This study deals with the serviceability of reinforced concrete solid and perforated rafters with openings of different shapes and sizes based on an experimental study that includes 12 post-fire non-prismatic reinforced concrete beams (solid and perforated). Three groups were formed based on heating temperature (room temperature, 400 °C, and 700 °C), each group consisting of four rafters (solid, rafters with 6 and 8 trapezoidal openings, and rafter with eight circular openings) under static loading. A developed unified calculation technique for deflection and crack widths under static loading at the service stage has been provided, which comprises non-prismatic beams with or without opening exposed to flexure concentra

In this study, a Hydroxyapatite (HA) coating was prepared on a titanium implant by an electrochemical deposition process. The titanium pre-treatment by anodizing in 1.65 mol/L sulfuric acid with (10V) at room temperature. The deposition was all conducted at a constant voltage of 6.0 V, for 1 h at room temperature. The coatings thus prepared were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thickness of the coated layer.The electrochemical deposition of HA occurred on the titanium as a cathode. Coated titanium by HA after anodizing revealed a good corrosion protection efficiency even at a temperature ranged (293-323) K in artificial saliva. Activation energy and pre-exponential factor (kinetic parameters) were calcul

An environmentally begnin second derivative spectrometric approach was developed for the estimation of the dissociation constants pKa(s) of metformin, a common anti-diabetic drug.  The ultraviolet spectra of the aqueous solution of metformin were measured at different acidities, then the second derivative of each spectrum was graphed. The overlaid second derivative graphs exhibited two isobestic points at 225.5 nm and 244 nm pointing out to the presence of two dissociation constants for metformin pKa1 and pKa2, respectively. The method was validated by evaluating the reproducibility of the acquired results by comparing the estimated values of the dissociation constants of two different strategies that show excellent matching. As we

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), or Tic Douloureux, is one of the most common neuropathic pains. Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery (GNSRS) has been considered one of the procedures for treating primary TN. Objective: This study evaluates the effectiveness of GNSRS in treating primary TN in patients who are unresponsive to medical treatment in a single-center experience. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted on 180 patients from January 2018 to October 2021. The study utilized the Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) pain intensity score to assess pain before and after GNSRS treatment. Results: A total of 180 patients with primary TN were included in this study, 108 female with a 1.5:1 female: male ratio.  Results

This study was conducted to evaluate the hydrocarbon biodegradation abilities of Enterobacter cloacae, Staphylococcus aureus, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, and Pentoae species which were isolated from different diesel-contaminated soil samples. The isolates were identified by the Vitek 2 system. Fourier-transform spectroscopy (FT-IR) tested the potential of these isolates to biodegrade the diesel according to the peak areas, a significant decrease in the area of the peaks at 2856-2928 cm−1 corresponds to aliphatic hydrocarbons. The appearance of small peaks at 900-1032 cm−1 refers to substituted benzene derivative compounds. An appearance of some new peaks at 3010- 3030 cm−1 which indicate the presence of alcohol (-OH) and ketones (RC=O)

The use of worn-out agricultural nozzles in pesticide application has a negative effect on the efficiency and cost of the application process. It also has an effect on environmental pollution due to an excessive amount of pesticide being applied when spraying with worn-out nozzles. In this paper, the resistance to wear of three different internal design hydraulic nozzles was ascertained. Changes in the flow rate and spray distribution as a result of this wear were also investigated. The wear test was done inside a closed system, and it was accelerated using an abrasive material to generate 100 h of wear. The tested nozzles were the Turbo TeeJet (TT)-twin chambered, Turbo Twinjet (TTj60)-dual outlet, and Drift Guard (DG)-pre-orifice.

The current study is a taxonomic account of three gastrotrich species that belong to Chaetonotidae (Phylum Gastrotricha) namely Ichthydium auritum Brunson, 1950 Lepidodermella squamata (Dujardin, 1841) and Chaetonotus anomalus Brunson, 1950. These species are registered as a new record from Iraq and were collected from several locations along the main outfall drain (MOD) in south of Baghdad, from January to December 2020. The species described in this article were found to be related to Hydrilla and Ceratophyllum and prefer environments rich in detritus and decomposing organic matter. The worms preferred water that is salty, hard, alkaline, and had good oxygen content.

The disruptions in supply chains have put small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in dire need of resilient supply chains through which they can improve their performance. Based on the resource dependence theory, this study proposes a mediation model to improve the environmental performance (EP) of SMEs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of supply chain resilience (SCR) on EP mediated by ambidextrous green innovation (AMGI). We proved a structural equation model based on questionnaire data from 261 companies in Iraq to test our hypotheses. The results show that SCR has a positive effect on AMGI for proactive and exploitative green innovation dimensions and positive impact on SMEs’ EP. AMGI plays a media