In The Bluest Eye (1970) , Toni Morrison addresses a timeless problem of white racial dominance in the United States and points to the impact it has on the life of black females growing up in the 1930's. Morrison in this novel explores how Western standards of ideal beauty are created and propagated with and among the black community. The novel not only portrays the lives of those whose dark skinned and negroid features blight their lives; it also shows how the standards of white beauty are imposed on black youth to cause a damage of one's self-love and esteem which usually occurs when beauty goes unrecognized

This project presents an enhanced Iraqi vehicle plate identification system, incorporating digital processing technologies and the XOR Auto-Associative Memory advanced associative memory algorithm, towards a fast and efficient performance under diverse conditions of imagery. The system consists of three major stages: identification of the panel area, or localization, using edge transformations and morphological operations; symbol segmentation, or segmentation, based on horizontal and vertical projections for the exact extraction of numbers and letters; and finally, recognition use of XOR operations and a binary distance criterion known as Hamming Distance. The model was tested on 420 images of panels in different scenarios of lighting

There is a continuous and massive need for newer cephalosporins that should have resistance against β-lactamases and can be used orally. An approach of using cephalexin, as a well-studied and potent antibacterial compound is considered to prepare new designed derivatives.  These derivatives include the incorporation of amino acid moiety linked through an amide bond with the α-amino group of cephalexin. Certain aliphatic amino acids were used, such as glycine, alanine, valine and proline. The chemical structures of these derivatives were confirmed by IR spectroscopy and elemental analyses. All the synthesized compounds were subjected for preliminary evaluation of antimicrobial activity using well diffusion method, against certa

The study conducted to investigate the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and eye diseases (Glaucoma, Cataract, CSR and Uveitis). One hundred and four patients with multiple eye disorders (10-80) years were observed from 10/9 to 18/11/2020 and compared to thirty-one healthy people (19 female and 12 male). Both participants were tested for anti-H. pylori IgA, and IgG antibodies using ELISA. There were non –significant differences (P≥0.05) in the concentration of anti-H. pylori IgA Abs in sera of patients with Glaucoma, CSR, and Uveitis compared to the control group, but there was a significant difference (P≤0.05) in the concentration of H. pylori IgA Abs in sera of patients with Cataract compared to the control group and

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

NeuroAIDS refers to the spectrum of neuropsychiatric complications observed in approximately 30–50% of HIV/AIDS patients. Although the advent of antiretroviral therapy has reduced the severity of AIDS, mild cognitive deficits persist in nearly half of treated patients, highlighting limitations in central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery. These limitations are attributed to poor blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, P-glycoprotein efflux, low solubility, first-pass metabolism, and short half-lives of many ART drugs. Nose-to-brain drug delivery has emerged as a promising alternative, bypassing the BBB via olfactory and trigeminal pathways. This route offers direct CNS access while minimizing systemic exposure. Factors such as dr

Darifenacin hydrobromide is a selective ?₃ receptor antimuscarinic drug and it is used in the management of urinary frequency, urgency, and incontinence in detrusor instability. It slightly soluble in water, undergoes extensive hepatic first-pass metabolism and has short elimination half-life (3–4 hours). Therefore, It has low bioavailability (15.4 % - 18.6 %). Darifenacin hydrobromide loaded NLCs were formulated by emulsification sonication using different ratios of solid lipid to liquid lipid, different types of surfactants, and different concentration of surfactants. Formula sixteen was considered as an optimized formula based on its particle size, PDI, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency. Formula sixteen subjected t

Poly(ethylene oxide) is a promising material for solid-state lithium batteries due to its safety, ease of processing, and compatibility with lithium. However, conventional linear PEO falls short of practical requirements due to its limited ionic conductivity, a consequence of the high crystallinity of its ethylene oxide chains. This crystallinity hinders the movement of lithium ions, limiting its performance in solid-state battery applications. In this study, we successfully prepared the plasticized solid polymer electrolytes (PSPEs) based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/ tetracyanoethylene (TCE) complexed with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salt and studied the effect of TCE on structural, mechanical, electrical and elec