329 research outputs found
Cooperating Newton’s Method with Series Solution Method for Solving System of Linear Mixed Volterra-Fredholm Integral Equation of the Second Kind
In this paper, for the 1st time, we use Newton’s method with series solution method (SSM) for solving system of linear mixed Volterra-Fredholm integral equations of the second kind (SLMVFIE-2). In this work, we use a new technique for studying the numerical solutions for SLMVFIE-2 which is Newton’s method with SSM, first solving this system using SSM and after that cooperation Newton’s method with SSM, suggesting an algorithm for the technique. The new results are achieved and some new theorems have proved for convergence of the method, several numerical examples are tested for illustrating the usefulness of the technique; the numerical results are obtained and compared with the exact solution, computing the least square error, and running times which are criterion of discussion. For programming the technique, we use general Matlab program
Electro-absorption of silicene and bilayer graphene quantum dots
We study numerically the optical properties of low-buckled silicene and
AB-stacked bilayer graphene quantum dots subjected to an external electric
field, which is normal to their surface. Within the tight-binding model, the
optical absorption is calculated for quantum dots, of triangular and hexagonal
shapes, with zigzag and armchair edge terminations. We show that in triangular
silicene clusters with zigzag edges a rich and widely tunable infrared
absorption peak structure originates from transitions involving zero energy
states. The edge of absorption in silicene quantum dots undergoes red shift in
the external electric field for triangular clusters, whereas blue shift takes
place for hexagonal ones. In small clusters of bilayer graphene with zigzag
edges the edge of absorption undergoes blue/red shift for triangular/hexagonal
geometry. In armchair clusters of silicene blue shift of the absorption edge
takes place for both cluster shapes, while red shift is inherent for both
shapes of the bilayer graphene quantum dots.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF NOVEL PYRAZOLO[3,4-b]PYRIDINES AND THEIR SPIRO-HETEROCYCLIC DERIVATIVES
The present work describes the synthesis of a novel series of heterocyclic moieties derived from 5-acetylpyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine (1). The formation of chalcones (2a-d) was utilized to synthesize pyrazoline, isoxazoline and pyrimidine derivatives (3-10). Thiosemicarbazone and semicarbazone (11, 17) were utilized to synthesize other new triazolethiones, thiadiazole and selenadiazole derivatives (11-19). Some new spiro derivatives (22-25) were synthesized by the reaction of chalcone (21) of 1 and isatine with hydrazines, hydroxyl amines and thiourea. Also, The reaction of 1 with cyanoacetyl hydrazine gave the hydrazide-hydrazone derivative 26, which was allowed to react with aromatic aldehydes and α-cyanocinnamonitrile to afford coumarine and substituted pyridine derivatives (28, 29). The structures of all the new compounds have been established on the basis of their analytical and spectral data. Twenty two of the synthesized compounds were also evaluated for their antibacterial and antifungal activity against various strains of bacteria and fungi and most are found to possess promising antimicrobial activity when compared with Chloramphenicol and Clotrimazol
Labeling of Tannic Acid with Technetium-99m for Diagnosis of Stomach Ulcer
Tannic acid is a polyphenolic compound that could be labeled with technetium-99m. To produce about 90% yield of 99mTc-tannic acid in acidic media (pH), the conditions required were 150 μg tin chloride, 30 min reaction time, and 200 μg of the substrate. 99mTc-tannic was stable for 6 h. Oral biodistribution of 99mTc-tannic showed that it concentrated in the stomach ulcer to reach about 50% of the total injected dose at 1 h after orall administration. This concentration of 99mTc-tannic in stomach ulcer may be sufficient to radio-image the presence of ulcer in the stomach
Att leva med skammen, En kvalitativ studie om upplevelser av sexuella övergrepp
Denna uppsats belyser upplevelser av sexuella övergrepp i uppväxten ur ett
retroperspektiv. Studiens syfte är att lyfta upplevelser av sexuella övergrepp och
bidra till att tabut kring ämnet minskar. Vårt urval har bestått av flickor som
utsatts för sexuella övergrepp under sin uppväxt av sin far, styvfar eller
adoptivfar, som har skrivit om sina upplevelser i en självbiografi. Den metod vi
använt oss av är en kvalitativ tematisk analys som baserats på självbiografierna.
