Phytophagous stink bugs (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae) are economically important insect pests of fruit, vegetable, nut and field crops. This study was carried out during the season of 2013 in orchards within Erbil city, to follow the stink bug Mustha spinulosa (Lefebvre, 1831) seasonal fluctuation on some fruit trees: olive, plum, apricot, pear, apple and almond.
The stink bug reaches its maximum abundance throughout the second week of August (38.2/tree) coinciding with mean temperature and relative humidity of 33.40C and 28.14% respectively, and the highest total mean of the number of the insect was recorded on the olive trees (181.8/tree). The study reveals that the stink bug attacked 22 trees (fruit and forest) while it has not atta

Now-a-days the Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) technology is very effective in improving the power flow along the transmission lines and makes the power system more flexible and controllable. This paper deals with the most robust type of FACTS devices; it’s a Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC). Many cases have been taken to study how the system behaves in the presence and absence of the UPFC under normal and contingency conditions. The UPFC is a device that can be used to improve the bus voltage, increasing the loadability of the line and reduce the active and reactive power losses in the transmission lines, through controlling the flow of real and reactive power. Both the magnitude and the phase angle of th

This article presents the simultaneous adsorption of bimetal Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺ from an aqueous solution using activated carbon synthesized from a plum seed precursor by sulfuric acid and microwave activation: plum seeds chemically activated by 45% (w/w) sulfuric acid with 2:1 ratio for 4 h, then carbonized for 2 h at 700 °C and the product obtained activated in a microwave oven for 20 min at 700 W for final of activation. Plum seeds and activated carbon produced were characterized in terms of their physical and chemical composition using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements, field emission scanning electr

The present work investigates the effect of magneto – hydrodynamic (MHD) laminar natural convection flow on a vertical cylinder in presence of heat generation and radiation. The governing equations which used are Continuity, Momentum and Energy equations. These equations are transformed to dimensionless equations using Vorticity-Stream Function method and the resulting nonlinear system
of partial differential equations are then solved numerically using finite difference approximation. A thermal boundary condition of a constant wall temperature is considered. A computer program (Fortran 90) was built to calculate the rate of heat transfer in terms of local Nusselt number, total mean Nusselt number, velocity distribution as well as te

This study describe the effect of temperature on the optical
properties of nickel(ii) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium
salt (NiPcTs) organic thin films which are prepared by spin coating
on indium tin oxide (ITO-glass). The optical absorption spectra of
these thin films are measured. Present studies reveal that the optical
band gap energies of NiPcTs thin films are dependent on the
annealing temperatures. The optical band gap decreases with increase
in annealing temperature, then increased when the temperature rising
to 473K. To enhance the results of Uv-Vis measurements and get
more accurate values of optical energy gaps; the Photoluminescence
spectra of as-deposited and annealed NiPcTs thin fi

Microfluidic devices provide distinct benefits for developing effective drug assays and screening. The microfluidic platforms may provide a faster and less expensive alternative. Fluids are contained in devices with considerable micrometer-scale dimensions. Owing to this tight restriction, drug assay quantities are minute (milliliters to femtoliters). In this research, a microfluidic chip consisting of micro-channels carved on substrate materials built using an Acrylic (Polymethyl Methacrylate, PMMA) chip was designed using a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) laser machine. The CO2 parameters influence the chip’s width, depth, and roughness. To have a regular channel surface, and low roughness, the laser power (60 W), with scanning speed (250 m/s)

Background: The anticancer impact of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) the highly active polyphenol of green tea was abundantly studied.  Though, the exact mechanism of its cytotoxicity is still under investigation. Objectives: Hence, the current study designed to investigate the molecular target of EGCG in HepG2 cells on thirteen autophagy- and/or apoptosis- related genes. Methods: The apoptosis detection analyses such as flow cytometry and dual apoptosis assay were used. The genes expression profile was explored by the real-time quantitative-PCR. Results: EGCG increases G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and the real-time apoptosis markers proteins leading to stimulate apoptos

Proteus mirabilis isolates have been intensively researched for their capacity to cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) and their swarming motility, although little is known about this phenomenon. Probiotic Lactobacillus species, which are beneficial bacteria, are being studied worldwide as therapeutic and preventative agents against bacterial infections. This study investigated Lactobacillus supernatants as a potential new treatment against Proteus mirabilis. In addition to testing their antimicrobial and anti-swarming activities, the research also aimed to understand the genetic mechanisms behind the observed phenotypic changes. Methods. A total of 150 urine specimens were collected from UTI patients at various hospitals in Baghdad. Dire