The aim of the present study was to develop theophylline (TP) inhalable sustained delivery system by preparing solid lipid microparticles using glyceryl behenate (GB) and poloxamer 188 (PX) as a lipid carrier and a surfactant respectively. The method involves loading TP nanoparticles into the lipid using high shear homogenization – ultrasonication technique followed by lyophilization. The compositional variations and interactions were evaluated using response surface methodology, a Box – Behnken design of experiment (DOE). The DOE constructed using TP (X₁), GB (X₂) and PX (X₃) levels as independent factors. Responses measured were the entrapment efficiency (% EE) (Y₁), mass median

Most Internet of Vehicles (IoV) applications are delay-sensitive and require resources for data storage and tasks processing, which is very difficult to afford by vehicles. Such tasks are often offloaded to more powerful entities, like cloud and fog servers. Fog computing is decentralized infrastructure located between data source and cloud, supplies several benefits that make it a non-frivolous extension of the cloud. The high volume data which is generated by vehicles’ sensors and also the limited computation capabilities of vehicles have imposed several challenges on VANETs systems. Therefore, VANETs is integrated with fog computing to form a paradigm namely Vehicular Fog Computing (VFC) which provide low-latency services to mo

In medical practice, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often used to treat osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Ibuprofen is a well-known NSAID, analgesic, and antipyretic medication. This chemical is an active ingredient of several oral medications that are offered in tablet, gel pellet, and syrup forms and has higher efficacy, tolerance, and side effect rates than other compounds, including pyrazolone derivatives. We present a unique plasma-assisted desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (PADI-MS) approach for improving pharmaceutically important solids using an ibuprofen tablet as a model solid sample. The goal of the study is to create an innovative mass spectrometric method that could be used for quick and accur

This research aims at calculating the optimum cutting condition for various types of machining methods, assisted by computers, (the computer program in this research is designed to solve linear programs; the program is written in v. basic language). The program obtains the results automatically, this occur through entering the preliminary information about the work piece and the operating condition, the program makes the calculation actually by solving a group of experimental relations, depending on the type of machining method (turning, milling, drilling). The program was transferred to package and group of windows to facilitate the use; it will automatically print the initial input and optimal solution, and thus reduce the effort and t

    Identification of complex communities in biological networks is a critical and ongoing challenge since lots of network-related problems correspond to the subgraph isomorphism problem known in the literature as NP-hard. Several optimization algorithms have been dedicated and applied to solve this problem. The main challenge regarding the application of optimization algorithms, specifically to handle large-scale complex networks, is their relatively long execution time. Thus, this paper proposes a parallel extension of the PSO algorithm to detect communities in complex biological networks. The main contribution of this study is summarized in three- fold; Firstly, a modified PSO algorithm with a local search operator is proposed

Several attempts have been made to modify the quasi-Newton condition in order to obtain rapid convergence with complete properties (symmetric and positive definite) of the inverse of  Hessian matrix (second derivative of the objective function). There are many unconstrained optimization methods that do not generate positive definiteness of the inverse of Hessian matrix. One of those methods is the symmetric rank 1( H-version) update (SR1 update), where this update satisfies the quasi-Newton condition and the symmetric property of inverse of Hessian matrix, but does not preserve the positive definite property of the inverse of Hessian matrix where the initial inverse of Hessian matrix is positive definiteness. The positive definite prope

Bismuth oxide nanoparticle Bi2O3NPs has a wide range of applications and less adverse effects than conventional radio sensitizers. In this work, Bi2O3NPs (D1, D2) were successfully synthesized by using the biosynthesis method with varying bismuth salts, bismuth sulfate Bi2(SO4)3 (D1) or bismuth nitrate. Penta hydrate Bi(NO3)3.5H2O (D2) with NaOH with beta-vulgaris extract. The Bi2O3NPs properties were characterized by different spectroscopic methods to determine Bi2O3NPs structure, nature of bonds, size of nanoparticle, element phase, presence, crystallinity and morphology. The existence of the Bi2O3 band was verified by the FT-IR. The Bi2O3 NPs revealed an absorption peak in the UV-visible spectrum, with energy gap Eg = 3.80eV. The X-ray p

In this work, γ-Al2O3NPs were successfully biosynthesized, mediated aluminum nitrate nona hydrate Al(NO3)3.9H2O, sodium hydroxide, and aqueous clove extract in alkali media. The γ-Al2O3NPs were characterized by different techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy–dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The final results indicated the γ-Al2O3NPs nanoparticle size, bonds nature, element phase, crystallinity, morphology, surface image, particle analysis – threshold detection, and the topography parameter. The id

In the present study, 1-ethyl -3-methyllimidazolium acetate ionic liquid is introduced for extractive desulfurization of Iraqi kerosene (1622ppm) and compared with 1-ethyl -3- methyllimidazolium tetrafloroborate. The effect of ionic liquid/ fuel ratio (1/9, 1/4, 1/2), temperature (25, 30,40oC), stirring speed (300,450rpm) and time (10, 30, 90, 180, 360 min) were studied. Sulfur compound analysis was performed using X-Ray fluorescence. The ionic liquid with acetate anion (OAc) showed better performance than tetrafloborate (BF4). The maximum extraction efficiency was 32% achieved at 1/2 IL/Fuel and 40oC after 90min. The oxidation step using hydrogen peroxide (8ml/200ml), catalyzed by acetic acid (2ml) and followed by ionic liquid extraction h