and 50 nm, respectively. Stained sections of control and treated rats kidneys were examined for renal tissue alterations induced by GNPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with respective control rats, exposure to GNPs doses has produced the following renal tubular alterations: cloudy swelling, vacuolar degeneration, hyaline droplets and casts, anisokaryosis, karopyknosis, karyorrhexis and karyolysis. The glomeruli showed moderate congestion with no hypercelluraity, mesangial proliferation or basement membrane thickening. The histological alterations were mainly seen in the cortex and the proximal renal convoluted tubules were more affected than the distal ones.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The induced histological alterations might be an indication of injured renal tubules due to GNPs toxicity that became unable to deal with the accumulated residues resulting from metabolic and structural disturbances caused by these NPs. The findings may suggest that GNPs interact with proteins and enzymes of the renal tissue interfering with the antioxidant defense mechanism and leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation which in turn may induce stress in the renal cells to undergo atrophy and necrosis. The produced alterations were size-dependent with smaller ones induced more affects and related with time exposure of GNPs.</p

Gold nanoparticles induced cloudy swelling to hydropic degeneration, cytoplasmic hyaline vacuolation, polymorphism, binucleation, karyopyknosis, karyolysis, karyorrhexis and necrosis in the liver

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nanoparticles (NPs) can potentially cause adverse effects on organ, tissue, cellular, subcellular and protein levels due to their unusual physicochemical properties. Advances in nanotechnology have identified promising candidates for many biological and biomedical applications. The aim of the present study was to investigate the particle-size, dose and exposure duration effects of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on the hepatic tissue in an attempt to cover and understand the toxicity and their potential therapeutic and diagnostic use.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 70 healthy male Wistar-Kyoto rats were exposed to GNPs received 50 or 100 ul of GNPs infusion of size (10, 20 and 50 nm for 3 or 7 days) to investigate particle-size, dose and exposure duration effects of GNPs on the hepatic tissue.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with respective control rats, exposure to GNPs doses has produced alterations in the hepatocytes, portal triads and the sinusoids. The alterations in the hepatocytes were mainly vacuolar to hydropic degeneration, cytopasmic hyaline vacuolation, polymorphism, binucleation, karyopyknosis, karyolysis, karyorrhexis and necrosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The hepatocytes swelling might be exhibited as a result of disturbances of membranes function that lead to massive influx of water and Na⁺due to GNPs effects accompanied by leakage of lysosomal hydrolytic enzymes that lead to cytoplasmic degeneration and macromolecular crowding. Hydropic degeneration is a result of ion and fluid homestasis that lead to an increase of intracellular water. The vacuolated swelling of the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes of the GNPs treated rats might indicate acute and subacute liver injury induced by the GNPs. Binucleation represents a consequence of cell injury and is a sort of chromosomes hyperplasia which is usually seen in regenerating cells. The induced histological alterations might be an indication of injured hepatocytes due to GNPs toxicity that became unable to deal with the accumulated residues resulting from metabolic and structural disturbances caused by these NPs. These alterations were size-dependent with smaller ones induced the most effects and related with time exposure of GNPs. The appearance of hepatocytes cytoplasmic degeneration and nuclear destruction may suggest that GNPs interact with proteins and enzymes of the hepatic tissue interfering with the antioxidant defense mechanism and leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation which in turn may induce stress in the hepatocytes to undergo atrophy and necrosis. More histomorphologcal, histochemical and ultrastrucural investigations are needed in relation of the application of GNPs with their potential role as a therapeutic and diagnostic tool.</p

Gold nanoparticles administration induced prominent inflammatory, central vein intima disruption, fatty change and Kupffer cells hyperplasia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Advances in nanotechnology have identified promising candidates for many biological, biomedical and biomedicine applications. They are being increasingly exploited for medical uses and other industrial applications. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of administration of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on inflammatory cells infiltration, central vein intima disruption, fatty change, and Kupffer cells hyperplasia in the hepatic tissue in an attempt to cover and understand the toxicity and the potential threat of their therapeutic and diagnostic use.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 70 healthy male Wistar-Kyoto rats were exposed to GNPs received 50 or 100 μl of GNPs infusion of 10, 20 and 50 nm GNPs for 3 or 7 days. Animals were randomly divided into groups, 12 GNPs-treated rats groups and one control group (NG). Groups 1, 2 and 3 received infusion of 50 μl GNPs of size 10 nm (3 or 7 days), size 20 nm (3 or 7 days) and 50 nm (3 or 7 days), respectively; while groups 4, 5 and 6 received infusion of 100 μl GNPs of size 10 nm, size 20 nm and 50 nm, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with respective control rats, exposure to GNPs doses has produced alterations in the hepatocytes, portal triads and sinusoids. The alterations in the hepatocytes were mainly vacuolar to hydropic degeneration, cytopasmic hyaline vacuolation, polymorphism, binucleation, karyopyknosis, karyolysis, karyorrhexis and necrosis. In addition, inflammatory cell infiltration, Kupffer cells hyperplasia, central veins intima disruption, hepatic strands dilatation and occasional fatty change together with a loss of normal architechiture of hepatic strands were also seen.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The alterations induced by the administration of GNPs were size-dependent with smaller ones induced more affects and related with time exposure of GNPs. These alterations might be an indication of injured hepatocytes due to GNPs toxicity that became unable to deal with the accumulated residues resulting from metabolic and structural disturbances caused by these NPs. These histological alterations may suggest that GNPs interact with proteins and enzymes of the hepatic tissue interfering with the antioxidant defense mechanism and leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation which in turn may induce stress in the hepatocytes to undergo necrosis.</p

