Radioactive Dose Measurement Based on SPECT Gamma Camera: Patient’s Dose

A dose measurement is one of the main steps in nuclear medicine imaging, which is done before radiotracer injection of patient. There are different types of instruments used for dose measuring; the most common instrument used is a dose calibrator. So as to get accurate value of the measured dose, the dose calibrator has to be well calibrated regularly. In most cases we need to send the dose calibrator to the manufacturer, standardized organization or reference laboratory for recalibration. Recalibrating the dose calibrator in our department or even in Africa is a challenge. Thus we need to send the instrument to the manufacturer, which costs a lot and takes long time. In this work we want to make use of SPECT gamma camera for measuring the patient dose instead of using a dose calibrator to avoid stopping the work during sending the dose calibrator for calibration or when this device is broken down. We compared the doses that were measured in both the gamma camera and in the dose calibrator device. We developed an equation to enable us to measure the amount of patient dose using SPECT gamma camera. The proposed algorithm validated using different patient doses. The proposed dose measurement algorithm gives the same reading that was obtained with dose calibrator

Effect of Different Parameters on Intrinsic Uniformity Test For MEDISO Single-Head Gamma Camera

The most basic and sensitive routine quality control (QC) of gamma camera is that of intrinsic uniformity. Intrinsic uniformity must be assessed daily and after each repair, it must be critically evaluated and any necessary action must be undertaken before using the gamma camera for patient imaging. The main objective of this work is to determine the best parameters for daily quality control testing of intrinsic uniformity for the single-head gamma camera from MEDISO Company installed at Institute of Nuclear Medicine - University of Gezira. Intrinsic uniformity test was done by placing a point source 99mTcO- (99mTc) in front of the detector with removed collimator to measure the effect of correction matrix, source-to-camera distance, a count rate and activity volume on intrinsic uniformity. The results showed that the best intrinsic uniformity image obtained at distance of 100 cm, with correction matrix, activity volume in range of 0.1 - 0.4 ml in 3 ml syringe and count rate between 25 - 30 kcps which took less than 14 min to get uniform image. &nbsp

Senior managers in Iraqi society: their background and attitudes

The aim of this thesis is to cast light on a group of senior managers currently working in Iraq. It investigates their personalsocial background. career patterns and decision-making styles in the light of the Western management standards. The thesis also tries to bring into the light how the Iraqi managers spend their time and what activities they exercise inside their firms. In addition. it attempts to show the contemporary social constraints or pressures which face managers in Iraq. The assumption is made that in order to understand management styles and the principal personal-social background and career patterns of a group of managers in a given country. prior understanding of their social and cultural values is vital. Without such prior understanding of the social and cultural context. the analysis and the interpretation of the managers' characteristics and their management styles will be incomplete. Thus, the point of departure is to start the analysis by careful examination of Iraq; its geography, social communities, religions, education, political and economic development. In addition, the analysis extends itself to cover the past and the contemporary attitudes toward men and women, time. manual work and toward the size of the family. The thesis then proceeds to discuss the principal characteristics of forty four Iraqi manuging directors. The results broadly indicate that most of the personal-social characteristics and career patterns of these managers are a reflection of their larger society. The same is equally true with their management styles. What already exists in the industrial firms studied also exists in the larger society; the links between industrial organisations and the Iraqi society in terms of social values and attitudes toward time. manual work. superiority of men over women. remain strong despite the fact that the society is undereoing considerable social and economic changes. So. too, the principal characteristics of the managers studied. whether in terms of their personal-social background. their career patterns or their decision-makine styles. are by and large similar to the general features of the society in large. The analysis also indicates that in order to work according to Western management standards. the Iraqi manager needs not only a long period of time, but also requires massive efforts to get rid of a heavy heritage of different but interlocking social pressures and constraints

Extraction of Pectin from Tamarind Fruits (Tamarindus indica L.) and its Utilization in Jam Production

