Recent Attempts to Reforming Arabic Grammar

This thesis aims at studying and evaluating, within a comprehensive framework, the attempts made in Egypt in the last hundred years to reform Arabic grammar. The attempts made before this period have been only touched on, being a part of the back­ ground of the recent ones. This study is composed of a preface pointing out why this subject was chosen, its scope and the gap it is hoped to fill; an introduction dealing with the meaning of grammar and the developments of grammatical study of Arabic in the previous centuries; four chapters which dealt respectively with the following topics: The difficulties of Arabic grammar, the reforming attempts before the present period, the recent attempts to reform grammar textbooks and the recent attempts to reform Arabic grammar itself. The study ends with a conclusion pointing out the achievements reached by the recent attempts of reform as well as the areas still in need of more efforts

Asynchronous, complete and distributed garbage collection in the NGrid project

15 pagesThe distributed garbage collection (DGC) problem can be divided in two parts: 1) acyclic garbage collection solved by the Reference Listing method 2) cyclic garbage collection solved by the Graph Summarizer method. This reports improvements brought by the NGrid DGC project

Suitability of selected raw materials and by-products in formulated feeds for Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and African catfish Clarias gariepinus

Merged with duplicate record (10026.1/1967) on 03.01.2017 by CS (TIS)The current status of global aquaculture production was reviewed with a special emphasis on Africa and in particular Egypt. The main species of interest in this study were tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and African catfish Clarias gariepinus which are gaining popularity and are of considerable importance in the market of farmed fish in this continent and of economic relevance to Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. Research was principally directed to establishing the suitability of specific feed ingredients and materials that could be included in balanced diets for both species. Various animal and plant by-products were selected to evaluate their nutritional value for either species. The experimental protocols, materials and methods and techniques employed are described for nutritional investigations with tropical freshwater fish. These included the various parameters assessed in the growth and digestibility studies relevant to the species in question. These include Specific Growth Rates (SGR), Feed Conversion Ratios (FCR), Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Apparent Net Protein Utilisation (ANPU). An initial investigation to determine the coefficients of digestibility of protein, amino acids and energy was first undertaken using tilapia as the model warmwater fish species. This investigation was able to provide useful data and information as a prelude for successive growth trials with both tilapia and catfish. Fishmeal, soyabean meal, corn gluten meal, poultry by-products including feathermeal and blood meal were all tested at a variety of inclusion levels in successive trials. Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC %) for tilapia fed diets containing 60% LT 94 fishmeal and 40% of each ingredient are reported. ADC of dry matter (DM) and protein (CP) and energy (E) for the reference fishmeal diet were 83.99 DM; 92.60 CP; and 93.31E respectively. For each test ingredient, these values were as follows; 1- PBM (56.99 DM; 69.30 CP & 73.47 E), 2- Feathermeal (54.09 DM, 45.53 CP & 49.11 E), 3- Blood meal (76.13 DM; 85.79 CP and 75.96 E), 4- Solvent extracted soyabean meal (85.83 DM; 93.46 CP & 82.16 E), 4- Full fat soyabean meal (75.86 DM; 86.99 CP & 74.84 E). The amino acid availability coefficients reflected the same trends as protein digestibility, and these varied from >87% on average for the essential amino acids in fishmeal, 83% for maize gluten and 85% for solvent extracted soyabean meal with an average of 63% for feathermeal and only 61% for poultry meat