This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From

This study aims to determine the reasons for the increase in the frequency of sand and dust storms in the Middle East and to identify their sources and mitigate them. A set of climatic data from 60 years (1960–2022) was analyzed. Sand storms in Iraq are a silty sand mature arkose composed of 72.7% sand, 25.1% silt, and 2.19% clay; the clay fraction in dust storms constitutes 70%, with a small amount of silt (20.6%) and sand (9.4%). Dust and sand storms (%) are composed of quartz (49.2, 67.1), feldspar (4.9, 20.9), calcite (38, 5), gypsum (4.8, 0.4), dolomite (0.8, 1.0), and heavy minerals (3.2, 6.6). Increasing temperatures in Iraq, by an average of 2 °C for sixty years, have contributed to an increase in the number of dust storm

Mature oil reservoirs surrounded with strong edge and bottom water drive aquifers experience pressure depletion and water coning/cresting. This laboratory research investigated the effects of bottom water drive and gas breakthrough on immiscible CO2-Assisted Gravity Drainage (CO2-AGD), focusing on substantial bottom water drive. The CO2-AGD method vertically separates the injected CO2 to formulate a gas cap and Oil. Visual experimental evaluation of CO2-AGD process performance was performed using a Hele-Shaw model. Water-wet sand was used for the experiments. The gas used for injection was pure CO2, and the “oleic” phase was n-decane with a negative spreading coefficient. The aqueous phase was deionized water. To evaluate the feasibilit

The importance of the study lies in highlighting the role of smartwatches as a modern tool for analyzing training load based on functional indicators, such as heart rate and calorie consumption. This allows coaches to monitor individual players’ responses during different training periods, helping to improve physical performance efficiency and reduce the risk of overload-induced fatigue. The study aimed to analyze calorie consumption at different heart rate levels between the special preparation and competition periods for youth football players, with the goal of determining the effect of physiological adaptation on energy efficiency. To achieve this objective, the researcher adopted the descriptive method due to its suitability f

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells within the bone marrow. In most patients, monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy chains or light chains are produced and are associated with organ dysfunction. The growth factor B-cell activating factor (BAFF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma due to its ability to promote B-cell survival, expansion, and differentiation. Objective:  to measure the circulatory level of B-cell activating factor in multiple myeloma patients in relapsed and remission states and explore its possible correlations with the clinical staging, β2-microglobulin, and interleukin-6. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 60