Moisture-induced damage is a serious problem that severely impairs asphaltic pavement and affects road serviceability. This study examined numerous variables in asphalt concrete mixtures to assess their impact on moisture damage resistance. Mix design parameters such as the asphalt content (AC) and aggregate passing sieve No. 4 (PNo. 4) were considered as variables during this study. Additionally, hydrated lime (HL) was utilized as a partial substitute for limestone dust (LS) filler at 1.5% by weight of the aggregate in asphalt concrete mixtures for the surface layer. This study also investigated the potential enhancement of traditional asphalt binders and mixtures by adding nano-additives, specifically nano-silica oxide (NS) and nano-titanium dioxide (NT), at rates ranging from 0% to 6% by weight of the asphalt binder. To quantify the moisture damage resistance of the asphalt concrete mixes, two types of laboratory tests were employed: the tensile strength ratio (TSR) and the index of retained strength (IRS). The former characterizes moisture damage using tensile strength, whereas the latter uses compression strength. The physical properties of the asphalt binder, such as its penetration, softening point, and ductility, were also evaluated to identify the effects of the nanomaterials. The results indicated that variations in the mix design variables significantly affected the moisture damage resistance of the asphalt concrete mixtures. The maximum improvement values were obtained at the optimum asphalt content (OAC) and PNo. 4 (mid-range + 6%) with TSR values of 80.45 and 82.46 and IRS values of 74.39 and 77.14, respectively. Modifying asphalt concrete mixtures with 1.5% HL resulted in improved moisture resistance compared with mixtures without HL (0% HL) at each PNo. 4 level, reaching superior performance at PNo. 4 (mid-range + 6%) by 4.58% and 3.96% in the TSR and IRS tests, respectively. Additionally, both NS and NT enhanced the physical properties of the asphalt binder, leading to substantial enhancements in asphalt concrete mixture performance against moisture damage. A 6% dosage of NS and NT showed the best performance, with NS performing slightly better than NT. TSR was increased by 14.72 and 11.55 and IRS by 15.60 and 12.75, respectively, with 6% NS and NT compared with mixtures without nanomaterials (0% NM).
The objective of this study was to investigate and compare among five different methods of contraception including combined oral contraceptive pills (COC), Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), copper Intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD), vaginal spermicides and male condom used in Hawler City through estimate of their effect, relative failure rate, percentage of use, adherence and compliance and adverse effects of each contraceptive method. In order to reach to these aims, a retrospective study was conducted in Hawler City in Azadi Health Care Center over a period of 6 months from 22th November, 2010 to 15th May, 2011 during which data collection and subjects follow up for 3 months had been achieved. A conv
... Show MoreIt is generally accepted that there are two spectrophotometric techniques for quantifying ceftazidime (CFT) in bulk medications and pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are described as simple, sensitive, selective, accurate and efficient techniques. The first method used an alkaline medium to convert ceftazidime to its diazonium salt, which is then combined with the 1-Naphthol (1-NPT) and 2-Naphthol (2-NPT) reagents. The azo dye that was produced brown and red in color with absorption intensities of ƛmax 585 and 545nm respectively. Beer's law was followed in terms of concentration ranging from (3-40) µg .ml-1 For (CFT-1-NPT) and (CFT-2-NPT), the detection limits were 1.0096 and 0.8017 µg.ml-1, respec
... Show MoreObjective To highlight the main demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of female patients registered with breast cancer in Iraq; focusing on the impact of age.Methods This retrospective study enrolled 1172 female patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the Main Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer/Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Data were extracted from an established information system, developed by the principal author under supervision of WHO, that was based on valid clinical records of Iraqi patients affected by breast cancer. The recorded information regarding clinical examination comprised positive palpable lumps, bloody nipple discharge, skin changes, bilateral breast involvement, tumor
... Show MoreInterleukin-35 (IL-35) is a novel anti-inflammatory of IL-12 family member cytokine. High sensitive C- reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a marker of inflammation disease. This study was obtained to estimate the concentrations of IL-35 and hs-CRP in cardiovascular diseases Iraqi patients. The study contained 79 subjects divided into two groups, 47 (21 male and 26 female) suffering from cardiovascular diseases and 32 as control group. The concentration of IL-35 and hs-CRP was measured by enzyme- linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). The results revealed that the concentrations of IL-35 and hs-CRP are increased in patients group. IL-35 is strongly expressed in human advanced plaque and hs-CRP. Therefore these two biomarkers cou
... Show MoreThe protective effect of ginger extract against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity was evaluated in 30 albino white rats(weighing 200-300 gm ) classified into 5groups (6 rats per each group). The rats were treated with 0.5g/kg/day or 1g/kg/day ginger extract orally 5 successive days before and 5 successive days after induction of toxicity with intraperitoneal (IP) injection of (10mg/kg ) cisplatin, resulted in a significant reduction in the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) , total serum billirubin(TSB) , lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase(CK) enzymes in comparison with the cisplatin treated animals; ginger extract
... Show MoreThe growth of developments in machine learning, the image processing methods along with availability of the medical imaging data are taking a big increase in the utilization of machine learning strategies in the medical area. The utilization of neural networks, mainly, in recent days, the convolutional neural networks (CNN), have powerful descriptors for computer added diagnosis systems. Even so, there are several issues when work with medical images in which many of medical images possess a low-quality noise-to-signal (NSR) ratio compared to scenes obtained with a digital camera, that generally qualified a confusingly low spatial resolution and tends to make the contrast between different tissues of body are very low and it difficult to co
... Show MoreIntroduction: The current study investigated the use of acid-treated rice husks to remove heavy metals and organic pollutants from water containing heavy metals (R2C and Cd2) and organic pollutants (phenol and atrazine). Methods: The adsorption effect of acid-treated rice husks was compared with other adsorbents such as activated carbon, chitosan, and bentonite clay. Result: both acid-treated rice husks and activated carbon were highly efficient materials, and thus, rice husks were established as a cost-effective alternative. It was revealed that acid treatment of rice husks enhanced adsorption capacity by half, and lead removal was nearly doubled. The most effective pH value for optimizing organic pollutants and heavy metals while
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