Search results for: Adnan Ahmad

Authors: Haneen Nabil Al-Sbaihi, Adnan Al-Hindi, Khalid Qahman

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Treated wastewater irrigation is associated with several benefits but can also lead to significant health risks. The main objective of this study is to investigate the parasitic infection (PI) among farmers dealing with treated wastewater (TWW) in Al-Zaitoun area- Gaza City. This study included two farmer groups: farmers who dealing with TWW (Mixed water users (MWUs)), and farmers who irrigate by using groundwater (GW) (Ground water users (GWUs)). Each participant was asked to provide stool samples on two phases. The two farmer groups were use GW in the 1st phase while the MWUs were use TWW in the 2nd phase which was after using TWW in irrigation for three months. Prevalence of PI was 30.9% and increased to be 47.3% in the 2nd phase. Negative association not statistically significant (OR= 0.659, CI 0.202-2.153)) was found in the 1st phase, while a positive association not statically significant was found between PI and TWWR in the 2nd phase (OR=1.37, CI 0.448-4.21). In this study six parasites species were identified among participants: Entamoeba ''histolytica/dispar and coil'', Cryptosporidium, Microsporidia, Giardia lamblia, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Ascaris lumbricoides.

Keywords: wastewater, groundwater, treated wastewater, parasitic infection, parasites

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Authors: Ahmad I. Ayesh

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This work reports on the fabrication of tin nanoclusters by sputtering and inert-gas condensation inside an ultra-high vacuum compatible system. This technique allows to fine tune the size and yield of nanoclusters by controlling the nanocluster source parameters. The produced nanoclusters are deposited on SiO2/Si substrate with pre-formed electrical electrodes to produce a nanocluster device. Those devices can be potentially used for gas sensor applications.

Keywords: tin, nanoclusters, inert-gas condensation, nanotechnology

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Authors: M. A. Fiidow, Ahmad M. Alenezi

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In this work, we study the inner derivations of diassociative algebras in dimension two and three, an algorithmic approach is adopted for the computation of inner derivation, using some results from the derivation of finite dimensional diassociative algebras. Some basic properties of inner derivation of finite dimensional diassociative algebras are also provided.

Keywords: diassociative algebras, inner derivations, derivations, left and right operator

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Authors: Jamshaid ul Rahman, Akhter Ali, Adnan Manzoor

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Learning-based systems have received increasing interest in recent years; recognition structures, including end-to-end speak recognition, are one of the hot topics in this area. A famous work on end-to-end speaker verification by using Angular Softmax Loss gained significant importance and is considered useful to directly trains a discriminative model instead of the traditional adopted i-vector approach. The margin-based strategy in angular softmax is beneficial to learn discriminative speaker embeddings where the random selection of margin values is a big issue in additive angular margin and multiplicative angular margin. As a better solution in this matter, we present an alternative approach by introducing a bit similar form of an additive parameter that was originally introduced for face recognition, and it has a capacity to adjust automatically with the corresponding margin values and is applicable to learn more discriminative features than the Softmax. Experiments are conducted on the part of Fisher dataset, where it observed that the additive parameter with angular softmax to train the front-end and probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) in the back-end boosts the performance of the structure.

Keywords: additive parameter, angular softmax, speaker verification, PLDA

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Authors: Syed Adnan, Javed Iqbal

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In urban and rural areas groundwater is the most economic natural source of drinking. Groundwater resources of Pakistan are degraded due to high population growth and increased industrial development. A study was conducted in district Peshawar to assess groundwater vulnerable zones using GIS based DRASTIC model. Six input parameters (groundwater depth, groundwater recharge, aquifer material, soil type, slope and hydraulic conductivity) were used in the DRASTIC model to generate the groundwater vulnerable zones. Each parameter was divided into different ranges or media types and a subjective rating from 1-10 was assigned to each factor where 1 represented very low impact on pollution potential and 10 represented very high impact. Weight multiplier from 1-5 was used to balance and enhance the importance of each factor. The DRASTIC model scores obtained varied from 47 to 147. Using quantile classification scheme these values were reclassified into three zones i.e. low, moderate and high vulnerable zones. The areas of these zones were calculated. The final result indicated that about 400 km2, 506 km2, and 375 km2 were classified as low, moderate, and high vulnerable areas, respectively. It is recommended that the most vulnerable zones should be treated on first priority to facilitate the inhabitants for drinking purposes.

