In this paper the experimentally obtained conditions for the fusion splicing with photonic crystal fibers (PCF) having large mode areas were reported. The physical mechanism of the splice loss and the microhole collapse property of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) were studied. By controlling the arc-power and the arc-time of a conventional electric arc fusion splicer (FSM-60S), the minimum loss of splicing for fusion two conventional single mode fibers (SMF-28) was (0.00dB), which has similar mode field diameter. For splicing PCF (LMA-10) with a conventional single mode fiber (SMF-28), the loss was increased due to the mode field mismatch.

Frequently, load associated mode of failure, rutting and fatigue, are the main failure types found in some newly constructed roads within Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and some suburban areas. The use of excessive amount of natural sand in asphalt concrete mixes which is attractive to local contractors could be one of the possible causes to the lack of strength properties of the mixes resulting in frustration in the pavement performance. In this study, the performance properties of asphalt concrete mixes with two natural sand types, desert and river sands, were evaluated. Moreover, five replacement rates of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% by weight of the fine aggregate finer than 4.75 were used. The performance properties including moisture susc

The nanostructured Manganese dioxide/Carbon fiber (CF) composite electrode was prepared galvanostatically using a facile method of anodic electrodeposition by varying the reaction time and MnSO4 concentration of the electrochemical solution. The effects of these parameters on the structures and properties of the prepared electrode were evaluated. For determining the crystal characteristics, morphologies, and topographies of the deposited MnO2 films onto the surfaces of carbon fibers, the X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques were used, respectively. It found that the carbon fibers were coated with γ-MnO2 with a density that increased with increasing the de

This paper tackles with principal component analysis method (PCA ) to dimensionality reduction in the case of linear combinations to digital image processing and analysis. The PCA is statistical technique that shrinkages a multivariate data set consisting of inter-correlated variables into a data set consisting of variables that are uncorrelated linear combination, while ensuring the least possible loss of useful information. This method was applied to a group of satellite images of a certain area in the province of Basra, which represents the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Shatt al-Arab in the province of Basra.

This study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective activity and antioxidant enzymes of purified Bauhinia variegate leaves extract and purified flowers extract were administered (200 mg/kg, orally once daily) to reduce the effect of carbon tetrachloride-damage in rat’sliver for three weeks. Thereafter, the levels of some serum biochemical factorssuch as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase,and the activity of three different antioxidant enzymes (glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and catalase) were investigated.Liver homogenate can used to estimated antioxidant parameters: glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase. The purified Bauhinia variegate leaves and purified flowers significantly

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell nephropathy, a heterogeneous group of renal abnormalities resulting from complex interactions of sickle cell disease (SCD)-related factors and non-SCD phenotype characteristics, is associated with an increased risk for morbidity and mortality. AIMS: The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of microalbuminuria (MA) among pediatric patients with SCD and to determine risk factors for MA among those patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A case–control study was carried out on 120 patients with SCD, 2–18 years old, registered at Basrah Center for Hereditary Blood Diseases, and 132 age-and sex-matched healthy children were included as a control group. Investigations included complete blood panel, blood urea, se

Pathological blood clot in blood vessels, which often leads to cardiovascular diseases, are one of the most common causes of death in humans. Therefore, enzymatic therapy to degrade blood clots is vital. To achieve this goal, bromelain was immobilized and used for the biodegradation of blood clots. Bromelain was extracted from the pineapple fruit pulp (Ananas comosus) and purified by ion exchange chromatography after precipitation with ammonium sulphate (0-80 %), resulting in a yield of 70%, purification fold of 1.42, and a specific activity of 1175 U/mg. Bromelain was covalently immobilized on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), with an enzyme loading of 71.35%. The results of the characterization of free and immobilized

The paper aims is to solve the problem of choosing the appropriate project from several service projects for the Iraqi Martyrs Foundation or arrange them according to the preference within the targeted criteria. this is done by using Multi-Criteria Decision Method (MCDM), which is the method of Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratios Analysis (MOORA) to measure the composite score of performance that each alternative gets and the maximum benefit accruing to the beneficiary and according to the criteria and weights that are calculated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The most important findings of the research and relying on expert opinion are to choose the second project as the best alternative and make an arrangement acco

In this paper, fire resistance and residual capacity tests were carried out on encased pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) I-beams with high-strength concrete beams. The specimens were loaded concurrently under 25% of the ultimate load and fire exposure (an increase in temperature of 700 °C) for 70 min. Subsequently, the fire-damaged specimens were allowed to cool and then were loaded statically until failure to explore the residual behaviors. The effects of using shear connectors and web stiffeners on the residual behavior were investigated. Finite Element (FE) analysis was developed to simulate the encased pultruded GFRP I-beams under the effect of fire loading. The thermal analyses were performed using the general-pu