Highway embankments stability during its service period represents an important factor for the safety of highway users and vehicles. Consequently, the cost of construction of these embankments should be adequate to maintain the safety and durability during this period through proper estimation of the loading on asphalt pavement, slope stability, horizontal and vertical deformation, etc. Slope stability of the embankment mainly depends on the shear strength of the soil layers materials; this shear strength is affected by the water table level through the contribution of the capillary water. Negative pore water pressure above the water table level evolves matric suction in the unsaturated zone above water table; this matric suction increases the shear strength of the soil depending on the soil type, void ratio, etc. This paper studies the slope stability of highway embankment using finite element method analysis to show the effect of the presence of water table and the contribution of the matric suction. A trial slope is shown to have same factor of safety with reduced cross section due to increasing the shear strength hence, reducing the cross-sectional cost is determined.
This study was aimed to investigate the protective effect of vitamin D on L-arginine induced acute pancreatitis in rats. Twenty eight white Albino rats of both sexes were divided into 4 equal groups. Negative control rats (group I) intra-peritoneally injected with normal saline, positive control (group II) rats induced acute pancreatitis with L- arginine, group III rats treated with a single dose of vitamin D, and group IV treated with single dose of vitamin D prior to first dose of L- arginine. Serum amylase, lipase and cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor –alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL1β); in addition, my eloperoxidase (MPO) enzyme activity in the pancreas were measured. In acute pancreatitis group (group II), there was a
... Show MoreConcrete pavements are essential to modern infrastructure, but their low tensile and flexural strengths can cause cracking and shrinkage. This study evaluates fiber reinforcement with steel and carbon fibers in various combinations to improve rigid pavement performance. Six concrete mixes were tested: a control mix with no fiber, a mix with 1% steel fiber (SF1%), a mix with 1% carbon fiber (CF1%), and three hybrid mixes with 1% fiber content: 0.75% steel /0.25% carbon fiber (SF0.75CF0.25), 0.25% steel /0.75% carbon fiber (SF0.25CF0.75), and 0.5% steel /0.5% carbon fiber ((SF0.5CF0.5). Laboratory experiments including compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strength tests were conducted at 7, 28, and 90 days, while Finite Element Analys
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify 1) the differences of emotional stability development level according to the variable of age; and 2) the differences of emotional stability development level according to the variable of gender (male, female). This study employed a descriptive approach, whereby a total of 165 primary and secondary school student was randomly selected from the directorate of AL -rusafa side (1st rusafa) of Baghdad province to constitute the sample of the study. The questionnaire was created based on the previous testes and studies that are relevant to emotional stability, and all its psychometrics features were examined. The researcher analyzed the data using SPSS statistic
... Show MoreBackground: Color stability of glass ionomers (GIs) could be affected by many factors such as pH and consumption of liquid medications like antibiotics. Most common antibiotics used during childhood are amoxicillin suspension (AM.S) and azithromycin suspension (AZ.S) which have acidic and basic pH respectively. Aim: to evaluate and compare the effect of AM.S and AZ.S on color stability of nano resin-modified GI. Methods: Thirty disc of nano resin-modified glass ionomer (2mm height x 4mm diameter) were divided into three groups (n=10 for each) and independently exposed to AM.S, AZ.S, and artificial saliva (A.S.). Color stability was evaluated in triplicate by VITA Easyshade® before and after three immersion protocols, repeated over a thr
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of Nd:YAG laser shock processing (LSP) on micro-hardness and surface roughness of 86400Cu-Zn alloy. X-ray fluorescence technique was used to analyze the chemical composition of this alloy. LSP treatment was performed with a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm. The results show that laser shock processing can significantly increase. The micro-hardness and surface roughness of the LSP-treated sample. Vickers diamond indenter was used to measure the micro-hardness of all samples with different laser pulse energy and the different number of laser pulses. It is found that the metal hardness can be significantly increased to more than 80% by increasing the laser energy and t
... Show MoreBackground: Bisphosphonates are potent inhibitors of osteoclastic bone resorption and widely used for the treatment of osteoporosis, and osteogenesis imperfecta in children. Clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that Bisphosphonates delay or inhibit tooth eruption. This study tries to focus on the effect of bisphosphonate on teeth development and jaw bones growth. Materials and methods: The present study includes 65 neonatal rats during lactation period from 15 Albino Wister rats mother. Alendronate (one type of Bisphosphonates) was administrated orally (15 mg/kg) into 10 pregnant rats two times a week, while other 5 rats regard as control. Then the neonatal rats sacrificed in I, 6, 11, 16 and 21 days. The lower first molar we
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The
... Show MoreCadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocrystalline thin films have been prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique on commercial glass substrates at 70ºC temperature. Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) as a source of cadmium (Cd), thiourea (CS(NH2)2) as a source of sulfur and ammonia solution (NH4OH) were added to maintain the pH value of the solution at 10. The characterization of thin films was carried out through the structural and optical properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS spectroscopy. A UV-VIS optical spectroscopy study was carried out to determine the band gap of the nanocrystalline CdS thin film and it showed a blue shift with respect to the bulk value (from 3.9 - 2.4eV). In present w
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