Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) Approach to Game Development Methodology

This thesis investigates existing game development methodologies, through the process of researching game and system development models. The results indicate that these methodologies are engineered to solve specific problems, and most are suitable only for specific game genres. Different approaches to building games have been proposed in recent years. However, most of these methodologies focus on the design and implementation phase. This research aims to enhance game development methodologies by proposing a novel game development methodology, with the ability to function in generic game genres, thereby guiding game developers and designers from the start of the game development phase to the end of the implementation and testing phase. On a positive note, aligning development practice with universal standards makes it far easier to incorporate extra team members at short notice. This increased the confidence when working in the same environment as super developers. In the gaming industry, most game development proceeds directly from game design to the implementation phase, and the researcher observes that this is the only industry in which this occurs. It is a consequence of the game industry’s failure to integrate with modern development techniques. The ultimate aim of this research to apply a new game development methodology using most game elements to enhance success. This development model will align with different game genres, and resolve the gap between industry and research area, so that game developers can focus on the important business of creating games. The primary aim of Agent Oriented Agile Base (AOAB) game development methodology is to present game development techniques in sequential steps to facilitate game creation and close the gap in the existing game development methodologies. Agent technology is used in complex domains such as e-commerce, health, manufacturing, games, etc. In this thesis we are interested in the game domain, which comprises a unique set of characteristics such as automata, collaboration etc. Our AOAB will be based on a predictive approach after adaptation of MaSE methodology, and an adaptive approach using Agile methodology. To ensure proof of concept, AOAB game development methodology will be evaluated against industry principles, providing an industry case study to create a driving test game, which was the problem motivating this research. Furthermore, we conducted two workshops to introduce our methodology to both academic and industry participants. Finally, we prepared an academic experiment to use AOAB in the academic sector. We have analyzed the feedbacks and comments and concluded the strengths and weakness of the AOAB methodology. The research achievements are summarized and proposals for future work outlined

IMPACT OF SODIUM DICHLOROACETATE ALONE AND IN COMBINATION THERAPIES ON LUNG TUMOR GROWTH AND METASTASIS

Lung cancer is the second most common form of cancer with the highest mortality rate worldwide in 2020 despite the advances in targeted- and immuno-therapies. Metabolic reprogramming has been recognized as an essential emerging cancer hallmark in which altered metabolic pathways represent an attractive therapeutic target. Sodium Dichloroacetate (DCA), a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) inhibitor, effect has been investigated in various tumors. Building on the already published data, this pre-clinical study aims to explore the anticancer potential of DCA in lung cancer alone and in combination with chemo- and targeted therapies using two non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines namely, A549 and LNM35. This project was addressed through the investigation of the impact of DCA on lung cancer cell viability, migration, invasion, and colony growth in-vitro and on tumor growth and metastasis using the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and the nude mice models in-vivo. The anti-angiogenic potential of DCA, its safety profile, and the impact of its combination with the proposed chemotherapy and first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKi) were also investigated. This study demonstrated that DCA causes a concentration- and time-dependent decrease in the viability of A549 and LNM35 cells and the growth of their colonies in-vitro. Similarly, DCA slow-down the growth of A549 and LNM35 tumor xenografts in both the chick embryo CAM and nude mice models in-vivo. DCA decreases the angiogenic capacity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in-vitro by decreasing HUVECs tube formation and sprouting, suggesting the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis as a potential mechanism behind its anti-tumor growth effect. On the other hand, DCA did not inhibit the in-vitro migration and invasion and the in-vivo incidence and growth of lymph nodes metastases in nude mice xenografted with the highly metastatic lung cancer cells LNM35. Treatment with DCA did not show any significant side effects on the chick embryos viability or on the nude mice weight and survival. In addition, blood, kidney, and liver function tests showed no toxicity with DCA when compared to the control group. Finally, DCA significantly enhanced the anticancer effect of cisplatin in LNM35, gefitinib and erlotinib in both cell lines. In summary, these findings demonstrate that DCA is a safe and promising therapeutic agent for lung cancer and pave the way for further pre-clinical studies validating the impact of DCA in combination with not only the first generation but also the second and third generation of EGFR-Tki in-vivo

A New Approach to Automatic Saliency Identification in Images Based on Irregularity of Regions