Keywords: DRASTIC model, groundwater vulnerability, GIS in groundwater, drinking sources

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Authors: Adnan A. Y. Mustafa

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Image matching is a fundamental problem that arises frequently in many aspects of robot and computer vision. It can become a time-consuming process when matching images to a database consisting of hundreds of images, especially if the images are big. One approach to reducing the time complexity of the matching process is to reduce the search space in a pre-matching stage, by simply removing dissimilar images quickly. The Probabilistic Matching Model for Binary Images (PMMBI) showed that dissimilarity detection between binary images can be accomplished quickly by random pixel mapping and is size invariant. The model is based on the gamma binary similarity distance that recognizes an image and its inverse as containing the same scene and hence considers them to be the same image. However, in many applications, an image and its inverse are not treated as being the same but rather dissimilar. In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of dissimilarity detection between PMMBI based on the gamma binary similarity distance and a modified PMMBI model based on a similarity distance that does distinguish between an image and its inverse as being dissimilar.

Keywords: binary image, dissimilarity detection, probabilistic matching model for binary images, image mapping

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Authors: Noryani Natasha Yahaya, Anas Ibrahim, Juraidah Ahmad, Azura Ahmad, Mohd Ikmal Fazlan Rosli, Zailan Ramli, Muhd Sidek Muhd Norhasri

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The subgrade formation is an important element of the railway structure which holds overall track stability. Conventional track maintenance involves many substructure component replacements, as well as track re-ballasting on a regular basis is partially contributed to the embankment's long-term settlement problem. For subgrade long-term stability analysis, the geophysical method is commonly being used to diagnose those hidden sources/mechanisms of track deterioration problems that the normal visual method is unable to detect. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is one of the applicable geophysical tools that are helpful in railway subgrade inspection/track monitoring due to its flexibility and reliability of the analysis. The ERT was conducted at KM 23.0 of Pinang Tunggal track to investigate the subgrade of railway track through the characterization/mapping on track formation profiling which was directly generated using 2D analysis of Res2dinv software. The profiles will allow examination of the presence and spatial extent of a significant subgrade layer and screening of any poor contact of soil boundary. Based on the finding, there is a mix/interpretation/intermixing of an interlayer between the sub-ballast and the sand. Although the embankment track considered here is at no immediate risk of settlement effect or any failure, the regular monitoring of track’s location will allow early correction maintenance if necessary. The developed data of track formation clearly shows the similarity of the side view with the assessed track. The data visualization in the 2D section of the track embankment agreed well with the initial assumption based on the main element structure general side view.

Keywords: ground track, assessment, resistivity, geophysical railway, method

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Authors: Muhammad Haitham Albahnassi, Adnan Malki, Shokri Almekdad

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In this paper, a method for reconfiguring bandwidth in a circular dual-mode resonator is presented. The method concerns the optimized geometry of a structure that may be used to host the tuning elements, which are typically RF (Radio Frequency) switches. The tuning elements themselves, and their performance during tuning, are not the focus of this paper. The designed resonator is able to reconfigure its fractional bandwidth by adjusting the inter-coupling level between the degenerate modes, while at the same time improving its response by adjusting the external-coupling level and keeping the center frequency fixed. The inter-coupling level has been adjusted by changing the dimensions of the perturbation element, while the external-coupling level has been adjusted by changing one of the feeder dimensions. The design was arrived at via optimization. Agreeing simulation and measurement results of the designed and implemented filters showed good improvements in return loss values and the stability of the center frequency.

