Performance Improvement of Photovoltaic Panels Using Dual Axis Sun Tracker

الطاقة المتجددة هي أكثر الطاقات المهمة في هذه الأيام. حيث انها نظيفة ومتوفرة بكثرة ويحصل عليها من الطبيعة بدون إعطاء أي تأثيرات سلبيه للبيئة. وهذا هو معاكس لما يعمله الوقود الاحفوري بانبعاث غاز ثنائي أوكسيد الكاربون الذي يسبب ضرر كبير للغلاف الجوي. الطاقة الشمسية هي واحده من الطاقات المتجددة ويمكن ان تصبح مصدر طاقة جيد وبديل لما موجود. الطاقة الشمسية يمكن الحصول عليها باستخدام الواح الطاقة الشمسية عن طريق تحويل الطاقة الشمسية الى طاقة كهربائية. منهجية هذه الورقة البحثية هو بناء متتبع ثنائي المحور ليتحكم باتجاه الالواح الشمسية للحصول على اعلى كفاءة خارجة. نظام التتبع الشمسي هذا يتكون من جزئين رئيسيين وهما جزء برمجي وأدوات ومعدات. المعدات متمثلة بمتحكم دقيق ومقاومات ضوئية لتحسس الضوء القادم من الشمس ومحرك تيار مستمر يعمل باتجاهين لتعديل اتجاه الخلية الشمسية. الجزء البرمجي متمثل بالبرنامج والشفرة البرمجية المستخدمة. نتائج البحث بينت ان المتتبع الثنائي المحور يتفوق على الخلايا الشمسية الثابتة وتم الحصول على طاقة اعلى التي سجلت باستخدام مسجل البيانات.Renewable energy is the most important type of energy sources nowadays. It’s clean, abundantly available and can be obtained from nature without giving any negative impact to the environment. This is the opposite of what fossil fuel does by giving the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and makes a huge damage to the atmosphere. Solar energy is one type of renewable energy and is considered a good effective alternative source of energy. The solar energy can be collected using solar panels from emitted radiation from the sun.  The aim of this paper is building a dual-axis solar tracker to control the direction of the panels and get the highest output efficiency compared to the fixed panels. The sun tracker system consists of two main parts, hardware, and software. Hardware represented by using a microcontroller, Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs) to detect the light of the sun, servomotors use to adjust the direction of the solar panel (PV). The software represented by the application used and the codes. The results show that the dual axis tracking is more powerful than the fixed position solar cells and achieves better output power. The power measured were obtained by the data logger method

Evaluation of wind-solar hybrid power generation system based on Monte Carlo method

The application of wind-photovoltaic complementary power generation systems is becoming more and more widespread, but its intermittent and fluctuating characteristics may have a certain impact on the system's reliability. To better evaluate the reliability of stand-alone power generation systems with wind and photovoltaic generators, a reliability assessment model for stand-alone power generation systems with wind and photovoltaic generators was developed based on the analysis of the impact of wind and photovoltaic generator outages and derating on reliability. A sequential Monte Carlo method was used to evaluate the impact of the wind turbine, photovoltaic (PV) turbine, wind/photovoltaic complementary system, the randomness of wind turbine/photovoltaic outage status and penetration rate on the reliability of Independent photovoltaic power generation system (IPPS) under the reliability test system (RBTS). The results show that this reliability assessment method can provide some reference for planning the actual IPP system with wind and complementary solar systems

Analysis of serum lipid profile in adult female smokers in Erbil city, Kurdistan region of Iraq

Background: There are few studies demonstrated the association between smoking and lipid profile in female adult smokers. Materials and Methods: This study conducted to determine and compare the serum lipid profile of female adult smokers with non-female smokers, known as controls. In 180 female subjects, the level of serum lipid profile measured. Results: Of these, 110 were smokers and 70 non-smokers (control) aged between 25 and 50 years. The study involved only smokers who had smoked for more than 5 years. Our result revealed that mean serum of total cholesterol (275.2 ± 32.6 mg/dl), triacylglycerol (188.4 ± 56.42 mg/dl), very low density lipoprotein (36.6 ± 14.2 mg/dl), low density lipoprotein (133.21 ± 9.81 mg/dl) were significantly higher in female smokers as compared to non-female smokers with mean of serum total cholesterol (172.3 ± 18.6 mg/dl), very low density lipoprotein (21.8 ± 9.6 mg/dl), triglyceride (108 ± 8.84 mg/dl), low density lipoprotein (94.54 ± 8.5 mg/dl). However, the mean of serum value for high density lipoprotein cholesterol in chronic female smokers was lower (44.6 ± 4.6 mg/dl) than in non-female smokers (55.3 ± 8.2 mg/dl). Conclusion: This study indicated that smoking cigarettes in female cause’s dyslipidemia, resulting in increased risk of cardiovascular disease among smokers