This research introduces an image retrieval system which is, in different ways, inspired by the human vision system. The main problems with existing machine vision systems and image understanding are studied and identified, in order to design a system that relies on human image understanding. The main improvement of the developed system is that it uses the human attention principles in the process of image contents identification. Human attention shall be represented by saliency extraction algorithms, which extract the salient regions or in other words, the regions of interest. This work presents a new approach for the saliency identification which relies on the irregularity of the region. Irregularity is clearly defined and measuring tools developed. These measures are derived from the formality and variation of the region with respect to the surrounding regions. Both local and global saliency have been studied and appropriate algorithms were developed based on the local and global irregularity defined in this work. The need for suitable automatic clustering techniques motivate us to study the available clustering techniques and to development of a technique that is suitable for salient points clustering. Based on the fact that humans usually look at the surrounding region of the gaze point, an agglomerative clustering technique is developed utilising the principles of blobs extraction and intersection. Automatic thresholding was needed in different stages of the system development. Therefore, a Fuzzy thresholding technique was developed. Evaluation methods of saliency region extraction have been studied and analysed; subsequently we have developed evaluation techniques based on the extracted regions (or points) and compared them with the ground truth data. The proposed algorithms were tested against standard datasets and compared with the existing state-of-the-art algorithms. Both quantitative and qualitative benchmarking are presented in this thesis and a detailed discussion for the results has been included. The benchmarking showed promising results in different algorithms. The developed algorithms have been utilised in designing an integrated saliency-based image retrieval system which uses the salient regions to give a description for the scene. The system auto-labels the objects in the image by identifying the salient objects and gives labels based on the knowledge database contents. In addition, the system identifies the unimportant part of the image (background) to give a full description for the scene

Using Bernoulli Equation to Solve Burger's Equation

In this paper we find the exact solution of Burger's equation after reducing it to Bernoulli equation. We compare this solution with that given by Kaya where he used Adomian decomposition method, the solution given by chakrone where he used the Variation iteration method (VIM)and the solution given by Eq(5)in the paper of M. Javidi. We notice that our solution is better than their solutions

Design and construction of Video extractor

Design and construction of video extractor circuit require an understanding of several parameters, which include: Selector circuit, extracting circuit which contains sampling signal and multiplexing. At each radar pulse, the video signal is fed to one of the selector. The fast filter has a pass –band from 190 Hz to 1800 Hz. These frequencies correspond to targets having radial velocities laying between and 10 Kph and 200 Kph.Slow filter: 60 Hz to 230 Hz for radial velocities laying between 3.5 and 13 Kph.The video- extractor is organized in four PCB CG (A-B-C-D) each one having 16 selector. The sampling signal (ADS) (1-2-3-4) control the 4-line-to-16-line decoders. 8 multiplexers of 8 inputs each, are required for the multiplexing of the 64 selectors

Fertility Indices of Rats in Response to Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) Administration

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of oral administration of DHEA on fertility indices in female rats. A total of 18 adult female rats 2.5-3.5 months old and weighting 200-250g were divided into three equal groups: G1-control received saline solution, G2- received 2mg DHEA /kg B.Wt orally and daily for 2 weeks prior to gestation. G3- received the same dose for two weeks prior and during gestation. The was a significant increase in fertility, gestation indeces of rats received DHEA for two weeks prior and during gestation. At the meantime, the gestation length, viability and lactating indeces were decreased in this group as compared with others. In conclusion, administration of DHEA at dose of 2 mg /kg B.Wt for 2 weeks prior to and during gestation seems to be safe as no abortion and fetal abnormalities were recorded. Keywords: DHEA, Fertility indeces, rats

The Protective Role of Dehydroepandrosterone(DHEA) on the Reproductive Function in Adult Male Mice Treated with Nitrofurantoin

The aim to investigate the protective role of daily oral administration of the male reproduction system of mice treated with Nitrofurantoin. Forty eight adult albino mice were divided in to four equal groups as(G1)control , (G2) received 2mg/kg B.w of DHEA,(G3)received Nitrofurantoin at 200mg/kg B.w,(G4)received DHEA and Nitrofurantoin. All parameters were estimated after 30 and 60 day of the experiment. The result revealed the significant decrease testicular index, seminiferous tubules diameters, serum Testosterone and DHEAs level, sperm motility, viability and concentration in Nitrofurantoin treated mice with significant increase in sperm abnormality, serum catalase and peroxynitrite concentration. The opposite result were show in DHEA treated mice. Conclusion, DHEA at 2 mg/kg.B.w has a protective role in male reproduction system of Nitrofurantoin treated mice. This is suggested to be due to its potent antioxidative activity which is able to protect against Nitrofurantoin toxicity. Keywords: Nitrofurantoin, DHEA, male fertility, catalase, peroxynitrite

Effect of Aeromonas Hydrofila on Interleukin 10 Gene Expression of Liver, Spleen and Muscle Tissue in Common Carp Fish

