This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the

 Inflammatory bowel disease includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic, progressive relapsing disease of gastrointestinal tract that require long-term treatment or maintenance therapy. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an important factor that affects compliance of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is a prerequisite for better compliance. The aim of the current study was to investigate and assess beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with inflammatory bowel disease and to determine possible association between these beliefs and some patient-specific factors.

This study is a cross-sectional study carried out o

Micro-perforated panel (MPP) absorber is increasingly gaining popularity as an alternative sound absorber in buildings compared to the well-known synthetic porous materials. A single MPP has a typical feature of a Helmholtz resonator with a high amplitude of absorption but a narrow absorption frequency bandwidth. To improve the bandwidth, a single MPP can be cascaded with another single MPP to form a double-layer MPP. This paper proposes the introduction of inhomogeneous perforation in the double-layer MPP system (DL-iMPP) to enhance the absorption bandwidth of a double-layer MPP. Mathematical models are proposed using the equivalent electrical circuit model and are validated with experiments with good agreement. It is revealed that the DL-

 Endometriosis is a common women health disorder that occurs when Endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus. This may lead to irregular bleeding , pelvic pain, infertility and other complications.   Metformin,  because of its activity to improve  insulin sensitivity, it is  used for  the treatment of diabetes; it  also  has a modulatory  effect  on  ovarian  steroid  production and has  anti-inflammatory  properties,  all may  suggest  its possible effect in treatment  of endometriosis. This  study  was  planned  to  determine  the  effect  of  metformin  on serum levels  of&nbs

ABSTRACT: Protein isolate was achieved from local peeled non soaked pumpkins seeds by using petroleum ether with protein percentage of 53.15%. Protein isolate was used in manufacturing meat burger with two substitution10 and 20%. The shrinkage percentage for burger diameter was decreased from 25.5 to 16.6%, the sample with 10% substitution was distinguished in water holding capacity (WHC) which was 54.52%. Sensitive evaluation for these samples showed that the burger with 10% substitution was similar to the control.

Background : To assess the actual practice of breast self-examination (BSE), as an early detection tool for breast cancer, among a sample of patients affected with breast cancer in Iraq.Methods: A random sample of 200 female patients with breast cancer was analyzed to evaluate the extent of their actual practice of breast self-examination before the diagnosis of the disease.  The examined variables included the age of the patients, marital status, education, occupation, smoking habit, family history of cancer, frequency of gravidity, parity and abortions. Results: The age of patients ranged from (24-70) years with a mean age of 48 years. The highest frequency of the examined sample

When the flange of a reinforced concrete spandrel beam is in tension, current design codes and specifications enable a portion of the bonded flexure tension reinforcement to be distributed over an effective flange width. The flexural behavior of the RC L-shaped spandrel beam when reinforcement is laterally displaced in the tension flange is investigated experimentally and numerically in this work. Numerical analysis utilizing the finite element method is performed on discretized flanged beam models validated using experimentally verified L-shaped beam specimens to achieve study objectives. A parametric study was carried out to evaluate the influence of various factors on the beam’s flexure behavior. Results showed that

The recent escalation in Southeast Asia showed that the region is on the verge of political and economic crises through the United States and its allies imposing economic sanctions against China, and a military escalation that may begin with China’s invasion of Taiwan, especially since two-thirds of the American forces in the world are located in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

The United States claims that it is ready to defend the island of Taiwan in the event of the start of Chinese military operations, but the reality shows that the United States supports Taiwan militarily by equipping it with modern weapons to defend itself. Supporting Taiwan economically by engaging it in trade agreements with US allies in the r

In this research a theoretical study has been carried out on the behavior and strength of simply supported composite beams strengthened by steel cover plate taking into consideration partial interaction of shear connectors and nonlinear behavior of the materials and shear connectors. Following the procedure that already has been adopted by Johnson (1975), the basic differential equations of equilibrium and compatibility were reduced to single differential equation in terms of interface slip between concrete slab and steel beam. Furthermore, in order to consider the nonlinear behavior of steel, concrete and shear connectors, the basic equation was rearranged so that all terms related to materials are isol