     In the present work, pectin was extracted from tamarind fruit pulp and used for jam production. The pectin yield in one kg tamarind pulp was 3.7 grams. The average chemical composition of tamarind pulp was: 5.44 % protein, 2.44 % ash, 18.21 % moisture, 1.99 ± 0.8% fat, 13.05 ± 0.7% fiber and 55% available carbohydrates. The tamarind fruit pulp also contained appreciable amounts of minerals as follows: 134 (mg/100g) sodium, 74 (mg/100g) potassium and 88 (mg/100g) calcium. The chemical, microbiological and sensory quality characteristics of the extracted pectin jam (A) as well as commercial pectin jam (B) were also determined. (A) contained: 8.5 % total sugar, 5 % reducing sugar, 67 % total soluble solid, 36 mg/100g sodium, (60 mg/100g potassium, 80 mg/100g calcium and had a pH value of 3.3. On the other hand, (B) contained:    12 % total sugar, 1.3 % reducing sugar, 68 % total soluble solid, 44 (mg/100g) sodium, 43 (mg/100g) potassium, 64 (mg/100g) calcium and had a pH value of 3.5±0.1. Microbiological analysis of (B) had shown high levels of yeast and mould, however, the counts of yeast and mould was highly reduced in (A). The sensory analysis indicated that all types of jams were accepted by panelists who generally preferred (B) than (A) due to its appealing colour and flavour

An Enhanced Software Quality Testing Approach Using Metamorphic Testing Technique

The software testing process plays an important role in improving the quality of the software product. The product or program which is free from errors greatly contributes to assuring the quality of the software. An oracle in software testing is a person (tester) who performs the testing process. The oracle problem is the difficulty of determining the expected outcomes of selected test cases. A tester (oracle) may not always be available, or might be available but the process is too expensive and difficult to apply. The research presented in this paper proposes an approach for reducing the effect of the oracle problem during testing software and hence enhancing the quality of testing. Metamorphic Testing (MT) approach has been introduced and applied to generate a follow-up test case for multiple executions of program under test and verify the result automatically.  An experimental method has been used to explain the mechanism of work for (MT). JUNIT tool which supports MT has been used to apply selected case studies (trigonometric function, geometric shapes classification, booking web service). The obtained results showed a good enhancement in the testing process. The importance of this research lies in overcoming oracle problem or alleviates it and thus, the research contributes to knowledge the domain by guiding researchers to use the metamorphic method because of its great advantages, as well as evaluating the effect of metamorphic method through empirical studies

Throughput efficient AODV for improving QoS routing in energy aware mobile adhoc network

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) is a type of wireless network that is made up of mobile nodes which coordinate themselves without the help of a central coordinator. The network topology changes as nodes are mobile. One of the major challenges of MANET is limited bandwidth which tends to mitigate the Quality of Service (QoS) of the network as users are not satisfied. A variety of routing protocols has been employed aiming at improving the throughput of the network in order to meet user demands. This paper proposes the development of a throughput efficient Ad-hoc On demand Distance Vector (TE-AODV) routing protocol targeted towards improving the QoS of MANET by mitigating network overhead. In this work, all nodes are assumed to be transmitting while calculating their Instant Processing State (IPS) using the concept of knapsack problem. A threshold value for node IPS is set and any node below the set threshold value is not considered during data transmission. An improved Location Aided Routing (iLAR) is used for route search process which helped in reducing network overhead. Results from simulation showed that TE-AODV has improved the throughput of energy aware Ad-hoc On demand Distance Vector (E-AODV) routing protocol. TE-AODV improved the network throughput by 2.9% as a function of simulation time and 3.7% as a function of mobility of node over the E-AODV routing protocol

Components of the Public Budget and their Effects on Public Debt in Jordan

This study aims to identify the role of the main components of the public budget for influencing public debt in Jordan through an econometric study. In particular, the EViews 9 program is applied to the annual time series of public debt, current expenditures, capitalism expenditures, taxes, and external grants from 1990 to 2018. Results are related to the data that served as basis of this study and was issued by the Central Bank of Jordan. This study concludes a set of results, including the presence of a positive and moral effect of capital spending on public debt and the presence of a negative and moral effect of taxes on public debt in short and long terms. Results show a positive and significant effect of the current spending on public debt in the short term and a positive, nonsignificant effect in the long term. In addition, a negative, non-significant influence of external grants on public debt in the short term and a negative moral effect in the long term are found. A set of recommendations is presented. First, mechanisms to reduce waste in public budget should be activated, particularly in the area of current expenditures, through addressing administrative sagging in the public sector. Thus, employment is linked to the level of future productivity. Second, corruption and nepotism should be fought against. Third, transparency should be imposed in state departments. Keywords: capital expenditures, current expenditures, external grants, general budget, public debt, taxes. JEL Classifications:  H6, H63, H72 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.971

