This article investigates the development of the following material properties of concrete with time: compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and fracture energy. These properties were determined at seven different hydration ages (18 h, 30 h, 48 h, 72 h, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days) for four pure cement concrete mixes totaling 336 specimens tested throughout the study. Experimental data obtained were used to assess the relationship of the above properties with the concrete compressive strength and how these relationships are affected with age. Further, this study investigates prediction models available in literature and recommendations are made for models that are found suitable for application to early age conc

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become the treatment of choice for elective cholecystectomy.Objectives: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of early LC for AC and to compare the results with delayed LC.Methods: A prospective study done from April 2011 to October 2013, 88 patients with diagnosis of AC were divided randomly into two groups according to the mode of treatment; (early group n=40) treated by early LC within first 72 hours or (delayed group, n=48) initial conservative treatment for 4-6 weeks, followed by delayed LC.Results: There was no difference between the two groups (early & delayed LC), operating time (early 80min, delayed70min), conversion rate (early 7.5%, delayed 6.25%),postoperative complicatio

This study assessed the advantage of using earthworms in combination with punch waste and nutrients in remediating drill cuttings contaminated with hydrocarbons. Analyses were performed on day 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 of the experiment. Two hydrocarbon concentrations were used (20000 mg/kg and 40000 mg/kg) for three groups of earthworms number which were five, ten and twenty earthworms. After 28 days, the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration (20000 mg/kg) was reduced to 13200 mg/kg, 9800 mg/kg, and 6300 mg/kg in treatments with five, ten and twenty earthworms respectively. Also, TPH concentration (40000 mg/kg) was reduced to 22000 mg/kg, 10100 mg/kg, and 4200 mg/kg in treatments with the above number of earthworms respectively. The p

In the present study, chitosan Schiff base has been prepared from chitosan reaction with p-chloro benzaldehyde. The AuNPs and AgNPs were manufactured by extract of onion peels as a reducing agent. The AuNPs and AgNPs that have been synthesized were characterized through UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD analyses and SEM microscopy. The polymer blends of the chitosan / PEG has been prepared by using the approach of solution casting. Chitosan Schiff base / PEG Au and Ag nanocomposites were synthesized, nanocomposites and polymer blends have been characterized by FTIR which confirm the formation of Schiff base by revealing a new band of absorption at 1693 cm-1 as a result of the (C=N) imine group. FESEM, DSC and TGA confirm the thermal stability

Millions of lives might be saved if stained tissues could be detected quickly. Image classification algorithms may be used to detect the shape of cancerous cells, which is crucial in determining the severity of the disease. With the rapid advancement of digital technology, digital images now play a critical role in the current day, with rapid applications in the medical and visualization fields. Tissue segmentation in whole-slide photographs is a crucial task in digital pathology, as it is necessary for fast and accurate computer-aided diagnoses. When a tissue picture is stained with eosin and hematoxylin, precise tissue segmentation is especially important for a successful diagnosis. This kind of staining aids pathologists in disti

This study evaluated the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination (BSE), among a sample of educated Iraqi women. The study sample comprised 858 women aged 18–62 years affiliated to 6 major Iraqi universities, categorized according to occupation as teaching staff (11.5%), administrative staff (18.0%) and students (70.5%). Data were collected by a self-completed questionnaire. In all, 93.9% of the women had heard about BSE, the main source of information was television (39.9%), doctors (18.4%) and the awareness campaign of the Iraqi National Breast Cancer Research Programme (11.6%). Only 53.9% of the women practised BSE; the most common excuses by those that did not were lack of knowledge of the significance of BSE (42.0%) and lack

Segmentation of urban features is considered a major research challenge in the fields of photogrammetry and remote sensing. However, the dense datasets now readily available through airborne laser scanning (ALS) offer increased potential for 3D object segmentation. Such potential is further augmented by the availability of full-waveform (FWF) ALS data. FWF ALS has demonstrated enhanced performance in segmentation and classification through the additional physical observables which can be provided alongside standard geometric information. However, use of FWF information is not recommended without prior radiometric calibration, taking into account all parameters affecting the backscatter energy. This paper reports the implementation o

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common human pathogen that causes severe infections in newborns and immunocompromised patients. Conjunctivitis or corneal epithelial keratitis is caused by HSV type 1 all over the world and at all times of the year. The present study was aimed at detecting HSV in patients suffering from conjunctivitis. One hundred and ten (110) clinical samples (90 patients and 20 controls, both males and females) of eye conjunctiva swabs were collected from patients of different ages. The samples were analyzed using qPCR and ELISA techniques. The qPCR results revealed that HSV was present in 47 (52.2%) of the 90 patients who were infected. Of these patients, 25 (48.0%) were males and 22 (57.8%) were females, indicati