meal. The importance of plant protein sources and especially soyabean meal was the focus of a complete nutritional study with juvenile tilapia, The influence of full fat soyabean meal (FFSB) inclusion on growth performance, feed utilisation and the gastrointestinal digestive enzymes was also measured in this experiment. It was found that soyabean meal levels above 50% could reduce growth performance and adversely affect gut enzyme activities. Tilapia fed a series of diets with FFSB (58,63 and 63% + DLmethionine did not perform as well as the control group. SGR values ranged between 2.42 to 2.12, and ANPU between 39.41-34.46. Supplementation of the diet with methionine did not restore performance. Hepatic trypsin and amylase enzyme activity was affected with FFSB (from 12.64-1.43 Units and 4.99-2.76 Units respectively). No affects were detected on general proteolytic activity for stomach, intestine and liver. For studies with African catfish, it was first necessary to assess the different grades of fishmeal that could be employed in suitable reference diets for this species. A Poultry by-product meal (PBM) was further evaluated as a fishmeal replacement source (0- 100%) for this species. Catfish fed dry and wet diets of two types of fishmeal showed significant differences in growth performance. Catfish fed dry diets performed better than those receiving wet diets for both LT94 and white fishmeal sources. SGR were (2.80 and 2.75 dry) and (2.46 and 2.57 wet). FCR (0.97 and 0.80 dry) and (1.30,1.30 wet), ANPU (41.85,52.94 dry) and (31.43,30.9 wet) for LT94 and White fishmeal respectively. The PBM fed catfish showed significant differences in weight gain and feed utilisation. SGR was between 3.57 to 2.83, FCR between 1.61 to 2.25 and ANPU fell from 28.90 to 18.82 for groups' fed the control fishmeal diet towards the maximum level of PBM substitution. Histological examination of liver tissue showed alterations in hepatic morphology with respect to sinusoids and fat accumulation for catfish fed higher amounts of PBM. A restricted inclusion of up to 40% poultry by-product meal could therefore be suggested for practical diet formulations. Further investigations were undertaken to assess the potential for either maize gluten meal (MG) or soyabean meal as substitute protein sources for the African catfish Catfish fed higher inclusions of MG displayed SGR's ranging between 5.28 to 2.79, FCR between 0.81 to 1.53 and ANPU values from 52.33 to 24.99%. All lower performance data were obtained for 75% MG substitution of LT94 fishmeal protein. Further histological examination of liver tissue revealed alterations in hepatic structure associated with higher levels of MG. It was suggested that no more than 25% substitution of fishmeal with maize gluten meal is feasible under the present conditions. In a separate study, catfish fed diets containing different levels of FFSB (58,63 and 63% + DL-methionine) at the expense of fishmeal (LT94), showed significant differences in weight gain. SGR ranged between 3.11 to 2.78, FCR 0.82-0.83 and ANPU between 54.48 to 48.60. Also trypsin activities for intestine ranged between 2.75 to 1.71 Units, liver 1.37 to 1.05 Units and stomach 4.09 to 2.29 Units of activity for increasing levels of FFSB. Hepatic amylase was also reduced from 4.49 to 2.46 Units. General proteolytic activities however, did not show any significant differences between catfish fed different levels of FFSB for the stomach, intestine and liver. The conclusions from each of the nutritional trials were considered and comparisons between the response of tilapia and catfish were made. The advantages of plant based protein concentrates was stressed due to the problems currently existing for animal sources and the expense of fishmeal There were many similarities for the tilapia and catfish and it would seem that both fish species could greatly benefit from improved diet formulations that may meet with their nutritional requirements whilst minimising cost of production. A future strategy of research is presented that includes further work to identify more feed ingredients for potential use in these species

