In-vitro Cardiovascular Effects Of Gynura Procumbens (lour.) And Orthosiphon Stamineus (benth.)

Gynura procumbens dan Orthosiphon stamineus digunakan di dalam perubatan tradisional untuk mengubati penyakit darah tinggi. Gynura procumbens and Orthosiphon stamineus have been used as traditional medicine to treat hypertension

Power quality programme awareness: Framework for developing countries

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In recent years, Power Quality Programmes (PQPs) have become one of the most recent services offered to electrical distribution companies, both private and state suppliers. This is due to the sudden increase in the number of concerns over power quality (PQ) problems. The aim of this research is to study the implementation of a PQP framework, and the obstacles and barriers faced by Libyan Distribution Networks (LDNs) in implementing a PQP. Firstly, to identify the most critical success factors that would have a major impact on PQP implementation in LDNs. Five Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for PQP were identified to examine the level of power quality in LDNs. They are PQ awareness, PQ disturbances, PQ management commitment, PQ employee’s participation and training and PQ customers’ satisfaction. It revealed that all five CSFs were significantly affected by the level of PQ awareness, and the suspension of PQP implementation. An appropriate PQP framework was developed for the purpose of this study to guide LDNs as a case study in developing countries. The proposed PQP framework model was validated based on the identified CSFs, and the barriers and benefits of PQP, which were analysed using different techniques based on both SPSS and NVivo software. The PQP framework was developed from the findings based on the responses of 397 PQ survey participants, and supported by 44 face-to-face semi-structured interviews conducted with professionals and expert LDNs staff. Out of the 16 PQP barriers, 13 were statistically significant, which indicated that Libya distribution systems have already surmounted various barriers to implementing a PQP effectively. The developed PQP framework consisted of three essential phases. Phase one is designed to increase the level of awareness, while phase two involves preparation for PQP, which contains seven crucial requirements. Phase three, which is the implementation, is designed to determine both the weaknesses and obstacles, and is designed to increase the awareness level. This framework encourages and guides the implementation teams to have an obvious and clear awareness and vision of how to prevent existing obstacles from reappearing in different forms, leading to long-term PQP improvements. There were 11 overall benefits of PQP implementation, which would have a positive impact on LDNs

Ecological and Behavioural Studies on Harpacticoid Copepoda in the Intertidal Zone at Ardmore Point, Clyde Estuary, with Some Observations on the Anatomy of Tachidius discipes

The present work was carried out between 1985 and 1990, mainly on harpacticoid copepods collected from Ardmore Bay, Clyde Estuary, Scotland. The purpose of this work was to determine the annual cycle of population density of sediment dwelling harpacticoids in the intertidal zone in Ardmore Bay, to compare in detail the summer and winter population densities of harpacticoid and nematode populations in the intertidal zone and to relate these to particle size parameters, and to conduct behavioural studies on sedimentary harpacticoid copepods collected from the intertidal zone at Ardmore. Some preliminary taxonomic work is also described on the external anatomy of Calanus finmarchicus. a taxonomic description is given of the intertidal sand- dwelling harpacticoid, Tachidius discipes. and the anatomy of the two species is compared. Scanning electron microscopy showed differences between the two species Calanus finmarchicus and Tachidius discipes. The body of Calanus finmarchicus is smooth, the abdomen is much narrower than the thorax, the first antenna is as long as the body length, and few hairs are present on the external side of the exopodites and endopodites of the legs. The body of Tachidius discipes is broadly elongated, having 9 segments. The abdomen is thinner than the thorax, and long setae are carried by the caudal rami. The thoracic segments have hairs along their posterior margins which may keep the joints between the segments clean and also aid in movement through the sediment. The five pairs of legs have spines and setae which are likely to be important in moving between sediment grains. The setae at the distal end of the legs are also likely to be important in swimming when the adults emerge from sediments. In contrast, Calanus finmarchicus. which is entirely pelagic, is smoother and has no spines but many setae on its legs, which are clearly an adaptation for swimming. The annual survey of harpacticoids at Ardmore Bay showed that at low and mid tide population densities were low in winter and high in summer. At high tide there was a peak in autumn (October) and spring (February). Copepodites were abundant throughout the year at low tide, but at mid tide peaked in winter (December, January). Virtually no copepoditcs were found at high tide. The high tide population may therefore be replenished from the low and mid tide regions. During the survey, adults and copepodites were found to be most abundant in the top 2 cm of sediment. Detailed comparisons of harpacticoids, nematodes and particle size in summer and winter were conducted at five stations on a transect from high tide to low tide at Ardmore Bay and showed that the summer population of harpacticoids and nematodes was much higher than winter population at all five stations. Nematodes were more abundant at deeper depths in the sediment in winter than summer, suggesting a downward migration to avoid cold winter temperatures. In contrast to harpacticoids, nematodes although more abundant near the sediment surface occurred to a depth of at least 14 cm. The high tide stations tended to have finer sediments with larger standard deviations (less well sorted), and lower kurtoses (less peaked). There were fewer differences in particle size parameters vertically into the sediment, and more between summer (July) and winter (January). Harpacticoids were restricted to sediments having a narrower range of mean particle size than were nematodes. Harpacticoids and nematodes were most abundant in sediments having intermediate standard deviations and a high negative skewness. The behaviour experiments showed that harpacticoid copepods migrate out of sediments into the overlying water in the dark. This is considered to be an important dispersal mechanism. Vertical migration out of the sediments is inhibited by light, by high and low temperatures (2

