Triticale is being evaluated as a substitute for corn in animal feed and as a forage crop for Florida. Storage of triticale seed is difficult in Florida's hot and humid climate, and more information about the relationships between equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) at constant temperature (sorption isotherms) of triticale is needed to develop improved storage methods. Therefore, the primary research objective was to measure the EMC for triticale seed at different ERH values at three different constant temperatures (5°C, 23°C, and 35°C) using six desiccation jars containing different saturated salt concentrations. The secondary objective was to determine the best fit equation describing these relationships. The six saturated salt solutions provided relative humidity (RH) values of 11%, 23%, 33%, 58%, 75%, and 84% at 25°C. An average of ten weeks was required to reach equilibrium when the initial moisture content (MC) of the seed was 13.35% (wet basis). The results of this experiment were used to develop three prediction equations, (modified Henderson, modified Chung-Pfost, and modified Oswin equations) representing the relationship between ERH and EMC. The results show that the modified Chung-Pfost equation represented this relationship most accurately, with a standard error of 2.4% and a coefficient of determination obtained from the scatter plot for the predicted vs. measured RH (R2) equal to 0.99. Overall, this result will aid the development and improvement of drying and storage methods for triticale seed.
Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is considered as an important pre-processing step in speech processing systems such as speech enhancement, speech recognition, gender and age identification. VAD helps in reducing the time required to process speech data and to improve final system accuracy by focusing the work on the voiced part of the speech. An automatic technique for VAD using Fuzzy-Neuro technique (FN-AVAD) is presented in this paper. The aim of this work is to alleviate the problem of choosing the best threshold value in traditional VAD methods and achieves automaticity by combining fuzzy clustering and machine learning techniques. Four features are extracted from each speech segment, which are short term energy, zero-crossing rate, auto
... Show MoreEight new complexes with the general formula [M(L)2(H2O)2] were prepared resulting from the reaction of the new Schiff base ligand [(E)-5- ((2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino)-2-phenyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3- one(L)] with metal ions [manganese, cadmium, zinc, copper, nickel, cobalt, Mercury Bivalent and tetravalent platinum. This ligand was derived from the reaction of the amine (5-amino-2-phenyl-2,4-dihydro3H-pyrazol-3-one) with Salicylaldehyde, which is linked to the metal ions via two atoms. The nitrogen is the isomethene group, and the oxygen is the hydroxide group of the pyrazoline ring. The prepared compounds were characterized using infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and ultraviolet spectroscopy, and from the
... Show MoreThe present study deals with the synthesis of four different azo-azomethine derivatives; this is done by two steps; the first step is diazotization of sulfonamides (sulfanilamide, sulfacetamide, sulfamethoxazole, and sulfadiazine) separately, followed by the second step; the coupling reaction of diazotized compounds with isatin bis-Schiff base named 3-((4-nitrobenzylidene) hydrazono)indolin-2-one. The later one (bis-Schiff base) was synthesized by the reaction of 3-hydrazono-indolin-2-one with p-nitrobenzaldehyde. The chemical structures of newly synthesized compounds were approved on the basis of their FTIR, 1H-NMR, and CHNS elemental analysis data results. The synthesized azo compounds were tested in vitro for their antimicrobial potentia
... Show MoreNosocomial infection is acquired contamination of hospitals and health care units caused by multidrug resistant bacteria. Currently, bacterial resistance to antimicrobial medication represents a complicated public health problem. Recent studies on the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) attracted researchers worldwide to focus on the safe synthesis of AgNPs as antimicrobial agents against multidrug resistant bacteria. The antimicrobial efficacy of AgNPs on pathogenic bacteria isolated from clinical cases of acquired hospital infection was targeted in this project. Fifty specimens of stool were collected through private laboratories in Baghdad from patients who suffered diarrheal symptoms. Bacterial isolation, identific
... Show MoreThe Southern Cowpea Beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) is one of the most widespread insect pests of stored legumes, causing a considerable loss during storage, decreasing the net weight of the crops, and resulting in reduced the quality of the crops. This study has been conducted to determine the lifetime, fertility and life table parameters of C. maculatus by using an alkaloids extract from Moringa oleifera leaves at different concentrations 1000, 2000, and 3000 ppm. The result was shown that the lowest survival rate was 49% at a concentration of 1000, 2000 ppm, as compared with the control which was 77%. The lowest reproductive rate (Ro) was 4.76 female/female/generation at the concentration of 1000 ppm, c
... Show MoreSynthesis of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (A1) is performed from the reaction of o-aminothiophenol and carbon disulfide CS2 in ethanol under basic condition. Compound (A1) is reacted with chloro acetyl chloride to give compound (A2). Hydrazide acid compound (A3) is obtained from the reaction of compound (A2) with hydrazine hydrate in ethanol under reflux in the presence of glacial acetic acid .The reaction of hydrazide acid compound (A3) with ethyl acetoacetate gives pyrazole compound (A4). The new hydrazone compound (A5) was prepared from the reaction of compound (A3) with benzaldehyde. Reaction of compound
... Show MoreThe present investigation developed the ester prodrugs of Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), Mefenamic acid and Flurbiprofen by conjugating with the natural antioxidant, 4-methyl umbelliferone that resulted the formation of Mefenamic acid-umbelliferone ester prodrug and Flurbiprofen-umbelliferone ester prodrug .The principal objective this study is the synthesis of the ester prodrugs of NSAIDs with the enhanced therapeutic activity and minimized side effects. Prodrugs were synthesized by coupling method using N,N’- dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/4-dimethylaminopyrimidine, subjected to physical, chemical characterization, spectral characterization (IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and Mass spectra),hydro
... Show MoreBackground: A great dental and biomedical interest had been paid to silver nanoparticles because of their antimicrobial activity. Objective: To evaluate the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of a newly developed Nano-silver fluoride that was synthesized from moringa oleifera leaf extract against S. mutants. Material and method: The green synthesis method was used to prepare Nano-silver fluoride from moringa oleifera leaf extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration were evaluated using brain heart infusion plates, while the cytotoxicity was evaluated by the hemolytic activity. Results: Nano-silver fluoride had a bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect (MIC was 60 ppm a
... Show MoreBackground: Obesity represents a clear and
present danger to the health of children and
adolescents. Its prevalence among American
youth has doubled in the past 3 decades, and
there are now more overweight and obese
adults in the United States than adults of
normal weight.
Objectives of the study:
1- Finding whether screen watching among
adolescents has an effect on increasing
prevalence overweight and obesity.
2- The effect of other variables like physical
activity, eating in front of screen, eating under
stress on obesity and overweight among the
subjects sample.
Patients &Methods: During 3 months period a
cross sectional survey was conducted on 4
high schools at Baghdad with total