Acoustical Environment of the Al-Rabat Concert Hall in Baghdad

The acoustic parameters (RT30, EDT, C80, G) and noise rating curves for evaluating background noise levels are measured in the Al-Rabat Concert Hall in Baghdad. The aim of the measurements is to investigate the acoustical environment of the hall and compare the results with ISO 3382. The measurement results indicate that all the parameters that were measured in this concert hall are greater than the typical values in ISO 3382. This research resulted in a recommendation to develop the acoustical environment for the audience and the musicians in the Al-Rabat Concert Hall. Keywords: acoustical environment, concert hall, reverberation time, early decay time, clarity of sound, strength of sound

MESI protocol for multicore processors based on FPGA

In modern techniques of building processors, manufactures using more than one processor in the integrated circuit (chip) and each processor called a core. The new chips of processors called a multi-core processor. This new design makes the processors to work simultaneously for more than one task or all the cores working in parallel for the same task. All cores are similar in their design, and each core has its own cache memory, while all cores shares the same main memory. So, if one core requests a block of data from main memory to its cache, there should be a protocol to declare the situation of this block in the main memory and other cores. This is called the cache coherency or cache consistency of multi-core. In this paper a special circuit is designed using VHDL coding and implemented using ISE Xilinx software, one protocol was used in this design, the MESI (Modify, Exclusive, Shared and Invalid) protocol. Test results were taken by using test bench, and showed all the states of the protocols are working correctly

Spectrophotometric Assay of some Nitrogen Containing Drugs in Pharmaceutical Formulations using p-Chloranilic Acid Reagent

A spectrophotometric method is developed for the determination of some drugs containing amino groups (sulfacetamide sodium, lidocaine and terbutaline sulfate) based on their reaction with p-chloranilic acid reagent in an organic medium forming colored charge transfer complexes. The complexes have maximum absorptions at 530 and 527 nm for sulfacetamide sodium and lidocaine respectively, but terbutaline sulfate gave two maximum absorptions at 529 and 319 nm. Beers law is obeyed over the concentration range of 10-60 µg.ml-1 for sulfacetamide sodium and lidocaine and 5-70 µg.ml-1 for terbutaline sulfate. The molar absorptivity values are 0.94—103, 0.913—103 L.mol-1.cm-1 for sulfacetamide sodium and lidocaine respectively while terbutaline sulfate gave 0.987—103 L.mol-1.cm-1 at 529 nm and 7.407—103 L.mol-1.cm-1 at 319 nm with accuracy range between 100.20% and 101.42% and RSD better than 3.15% for all drugs. The method is applied successfully for determination of these drugs in pharmaceutical formulations and compared favorably with British Pharmacopeia standard methods. F and t tests are less than the tabulated values at 95% confidence level

Separation and Determination of Some Organic Acids in Dry Calyces of Iraqi Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn

A new reversed phase- high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method with Ultraviolet-Visible spectrophotometry has been optimized and validated for the simultaneous extraction and determination of organic acids present in Iraqi calyces of Hibiscus Sabdraffia Linn. The method is based on using ultrasonic bath for extracting organic acids. Limit of detection in µg/ml of Formic acid, Acetic acid, Oxalic acid, Citric acid, Succinic acid, Tartaric acid, and Malic acid 126.8498×10-6, 113.6005×10-6, 97.0513×10-6, 49.7925×10-6, 84.0753×10-6, 92.6551×10-6, and 106.1633×10-6 ,respectively. The concentration of organic acids found in dry spacemen of calyces of Iraqi Hibiscus Sabdraffia Linn. under study: Formic acid, Acetic acid, Oxalic acid, Citric acid, Succinic acid, Tartaric acid, and Malic acid are 114.896 µg/g, 64.722 µg/g, 342.508 µg/g, 126.902 µg/g, 449.91 µg/g, 268.52 µg/g, and 254.07 µg/g respectively

Identification of a Novel Salt-Tolerant Streptomyces Isolate with Bio-Fertilizing Property

