Photonic crystal fiber interferometers are used in many sensing applications. In this work, an in-reflection photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based on Mach-Zehnder (micro-holes collapsing) (MZ) interferometer, which exhibits high sensitivity to different volatile organic compounds (VOCs), without the needing of any permeable material. The interferometer is robust, compact, and consists of a stub photonic crystal fiber of large-mode area, photonic crystal fiber spliced to standard single mode fiber (SMF) (corning-28), this splicing occurs with optimized splice loss 0.19 dB In the splice regions the voids of the holey fiber are completely collapsed, which allows the excitation and recombination of core and cladding modes. The device reflection

Background: Patients requiring renal biopsies have various glomerular diseases according to their demographic characteristics.
Objective: To study types of glomerular disease among adult Iraqi patients in a single center in Baghdad/Iraq
Material and Methods: A total of 120 native kidney biopsies were studied. All biopsies were adequate and were processed for Light Microscopy.
The age range of the study patients was 17-67 years, with a mean of 38.5 years. The mean follow up period was 28 weeks (4-52 weeks)
Indication for biopsy included: Nephrotic syndrome (N=72; 60%), Asymptomatic proteinuria (N=21; 17.5%), acute nephritic presentation (N=17; 14.16%), asymptomatic haematuria (N=10; 8.33%).
Results: Primary glomerulonephrit

The construction industry plays a crucial role in the countries' economy, especially in the developed country. This point encourages the concerned institution to use new techniques and integrate many techniques and methods to maximize the benefits. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the use of risk management, value management, and building information modeling in the Iraqi construction industry. The evaluation process aims at two objectives. The direct objective was to evaluate the knowledge in risk management (RM), value management (VM), and building information modeling (BIM). The indirect objective was to support the participants with information related to the main items mentioned. The questionnaire

The influence of an aortic aneurysm on blood flow waveforms is well established, but how to exploit this link for diagnostic purposes still remains challenging. This work uses a combination of experimental and computational modelling to study how aneurysms of various size affect the waveforms. Experimental studies are carried out on fusiform-type aneurysm models, and a comparison of results with those from a one-dimensional fluid–structure interaction model shows close agreement. Further mathematical analysis of these results allows the definition of several indicators that characterize the impact of an aneurysm on waveforms. These indicators are then further studied in a computational model of a systemic blood flow network. This demonstr

The study of biopolymers and their derivative materials had received a considerable degree of attention from researchers in the preparation of novel material. Biopolymers and their derivatives have a wide range of applications as a result of their bio-compatibility, bio-degradability and non-toxicity. In this paper, chitosan reacted with different aldehydes(2,4 –dichloro- benzaldehyde or 2-methyl benzaldehyde), different ketones (4-bromoacetophenone or 3-aminoacetophenone) to produce chitosan schiff base (1-4) . Chitosan schiff base (1-4) reacted with glutaric acid or adipic acid in acidic media in distilled water according to the steps of Fischer and Speier to produce compounds (5-12)

In this research, an organobentonite (HDTMA-BT) was prepared by modifying a jordanian bentonite (BT) with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. By means of in situ free radical polymerization in THF with AIBN as the initiator, this organobentonite is used to prepare the polymethylmethacrylate-bentonite (PMA-HDTMA-BT) nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterize both HDTMA-BT and PMA-HDTMA-BT. Those adsorbents were used in a batch process to remove Pb(II), Cr(III) ions, and p-chlorophenol (PCP) from aqueous solution. Investigated factors included adsorbent dosage, initial pH solution, contact time, an

Metal oxide nanoparticles, including iron oxide, are highly considered as one of the most important species of nanomaterials in a varied range of applications due to their optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. Iron oxides are common compounds, extensive in nature, and easily synthesized in the laboratory. In this paper, iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation of (Fe⁺²) and (Fe⁺³) ions, using iron (II and III) sulfate as precursor material and NH₄OH solution as solvent at 90°C. After the synthesis of iron oxide particles, it was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These tests confirmed the obtaining o

In this paper, a single link flexible joint robot is used to evaluate a tracking trajectory control and vibration reduction by a super-twisting integral sliding mode (ST-ISMC). Normally, the system with joint flexibility has inevitably some uncertainties and external disturbances. In conventional sliding mode control, the robustness property is not guaranteed during the reaching phase. This disadvantage is addressed by applying ISMC that eliminates a reaching phase to ensure the robustness from the beginning of a process. To design this controller, the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller is first designed as the nominal control to decide a desired performance for both tracking and vibration responses. Subsequently, discontinuous con