The Critical Success Factors of IS Implementation: Saudi Managers’ Perspective

Recently, the use of information technology has become important and critical, for organizations, as it enhance the quality of products and integrity of organizational services. However, the implementation of such systems is still problematic. Due to globalization and the variation in the monetary, social and technological environments, Information Systems (IS) have turned out to be an imperative feature and high priority for different kind of organizations. In this regard, critical success factors play a vital role in successful implementation of IS. This paper evaluates and analyzes the critical success factors (CSFs) of IS implementation from the Saudi managers’ perspective in different industries in Saudi Arabia. This study will also present the illustration or identification of 19 critical success factors, which are based on a review of literatures and the first phase of a study in Saudi industries. The study will also rank those 19 factors in a logical way and will characterize them into three categories of factors, including organisational, human and technological factors

Studies of Vitamin A in Nutrition and Cancer

This thesis describes the development of specific assays for separation and extraction of vitamin A (retinol) and its metabolites, retinal, retinoic acid, retinol acetate, retinol palmitate and its pro-vitamin carotene. The assay employed a liquid/liquid extraction procedure which gave reproducible recoveries for retinol and its metabolites. This was followed by a high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure using a silica column with hexane:tetrahydrofuran:formic acid as mobile phase. This gave excellent chromatographic efficiency and resolution of metabolites and resulted in a highly sensitive and specific assay for all the compounds analysed. The assay was used for serum, and was modified to be applicable also for liver and nutritional solutions. A major benefit of this assay compared with previous methods is that all retinol metabolites can be separated on a single column without requirement for expensive gradient systems

An Open Reference Framework for Enterprise Information Security Risk Management Using the STOPE Scope and the Six-Sigma Process

With the wide-spreading use of e-transactions in enterprises, information security risk management (ISRM) is becoming essential for establishing a safe environment for their activities. This paper is concerned with introducing a new and comprehensive ISRM framework that enables the effective establishment of the target safe environment. The framework has two structural dimensions; and two procedural dimensions. The structural dimensions include: ISRM scope , and ISRM assessment criteria ; while the procedural dimensions include: ISRM process , and ISRM assessment tools . The framework uses the comprehensive STOPE (Strategy, Technology, Organization, People, and Environment) view for the ISRM scope; while its assessment criteria is considered to be open to various standards. For the procedural dimensions, the framework uses the widely known six-sigma DAMIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) cycle for the ISRM process; and it considers the use of various assessment tools. It is hoped that the framework provides useful tools for future applications

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