Abstract. This work presents a detailed design of a three-jointed tendon-driven robot finger with a cam/pulleys transmission and joint Variable Stiffness Actuator (VSA). The finger motion configuration is obtained by deriving the cam/pulleys transmission profile as a mathematical solution that is then implemented to achieve contact force isotropy on the phalanges. A VSA is proposed, in which three VSAs are designed to act as a muscle in joint space to provide firm grasping. As a mechatronic approach, a suitable type and number of force sensors and actuators are designed to sense the touch, actuate the finger, and tune the VSAs. The torque of the VSAs is controlled utilizing a designed Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) fuzzy controll

Some biological aspects of the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha have been studied at Al-Musayab thermal power plant ,sixty km. south west of Baghdad. Data collected during the period extended from November, 2002 to October, 2003 except for the month of April The population consisted of five age groups; O, I, II, III, and IV which have 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 annuli respectively. The study also proved the validity of annuli readings for age and growth determination. The average annual growth rates for age groups O,I, II, III, and IV were 5.7, 5.5, 5.4, 5.2 and 5.4 respectively. Average calculated length for laboratory reared mussel was 2.5 mm compared to 5.4 mm in natural environment. Correlation coefficients were very high between age an

This study was conducted to determine the activity of plant Sesbania rostrata and two isolate from arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (A,B) as a bioremediation of soil polluted by cadmium and lead elements in north and south of Baghdad city. The results showed that the average of soil pollution by cadmium and lead elements in north of Baghdad was less than the average of soil pollution in the south of Baghdad which recorded 10.0, 9.0 mg/kg and 27.0, 25.0 mg/kg respectively. The plant Sesbania recorded ability to accumulate the lead element in shoot system 19.65 mg/kg and in root system 27.2 mg/kg and for cadmium element 19.6, 24.6 mg/kg in shoot and root respectively. The results showed that the isolate A from soil pollution is more effected

The present paper addresses cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using airlift photobioreactor that sparged with 5% CO2/air. The experimental data were compared with that obtained from bioreactor aerated with air and unsparged bioreactor. The results showed that the concentration of biomass is 0.36 g l-1 in sparged bioreactor with CO2/air, while, the concentration of biomass reached to 0.069 g l-1 in the unsparged bioreactor. They showed also that aerated bioreactor with CO2/air gives more biomass production even the bioreactor was aerated with air. This study proved that application of sparging system for cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using either CO2/air mixture or air has a significant growth rate, since the biorea

Leinamycin is a thiol dependent DNA alkylating agent which shows very potent activity against various cancer cell lines. This natural compound forms guanine adducts (N7) in DNA which are converted into a basic sites and simultaneously generates Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), to produce DNA strand breaks in human cancer cells. In present study, eight different strains isolated from Iraqi soils were taxonomically assigned as Streptomyces.atroolivaceous. Remarkably the strain named as THS-44 was distinguished in productivity in comparison with other strains; the amount of leinamycin was 50.98 mg/l. In this study, we assessed the cytotoxic activity of leinamycin against RD and ANM3 cancer cell line in compare with REF cell line as a normal cont

Evaporation is one of the major components of the hydrological cycle in the nature, thus its accurate estimation is so important in the planning and management of the irrigation practices and to assess water availability and requirements. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of fuzzy inference system for estimating monthly pan evaporation form meteorological data. The study has been carried out depending on 261 monthly measurements of each of temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), and wind speed (W) which have been available in Emara meteorological station, southern Iraq. Three different fuzzy models comprising various combinations of monthly climatic variables (temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) were developed

Background: Salivary biomarkers, a non-invasive alternative method to serum and tissue based biomarkers and it is consider as an effective modality for early diagnosis. Salivary microRNA 21, a nucleotide biomarker, was reported to increase in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. This study was conducted to measure the fold change of microRNA 21 in stimulated saliva and to study its association with smoking and occurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and methods: A 20 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma who used to be smokers was included in addition to 40 control subjects (20 smokers and 20 non- smokers health looking subjects). Stimulated saliva was collected under standardized condition. Salivary microRNA 21 wa

Objective: Hesperidin (HSP) is a pharmacologically active organic compound found in citrus fruits and peppermint. We synthesized a new HSP derivative by reacting it with 5-Amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol in acetic acid. Methods: This compound was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron impact mass spectra. A molecular docking study explores the predicted binding of the compound and its possible mode of action. Bioavailability, site of absorption, drug mimic, and topological polar surface was predicted using absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies. Results: The docking study predicts that the new compound binds to the active sites of Aurora-B