Quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) has become a valuable molecular technique in biomedical research. The selection of suitable endogenous reference genes is necessary for normalization of target gene expression in RT-qPCR experiments. The aim of this study was to determine the suitability of each 18S rRNA and ACTB as internal control genes for normalization of RT-qPCR data in some human cell lines transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA). Four cancer cell lines including MCF-7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and Hela cells along with HEK293 representing an embryonic cell line were depleted of E2F6 using siRNA specific for E2F6 compared to negative control cells, which were transfected with siRNA not specific for any gene. Using RT-qPCR, Ct (threshold cycle) values of 18S and ACTB were determined in transfected cells and compared with control cells. In the selection of the above cell lines, 18S was identified as the most stably expressed reference gene than ACTB in gene knockdown experiments.
This paper presents a control system to make the robotic hand mimic human hand motion in real time and offline mode. The human hand tracking system is a wearable sensing arm (potentiometers) used to determine the position in space and to sense the grasping task of human hand. The maskable sensing arm was designed with same geometrical arrangement of robotic hand that needs to be controlled. The control software of a robot was implemented using Visual Basic and supported with graphical user interface (GUI). The control algorithm depends on joint to joint mapping method to match between the motions at each joint of portable sensing arm with corresponding joint of a robot in order to make the robot mimic the motion.
Cloud computing represents the most important shift in computing and information technology (IT). However, security and privacy remain the main obstacles to its widespread adoption. In this research we will review the security and privacy challenges that affect critical data in cloud computing and identify solutions that are used to address these challenges. Some questions that need answers are: (a) User access management, (b) Protect privacy of sensitive data, (c) Identity anonymity to protect the Identity of user and data file. To answer these questions, a systematic literature review was conducted and structured interview with several security experts working on cloud computing security to investigate the main objectives of propo
... Show MoreOne wide-ranging category of open source data is that referring to geospatial information web sites. Despite the advantages of such open source data, including ease of access and cost free data, there is a potential issue of its quality. This article tests the horizontal positional accuracy and possible integration of four web-derived geospatial datasets: OpenStreetMap (OSM), Google Map, Google Earth and Wikimapia. The evaluation was achieved by combining the tested information with reference field survey data for fifty road intersections in Baghdad, Iraq. The results indicate that the free geospatial data can be used to enhance authoritative maps especially small scale maps.
The smart city concept has attracted high research attention in recent years within diverse application domains, such as crime suspect identification, border security, transportation, aerospace, and so on. Specific focus has been on increased automation using data driven approaches, while leveraging remote sensing and real-time streaming of heterogenous data from various resources, including unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance cameras, and low-earth-orbit satellites. One of the core challenges in exploitation of such high temporal data streams, specifically videos, is the trade-off between the quality of video streaming and limited transmission bandwidth. An optimal compromise is needed between video quality and subsequently, rec
... Show MoreSequence covering array (SCA) generation is an active research area in recent years. Unlike the sequence-less covering arrays (CA), the order of sequence varies in the test case generation process. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of the SCA strategies, earlier works reported that finding a minimal size of a test suite is considered as an NP-Hard problem. In addition, most of the existing strategies for SCA generation have a high order of complexity due to the generation of all combinatorial interactions by adopting one-test-at-a-time fashion. Reducing the complexity by adopting one-parameter- at-a-time for SCA generation is a challenging process. In addition, this reduction facilitates the supporting for a higher strength of
... Show MoreSequence covering array (SCA) generation is an active research area in recent years. Unlike the sequence-less covering arrays (CA), the order of sequence varies in the test case generation process. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of the SCA strategies, earlier works reported that finding a minimal size of a test suite is considered as an NP-Hard problem. In addition, most of the existing strategies for SCA generation have a high order of complexity due to the generation of all combinatorial interactions by adopting one-test-at-a-time fashion. Reducing the complexity by adopting one-parameter- at-a-time for SCA generation is a challenging process. In addition, this reduction facilitates the supporting for a higher strength of cove
... Show MoreThe phenomena of Dust storm take place in barren and dry regions all over the world. It may cause by intense ground winds which excite the dust and sand from soft, arid land surfaces resulting it to rise up in the air. These phenomena may cause harmful influences upon health, climate, infrastructure, and transportation. GIS and remote sensing have played a key role in studying dust detection. This study was conducted in Iraq with the objective of validating dust detection. These techniques have been used to derive dust indices using Normalized Difference Dust Index (NDDI) and Middle East Dust Index (MEDI), which are based on images from MODIS and in-situ observation based on hourly wi
Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of rock is the most critical geomechanical property widely used as input parameters for designing fractures, analyzing wellbore stability, drilling programming and carrying out various petroleum engineering projects. The USC regulates rock deformation by measuring its strength and load-bearing capacity. The determination of UCS in the laboratory is a time-consuming and costly process. The current study aims to develop empirical equations to predict UCS using regression analysis by JMP software for the Khasib Formation in the Buzurgan oil fields, in southeastern Iraq using well-log data. The proposed equation accuracy was tested using the coefficient of determination (R²), the average absolute
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