Keywords: dual-mode resonators, perturbation theory, reconfigurable filters, software defined radio, cognitine radio

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Authors: Dina Ahmad Alkhodary

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This study aimed to investigate the practices of Data Mining on the telecommunication companies in Jordan, from the viewpoint of the respondents. In order to achieve the goal of the study, and test the validity of hypotheses, the researcher has designed a questionnaire to collect data from managers and staff members from main department in the researched companies. The results shows improvements stages of the telecommunications companies towered Data Mining.

Keywords: data, mining, development, business

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Authors: Adel Sabry Eesa, Adnan Mohsin Abdulazeez Brifcani, Zeynep Orman

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Feature selection has been used in many fields such as classification, data mining and object recognition and proven to be effective for removing irrelevant and redundant features from the original data set. In this paper, a new design of distributed intrusion detection system using a combination feature selection model based on bees and decision tree. Bees algorithm is used as the search strategy to find the optimal subset of features, whereas decision tree is used as a judgment for the selected features. Both the produced features and the generated rules are used by Decision Making Mobile Agent to decide whether there is an attack or not in the networks. Decision Making Mobile Agent will migrate through the networks, moving from node to another, if it found that there is an attack on one of the nodes, it then alerts the user through User Interface Agent or takes some action through Action Mobile Agent. The KDD Cup 99 data set is used to test the effectiveness of the proposed system. The results show that even if only four features are used, the proposed system gives a better performance when it is compared with the obtained results using all 41 features.

Keywords: distributed intrusion detection system, mobile agent, feature selection, bees algorithm, decision tree

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Authors: Sadia Basar, Naila Habib, Awais Adnan

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The paper presents the Technique for Image Segmentation Using K-Means Clustering Classification. The presented algorithms were specific, however, missed the neighboring information and required high-speed computerized machines to run the segmentation algorithms. Clustering is the process of partitioning a group of data points into a small number of clusters. The proposed method is content-aware and feature extraction method which is able to run on low-end computerized machines, simple algorithm, required low-quality streaming, efficient and used for security purpose. It has the capability to highlight the boundary and the object. At first, the user enters the data in the representation of the input. Then in the next step, the digital image is converted into groups clusters. Clusters are divided into many regions. The same categories with same features of clusters are assembled within a group and different clusters are placed in other groups. Finally, the clusters are combined with respect to similar features and then represented in the form of segments. The clustered image depicts the clear representation of the digital image in order to highlight the regions and boundaries of the image. At last, the final image is presented in the form of segments. All colors of the image are separated in clusters.

Keywords: clustering, image segmentation, K-means function, local and global minimum, region

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Authors: Norita Ahmad, Reza Barkhi, Xiaobo Xu

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We design an experimental study to learn about the cognitive implications of the use of avatars in a Virtual World (VW) (i.e., Second Life). The results support our proposed model, where a positive flow experience with VW influences the attitude towards VW, in turn influencing intention to use VW. Furthermore, VW flow experience can itself be impacted by perceived peer influence, familiarity with VW, and personality of the individuals behind the avatars in VW.

Keywords: avatar, flow experience, personality type, second life, virtual world

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Authors: Syed Towseef Ahmad, Fatima Amin, Pritha Acharya, Anil K. Gupta, Pervez Ahmad

