Increasing the Operational Stability of Railway Core by Modifying

At the present time in conditions of high intensity use of the railways of great importance paid to longer service life the railroad tracks, elements turnout in particular crosspieces. The main element of the railway track turnouts are carrying out a change of direction of movement of trains. Many translations have exhausted their time and are obsolete. From is technical condition turnout's largely dependent reliability of rail transport. Turnouts are the most complicated structure in the railway. Individual elements of the railway line - the spider who perceives high impact loads. Crossings should have sufficient strength and wear resistance because undergo complex dynamic loads. High dynamic impact and wear areas are also experiencing the antennae, which are located near the cores. The basic technological aspects to improve the characteristics steel by modifying. The technology of producing high-manganese steel modified special modifier to improve the structural strength of receiving the item. As a result of a series of experimental heats received the samples that were subjected to mechanical testing. Structural studies have shown improvements steel microstructure as well as its mechanical properties

Survey of Umbilical Cord care and Separation time in Healthy Newborns in Kano

Background: The interval between delivery and umbilical cord separation varies worldwide. Some maternal, foetal and perinatal factors includingcord care practices are known to affect this interval. Objectives: To establish the mean umbilical cord separation time and the effect of maternal and infant characteristics, perinatal factors and cord care practices on this time among healthy babies in northern Nigeria. Methods : An interviewer questionnaire was administered on mothers of healthy babies at Child Welfare Clinics of a tertiary and secondary level hospital in Kano.In each case, information was obtained about mother's parity, place of antenatal care and delivery, gestational age, birth weight, time of umbilical cord separation after birth and cord treatment practices. Results: Five hundred and seventy seven (96.2 percent) of 600 mothers interviewed, took part in the study, four of these mothers had twin gestation. Responses showed that cord separation time ranged from 2 -14 days (4.20 1.70)Three hundred and forty nine (60.9. percent ) mothers applied methylated spirit, 145 (25.3 percent) used hot compress, while50 (8.7 percent) applied toothpaste on the cord. Twenty (3.5 percent)others applied herbs, while nine (1.6 percent) applied dusting powder to the umbilical stump. Cord s epa r a t ion t ime wa s significantly shorter among babies whose mothers were of high parity, unbooked, and of low educational status. In addition, the use of razor blade, thread, hot compress or application of herbal preparations or toothpas te s igni f icant ly shortened the separation time (P<0.05). Conclusions: Cord separation time and cord care practices varied. Nigerian mothers often use unorthodox interventions to shorten cord separation time; however, therisk of omphalitis that may result from this is real. We recommendthat each centre should adopt and teach mothers a standard hygieniccord care practice while discouraging the use of herbs and untested materials.Keywords: Umbilical cord, Separation time, Cord care, Kan

Biolistic transformation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with β-glucosidase gene from Cellulomonas biazotea

A β-glucosidase genomic DNA from Cellulomonas biazotea NIAB 442 was isolated and coated onto tungsten microprojectiles for direct transformation of the gene into Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Transformation of β-glucosidase into S. cerevisae conferred the ability to hydrolyse esculin and cellobiose, indicated that the gene is expressed in the bombarded yeast. Key Words: Biolistic transformation, β-glucosidase, Cellulomonas biazotea, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(1) 2004: 112-11

Real-Time Face Recognition System Using KPCA, LBP and Support Vector Machine

With increasing security threats, Biometric systems have importance in different fields. This appears clearly exactly after the rapid development that happened in power of computing. In this paper, the Design and implementation of a real-time face recognition system are presented. In such a system, Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) and Local binary pattern (LBP) are used as feature extraction methods with the aid of support vector machine (SVM) to work as a classifier. A comparison between traditional feature extraction methods as (PCA and LDA) and a proposal methods are performed as well as a comparison between support vector neural network and artificial neural network classifier are also implemented. Two types of experiments, On-line, and Off-line experiments are done. In the On-line experiment, a new database is created and used. While in the off-line experiment, two types of databases (ORL and YALE) are used to estimate the performance and efficiency of the system. The combinations of these methods together enhances the experimental results in compare with other methods

Islamic Law and Sustainable Development Goals

This study aims to analyze Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) prescribed by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under Islamic Law. This paper is qualitative method of research analyzing SDGs under verses of Holy Qur'an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This study found that what SDGs ask member states to do has been prescribed in Holy Qur'an and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ way back 1400 years ago and demanded by Almighty Allah and the last Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for eradication of poverty, hunger, malnutrition etc. Islamic law prohibits usury, gambling, uncertainty and other illegal activities to protect poor people of the society against rich landlords. Therefore, member states are required to follow SDGs to achieve peace, harmony and economic growth for betterment of humanity which is also a duty under verses of Holy Qur'an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to achieve success in this world and in the hereafter

Breast Cancer Diagnostic System Based on MR images Using KPCA-Wavelet Transform and Support Vector Machine

Automated detection and accurate classification of breast tumors using magnetic resonance image (MRI) are very important for medical analysis and diagnostic fields. Over the last ten years, numbers of methods have been proposed, but only few methods succeed in this field. This paper presents the design and the implementation of CAD system that has the ability to detect and classify the tumor of the breast in the MR images. To achieve this, k-mean clustering methods and morphological operators are applied to segment the tumor. The gray scale, Texture and symmetrical features as well as discrete wavelet transform (DWT) are used in feature extracted stage to obtain the features from MR images. Kernel principle components analysis (K-PCA) are also applied as a feature reduction technique and support vectors machine (SVM) are used as a classifier. Finally, the experiments results have confirmed the robustness and accuracy of proposed syste

