An investigation into the current utilisation and prospective of renewable energy resources and technologies in Libya

With the increase in energy demand and the international drive to reduce carbon emission from fossil fuel, there has been a drive in many oil-rich countries to diversify their energy portfolio and resources. Libya is currently interested in utilising its renewable energy resources in order to reduce the financial and energy dependency on oil reserves. This paper investigates the current utilisation and the future of renewable energy in Libya. Interviews have been conducted with managers, consultants and decision makers from different government organisations including energy policy makers, energy generation companies and major energy consumers. The results indicate that Libya is rich in renewable energy resources but in urgent need of a more comprehensive energy strategy and detailed implementation including reasonable financial and educational investment in the renewable energy sector

Detection of breast cancer microcalcifications in digitized mammograms. Developing segmentation and classification techniques for the processing of MIAS database mammograms based on the Wavelet Decomposition Transform and Support Vector Machines.

Mammography is used to aid early detection and diagnosis systems. It takes an x-ray image of the breast and can provide a second opinion for radiologists. The earlier detection is made, the better treatment works. Digital mammograms are dealt with by Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems that can detect and analyze abnormalities in a mammogram. The purpose of this study is to investigate how to categories cropped regions of interest (ROI) from digital mammogram images into two classes; normal and abnormal regions (which contain microcalcifications). The work proposed in this thesis is divided into three stages to provide a concept system for classification between normal and abnormal cases. The first stage is the Segmentation Process, which applies thresholding filters to separate the abnormal objects (foreground) from the breast tissue (background). Moreover, this study has been carried out on mammogram images and mainly on cropped ROI images from different sizes that represent individual microcalcification and ROI that represent a cluster of microcalcifications. The second stage in this thesis is feature extraction. This stage makes use of the segmented ROI images to extract characteristic features that would help in identifying regions of interest. The wavelet transform has been utilized for this process as it provides a variety of features that could be examined in future studies. The third and final stage is classification, where machine learning is applied to be able to distinguish between normal ROI images and ROI images that may contain microcalcifications. The result indicated was that by combining wavelet transform and SVM we can distinguish between regions with normal breast tissue and regions that include microcalcifications

Assessment of PULP score in predicting 30-day perforated duodenal ulcer morbidity, and comparison of its performance with Boey and ASA, a retrospective study

Background: /aim: Scores commonly employed to risk stratify perforated peptic ulcer patients include ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists), Boey and peptic ulcer perforation score (PULP). However, few studies assessed and compared the accuracy indices of these three scores in predicting post PPU repair 30-day morbidity. We assessed accuracy indices of PULP, and compared them to Boey and ASA in predicting post perforated duodenal (PDU) ulcer repair 30-day morbidity. Methods: Retrospective chart review of all PDU patients (perforated duodenal ulcers only) at the largest two hospitals in Qatar (N = 152). Data included demographic, clinical, laboratory, operative, and post repair 30-day morbidity. Area under the Curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were computed for each of the 3 scores. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the accuracy indices of each score. Results: All patients were males (M age 37.41 years). Post PDU repair 30-day morbidity was 10.5% (16 morbidities). Older age, higher ASA (?3), Boey (?1) or PULP (?8) scores, shock on admission and preoperative comorbidities; and conversely, lower hemoglobin and albumin were all positively significantly associated with higher post PDU 30-day morbidity. PULP displayed the largest AUC (72%), and was the only score to significantly predict 30-day morbidity. The current study is the first to report the sensitivity and specificity of these three scores for post PDU repair 30-day morbidity; and first to assess accuracy indices for PULP in predicting post PDU repair 30-day morbidity. Conclusion: PULP score had the largest AUC and was the only score to significantly predict post PDU repair 30-day morbidity.Scopu

Valproic acid influences the expression of genes implicated with hyperglycaemia-induced complement and coagulation pathways

Because the liver plays a major role in metabolic homeostasis and secretion of clotting factors and inflammatory innate immune proteins, there is interest in understanding the mechanisms of hepatic cell activation under hyperglycaemia and whether this can be attenuated pharmacologically. We have previously shown that hyperglycaemia stimulates major changes in chromatin organization and metabolism in hepatocytes, and that the histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) is able to reverse some of these metabolic changes. In this study, we have used RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to investigate how VPA influences gene expression in hepatocytes. Interesting, we observed that VPA attenuates hyperglycaemia-induced activation of complement and coagulation cascade genes. We also observe that many of the gene activation events coincide with changes to histone acetylation at the promoter of these genes indicating that epigenetic regulation is involved in VPA action11CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP304668/2014-12010/50015-6; 2012/03238-5; 2014/10198-5; 2015/10356-2NHMRC; International Joint Program. Professor Sam El-Osta is a National Health and Medical Research Council; Senior Research Fello

Performance of dense graded asphalt incorporating cellulose fiber

In past years, cellulose fiber has been increasingly used on pavement asphalt and has become one of the causes that increases pavement strength and reduces environmental challenges, as it provides a key, sustainable alternative to other technical materials. Cellulose fiber is utilized to increase asphalt binding qualities and on-the-ground paving performance. One of the main challenges affecting dense grade asphalted surface and quality performance is the high cargo weights, which increase road usage, owing to different difficulties such as fatigue cracking and other deformations due to overload on roads. The primary objective and goal of this study is to explore the efficacy of adding cellulose fiber to asphalt utilizing a dry approach. In this study, five different percentages of cellulose fiber content were employed, which are as follows: (0%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.5% from the total weight of aggregate). In addition to this investigation, an asphalt grade of 60/70 penetration is chosen. In order to discover the optimal modifier, the predicted performance of the modified binder is compared to that of the unmodified binder. The study is carried out utilizing Marshall stability, resilient modular tests, dynamic creep, and abrasion tests to compare the findings obtained from changed and unmodified asphalt samples. The results achieved in this research have proclaimed cellulose fiber to be an effective material to be employed as an addition to the asphalt binder because it enhances performance by enhancing paving strength and rigidity for future development

Gold sensitized sprayed SnO2 nanostructured film for enhanced LPG sensing

We report LPG sensing of gold (Au)-sensitized SnO2 nanostructured film fabricated by an easy spray pyrolysis deposition method whose surface morphology is confirmed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy images and structure by X-ray diffraction pattern. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer analysis has carried out for finding elemental composition. The SnO2 film is uniform and consists of spherical particles of ∼10nm. The highest gas response observed at 780ppm LPG concentration for pristine SnO2 is 28%, at operating temperature 623K, which is greatly improved on Au sensitization up to 57% with 60s rapid response time at 598K operating temperature. The high gas response is due to electronic effect and catalytic spill-over effect of Au sensitization. The improved sensing mechanism has throughly been explored