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Glaciers being the sentinels of climate change, are the most visible evidence of global warming. Given the unavailability of observed field-based data, this study has focussed on the use of geospatial techniques to obtain information about the glaciers of Pir-Panjal (PPJ) and the Great Himalayan Regions of Jhelum Basin (GHR). These glaciers need to be monitored in line with the variations in climatic conditions because they significantly contribute to various sectors in the region. The main aim of this study is to map the glaciers in the two adjacent regions (PPJ and GHR) in the north-western Himalayas with different topographies and compare the changes in various glacial attributes during two different time periods (1990-2020). During the last three decades, both PPJ as well as GHR regions have observed deglaciation of around 36 and 26 percent, respectively. The mean elevation of GHR glaciers has increased from 4312 to 4390 masl, while the same for PPJ glaciers has increased from 4085 to 4124 masl during the observation period. Using accumulation area ratio (AAR) method, mean mass balance of -34.52 and -37.6 cm.w.e was recorded for the glaciers of GHR and PPJ, respectively. The difference in areal and mass loss of glaciers in these regions may be due to (i) the smaller size of PPJ glaciers which are all smaller than 1 km² and are thus more responsive to climate change (ii) Higher mean elevation of GHR glaciers (iii) local variations in climatic variables in these glaciated regions. Time series analysis of climate variables indicates that both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures of Qazigund station (Tmax= 19.2, Tmin= 6.4) are comparatively higher than the Pahalgam station (Tmax= 18.8, Tmin= 3.2). Except for precipitation in Qazigund (Slope= - 0.3 mm a⁻¹), each climatic parameter has shown an increasing trend during these three decades, and with the slope of 0.04 and 0.03°c a⁻¹, the positive trend in Tmin (pahalgam) and Tmax (qazigund) are observed to be statistically significant (p≤0.05).

Keywords: glaciers, climate change, Pir-Panjal, greater Himalayas, mass balance

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Authors: Adnan Alhathal Alanezi

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The performance of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process for water desalination was investigated utilizing a new design membrane module using two commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat sheet hydrophobic membranes. The membrane module's design demonstrated its suitability for achieving a high heat transfer coefficient of the order of 103 (W/m2K) and a high Reynolds number (Re). The heat and mass transport coefficients within the membrane module were measured using VMD experiments. The permeate flux has been examined in relation to process parameters such as feed temperature, feed flow rate, vacuum degree, and feed concentration. Because the feed temperature, feed flow rate, and vacuum degree all play a role in improving the performance of the VMD process, optimizing all of these parameters is the best method to achieve a high permeate flux. In VMD desalination, the PTFE membrane outperformed the PVDF membrane. When compared to previous studies, the obtained water flux is relatively high, reaching 43.8 and 52.6 (kg/m2h) for PVDF and PTFE, respectively. For both membranes, the salt rejection of NaCl was greater than 99%.

Keywords: desalination, vacuum membrane distillation, PTFE and PVDF, hydrophobic membranes, O-ring membrane module

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Authors: Muhammad Atif Randhawa, Adnan Amjad

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Assessment of insecticides used for growing vegetables in comparison with their safety status was the main purpose of this study. A total of 180 samples of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) and brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) comprising 30 samples of each vegetable were collected from the peri-urban farming system of Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. The mean value for imidacloprid residues found in brinjal (0.226 mg kg-1) and okra (0.176 mg kg-1) from Multan region were greater than the residues reported from Gujranwala and Faisalabad, showing excessive application of imidacloprid in Multan. Out of total 180 samples analysed for imidacloprid and acetamaprid residues, (90 samples for each of okra and brinjal), 104 (58%) and 117 (65%) samples contained detectable imidacloprid and acetamiprid residues, respectively. Whereas 10% and 15% samples exceeded their respective MRLs for imidacloprid and acetamiprid residues. Dietary intake assessment for imidacloprid and acetamiprid was calculated according to their MPI values 3.84 and 4.48 mg person-1day-1, respectively. The dietary intake assessment data revealed that although a reasonable proportion of samples exceeded the MRLs in studied areas but their consumption was found within safe limit in comparison to values obtained for MPI.

Keywords: Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), insecticides, Maximum Residual Limits (MRLs), risk assessment, vegetables

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Authors: Hesamaddin Khoshnoodi, Ahmad Rahbar Ranji

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Corrosion in steel structures is one of the most important issues that should be considered in designing and constructing. Corrosion reduces the cross section and load capacity of element and leads to costly damage of structures. In this paper, the corrosion has been modeled for moment stresses. Moreover, the steel beam has been modeled using ABAQUS advanced finite element software. The conclusions of this study demonstrated that the displacement of the analyzed composite steel girder bridge might increase.

