The biggest problem of structural materials for fusion reactor is the damage caused by the fusion product neutrons to the structural material. If this problem is overcomed, an important milestone will be left behind in fusion energy. One of the important problems of the structural material is that nuclei forming the structural material interacting with fusion neutrons are transmuted to stable or radioactive nuclei via (n, x) (x; alpha, proton, gamma etc.) reactions. In particular, the concentration of helium gas in the structural material increases through deuteron- tritium (D-T) and (n, α) reactions, and this increase significantly changes the microstructure and the properties of the structural materials. Therefore, in this study, the effects of the different nuclear level density models on the excitation functions of the (n, α) reactions on 46-50Ti isotopes, an attractive candidate for the structural material for fusion reactors, have been investigated for the first time. Also, the differential cross-sections with respect to alpha energy for the emission of alpha particles of the 46-50Ti (n, xα) reactions have been investigated at 14.1 MeV incident neutron energy. The calculations are performed using the two-component exciton model in the TALYS 1.9 code, and the results are compared with available experimental data. The results of this study will contribute to nuclear database as required for improving, design and operations of the important facilities as ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), DEMO (The demonstration power plant) and ENS (European Nuclear Society).
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for fungal infections, including onychomycosis. The study aims to determine the prevalence of toenail onychomycosis in diabetic patients and its correlation with associated factors, identify the causative agents and compare the fungal culture findings with the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) findings of diagnosing 6 fungal isolates. A total of 126 diabetic patients were included between November 2020 to June 2021. Nail samples were subjected to potassium hydroxide 20%. Culture was done on Sabouraud dextrose agar medium (SDA), both with and without cycloheximide. Identification of non-dermatophytic molds was based on colony characteristics, colony reverse, cello-tape flag meth
... Show MoreNanofluids, liquid suspensions of nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in deionized (DI) water, brine, or surfactant micelles, have become a promising solution for many industrial applications including enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and carbon geostorage. At ambient conditions, nanoparticles can effectively alter the wettability of the strongly oil-wet rocks to water-wet. However, the reservoir conditions present the greatest challenge for the success of this application at the field scale. In this work, the performance of anionic surfactant-silica nanoparticle formulation on wettability alteration of oil-wet carbonate surface at reservoir conditions was investigated. A high-pressure temperature vessel was used to apply nano-modification of oil-wet
... Show MoreIraq territory as a whole and south of Iraq in particular encountered rapid desertification and signs of severe land degradation in the last decades. Both natural and anthropogenic factors are responsible for the extent of desertification. Remote sensing data and image analysis tools were employed to identify, detect, and monitor desertification in Basra governorate. Different remote sensing indicators and image indices were applied in order to better identify the desertification development in the study area, including the Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Salinity index (SI), Top Soil Grain Size Index (GSI) , Land Surface Temperature (LST) , Land Surface Soil Moisture (LSM), and La
... Show MoreMolecular barcoding was widely recognized as a powerful tool for the identification of organisms during the past decade; the aim of this study is to use the molecular approach to identify the diatoms by using the environmental DNA. The diatom specimens were taken from Tigris River. The environmental DNA(e DNA) extraction and analysis of sequences using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) method showed the highest percentage of epipelic diatom genera including Achnanthidium minutissimum (Kützing) Czarnecki, 1994 (21.1%), Cocconeis placentula Ehrenberg, 1838 (21.3%) and Nitzschia palea (Kützing) W. Smith, 1856 (16.3%).
Five species of diatoms: Achnanthidiu
... Show MoreSensing insole systems are a promising technology for various applications in healthcare and sports. They can provide valuable information about the foot pressure distribution and gait patterns of different individuals. However, designing and implementing such systems poses several challenges, such as sensor selection, calibration, data processing, and interpretation. This paper proposes a sensing insole system that uses force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) to measure the pressure exerted by the foot on different regions of the insole. This system classifies four types of foot deformities: normal, flat, over-pronation, and excessive supination. The classification stage uses the differential values of pressure points as input for a feedforwar
... Show MoreGenetic and environmental factors are believed to have a key role in the development and pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD). This study aimed to investigate the association between two CTLA-4 gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) CT60/rs3087243 and CT61/rs11571319 with autoimmune thyroiditis in a sample of Iraqi patients. Seventy-five patients (67 females, 8 males) and eighty-eight subjects (79 females and 9 males) matched in age, gender, and ethnicity as a control group. Thyroid autoantibodies were present in females more than in males with a total positivity of anti-TPO of 92% and anti-TG positivity of
57.3 %. Thyroid evaluation tests including T3, T4, and TSH were abnormal only in patients not receiving L-th
The objective of this study is to determine levels of some pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-12 and SIL-2R) in pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and also to determine incidence of spontaneous abortion during first trimester in pregnant women with PCOS compared with non-PCOS pregnant women. This Study was performed on (93) women, consisted of: 1- (63) pregnant women during the first trimester, which included:A- (33)PCOS pregnant women and subdivided into the following groups: (20) successful pregnant PCOS, (7) blighted Ovum PCOS and (6) missed abortion PCOS. B- (30) non-PCOS pregnant women, which included: (27) successful pregnant control and (3) non-PCOS pregnant women were withdrawn from this study because of their abortion
... Show MoreIn this paper, we proved coincidence points theorems for two pairs mappings which are defined on nonempty subset in metric spaces by using condition (1.1). As application, we established a unique common fixed points theorems for these mappings by using the concept weakly compatible (R-weakly commuting) between these mappings.