Introduction: Methadone hydrochloride (MDN) is an effective pharmacological substitution treatment for opioids dependence, adopted in different countries as methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programmes. However, MDN can exacerbate the addiction problem if it is abused and injected intravenously, and the frequent visits to the MMT centres can reduce patient compliance. The overall aim of this study is to develop a novel extended-release capsule of MDN using the sol-gel silica (SGS) technique that has the potential to counteract medication-tampering techniques and associated health risks and reduce the frequent visits to MMT centres. Methods: For MDN recrystallisation, a closed container method (CCM) and hot-stage method (HSM) were conducted, and MDN crystals were characterised using the polarised light microscope (PLM). MDN crystal thickness was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy (CM) to establish a relationship between MDN crystals thickness and their birefringence colours using the Michel-Levy Birefringence Colour Chart. The experimental series was continued to produce novel silica-based MDN formulations A and B capsules by adding MDN powder at the end and beginning of the SGS process, respectively. The silica-based MDN formulations were characterised by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), SEM, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), PLM and mean grey value (MGV) analyses. The in vitro release studies (n=3) for the silica-based MDN formulations and pure MDN capsules were conducted in a phosphate buffer solution (pH= 7.2) for 7 days. Stability studies were conducted for 1 month by keeping the silica-based MDN capsules under 25°C and 57% RH. Results: The optimal method to produce large numbers of MDN crystals was the CCM, and MDN crystals were characterised as diamond shaped with an intrinsic angle of 62o. The SEM surpassed the CM in measuring MDN crystal thickness, and Mann-Whitney U Test showed statistically significant differences between SEM and confocal thickness measurements (U= 1283, p < 0.05) as the SEM exhibited thinner diamond crystals (6.62 ± 2.9 µm) than the CM measurements (9.6 ± 4.6µm). According to the Michel-Levey birefringence colour chart (using the SEM mean thickness of MDN crystals and their retardation value of 428 nm), most of MDN crystals demonstrated a yellow colour. The FT-IR, SEM, DSC, MGV and PLM analyses of both silica-based MDN formulations revealed that MDN was successfully incorporated inside the silica network producing amorphous material (with no appearance of the melting peak of pure MDN at 233.4°C) with evidence of no physical or chemical interaction between sol-gel silica and MDN. However, the TGA analysis revealed a significantly greater amount of MDN was loaded inside the silica-based MDN formulation B compared to A (t = 2.80, p = 0.009, n=6), as 28.3 ± 0.6 mg of MDN was loaded in the former while 25.6 ± 0.7 mg in the latter. In addition, the silica-based MDN formulation B released 10% more MDN after 7 days than formulation A, and both formulations were stable when stored for 1 month under 57% RH and 25°C. Conclusion: The novel combined use of SEM and PLM techniques shows a potential for the identification of MDN in forensic science as it established a range of birefringence colours of MDN crystals. Moreover, the new silica-based MDN formulation B can help to deter MDN abuse and increase patient adherence to MMT due to its potential to sustain MDN release and reduce the frequent visits to MDN treatment centres.
With the continuous downscaling of semiconductor processes, the growing power density and thermal issues in multicore processors become more and more challenging, thus reliable dynamic thermal management (DTM) is required to prevent severe challenges in system performance. The accuracy of the thermal profile, delivered to the DTM manager, plays a critical role in the efficiency and reliability of DTM, different sources of noise and variations in deep submicron (DSM) technologies severely affecting the thermal data that can lead to significant degradation of DTM performance. In this article, we propose a novel fault-tolerance scheme exploiting approximate computing to mitigate the DSM effects on DTM efficiency. Approximate computing in hardw
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تتحقق اهداف الدول عبر توظيف امكانياتها ومواردها ، وهذا التوظيف يقترن بوسائل مختلفة باختلاف الامكانيات المتاحة. وتتفاوت هذه الوسائل ما بين الاكراه والترغيب ، واحياناً من الممكن استخدام كلا الوسيلتين ، وتندرج هذه الوسائل من حيث تصنيفها ضمن نوعين رئيسين هما: القوة الصلبة ]القوة العسكرية والاقتصادية[ والقوة الناعمة ]استخدام جميع ادوات الترغيب وتسخيرها من اجل ان تُعجب بها الدول الاخرى وتنصاع
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An intelligent software defined network (ISDN) based on an intelligent controller can manage and control the network in a remarkable way. In this article, a methodology is proposed to estimate the packet flow at the sensing plane in the software defined network-Internet of Things based on a partial recurrent spike neural network (PRSNN) congestion controller, to predict the next step ahead of packet flow and thus, reduce the congestion that may occur. That is, the proposed model (spike ISDN-IoT) is enhanced with a congestion controller. This controller works as a proactive controller in the proposed model. In addition, we propose another intelligent clustering controller based on an artificial neural network, which operates as a reactive co
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The need for participants’ performance assessments in academia and industry has been a growing concern. It has attendance, among other metrics, is a key factor in engendering a holistic approach to decision-making. For institutions or organizations where managing people is an important yet challenging task, attendance tracking and management could be employed to improve this seemingly time-consuming process while keeping an accurate attendance record. The manual/quasi-analog approach of taking attendance in some institutions could be unreliable and inefficient, leading to inaccurate computation of attendance rates and data loss. This work, therefore, proposes a system that employs embedded technology and a biometric/ w
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With the aim of developing potential antimicrobials, a series of novel Ciprofloxacin methylene isatin derivatives incorporating different aromatic aldehydes were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, Mass spectroscopy and bases of elemental analysis. In addition, the in vitro antibacterial and antifungal properties were tested against some human pathogenic microorganisms by employing the disc diffusion technique. A majority of compounds were showing activity against several of the microorganisms. The relationship between the functional group variation and the biological activity of the evaluated compounds is discussed. From comparisons of the compounds, 3c was determined to be the most active compound.
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The research aims to examine the evaluation of educational quality management and the ways to improve it in the College of Education for Women at the University of Baghdad from the point of view of the academic staff. The research community consisted of (288) participants comprising all members of the academic staff in the College of Education for Women at the University of Baghdad for the academic year (2019-2020). As for the questionnaire, it was distributed to the academic staff of the scientific departments according to their affiliation for the purpose of identifying the availability of the requirements of the quality of the teaching service provided to them by the educational institution. The researcher adopted a questionnaire deve
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