his study aimed to investigate the usability of Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) in warm mix asphalt (WMA) as the implementation of sustainable construction technology. Five replacement rates (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were tested for the coarse fraction of virgin aggregate (VA) with 3 types of RCA: untreated RCA, HL-treated RCA, and HCL-treated RCA. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to investigate the surface morphology for both treated and untreated RCA. The optimum asphalt cement content for every substitution rate was determined using Marshall mix design method. Thereafter, asphalt concrete specimens were prepared using the optimum asphalt cement content, followed by the evaluation of their performance prope

In this paper, third order non-polynomial spline function is used to solve 2nd kind Volterra integral equations. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the applications of this method, and to compare the computed results with other known methods.

In this paper Volterra Runge-Kutta methods which include: method of order two and four will be applied to general nonlinear Volterra integral equations of the second kind. Moreover we study the convergent of the algorithms of Volterra Runge-Kutta methods. Finally, programs for each method are written in MATLAB language and a comparison between the two types has been made depending on the least square errors.

Acne scars are one of the most common problems following acne vulgaris. Despite the extensive list of available treatment modalities, their effectiveness depends upon the nature of the scar. Ablative lasers had been used to treat acne scars; one of them is the fractional CO2 laser. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome of fractional CO2 laser in the treatment of acne scars. Methods: Since January 2010 to June 2013, using 10600 nm fractional CO2 laser beams, the acne scar of 400 patients, 188 males and 212 females, mean age of 34 years, have been treated and classified according to severity into four grades following Goodman and Baron classification. Each patient underwent 3-5 sessions once monthly. The mean laser exposure time

High frequency (HF) communications have an important role in long distances wireless communications. This frequency band is more important than VHF and UHF, as HF frequencies can cut longer distance with a single hopping. It has a low operation cost because it offers over-the-horizon communications without repeaters, therefore it can be used as a backup for satellite communications in emergency conditions. One of the main problems in HF communications is the prediction of the propagation direction and the frequency of optimum transmission (FOT) that must be used at a certain time. This paper introduces a new technique based on Oblique Ionosonde Station (OIS) to overcome this problem with a low cost and an easier way. This technique uses the

Most heuristic search method's performances are dependent on parameter choices. These parameter settings govern how new candidate solutions are generated and then applied by the algorithm. They essentially play a key role in determining the quality of the solution obtained and the efficiency of the search. Their fine-tuning techniques are still an on-going research area. Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is a very powerful optimization method and has become popular in many fields. Based on the prolonged research work on DE, it is now arguably one of the most outstanding stochastic optimization algorithms for real-parameter optimization. One reason for its popularity is its widely appreciated property of having only a small number of par

Background: disturbed physiological rhythm of blood pressure in preeclampsia is a common finding. The role of oxidative stress in pathogenesis of preeclampsia is well accepted. Melatonin is a powerful free radical scavenger so it's rapidly consumed by enhanced reactive oxygen species in preeclampsia causing non-dipping in blood pressure.Objective: To evaluate the change in plasma melatonin levels in patients with preeclampsia and its relationship with blood pressure.Patients and methods: In this prospective case control study a total of 40 primigravidae pregnant women were recruited during the period of 11 months between August 2015 and August 2016 in Baghdad teaching hospital, medical city, Iraq, divided into two groups:First group

Non-thermal (low-temperature) plasma may act as an alternative approach to control superficial wound and skin infections when the effectiveness of chemical agents is weak due to natural pathogen or biofilm resistance. In this paper an atmospheric pressure plasma needle jet device which generates a cold plasma jet is used to measure the effectiveness of plasma treatment against different pathogenic bacteria and to test the individual susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria to non-thermal argon plasma. It is found that, Gram-negative bacteria were more susceptible to plasma treatment than Gram-positive bacteria. For the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, there were no survivors among the initial 1x10⁸C.F.U (Co