Soil fertility is a crucial factor in measuring soil quality, it indicates the extent to which soil can support plant life. Soil fertility is measured by the amount of macro and micronutrients, pH, etc. Soil nutrients are depleted after each harvest and therefore must be added. To maintain soil nutrient levels, fertilizer is added to the soil. Adding fertilizer in the precise amount is a matter of great importance because excess or insufficient application can harm plant life and reduce productivity. The use of modern technology is a solution to this problem. Although automated techniques for sowing, weeding, crop harvesting, etc. have been proposed and implemented, none of the techniques are aimed to maintaining soil fertility. The study a

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

In this paper, a design of the broadband thin metamaterial absorber (MMA) is presented. Compared with the previously reported metamaterial absorbers, the proposed structure provides a wide bandwidth with a compatible overall size. The designed absorber consists of a combination of octagon disk and split octagon resonator to provide a wide bandwidth over the Ku and K bands' frequency range. Cheap FR-4 material is chosen to be a substate of the proposed absorber with 1.6 thicknesses and 6.5×6.5 overall unit cell size. CST Studio Suite was used for the simulation of the proposed absorber. The proposed absorber provides a wide absorption bandwidth of 14.4 GHz over a frequency range of 12.8-27.5 GHz with more than %90 absorp

Hyperpigmentation is the increase in the natural color of the skin. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Q-Switched Nd:YAG (1064 & 532 nm) Laser in treatment of skin hyper pigmentation. This study was done in the research clinic of Institute of laser for postgraduate Studies/University of Baghdad from October 2008 to the end of January 2009. After clinical assessment of skin hyperpigmentation color, twenty six patients were divided according to their lesions. Eight Patients with freckles, seven patients with melasma, four patients with tattoo. Cases with tattoo, were subdivided into amateur tattoos two, professional tattoos one, and one traumatic tattoo. Four Patients with post inflammatory hyperpigment

This research included the preparation of 2-mercaptobenzoxazole (N1) by the reaction of ortho-aminophenol with carbon disulfide in an alcoholic potassium hydroxide solution. The 2-mercapto benzoxazole (N1) was then treated with hydrazine to obtain the 2-hydrazino benzoxazole (N2). A number of hydrazones (N3-N5) were prepared through the reaction of N2 with different benzaldehydes. The compound (N6) was also prepared whereby the ring closing of hydrazone (N3) using chloroacetylchloride, while the compound (N7) was prepared by treating 2-hydrazino benzoxazole with acetylacetone. When the compound (N1) was treated with formaldehyde, it afforded the compound (N8). Also, the N9 was obtained from the reaction of N1 with chloroacetic acid in th

Objective: Zerumbone (ZER) is a well-known natural compound that has been reported to have anti-cancer effect. Thus, this study investigated the ZER potential to inhibit Thymidine Phosphorylase (TP) and the ability to trigger Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cytotoxicity in non-small cell lung cancer, NCI-H460, cell line. Material and Method: The antiangiogenic activity for ZER was evaluated by using the thymidine phosphorylase inhibitory test. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was determined via DCFDA dye by using flow cytometry. Result and Discussion: ZER was found to be potent TP inhibitory with the IC50 value of 50.3± 0.31 μg/ml or 230±1.42 µM. NCI-H460 cells upon treatment with ZER produced sign

This paper demonstrates the spatial response uniformity (SRU) of two types of heterojunctions (CdS, PbS /Si) laser detectors. The spatial response nonuniformity of these heterojunctions is not significant and it is negligible in comparison with p+- n silicon photodiode. Experimental results show that the uniformity of CdS /Si is better than that of PbS /Si heterojunction