In this study, thirty-two adult male mice were divided into four groups control and experimental treatment groups received crocin at 4, 20, and 100 mg/kg daily for six weeks. In results, testosterone level was increased significantly from 18.5 ng/dl in the control to 49.3 ng/dl in group received crocin at 20 mg/kg. The regular features of seminiferous tubules with increased Sertoli cells have been observed in the 20mg/kg crocin group.  In the group received crocin at 100 mg/kg, many of the seminiferous tubules were atrophic, spermatogenic cells were discontinuous in the same areas while the space among them has been increased, and fewer interstitial tissue between seminiferous tubules were observed. The changes were markedly

Highly plastic soils exhibit unfavorited properties upon saturation, which produce different defects in engineering structures. Attempts were made by researchers to proffer solutions to these defects by experimenting in practical ways. This included various materials that could possibly improve the soil engineering properties and reduce environmental hazards. This paper investigates the strength behavior of highly plastic clay stabilized with brick dust. The brick dust contents were 10%, 20%, and 30% by dry weight of soil. A series of linear shrinkage and unconfined compression tests were carried out to study the effect of brick dust on the quantitative amount of shrinkage experienced by highly plastic clay and the undra

Background: Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a promising implant material due to its superior biomechanical strength. However, due to its hydrophobic nature and lack of cellular adhesion properties, it has poor integration with bone tissue. Methods: A fractional CO2 laser was used with various parameters for surface texturing of PEEK substrate to enhance its surface properties. An optical microscope and field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) were used to examine the surface morphology of untextured and laser-textured samples. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was performed to determine the effect of the laser on the microstructure of PEEK. Surface microroughness, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and wettability were invest

For design purposes, it`s necessary to know the compression rate of soil layers which might be happened when it`s subjected to effective stresses. Also, it`s essential to know the rate of flow through soil mass specially for the design of marine structures or earth embankment. These two important behavior could be predicted from the coefficient of consolidation (Cv) and the coefficient of permeability (k). This study shows the effect of cutback asphalt stabilization on Cv and k and other compressibility factors, the investigation was done for silty clay samples, specimens were prepared by mixing the soil with different percentage of asphalt from (0-10)% and subjected to one-dimensional consolidation test of 50mm diameter and 20mm height wer

Echocardiography is a widely used imaging technique to examine various cardiac functions, especially to detect the left ventricular wall motion abnormality. Unfortunately the quality of echocardiograph images and complexities of underlying motion captured, makes it difficult for an in-experienced physicians/ radiologist to describe the motion abnormalities in a crisp way, leading to possible errors in diagnosis. In this study, we present a method to analyze left ventricular wall motion, by using optical flow to estimate velocities of the left ventricular wall segments and find relation between these segments motion. The proposed method will be able to present real clinical help to verify the left ventricular wall motion diagnosis.

The design, synthesis, and characterization of a star shaped 2,4,6-tris-(4`-carboxyphenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine liquid crystalline with columnar discotic mesophase properties establish H-bond interactions with 3,5-dialkoxypyidine were reported. The structures of the synthesized compounds were actually determined by elementary analysis, and FT-IR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, and mass spectroscopy. The mesomorphic properties of these mesogens were examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarizing microscopy (OPM). The synthesized molecules exhibited enantiotropic hexagonal columnar liquid crystal, which depends for the H- bond complex in a 1:3 ratio.

In this research two algorithms are applied, the first is Fuzzy C Means (FCM) algorithm and the second is hard K means (HKM) algorithm to know which of them is better than the others these two algorithms are applied on a set of data collected  from the Ministry of Planning on the water turbidity of five areas in Baghdad to know which of these areas are less turbid in clear water to see which months during the year are less turbid in clear water in the specified area.

This work concerned on nanocrystalline NiAl2O4 and ZnAl2O4 having spinel structure prepared by Sol–gel technique. The structural and characterization properties for the obtained samples were examined using different measurements such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), finally, Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM).The Spinel-type for two prepared compound (NiAl2O4) and (ZnAl2O4) at different calcination temperature examined by XRD. Williamson-Hall Methods used to estimate crystallite size, Average distribution crystallite size of two compound were, 34.2 nm for NiAl2O4 and32.6 for ZnAl2O4, the increase in crystallite size affecting by increasing in calcination temperature for both comp