Analysis of cytokines in SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 patients in Erbil city, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The emergence of the novel coronavirus and then pandemic outbreak was coined 2019- nCoV or COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2 disease 2019). This disease has a mortality rate of about 3·7 percent, and successful therapy is desperately needed to combat it. The exact cellular mechanisms of COVID-19 need to be illustrated in detail. This study aimed to evaluate serum cytokines in COVID-19 patients. In this study, serum was collected from volunteer individuals, moderate COVID-19 patients, severe cases of COVID-19 patients, and patients who recovered from COVID-19 (n = 122). The serum concentrations of interleukins such as IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The concentrations of IL-1 and TNF-α were did not differ significantly among groups. However, the concentration of IL-6 was significantly higher in moderate COVID-19 and severe cases of COVID-19 groups compared to control and recovered groups indicating it to be an independent predictor in the coronavirus disease. The levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 were significantly lower in the recovery group than the severe case of the COVID-19 group. In contrast, the level of IL-10 in recovered COVID-19 patients was significantly higher in compare to severe cases, COVID-19 patients. Varying levels of cytokines were detected in COVID-19 group than control group suggesting distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms involved in COVID-19 pathogenesis. However, additional investigations are needed to be to be performed to understand the exact cellular mechanism of this disease

Jakość życia kobiet z rakiem piersi i wsparcie grup samopomocowych: badanie pilotażowe

Background. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are often exposed to contaminated blood and body fluids from infected patients. There is no research on blood-borne infection in Iraqi Kurdistan; therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of blood-borne infections of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and their associated risk factors among HCWs in the hospital. Material and methods. This cross-sectional study included 800 HCWs from a major tertiary teaching hospital, who were selected using a non-random technique. Results. The mean age of the HCWs was 35.15 years (range: 18-70 years), consisting of males (56.0%) and females (44.0%) from various specialties and different departments. The seroprevalence of HBV was 0.75% (n=6) among HCWs. However, the seroprevalence of HBV was not significantly different among HCWs with different characteristics. Only one HCW had a positive result for HCV (0.13%), while no HCWs were found to have HIV. The study showed that 34.63% had experienced needlestick injuries, and 64.88% had received the HBV vaccination. Additionally, 27.20% were smokers, and 1.42% were alcohol consumers. Other characteristics included previous hospitalization (17.28%), a history of blood transfusion (6.23%), a history of surgical operations (27.48%), and a history of dental interventions (86.69%). Conclusions. The study revealed a low seroprevalence of HBV and HCV among HCWs. No active HIV infection and almost none of them had contact with HCV.Wprowadzenie. Pracownicy opieki zdrowotnej są często narażeni na kontakt z zakażoną krwią i płynami ustrojowymi pochodzącymi od zakażonych pacjentów. Nie ma badań dotyczących zakażeń krwiopochodnych w irackim Kurdystanie; dlatego też celem niniejszej pracy było określenie częstości występowania zakażeń krwiopochodnych wirusem zapalenia wątroby typu B (HBV), wirusem zapalenia wątroby typu C (HCV) i ludzkim wirusem niedoboru odporności (HIV) oraz związanych z nimi czynników ryzyka wśród pracowników opieki zdrowotnej w szpitalu. Materiał i metody. W badaniach przekrojowych wzięło udział 800 pracowników opieki zdrowotnej z głównego specjalistycznego szpitala klinicznego, którzy zostali wybrani techniką nielosową. Wyniki. Średni wiek pracowników opieki zdrowotnej wynosił 35,15 lat (zakres: 18-70 lat), na personel składali się mężczyźni (56,0%) i kobiety (44,0%) o różnych specjalizacjach i z różnych oddziałów. Seroprewalencja HBV wśród pracowników opieki zdrowotnej wynosiła 0,75% (n=6). Nie różniła się ona jednak istotnie wśród pracowników o różnych charakterystykach. Tylko jeden pracownik miał pozytywny wynik na obecność wirusa HCV (0,13%), podczas gdy u żadnego z nich nie wykryto wirusa HIV. Badanie wykazało, że 34,63% pracowników doświadczyło zranienia igłą, a 64,88% otrzymało szczepionkę przeciwko HBV. Dodatkowo, 27,20% było palaczami, a 1,42% spożywało alkohol. Inne cechy obejmowały wcześniejszą hospitalizację (17,28%), transfuzję krwi (6,23%), operacje chirurgiczne (27,48%) i interwencje stomatologiczne (86.69%). Wnioski. Badanie wykazało niską seroprewalencję HBV i HCV wśród pracowników opieki zdrowotnej. Nie stwierdzono aktywnego zakażenia HIV i prawie żaden z pracowników nie miał kontaktu z HCV

Molecular detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus harbouring β- lactamase resistance genes isolated from different sources of infections

Background and objective: The detection and investigation of methicillin resistance staphylococci specifically S. aureus in clinical microbiology setting is very helpful both for informing the appropriate treatment of individual patients and also for the surveillance of these organisms. This study aimed at the rapid molecular detection of methicillin resistant staphylococci harbouring β-lactamase gene and determination of the efficiency of m-PCR through comparison with uniplex PCR. Methods: Standard microbiological techniques were applied for the determination of the presence of methicillin resistant S. aureus in samples recovered from different body sites of patients who attended Al-Kadhumyhia Teaching and Baghdad Teaching Hospitals. The resulting methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates were subjected to uni and multiplex PCR amplifications for detecting the existence of mec A gene and β-lactamase (TEM) resistance gene. Results: Half of the cases involved were found to be caused by MRSA. All the tested isolates showed positive amplification bands for the presence of mec A gene and only 48.8% of these harbored TEM gene. The obtained results revealed high sensitivity of universal bacterial and TEM primers expressed as 97.6% and 100% respectively, while the sensitivity of mec A primer was limited to 60%. Conclusion: The phenotypic identification of MRSA revealed a higher incidence rate and that different molecular techniques can yield conflicting results and it can also be concluded that resistant due to beta- lactamase production can be a crucial factor added to the previously settled methicillin resistant due to mec A gene