Climate change, together with terrorism, economic depressions, and mass-destructive weaponry, is a source of international phobia for many people. The advancement in technology increases the competition among world powers and economic systems to develop their industrial enterprises. The smoke that emits from the factories, the pollution caused by the industrial projects, the excessive use of green gas result in the increase of global warming and have catastrophic effects on the ecosphere of the planet. Besides, man’s wrong practices even in agricultural matters are exhausting the natural resources of the lands, and they badly affect the ecological diversity and the wellbeing of the humans and non-humans alike. Contemporary feminist writers treat this international crisis as a priority and start to devote their writings to address ecological issues. These eco-feminists believe that their suffering from patriarchal oppression is not different from man’s exploitation of nature. Through their ecological activism, they endeavor to protect the environment and the planet from the selfish practices of the industrial companies. Barbra Kingsolver is one of the early pioneers of this emerging fictional subgenre. As previous studies of her works focus on individual novels, this study is an evaluation of her contribution to eco-feminist fiction in three major works: Animals Dream, Prodigal Summer, and Flight Behavior.
The performance quality and searching speed of Block Matching (BM) algorithm are affected by shapes and sizes of the search patterns used in the algorithm. In this paper, Kite Cross Hexagonal Search (KCHS) is proposed. This algorithm uses different search patterns (kite, cross, and hexagonal) to search for the best Motion Vector (MV). In first step, KCHS uses cross search pattern. In second step, it uses one of kite search patterns (up, down, left, or right depending on the first step). In subsequent steps, it uses large/small Hexagonal Search (HS) patterns. This new algorithm is compared with several known fast block matching algorithms. Comparisons are based on search points and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). According to resul
... Show MoreObesity is an escalating health problem in developing countries. One to ten children worldwide are overweight in a report showed by the International Obesity Task Force. Ghrelin, orexigenic peptide, has 28 amino acids, it is considered the greatest remarkable promotion in the last two decades for understanding the physiological changes of action regulating food intake and hunger. Obestatin is a 23-amino acid peptide nearly connected to ghrelin that secures from substitutio
... Show MoreTwo novel demountable shear connectors for precast steel-concrete composite bridges are presented. The connectors use high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the steel beam with the aid of a special locking configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connectors promote accelerated construction and overcome typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connectors allow bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, while precast
... Show MoreAn encryption system needs unpredictability and randomness property to maintain information security during transmission and storage. Although chaotic maps have this property, they have limitations such as low Lyapunov exponents, low sensitivity and limited chaotic regions. The paper presents a new improved skewed tent map to address these problems. The improved skew tent map (ISTM) increases the sensitivity to initial conditions and control parameters. It has uniform distribution of output sequences. The programs for ISTM chaotic behavior were implemented in MATLAB R2023b. The novel ISTM produces a binary sequence, with high degree of complexity and good randomness properties. The performance of the ISTM generator shows effective s
... Show MoreThe synthesis, characterization and liquid crystalline properties of N4,N40-bis((1 H-benzo[d]imidazol-2- yl)methyl)-3,30-dimethyl-[1,10-biphenyl]-4,40-diamine and of their corresponding Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni (II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes are described. The ligand and complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility measurements (meff), conductometric measurements and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR), (13C-NMR) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Spectral investigations suggested octahedral coordination geometrical arrangement for M(II) complexes. The phase transition temperatures were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and the phases are confirmed by op
... Show MoreThe synthesis, characterization and liquid crystalline properties of N4,N40 -bis((1 H-benzo[d]imidazol-2- yl)methyl)-3,30 -dimethyl-[1,10 -biphenyl]-4,40 -diamine and of their corresponding Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni (II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes are described. The ligand and complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility measurements (meff), conductometric measurements and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1 H NMR), (13C-NMR) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Spectral investigations suggested octahedral coordination geometrical arrangement for M(II) complexes. The phase transition temperatures were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and the phases are confirmed
... Show MoreThe synthesis, characterization and liquid crystalline properties of N4,N40-bis((1 H-benzo[d]imidazol-2- yl)methyl)-3,30-dimethyl-[1,10-biphenyl]-4,40-diamine and of their corresponding Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni (II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes are described. The ligand and complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility measurements (meff), conductometric measurements and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR), (13C-NMR) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Spectral investigations suggested octahedral coordination geometrical arrangement for M(II) complexes. The phase transition temperatures were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and the phases are confirmed by op
... Show MoreBackground: The synthesis and characterization of novel liquid crystalline compounds have garnered signi|cant attention due to their potential applications in biomedical sciences, including drug delivery systems, biosensing, and diagnostic tools. This study focuses on synthesizing and characterizing new thiazolothiadiazole-based liquid crystals and evaluating their mesophase properties. Methods: A series of novel compounds containing 5H-thiazolo[4,3−b][1,3,4] thiadiazole units were synthesized via multi-step chemical reactions. The synthesis involved the reaction of chloroethyl acetate with 4−hydroxybenzaldehyde to yield an aldehyde intermediate, followed by subsequent transformations using hydrazine hydrate, ethylacetoacetate, and 1,2
... Show MoreBackground: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a devious pathogen with the tendency to prompt many acute and serious chronic diseases. This study aims to detect novel genes (Toxins-Antitoxins II system), especially; higB and higA encoded from P. aeruginosa by PCR technique and the relation between these genes and antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa. Methods: This study detected 50 isolates of P. aeruginosa from distinct clinical sources. The most common origin of isolates was (44%) burn swabs, (22%) urine culture, (12%) wound swabs, (14%) sputum, and (8%) ear swabs. The bacteria were isolated using implantation MacConkey agar and blood agar, as well as biochemical tests including oxidase test, catalase test then VITEK-2 System of P. aerug
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