COVID-19 is a pandemic disease that has a wide spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe fatal cases due to hyperactivation of the immune system and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study aimed to assess the level and impact of interleukin (IL)-13, IL-33, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α cytokines on immune responses in mild and moderate COVID-19-infected Iraqi patients. A prospective case-control study was conducted from January 2023 to January 2024; it included 80 patients infected with moderate COVID-19 infection who consulted in different private clinics and 40 healthy controls. The serum of both groups was tested for quantification of serum IL-13, IL-33, and TNF-α using the human enzyme-linked immunosorbe

Directional Compact Geographic Forwarding (DCGF) routing protocol promises a minimal overhead generation by utilizing a smart antenna and Quality of Service (QoS) aware aggregation. However, DCGF was tested only in the attack-free scenario without involving the security elements. Therefore, an investigation was conducted to examine the routing protocol algorithm whether it is secure against attack-based networks in the presence of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. This analysis on DoS attack was carried out using a single optimal attacker, A1, to investigate the impact of DoS attack on DCGF in a communication link. The study showed that DCGF does not perform efficiently in terms of packet delivery ratio and energy consumption even on a sin

Research in Iraq has expanded in the field of material technology involving the properties of the lightweight concrete using natural aggregate. The use of the porcelinate aggregate in the production of structural light concrete has a wide objective
and requires a lot of research to become suitable for practical application. In this work metakaolin was used to improve compressive strength of lightweight porcelinate concrete which usually have a low compressive strength about 17 MPa . The effect of metakaolin on compressive, splitting tensile, flexure strengths and modulus of elasticity of lightweight porcelinate concrete have been investigated. Many experiments were carried out by replacing cement with different percentages of
met

This study was conducted according to contract with the North Refineries Company-Baiji and deals with the hydrodesulphurization of vacuum gas oil of Kirkuk crude oil, boiling range 611-833 K. A trickle bed reactor packed with a commercial cobalt-molybdenum on alumina catalyst was used. The operating conditions were: temperature range 583-643 K, liquid hourly space velocity range 1.50-3.75 1/h, hydrogen to oil ratio about 250 l/l and pressure kept constant at 3.5MPa.
The results showed that the aromatic content decreased and sulfur removal increased with increasing temperature and decreasing space velocity. The properties (viscosity, density, flash point and carbon residue) of the products decrease with temperature increasing, but the

Moisture induced damage can cause a progressive deterioration in the performance of asphalt pavement by the loss of adhesion between asphalt binder and aggregate surface and/or loss of cohesion within the binder in the presence of water. The objective of this paper is to improve the asphalt mixtures resistance to moisture by using hydrated lime as an anti-stripping additive. For this purpose, two types of asphalt binder were utilized; asphalt grades (40-50) and (60-70) with one type of aggregate of 19.0 mm aggregate nominal maximum size, and limestone dust as a mineral filler. Marshall method was adopted to find the optimum asphalt content. Essentially, two parameters were determined to evaluate the moisture susceptibili

This study investigates the ionic conduction dependence on the size of alkaline cations in gel polymer electrolytes based on double iodide can enhance by incorporating a salt having a bulky cation.

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are man-made derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone, originally designed for therapeutic uses to provide higher anabolic potency with lower androgenic effects. Increasing numbers of young athletes are using these agents illicitly to enhance physical fitness, appearance, and performance despite their numerous side effects and worldwide banning.  Today, their use remains one of the main health problems in sports because of their availability and low price.  The present study focuses on investigating the adverse effects of anabolic androgenic steroid abuse on sex hormones, liver and renal function tests, fasting glucose levels and lipid metabolism in Iraqi male recreational bodybuilders

Asphalt binder is a thermoplastic material that conducts as an elastic solid at lower service temperatures or throughout fast loading rate. At a high temperature or slow rate of loading, asphalt binder conducts as a different liquid. The classical duplication generates a required to assess the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete at the anticipated service temperature to reduce the stress cracking, which happens at lower temperatures, fatigue, and the plastic deformation at higher temperatures (rutting). In this study, an achievement was made to assess the effect of temperature on the mechanical characteristics of asphalt concrete mixes. A total of 132 asphalt concrete samples were attended utilizing two asphalt cement grades (40-50) a

Construction joints are stopping places in the process of placing concrete, and they are required because in many structures it is impractical to place concrete in one continuous operation. The amount of concrete that can be placed at one time is governed by the batching and mixing capacity and by the strength of the formwork. A good construction joint should provide adequate flexural and shear continuity through the interface.

In this study, the effect of location of construction joints on the performance of reinforced concrete structural elements is experimentally investigated.

Nineteen beam specimens with dimensions of 200×200×950 mm were tested. The variables investigated are the location of the construction joints

The filler in the asphalt mixture is essential since it plays a significant role in toughening and stiffening the asphalt. Changes in filler type can lead the asphalt mixtures to perform satisfactorily during their design life or degrade rapidly when traffic and environmental effects are considered. This study aims to assess the impact of filler types such as limestone dust (LS) and hydrated lime (HL) on Marshall characteristics and moisture damage in asphalt mixtures. Three different percentages of HL were employed in this study to partially replace the LS mineral filler: 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5% by aggregate weight. Furthermore, a control mixture was created with 7% LS by overall aggregate weight for the wearing course layer. The Marsha