A fuzzy system for detection and classification of textile defects to ensure the quality of fabric production

The aim of this research focuses on construct a computerized system for textile defects detection. The system merges between image processing methods, statistical methods in addition to the Intelligent techniques via Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic. Gabor filters were used to identify edges and to highlight defective areas in fabric images, then to train the neural network on statistical and geometry features derived from fabric images to form the special neural network distinguish and classify defects into the fourteen categories, which are the most common defects in the textile factory.  The proposed work includes two phases. The first phase is to detect the defects in fabrics. The second phase is the classification phase of the defect. At the defect detection stage, a Discrete Cosine Transfer (DCT) converts the images to the frequency domain.  Image features then drawn and introduce them to the Elman Neural Network to detect the existence of defects. In the classification stage, the images are converted to the frequency domain by the Gabor filter and then the image features are extracted and inserted into the back propagation network to classify the fabric defects in those images. Fuzzy logic is then applied to neural network outputs and interference values are used in fuzzy logic to increase final discrimination. We evaluate a distinction rate of 91.4286% .After applying the fuzzy logic to neural network output; the discrimination rate was raised to 97.1428%.

Mycobacterial antigen MPT64 specific polyclonal antibody production and validation for an immunohistochemistry based diagnostic test for extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Mycobacterial antigen MPT64 specific polyclonal antibody production and validation for an immunohistochemistry based diagnostic test for extrapulmonary tuberculosis Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) constitute 20-40% of all TB. Diagnosis of EPTB poses challenges as the routine diagnostic tests are less sensitive due to the paucibacillary nature of the disease. Therefore, there is a need to develop better diagnostic tests for EPTB. An antigen detection test based on the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex specific protein MPT64 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) has been developed and validated in the routine diagnostic settings (1-8). These studies show that the MPT64 antigen detection test is applicable to various forms of EPTB, including HIV positive and HIV negative cases, on biopsies, fine-needle aspirates, and cytology smears with sensitivity 70-100% and specificity 65-100% which is significantly better than the routine tests. This test is robust, feasible to implement in high TB endemic settings (2), and can help in the timely and accurate diagnosis of EPTB, preventing empirical over-treatment, morbidity, and mortality. These findings warrant the large-scale implementation of the test. However, all these studies have been carried out by the limited amount of in-house rabbit polyclonal antibody (pAb). The reproduction of an anti-MPT64 antibody with applicability on IHC is a prerequisite for large-scale use of the test. Our research group has reproduced a monoclonal anti-MPT64 antibody which gives good reactivity with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against the recombinant antigen, but it does not give good reactivity on formalin-fixed tissues. This is probably due to variable epitopes in vivo and changes in the antigen during the fixation process. PAbs, by virtue of their polyclonality and heterogeneity, can bind to multiple and different antigenic epitopes, and could be a suitable candidate for IHC. Aims: The aim of this study was to reproduce the anti-MPT64 pAb, create a single batch in a large volume, validate the new pAb on formalin-fixed clinical samples, and compare the validity with Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Material and Methods: Recombinant MPT64 protein was prepared by using a mammalian cell expression system. Rabbits were used as host animals for the generation of pAbs. An immunization strategy was designed by a pre-immunization selection of 38/180 rabbits with minimal reactivity of their sera on the formalin-fixed tissues by IHC. The 38 selected rabbits were immunized by recombinant antigen and Titer Max Gold adjuvant by using a shorter and longer immunization protocol generating 50 ml and 90 ml of sera, respectively from each rabbit. Individual bleeds from each rabbit were tested with ELISA and IHC. Sera with good reactivity by IHC on the formalin-fixed TB positive control tissues and minimal reactivity on the non-TB tissues were further tested by making various cocktails to generate a single batch in a large volume. Various background reducing strategies were applied to achieve good specificity. These batches were tested on human clinical samples. The selected batch was validated on bacteriology confirmed (culture and/or Xpert MTB/RIF positive) EPTB (24 lymphadenitis and 21 pleuritis) and 41 non-TB biopsies by IHC. The sensitivity of the new pAb was compared with the microscopy for acid-fast bacilli and Xpert MTB/RIF assay using culture as a reference standard. Results: All bleeds had very good reactivity with ELISA, with titer mostly around 1:200.000. With IHC, reactivity with the individual bleeds was variable, some sera gave very good sensitivity and specificity, while others were less sensitive and/or less specific due to the non-specific background staining. Among the various background reducing strategies, overnight incubation of tissue sections with 3% bovine serum albumin and 10% normal goat serum followed by further blocking with serum-free protein block gave good results with a significant reduction of non-specific staining. Among five cocktails made from sera of 25 rabbits, one cocktail consisting of sera from 10 rabbits gave the best results. The sensitivity of this cocktail was similar to the previous anti-MPT64 pAb, though the staining intensity was generally less, the signals were clearly visible. Using bacteriological confirmation as a reference standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy of IHC with this batch of new pAb in lymphadenitis were 88%, 80%, 72%, 92%, and 83%, respectively, and in pleuritis were 86%, 80%, 69%, 92%, and 82%, respectively. Using culture as a reference standard, the performance of the new anti-MPT64 pAb was better than AFB microscopy in both lymphadenitis and pleuritis (sensitivity 88% vs. 13%, and 89% vs. 6%), while it was better than Xpert MTB/RIF in the TB pleuritis (sensitivity 89% vs. 17%) and similar to it in lymphadenitis (sensitivity 88% vs. 88%). Conclusion: The study shows that it is possible to reproduce pAbs that can detect the MPT64 antigen in the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections by IHC. The sensitivity of the MPT64 antigen detection test by using these new pAbs is better than the AFB microscopy and Xpert MTB/RIF. This opens up the possibility of the large-scale use of this test and its inclusion in the routine diagnostics of EPTB.MAMD-GLOBINTH395

