A biconical antenna has been developed for ultra-wideband sensing. A wide impedance bandwidth of around 115% at bandwidth 3.73-14 GHz is achieved which shows that the proposed antenna exhibits a fairly sensitive sensor for microwave medical imaging applications. The sensor and instrumentation is used together with an improved version of delay and sum image reconstruction algorithm on both fatty and glandular breast phantoms. The relatively new imaging set-up provides robust reconstruction of complex permittivity profiles especially in glandular phantoms, producing results that are well matched to the geometries and composition of the tissues. Respectively, the signal-to-clutter and the signal-to-mean ratios of the improved method are consis

High performance self-consolidating concrete HP-SCC is one of the most complex types of concrete which have the capacity to consolidated under its own weight, have excellent homogeneity and high durability. This study aims to focus on the possibility of using industrial by-products like Silica fumes SF in the preparation of HP-SCC enhanced with discrete steel fibers (DSF) and monofilament polypropylene fibers (PPF). From experimental results, it was found that using DSF with volume fraction of 0.50 %; a highly improvements were gained in the mechanical properties of HP-SCC. The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and elastic modulus improved about 65.7 %, 70.5 %, 41.7 % and 80.3 % at 28 days age, respectively

Background/Aim: Endometrial abnormalities represent a diagnostic challenge due to overlapping imaging features with normal endometrium. Aim of this study was to assess accuracy of dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluation of endometrial lesions in comparison with T2 and to assess local staging validity and degree of myometrial invasion in malignancy. Methods: Forty patients with abnormal vaginal bleeding or sonographic thickened endometrial were recruited. MRI examination of pelvis was per-formed using 1.5 T scanner with a pelvic array coil. Conventional T1-and T2, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) sequences and diffusion-weighted image (DWI) were performed. Results: Mean age of pa

Document source identification in printer forensics involves determining the origin of a printed document based on characteristics such as the printer model, serial number, defects, or unique printing artifacts. This process is crucial in forensic investigations, particularly in cases involving counterfeit documents or unauthorized printing. However, consistent pattern identification across various printer types remains challenging, especially when efforts are made to alter printer-generated artifacts. Machine learning models are often used in these tasks, but selecting discriminative features while minimizing noise is essential. Traditional KNN classifiers require a careful selection of distance metrics to capture relevant printing

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the cause of the major world health issue, tuberculosis (TB). The cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in protection against TB in the early stages of the disease. TNF-α is an effective cytokine in the killing of intracellular M. tuberculosis. This study inducted to investigate whether there is any relationship between levels of TNF-α in sera of TB patients and their recovery, and is there any difference in the level of this cytokine in sera of female and male TB patients. This study included 29 patients with pulmonary TB (18 female and 11 male), their ages ranging from 37 to 59 years. All of them received first line TB therapy. They were consulted at Pasture Center during Septem

The study aims mainly to evaluate the performance of Sharq Dijila water treatment plant in removing turbidity for the period of 1-4-2001 to 31-3-2004. Daily data for turbidity of raw, clarified, filtered, and supplied water were analyzed. The results of the study showed that there is a wide variation in turbidity levels of raw water fluctuating between 10-1000 NTU with mean value of 41.3 NTU. Turbidity values of the clarified water varied between 1.4-77 NTU. Based on the turbidity value of 10 NTU and 20 NTU (the design maximum turbidity) the readings gave an acceptable percentage of 32.4% and 86% respectively. The turbidity of filtered water ranged between 0.2-4.5 NTU which are completely in compliance with Iraqi and WHO standards. In ac

The objective of this study was to investigate the drought stress and plant density possibility on water productivity and grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) (Planting Baghdad 3 synthetic varieties), Field experiment was conducted at Abu Ghraib Research Station (Baghdad) during spring and Autumn seasons of 2016 using a randomized complete block design arranged in split plot with three replications. Three irrigation treatment included: irrigation after depletion 50% of available water (T1), irrigation after depletion 75% of available water (T2) and irrigation after depletion 90% of available water (T3) in the main plots and three plant density which were: 1 seeds hill-1 (D1) giving a uniform plant density of 66666 plants ha-1 , 2 seeds hill1

Nanofluids, liquid suspensions of nanoparticles (Np), are an effective agent to alter the wettability of oil-wet reservoirs to water-wet thus promoting hydrocarbon recovery. It can also have an application to more efficient carbon storage. We present a series of contact angle (θ) investigations on initially oil-wet calcite surfaces to quantify the performance of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles for wettability alteration. These tests are conducted at typical in-situ high pressure (CO2), temperature and salinity conditions. A high pressure–temperature (P/T) optical cell with a regulated tilted surface was used to measure the advancing and receding contact angles at the desired conditions. The results showed that silica nanofluids can alte

Produced water is accompanied with the production of oil and gas especially at the fields producing by water drive or water injection. The quantity of these waters is expected to be more complicated problem with an increasing in water cut which is expected to be 3-8 barrels water/produced barrel oil.Produced water may contain many constituents based on what is present in the subsurface at a particular location. Produced water contains dissolved solids and hydrocarbons (dissolved and suspended) and oxygen depletion. The most common dissolved solid is salt with concentrations range between a few parts per thousand to hundreds parts per thousand. In addition to salt, many produced waters also contain high levels of heavy metals like zinc, bari