The effect of 532nm Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) laser at power density of 5.234 W/cm2 on the growth of Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated. These bacteria were isolated from samples taken from burn and infected wound areas of 55 patients admitted to the burn-wound unit in Al-Kindy teaching hospital in Baghdad during the period from October 2012 to March 2013. Each isolate was identified using microscopic, cultural and biochemical methods. A standard bacterial suspension was prepared for each isolate. Serial dilutions were then prepared and a dilution of 10-5 was selected. Irradiation experiments included four groups: (L-P-) bacterial suspension in saline solution, (L-P+) bacterial suspension in the presence of 0.1mg/ml photosensitizer (safranin O), (L+P-) bacterial suspension treated with laser radiation only and finally (L+P+) bacterial suspension treated with laser radiation in the presence of the photosensitizer. After irradiation, Cetrimide agar (P. aeruginosa) and Mannitol salt agar (S.aureus) were used. Seven replicates were used for each experimental group. Different times of exposure were applied for irradiated groups. The results revealed that twenty two isolates out of 70 samples were positive for P. aeruginosa (31%) and fifteen isolates out of 35 samples were positive for S. aureus (42%). The combined effect of DPSS laser and safranine O was significantly effective in reducing the number of Colony Forming Units per milliliter (CFU/ml) of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus compared with control groups. Almost a complete bacterial mortality achieved at 25 and 5 minutes of exposing to laser light in the presence of safranin O for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus respectively, suggesting that singlet oxygen (O2*) and/or reactive oxygen species (ROS) were involved in the killing of the bacteria.
Understanding, promoting, and teaching media literacy is an important societal challenge. STEM educators are increasingly looking to incorporate 21st century skills such as media literacy into core subject education. In this paper we investigate how undergraduate Computer Science (CS) students can learn media literacy as a by-product of collaborative video tutorial production. The paper presents a study of 34 third-year CS undergraduates who, as part of their learning, were each asked to produce three video tutorials on Raspberry Pi programming, using a collaborative video production tool for mobile phones (Bootlegger). We provide results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the production process and resulting video tutorials,
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Exponential distribution is one of most common distributions in studies and scientific researches with wide application in the fields of reliability, engineering and in analyzing survival function therefore the researcher has carried on extended studies in the characteristics of this distribution.
In this research, estimation of survival function for truncated exponential distribution in the maximum likelihood methods and Bayes first and second method, least square method and Jackknife dependent in the first place on the maximum likelihood method, then on Bayes first method then comparing then using simulation, thus to accomplish this task, different size samples have been adopted by the searcher us
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A novel demountable shear connector is proposed to link a concrete slab to steel sections in a way that resulting steel-concrete composite floor is demountable, i.e. it can be easily dismantled at the end of its service life. The proposed connectors consist of two parts: the first part is a hollow steel tube with internal threads at its lower end. The second part is a compatible partially threaded bolted stud. After linking the stud to the steel section, the hollow steel tube can be fastened over the threaded stud, which create a complete demountable shear connector. The connector is suitable for use in both composite bridges and buildings, and using cast in-situ slabs, precast solid slabs, or hollow-core precast slabs. A series of push-off
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Two dimensional meso-scale concrete modeling was used in finite element analysis of plain concrete beam subjected to bending. The plane stress 4-noded quadrilateral elements were utilized to model coarse aggregate, cement mortar. The effect of aggregate fraction distribution, and pores percent of the total area – resulting from air voids entrapped in concrete during placement on the behavior of plain concrete beam in flexural was detected. Aggregate size fractions were randomly distributed across the profile area of the beam. Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed to treat the discontinuities problems result from double phases of concrete and cracking that faced during the finite element analysis of concrete beam. Crac
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An analytical model in the form of a hyperbolic function has been suggested for the axial potential distribution of an electrostatic einzel lens. With the aid of this hyperbolic model the relative optical parameters have been computed and investigated in detail as a function of the electrodes voltage ratio for various trajectories of an accelerated charged-particles beam. The electrodes voltage ratio covered a wide range where the lens may be operated at accelerating and decelerating modes. The results have shown that the proposed hyperbolic field has the advantages of producing low aberrations under various magnification conditions and operational modes. The electrodes profile and their three-dimensional diagram have been determined whi
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The aim of this paper is to investigate and discuss the mechanisms of corrosion of epoxy coatings used for potable water tanks. Two distinct types of Jotun epoxy coatings: Tankguard 412 contained polyamine cured epoxy and Penguard HB contained polyamide cured epoxy, were tested and studied using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) method. The porosity of epoxy coatings was determined using EIS method. The obtained results showed that the two epoxy coatings have excellent behavior when applied and tested in potable water of Basrah city. Polyamine is more resistance to water corrosion compared to polyamide curing epoxy and has high impedance values. Microscopic inspection after te
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In this paper, a least squares group finite element method for solving coupled Burgers' problem in 2-D is presented. A fully discrete formulation of least squares finite element method is analyzed, the backward-Euler scheme for the time variable is considered, the discretization with respect to space variable is applied as biquadratic quadrangular elements with nine nodes for each element. The continuity, ellipticity, stability condition and error estimate of least squares group finite element method are proved. The theoretical results show that the error estimate of this method is . The numerical results are compared with the exact solution and other available literature when the convection-dominated case to illustrate the effic
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In this manuscript has investigated the synthesis of plasma-polymerized pyrrole (C4H5N) nano-particles prepared by the proposed atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma jet through the parametric studies, particularly gas flow rate (0.5, 1 and 1.5 L/min). The plasma jet which used operates with alternating voltage 7.5kv and frequency 28kHz. The plasma-flow characteristics were investigated based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES). UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to characterize the oxidization state for polypyrrole. The major absorption appears around 464.1, 449.7 and 435.3 nm at the three flow rate of argon gas. The chemical composition and structural properties of the
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The development of economic and environmentally friendly extractants to recover cobalt metal is required due to the increasing demand for this metal. In this study, solvent extraction of Co(II) from aqueous solution using a mixture of N,N0-carbonyl difatty amides (CDFAs) synthesised from palm oil as the extractant was carried out. The effects of various parameters such as acid, contact time, extractant concentration, metal ion concentration and stripping agent and the separation of Co(II) from other metal ions such as Fe(II), Ni(II), Zn(III) and Cd(II) were investigated. It was found that the extraction of Co(II) into the organic phase involved the formation of 1:1 complexes. Co(II) was successfully separated from commonly associated metal
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