In this study, the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was revised. There were 4 species registered in our investigations: X. hottentotta Smith, 1854; X. olivieri Lepeletier, 1841; X. pubescens Spinola, 1838 and X. valga Gerstäcker, 1872, the first species was described as being found for the first time for the insect fauna of Iraq, which were obtained from Solanum melogena L. flowers. Key to the species was constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features, illustrated and compared with other species, which are recorded in the current survey.

Expansive soils are recognized by their swelling potential upon wetting due to the existence of some clay minerals such as  montmorillonite. An effective solution was found to avoid the danger of such soils by using piles. A single pile embedded in an elasto-plastic expansive soil has been analyzed by using one of the available software which is ABAQUS to investigate the effect of applied loads on pile’s top and investigate the effect of swelling soils on load carrying capacity of the pile. The result shows that as the pile is axially loaded at its top, the axial force along the pile gradually changes from (tension) to (compression) and the pile tends to move downward. The applied load needed to initiate pile’s settlement depend

Laser drilling is capable of producing small, precisely positioned holes with high degree of reproductively. In this paper , IR millisecond Nd:YAG single pulsed laser was used to determine the effect of laser parameters on the drilled hole of the glass - fiber reinforced epoxy composite FR-4 sample of 2 mm in thickness . The type of laser source was GSI lumonics JK760TR Series laser 1.064μm system in a CNC cabin. The JK760TR series has a 0.3-50ms pulse length and a maximum repetition rate 500Hz with an average power of 600W. The investigation of single pulse laser drilling in this paper was based on theoretical and experimental solutions. In single pulse technique, the investigation included focal plane position fpp, pulse shap

In this paper, the error distribution function is estimated for the single index model by the empirical distribution function and the kernel distribution function. Refined minimum average variance estimation (RMAVE) method is used for estimating single index model. We use simulation experiments to compare the two estimation methods for error distribution function with different sample sizes, the results show that the kernel distribution function is better than the empirical distribution function.

In order to understand the effect of the number of piles (N), the history response of dynamic pile load in piled raft system and deflection time history of piled raft under repeated impact load applied on the center of piled raft resting on loose sand, laboratory model tests were conducted on small-scale models. The results of experimental work are found to be dynamic load increase with increase height of drop, the measured repeated dynamic load time history on the center of piled raft was close approximately to three a half sine wave shape with small duration in about (0.015 Sec). The maximum peak of impact loads occurs in pile and deflection time history occur after at the time of the peak repeated impact loads, dynamic pile load

A field experiment was conducted during the spring season 2020 in Karbala proving/ Al-Sharia Distrit, located at latitude N 32° 42' 13.8" and longitude E 43° 54' 36.6" and at an altitude of 27 m above sea level. The experiment included a study of two factors: the first, Irrigation Interval, three treatments were used: irrigation treatment every 2 days, Irrigation treatment every 4 days, and Irrigation treatment every 6 days. The second factor is the addition of soil conditioners, in which four treatments were used: the control treatment without any addition, the treatment of adding bio-organic fertilizers, the treatment of adding water-conserving technology (polymer), and the treatment of adding water-conserving technology + fertilizers O

   Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a North American natural fruit. consumed as food and used for health promotion and prevention of various diseases. Aim. The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of cranberry fruit extract on nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin in mice by measuring selected oxidative stress markers. Methods. Twenty-eight male albino mice were used in this study. The animals were divided into 4 groups as follows: Group I [Negative Control]/orally-administered normal saline for 7 successive days; Group II [Orally-administered cranberry fruit extract alone (200 mg/kg) for 7 successive days; Group III/Mice IP injection with cisplatin (12mg/kg) on day 7 and; Group IV [Orally-administered cr

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of CVD. Saliva has a diagnostic properties aiding in the detection of systemic diseases. This study aimed to assess the association between salivary oxidative stress markers and the risk of vascular disease (VD) in T2DM patients. Materials and Methods: One hundred T2DM patients and fifty apparently healthy males were enrolled in this study. Saliva sample was collected for assessment of oxidative stress markers including: lipid peroxidation plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), uric acid (UA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Arterial stiffness index (ASI