Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are man-made derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone, originally designed for therapeutic uses to provide higher anabolic potency with lower androgenic effects. Increasing numbers of young athletes are using these agents illicitly to enhance physical fitness, appearance, and performance despite their numerous side effects and worldwide banning.  Today, their use remains one of the main health problems in sports because of their availability and low price.  The present study focuses on investigating the adverse effects of anabolic androgenic steroid abuse on sex hormones, liver and renal function tests, fasting glucose levels and lipid metabolism in Iraqi male recreational bodybuilders

Moisture induced damage can cause a progressive deterioration in the performance of asphalt pavement by the loss of adhesion between asphalt binder and aggregate surface and/or loss of cohesion within the binder in the presence of water. The objective of this paper is to improve the asphalt mixtures resistance to moisture by using hydrated lime as an anti-stripping additive. For this purpose, two types of asphalt binder were utilized; asphalt grades (40-50) and (60-70) with one type of aggregate of 19.0 mm aggregate nominal maximum size, and limestone dust as a mineral filler. Marshall method was adopted to find the optimum asphalt content. Essentially, two parameters were determined to evaluate the moisture susceptibili

Porous silicon (P-Si) has been produced in this work by photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching process. The irradiation has been achieved using diode laser of (2 W) power and 810 nm wavelength. The influence of various irradiation times on the properties of P-Si material such as P-Si layer thickness, surface aspect, pore diameter and the thickness of walls between pores as well as porosity and etching rate was investigated by depending on the scanning electron micrograph (SEM) technique and gravimetric measurements.

Construction joints are stopping places in the process of placing concrete, and they are required because in many structures it is impractical to place concrete in one continuous operation. The amount of concrete that can be placed at one time is governed by the batching and mixing capacity and by the strength of the formwork. A good construction joint should provide adequate flexural and shear continuity through the interface.

In this study, the effect of location of construction joints on the performance of reinforced concrete structural elements is experimentally investigated.

Nineteen beam specimens with dimensions of 200×200×950 mm were tested. The variables investigated are the location of the construction joints

Asphalt binder is a thermoplastic material that conducts as an elastic solid at lower service temperatures or throughout fast loading rate. At a high temperature or slow rate of loading, asphalt binder conducts as a different liquid. The classical duplication generates a required to assess the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete at the anticipated service temperature to reduce the stress cracking, which happens at lower temperatures, fatigue, and the plastic deformation at higher temperatures (rutting). In this study, an achievement was made to assess the effect of temperature on the mechanical characteristics of asphalt concrete mixes. A total of 132 asphalt concrete samples were attended utilizing two asphalt cement grades (40-50) a

Research in Iraq has expanded in the field of material technology involving the properties of the lightweight concrete using natural aggregate. The use of the porcelinate aggregate in the production of structural light concrete has a wide objective
and requires a lot of research to become suitable for practical application. In this work metakaolin was used to improve compressive strength of lightweight porcelinate concrete which usually have a low compressive strength about 17 MPa . The effect of metakaolin on compressive, splitting tensile, flexure strengths and modulus of elasticity of lightweight porcelinate concrete have been investigated. Many experiments were carried out by replacing cement with different percentages of
met

Asphalt pavement properties in Iraq are highly affected by elevated summer air temperatures. One of these properties is stiffness (resilient modulus). To explain the effect of air temperatures on stiffness of asphalt concrete, it is necessary to determine the distribution of temperatures through the pavement asphalt concrete layers. In this study, the distribution of pavement temperatures at three depths (2cm,7cm, 10cm) below the pavement surface is determined by using the temperature data logger instrument. A relationship for determining pavement temperature as related to depth and air temperature has been suggested. To achieve the objective of this thesis, the prepared specimens have been tested for indirect tension in accordance with

Electricity consumption for household purposes in urban areas widely affects the general urban consumption compared to other commercial and industrial uses, as household electricity consumption is affected by many factors related to the physical aspects of the residential area such as temperature, housing unit area, and coverage ratio, as well as social and economic factors such as family size and income, to reach the extent of the influence of each of the above factors on the amount of electricity consumed for residential uses, a selected sample of a residential area in the city of Baghdad was studied and a field survey conducted of the characteristics of that sample and the results analyzed and modeled statistically in relation to the amo