Effect of the Affiliation Dimension at Work on Organizational Commitment an Applied Study of Etihad Food Industries Company Ltda. Sugar and Oil Industry / Babylon Governorate

Purpose: The aim of this study is to find out the extent of the impact of all kinds of affiliation (national affiliation - intellectual affiliation - political affiliation - religious affiliation) on organizational commitment through its dimensions represented by (emotional, continuous, and normative) among workers in the Union Company for Food Industries Ltd. / Industry Sugar and oil in the province of Babylon.   Theoretical framework: The study touched on the theoretical aspect of the variables of the study and reviewed the most important concepts related to the variable after affiliation and organizational commitment. The company's vision of the extent of the impact of institutional affiliation in achieving organizational commitment at work. According to Avey (2009) affiliation expresses the mutual investment between the individual and the organization in the continuation of the ongoing contractual relationship, as this mutual relationship shows individual behavior more than the expected official behavior and being ignored by the organization as well as the individual's desire to give part of himself in order to contribute In the success and continuity of the organization such as (the desire to work more diligently and do it voluntarily, and take on additional responsibilities). Organizational commitment is generally defined as “the relative strength of an individual's identification with, and participation in, a specific organization” (Subramaniam & Mia; 2003, p. 3).   Design/methodology/approach: The questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting the necessary data and information, and an intended sample consisted of (302) represented by (managers - assistants - and department officials - administrative departments). In Al-Ittihad Company for Food Industries Ltd., the descriptive analytical approach was mainly used in presenting and analyzing the research. The information was interpreted, and a number of statistical methods were used, such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling method to measure the effect ratio, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, relative coefficient of difference, relative importance and Pearson's ratio through statistical programs (SPSS V. 23) The Program (Amos V. 23).   Findings: The results show that job affiliation will achieve common and mutual communication and understanding among the pillars of management at their different levels (top, middle and bottom), and sincerity in the service of the job goal will achieve greater returns when it appears on the actual performance of the individual. Membership produces commitment, just as commitment is affected by belonging.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The study is the most important findings of the study is that interest in employee affiliation leads to achieving organizational commitment in the workplace and will also increase the organization's chances of achieving its goals and objectives.   Originality/value: Organizations today are striving to become world class organizations that compete globally and in order to achieve this organizations must not only recruit the best talent but they need employees who are psychologically connected to their work. Managers must build a supportive culture that allows employees to utilize their expertise and abilities in their work processes. In order for employees to do so, opportunities must be provided to harness their abilities and to develop positive attitudes towards their workplace

