The quality and cost of constructed buildings are heavily influenced by the performance of design/auditing consultants. Thus, selecting the right design consultant and design auditing consultants is of utmost importance and not an easy task for any construction client. so, the client should specify the efficiency criteria and assess the performance levels of the design and design auditing consultant firm. The study aims to identify the selection criteria of the design consultant in construction projects and also identify the selection criteria of the design auditing consultant for the construction projects by using the Delphi survey with applying the principal components analysis (PCA). The results of the present study showed that there are 13 key criteria for selecting the design consultant, where the criterion of “Efficiency and experience of the company/consultant in previous work” was of the highest importance. While there are Ten key criteria for selecting the design auditing consultant for the construction project, where the criterion of “Credibility and professional integrity (transparency, professional conduct, and ethics)” was of the highest importance in the decision-making process. Moreover, the results of applying PCA on the Delphi survey outcomes showed that all the resulting selection criteria are most valuable and suitable for the selection process in construction projects.
This study was established to investigate the correlation between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1) and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Blood samples were collected from 55 female patients with inflammatory OA and controls for estimation of serum (MMP-1) levels. In the current study, there is significant increase (p<0.001) in the mean of serum MMP-1 levels in osteoarthritis females (4027.73 ± 1345.28 pg/ml) than that in control females (798.76 ± 136.79 pg/ml). It was concluded that MMP-1 may be associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
In recent years, there has been expanding development in the vehicular part and the number of vehicles moving on the road in all the sections of the country. Vehicle number plate identification based on image processing is a dynamic area of this work; this technique is used for security purposes such as tracking of stolen cars and access control to restricted areas. The License Plate Recognition System (LPRS) exploits a digital camera to capture vehicle plate numbers is used as input to the proposed recognition system. Basically, the developing system is consist of three phases, vehicle license plate localization, character segmentation, and character recognition, the License Plate (LP) detection is presented using canny Edge detection algo
... Show MoreNaturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. S
... Show MoreAbstract: Background: Prediabetes and are increasing in prevalence all over the world, they each carry risks to the future development of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. These risks will be greatly exaggerated if they occur together in the same individual. The aim of the study was to find the prevalence and the association of prediabetes and metabolic syndrome, in addition to analyzing the correlation of the risk factors that lead to their development. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, simple random study that included 300 Iraqi individuals, aged between 30-75 years, who accepted to take part in this study were recruited. Result: Prevalence of prediabetes and metabolic syndrome was (33.66%) and (42%) r
... Show MoreThis study aimed to evaluate the IHC expression of CDX2 protein in HGC patients and control groups and also to study the correlation between IHC expression of the CDX2 and different clinicopathological variables such as: age, gender, histopathological subtype, grade, and stage of the tumor in HGC cases. the retrospectively sectional study for the period from 2014 to 2018 included a total of 60 formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks of the HGC tissue (partial or total gastrectomy specimens) that collected from the archived materials of the Department of Pathology of Baghdad Teaching Hospital and the Center of Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Diseases, and also some samples were collected from other private laboratories. The IHC expression of th
... Show MoreExpressions of Gratitude in American English and Iraqi Arabic (). Expressing gratitude is one of the most frequently occurring communicative acts in...
In recent years the interest in fractured reservoirs has grown. The awareness has increased analysis of the role played by fractures in petroleum reservoir production and recovery. Since most Iraqi reservoirs are fractured carbonate rocks. Much effort was devoted to well modeling of fractured reservoirs and the impacts on production. However, turning that modeling into field development decisions goes through reservoir simulation. Therefore accurate modeling is required for more viable economic decision. Iraqi mature field being used as our case study. The key point for developing the mature field is approving the reservoir model that going to be used for future predictions. This can
Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mineral density and deterioration of bone architecture, resulting in bone strength reduction and increased fracture susceptibility. Estrogen deficiency in post-menopausal women is possibly responsible for the instability between bone formation and resorption, which is managed by specific osteoclastogenic cytokines that may be leading to resorption. This study aims to estimation of the concentrations of interleukins −8, −17, −22, beside to certain parameters in blood serum and explained their roles in the development of osteoporosis pathogenicity in postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods A case-control study included 108 Iraqi postmenopausal women participa
... Show MoreBackground: Oocytes are susceptible to alterations in the various fatty acid contents of follicular fluid (FF), which may influence maturation and embryogenesis. Different fatty acids exert various effects on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which needs further studies to uncover the involved mechanisms. Objectives: To assess FF fatty acids in women undergoing ICSI and to correlate them with ICSI parameters, namely the total count of aspirated oocytes, oocyte maturation rate, fertilization rate and percentage of good-quality embryos. Methods: Fifty women undergoing ICSI were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. FF samples were collected during oocyte retrieval and were analyzed for fatty acids using gas chromatography. Fa
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