Anthropogenic activities cause soil pollution with different serious pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) compounds. This study assessed the contamination of PAHs in soil samples collected from 30 sites divided into eight groups (residential areas, oil areas, agricultural areas, roads, petrol stations, power plants, public parks and electrical generators) in Basrah city-Iraq during 2019-2020. The soil characteristics including (moisture, pH, EC and TOC) were measured. Results showed the following ranges (soil moisture (0.03-0.18%),pH (6.90-8.16), EC (2.48-104.80) mS/cm and TOC (9.90-20.50%)). Gas Chromatography (GC) was used to measure PAHs in extracted soil samples. The total PAH range (499.96 - 5864.86) ng/g dr

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the most practical types of foreign investment. FDI contributes to job creation, foreign exchange earnings and national income escalation, improving semi-skill and skilled labor. Based on our knowledge, this paper is the first study attempting to investigate the effect of political stability on the FDI in Turkey using an econometric approach. Achieving this objective, a co-integration analysis was conducted between the FDI and its determinants in the short-run and long-run including “macroeconomic indicators” and “Political Stability (PS)” in Turkey. Using annual data from 1974 to 2017 via Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The results confirm the positive correlation betwe

Cytokines are signaling molecules between inflammatory cells that play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease. Among these cytokines are interleukins (ILs) 17A and 33, and accordingly, the current case-control study sought to investigate the role of each of the two cytokines in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty-eight relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) Iraqi patients and twenty healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to determine serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33. Results revealed that IL-17A and IL-33 levels were significantly higher in MS patients than in controls (14.1 ± 4.5 vs. 7.5 ± 3.8 pg/mL; p < 0.001 and 65.3 ± 16

This paper compares between the direct and indirect georeferencing techniques in Photogrammetry bases on a simulation model. A flight plan is designed which consists of three strips with nine overlapped images for each strip by a (Canon 500D) digital camera with a resolution of 15 Mega Pixels.

The triangulation computations are carried out by using (ERDAS LPS) software, and the direct measurements are taken directly on the simulated model to substitute using GPS/INS in real case. Two computational tests have been implemented to evaluate the positional accuracy for the whole model and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) relating to (30) check points show that th

This paper analyzes a piled-raft foundation on non-homogeneous soils with variable layer depth percentages. The present work aims to perform a three-dimensional finite element analysis of a piled-raft foundation subjected to vertical load using the PLAXIS 3D software. Parametric analysis was carried out to determine the effect of soil type and initial layer thickness. The parametric study showed that increasing the relative density from 30 % to 80 % of the upper sand layer and the thickness of the first layer has led to an increase in the ultimate load and a decrease in the settlement of piled raft foundations for the cases of sand over weak soil.  In clay over weak soil, the ultimate load of the piled raft foundation w

SIFCON is characterized as a construction material of high ductility and very high strength. It is suitable for concrete structures used for special applications. However, the density of SIFCON is much higher than that of Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) due to the need for a large amount of high-density steel fibers. This work examines the split tensile behavior of modified weight slurry infiltrated fiber concrete utilizing a mixture of two types of fibers, steel fiber, and polyolefin fiber. For the investigation, 30 cylinders and 15 cubes were poured. The used volume fraction (V.F) is (6 %) and the use of five series once as each type separately and once a hybrid in proportions of 2/3 polyolefin with 1/3 steel fiber and

Priority of road maintenance can be viewed as a process influenced by decision-makers with varying decision-making power. Each decision-maker may have their view and judgment depending on their function and responsibilities. Therefore, determining the priority of road maintenance can be thought of as a process of MCDM. Regarding the priority of road maintenance, this is a difficult MCDM problem involving uncertainty, qualitative criteria, and possible causal relationships between choice criteria. This paper aims to examine the applicability of multiple MCDM techniques, which are used for assessing the priority of road maintenance, by adapting them to this sector. Priority of road maintenance problems subject to internal

Hydrocarbon production might cause changes in dynamic reservoir properties. Thus the consideration of the mechanical stability of a formation under different conditions of drilling or production is a very important issue, and basic mechanical properties of the formation should be determined.
There is considerable evidence, gathered from laboratory measurements in the field of Rock Mechanics, showing a good correlation between intrinsic rock strength and the dynamic elastic constant determined from sonic-velocity and density measurements.
The values of the mechanical properties determined from log data, such as the dynamic elastic constants derived from the measurement of the elastic wave velocities in the material, should be more a

This paper demonstrates the construction designing analysis and control strategies for fully tracking concentrated solar thermal by using programmable logic control in the city of Erbil-Iraq. This work used the parabolic dish as a concentrated solar thermal. At the focal point, the collected form of energy is used for heating a (water) in the receiver, analyzing this prototype in real-time with two different shapes of the receiver and comparing the results. For tracking the parabolic dish, four light-dependent resistors are used to detect the sun's position in the sky so that the tracking system follows it to make the beam radiation perpendicular to the collector surface all of the time during the day for maximum solar p

Social media is known as detectors platform that are used to measure the activities of the users in the real world. However, the huge and unfiltered feed of messages posted on social media trigger social warnings, particularly when these messages contain hate speech towards specific individual or community. The negative effect of these messages on individuals or the society at large is of great concern to governments and non-governmental organizations. Word clouds provide a simple and efficient means of visually transferring the most common words from text documents. This research aims to develop a word cloud model based on hateful words on online social media environment such as Google News. Several steps are involved including data acq