A simple, environmental friendly and selective sample preparation technique employing porous membrane protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) loaded with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) is described. After the extraction, the analyte was desorbed using ultrasonication and was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of OTA for coffee, grape juice and urine were 0.06 ng g−1, 0.02 and 0.02 ng mL−1, respectively while the quantification limits were 0.19 ng g−1, 0.06 and 0.08 ng mL−1, respectively. The recoveries of OTA from coffee spiked at 1, 25 and 50 ng g−1, grape juice and urine samples at 1, 25 and 50 ng mL

Enhancing quality image fusion was proposed using new algorithms in auto-focus image fusion. The first algorithm is based on determining the standard deviation to combine two images. The second algorithm concentrates on the contrast at edge points and correlation method as the criteria parameter for the resulted image quality. This algorithm considers three blocks with different sizes at the homogenous region and moves it 10 pixels within the same homogenous region. These blocks examine the statistical properties of the block and decide automatically the next step. The resulted combined image is better in the contras

The feature extraction step plays major role for proper object classification and recognition, this step depends mainly on correct object detection in the given scene, the object detection algorithms may result with some noises that affect the final object shape, a novel approach is introduced in this paper for filling the holes in that object for better object detection and for correct feature extraction, this method is based on the hole definition which is the black pixel surrounded by a connected boundary region, and hence trying to find a connected contour region that surrounds the background pixel using roadmap racing algorithm, the method shows a good results in 2D space objects.
Keywords: object filling, object detection, objec

In drilling processes, the rheological properties pointed to the nature of the run-off and the composition of the drilling mud. Drilling mud performance can be assessed for solving the problems of the hole cleaning, fluid management, and hydraulics controls. The rheology factors are typically termed through the following parameters: Yield Point (Yp) and Plastic Viscosity (μp). The relation of (YP/ μp) is used for measuring of levelling for flow. High YP/ μp percentages are responsible for well cuttings transportation through laminar flow. The adequate values of (YP/ μp) are between 0 to 1 for the rheological models which used in drilling. This is what appeared in most of the models that were used in this study. The pressure loss

Background: This study evaluate the immunohistochemical expression profile of transforming growth factor beta-1 in inflamed gingival tissue of patients with gingivitis and chronic periodontitis compared to healthy subjects and, determine the correlation between this cytokine and the clinical periodontal parameters, intensity of inflammation and chronic periodontitis severity. Materials and methods: Gingival tissue specimens were taken from 23 chronic periodontitis patients, 20 gingivitis patients and 20 periodontally healthy subjects. The periodontal status was evaluated by dichotomous measurements of the clinical periodontal parameters (PLI, GI, BOP, PPD, CAL). The gingival specimens were fixed immediately in 10% formalin and processed ro