     أجريت الدراسة في مختبر الأسماك العائد لقسم الأنتاج الحيواني في الكلية التقنية المسيب للمدة من 23 شباط الى 16 اذار 2019 , تضمنت التجربة أربع معاملات وهي كل من معاملة السيطرة (t1 ) والملح (t2 ) والبكتريا الحية (t3 ) والبكتريا المقتولة (t4 ) , بواقع عشرين سمكة من نوع الكارب الاعتيادي Caprinus Carpio لكل معاملة. كان الهدف من الدراسة معرفة أثر الأصابة البكتيرية في التعبير الجيني لجين IL-10 ومقارنة هذا التعبير بين ثلاث انسجة وهي الكبد والطحال والنسيج العضلي, فقد سجلت معاملة البكتريا الحيةt3) ) أعلى تعبير جيني مقارنة ببقية المعاملات في الكبد الا ان الفارق كان قليلا مع جين المقارنه بيتا اكتين بمقدار (β-actin) (23.71 ) . أما في الطحال فكان التعبير الجيني لجين IL-10 الاعلى في المعاملة الرابعة t4) ) بمقدار (23.29) ألا انها كانت أقل من جين المقارنة β-actin (25.76) لنفس المعاملة. أما في النسيج العضلي فقد كان التعبير الجيني لجين IL-10 فكان الاعلى في معاملة السيطرة (t1) مقارنة ببقية المعاملات فيما كان التعبير الجيني هو الأقل لجين المقارنة β-actin مقارنة ببقية المعاملات . أما فيما يخص التعبير النسبي لجين IL-10 (نسبه الى جين المقارنة ومعاملة السيطرة) في الكبد سجلت معامله البكتريا الحية (t3) أعلى تعبير نسبي للجين IL-10 (728.6) تلتها معاملة البكتريا المقتولة (t4) وبواقع (22.86) وبفارق كبير عن معاملة الملح (t2) (1.16) أما في الطحال فقد سجلت معاملة البكتريا المقتولة t4)) أعلى تعبير نسبي (2112.8) وبفارق كبير عن المعاملتين الثانية والثالثة (155,3.09 على التوالي) .اما في النسيج العضلي فقد كان التعبير النسبي لجين IL-10 في المعاملات الثانية والثالثة والرابعة أقل مما هي عليه في معاملة السيطرة نسبة الي جين المقارنة بيتا اكتين. نستنتج ان اعلى تعبير للجين IL-10 قد ظهر في الكبد عند حدوث الاصابة البكتيرية ولم يكن كذلك في الطحال والنسيج العضلي .     The study was conducted in the laboratory of fish belonging to the Department of Animal Production at the Technical College of Musayyib for the period from February 23 to March 16/2019 , the experiment included four treatments, namely control treatment (t1) and salt group (t2) and live bacteria group (t3) and killed bacteria group (t4), by 20 A common carp Caprinus Carpio fish per treatment.the aim of the study was to identify the effect of bacterial infection in the gene expression of the gene IL-10 and compare this expression between three tissues, namely liver, spleen and muscle tissue .Regarding the gene expression of the IL-10 gene, the treatment of live bacteria (t3) showed the highest gene expression compared to the rest of the liver, but it But it made little difference with the B-actin gene (23.71). In the spleen, the gene expression of the IL-10 gene was highest in the fourth treatment (t4) (23.29), but it was lower than the comparison gene B-actin (25.76) for the same treatment. In muscular tissue, the gene expression of IL-10 was higher in the control treatment (t1) compared to the rest of the treatments, but Gene expression was the least in the comparison gene β-actin compared to the rest of the treatments. Regarding the relative expression of the IL-10 gene (relative to the comparison gene and control treatment) in the liver, the live bacterial treatment (t3) recorded the highest relative expression of the IL-10 gene (728.6) followed by the treatment of the killed bacteria (t4) (22.86) by a highly difference from Salt (t2) (1.16)  . in the spleen, the treatment of the bacteria killed (t4) was the highest relative expression (2112.8) by a highly difference with the second and third treatments (15.5,3.09 respectively). In muscle tissue,  the relative expression of the IL-10 gene in second, third and fourth treatments were lowest than in the control treatment relative to the β-actin gene. We conclude that the highest expression of the IL-10 gene appeared in the liver when bacterial infection occurred and was not the case in the spleen and muscle tissue

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Aerobic Bacterial Species of Wound Infections in Baquba General Teaching Hospital-Diyala

Background: Wound infections are the most common hospital-acquired infections and are an important cause of death. Objective: This study was carried out to determine the isolation rate of different aerobic bacterial pathogens from wound infections of hospitalized patients, and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in Baquba General Hospital in Diyala province. Materials and methods: This prospective study was conducted for six months from November 2010 to April 2011 in surgical units of Baqubah General Teaching Hospital. Wound swabs were obtained from hospitalized patients who developed wound infections and processed in microbiology laboratory. Pus swab from each patient was collected aseptically, and inoculated on culture media. Isolates were characterized, and identified, and Antibiotic susceptibility patterns were determined using the Kirby-Bauer diffusion method. Results: of total (100) swabs studied, (88%) were culture positive and (12%) were negative. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were 34(38.6%), followed by Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 28(31.8%), 24(27.3%) respectively. Both of Klebsiella pneumonia and Proteus vulgaris were 14(15.9), Streptococcus pneumonia and Streptococcus pyogenes were 12(13.6%), 4(4.5) respectively. The antibiotics susceptibility pattern for Ciprofloxacin and Gentamycin were (78.5%), (69.2%) respectively, followed by Streptomycin (43.1%) , Ampicillin (20%) and Amoxicillin (12.3%). Conclusion: S. aureus and E. coli were the most common isolates from wound infections. Ciprofloxacin and Gentamycin were the most effective antibiotics