Despite efforts to contain and manage the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak which was declared a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic still remains a major global challenge. Patients who display the classical symptoms of the infection are easily identified, tested, isolated and monitored. However, many cases of infected asymptomatic patients have been documented. These patients are not easily identified even though many evidences suggest that they can spread the virus to others. How and why these COVID-19 asymptomatic presentations occur remain unclear. The many theories and views are conjectural, and supporting evidences are still needed. In this review, we described the trend in SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding and susceptibility, providing perspectives on gender differences and asymptomatic patients. We further discussed how genetics, gender, viral inoculum, and pre-existing immunity may influence asymptomatic presentations in COVID-19 infections. We hope that this article improves our understanding of asymptomatic SAR-CoV-2 infection and it sheds light on some salient areas that should be considered as the search for a potent vaccine continues.
The Halabja earthquake occurred on 12/11/2017 in Iraq, with a magnitude of 7.3 Mw, which happened in the Iraqi-Iranian borders. This earthquake killed and injured many people in the Kurdish region in the north of the country. There is no natural disaster more dangerous than earthquake, especially it occurs without warning, great attention must be paid to the impact of earthquakes on the soil and preparing for a wave of earthquakes. Numerical modeling using specific elements is considered a powerful tool to investigate the required behavior of structures in Geotechnical engineering, and the main objective of this is to assess the response of the Al-Wand dam to the Halabja earthquake, as this dam is located in an area that has been su
... Show MoreThe constructed building in the urban area is subject to wind characteristics due to the influence of surrounding buildings. The residential complexes currently being built in Iraq represent a case study for the subject of this research. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the interference effect because of adjacent buildings effects on the mid-rise building. The speed and pressure of the wind have been numerically simulated as well as wind load has been simulated by using a virtual wind tunnel which is available in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis, RSA, software. Two identical adjacent buildings have been simulated and many coefficients were included in this study such as the spacing, directionality,
... Show MoreExperiments were conducted to study axial liquid dispersion coefficient in slurry bubble column of 0.15 m inside diameter and 1.6 m height using perforated plate gas distributor of 54 holes of a size equal to 1 mm diameter and with a 0.24 free area of holes to the cross sectional area of the column. The three phase system consists of air, water and PVC used as the solid phase. The effect of solid loading (0, 30 and 60 kg/m3) and solid diameter (0.7, 1.5 and 3 mm) on the axial liquid dispersion coefficient at different axial location (25, 50 and 75 cm) and superficial gas velocity covered homogeneous-heterogeneous flow regime (1-10 cm/s) were studied in the present work. The results show that the axial liquid dispersion coeffic
... Show MoreAn environmental study conducted on diatoms in Al Yusifiya river beyond its branching from Euphrates river. Four sites were selected along the river for the period from march 2013 to September 2013. The present study involved the measurement of physicochemical parameters, also the qualitative and quantities of diatoms. The studied parameters values ranged as follows: 19-44Cº and 16-30 Cº for air and water temperature respectively, 6.9-8.7, 595-1248 µS/cm, 6.4-8.0 mg/l for pH, electric conductivity and dissolved oxygen respectively. A total of 74 taxa were recorded for diatoms, where the pinnate diatom was the predominant and recorded 64 taxa while 10 taxa for centric diatoms. The total number of diatoms was 1197.55*104 cell /l. The tota
... Show MoreIn this paper, the behavior of structural concrete linear bar members was studied using numerical model implemented in a computer program written in MATLAB. The numerical model is based on the modified version of the procedure developed by Oukaili. The model is based on real stress-strain diagrams of concrete and steel and their secant modulus of elasticity at different loading stages. The behavior presented by normal force-axial strain and bending moment-curvature relationships is studied by calculating the secant sectional stiffness of the member. Based on secant methods, this methodology can be easily implemented using an iterative procedure to solve non-linear equations. A comparison between numerical and experimental data, illustrated
... Show MoreIn this study, Epoxy Resin plates was prepared by mixing epoxy(A) and hardner(B)with ratio(A:B) (3:1) with different thickness (0.3-0.96)cm. The effect of thickness on optical properties have been studied (absorption ,transmission ,reflectance) also the optical constant were found like (absorption coefficient, extenuation coefficient and refraction index) for all of the prepared plates. The results have shown that by increasing the thickness of plates., the absorption intensity increase in which at plates thickness (0.3-0.96)cm the absorption intensity were(1.54-1.43) respectively, and since absorption peak for epoxy occur in ultraviolet region and exactly at wavelength(368)nm and energy gap(Eg=3.05 eV) thus their good transmittance in the
... Show MoreLecture method is still need to a part of PBL in order to explain the difficult and abstract concepts in all fields of physics particularly thermodynamics. Introducing and promoting PBL in the lecture method is wise step for innovation in teaching and learning. The objective of this study is to compare the effects of using three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on undergraduate physics students’ understanding of thermodynamics. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq in the academic year 2011-2012. In this study, the pre- and post-test were done and the instruments were administered to the
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