Keywords: Abaqus, Corrosion, deformation, Steel Beam

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Authors: Ebenezer O. Olaniyi, Oyebade K. Oyedotun, Khashman Adnan

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In the food industry high quality production is required within a limited time to meet up with the demand in the society. In this research work, we have developed a model which can be used to replace the human operator due to their low output in production and slow in making decisions as a result of an individual differences in deciding the defective and healthy banana. This model can perform the vision attributes of human operators in deciding if the banana is defective or healthy for food production based. This research work is divided into two phase, the first phase is the image processing where several image processing techniques such as colour conversion, edge detection, thresholding and morphological operation were employed to extract features for training and testing the network in the second phase. These features extracted in the first phase were used in the second phase; the classification system phase where the multilayer perceptron using backpropagation neural network was employed to train the network. After the network has learned and converges, the network was tested with feedforward neural network to determine the performance of the network. From this experiment, a recognition rate of 97% was obtained and the time taken for this experiment was limited which makes the system accurate for use in the food industry.

Keywords: banana, food processing, identification system, neural network

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Authors: Iftikhar Ahmad, A. Benallegue, A. El Hadri

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In this paper, we have proposed an observer for the reconstruction and a control law for the rejection application of unknown bounded external disturbance in a dynamical system. The strategy of both the observer and the controller is designed like a second order sliding mode with a proportional-integral (PI) term. Lyapunov theory is used to prove the exponential convergence and stability. Simulations results are given to show the performance of this method.

Keywords: non-linear systems, sliding mode observer, disturbance rejection, nonlinear control

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Authors: Ahmad Moussavi

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In this paper, we are concerned with the Jacobson semisimple skew inverse Laurent series rings R((x−1; α, δ)) and the skew Laurent power series rings R[[x, x−1; α]], where R is an associative ring equipped with an automorphism α and an α-derivation δ. Examples to illustrate and delimit the theory are provided.

Keywords: skew polynomial rings, Laurent series, skew inverse Laurent series rings

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Authors: Nadia Adnan, Muhammad Mohsin Raza, Latha Ravindran

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Based on the principles above, the study presents an economic model of food waste for consumers, intermediaries, and producers. We discriminate between purchasing and selling, purchases versus customers consumption, and gross output versus sales for each intermediary. To compensate for waste at each level of the supply chain, agents must charge higher sales prices. The research model can produce more accurate predictions about how actions (public regulations or private efforts) to reduce food waste impact markets, including indirect (cascading) effects. With a formal model, researchers demonstrate the uniqueness of these interaction effects and simulate an empirical model calibrated to market characteristics and waste rates in Saudi Arabia. Researchers demonstrate that the effects of waste reduction differ per commodity, depending on supply and demand elasticities, degree of openness to international commerce, and the beginning rates of food loss and waste at each level of the value chain. Because of the consequential effects related to the supply chain, initiatives to minimize food waste will be strengthened in some circumstances and partially countered in others.

Keywords: food loss, food waste, supply chain management, Saudi Arabia, food supply

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Authors: Nasir Ashraf, Sajid Rahid Ahmad, Adeel Ahmad

