A case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere

Hepatitis is one of the diseases that has become more developed in recent years in terms of the high number of infections. Hepatitis causes inflammation that destroys liver cells, and it occurs as a result of viruses, bacteria, blood transfusions, and others. There are five types of hepatitis viruses, which are (A, B, C, D, E) according to their severity. The disease varies by type. Accurate and early diagnosis is the best way to prevent disease, as it allows infected people to take preventive steps so that they do not transmit the difference to other people, and diagnosis using artificial intelligence gives an accurate and rapid diagnostic result. Where the analytical method of the data relied on the radial basis network to diagnose the

This study focuses on how tax administrations in Iraq use Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to monitor tax evasion for individuals and companies to achieve Tax Compliance (TC). AI was measured through four dimensions: Advanced Data Analytics Techniques (ADAT), Explainable AI (EAI), Machine learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). At the same time, TC was measured through registration, accounting, and tax payment stages. We relied on the questionnaire form to measure the variables. A sample of employees in the General Tax Authority in Iraq was selected, and a questionnaire was distributed to 132 people. The results indicated that the dimensions of AI affect achieving TC at all stages. This study provides evidence of using A

Two novel demountable shear connectors for precast steel-concrete composite bridges are presented. The connectors use high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the steel beam with the aid of a special locking configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connectors promote accelerated construction and overcome typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connectors allow bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, while precast

This work deals with determination of optimum conditions of direct diffusion bonding welding of austenitic stainlesssteel type AISI 304L with Oxygen Free High Conductivity (OFHC) pure copper grade (C10200) in vacuum atmosphere of (1.5 *10^-5 mbr.). Mini tab (response surface) was applied for optimizing the influence of diffusion bonding parameters (temperature, time and applied load) on the bonding joints characteristics and the empirical relationship was evaluated which represents the effect of each parameter of the process. The yield strength of diffusion bonded joint was equal to 153 MPa and the efficiency of joint was equal to 66.5% as compared with hard drawn copper. The diffusion zone reveals high microhardness than coppe

In this paper, Response Surface Method (RSM) is utilized to carry out an investigation of the impact of input parameters: electrode type (E.T.) [Gr, Cu and CuW], pulse duration of current (I_p), pulse duration on time (T_on), and pulse duration off time (T_off) on the surface finish in EDM operation. To approximate and concentrate the suggested second- order regression model is generally accepted for Surface Roughness Ra, a Central Composite Design (CCD) is utilized for evaluating the model constant coefficients of the input parameters on Surface Roughness (Ra). Examinations were performed on AISI D2 tool steel. The important coefficients are gotten by achieving successfully an Analysis of V

The catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol has been studied in a trickle bed reactor

using  active  carbon  prepared  from  date  stones  as  catalyst  by  ferric  and  zinc  chloride activation (FAC and ZAC). The activated carbons were characterized by measuring their surface area and adsorption capacity besides conventional properties, and then checked for CWAO using a trickle bed reactor operating at different conditions (i.e. pH, gas flow rate, LHSV, temperature and oxygen partial pressure). The results showed that the active carbon (FAC and ZAC), without any active metal supported, gives the highest phenol conversion. The reaction network proposed account

Corncob is an agricultural biomass waste that was widely investigated as an adsorbent of contaminants after transforming it into activated carbon. In this research carbonization and chemical activation processes were achieved to synthesize corncob-activated carbon (CAC). Many pretreatment steps including crushing, grinding, and drying to obtain corncob powder were performed before the carbonization step. The carbonization of corncob powder has occurred in the absence of air at a temperature of 500 °C. The chemical activation was accomplished by using HCl as an acidic activation agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) facilitate