A 65 local Streptomyces isolates were tested for their salt tolerance ability. Four of them were found to grow on 6% salt concentration medium. These were selected as candidates for bio-fertilizing use. Only one of them named Streptomyces NS-38 was found to pose such trait by enhancing accelerated seed germination of different types of plants on salt and normal media. Result showed that incubation of seeds with this bacterium extract for 15 hours before implantation increased the number of germinating seeds and yield significantly

DETERMINATION, ISOLATION, AND IDENTIFICATION OF AUCUBIN AND VERBASCOSIDE IN THE LEAVES OF IRAQI PLANTAGO LANCOLETA L. USING DIFFERENT DETECTING METHODS

Objective: Plantago lanceoleta L. (ribwort plantain) is one of the important medicinal herbs which is widespread fortune available in Iraq, that have a wide range of medicinal properties. The aim of this work was to determine, isolate and identify verbascoside and aucubin in Iraqi P. lanceoleta L. by using different chromatographic and spectrometric methods. Methods: Verbascoside and aucubin were isolated and quantified by preparative TLC, and then they were determined by the high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprinting. Aucubin and catalpol in the plant extract were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS); aucubin and verbascoside that isolated from the plant sample were examined by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and LC-MS, respectively. Results: The result showed that the Iraqi P. lanceoleta L. contains 1.74 percent (verbascoside) and 0.24 percent (aucubin) of dry powdered leaves. Each TLC-isolated compound showed a single spot on the HPTLC plate, which give an idea about the purity of the isolated compound. Aucubin (with catalpol) and verbascoside both are detected by LC-MS in different ionization mode. Many functional groups were identified in the TLC-isolated aucubin by FT-IR. Conclusion: The Iraqi P. lanceoleta L. showed a high content of verbasoside, and it is a very rich source for this compound, which can be easily isolated by TLC and subjected to many pharmacological studies. The extract of the young leaves of this plant gave a little amount of aucubin, and it is easy to obtain a higher content from the older leaves

Knowledge management initiative in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

UPM realizes that its organizational knowledge which resides in individual brain or stored in organizational processes, products, facilities, systems and documentation is quickly becoming a sustainable competitive advantage.This growing attention has lead to the idea that these resources must be protected, cultivated and shared among its members.Knowledge Management Centre (KMC) in UPM was established in 2002. Based on the vision and mission of UPM and KMC, five critical management areas have been identified: Infrastructure, Knowledge Repository, Marketing and Customer Service, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and Knowledge Management Research and Development. This paper discusses the knowledge framework adapted by KMC.These key elements represent the building blocks in implementing the Knowledge Management System (KMS) in sustaining and extending knowledge sharing culture in UPM. An overview of technologies used in (KMS) components, will be discussed in their actual and potential contribution in the process of KMS in UPM

Concept map as an alternative assessment in laboratory activities

The rapid development of the world's technological advances, economy competition, scientific innovation generally have claim to the transformation of the educational system as a whole (Koh, Tan, Ng, 2012). The transformation done in science, math, technology and engineering in the 21st century is emphasized to the formation of students who can demonstrate higher thinking skills with confidence, such as critical thinking and creative, innovative thinking and problem solving (Evren, Bati & Yilmaz, 2012). This is of concern not only to provide a workforce that is ready to compete at the global level, but more importantly for the development of self as individuals more successful (Ministry of education, 2012)

Aktiviti penilaian dalam makmal menggunakan peta konsep dalam menjana kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi: suatu kerangka teori

