Full fpfp-shell study of even-even 48−56^{48-56}Ti isotopes

The level schemes and transition rates {\em B}({\em E}2;$\uparrow$) of eve-even $^{48-56}$Ti isotopes were studied by performing large-scale shell model calculations with FPD6 and GXPF1 effective interactions. Excellent agreement were obtained by comparing the first 2$^{+}$ level for all isotopes with the recently available experimental data, but studying the transition strengths {\em B}({\em E}2; 0$^+_{g.s.} \to2^+_1$) for all Ti isotopes using constant proton-neutron effective charges prove the limitations of the present large-scale calculations to reproduce the experiment in detail.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A critique of using machine intelligence for e-decision-making

This paper is a critique of Artificial Intelligent agents used in the hearts of e-planning and e decision making systems in general.It refers to a case study of a web site that teaches JAVA programming language and is designed as a multi-level curriculum, each level with specific curricular objectives designed for users with certain background knowledge.The Instructor, to be replaced with the Intelligent Expert System, decides on the student’s level based on his/her answer to a detailed questionnaire.The paper critically compares the Instructor’s performance to three systematic approaches - procedural programs, logic expert systems, and neural networks

Serotonergic Modulation of Inhibitory Input to Lateral Horn Affects Odor-Mediated Attraction in D. melanogaster

To survive, animals must eat, mate, and avoid danger by sensing external stimuli, processing sensory information into perception, and eliciting the appropriate behavioral responses in accordance with their physiological states. Unlike learned responses, innate responses are genetically inherited and do not require the animal to have a previous encounter with the stimulus to elicit an action. However, innate responses can be flexible based on the physiological state of the animal. This flexibility is achieved through constant alterations in network dynamics which ensures that the animal\u27s responses are most effective. This alteration occurs to some extent by modulatory neurons/nuclei at multiple processing stages of a neural network and mediated via several modulatory receptor subtypes in the network. In this study, I take advantage of the well-characterized olfactory system of Drosophila to explore connectivity between a single pair of modulatory serotonergic neurons, the CSD neurons, and a population of ventral projection neurons, vPNs. Both types of neurons span two different olfactory processing stages and vPNs are vital for eliciting attraction to odors that have innately important values. I further, investigate the degree to which innate responses can be modulated by dissecting the role of one serotonergic receptor, 5-HT1A, expressed by vPNs in innate attraction and the behavioral consequences of reducing its expression in vPNs. I found that CSD neurons synapse upon the dendrites and the axons of vPNs in the antennal lobe and lateral horn, respectively, to potentially modulate the activities of vPNs in both regions simultaneously. I also found that reducing the expression of the 5-HT1A receptor in vPNs selectively increases flies\u27 attraction to the innately attractive odor apple cider vinegar, but neither to other food odors with different biological values, nor to aversive odors such as benzaldehyde. This study contributes to our understanding of the simultaneous modulation of interconnected networks by a single pair of modulatory neurons as well as the consequences of neuron class-specific expression of a single modulatory receptor. The outcome knowledge is critical for better understanding of neural coding processes in sensory systems and the extent to which innate behaviors are modulated

Control of Botrytis cinerea on post-harvested blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) fruit

