When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs such a bee, the other defending bees will not attack the hornet to free that bee even when the latter is one centimeter from the others. The defending bees can capture the hornet only when the latter grabs one of them which stands very close to the others. The hornet seems very “aware” of such a situation; hence she seldom becomes a captive. On the other hand, hovering over the clump makes it easier for the hornet to grab a bee. The hovering puts all the clump, rather than part of it, on alert. If the hornet is persistent, which is not often the case, then the clump will no longer be dense. The bees will panicly disperse all over the flight board; hence the hornet can find a detached bee and grabs it easily. The hornet also waits on wing in front of the hive to capture an outgoing or incoming flying bee but the latter usually maneuver to escape. Also, foraging bees reduce their activity during main hours of hornet presence. Among the main factors reducing the hornet impact are the continuous chasing of hornets to each other and the non-persistent attempts of the hornets when they attack bee clumps.
Studies on the flexural behavior of post-tensioned beams subjected to strand damage and strengthened with near-surface mounted (NSM) technique using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) are limited and fail to examine the effect of CFRP laminates on strand strain and strengthening efficiency systematically. Furthermore, a design approach for UPC structures in existing design guidelines for FRP strengthening techniques is lacking. Hence, the behavior of post-tensioned beams strengthened with NSM-CFRP laminates after partial strand damage is investigated in this study. The testing program consists of seven post-tensioned beams strengthened by NSM-CFRP laminates with three partial strand damage ratios (14.3% symmetrical damage, 14.3%
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Background: University students in Iraq face rising obesity risk linked to physical inactivity, prolonged sedentary behavior, insufficient sleep, and academic stress. Longitudinal evidence examining the combined influence of these behaviors on weight status in Iraqi universities remains limited. Objective: This study examined six-month longitudinal associations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep duration, and perceived stress with body mass index and percentage body fat among Iraqi university students. Methods: A prospective multi-behavioral study was conducted at six public universities in Iraq. Six hundred undergraduate students aged 18–25 years were followed monthly during one academic semester. Validated questionn
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Precise and interpretable classification of autism-related behaviors is important for initial diagnosis, personalized intervention, and support arrangements. This study proposes an interpretable machine learning (ML) model using Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) and Categorical Boosting (CatBoost) to classify behavioral patterns into four categories (normal, mild, moderate, and severe) associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) based on a custom 377-instance survey dataset from Iraqi parents and teachers of children aged 6-12. The model observes 16 key features across communication and social interaction, repetitive behaviors, language, and adaptive skills, preprocessed via interquartile range (IQR) outlier removal, me
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Gypseous soil, which covers vast area in west, middle, east and south west regions of Iraq exhibit acceptable strength properties when dry, but it is weak and collapsible when it comes in touch with moisture from rain or other sources. When such weak soil is adopted for earth reinforced embankment construction, it may exhibit hazardous situation. Gypseous soil was investigated for the optimum liquid asphalt requirements of both cutback and emulsion using the one-dimensional unconfined compression strength test. The optimum fluid content was 13% (7% of cutback with 6% water content), and 17% (9% of emulsion with 8% water content). A laboratory model box of 50x50x25 cm was used as a representative of embankment; soil or asphalt stabilize
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Sn effect on the phase transformation behavior, microstructure, and micro hardness of equiatomic Ni-Ti shape memory alloy was studied. NiTi and NiTiSn alloys were produced using vacuum induction melting process with alloys composition (50% at. Ni, 50% at.Ti) and (Ni 48% at., Ti 50% at., Sn 2% at.). The characteristics of both alloys were investigated by utilizing Differential Scanning Calorimetry, X- ray Diffraction Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope, optical microscope and vicker's micro hardness test. The results showed that adding Sn element leads to decrease the phase transformation temperatures evidently. Both alloy samples contain NiTi matrix phase and Ti2Ni secondary phase, but the Ti2Ni phase content dec
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In this research a theoretical study has been carried out on the behavior and strength of simply supported composite beams strengthened by steel cover plate taking into consideration partial interaction of shear connectors and nonlinear behavior of the materials and shear connectors. Following the procedure that already has been adopted by Johnson (1975), the basic differential equations of equilibrium and compatibility were reduced to single differential equation in terms of interface slip between concrete slab and steel beam. Furthermore, in order to consider the nonlinear behavior of steel, concrete and shear connectors, the basic equation was rearranged so that all terms related to materials are isol
... Show MoreTo achieve optimal plant growth and production under salt stress, some products were added in adequate quantities to give a good yield, especially bean plants which are sensitive to salinity. For this purpose, this experiment was carried out during the spring growing season in 2022 in Baghdad, to study the effects of humic acid, cytokinin, arginine and their interaction with 9 parameters that reflect the overall traits of vegetative growth and yield of common bean plants Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. Astraid (from MONARCH seeds, China). The factorial design with 3 replicates was used, each with 7 plants treated via foliar spraying or by addition to the soil. The first factor included three groups; H0, H1 and H2 (0, 6, 12 Kg.h-1 H
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Tench is a cyprinid fish that has undergone human-induced translocations. The natural populations of the species are on the decline due to habitat loss and spawning grounds degradation. The genetic diversity of seven natural populations was investigated to establish the genetic knowledge base for successful conservation efforts and for selective breeding. Twelve microsatellite markers, the sequencing of a 615 bp section of mtDNA (Cytb) and PCR-RFLP analysis of two nuclear markers (Act) and (RpS7) were used to analyze the genetic variation and structure among 175 individuals. All microsatellite loci were found to have moderate levels of polymorphism. The pairwise Fst values between population pairings were moderate; the populations w
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Background: Tooth wear is one of the most common problems in the older dentate population which results from the interaction of three processes (attrition, abrasion and erosion) and it affects all societies, different age groups, and all cultures. This study was achieved to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of tooth wear among institutionalized residents in Baghdad city\ Iraq. Subjects and Methods: This survey was accomplished on four private and one governmental institution in Baghdad city. One-hundred twenty three (61 males, 62 females) aged 50-89 years were participated in this study. The diagnosis and recording of tooth wear were according to criteria of Smith and Knight. Results: The prevalence of tooth wear was 100% with a mean
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