SlantletTransformbased VideoDenoising

A technique for noise removal is proposed based on slantlet transform. The proposed algorithm tends to reduce the computational time by reducing the total number of frames through dividing the video film into sub films, finding master frames, applying the slantlet transform which is orthogonal discrete wavelet transform with two zero moments and with improved time localization. Thresholding technique is applied to the details coefficients of the slantlet transform .The denoised frame is repeated to retain the original frame sequence. The proposed method was applied by using MATLAB R2010a with video contaminated by white Gaussian noise .The experimental results show that the proposed method provides better subjective and objective quality, and obtain up to 5-6 dB PSNR improvement from the frames contaminated by noise

Synthesis and Characterizationof Some New Phenolic Schiff Bases Derivatives

Starting from bis (4,4'-diamino phenoxy) ethan(1), a variety of phenolicschiff bases (methylolic, etheric, epoxy) derivatives have been synthesized. All proposed structure were supported by FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR Elemental analysis, some derivatives evaluated by thermal analysis (TGA)

Factor structure of the student engagement instrument among Malaysian undergraduates

Keterlibatan pelajar telah diketahui secara positif berkaitan dengan prestasi akademik, tetapi terdapat kekurangan kajian yang menyerlahkan fenomena ini di kalangan mahasiswa Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji struktur faktor Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) dengan sampel pelajar di Malaysia. Alat kajian telah ditadbirkan kepada 290 pelajar ijazah dari Fakulti Ilmu Wahyu dan Sains Kemanusiaan dan Fakulti Ekonomi dan Sains Pengurusan Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia. Ekstraksi principal axis factor dengan putaran Promax telah digunakan dalam analisis faktor penerokaan (Exploratory Factor Analysis) dan mendedahkan satu penyelesaian enam faktor yang konsisten dengan struktur faktor yang terdapat dalam kajian asal oleh Appleton et al. (2006). Faktor baru yang dinamakan kepunyaan tidak dibincangkan dalam kajian sebelum ini telah ditemui dan patut diterokai. Student engagement has been known to be positively associated with academic performance, but there has been a lack of studies that highlight this phenomenon among Malaysian undergraduates. This study seeks to examine the factor structure of the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) in a Malaysian sample. The scale was administered to 290 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences as well as the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences of the International Islamic University of Malaysia. Principal axis factor with Promax rotation was used in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and revealed a six-factor solution that was consistent with the factor structure found in the original study by Appleton et al. (2006). A new factor labelled belongingness which was not discussed in previous studies was also discovered, which is worth exploring

Factor structure of the student engagement instrument among Malaysian undergraduates

Keterlibatan pelajar telah diketahui secara positif berkaitan dengan prestasi akademik, tetapi terdapat kekurangan kajian yang menyerlahkan fenomena ini di kalangan mahasiswa Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji struktur faktor Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) dengan sampel pelajar di Malaysia. Alat kajian telah ditadbirkan kepada 290 pelajar ijazah dari Fakulti Ilmu Wahyu dan Sains Kemanusiaan dan Fakulti Ekonomi dan Sains Pengurusan Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia. Ekstraksi principal axis factor dengan putaran Promax telah digunakan dalam analisis faktor penerokaan (Exploratory Factor Analysis) dan mendedahkan satu penyelesaian enam faktor yang konsisten dengan struktur faktor yang terdapat dalam kajian asal oleh Appleton et al. (2006). Faktor baru yang dinamakan kepunyaan tidak dibincangkan dalam kajian sebelum ini telah ditemui dan patut diterokai. Student engagement has been known to be positively associated with academic performance, but there has been a lack of studies that highlight this phenomenon among Malaysian undergraduates. This study seeks to examine the factor structure of the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) in a Malaysian sample. The scale was administered to 290 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences as well as the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences of the International Islamic University of Malaysia. Principal axis factor with Promax rotation was used in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and revealed a six-factor solution that was consistent with the factor structure found in the original study by Appleton et al. (2006). A new factor labelled belongingness which was not discussed in previous studies was also discovered, which is worth exploring

