In this paper, a new class of nonconvex sets and functions called strongly -convex sets and strongly -convex functions are introduced. This class is considered as a natural extension of strongly -convex sets and functions introduced in the literature. Some basic and differentiability properties related to strongly -convex functions are discussed. As an application to optimization problems, some optimality properties of constrained optimization problems are proved. In these optimization problems, either the objective function or the inequality constraints functions are strongly -convex. 

Kriging, a geostatistical technique, has been used for many years to evaluate groundwater quality. The best estimation data for unsampled points were determined by using this method depending on measured variables for an area. The groundwater contaminants assessment worldwide was found through many kriging methods. The present paper shows a review of the most known methods of kriging that were used in estimating and mapping the groundwater quality. Indicator kriging, simple kriging, cokriging, ordinary kriging, disjunctive kriging and lognormal kriging are the most used techniques. In addition, the concept of the disjunctive kriging method was explained in this work to be easily understood.

This work intends to develop an effective heavy metal-free modifier having properties comparable to traditional stabilizers and flame retardants, simultaneously being environmentally friendly and may be superior in many aspects. The important requirement focused on is: how to increase thermal stability and flame retardancy of flexible poly(vinyl chloride). Due to the typical materials now used with poly(vinyl chloride), which increases health and environmental concerns, utilizing a novel heavy metal-free additive will make poly(vinyl chloride) substantially safer. We have used an artificial silicate for this aim, which proved to be an efficient flame retardant and surprisingly showed excellent heat stabilizing effect. Thermal stabi

Background: Parotid gland tumors account for 80% of all salivary gland neoplasms, 20% of these are malignant, but in daily clinical practice most parotid masses are operated on before obtaining the final histological diagnosis. This clinical setting further complicates the critical point of parotid surgery, which is the management of the facial nerve. Materials and methods: 45 patients underwent parotidectomy for benign and malignant neoplasms. A complete history is collected from the patients with the duration and the site of the tumor, the facial nerve examined and its associations, a medical consultation done for opinion and management. Clinical examination with facial nerve was mandatory to avoid any mistakes that may occur. The most si

Amoxicillin have been conjugated with metronidazole as possible mutual prodrug to get a wider spectrum of activity by acting on aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, have antifungal activity, to provide protection for beta lactam ring of amoxicillin and also to improve patient compliance as it given as a single dose therapy. The structures of the synthesized compound were confirmed and characterized using elemental microanalysis (CHN), IR and some physiochemical properties. Biological study was done by using  disc diffusion method against different bacterial strains which are , Staphylococcus aureus , Salmonella typhie , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , E. coli , Klebsiella pneumonia and fungi ( Candida albicans) . using nutrien

The research studied and analyzed the hybrid parallel-series systems of asymmetrical components by applying different experiments of simulations used to estimate the reliability function of those systems through the use of the maximum likelihood method as well as the Bayes standard method via both symmetrical and asymmetrical loss functions following Rayleigh distribution and Informative Prior distribution. The simulation experiments included different sizes of samples and default parameters which were then compared with one another depending on Square Error averages. Following that was the application of Bayes standard method by the Entropy Loss function that proved successful throughout the experimental side in finding the reliability fun

Reinforced concrete (RC) slabs strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and subjected to flexural actions may experience many types of failure, including FRP debonding, FRP rupture and concrete crushing. Of these different types of failure modes, FRP debonding stands out as the most predominant type of failure because of its dependence on the relatively weak bond interface between the soffit of the RC member and the FRP sheet attached to it. Many anchorage systems have been developed to enhance the performance of strengthened systems, one of which is the hybrid anchor, which combines the effects of patch anchors and spike anchors. Hybrid anchors have shown significant enhancement when used with RC members subjected to shear

This paper proposes a compact, plasmonic-based 4 × 4 nonblocking switch for optical networks. This device uses six 2 × 2 plasmonic Mach-Zehnder switch (MZS), whose arm waveguide is supported by a JRD1 polymer layer as a high electro-optic coefficient material. The 4 × 4 switch is designed in COMSOL environment for 1550 nm wavelength operation. The performance of the proposed switch outperforms those of conventional (nonplasmonic) counterparts. The designed switch yields a compact structure ( 500 × 70   µ m 2 ) having V π L = 12   V · µ m , 1.5 THz optical bandwidth, 7.7 dB insertion loss, and −26.5 dB crosstalk. The capability of the switch to route 8 × 40 Gbps WDM signal is demonstrated successfully.