The main aim of this research is to introduce financing cost optimization and different financing alternatives. There are many studies about financing cost optimization. All previous studies considering the cost of financing have many shortcomings, some considered only one source of financing as a credit line without taking into account different financing alternatives. Having only one funding alternative powers, restricts contractors and leads to a very specific financing model. Although it is beneficial for the contractor to use a long-term loan to minimize interest charges and prevent a substantial withdrawal from his credit line, none of the existing financial-based planning models have considered long-term loans in
... Show MoreZainab M. Al-Bahrani Department of Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.Corresponding author: Zainab M. Al-Bahra...
Undoubtedly, rutting in asphalt concrete pavement is considered a major dilemma in terms of pavement performance and safety faced by road users as well as the road authorities. Rutting is a bowl-shaped depression in the wheel paths that develop gradually with the increasing number of load applications. Heavy axle loadings besides the high pavement summer temperature enhance the problem of rutting. According to the AASHTO design equation for flexible pavements, a 1.1 in rut depth will reduce the present serviceability index of relatively new pavement, having no other distress, from 4.2 to 2.5. With this amount of drop in serviceability, the entire life of the pavement in effect has been lost. Therefore, it is crucial to look at the mechani
... Show MoreA gantry robot is one of the most common types of industrial robots with linear movement. This type of robot is also known as a Cartesian or linear robot. It is an automated industrial system that moves along linear paths, enabling it to create a 3D envelope of the space in which it operates. A robot of this type has a standardised configuration process because it can have several sets of axes, such as X, Y and Z. The gantry robot picks up products from several places, so it can search through various locations. Afterwards, it carefully deposits the products on a conveyor belt for the next stage of the procedure or final shipment. This integration enables continuous and automated material flow
... Show MoreThe Leishmania donovani parasite causes visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an acute and fatal form of leishmaniasis. Because traditional therapy alternatives, such as glucantime and other pentavalent medicines, are toxic and have side effects, new treatments with fewer negative effects are needed. Only a handful of drugs are clinically beneficial to treatments of the disease, but considerable limitations threaten their very usage. Novel, safe, and efficient drugs, including those against antimalaria and leishmaniasis co-infections, are so essential. Artemether (ATM) is an Artemisinin derivative that has been demonstrated to be useful in the treatment of malaria and, more recently, leishmaniasis. The current research was carried out to evaluate th
... Show MoreThe neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
The study involved 132 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 81 healthy controls matched in terms of age and gender. Their sociodemographic data, disease activity scores using the Bath Ankylosing
Drought is a natural phenomenon in many arid, semi-arid, or wet regions. This showed that no region worldwide is excluded from the occurrence of drought. Extreme droughts were caused by global weather warming and climate change. Therefore, it is essential to review the studies conducted on drought to use the recommendations made by the researchers on drought. The drought was classified into meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and economic-social. In addition, researchers described the severity of the drought by using various indices which required different input data. The indices used by various researchers were the Joint Deficit Index (JDI), Effective Drought Index (EDI), Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), Sta
... Show More