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Pakistan is a major tea consumer country and ranked as the third largest importer of tea worldwide. Out of all beverage consumed in Pakistan, tea is the one with most demand for which tea import is inevitable. Being an agrarian country, Pakistan should cultivate its own tea and save the millions of dollars cost from tea import. So the need is to identify the most suitable areas with favorable weather condition and suitable soils where tea can be planted. This research is conducted over District Mansehra and District Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah Province of Pakistan where the most favorable conditions for tea cultivation already exist and National Tea Research Institute has done successful experiments to cultivate high quality tea. High tech approach is adopted to meet the objectives of this research by using the remotely sensed data i.e. Aster DEM, Landsat8 Imagery. The Remote Sensing data was processed in Erdas Imagine, Envi and further analyzed in ESRI ArcGIS spatial analyst for final results and representation of result data in map layouts. Integration of remote sensing data with GIS provided the perfect suitability analysis. The results showed that out of all study area, 13.4% area is highly suitable while 33.44% area is suitable for tea plantation. The result of this research is an impressive GIS based outcome and structured format of data for the agriculture planners and Tea growers. Identification of suitable tea growing areas by using remotely sensed data and GIS techniques is a pressing need for the country. Analysis of this research lets the planners to address variety of action plans in an economical and scientific manner which can lead tea production in Pakistan to meet demand. This geomatics based model and approach may be used to identify more areas for tea cultivation to meet our demand which we can reduce by planting our own tea, and our country can be independent in tea production.

Keywords: agrarian country, GIS, geoinformatics, suitability analysis, remote sensing

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Authors: Samuel Nii Tackie, Oyebade K. Oyedotun, Ebenezer O. Olaniyi, Adnan Khashman

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Artificial neural networks have been used in different fields of artificial intelligence, and more specifically in machine learning. Although, other machine learning options are feasible in most situations, but the ease with which neural networks lend themselves to different problems which include pattern recognition, image compression, classification, computer vision, regression etc. has earned it a remarkable place in the machine learning field. This research exploits neural networks as a data mining tool in predicting the number of times a student repeats a course, considering some attributes relating to the course itself, the teacher, and the particular student. Neural networks were used in this work to map the relationship between some attributes related to students’ course assessment and the number of times a student will possibly repeat a course before he passes. It is the hope that the possibility to predict students’ performance from such complex relationships can help facilitate the fine-tuning of academic systems and policies implemented in learning environments. To validate the power of neural networks in data mining, Turkish students’ performance database has been used; feedforward and radial basis function networks were trained for this task; and the performances obtained from these networks evaluated in consideration of achieved recognition rates and training time.

Keywords: artificial neural network, data mining, classification, students’ evaluation

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Authors: Fatemehsadat Mortazavizadeh, Amin Dehghani, Majid Mirzaei, Nurulhuda Binti Mohammad Ramli, Adnan Dehghani

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Flood is Malaysia's most common and serious natural disaster. Kelantan River Basin is a tropical basin that experiences a rainy season during North-East Monsoon from November to March. It is also one of the hardest hit areas in Peninsular Malaysia during the heavy monsoon rainfall. Considering the consequences of the flood events, it is essential to develop the flood inundation map as part of the mitigation approach. In this study, the delineation of flood inundation zone in the area of Kelantan River basin using a hydrodynamic model is done by HEC-RAS, QGIS and ArcMap. The streamflow data has been generated with the weather generator based on the observation data. Then, the data is statistically analyzed with the Extreme Value (EV1) method for 2-, 5-, 25-, 50- and 100-year return periods. The minimum depth, maximum depth, mean depth, and the standard deviation of all the scenarios, including the OBS, are observed and analyzed. Based on the results, generally, the value of the data increases with the return period for all the scenarios. However, there are certain scenarios that have different results, which not all the data obtained are increasing with the return period. Besides, OBS data resulted in the middle range within Scenario 1 to Scenario 40.

Keywords: flood inundation, kelantan river basin, hydrodynamic model, extreme value analysis

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Authors: Pervaiz Ahmad, Mayeen Uddin Khandaker, Yusoff Mohd Amin

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A unique cone-like morphologies of boron nitride microtubes with larger internal space and thin walls structure are synthesized in a dual zone quartz tube furnace at 1200 ° C with ammonia as a reaction atmosphere. The synthesized microtubes are found to have diameter in the range of 1 to ̴ 2 μm with walls thickness estimated from 10 – 100 nm. XPS survey shows N 1s and B 1s peaks at 398.7 eV and 191 eV that represent h-BN in the sample. Raman spectroscopy indicates a high intensity peak at 1372.53 (cm-1) that corresponds to the E2g mode of h-BN.

