Archives-July 2015

Design and analysis of model reference adaptive control systems based on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rule and Lyapunov rule are applied to a bioreactor first order process. The system is simulated using Matlab simulink and it is investigated for various values of adaptation gain of the process. Performance of the adaptive controller is compared with the PI&PID controller (using Chien–Hrones–Reswick (CHR) rule) for a step input.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is used with Arc-Hydro tool of Arc-GIS to described flow direction, flow accumulation, streams orders and basins in the republic of Iraq. The Republic of Iraq is in southwest Asia between latitudes 29° 5' and 37° 22' N and longitudes 38° 45' and 48° 45' E; it forms the eastern frontier of the Arab countries. Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan, Syria and the Kingdom of Saudi to the west, and the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the south, border it (see Figure 1). Its unique environmental, biological and social features, which are unlike anywhere else in the Arabian Peninsula, characterize the country. It has a total area of 438 317 km2. The results referred to there are five stream orders and two main basins in the study area.

Estimating soil temperature from air temperature is very necessary in some areas that are difficult to reach for the purpose of measuring soil temperature. In this research There are three Station Automatic Weather were selected in the study areas located in the North (Almosul), Middle (Abu-Ghraib), west (Hadethaa) and South (Alkahlaa) of Iraq (36.33° N, 43.16° E), (33.32° N, 44.23° E), (42.00°N, 34.35°E) ,(47.19°N, 31.80° E) respectively. The results referred to strong relationships between the averaged daily air temperature and averaged daily soil temperature at the 10 cm depth for sites. The correlations (R2) values were very high 0.93, 0.939, 0.980, 0.937 in Almosul, Abu-Ghraib , Hadethaa and Alkahlaa sites respectively. Linear equations to estimate soil temperature from air temperature were y=1.274x-6.517 in the north of Iraq, y=1.084x-0.305 in the middle of Iraq, y=1.065x+0.154 in the west of Iraq, y=0.849x+5.14 in the south of Iraq.

Beta-cyfluthrin at 18 g a.i. ha-1 applied twice as foliar spray was found to be most effective in controlling the whitefly and dissipation pattern was studied by collecting okra fruits at 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 days after last spray and analyzed at AINP on Pesticide Residues, Hyderabad. The initial deposits of beta-cyfluthrin (18.75 g a.i. ha-1) in okra fruits was 0.11 mg kg-1 dissipated to below detectable level (BDL) on 5th day.

Colon is an ideal site for delivering drugs for both systemic and local action. The aim of the study is to formulate a sustained release tablet dosage form for theophylline, which is used for treating nocturnal asthma. Theophylline tablets were prepared by direct compression method and coated with Eudragit S100 and HPMC inorder to avoid the drug release in the upper gastro intestinal tract. Tablets were characterized by the following parameters like hardness, friability, film property, weight variation, uniformity of drug content and in vitro dissolution studies were performed by half dilution method. The coated tablets remain intact drug release up to 5 hours. An accelerated stability study was carried out at ambient condition and 45ºC with 75% relative humidity. In conclusion the coated theophylline tablets was found to be better alternate for the conventional tablets to release the drug in the mid night and early in the morning which is desirable features for treating nocturnal asthma.

In Malaysia, global tourism has also proven to be capable of creating job opportunities, especially low-level, service-related jobs such as hotel worker, taxi driver, for the local people. The development of the tourism, can additional income for many household and able to increase the standard of living to the local people such as participation in homestay program. This article writes about tourism, community based tourism and homestay in Malaysia.

An attempt is made to provide a deconstruction of the theoretical underpinnings of performance management and development within the context of modern public sector organisations. The article provides a discussion on the concept of an employee management and development system (EPMS), as well as the key steps in the employee performance management and development process. The article further discusses the various techniques used in the modern public sector organisations.

Recent decades, the colon targeting drug delivery via oral route is one of the most convenient and popular systems, which deliver the drugs to the specific site for both local as well as systemic action. Oral conventional dosage forms basically disintegrate in the stomach and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and it mainly depends on the physicochemical properties of the drug. But targeting the drug to the colon should be protected till it reaches to cecum by means of controlled polymers. Colonic drug delivery has become popular to treat diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, carcinomas and other infections, where by local concentration can be achieved in specific site , and minimizing the side effects. Colon site has being investigated as a potential site for delivery of proteins and peptides. Biodegradable polymers from natural synthetic sources are very cheap, widely available and resistant to digestive action to stomach and GIT enzymes. Presently the numbers of studies have been carried and reported with natural polymers for targeting the drugs to colon. Generally, they have more potential advantages than the synthetic one. The present review is elaborately revealed the potential advantages of natural polysaccharides and its cross-linking derivatives.

Chronic non-communicable diseases are the major threat to the health of population in developing countries. Tobacco smoking is one of the preventable underlying factors responsible for this group of diseases. Pakistan faces a higher prevalence of smoking despite the fact that masses are well aware about the ill health effects arising from smoking, thus leading to high unmet need for cessation of smoking. The current community based study on three hundred & twenty subjects looked into the situation unmet need & determinants for higher level of unmet need. The overall prevalence of current smoking in both genders was 49%. There was however no significant relation between gender & smoking (p=0.28). The met need to quit smoking was 21.5% while unmet need to quit smoking was computed as 26.15%. The reasons for not being able to quit smoking were that smokers were of the opinion that they could fully control their smoking habits in future (28.6%; p=0.08), smokers were unaware about smoking cessation services (54.4%; p=0.02), lack of training to health care providers for imparting counseling services (37.2%; p=0.05), the subjects expressed need to establish locally based services with community based smoking cessation advisors (78.6%; p=0.01). The study concluded that in presence of high motivation among smokers to quit smoking, there is urgent need to provide appropriate smoking cessation services to the target population.

Six periods of English agriculture namely: prehistoric, historic, agricultural revolution, post agricultural revolution, green planet and post green planet were identified. Their previous and current land management practices were reviewed with reference to East Anglian Region (EAR), the food basket of the nation. The current land management practices at EAR with Writtle College Research and Teaching Farm as case study included: grassland on permanent pasture; one on 5 y ley to stocking, the other sown with red clover a y before stocking; the third treated with N fertilizer a y before stocking; the fourth on arable crop (barley); with pristine woodland as control. By aid of CENTURY 4.0 Model, simulation of soil carbon (C) storage was generated for the past, present and future (8050 yrs). The validity of the model was tested by fitting measured with simulated C. The closeness of data fit in deciduous woodland shows the accuracy of the prediction; while the variations in other sites show the effects of management. The assumed practices during different historical and future periods led to the following predictions and conclusions. All the current land management practices including woodland do not sequester enough C. Integrated approaches like agroforestry, silviculture are required. Nevertheless, given the current land management soil C sequestration will be moderate (0.02 ± 0.003 t ha-1 y-1) up to 2055 before impacts that will require other sustainable options will be noticed.