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) are cultivated worldwide due to their important commercial value and the health benefits of the fruit. Botrytis cinerea is a highly destructive horticulture pathogen with a host range of 1400 plant species, including blueberry. Worldwide its management costs billions of dollars annually. Biosecurity controls require that international shipments of products be pest-free, which is increasingly difficult due to the ban of key pesticides. Instead, biological control strategies can be used to manage postharvest fruit pathogens. Surveys on postharvest blueberry in Western Australia were conducted to assess the fungal species associated with fruit decay and their pathogenicity. The fungi isolated were Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium brevicompactum, Epicoccum nigrum, Aureobasidium pullulans, Diaporthe australafricana, a Verticillium sp., and a Ceriporia sp. Botrytis cinerea, A. alternata, C. cladosporioides A. pullulans, and D. australafricana were pathogens. The other four were not. Two methods were used to evaluate the eight fungi as putative antagonists against B. cinerea. Firstly, each antagonist was screened for direct antagonism against B. cinerea on half-strength potato dextrose agar (PDA). Secondly, the involvement of secondary metabolites was evaluated by growing each antagonist on a dialysis membrane placed on the surface of half PDA for four days before removing the membrane and placing B. cinerea in the centre of the PDA plates and monitoring its growth. E. nigrum was found to be the most effective antagonist, followed by Verticillium sp., the Ceriporia sp. and A. pullulans using both methods. The eight putative antagonists were then screened for their ability to produce non-volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) in the presence and absence of B. cinerea using direct immersion solid-phase microextraction (DI-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The metabolic analysis by GC-MS confirmed that there were unique compounds identified from all eight fungi, such as E. nigrum producing more of these than the others. Future studies are required to determine if any of these compounds can be used to control B. cinerea as a postharvest pathogen of blueberry. This study has improved our understanding of postharvest blueberry pathogens in Australia. The results will help refine current B. cinerea postharvest management and develop more efficient and environmentally friendly control strategies

Complement Activation by Immune Complexes

The binding of bacterial, viral or parasitic antigens with specific antibody and the formation of immune complexes (IC) in the circulation is a natural event in infectious diseases. In autoimmune immune complex diseases, such as RA and SLE, the development of circulating IC depends on the binding of autoantibodies to autoantigens. In either case complement is activated with the generation of activation products. As the extent of complement activation is likely to be proportional with the disease severity, the measurement of complement activation products in biological fluids could be used as a measure of disease activity. In order to be able to measure complement activation in biological fluids, three avidin-biotin sandwich ELISA procedures were developed for the quantification of the Cls:Clr:Cl-inhibitor (Cls:Cl-INH), C3bBbP (C3:P) and SC5b-9 (C5b-9) complexes. The three assays were optimized and had sensitivity limits of 0.75ng Cl-INH/ml for Cls:Cl-INH, 0.92ng C3/ml for C3:P and 0.9ng C5/ml for C5b-9. All three complement activation complexes were found to be stable during 4 hours incubation periods at 2

The Analysis of Doosan S500-LCV Excavator Maintenance Planning to Reduce Downtime Using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Method

PT X is a company engaged in construction field and heavy machinery services. PT X uses excavators as a tool to mine rock sand. In 2018, the company has planned to increase production capacity. The increase of production capacity will be directly related to the operational capability of the unit which must always be maintained. The problem in this study is the occurrence of unit downtime that cannot be predicted and occurs in a relatively long time. The components damage of the excavator causes the unit to be unable to operate to increase production. The maintenance of the Doosan S500-LCV excavator at PT X is currently not optimal because the downtime that occurs in the unit is still relatively high. Standard maintenance procedure of excavator units need to be evaluated in order to minimize the occurrence of downtime so that the unit can be used for maximum production. The method used in this analysis is the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) method with evaluating maintenance carried out and giving the right maintenance suggestion. From the results of the analysis and discussion, the critical components of the S500-LCV excavator in PT X are Bucket, Control Valve, Radiator, Alternator and Hydraulic Breaker. Proposed maintenance based on the RCM method and the consideration of S500-LCV maintenance costs at PT X are bucket with preventive maintenance, control valve with a combination of preventive and corrective maintenance, radiator with preventive maintenance, alternator with a combination of preventive and corrective maintenance and hydraulic breakers with preventive maintenanc

Study of Anatomical Description and Histological Structure of the kidney in Iraqi Birds.

