Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye grown for use as animal feed. In Florida, due to its soft coat, triticale is highly vulnerable to Sitophilus oryzae L. (rice weevil) and there is interest in development of methods to detect early-instar larvae so that infestations can be targeted before they become economically damaging. The objective of this study was to develop prediction models of the infestation degree for triticale seed infested with rice weevils of different growth stages. Spectral signatures were tested as a method to detect rice weevils in triticale seed. Groups of seeds at 11 different levels (degrees) of infestation, 0–62%, were obtained by combining different ratios of infested and uninfested seeds. A spectrophotometer wa
... Show MoreCarbon dioxide geo-sequestration (CGS) into sediments in the form of (gas) hydrates is one proposed method for reducing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and, thus reducing global warming and climate change. However, there is a serious lack of understanding of how such CO2 hydrate forms and exists in sediments. We thus imaged CO2 hydrate distribution in sandstone, and investigated the hydrate morphology and cluster characteristics via x-ray micro-computed tomography in 3D in-situ. A substantial amount of gas hydrate (∼17% saturation) was observed, and the stochastically distributed hydrate clusters followed power-law relations with respect to their size distributions and surface area-volume relationships. The layer-
... Show MoreDelivering therapeutic agents to the brain remains a major challenge due to the restrictive nature of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Intranasal administration has emerged as a promising, non-invasive approach that bypasses the BBB and facilitates direct nose-to-brain transport via the olfactory and trigeminal pathways. In this study, we developed a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) system for the intranasal delivery of dolutegravir sodium, a potent integrase inhibitor, with the goal of enhancing brain bioavailability for the treatment of neuroHIV and related central nervous system (CNS) complications. The NLCs were optimized for particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), and drug incorporation efficiency. The optimized formulation exhibi
... Show MoreThe new of compounds synthesized by sequence reactions starting from a reaction of 3-phenylenediamine or 4-phenylenediamine with chloroacetyl chloride to produce the compounds [I]a,b, then the compounds[I]a,b reacted with sodium azide to yield compounds[II]a,b that reacted 1,3-dipolarcycloaddition reaction with acrylic acid to give compounds [III]a,b these compounds reacted with methanol led to ester compounds[IV]a,b then reacted with hydrazine to give acid hydrazide [V]a,b . Finally compounds [V]a,b reacted with aromatic aldehydes to product shiff bases derivatives. The compounds characterized by mp. , IR, 1HNMR in addition to mass spectroscopy for some of them the liquid crystals properties were studied by using polarized optical microsco
... Show MoreBackground: The study aimed to investigate the effect of different techniques of en masse retraction on the vertical and sagittal position, axial inclination, rate of space closure, and type of movement of maxillary central incisor. Materials and methods: A typodont simulation system was used (CL II division 2 malocclusion). Three groups were used group 1(N=10, T-loop), group 2(N=10, Time-Saving loop), and group 3(N=10, Microimplant). Photographs were taken before and after retraction and measurements were made using Autodesk AutoCAD© software 2010. Kruskal-Wallis one-way analyses of variance and Mann-Whitney U test (p?0.05) were used. Results: The rate of space closure showed no significant difference among the three groups (p?0.05), whi
... Show MoreGenerally, direct measurement of soil compression index (Cc) is expensive and time-consuming. To save time and effort, indirect methods to obtain Cc may be an inexpensive option. Usually, the indirect methods are based on a correlation between some easier measuring descriptive variables such as liquid limit, soil density, and natural water content. This study used the ANFIS and regression methods to obtain Cc indirectly. To achieve the aim of this investigation, 177 undisturbed samples were collected from the cohesive soil in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraq. Results of this study indicated that ANFIS models over-performed the Regression method in estimating Cc with R2 of 0.66 and 0.48 for both ANFIS and Regre
... Show MoreAverage per capita GDP income is an important economic indicator. Economists use this term to determine the amount of progress or decline in the country's economy. It is also used to determine the order of countries and compare them with each other. Average per capita GDP income was first studied using the Time Series (Box Jenkins method), and the second is linear and non-linear regression; these methods are the most important and most commonly used statistical methods for forecasting because they are flexible and accurate in practice. The comparison is made to determine the best method between the two methods mentioned above using specific statistical criteria. The research found that the best approach is to build a model for predi
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