Perubahan dunia yang pesat telah menuntut kepada transformasi pendidikan, bukan sahaja dari aspek kurikulum dan pedagogi, malah komponen pentaksiran dan penilaian juga perlu dititikberatkan. Matlamat pendidikan abad ke21 adalah untuk menghasilkan pelajar yang mempunyai kefahaman mendalam terhadap sesuatu ilmu pengetahuan serta mempunyai kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi yang diharap dapat melahirkan tenaga kerja yang cemerlang. Aktiviti makmal penting dalam mempelajari ilmu Kimia yang terdiri daripada pelbagai konsep abstrak. Melalui aktiviti ini, pelajar seharusnya lebih memahami dan menguasai sesuatu topik pembelajaran seterusnya membantu kepada rangsangan kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi. Bagi mengukur hasil pembelajaran aktiviti tersebut, aktiviti penilaian merupakan aspek penting yang perlu ditekankan. Peta konsep merupakan salah satu alat penilaian pembelajaran yang dikatakan dapat membantu pelajar menvisualkan konsepkonsep yang telah difahami serta menjadi platform kepada rangsangan KBAT. Maka, suatu kerangka teori diperlukan untuk mendasari kajian ini. Pada asasnya, teori konstruktivisme merupakan tunjang kepada aktiviti penilaian dalam makmal yang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan kefahaman konseptual yang mendalam dan diperlukan dalam menjana kepada peningkatan kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi pelajar

Breast Cancer MRI Classification Based on Fractional Entropy Image Enhancement and Deep Feature Extraction

سرطان الثدي يعتبر واحد من الامراض القاتلة الشائعة بين النساء في جميع أنحاء العالم. والتشخيص المبكر لسرطان الثدي الكشف المبكر من أهم استراتيجيات الوقاية الثانوية. نظرًا لاستخدام التصوير الطبي على نطاق واسع في تشخيص العديد من الأمراض المزمنة ومراقبتها، فقد تم اقتراح العديد من خوارزميات معالجة الصور على مر السنين لزيادة مجال التصوير الطبي بحيث تصبح عملية التشخيص أكثر دقة وكفاءة. تقدم هذه الدراسة خوارزمية جديدة لاستخراج الخواص العميقة من نوعين من صور الرنين المغناطيسي T2W-TSE و STIR MRI كمدخلات للشبكات العصبية العميقة المقترحة والتي تُستخدم لاستخراج الخواص للتمييز بين فحوصات التصوير بالرنين المغناطيسي للثدي المرضية والصحية. في هذه الخوارزمية، تتم معالجة فحوصات التصوير بالرنين المغناطيسي للثدي مسبقًا قبل خطوة استخراج الخواص لتقليل تأثيرات الاختلافات بين شرائح التصوير بالرنين المغناطيسي، وفصل الثدي الايمن عن الايسر، بالإضافة الى عزل خلفية الصور. وقد كانت أقصى دقة تم تحقيقها لتصنيف مجموعة بيانات تضم 326 شريحة تصوير بالرنين المغناطيسي للثدي 98.77٪. يبدو أن النموذج يتسم بالكفاءة والأداء ويمكن بالتالي اعتباره مرشحًا للتطبيق في بيئة سريرية.Disease diagnosis with computer-aided methods has been extensively studied and applied in diagnosing and monitoring of several chronic diseases. Early detection and risk assessment of breast diseases based on clinical data is helpful for doctors to make early diagnosis and monitor the disease progression. The purpose of this study is to exploit the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in discriminating breast MRI scans into pathological and healthy. In this study, a fully automated and efficient deep features extraction algorithm that exploits the spatial information obtained from both T2W-TSE and STIR MRI sequences to discriminate between pathological and healthy breast MRI scans. The breast MRI scans are preprocessed prior to the feature extraction step to enhance and preserve the fine details of the breast MRI scans boundaries by using fractional integral entropy FIE algorithm, to reduce the effects of the intensity variations between MRI slices, and finally to separate the right and left breast regions by exploiting the symmetry information. The obtained features are classified using a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network classifier. Subsequently, all extracted features significantly improves the performance of the LSTM network to precisely discriminate between pathological and healthy cases. The maximum achieved accuracy for classifying the collected dataset comprising 326 T2W-TSE images and 326 STIR images is 98.77%. The experimental results demonstrate that FIE enhancement method improve the performance of CNN in classifying breast MRI scans. The proposed model appears to be efficient and might represent a useful diagnostic tool in the evaluation of MRI breast scans