The Iraqi marshes are considered the most extensive wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and are located in the middle and lower basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers which create a wetlands network and comprise some shallow freshwater lakes that seasonally swamped floodplains. Al-Hawizeh marsh is a major marsh located east of Tigris River south of Iraq. This study aims to assess water quality through water quality index (WQI) and predict Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations in Al-Hawizeh marsh based on artificial neural network (ANN). Results showed that the WQI was more than 300 for years 2013 and 2014 (Water is unsuitable for drinking) and decreased within the range 200-300 in years 2015 and 2016 (Very poor water). The developed ANN mode gave a high correlation coefficient reaching 0.927 for the prediction of TDS from the model and showed high levels of TDS in Al-Hawizeh marsh that pose threats to people using the marsh for drinking and other uses. The dissolved Oxygen concentration has the highest importance of 100% in the model because the water of the marsh is fresh water, while Turbidity had the lowest importance.
Background Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin conditions; its prevalence ranges from 1 to 3%. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a cytokine that enhances inflammation, is overexpressed in synovium and skin plaques in psoriasis. TNF-α plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. IL-10 is the most crucial cytokine for reducing excessive immune responses and decreasing pro-inflammatory reactions in all autoimmune disorders. Objective To evaluate the effect of Apremilast on ILـ10, TNFـα, and BMI in obese psoriatic patients. Methods Thirty patients included in this investigative study to measure the concentrations of TNFـα, ILـ10 and BMI, before and after receiving Apremilast. TNFـα and
... Show MoreIn this study, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to detect damage in curved beam model, stiffness as well as mass matrices of the curved beam elements is formulated using Hamilton's principle. Each node of the curved beam element possesses seven degrees of freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The curved beam element had been derived based on the Kang and Yoo’s thin-walled curved beam theory. The identification of damage is formulated as an optimization problem, binary and continuous genetic algorithms
(BGA, CGA) are used to detect and locate the damage using two objective functions (change in natural frequencies, Modal Assurance Criterion MAC). The results show the objective function based on change in natural frequency i
Apple slice grading is useful in post-harvest operations for sorting, grading, packaging, labeling, processing, storage, transportation, and meeting market demand and consumer preferences. Proper grading of apple slices can help ensure the quality, safety, and marketability of the final products, contributing to the post-harvest operations of the overall success of the apple industry. The article aims to create a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to classify images of apple slices after immersing them in atmospheric plasma at two different pressures (1 and 5 atm) and two different immersion times (3 and again 6 min) once and in filtered water based on the hardness of the slices usin
Literature reviews of reports concerning the parasitic fauna of fishes of Al-Diwaniyah province, Iraq till the end of December 2018 showed that a total of 43 parasite species are so far known from 13 valid fish species investigated for parasitic infections. The parasitic fauna included one euglenozoan, two myzozoans, six ciliophorans, three myxozoans, three trematodes, nine monogeneans, four cestodes, six nematodes, three acanthocephalans and six crustaceans. The infection with the trematodes, one monogenean, two cestodes and one nematode occurred with larval stages, while the remaining infections were either with trophozoites or adult parasites. Among the inspected fishes, Carasobarbus luteus was infected wit
... Show MoreBiodegradation is utilizing microorganisms to degrade materials into products that are safe for the
environment, such as carbon dioxide, water, and biomass. The current study aims to isolate and characterize
bacteria with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation ability isolated from Shatt al-Arab water and
sewage from Basra, the bacteria were identified as Klebsiella pneumonia. According to the findings, the
isolates showed a highly significant difference in degradation of PET (24% during 7 days) and the percent of
degradation increased to 46% at 4 weeks compared to the control. The study also involved determining the
optimum temperature of K. pneumonia growth, which was 37°C, while the preferred
Background: Ear infections can manifest in many forms depending on site of infection whether external, middle or internal ear and the culprit pathogen whether viral, bacterial or fungal. Acute middle ear infections are usually accompanied by aural discharge. Objective: 1. To get an overview on the bacterial pathogens involved in ear infections. 2. To assess the antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted in Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital / Baghdad /Iraq. Swabs taken from 225 patients suffering from aural discharge were tested for culture and sensitivity for the duration of two years 2018-2019. Aural discharge is cultured by inoculating it into blood, MacConkey agar, chocolate agars and Sabou
... Show MoreSuccess in selecting the best among the sources of supply is one of the most important factors in the efficiency of the procurement activity in the company, because the proper selection of the source of the supply significantly affect the achievement of what is desired by the factors of quality, quantity, price and service, and the ability of the competent supplier to meet everything associated with this Factors of commitments, hereby supporting the procurement function's efforts to fully discharge its responsibilities, and in view of adopting of Al-Furat company quality management system by applying the standards of ISO (9001: 2015) and purpose of getting the on-demand benefits from the application of international standards reg
... Show MoreMaximizing the water productivity for any agricultural system is considered an adaptation to the potential climate change crisis. It is required, especially in arid and semi-arid environments in Iraq. Therefore, this study assessed the potential impact of climate change on the different environments in the Qadissiya and Nineveh provinces. The ensemble of six GCM models employed for the regional climate model of the HCLIM-ALADIN in high-resolution 10*10 km2 and Aqua-Crop was used to examine the response of water productivity and yield of winter wheat. With and without CO2 concentration changing under different water regimes in the near term (2020-2040
In the present work, poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) doped with Rhodamine 6G was prepared. The spectral properties (absorption and fluorescence) of the films were studied at different concentrations (1x10-5, 2x10-5, 5x10-5, 7x10-5, and 1x10-4mol/l). The investigated samples were made in the form of thin films. This was achieved by dissolving a certain weight of PMMA in a fixed volume of chloroform, composite films was with thickness (25.8μm) at room temperature. The achieved results were pointed out that absorption and fluorescence spectra have taken a wide spectral rang so when increased the concentratio
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