Studiens resultat är främst att upplevelser av att utsättas för sexuella övergrepp
är komplexa och unika. Vår analys visar på att ha blivit utsatt för sexuella
övergrepp kan präglas av mångbottnade känslor, samt att omgivningens inverkan
både kan fungera positivt och negativt. Kvinnornas handlingsstrategier har vi sett
ligger nära sammankopplade med konsekvenserna de fått som en följd av de
sexuella övergrepp de utsatts för
Immunohistochemical Assessment of TNFAIP3/A20 Expression Correlates With Early Tumorigenesis in Breast Cancer
BACKGROUND/AIM: Limited data exist on the expression pattern of TNFAIP3/A20, as assayed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), in breast cancer tissues. This study aimed to assess A20 expression pattern in breast cancer. Materials and Methods: The expression of A20 was analysed using IHC in 50 breast cancer cases retrieved from the Sharjah Breast Cancer Center at the University Hospital Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Omics survival data were also used to analyse its association with survival in endocrine-treated subgroups. Results: A20 expression in breast cancer tissues was 'tumor-specific', and as compared to normal tissue areas, its expression was associated with both intensity and extent in early grade 1 (p<0.0001) in all molecular subtypes. In addition, using omics survival data from a cohort of 3,520 breast cancer patients, we showed that A20 overexpression associated with lower overall survival rate in the endocrine treated subgroups [hazard ratio (HR)=2.14, 95%CI=1.61-2.82, p<0.0001]. Conclusion: A20 can serve as a biomarker for early diagnosis of breast cancers
Anthracnose Disease (Colletotrichum sp.) Affecting Olive Fruit Quality and Its Control in Egypt
Abstract Olive anthracnose is the most important fungal disease of olive fruits worldwide. It occurs in humid olive-growing areas of many countries and causes heavy yield losses and lowering of oil quality. Colletotrichum acutatum was isolated and identified from rotten olive fruits. Pathogenicity test of C. acutatum was confirmed. It was found to be decreased all physical characteristics measured i.e. weight (gm), length (mm), diameter (mm) and volume (ml3). Also, C. acutatum was found to decrease the oil content of the fruits, while increasing their total titratable acidity and moisture content. Physiological studies resulted that, the highest growth rate and sporulation was recorded with PDA medium, PH 6.5 and Light/dark cycle treatments. Hot water treatments at 45, 50 and 55°C were able to decreased spore viability of C. acutatum compared with untreated (control). The best treatment of hot water was recorded with 55°C. in vivo. Also, hot water treatment at 55°C was successful in reducing the percentage of anthracnose disease incidence on olive fruits in vitro. All tested alternative substrates i. e. Ascorbic acid, Benzoic acid, potassium sorbate and citric acid used were able to reduce the linear growth rate of C. acutatum in vitro. Benzoic acid was found to be the best alternative substrate used which gave completely fruit protection (hundred of reduction percent) followed by Ascorbic acid, Potassium sorbate and Citric acid. This is thought to be the first report of anthracnose disease of olive fruits in Egypt
Probing host pathogen cross-talk by transcriptional profiling of both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and infected human dendritic cells and macrophages
This study provides the proof of principle that probing the host and the microbe transcriptomes simultaneously is a valuable means to accessing unique information on host pathogen interactions. Our results also underline the extraordinary plasticity of host cell and pathogen responses to infection, and provide a solid framework to further understand the complex mechanisms involved in immunity to M. tuberculosis and in mycobacterial adaptation to different intracellular environments
Towards a novel biologically-inspired cloud elasticity framework
With the widespread use of the Internet, the popularity of web applications has
significantly increased. Such applications are subject to unpredictable workload
conditions that vary from time to time. For example, an e-commerce website may
face higher workloads than normal during festivals or promotional schemes. Such
applications are critical and performance related issues, or service disruption can
result in financial losses. Cloud computing with its attractive feature of dynamic
resource provisioning (elasticity) is a perfect match to host such applications.
The rapid growth in the usage of cloud computing model, as well as the rise in
complexity of the web applications poses new challenges regarding the effective
monitoring and management of the underlying cloud computational resources.
This thesis investigates the state-of-the-art elastic methods including the models
and techniques for the dynamic management and provisioning of cloud resources
from a service provider perspective.
An elastic controller is responsible to determine the optimal number of cloud resources,
required at a particular time to achieve the desired performance demands.
Researchers and practitioners have proposed many elastic controllers using versatile
techniques ranging from simple if-then-else based rules to sophisticated
optimisation, control theory and machine learning based methods. However,
despite an extensive range of existing elasticity research, the aim of implementing
an efficient scaling technique that satisfies the actual demands is still a challenge
to achieve. There exist many issues that have not received much attention from
a holistic point of view. Some of these issues include: 1) the lack of adaptability
and static scaling behaviour whilst considering completely fixed approaches; 2)
the burden of additional computational overhead, the inability to cope with the
sudden changes in the workload behaviour and the preference of adaptability
over reliability at runtime whilst considering the fully dynamic approaches; and 3)
the lack of considering uncertainty aspects while designing auto-scaling solutions.
This thesis seeks solutions to address these issues altogether using an integrated
approach. Moreover, this thesis aims at the provision of qualitative elasticity rules.
This thesis proposes a novel biologically-inspired switched feedback control
methodology to address the horizontal elasticity problem. The switched methodology
utilises multiple controllers simultaneously, whereas the selection of a
suitable controller is realised using an intelligent switching mechanism. Each
controller itself depicts a different elasticity policy that can be designed using the
principles of fixed gain feedback controller approach. The switching mechanism
is implemented using a fuzzy system that determines a suitable controller/-
policy at runtime based on the current behaviour of the system. Furthermore,
to improve the possibility of bumpless transitions and to avoid the oscillatory
behaviour, which is a problem commonly associated with switching based control
methodologies, this thesis proposes an alternative soft switching approach. This
soft switching approach incorporates a biologically-inspired Basal Ganglia based
computational model of action selection.
In addition, this thesis formulates the problem of designing the membership functions
of the switching mechanism as a multi-objective optimisation problem. The
key purpose behind this formulation is to obtain the near optimal (or to fine tune)
parameter settings for the membership functions of the fuzzy control system in
the absence of domain experts’ knowledge. This problem is addressed by using
two different techniques including the commonly used Genetic Algorithm and
an alternative less known economic approach called the Taguchi method. Lastly,
we identify seven different kinds of real workload patterns, each of which reflects
a different set of applications. Six real and one synthetic HTTP traces, one for
each pattern, are further identified and utilised to evaluate the performance of
the proposed methods against the state-of-the-art approaches
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