Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a non-invasive imaging test with excellent overall sensitivity and specificity for demonstrating the level and the presence of a biliary obstruction. MRCP has emerged as an accurate, diagnostic modality for investigating the biliary and pancreatic duct. In some cases, it has been recommended that preoperative MRCP is a good choice for the detection of CBD stones.

Background. “Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)” is a biocompatible, high-strength polymer that is well-suited for use in dental applications due to its unique properties. However, achieving good adhesion between PEEK and hydrophilic materials such as dental adhesives or cement can be challenging. Also, this hydrophobicity may affect the use of PEEK as an implant material. Surface treatment or conditioning is often necessary to improve surface properties. The piranha solution is the treatment of choice to be explored for this purpose. Methods. PEEK disks of 10 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness were used in this study. Those samples were divided into five groups (each group has five samples). The first is the control group, in which no

In this paper,  a Sokol-Howell prey-predator model involving strong Allee effect is proposed and analyzed. The existence, uniqueness, and boundedness are studied. All the five possible equilibria have been are obtained and their local stability conditions are established. Using Sotomayor's theorem, the conditions of local saddle-node and transcritical and pitchfork bifurcation are derived and drawn. Numerical simulations are performed to clarify the analytical results

Flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulators can offer many attractive features over rigid manipulators, including light weight, safe operation, and high power efficiency. However, the tracking control of the FJR is challenging due to its inherent problems, such as underactuation, coupling, nonlinearities, uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances. In this article, a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) is proposed for the FJR system to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the systems output, and to achieve the total robustness against the lumped disturbance and estimation error. By using two coordinate transformations, the FJR dynamics is turned into a canonical form. A cascaded finite-time sliding mode observer (CFTSMO) is construct

As one type of resistance furnace, the electrical tube furnace (ETF) typically experiences input noise, measurement noise, system uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances, which significantly degrade its temperature control performance. To provide precise, and robust temperature tracking performance for the ETF, a robust composite control (RCC) method is proposed in this paper. The overall RCC method consists of four elements: First, the mathematical model of the ETF system is deduced, then a state feedback control (SFC) is constructed. Third, a novel disturbance observer (DO) is designed to estimate the lumped disturbance with one observer parameter. Moreover, the stability of the closed loop system including controller

KE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, AG Al-Ghazzi, 2010 - Cited by 2

In this paper, two parameters for the Exponential distribution were estimated using the
Bayesian estimation method under three different loss functions: the Squared error loss function,
the Precautionary loss function, and the Entropy loss function. The Exponential distribution prior
and Gamma distribution have been assumed as the priors of the scale γ and location δ parameters
respectively. In Bayesian estimation, Maximum likelihood estimators have been used as the initial
estimators, and the Tierney-Kadane approximation has been used effectively. Based on the MonteCarlo
simulation method, those estimators were compared depending on the mean squared errors (MSEs).The results showed that the Bayesian esti

Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) samples were nitrided in low pressure (1.3, 3 mbar) dc-glow discharge plasmas of nitrogen. The treating time was 5, 10 and 15 hour and the temperatures range of the samples during the nitriding process was close to 800oC. The obtained microstructures of the nitride layers were studied by x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The ε –Ti2N, ζ-Ti3N3-x and η-Ti3N2-x.phases were formed and addition to the solid solution of nitrogen in titanium, α (Ti,N). Micro hardness measurements exhibit an increment for the Ti-alloy specimens which nitrided at 800oC for 10 and 15h.Corrosion measurements were obtained for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy in Ringer solution after plasma nitriding. The clear improving in the corrosion r

Iraq has the second largest proven oil reserves in the world. According to oil experts, it is expected that the Iraq's reserves to rise to 200+ billion barrels of high-grade crude.

Oil is a strategic commodity for producing and exporting countries in general, and Iraq in particular, as demonstrated by the international experience that oil is an important means to achieve economic growth, an important tool in the overall economic, social and political development. It is also an important source of hard currency for any national economy and a means to connect the local economy and the global economy. In this paper we focus our attention on selecting the best regression model that explain the effect of human capita