This paper presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of the improvement in bearing capacity and settlement performance of hexagonal shallow footings with inclined skirts. Various numerical analyses were conducted using PLAXIS 3D to investigate the influence of skirt length-to-footing width (L/B) ratios and skirt inclination angles (θ) on hexagonal footings in loose sand. The models showed very good agreement with experimental data reported in previous studies, with an R² value of 0.996 and a maximum error of less than 4.31%. It was concluded that the inclusion of inclined skirts has a positive effect on bearing capacity, increasing it by up to approximately 2.97 times compared to non-inclined configurations, while significantly

This paper proposes a hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) model that combines an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to predict the Quality of Service (QoS) in 5G networks. The model utilizes radio channel indicators such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) to forecast throughput and latency levels. These indicators are critical factors affecting network performance; however, the nonlinear relationship among them makes traditional analytical models inadequate for accurate QoS prediction. The importance of the current study lies in estimating QoS in 5G networks by combining

Entropy generation was studied for new type of heat exchanger (shell and double concentric tubes heat exchanger). Parameters of hot oil flow rate, temperature of inlet hot oil and pressure drop were investigated with the concept of entropy generation. The results showed that the value of entropy generation increased with increasing the flow rate of hot oil and when cold water flow rate was doubled from 20 to 40 l/min, these values were larger. On the other hand, entropy generation increased with increasing the hot oil inlet temperature at a certain flow rate of hot oil. Furthermore, at a certain hot oil inlet temperature, the entropy generation increased with the pressure drop at different hot oil inlet flow rates. Final

Prenatal markers are commonly used in practice to screen for some foetal abnormalities. They can be biochemical or ultrasonic markers in addition to the newly used cell free Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) estimation. This review aimed to illustrate the applications of the prenatal screening, and the reliability of these tests in detecting the presence of abnormal chromosomes such as trisomy-21, trisomy-18, and trisomy-13 in addition to neural tube defects. Prenatal markers can also be used in the anticipation of some obstetrical complications depending on levels of these markers in the mother’s circulation. In the developed countries, prenatal screening tests are regularly used during antenatal care period. Neural tube defects, numer

Insulin resistance is a fundamental feature of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases and contributes to many of the metabolic syndrome's abnormalities. It is defined as a subnormal reaction to normal insulin concentrations or a situation in which greater than normal insulin concentrations are necessary for normal response.

Beyond the immediate content of speech, the voice can provide rich information about a speaker's demographics, including age and gender. Estimating a speaker's age and gender offers a wide range of applications, spanning from voice forensic analysis to personalized advertising, healthcare monitoring, and human-computer interaction. However, pinpointing precise age remains intricate due to age ambiguity. Specifically, utterances from individuals at adjacent ages are frequently indistinguishable. Addressing this, we propose a novel, end-to-end approach that deploys Mozilla's Common Voice dataset to transform raw audio into high-quality feature representations using Wav2Vec2.0 embeddings. These are then channeled into our self-attentio

Systemic lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology affecting multiple organ system. Reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are claimed to play a role in this disease. However, the potential of Nitrosative/Oxidative Stress to elicit an autoimmune, response remain till now largely unexplored in humans. This study was done to investigate the status and contribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress in Iraqi patients for systemic lupus erythematosus. Blood samples from 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 19 age-and sex- matched apparently healthy controls were evaluated for serum levels of nitrosative/oxidative stress markers including nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde. Nitric oxide levels were