Determination of Antioxidant Activity of some Varieties of Onion (Allium cepa L.) grown in Sudan

Background: Medicinal plants contain physiologically active ingredients that over the years have been exploited in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments. &nbsp;Objectives: This study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidant activity of seven varieties of onion (Allium cepa) grown in Sudan. &nbsp;Methods: The antioxidant capacity was conducted based on the ability of the plant extracts to scavenge DPPH radical. Results: The extracts exhibited a notable dose dependent inhibition of DPPH radical. Shendi (Red onion local strain) exhibited the highest antioxidant activity with EC50 25.25 µg/ml followed by Kassala (Red onion local strain) and white onion with less scavenging activity was produced by Green onion. Conclusion:&nbsp; It can be concluded that Allium cepa could be a potential source of antioxidant principles

The Use of Cellomics to Study Enterocyte Cytoskeletal Proteins in Coeliac Disease Patients

Coeliac disease is characterised by inflammation of small intestinal mucosa accompanied by abnormal villous architecture. It is now accepted that some patients with positive coeliac serology tests may have minor mucosal lesions that may not be apparent on routine histopathological analysis. The aim of the study was to perform detailed examination of enterocyte morphology and cytoskeletal structures using a high content analysis technology. Duodenal biopsies from 14 untreated and 10 treated coeliac patients and from 20 non-coeliac controls were examined. Tissue sections from six patients (study group subjects) before and after the development of gluten-sensitive enteropathy were also investigated. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on paraffin-embedded sections using an anti-α-tubulin antibody. Significant differences in enterocyte morphology and intracellular cytoskeletal structures were demonstrated in patients with proven coeliac disease and in the study group subjects. These changes were present in study group biopsies before evidence of enteropathy, as assessed by routine microscopy. This is the first study to demonstrate detailed characteristics of enterocyte morphology in coeliac patients using a high content analysis approach. The use of this technology allows a quantitative analysis of enterocyte intracellular structures from routine biopsy material and permits detection of subtle changes that precede the characteristic histological lesion

Designing an Arabic Handwritten Segmentation System

The greatest difficulty facing the recognition of Arabic handwritten words is segmentation, because Arabic handwriting is cursive with complex multi-form styles. Hence, intensive research efforts are needed to reach an effective Arabic handwriting segmentation system. This paper presents a system which uses morphological features of the Arabic characters for segmentation. The proposed system segments non-overlapped (horizontally connected -e.g. "حسن") as well as overlapped (vertically connected - e.g. "نجد") characters. The result is not very good one. However, it arrives at good directives for more research. As the writing was freely without any restrictions, both over-segmentation and under-segmentation problems affect the system.

TACIT REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION FRAMEWORK

ABSTRACT Requirements engineering (RE) is an integral and fundamental part of software development life cycle (SDLC). The most cited reason for software failure is the inability to fully capture and implement the exact user requirements in a timely, operationally and financially expected manner. Requirements can be categorized into two types; explicit and tacit. Explicit requirements usually expressed clearly and well-identified requirements in which the system must perform. In contrast, tacit requirements are considered as hidden or embedded requirements that incapability of getting such may caused a software failure. The importance of tacit requirements in requirements engineering (RE) has been acknowledged widely as characteristics for developing projects in software engineering (SE). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to construct a framework for tacit requirement elicitation process. The framework is design based on the integration of the tacit knowledge elicitation process of Nonaka and Takeuchi model with the tacit requirements elicitation process

BoLA‑DRB3 gene haplotypes show divergence in native Sudanese cattle from taurine and indicine breeds

Autochthonous Sudanese cattle breeds, namely Baggara for beef and Butana and Kenana for dairy, are characterized by their adaptive characteristics and high performance in hot and dry agroecosystems. They are thus used largely by nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists. We analyzed the diversity and genetic structure of the BoLA-DRB3 gene, a genetic locus linked to the immune response, for the indigenous cattle of Sudan and in the context of the global cattle repository. Blood samples (n = 225) were taken from three indigenous breeds (Baggara; n = 113, Butana; n = 60 and Kenana; n = 52) distributed across six regions of Sudan. Nucleotide sequences were genotyped using the sequence-based typing method. We describe 53 alleles, including seven novel alleles. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the protein pockets implicated in the antigen-binding function of the MHC complex revealed that pockets 4 and 9 (respectively) differentiate Kenana-Baggara and Kenana-Butana breeds from other breeds. Venn analysis of Sudanese, Southeast Asian, European and American cattle breeds with 115 alleles showed 14 were unique to Sudanese breeds. Gene frequency distributions of Baggara cattle showed an even distribution suggesting balancing selection, while the selection index (ω) revealed the presence of diversifying selection in several amino acid sites along the BoLA-DRB3 exon 2 of these native breeds. The results of several PCA were in agreement with clustering patterns observed on the neighbor joining (NJ) trees. These results provide insight into their high survival rate for different tropical diseases and their reproductive capacity in Sudan’s harsh environment.Instituto de Genética Veterinari