Use of Arthrospira platensis as a Feed Additive to Improve Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, Body Composition, and Immune Response of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

681-686Study was conducted to evaluate the potential application of the dried microalga Arthrospira platensis in Oreochromis niloticus diets as a replacement for fish meal protein. A. platensis was incorporated into fish diets at 0% (D1–control), 10% Diet2 (D2), 20% Diet3 (D3), and 30% Diet4 (D4) replacement of fish meal protein. The final weight gain was 42.90 ± 1.83, 43.45 ± 1.74, 45.89 ± 1.42, and 46.64 ± 1.27 g in the control, D2, D3, and D4 groups, respectively, with significant differences. Similarly, the SGR, FCR and survival rate of fish were improved with each increasing levels. Hematological parameters including the counts of RBCs and WBC, Hb, and Hct were increased when A. platensis levels increased in the experimental diets, with significant differences. Furthermore,AST and ALT activities showed significant decreases when A. platensis level was increased. Thus, this study indicated that diets containing high amounts of A. platensis microalga improved the growth, feed efficiency, survival rate, and immune response of O. niloticus

Factors influencing the outcome of acute lateral humeral condylar fracture in children and its related complications

Back ground: Lateral condylar of humerus fractures are among the commonest fracture in children. Open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) is the preferred option as it prevents complications caused by inaccurate reduction, however the outcomes remain variable. The purpose of this study is to determine factors influencing the overall functional outcome following lateral condylar fractures of humerus in children and to describe the complications that arise. Methods: There were children until the age of 14 years old for the girls and 16 years old for the boys were involved in this study. All of them were treated for lateral condyle humeral fracture for at least 1 year. They were selected and contacted after reviewing their radiological andtreatment records and were asked to come to HUSM for further evaluation. During evaluation, the functional ability of the involved elbow was assessed. A radiological assessment of affected limb was also performed through a proper antero-posterior radiograph. The functional outcome was assessed based on activity of daily living, range of motion and carrying angle of the affected elbow with the normal elbow and graded using Dhillon scoring system into excellent, good, fair and poor outcome. The amounts of residual displacement after treatment were documented. Data were statistically analysed using SPSS version 20. Result: Twenty-seven male and six female patients were involved in this study. The age at time of fracture was within 2 to12 years old with the mean of 6.3 years old. Thirteen patients had medial residual displacement between 3mm to 5mm and 20 patients had 2mm or less medial residual displacement. A large numbers of patients attained good functional outcome scoring (42.4%) followed by excellent score (27.3%). This is followed by fair score (24.2%). Only a small numbers of patient had poor scoring system (6.1%). Both residual medial intraarticular displacement and residual lateral cortex displacement post fracture treatment (both <2mm and 3mm-5mm) did not significantly affect the early functional outcome (Dhillon score) .( Multiple logistic regression, β = -0.19; 95% CI=-1.09, 0.40; p-value= 0.034) (Multiple logistic regression, β= -0.12,CI= -0.67,0.63, p-value 0.94). Age of fracture, type of treatment and method of surgical fixation are not statistically correlated with Dhillon score. In term of complications, only one patient (3.0%) had persistent pain, 14 (42.4%) patients clinically had lateral condyle prominence, 4 (12%),with cubitus varus deformity, 2 (6.1%) had fishtail deformity, 19 (57.6%) had osteophytes and there was no incidence of AVN and non union. All of these complications are not statistically associated with Dhillon scoring. Conclusion: This study shows that children who sustained lateral condyle of humerus fracture have excellent-good outcome (69.7%) after at least 1 year of follow up. The amount of medial and lateral residual displacement of lateral humeral condyle fracture did not affect the early functional outcome as long as it is within 5mm. The most common complications encountered are osteophytes (57.6%) and lateral condyle overgrowth (42.4%)

Substratum-aerated-biofilm reactor for treatment of carbonaceous and nitrogenous wastewaters

This study involves the development of a biofilm reactor that supports growth of a deep biofilm on a gas permeable membrane. The reactor solution is not aerated, and oxygen is supplied through the membrane. The reactor is termed a substratum-aerated-biofilm reactor or SAB. With adequate concentrations of electron-donors and electron-acceptors, a deep biofilm grows on the membrane and is comprised of different layers of bacterial activity. The aerobic layers are near the membrane support, while the anaerobic layers are near the biofilm-liquid boundary. In the SAB, the substrate diffuses from the bulk liquid into the biofilm to react. Oxygen diffuses through the membrane into the biofilm. All products likewise are transported by molecular diffusion through the biofilm and into the bulk liquid. The reactors consisted of a reactor wall made of a plexiglass cylinder with the gas permeable membrane supported on a shallow rotating cup. The cup was designed so that the cup and the membrane function as a flat plate. The flat plate was utilized for support of the biological growth, transfer of oxygen, and mixing of the bulk liquid and the gas phase. The experiments were conducted in completely mixed, continuous-flow reactors maintained at 25°C with a hydraulic detention of 8 hours. Pure oxygen was delivered to a gas compartment under the membrane. All reactors were fed a synthetic waste buffered to pH 7.0. The background solution for the feed solution was made from distilled water combined with adequate inorganic nutrients and vitamins. The background solution was supplemented with acetate and ammonia to obtain the desired substrate compositions. Combined nitrification and heterotrophic oxidation activity resulted when the SABs where fed 5 or 10 mg/1 acetate, and 10 mg-N/1 ammonia. Combined nitrification, heterotrophic oxidation, and denitrification resulted with acetate concentration of 20, 40, and 100 mg/1, and 10 mg- N/1 ammonia. Combined heterotrophic oxidation and fermentation resulted with acetate concentration of 800 mg/1, and 10 mg-N/1 ammonia. A series of mass balances were developed to determine the fate of the nitrogen compounds and acetate. These results showed that the flux values for carbon oxidation, nitrification, denitrification, and fermentation are higher than those reported for competing technologies such as rotating biological contactors

