Background: Polymorphisms in the TNF-α gene affect the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Objective: To investigate the associations between (-806 T/C) and (-857 T/C) SNPs with rheumatoid arthritis severity and susceptibility in a sample of Iraqi patients. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in Baghdad, Iraq. Twenty healthy controls and 63 patients confirmed to be newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis were included. Those are divided into two groups (patients and controls), and the patients were further subdivided into severe and mild-moderate groups. Samples from those participants were analyzed for clinical and inflammatory parameter measurements. Genotyping by the Sanger method was performed to stu

The thermal performance of three solar collectors with 3, 6 mm and without perforation absorber plate was assessed experimentally. The experimental tests were implemented in Baghdad during the January and February 2017. Five values of airflow rates range between 0.01 – 0.1 m³/s were used through the test with a constant airflow rate during the test day. The variation of the following parameters air temperature difference, useful energy, absorber plate temperature, and collector efficiency was recorded every 15 minutes. The experimental data reports that the increases  the number of absorber plate perforations with a small diameter is more efficient rather than increasing the hole diameter of the absorber plate with decr

In this work, the design and implementation of a smart energy metering system has been developed. This system consists of two parts: billing center and a set of distributed smart energy meters. The function of smart energy meter is measuring and calculating the cost of consumed energy according to a multi-tariff scheme. This can be effectively solving the problem of stressing the electrical grid and rising consumer awareness. Moreover, smart energy meter decreases technical losses by improving power factor. The function of the billing center is to issue a consumer bill and contributes in locating the irregularities on the electrical grid (non-technical losses). Moreover, it sends the switch off command in case of the consumer bill is not

Abstract. This study presents experimental and numerical investigation on the effectiveness of electrode geometry on flushing and debris removal in Electrical Discharge Drilling (EDD) process. A new electrode geometry, namely side-cut electrode, was designed and manufactured based on circular electrode geometry. Several drilling operations were performed on stainless steel 304 using rotary tubular electrodes with circular and side-cut geometries. Drilling performance was characterized by Material Removal Rate (MRR), Electrode Wear Rate (EWR), and Tool Wear Ratio (TWR). Dimensional features and surface quality of drilled holes were evaluated based on Overcut (OC), Hole Depth (HD), and Surface Roughness (SR). Three-dimensional

This study investigates the constructs and related theories that drive social capital in energy sector from the intention perspectives. This research uses theories of 'social support' and 'planned behaviour' alongside satisfaction and perceived value to propose a research model that drives social capital for energy sectors in Malaysia. The model reveals that the Theories of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Social Support Theory (SST) alongside satisfaction and perceived value factors promote social capital development in energy sectors. Using PLS-SEM to analyse data gathered from energy sector employees in Malaysia, this research demonstrates that social capital is present when there is trust and loyalty among the users and positively effects en

Renewable energy resources have become a promissory alternative to overcome the problems related to atmospheric pollution and limited sources of fossil fuel energy. The technologies in the field of renewable energy are used also to improve the ventilation and cooling in buildings by using the solar chimney and heat exchanger. This study addresses the design, construction and testing of a cooling system by using the above two techniques. The aim was to study the effects of weather conditions on the efficiency of this system which was installed in Baghdad for April and May 2020. The common weather in these months is hot in Baghdad. The test room of the design which has a size of 1 m3 was situated to face the geographical south. The te

A polycrystalline CdTe film has been prepared by thermal evaporation technique on glass substrate at substrate temperature 423 K with 1.0 m thicknesses. The film was heated at various annealing temperature under vacuum (Ta =473, 523 and K). Some of physical properties of prepared films such as structural and optical properties were investigated. The patterns of X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the structure of CdTe powder and all films were polycrystalline and consist of a mixture of cubic and hexagonal phases and preferred orientation at (111) direction.
The optical measurements showed that un annealed and annealed CdTe films had direct energy gap (Eg). The Eg increased with increasing Ta. The refractive index and the real p

In this paper, a new 5G Passive Optical Network (5G-PON) employing all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AO-OFDM) is proposed in hybrid bidirectional standard single mode fiber (SSMF)/free space optical (FSO). Additionally, an optical frequency generator (OFG) source is utilized. The proposed model is simulated using VPI photonics software. Analytical modeling and simulations have been conducted for a new approach to generate OFG by cascaded two-frequency modulators and one electro-absorption modulator. A sinusoidal RF signal source is utilized to drive all these modulators. The results reveal that 64 optical multiplexed carriers with a frequency spacing of 30 GHz are generated. These optical carriers have power variations

Abstract:          

                Interest in the topic of prediction has increased in recent years and appeared modern methods such as Artificial Neural Networks models, if these methods are able to learn and adapt self with any model, and does not require assumptions on the nature of the time series. On the other hand, the methods currently used to predict the classic method such as Box-Jenkins may be difficult to diagnose chain and modeling because they assume strict conditions.

The drive of this exploration is to investigate the mucoadhesive assets of A. indica (Azadirachta indica) fruit mucilage by incorporating it into mucoadhesive microspheres with Acyclovir (AVR) as a model drug. The study was performed to check the impact of the mucilage proportion on particle size and swelling index. Nine batches of AVR mucoadhesive microspheres were made with varying proportions of Polyacrylic acid 934P and A. indica fruit mucilage (AIFM). A central composite design with design expert software to check the impact of dependent variables (A. indica mucilage and Polyacrylic acid 934 P levels) on particle size and swelling index as a response. As part of congeniality studies, the batches w