المقدمة: هدفت الدراسة الحالية الى التعرف على الوصف المظهري والتركيب النسجي للكلى في الطيور. من الناحية المظهرية تتألف الكلى من ثلاث فصوص ممثلة بالفص القحفي والوسطي والذيلي مع الأخذ بنظر الأعتبار الأختلاف في شكل وحجم الفصوص.   نسجياً تكون الكلية محاطة بمحفظة رقيقة من النسيج الضام. إن الوحدة الأساسية للكلية هي الفصيصات كل فصيص مكون من نسيج قشرة ونسيج لب.   تتالف كل كلية من منطقتين هي القشرة واللب وتحتل القشرة مساحة أكبر من اللب تحتوي القشرة على كبيبات ونبيبات ملتوية دانية ونبيبات ملتوية قاصية، بينما يحتوي اللب على القطعة النحيفة والسميكة من عروة هنلي والنبيبات الجامعة والأقنية الجامعة. الاستنتاجات : تكون الكلى في الطيور العراقية مختلفة من الناحية المظهرية والنسجية. Background:  The current study aims to identify the morphological description and histological structure of kidney in bird. Morphologically the kidney consist of three lobes represented by the cranial, medial and caudal taking into account the difference in the shape and size of the lobes.   According to histology, the kidney is surrounded in a delicate connective tissue capsule. The kidney's primary structural component is the lobule, which is made up of cortical and medullary tissue in each lobule. There are two parts to the kidney medulla and cortex. The cortex is larger than the medulla and has glomeruli, proximal convoluted tubules, and distal convoluted tubules, whereas the medulla has thin and thick segments of Henle's loop, collecting tubules, and collecting ducts. Conclusion:  The kidneys in Iraqi birds are morphologically and histologically different

مقصد مراعاة السنن الإلهية

إن السؤال المركزي في هذا البحث العلمي يتمحور حول تقويم مناهج التفكير البشري في السنن الإلهية. فلا بد أن يتسق تفكيرنا مع سنة التوحيد، سنة التنوع، سنة التكامل والتعاضد، سنة الحركة حول محور في دورات، سنة التوازن، سنة الإسلام لله، طبعا وألا يتناقض "المنطق" و"العقل" مع أي من هذه القوانين العليا ومقصد مراعاة هذه السنن والاتساق معها

Histopathological Changes of Some Internal Organs of Mice Injected with Exotoxin a at Low Concentrations

Exotoxin A is the most lethal virulence factor produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It inhibits elongation factor-2 by ADP-ribosylation of EF2. This causes stop of the elongation of polypeptides. In recent study, the effect of low concentration of exotoxin A on some important internal organs of mice was studied. Four groups white mice were injected intraperitonialy with pure exotoxin A in the following manner 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 ng\ animals.  One mouse receives normal saline inrtaperitonialy as a control. After 72 hours the mice were killed and four organs were taken, liver, spleen, lung and heart from each killed mice. Histological sections were made from each organ and stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain then examined under microscope. The resultant pathological changes were included, congestion of blood vessels, degenerative and necrotic changes, and infiltration of inflammatory cells of these organs. These pathological changes increased with increase the amount of exotoxin A injection as compared with control. No mouse was dying due to injection of exotoxin A. As a conclusion, exotoxin A at low concentrations can affect important internal organs namely, liver, spleen, lung and heart, this effect increase with increasing the concentration of exotoxin A. Lethal dose50 is much higher than that of the highest concentration that causes pathological changes. Keywords:Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Exotoxin A ,Pathological change

Physical and Chemical Characterization of Drag Reducing Polymer Based on Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in Human Blood Flow

A new attempt to use Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a bio-drag reducing polymer agent for human blood flow has been studied. PVP was added at 0, 500, 750 and 1000 part per million (ppm) and mixed with human blood at room temperature for 2 minutes. Then, a cone on plate rheometer was used to investigate the effectiveness of PVP agent on blood rheological properties. The results showed significant effecting of PVP on blood fluidity characteristics, where the viscosity decreased as the PVP content increased or as a shear rate increased. For a certain shear rate, the shear stress decreased as PVP content increased. These changes will lead to increased mixing efficiency within the capillaries, increased oxygen transportation, increased tissue perfusion, modified red blood cells (RBCs) distribution, reduced pressure drop gradients, enhanced turbulent flow tendency, enhanced viscoelasticity nature of the blood and its strengthened non-Newtonian pattern. Also, the results showed that the viscosity-shear stress relationships become more linear at higher PVP concentrations. PVP addition caused no shifting in UV-absorbing positions and only moderate intensity changing. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) parameters provide other indicators about the role of PVP as a drag reduction agent for blood flow, where all of the amplitude, hybrid and special parameters decreased significantly