Production and Quality Evaluation of Paste Made from Two Jawa Date Cultivars

The objective of the present work was to study the production of paste from the local Sudanese date cultivars namely; red Jawa and black Jawa. The date fruit samples were subjected to physical and chemical analysis before production of the paste. The chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of date paste were evaluated after processing. The results indicated relative increasing of moisture content in the red Jawa paste (RJP) 23.34% as compared with black Jawa paste (BJP) 20.35%, the ash content in the (RJP) and (BJP) were 1.15% and 1.09%, respectively. Protein content in the (RJP) and (BJP) were 1.75% and 2.04%, respectively. The total soluble solid in (RJP) and (BJP) were found to be 71.5% and 73.9, respectively. The titrable acidity in (RJP) and (BJP) were found to be 0.31% and 0.41% respectively. The pH values were found to be 5.13 and 5.35 in (RJP) and (BJP), respectively. The microbial analysis of date paste showed low levels of total microbial load. The sensory evaluation indicated that all the paste samples were highly accepted by panelists. The study recommended utilization of low quality date fruits like Jawa in production of various products to increase its economic value

Assessment of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity of methanolic extract from Arnebia decumbens aerial parts growing wild in Aja Mountain

Background: Many plants are a rich source of secondary metabolites with potential antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Amongst the customary plant herbs used as a phytomedicine in Hail province, which has been selected for the current study, Kehail plant, Arnebia decumbens (A. decumbens). Therefore, this study sought to assess the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities against high-risk bacteria and yeasts.Methods: The cup plate agar diffusion methods and Microdilution assays were adopted with minor modifications to assess the antibacterial activity. The Qualitative and quantitative tests were employed to assess the Kehail antioxidant activities by determining its phytochemicals, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ABTS(2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), and β-carotene in vitro assays.Results: The results indicated that methanolic Kehail extract (M.K.E.) exhibited antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus epidermidis (M13), Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli ATCC 10536 and Klebsiella pneumoniae, while the mean inhibition zone was 10.66 ± 0.57 mm, 10.77 ± 0.57735 mm, 10.33 ± 0.57 mm, and 9.55 ± 0.57 mm, respectively. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity increased in a concentration-dependent manner. Indeed, E. cloacae were the plant extract most inhibited bacteria. The plant extract has vigorous antifungal activity against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and C. tropicalis ATCC 9362, whereas the mean inhibition zone was 12.77 ± 0.57 and 13.11 ± 1.52 mm, respectively. The extract of A. decumbens plant was also proven to be efficient as a source of antioxidants saponins, terpenes, polyphenols, and flavonoids.Conclusion: The acquired outcomes uncover promising antioxidant activities of the tested Kehail methanolic extract. The study encourages the separation of active components and the development of new medications from the Kehail plant.Keywords: Arnebia decumbens; Methanolic extract; Disk diffusion assay; Microdilution assay; Antioxidant activities   

Impact of Moringa oleifera Leaf and Flaxseed on Lipid Oxidation and Microbiological Characteristics of Chicken Burger During Cold Storage

Background: Practice of making burgers out of chicken instead of red meat is gaining popularity. because of their high fat substance and on account of no social or strict limitations to the utilization of poultry. The present study aimed to assess effect of adding Moringa oleifera leaf and flaxseed combinations on lipid oxidation and microbiological traits of chicken burger during cold storage.Methods: In this study the pH, peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) as well as microbiological characteristics of chicken burger formulated by various levels of Moringa oleifera leaf and flaxseed powder were evaluated. Samples were as follows: control=0%FS+0%MLP; T1=20%FS+0%MLP; T2=15%FS+5%MLP; T3=10%FS+10%MLP; T4=5%FS+15%MLP; andT5=0%FS+20%MLP.Results: The results showed that the pH value of burger samples supplemented with Moringa oleifera and flaxseed was decreased (P≤0.05) with an increasing period of storage and ranged between 3.5–5.1 and 3.3-4.9 when stored for 15 and 30 days, respectively.Conclusion: Peroxide values of T2, T3, T4 and T5 as well as the value of TBA within the MLP-treated and FS-treated samples (P 0.05) decreased with the progression of the storage period. Microbiological characteristics (P 0.05) were affected by the incorporation of MLP and FS in chicken burger treatments.Keywords: Burger; T.B.A.; Peroxide value; Contamination; Coliform bacteria;  E.coli; Moringa oleifera; Flaxseed