Keywords: BNMTs, synthesis, reaction atmosphere, growth

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Authors: Adnan Z. Mkhelif

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The production of number forms in English tends to be problematic for Iraqi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), even at the undergraduate level. To help better understand and consequently address this problem, it is important to identify its sources. This study aims at: (1) statistically analysing Iraqi EFL undergraduates' performance in the production of number forms in English; (2) classifying learners' errors in terms of their possible major causes; and (3) outlining some pedagogical recommendations relevant to the teaching of number forms in English. It is hypothesized in this study that (1) Iraqi EFL undergraduates still face problems in the production of number forms in English and (2) errors pertaining to the context of learning are more numerous than those attributable to the other possible causes. After reviewing the literature available on the topic, a written test comprising 50 items has been constructed and administered to a randomly chosen sample of 50 second-year college students from the Department of English, College of Education, Wasit University. The findings of the study showed that Iraqi EFL undergraduates still face problems in the production of number forms in English and that the possible major sources of learners’ errors can be arranged hierarchically in terms of the percentages of errors to which they can be ascribed as follows: (1) context of learning (50%), (2) intralingual transfer (37%), and (3) interlingual transfer (13%). It is hoped that the implications of the study findings will be beneficial to researchers, syllabus designers, as well as teachers of English as a foreign/second language.

Keywords: L2 number forms, L2 vocabulary learning, productive knowledge, proficiency

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Authors: Mansi Srivastava, Uzma Saqib, Adnan Naim, Anjali Roy, Dongfang Liu, Deepak Bhatnagar, Ravinder Ravinder, Mirza S. Baig

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Macrophages polarize to proinflammatory M1 or anti-inflammatory M2 states with distinct physiological functions. This transition within the M1 to M2 phenotypes decides the nature, duration, and severity of an inflammatory response. However, inspite of a substantial understanding of the fate of these phenotypes, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. We have investigated the role of Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1) mediated regulation of Activator protein 1 (AP-1) transcription factor in macrophages as a critical effector of macrophage phenotypic change. Activator protein 1 (AP-1) is a group of dimeric transcription factors composed of jun, Fos, and ATF family proteins. We determined that NOS1-derived nitric oxide (NO) facilitate Fos and jun interaction which induces IL12 & IL23 expression. Pharmacological inhibition of NOS1 inhibits Fos and jun interaction but increases ATF2 and Fos dimerization. Switching of Fos and jun dimer to ATF2 and jun dimerization switches phenotype from IL–12high IL-23high IL-10low to IL–12low IL-23lowIL-10high phenotype, respectively. Together, these findings highlight a key role of the TLR4-NOS1-AP1 signaling axis in regulating macrophage polarization.

Keywords: inflammation, macrophage, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), proinflammatory cytokines, activator protein 1 (AP-1), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1)

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Authors: Ahmad Alshammari, Abdulaziz Bagabas, Muhamad Assulami

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Rhodamine B (RB) is a toxic dye used extensively in textile industry, which must be remediated before its drainage to the environment. In the present study, supported gold nanoparticles on commercially available titania and zincite were successfully prepared and then their activity on the photodegradation of RB under UV-A light irradiation were evaluated. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by ICP, BET, XRD, and TEM. Kinetic results showed that Au/TiO2 was an inferior photocatalyst to Au/ZnO. This observation could be attributed to the strong reflection of UV irradiation by gold nanoparticles over TiO2 support.

