Traditional tree management is laborious and costly, thus this work aimed to study the performance of two different types of frond cutting saws (reciprocating saw and vibrating saw) and examine the two saws on five date palm varieties. Four parameters were examined, including cutting time for a single frond, the power needed for cutting a single frond, frond cutting productivity expressed as tree/h, and vibration conveyed to the worker’s hand. A field experiment was designed according to the nested randomized complete block design, including five date palm varieties as the main plot and the type of saw as a sub-plot. Means were compared using the least significant differences (LSD 0.05). Results indicated that Bream variety required the least time for frond cutting. The reciprocating saw exhibited efficiency in saving the time required for frond cutting, while the vibrating saw took significantly longer time needed for cutting a single frond. The highest number of fronds cut in one hour was recorded in Bream variety, again significantly higher than the number of other studied varieties. Moreover, the reciprocating saw achieved significantly higher productivity than the vibrating one, indicating that the productivity of the reciprocating saw is almost three times more than the vibrating saw. Maximum productivity was recorded in Bream variety, while the least was recorded in Tebarzal using the vibrating saw. Moreover, results indicate that the variety and the type of saw have a vital role in productivity since as the thickness of a frond increases, the cutting takes more time and ultimately reduces the number of date palms to be pruned per hour. Results also exhibited that vibrating saw reduced the consumed energy during frond cutting. Additionally, results revealed that the minimum power consumed by a vibrating saw was in Bream variety, while Tebarzal consumed the upmost energy when a reciprocating saw was used. Maximum vibration on X-axis was reported in Bream variety when a vibrating saw was used. Additionally, the reciprocating saw exhibited the highest vibration compared with the vibrating saw. Moreover, the reciprocating saw caused the lowest vibration in Tebarzal variety. Results indicated that the vibration imposed by both saws reached the maximum value in Bream variety. The vibrating saw resulted in the higher vibration toward Z axis, while the Reciprocating saw resulted in higher vibration toward X axis, which was more than eight times that recorded by the vibrating saw. Results indicate that vibration toward the Y axis increased significantly in Bream variety compared with others. Again, as in the situation with X and Z axis, the reciprocating saw exhibited the highest vibration compared to that resulted from using a vibrating saw which was more than three times the vibration caused by the vibrating saw.
An extensive program of laboratory testing was conducted on ring footing rested on gypseous soil brought from the north of Iraq (Salah El-Deen governorate) with a gypsum content of 59%. There are limited researches available, and even fewer have been done experimentally to understand how to ring footings behave; almost all the previous works only concern the behavior of ring footing under vertical loads, Moreover, relatively few studies have examined the impact of eccentric load and inclined load on such footing. In this study, a series of tests, including dry and wet tests, were carried out using a steel container (600×600×600) mm, metal ring footing (100 mm outer diameter and 40 mm inner diameter) was placed in the m
... Show MoreBackground: The present study involved the following parts, the first part is evaluation of the levels of glycated hemoglobin(HbA1c), creatinine, uric acid(UA) and albumin in patients with diabetic nephropathy comparison with the group of healthy as a control group. The second part is the measurement and evaluation of oxidative stress represented in the malondihydehyde(MDA) as a biomarker of oxidative stress as well as the identification of vitamins C and E as an antioxidant in patients with diabetic nephropathy(DN) compared with the healthy group. Objective: The objective of this study is to estimate oxidative stress by calculate malondialdehyd as biomarker and evaluate some vitamins such as vit C and vit E as antioxidants in diabetic neph
... Show MorePolymeric microsphere devices occupy a wide range in the field of controlled drug delivery. Subcutaneous injectable preparations of Poly(Lactide-co-Glycolide) (PLGA) microsphere of Daptomycine were prepared by solvent extraction/evaporation technique using different copolymers ratio and molecular weights. Four formulations were prepared (F1-F4) and characterized in term of particle size, surface morphology, bulk density and porosity in addition to the drug content. The effects of the above parameters on the in-vitro release study were evaluated. These formulas were evaluated also for their in-vivo release profile using rat (as an animal model) and
... Show MoreAs a well-known oral and intravenous antifungal, voriconazole (VRN) has an extensive history of usage in the medical field. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have been produced to treat ocular fungal keratitis in the eye. A 32Box-behnken design was used to produce a variety of new formulas for hot-melt extrusion. The SLNs were evaluated by entrapment efficiency (EE percent), particle size (PS), polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential (ZP). A series of in-vitro and in-vivo studies were carried out on the new formula. The produced vesicles’ EE, PS, PDI, and ZP values were all good. SLNs eye drops were numerically adjusted to include carbopol, a stabilizer, lipids, and a surfactant, among other substances. ZP of -36.5 ± 0.20 m
... Show MoreBackground: Lateral sinus augmentation and simultaneous insertion of dental implants is a highlypredictable procedure and associated with high rate of implants success.Aims: To evaluate implant stability changes following maxillary sinus augmentation utilizing deproteinizedbovine bone alone or mixed with platelet-rich fibrin.Materials and Methods: A total of 34 lateral sinus augmentation procedures were performed and 50 dentalimplants simultaneously installed. The lateral sinus augmentation cases were allocated randomly into 3groups: Group A comprised 13 procedures and 21 dental implants utilizing solely deproteinized bovine bone.Group B involved 10 cases and 16 dental implants using deproteinized bovine bone mixed with leukocyteand
... Show MoreBackground: Denture relining is the process of resurfacing of the tissue side of the ill fitting denture, the bond strength at the relining-denture base interface is most important for denture durability.The aim of present study was to evaluate the shear bond strength between the thermosens as relining material and different denture base materials that bonded by thermo fusing liquid. As this corrective procedureis the common chair side procedure in the dental clinic. Material and method: Sixty samples were prepared and divided into three main groups according to the type of denture base materials.Group (A) referred to the heat cure acrylic samples which consisted of 20 samples. Group (B) referred to the high impact acrylic samples which con
... Show MoreErbil city is located in the northern Iraq with a population of over one million people. Due to water crises farmers usually use wastewater and well water for the agricultural production. In this study six stations were designed to sample waste water and three from well water to define waste water and ground water characteristics. In this study, Residual Na+ Carbonate, Mg++ hazard, salinity hazard, Kelley index, %sodium, total hardness, permeability index, potential salinity, sodium adsorption ratio, and Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) were determined. The order of average cation concentrations in water was Mg2+> Ca2+ > Na+ > K+. While the proportion of main
... Show MoreThe study aims to reveal the degree of application of the alternative evaluation strategy in social studies in public education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also aims to identify the opinions of experts on how to implement this. The study adopted the mixed methodology, which represented in the descriptive-analytical method, and qualitative methods through the grounded theory. The study used two tools namely: a questionnaire for assessments of social studies teachers and semi-structured interview questions. The results of the study showed a medium degree of appreciation for the application of alternative evaluation strategies by social studies teachers in general education with an average of (2.28). The results also showed that ther
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