Tunnel construction below or adjacent to piles will affect the performance and eventually the stability of piles due to ground deformation resulting in the movement of piles and changes in the axial force distribution along the piles. A three dimensional finite element analysis using PLAXIS 3D (2013) was performed to study the behaviour of a single pile and 3 x 3 piles group during the advancement of shield tunnelling in ground. The 10-node tetrahedral elements were used to model both the soil and the tunnel lining. The Hardening Soil (HS) model was used to simulate the soil structure interaction at the tunnel-soil interface. An isotropic elastic model was used for the pile, piles cap, tunnel lining and tunnel boring machine shield (TBM). Several parametric studies were attempted including the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical tunnel location relative to pile embedded in different types of soil (clay or sand). The results showed that the pile head settlement increases during the tunnelling advancement in larger values than that for ground surface settlement. A zone of influence was determined in the range of twice the tunnel diameter in the longitudinal direction (forward and backward of the pile), and transverse direction (left and right of the tunnel centreline). If the tunnel boring is kept off this zone then there is no fear of pile collapse.
Radon is the most dangerous natural radioactive component affecting the human population, since it is a radioactive gas that results from the decomposition process of uranium deposits in soil, rocks, and water, and it is damaging both humans and the ecosystem. The radon concentrations and exhalation rate in soil samples from various locations were determined using a passive approach with a CR-39 (CR-39 is Columbia Resin #39; it is allyl diglycol carbonate C12H18O7) detector in Amiriya region in Baghdad Governorate. The average values of radon concentrations are ranged from 47.3 to 54.2 Bq·m−3. From the obtained results, we can conclude that the values of all studied locations are
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
... Show MoreHybrid architecture of ZnO nanorods/graphene oxide ZnO-NRs@GO synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly methods. The morphological, optical and luminescence characteristics of ZnO-NRs@GO and ZnO-NRs thin films have been described by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, and AFM, which refers to graphene oxide have been coated ZnO-NRs with five layers. Here we synthesis ZnO-NRs@GO by simple, cheap and environmentally friendly method, which made it favorable for huge -scale preparation in many applications such as photocatalyst. ZnO-NRs@GO was applied as a photocatalyst Rodamin 6 G (R6G) dye from water using 532 nm diode laser-induced photocatalytic process. Overall degradation of R6G/ ZnO-NRs@GO was achieved after 90 minutes of laser irradiation while it ne
... Show MoreThe variation in wing morphological features was investigated using geometric morphometric technique of the Sand Fly from two Iraqi provinces Babylon and Diyala . We distributed eleven landmarks on the wings of Sand Fly species. By using the centroid size and shape together, all species were clearly distinguished. It is clear from these results that the wing analysis is an essential method for future geometric morphometry studies to distinguish the species of Sand Flies in Iraq.
The beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,
... Show MoreBackground: Early detection of subclinical left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction is crucial and could influence patients' prognosis by aiding the clinician to candidate patients for better management.
Objective: To detect early LV systolic dysfunction in asymptomatic patient with chronic aortic regurgitation by two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.
Methods: Sixty one asymptomatic patients with chronic aortic regurgitation, with no ischemic heart diseases (by coronary angiography) or conductive heart diseases, no diabetes mellitus, no hypertension, and no other valvular heart diseases (group 1) and fifty age and sex-matched healthy subjects (
... Show MoreA spectrophotometric- reverse flow injection analysis (rFIA) method has been proposed for the determination of Nitrazepam (NIT) in pure and pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based upon the coupling reaction of NIT with a new reagent O-Coumaric acid (OCA) in the presence of sodium periodate in an aqueous solution. The blue color product was measured at 632 nm. The variation (chemical and physical parameters) related with reverse flow system were estimated. The linearity was over the range 15 - 450 µg/mL of NIT with detection limits and limit of quantification of 3.425 and 11.417 µg mL-1 NIT,respectively. The sample throughput of 28 samples
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