Hydrophobic silica aerogels were successfully preparation by an ambient pressure drying method from sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different pH values (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). In this study, acidic HCl (1M), a basic NH4OH (1M) were selected as a catalyst to perform the surface modification in a TMCS (trimethylchlorosilane) solution. The surface chemical modification of the aerogels was assured by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Other physical properties, such as pore volume and pore size and specific surface area were determined by Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) method. The effect of pH values on the bulk density of aerogel. The sol–gel parameter pH value in the sol, have marked effects on the physical proper

Objective(s): Ramadan is the Holy month of the Muslims, where they are required to abstain from food and drinks
from dawn till the beginning of night. This study was conducted in Ramadan to investigate the effect of fasting on
hematological incidences, lipid profile, renal and liver function tests among healthy adult males.
Methodology: The present study was carried out in Ramadan – 1431 of Higira (August-September 2010). The study
sample was 56 healthy adult males. Five samples of blood were taken at five intervals (Before, at day 1, 15, 28 and
after Ramadan). Estimation was done for hematological markers, (hemoglobin, white blood cells count, platelet
count); renal function tests (blood urea, serum uric acid, serum

Experimental study on the effect of cylindrical hollow cathode, working pressure and magnetic field on spatial glow distribution and the characteristics of plasma produced by dc discharge in Argon gas, were investigated by image analyses for the plume within the plasma. It was found that the emission intensity appears as a periodic structure with many peaks appeared between the electrodes. Increasing the pressure leads to increase the number of intensity peaks finally converted to continuous form at high pressure, especially with applied of magnetic field, i.e. the plasma is more stable with the presence of magnetic field. The emission intensity study of plasma showed that the intensity has a maximum value at 1.07 mbar pressure and decre

An experimental and theoretical investigation of three phase direct contact heat transfer by evaporation of refrigerant drops in an immiscible liquid has been carried out. Refrigerant Rl2 and R134a were used for the dispersed phase, while water and brine were the immiscible continuous phase. A numerical analysis is presented to predict the temperature distribution throughout the circular test column radially and axially is achieved. Experimental measurements of the temperature distribution have been compared with the numerical results and are discussed .A comparison between the experimental and theoretical results showed acceptable agreement and applicability of the derived equations. Comparison with other related work showed similar beh

Permanent deformation (Rutting) of asphalt  pavements which appears in many roads in Iraq, have caused a major impact on pavement performance by reducing the useful service life of pavement and creating services hazards for highway users. The main objective of this research is investigating the effect of some contributory factors related to permanent deformation of asphalt concrete mixture. To meet the objectives of this research, available local materials are used including asphalt binder, aggregates, mineral filler and modified asphalt binder. The Superpave mix design system was adopted with varying volumetric compositions. The Superpave Gyratory Compactor was used to compact 24 asphalt concrete cylindrical specimens. To collect t

Hot mix recycling of asphalt pavements is increasingly being used as one of the major rehabilitation methods by various highway agencies. Besides general savings in costs and energy expended, it also saves our natural resources and environment.  Recycling process presents a sustainable pavement by using the old materials that could be reclaimed from the pavement; these materials could be mixed with recycling agents to produce recycled mixtures. The important expected benefits of recycling process are the conservation of natural resources and reduction of environmental impact. The primary objectives of this work are evaluating the Tensile and Shear Properties of recycled asphalt concrete mixtures, In addition to the

The objective of the present paper is to examine the effect of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) on marshall properties and indirect tensile strength of HMA through experimental investigation. A mixture with 0% RAP was used as a control mix to evaluate the properties of mixes with 5%, 10%, and 15% RAP. One type of RAP was brought from Bab Al-moadam’s road in Baghdad for this purpose. The experimental testing program included Marshall and Indirect Tensile Strength tests. The results indicated that the bulk density, flow and VFA increase with the increasing of the percentage of RAP, while increasing in RAP results decreases in VTM and VMA values. Furthermore, the stability is changed from 10.1 kN for the control mix to12, 13.6 and 11.7 kN

Moisture damage is one of the most significant troubles that destroy asphaltic pavement and reduces road serviceability. Recently, academics have noticed a trend to utilize fibers to enhance the efficiency of asphalt pavement. This research explores the effect of low-cost ceramic fiber, which has high tensile strength and a very high thermal insulation coefficient, on the asphalt mixture's characteristics by adding three different proportions (0.75%, 1.5%, and 2.25%). The Marshall test and the Tensile Strength Ratio Test (TSR) were utilized to describe the impact of ceramic fiber on the characteristics of Marshall and the moisture susceptibility of the hot mix asphalt mixture. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microsc

Durability of hot mix asphalt (HMA) against moisture damage is mostly related to asphalt-aggregate adhesion. The objective of this work is to find the effect of nanoclay with montmorillonite (MMT) on Marshall properties and moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixture. Two types of asphalt cement, AC(40-50) and AC(60-70) were modified with 2%, 4% and 6% of Iraqi nanoclay with montmorillonite. The Marshall properties, Tensile strength ratio(TSR) and Index of retained strength(ISR) were determined in this work. The total number of specimens was 216 and the optimum asphalt content was 4.91% and 5% for asphalt cement (40-50) and (60-70) respectively. The results showed that the modification of asphalt cement with MMT led to increase Marsh