The Effectiveness of Using Children's Songs in Developing Elementary Graders' English Vocabulary and Pronunciation in Jerusalem, Palestine / Iman I A Shehadeh and Mohammed A A Farrah

This study aimed at investigating the effect of using children's songs in developing the elementary graders' vocabulary and pronunciation. It aimed also to investigate teachers' attitudes towards the use of songs in their English classes. The participants were 123 EFL students of the fourth grade; 72 females and 51 males. Arabic is their native language. Both groups are from four private schools in Jerusalem; two groups for boys, and two groups for girls. One boys’ school and one girls’ school were chosen to be the experimental group consisting of 58 participants, while the other boys’ and girls’ schools were chosen to be the control group consisting of 65 participants. Study data were collected via students' pre and post tests and teachers' questionnaire. Exams results showed that students have improved their vocabulary and pronunciation due to the use of songs in learning. Questionnaire results showed that teachers have positive attitudes towards the use of songs in their classes as songs have positive effects in increasing students' achievement, interest and motivation. Finally, results revealed that students' achievements were not affected by gender

Experimental and Quantum Chemical Studies on the Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel By 2-((Thiophen-2-Ylmethylene) Amino)Benzenethio in 1M HCl

The impact of a Schiff base namely 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol  to corrode mild steel in 1 M HCl  resolved was evaluated using different weight loss technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).different weight measurements to expand that the 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene) amino) benzenethiol  inhibits  the corrosion of mild steel through adsorbing  of  top for mild steel and block the active locality. The inhibitive impacts of 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol  increase with increasing concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. SEM to checking revealed that the alloy surface was quite unaffected and formed protective film on its surface. The investigated inhibitor become as a shield for the mild steel surface from corrosive solution. Quantum chemical investigations corroborate experimental results well. The synthesized inhibitor was characterized employing NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopies and CHN elemental analysis

Misperceptions of energy taxes: an experimental study

Economists generally agree that in theory, fuel taxes are the most cost effective policies to address efficiency losses and combat environmental pollution (see eg. Baumol (1988); Dasgupta (1979); Izzo (2007); Mankiw (2006 ); Sitglitz, (2006)). Despite popular agreement amongst economists, nonetheless, fuel taxes remain extremely unpopular. The high perceived social cost associated with these forms of taxes makes it difficult to implement, as evident from the wide variation and low usage, globally, of energy taxes. What possible reasons could there be for resistance? Taxes have an effect in dynamic systems, where their impact is associated with delays, non-linearities and feedbacks. Such systems are highly complex and research has shown mass misperceptions of these systems. Few journals take into considerations these dynamics when discussing policies for implementing sustainable and buoyant fuel taxes in countries. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, this research paper makes use of an internet-based survey tool administered on Facebook (an online social networking service) to explore for possible reasons for misperceptions, as well as test for information policies and general factors that may influence support for fuel taxes. There has been little empirical analysis in these areas, and no study available that simultaneously tests both for the rationale and possible policy options for biases of energy taxes. Compared to earlier experiments where information policies where not tested, misperceptions persist in this experiment as well, information policies tend to have very little or no impact on decisions of participants. However the survey reveals that some factors namely revenue recycling schemes appears to boost more support for taxes than other variables. The high tendency to misperceive dynamic systems and their unintended consequences provides a strong motivation for this research