The use of Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strips is an efficient technology for increasing flexural and shear strength or for repairing damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) members. This strengthening method is a promising technology. However, the thin layer of concrete covering the NSM-CFRP strips is not adequate to resist heat effect when directly exposed to a fire or at a high temperature. There is clear evidence that the strength and stiffness of CFRPs severely deteriorate at high temperatures. Therefore, in terms of fire resistance, the NSM technique has a significant defect. Thus, it is very important to develop a set of efficient fire protection systems to overcome these disadvantages. This paper presents a numerical study that investigates the fire behavior of thermally insulated RC beams flexurally strengthened with NSM-CFRP strips and subjected to fire exposure according to the ISO 834 standard. The numerical study considered three-dimensional finite element models in the ABAQUS software that have been developed to simulate and predict the performance (thermal and structural response) of fire endurance tests on strengthened, uninsulated strengthened, and thermally insulated beams strengthened with NSM-CFRP strips, which were exposed to fire and had different fire insulation schemes. The insulation used was plaster from local material with a thickness range of 25 to 50mm. The variation of the thermal and mechanical properties with the temperature of the constituent materials was considered. All beams' mechanical and thermal responses were adequately simulated using numerical models. The results of the numerical simulations were in good agreement with the experimental data. The fire behavior of the NSM-CFRP strengthened RC beams was examined and particularly the efficiency of the NSM strengthening system during the fire. The behavior in the fire of the NSM-CFRP strengthening system on the RC beams thermally protected with different fire insulation schemes was assessed. Finally, the effectiveness of fire insulation was studied.
Background: Acetabular retroversion has been proposed to contribute to the development of pain and osteoarthritis of the hip. Conventional anteroposterir (AP) pelvic radiographs may represent a reliable, easily available diagnostic modality.
Objective: To obtained a reproducible technique allowing the anterior and posterior acetabular rims to be visible for assessment
Method: This is a cross-sectional study conducted from December 2015 to March 2017 targeting patients with hip pain in orthopedic clinic of Al-Kindy teaching hospital. The study sample consisted of 100 patients with hip pain who were investigated with Antroposterior pelvic plain x-ray, which was done for all
... Show MoreBreast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women and the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. This work was conducted to estimate the roles of oxidative stress, vitamin B12, homocysteine (HCY), and DNA methylation in BC disease progression. Sixty BC patients (age range 33–80 years) and 30 healthy controls were recruited for this study. Patients with BC were split to group 1 consisted of stage II BC women (low level), and group 2 consisted of patients in stages III and IV (high level). Malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3), HCY, and vitamin B12 levels in the study groups were measured. Also, the 5-methylcytosine (5mC) global DNA methylation levels were evaluated. The results showed a significant
... Show MoreBackground: All diseases concerning bone destruction such as osteoporosis and periodontal diseases share common pattern in which the osteoclast cells are absolutely responsible for bone resorption that occurred when osteoclast activity exceeds osteoblast activity. Osteoprotegrin (OPG) considered as novel soluble decoy receptor known as “bone protector†since it prevents extreme bone resorption through inhibition of differentiation and activity of osteoclast by competing for binding site. It binds to receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) and prevent its interaction with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (RANK), thus inhibits osteoclast formation. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokines having
... Show MoreChukar partridge Alectoris chukar (Gray, 1830) is the only species of the 46 species of the genus Alectoris to be found in Iraq. At least there are fourteen subspecies of chukar were described from east Europe, the Middle East and west Asia, two of them were known to be found in Iraq, A.c. Kurdestanica (Meinertzhagen, 1923) from Alpine bio-geographical zone of altitude more than 2000m high, and A.c. werae Zarundny and Loudon, 1904, from the foothills of altitude not more than 400m. In between these two regions, there is another bio-geographical region known as the Irano-toranian zone 400-2000m high. Using morphological, ecological, behavioural, reproduction and hybridization criteria this study discove
... Show MoreThe efficient behavior of a low-concentrating photovoltaic-thermal system with a micro-jet channel (LCPV/T-JET) and booster mirror reflector is experimentally evaluated here. Micro-jets promote the thermal management of PV solar cells by implementing jet water as active cooling, which is still in the early stages of development. The booster mirror reflector concentrates solar irradiance into solar cells and improves the thermal, electrical, and combined efficiencies of the LCPV/T-JET system. The LCPV/T-JET system was tested under ambient weather conditions in the city of Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, and all data was recorded between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Parametric studies were conducted to compare the performance of the LCPV/T-JET system
... Show MoreBackground: Prematurity and its complications are the major causes of neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality. Although the cause of preterm labor is often unknown, numerous etiological risk factors may be implicated. To identify the risk factors that lead to prematurity and assess the neonatal outcomes that preterm neonates may develop. Methods: This case-control study was conducted at AL-Elwiya Pediatric Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from the 1st of June to the 31st of December 2019. A non-randomized sample of 700 neonates admitted to the neonatal care unit was included in this study and divided into two groups of preterm full-term neonates as the experimental and control groups, respectively (n=350 each). The same questionnaire w
... Show MoreEstimation of the unknown parameters in 2-D sinusoidal signal model can be considered as important and difficult problem. Due to the difficulty to find estimate of all the parameters of this type of models at the same time, we propose sequential non-liner least squares method and sequential robust M method after their development through the use of sequential approach in the estimate suggested by Prasad et al to estimate unknown frequencies and amplitudes for the 2-D sinusoidal compounds but depending on Downhill Simplex Algorithm in solving non-linear equations for the purpose of obtaining non-linear parameters estimation which represents frequencies and then use of least squares formula to estimate
... Show MoreBackground: It had been found that passive smoking may have the same harmful effect as tobacco cigarettes smoking. Aims: This study was conducted to determine the effect of passive smoking on salivary glutathione peroxidase and selenium in relation to dental caries severity. Settings and Design: The sample consisted of 120 children aged 5 years old, classified into four groups according to the number of cigarettes smoked by their fathers daily: Passive smoking children of 5-10 cigarettes, those of 10–15 cigarettes daily, those of 15–20 cigarettes daily and non-passive smoking children of no smokers indoor (the control group). The sample was further classified according to dental caries severity into three groups: mild (DMFS values <4
... Show MoreBackground: diabetic mellitus is one of the serious systemic diseases that may cause general systemic changes, which may be reflected in the oral cavity. The aims of this study were to assess the severity of dental caries, Mutans Streptococci and Lactobacilli in addition to flow rate and pH among uncontrolled and controlled diabetic groups in comparison with non-diabetic control group. Materials and Methods: Study groups consisted of 25 uncontrolled diabetic patients (HbA1c > 7), 25 controlled diabetic patients (HbA1c ? 7), in addition to 25 non-diabetic healthy looking individuals. Their age was (18-22) years from both genders. The diagnosis and recording of dental caries was according to severity of dental caries lesion through the applic
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to diagnose and analyze the gap between the actual reality and the application of the eighth requirement (operation) in the National Insurance Company in accordance with the international standard specification for the quality management system (ISO 9001:2015), which is related to the planning, implementation and control of operations, which would raise the level of performance of employees and be reflected in the provision of An appropriate service for the faithful, as the reality of the condition of the requirement was studied by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the system to diagnose the gap and find ways to address it. A workshop was held with company officials, through which questions were raise
... Show More