Near surface mounted (NSM) carbon fibers reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforcement is one of the techniques for reinforcing masonry structures and is considered to provide significant advantages. This paper is composed of two parts. The first part presents the experimental study of brick masonry walls reinforced with NSM CFRP strips under combined shear-compression loads. Masonry walls have been tested under vertical compression, with different bed joint orientations 90° and 45° relative to the loading direction. Different reinforcement orientations were used including vertical, horizontal, and a combination of both sides of the wall. The second part of this paper comprises a numerical analysis of unreinforced brick masonry (URM) wa

Background: The gene responsible for encoding the protein of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) has been found to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in different ethnic populations. But the association of +49A/G CTLA-4 polymorphism with susceptibility of RA among Iraqi Arab populations has not yet been determined. Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight patients were examined, 67 of them were males (mean age 54.71 ± 10.4 years), while 167 were examined for the control group, of whom 64 were males and the rest were females. CTLA-4 DNA genotyping was carried on to determine the +49 A/G (rs231775) polymorphism using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Enzyme-linked immuno

The morphometric parameters of Acinopus (Acinopus) laevigatus Ménétriés, 1832 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) were studied and their altitudinal variability was assessed. The length of head is the most variable, and the smallest value of the coefficient of variation is observed for the width of elytra. The length of body parts (head, pronotum, elytra) were more variable compared to their width. The correlation relationship between the morphometric parameters of different parts of the body was analyzed. A high correlation was found between the elytra length (EL) and the total body length (BL) (r=0.93), and the lowest correlation was found between the elytra width (EW) and the pronotum length (PL) (r=0.57). According to all measurement indicato

Atopic dermatitis (atopic eczema), is a common familial chronic inflammatory skin disease, determined by xerosis, itching, scaly and erythematous skin lesions, and high serum levels of IgE. Between 10 to 20% of children and 1 to 3% of adults worldwide affected by it and has negative medical and social effect on patients and their families. To evaluate the effectiveness of Phytosterol Fraction of Chenopodium Murale on induced atopic dermatitis (AD) of mice; Forty mice were included in the study, divided in to four groups (10 mice/group): apparently healthy, induced AD without treatment, induced AD treated with Tacrolimus 0.1% ointment, and induced AD treated with Phytosterol Fraction of Chenopodium Murale cream 3% topica

Purpose:  Providing practical knowledge of the requirements of a detailed feasibility study for selecting the investment project.

Findings:  Directing the private sector towards investing in productive projects - the pre-cast reinforced concrete project - as it achieves a financial return as well as providing Providing foreign currencies by reducing imports and exploiting available natural resources

Practical implications: The importance of a detailed feasibility study to determining whether the project can be implemented or not.

The precast concrete method is one of the best modern c

In Australia, most of the existing buildings were designed before the release of the Australian standard for earthquake actions in 2007. Therefore, many existing buildings in Australia lack adequate seismic design, and their seismic performance must be assessed. The recent earthquake that struck Mansfield, Victoria near Melbourne elevated the need to produce fragility curves for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Australia. Fragility curves are frequently utilized to assess buildings’ seismic performance and it is defined as the demand probability surpassing capacity at a given intensity level. Numerous factors can influence the results of the fragility assessment of RC buildings. Among the most important factors that can affe

Concrete structures are exposed to aggressive environmental conditions that lead to corrosion of the embedded reinforcement and pre-stressing steel. Consequently, the safety of concrete structures may be compromised, and this requires a significant budgets to repair and maintain critical infrastructure. Prediction of structural safety can lead to significant reductions in maintenance costs by maximizing the impact of investments. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework to assess the reliability of existing post-tensioned concrete bridges. A time-dependent reliability analysis of an existing post-tensioned involving the assessment of Ynys-y-Gwas bridge has been presented in this study. The main cause of failure of this bridge was c