Few studies have addressed how olfactory systems may be adapted to different odour environments. I have performed the largest study to date, comparing olfactory receptor neurons in the two congeneric species of scarab beetle, P. marginata and P. interrupta. Both species are fruit- and flower-eaters but geographically separated (equatorial versus sub-Saharan Africa, resp.). They have similar lamellate antennae covered mostly with numerous olfactory sensilla placodea (plate sensilla) and a lesser number of other types, mainly sensilla coeloconica (grooved peg), and smooth peg sensilla of unknown function. By means of single sensillum recordings with tungsten microelectrodes I screened a great number of olfactory sensilla with a large array of odorants. I compared 456 sensilla placodea, containing 212 responding cells, over the whole antennae in both species. The olfactory systems of these two species displayed an amazing degree of conservation, with 20 identified olfactory neuron classes, all except two of which were found in both species with no detectable difference in response profiles. The exceptions were two olfactory receptor neuron classes: methyl benzoate and gamma-nonalactone, which were only found in Pachnoda marginata. In general, the two species showed an almost total overlap in their receptor neuron assemblies. One aim of the study was also to test whether the arrangement of neurons within sensilla was conserved between the species, but this could not be tested as very few combinations of characterized neurons were encountered during the study.

Key words: olfaction, electrophysiology, scarab beetles, Pachnoda marginata, Pachnoda interrupta, single sensillum recording, olfactory receptor neurons

The sorghum chafer, Pachnoda interrupta Olivier

(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae), is a key pest on

sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (Poaceae), in

Ethiopia. At present there is a lack of efficient control

methods. Trapping shows promise for reduction of the pest

population, but would benefit from the development of

attractive lures. To find attractants that could be used for

control of P. interrupta, either by mass trapping or by

monitoring as part of integrated pest management, we

screened headspace collections of sorghum and the highly

attractive weed Abutilon figarianum Webb (Malvaceae) for

antennal activity using gas chromatograph-coupled electroantennographic

detection (GC-EAD). Compounds active in

GC-EAD were identified by combined gas chromatography

and mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) provide an opportunity to meet the growing needs of rural areas. Many of the key features of ICT can be used to provide information and the requirements of people in rural areas. The digital divide considered is an important problem that countries face and it is much more complex than simply building out telecommunication networks and infrastructure. The divide is the result of a wide range of social factors, including but not limited to economy factors, education, literacy. Telecommunication infrastructure alone will not guarantee that users will be able to access and take advantage of services on the network. The paper begins with an introduction to the digital divide, and thus to highlight several successful initiatives provided by educational institutions and governmental organizations in Libya in the adoption of ICT. Finally, the paper provides some of the solutions proposed to reduce this divide.

The present study was performed to evaluate the anti-schistosomal activity of the medicinal plant ginger Zingiber officinale. Mice were individually infected with 100 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. Four weeks post-infection, mice were orally treated with 1200 mg/kg of ginger for ten consecutive days. After the last dose all animals were sacrificed to evaluate the efficacy of ginger in treatment of the infection. The results obtained showed moderate reduction of 16.5% in the worm burden compared with control infected animals. The liver egg count showed a marked reduction of 53.8%. Ginger treatment showed a significant reduction in the size of liver granuloma where a percentage reduction of 66.35 was observed. Ginger treatment was slightly reflected on the liver function at such rate of infection, where an improvement in serum arginase activity was recorded, while no appreciable improvement in hepatic ALT and AST activities, albumin and creatinine contents. In conclusion Z. officinale displayed some degree of anti-schistosomal activity through reducing of the S. mansoni eggs output and the liver granuloma size.

تمت إضافة ثلاثة أنواع نباتية للفلورا الليبية هي Ruta montana + Pimpinella cretica + plantago bellardii

تمت إضافة ثلاثة أنواع نباتية للفلورا الليبية هي Lactuca saligna + Sanguisorba minor

The use of computers for handling image data in the healthcare is growing The amount of data produced by modem image generating techniques, such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR), is vast. The amount of data might be a problem from a storage point of view or when the data is sent over a network. To overcome these problems data compression techniques adapted to these applications are needed Many classes of images contain some spatial regions which are more important than other regions. Compression methods which are capable of achieving higher reconstruction quality of important parts of the image have been implemented For medical images, only a small portion of the image might be diagnostically useful but the cost of wrong interpretation is high. Algorithms which deliver lossless compression within the regions of interest (ROJ), and lossy compression elsewhere in the image, might be the key to providing efficient and accurate image coding to the medical community. In this thesis both of compression techniques (lossy and lossless) of medical images using the JPEG algorithm (DCT), will be discussed.