Keywords: supported AuNPs, semiconductor photocatalyst, photodegradation, rhodamine B

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Authors: Dagim Ali Hussen, Adnan A. Bekhit, Ariaya Hymete

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In this study, several pyridine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus and B. Cereus), gram-negative bacteria (P. aeruginosa and E. coli) and fungus (C. albican and A niger). The intermediate chalcone derivative 2a,b was synthesized by condensation of pyrazole aldehydes 1a,b with acetophenone in alcoholic KOH. Cyclization of 2a,b with ethyl cyanoacetate ad ammonium acetate resulted in pyridine carbonitrile derivatives 3a,b. Furthermore, condensation of pyridine-4-carboxaldeyhe with different amino-derivatives gave rise to pyridine derivatives 5a,b, 6a,b. The oxadiazole derivative 7a was prepared by cyclization of 6a with acetic anhydride. Characterization of the synthesized compound was performed using IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectra and elemental microanalyses. The antimicrobial results revealed that compounds 5a, 6b and 7a exhibited half fold antibacterial activity compared to ampicillin, against B. cereus. On the other hand, compound 3b showed an equivalent activity compared to miconazole against candida albican (CANDAL 03) and to clotrimazole against the clinical isolate candida albican 6647. Moreover, this compound 3b was further tested for its acute toxicity profile. The results showed that oral LD50 is more that 300 mg/kg and parentral LD50 is more than 100 mg/kg. Compound 3b is a good candidate for antifungal agent with good toxicity profile, and deserves more chemical derivatization and clinical study.

Keywords: antifungal, antimicrobial, Candida albican, pyridine

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Authors: Muhammad Zaheer Awan, Adnan Qadir, Zeeshan Anjum

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Housefly, Musca domestica Linnaeus is ubiquitous and hazardous for Homo sapiens and livestock in sundry venerations. Musca domestica cart 100 different pathogens, such as typhoid, salmonella, bacillary dysentery, tuberculosis, anthrax and parasitic worms. The flies in rural areas usually carry more pathogens. Houseflies feed on liquid or semi-liquid substances besides solid materials which are softened by saliva. Neem botanically known as Azadirachta indica belongs to the family Meliaceae and is an indigenous tree to Pakistan. The neem tree is also one such tree which has been revered by the Pakistanis and Kashmiris for its medicinal properties. Present study showed neem seed extract has potentially toxic ability that affect Total Haemocyte Count (THC) and Differential Haemocytes Count (DHC) in insect’s blood cells, of the housefly. A significant variation in haemolymph density was observed just after application, 30 minutes and 60 minutes post treatment in term of THC and DHC in comparison with novastar. The study strappingly acclaim use of neem seed extract as insecticide as compare to artificial insecticides.

Keywords: neem, Azadirachta indica, Musca domestica, differential haemocyte count (DHC), total haemocytes count (DHC), novastar

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Authors: Adnan Z. Mkhelif

Abstract:

Grammatical collocations (GCs) are word combinations containing a preposition or a grammatical structure, such as an infinitive (e.g. smile at, interested in, easy to learn, etc.). Such collocations tend to be difficult for Iraqi EFL university students (IUS) to master. To help address this problem, it is important to identify the factors causing it. This study aims at investigating the effects of L2 proficiency, frequency of GCs and their transparency on IUSs’ productive knowledge of GCs. The study involves 112 undergraduate participants with different proficiency levels, learning English in formal contexts in Iraq. The data collection instruments include (but not limited to) a productive knowledge test (designed by the researcher using the British National Corpus (BNC)), as well as the grammar part of the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The study findings have shown that all the above-mentioned factors have significant effects on IUSs’ productive knowledge of GCs. In addition to establishing evidence of which factors of L2 learning might be relevant to learning GCs, it is hoped that the findings of the present study will contribute to more effective methods of teaching that can better address and help overcome the problems IUSs encounter in learning GCs. The study is thus hoped to have significant theoretical and pedagogical implications for researchers, syllabus designers as well as teachers of English as a foreign/second language.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, frequency, grammatical collocations, L2 vocabulary learning, productive knowledge, proficiency, transparency

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