Antioxidant and Antipyretic Activities of Adansonia Digitata (African Baobab) Fruit, Leaf And Bark Extracts

The   study   was   conducted   to   evaluate the   antioxidant   and antipyretic activity of Adansonia digitata (African Baobab) fruit, leaf and bark extracts.  Antioxidant activity of plant part extracts were determined by free radical   Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay   while   the   antipyretic activity was assessed using experimental animals. Antioxidant activity of leaf extract showed a value of 13.40±0.77, bark extract 29.23±1.69 while fruit extract gave a value of 39.21±2.26. For the Antipyretic activity results, the average temperature of Albino Wister rats was   21.65±0.96 oC   before   fever   inducement   and 30.64±1.37 oC   after inducement. Following the administration of the leaf extract (400 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg), bark   extract (400 mg/kg   and   800 mg/kg) and   fruit   extract (400 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg), the body temperature of the albino rats fell to25.96±1.16 oC vs.   25.28±1.13 oC, 26.06±1.17 oC vs. 25.02±1.12 oC, and 25.78±1.15 oC vs. 24.30±1.09 oC respectively. The   results   showed   that   the   fruit   extract   has   a   higher antioxidant and antipyretic activity than bark and leaf extracts

The response of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L) genotypes to callus induction, regeneration and different concentrations of the selective agent (geneticin -418)

Two commercial cultivars (CPF-245 and CPF-237) and three advanced lines (CSSG-668, S-2003US633, S-2003US114) of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarium) grown in Punjab, Pakistan were evaluated for their potential to induce callus, embryogenic callus and regeneration. Cultivar CSSG-668 was found to be the best genotype yielding maximum embryogenic callus and regeneration whereas cultivar CPF- 245 exhibited lowest callus induction frequency. Five different concentrations (0, 20, 40, 60, and 80mg/L) of the selective agent (geneticin-418) were used to optimize selection conditions with nontransformed embryogenic calli. The geneticin concentration 60 mg/L was found to be the optimal dose to select the embryogenic calli of genotypes CSSG-668, CPF-245 and S-2003US63, while 35 mg/L geneticin was found to be the best concentration for S-2003US-114. Similarly, 60 mg/L geneticin was optimum dose to select regenerated plantlets of the cultivars CSSG-668 and CPF-245 while it was 40, 25 mg/L for the cultivars S-2003US-114 and S-2003US-633, respectively. It is concluded from the present study that geneticin concentration in the range of 25 to 60 mg/L can be effectively used for the selection of transformed embryogenic calli and regenerants of different sugarcane cultivars.Keywords: Callus induction, embryogenic callus, regeneration, Saccharum officinarum L., selection, geneticin

Prevalence of malaria parasites among blood donors in Kaduna, Nigeria

Background: Transmission of malaria parasites through blood transfusion is a well-known serious risk. Screening of blood donors for malaria as recommended by WHO is currently not included in the protocols of many Nigerian blood banks. Presence of asymptomatic Plasmodium species carriers (APCs) in some northern parts of the state has already been demonstrated using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and microscopic examination of Giemsa stained blood films. This research was undertaken to determine the prevalence of malaria parasites among blood donors in Kaduna state, Nigeria.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among the blood donors in the three selected Hospitals of Kaduna state. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data regarding demographic profile. Written informed consent was obtained and questionnaire was completed by respondents selected through simple random sampling. 360 blood donors were tested for malaria parasites through microscopic examination of Giemsa stained thick and thin blood films. The data were analysed using Statistical analysis system (SAS) and statistical software for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.Results: A total of 27 (7.5%) of the blood donors had malaria parasites in their blood. Plasmodium falciparum was the only malaria parasite species encountered. There were no mixed infections and no other blood parasites were observed. The prevalence of malaria parasites in the blood donors was significantly associated with occupation (c2=24.0845, df=6, p= 0.0005) and blood group (c2=10.589, df=4, p= O.032). The infected subjects had parasites densities of between 88-250 parasites/µl with a mean parasite density of 126 parasites/µl of blood.Conclusions: The prevalence of malaria parasites among blood donors was 7.5% Blood donors should be routinely screened for malaria parasites and the blood marked negative or positive as the case may be. Recipients of malaria parasites positive blood should be given prophylactic treatment to prevent transfusion related malaria (TRM).

Root cause analysis (RCA) of fractured ASTM A53 carbon steel pipe at oil & gas company

Incident involving failures of ASTM A53 carbon steel (CS) pipe, connected to pressure safety valve (PSV) and carrying raw gas has caused serious supply disruption. This study was performed to identify the most probable cause of the pipe failure. It was conducted by reviewing the existing design, construction data and pipe material analysis using non-destructive techniques such as VT, PT, MT and UT along with metallographic, hardness and microscopic analysis. The investigation revealed that excessive material loss has occurred in both failure and its adjacent regions due to abrasive grinding, resulting in the formation of a through thickness flaw. These grindings were performed to accommodate the pre-installed piping spool to avoid alteration in the pipe position. RCA demonstrated that this rapid thinning of the steel pipe body later led to its failure. Metallurgical study using photomicrograph shows that the morphology of the steel material was consistent and did not show any evidence of internal corrosion or micro fractures. Further damage to the surface of already excessively reduced thickness occurred due to nominal pipe vibration and atmospheric effect during service. The research work described in the paper has a significant meaning to recognize the root cause of such failures in CS pipes and through given recommendations to eliminate future such happenings