Carrier-mediated blends of Chitosan with polyvinyl chloride for different applications

AbstractThe current work aims at blending of PVC with Chitosan through simultaneous casting of their separate solutions in different proportions of PVC and Chitosan in suitable solvents. After dissolution, both solutions were added to each other while stirring at room temperature. The obtained mixture was left at room temperature to form the blend after evaporation of the solvent. Similar blends have been prepared similarly in presence of the organic ligand, dithizone, as a carrier-mediating material for different metal ions. PVC/Chitosan blends were characterized by thermal (TGA) and FT-IR Spectroscopic analyses as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained blends were found to have reasonable extent of compatibility between their components. Such compatibility depends mainly on the way with which the components have been blended with each other. The polymer-supported dithizone was investigated toward its ability to be used for removal of some metal ions from their aqueous solutions. Concentration of metal ions was determined by ICP-AES analysis

An Interactive Automation for Human Biliary Tree Diagnosis Using Computer Vision

The biliary tree is a network of tubes that connects the liver to the gallbladder, an organ right beneath it. The bile duct is the major tube in the biliary tree. The dilatation of a bile duct is a key indicator for more major problems in the human body, such as stones and tumors, which are frequently caused by the pancreas or the papilla of vater. The detection of bile duct dilatation can be challenging for beginner or untrained medical personnel in many circumstances. Even professionals are unable to detect bile duct dilatation with the naked eye. This research presents a unique vision-based model for biliary tree initial diagnosis. To segment the biliary tree from the Magnetic Resonance Image, the framework used different image processing approaches (MRI). After the image’s region of interest was segmented, numerous calculations were performed on it to extract 10 features, including major and minor axes, bile duct area, biliary tree area, compactness, and some textural features (contrast, mean, variance and correlation). This study used a database of images from King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, Jordan, which included 200 MRI images, 100 normal cases, and 100 patients with dilated bile ducts. After the characteristics are extracted, various classifiers are used to determine the patients’ condition in terms of their health (normal or dilated). The findings demonstrate that the extracted features perform well with all classifiers in terms of accuracy and area under the curve. This study is unique in that it uses an automated approach to segment the biliary tree from MRI images, as well as scientifically correlating retrieved features with biliary tree status that has never been done before in the literature

STRESS REACTIONS AND COPING STRATEGY AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

Background: Psychological impacts among healthcare professionals have increased significantly due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. This study aimed to identify stress and coping strategies among healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study online survey was conducted for health care professionals during a peak of COVID-19 from March to June 2020 at different healthcare institutions at KSA (n=342). Results: Sixty-five percent of responders often and always feel fears about infection and subsequent effects on themselves, the patient, and the family. 57% of them stated that they felt sometimes depressed mode and 47% anxiety during the outbreak. Eightyfour percent of the respondent always focusing on prevention as the first biosecurity measures such as hand-washing habits and using hand sanitizer, and 38.3% of them make sometimes relax and rest. While half of the responses (50%) sometimes had physical exercise. Also, thirty-eight percent joined sometimes community and/or group online chat groups, and 56.1% always keep contact with family and friends through social messaging or phone calls. Conclusion: Understanding this topic is important for healthcare organizations, effective strategies, and programs is needed to provide holistic staff care and wellbeing during outbreaks that focus on the value of mental and emotional support

STRESS REACTIONS AND COPING STRATEGY AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

Background: Psychological impacts among healthcare professionals have increased significantly due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. This study aimed to identify stress and coping strategies among healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study online survey was conducted for health care professionals during a peak of COVID-19 from March to June 2020 at different healthcare institutions at KSA (n=342). Results: Sixty-five percent of responders often and always feel fears about infection and subsequent effects on themselves, the patient, and the family. 57% of them stated that they felt sometimes depressed mode and 47% anxiety during the outbreak. Eightyfour percent of the respondent always focusing on prevention as the first biosecurity measures such as hand-washing habits and using hand sanitizer, and 38.3% of them make sometimes relax and rest. While half of the responses (50%) sometimes had physical exercise. Also, thirty-eight percent joined sometimes community and/or group online chat groups, and 56.1% always keep contact with family and friends through social messaging or phone calls. Conclusion: Understanding this topic is important for healthcare organizations, effective strategies, and programs is needed to provide holistic staff care and wellbeing during outbreaks that focus on the value of mental and emotional support

State-of-the-Art Antenna Technology for Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RANs)

The cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is one of the most efficient, low-cost, and energy-efficient radio access techniques proposed as a potential candidate for the implementation of next-generation (NGN) mobile base stations (BSs). A high-performance C-RAN requires an exceptional broadband radio frequency (RF) front end that cannot be guaranteed without remarkable antenna elements. In response, we present state-of-the-art antenna elements that are potential candidates for the implementation of the C-RAN’s RF front end. We present an overview of C-RAN technology and different types of planar antennas operating at the future proposed fifth-generation (5G) bands that may include the following: (i) ultra-wide band (UWB) (3–12 GHz), (ii) 28/38 GHz, and (iii) 60-GHz radio. Further, we propose different planar antennas suitable for the implementation of C-RAN systems. We design, simulate, and optimize the proposed antennas according to the desired specifications covering the required frequency bands. The key design parameters are calculated, analyzed, and discussed. In our research work, the proposed antennas are lightweight, low-cost, and easy to integrate with other microwave and millimeter-wave (MMW) circuits. We also consider different implementation strategies that can be helpful in the execution of large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks

Risky Driving Behaviours among Medical Students in Erbil, Iraq

Objectives: This study aimed to assess risky driving behaviours among medical students in Erbil, Iraq, and to explore the relationship between risky driving behaviours and perceptions of risky driving. Methods: This self-administered questionnaire-based survey was conducted from January to May 2014 among a random sample of 400 medical students at Hawler Medical University in Erbil. The questionnaire was designed to assess the frequency of engagement in 21 risky driving behaviours, the perceived risk of each behaviour and the preference for each behaviour as ranked on a 5-point scale. Results: A total of 386 students responded to the survey (response rate: 96.5%). Of these, 211 reported that they currently drove a vehicle (54.7%). Drivers most frequently engaged in the following behaviours: playing loud music (35.9%), speeding (30.4%), allowing front seat passengers to not wear seat belts (27.9%) and using mobile phones (27.7%). Least frequent driving behaviours included not stopping at a red light (3.9%), driving while sleepy (4.4%), driving after a mild to moderate intake of alcohol (4.5%) and drunk driving (6.4%). Mean risky driving behaviour scores were significantly higher among males (P <0.001) and those who owned a car (P = 0.002). The mean risk perception score was higher among >20-year-olds (P = 0.028). There was a significant positive relationship between the preference for risky behaviours and risky driving behaviours (beta = 0.44; P <0.001). Conclusion: Medical students in Erbil reported high frequencies of several serious risky driving behaviours. The preference for risky behaviours was found to be an important predictor of risky driving behaviours among medical students in Erbil

Sky Imager-Based Forecast of Solar Irradiance Using Machine Learning

Ahead-of-time forecasting of the output power of power plants is essential for the stability of the electricity grid and ensuring uninterrupted service. However, forecasting renewable energy sources is difficult due to the chaotic behavior of natural energy sources. This paper presents a new approach to estimate short-term solar irradiance from sky images. The~proposed algorithm extracts features from sky images and use learning-based techniques to estimate the solar irradiance. The~performance of proposed machine learning (ML) algorithm is evaluated using two publicly available datasets of sky images. The~datasets contain over 350,000 images for an interval of 16 years, from 2004 to 2020, with the corresponding global horizontal irradiance (GHI) of each image as the ground truth. Compared to the state-of-the-art computationally heavy algorithms proposed in the literature, our approach achieves competitive results with much less computational complexity for both nowcasting and forecasting up to 4 h ahead of time.Comment: Published in MDPI Electronics Journa

Comparison of Essential Oil Yield, Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Leaf: Conventional Distillation versus Emerging Superheated Steam Distillation

Eucalyptus essential oil (EO) has significance economically since it is used in the medicinal and fragrance industries. The main objective of this study was to investigate the differences in yield, composition, antioxidant capacity, and antibacterial effectiveness of the EO extracted from Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves. To achieve this, three distinct extraction techniques, namely steam distillation (SD), hydro distillation (HD), and superheated steam distillation (SHSD), were utilized to isolate the EO. The study aimed to analyze and compare these parameters among the three extraction methods. Based on the findings from the experiments, it has been found that using SHSD resulted in a higher EO yield than conventional techniques, and this SHSD produced a greater amount of EO in a shorter time. The EOs extracted using all three techniques have 1,8 cineole as the main constituent, according to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis results. All of the EOs demonstrated significant antioxidant capacities when tested in vitro using a variety of antioxidant assays. The EOs extracted through HD showed greater antibacterial activity among the other extraction processes, as evaluated by agar well diffusion and resazurin microtitre-plate assays. In conclusion, SHSD is more efficient for extracting EOs and antioxidant activity than traditional HD and SD

Universities’ Role in Developing Vocational Education in Jordan

This study examined the role of universities in developing vocational education and transforming TVET in developing workforce towards globalization. To achieve the objectives of the study, a scale of the role of universities in developing vocational education was developed. The study population consisted of all faculty members at Al-Balqa Applied University who were (1400) faculty members. The study sample consisted of (50) members of the teaching staff who teach vocational courses who were selected randomly. The results of the study showed that the role of universities in developing vocational education came to a medium degree. Considering these results, the study recommended universities to continuously update the vocational education equipment and workshops