Generalised Mutual Information: a Framework for Discriminative Clustering

In the last decade, recent successes in deep clustering majorly involved the Mutual Information (MI) as an unsupervised objective for training neural networks with increasing regularisations. While the quality of the regularisations have been largely discussed for improvements, little attention has been dedicated to the relevance of MI as a clustering objective. In this paper, we first highlight how the maximisation of MI does not lead to satisfying clusters. We identified the Kullback-Leibler divergence as the main reason of this behaviour. Hence, we generalise the mutual information by changing its core distance, introducing the Generalised Mutual Information (GEMINI): a set of metrics for unsupervised neural network training. Unlike MI, some GEMINIs do not require regularisations when training as they are geometry-aware thanks to distances or kernels in the data space. Finally, we highlight that GEMINIs can automatically select a relevant number of clusters, a property that has been little studied in deep discriminative clustering context where the number of clusters is a priori unknown.Comment: Submitted for review at the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. This article is an extension of an original NeurIPS 2022 article [arXiv:2210.06300

Resource-Constrained Construction Scheduling Using Agent Based Modeling Technique

&nbsp;This paper presents the use of Agent Based Modeling (ABM) technique as a tool for optimum resource constrained scheduling.&nbsp; The model added two features to the standard resource scheduling applications. It allowed activity interruptions when necessary and the impact of the quality of the predecessors on the successors' duration. An illustrative example is offered to demonstrate the performance of the proposed model. ABM technique was confirmed to be a valid approach for seeking alternative solutions in resource constrained schedules. The model proved advantageous to resource-constrained schedules. It illustrated additional flexibility to the standard techniques for resource-constrained problems. The model was proven successful in minimizing the project duration under preset priority rules

Toxico-histological Effects of Sublethal Concentrations of Lead Nitrate on the Gills of the African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus

170-175This study aimed to investigate the effects of subleathal lead doses on the histological architecture of gills in the freshwater African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. Results revealed three stages of changes after exposure to three doses of lead nitrate. The changes were mild in fish exposed to 16.12 mg/L of Pb (NO3)2 (stage I 20% of LC50) and severe in case of 40% of LC50 (stage II, 32.24 mg/L) and 60% of LC50 (stage III 48.37% mg/L) in comparison to control. The histological examination revealed normal architecture of gills in control fish. Normal gills were characterized with primary gill lamellae with a central hyaline cartilage. However, three-stage changes were observed after exposure to the three doses of lead nitrate. In stage I, a cartilaginous matrix appeared along with loosening of the epithelial lining of the cartilaginous core and abundant vascular spaces were observed on the secondary gill lamellae. An extra cartilaginous matrix, loosening of the epithelial lining of the cartilaginous core, de-shaped gill lamellae, and degeneration of the secondary gill lamellae were noted in stage II. Lesions in the gill pattern in stage III were represented by shortening of the tips of secondary gill lamellae, damaged gill lamellae, a cartilaginous matrix, and hyperplasia. This indicated that lead exposure resulted in severe histopathological changes in the gills in a dose-dependent manner

Lead Nitrate Induced Histopathological Alterations in the Liver and Intestine of African Catfish Clarias gariepinus Exposed to Sublethal Concentrations

552-557Studies were carried out on the liver and intestine tissue of Clarias gariepinus after exposure to sublethal concentrations of LC50 lead nitrate for 20 days. Fish were distributed into four groups, control (0 mg/L, LC50 of Pb(NO3)2) and three groups exposed to 20, 40 and 60% of the LC50 of Pb(NO3)2 (16.12, 32.24 and 48.37 mg/L respectively). Section of hepatic and intestine tissues showed the normal structure for control group. However, treated hepatic tissues of fish exhibited altered its characteristic architecture, with remarkably high vacuolation in hepatocytes and hepatoctolysis. Also, central vein was dilated and increased hemorrhage in the sections of almost samples from treated fish. Increased number of fibroblasts and Kuppffer cells were observed in the examined sections from treated fish when compared to the control. Therefore, fish treated with 60% LD50 of Pb(NO3)2 observed the proliferation of fibrous in connective tissue particularly near sinusoids and substituting liver parenchyma. Therefore, intestinal sections from the different treated fish groups revealed an evident harmful to intestinal tissue, especially in enterocytes and structures of villi. Also, disturbed longitudinal and circular muscularis were observed, to abnormally dilated, lamina propria, was infiltrated with a huge numbers of inflammatory leukocytes. Mucous secreting goblet cells proliferated and multiplied in all exposed fish