chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disease with episodes of exacerbation. Variable factors including infectious pathogen can predispose for this exacerbation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of intestinal protozoa in COPD exacerbation. A total of 56 patients with COPD were included in this study. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the frequency of exacerbation during the last 6 months: those with ≤1 exacerbation (32 patients) and those with ≥2 exacerbations (24 patients). Stool specimens from each patient were collected two times (one week interval) examined for intestinal parasite. In univariate analysis, rural residence and parasitic infection were more common among patie

Ruthenium-Ruthenium and Ruthenium–ligand interactions in the triruthenium "[Ru₃(μ-H)(μ₃-κ²-Hamphox-N,N)(CO)₉]" cluster are studied at DFT level of theory. The topological indices are evaluated in term of QTAIM (quantum theory of atoms in molecule). The computed topological parameters are in agreement with related transition metal complexes documented in the research papers. The QTAIM analysis of the bridged core part, i.e., Ru₃H, analysis shows that there is no bond path and bond critical point (chemical bonding) between Ru(2) and Ru(3). Nevertheless, a non-negligible delocalization index for this non-bonding interaction is calculated

Construction projects have a special nature and affect them many factors making them exposed to multiple risks as a result of the length of the implementation period and the multiplicity of stages, starting from the decision stage through implementation until the final delivery, which leads to increased uncertainty and the likelihood of risk.
The process of analysis and risk management is one of the effective and productive methods that are used in managing the construction projects for the purpose of increasing the chances of ending the project successfully in terms of cost, time and quality and at the lowest possible problems.

The research aims first to the effective planning for analysis and risk managemen

Lean Six Sigma methodologies and Ergonomics principles are the main pillars of this work given their importance in the implementation of continuous improvement in assembly workstations design. When looking at the introduction of the Ergonomics that has been affected by the integration of the Lean and Six Sigma for improvements, it is necessary to understand why these methodologies belong to each other and how they can be handled in the industrial field. The aim of the work seeks towards the impact of analyzing the integration of the basics tools of Lean and Six Sigma that enhanced Ergonomics highlighted the importance of using the priority matrix in the selection of the priority criteria. Two models of a system based on

Language is an important means through which one can construct one's social world. Accordingly, the way we view ourselves and the world is basically formed by language use whereby identities, relations, and values are constructed and maintained. Most discourse analysts consider narrative not only the locus of construction and enactment of identity, but also a distinguished genre for its analysis.The present study is concerned with how identity can poetically be informed, hence exploring the way black poets use language when reflecting their identity and culture. The poem, right on: white america by the black American poetess Sonia Sanchez, is chosen to be analyzed based on Simpson's stylistic model (2004). In this model, the ana

Shallow foundations have been commonly used to transfer load to soil layer within the permissible limits of settlement based on the bearing capacity of the soil. For most practical cases, the shape of the shallow foundation is of slight significance. Also, friction resistance forces in the first layers of soils are negligible due to non-sufficient surrounding surface area and compaction conditions. However, the bearing capacity of a shallow foundation can be increased by several techniques. Geocell is one of the geosynthetic tool applied mainly to reinforce soil. This study presents a numerical approach of honeycombed geocell steel panels reinforcing the sandy soil under shallow foundation, and several parameters are investigated such as th

The present study attempts to give a detailed discussion and analysis of parenthetical constructions in English and Arabic, the aim being to pinpoint the points of similarity and difference between the two languages in this particular linguistic area.The study claims that various types of constructions in English and Arabic could be considered parenthetical; these include non-restrictive relative clauses, non-restrictive appositives, comment clauses, vocatives, interjections, among others. These are going to be identified, classified, and analyzed according to the Quirk grammar - the approach to grammatical description pioneered by Randolph Quirk and his associates, and published in a series of reference grammars during the 1970

In this paper we proposed the method of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) determination of some essential trace elements in medicinal herbs and vitamin-mineral complexes at the level of 10⁰-10¹ mg/ml. To increase sensitivity and selectivity of the determination we simple and effective approach based on the extraction of metal ions from aqueous solutions with chemically modified polyurethane foam sorbents followed by direct XRF analysis. The conditions of sorption preconcentration of Co(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) ions with modified sorbents were optimized. The proposed approach is used for the determination of trace elements in several kinds of medicinal herbs (coltsfoot leaves, nettle leaves and yarrow herb) and vitamin-mineral

The parameters of resistance spot welding (RSW) performed on low strength commercial aluminum sheets are investigated experimentally, the performance requirements and weldability issues were driven the choice of a specific aluminum alloy that was AA1050. RSW aluminum alloys has a major problem of inconsistent quality from weld to weld comparing with welding steel
alloys sheet, due to the higher thermal conductivity, higher thermal expansion, narrow plastic temperature range, and lower electrical resistivity. Much effort has been devoted to the study of describing the relation between the parameters of the process (welding current, welding time, and electrode force) and weld strength. Shear-tensile strength tests were performed to ind

The deployment of UAVs is one of the key challenges in UAV-based communications while using UAVs for IoT applications. In this article, a new scheme for energy efficient data collection with a deadline time for the Internet of things (IoT) using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is presented. We provided a new data collection method, which was set to collect IoT node data by providing an efficient deployment and mobility of multiple UAV, used to collect data from ground internet of things devices in a given deadline time. In the proposed method, data collection was done with minimum energy consumption of IoTs as well as UAVs. In order to find an optimal solution to this problem, we will first provide a mixed integer linear programming m