Moisture damage is described as a reduction in stiffness and strength durability in asphalt mixtures due to moisture. This study investigated the influence of adding nano silica (NS) to the Asphalt on the moisture susceptibility of hot-mix-asphalt (HMA) mixtures under different aging conditions. NS was mixed with asphalt binder at concentrations of 2%, 4%, and 6% by weight of the binder. To detect the microstructure changes of modified Asphalt and estimate the dispersion of NS within the Asphalt, the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was used. To examine the performance of Asphalt mixed with NS at different aging stages (short-term and long-term aging), asphalt mixture tests such as Marshall stability,

This study evaluated the structural changes of enamel treated by the Regenerate system and carbon dioxide (CO2) laser against acid challenge. Thirty human enamel slabs were prepared and assigned into three groups: Group I: untreated (control); Group II: treated with the Regenerate system; and Group III exposed to CO2 laser. All specimens were subjected to an acid challenge (pH 4.5–7.0) for 14 days. Specimens were evaluated and compared at 120 points using five Raman microspectroscopic peaks; the phosphate vibrations ν1, ν2, ν3, and ν4 at 960, 433, 1029, and 579 cm−1, respectively, and the carbonate at 1070 cm−1, followed by Vickers microhardness test. The ratio of carbonate to phosphate was correlated to the equivalent mic

According to the prevalence of multidrug resistance bacteria, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in which the essential mechanism of drug resistance is the ability to possess an efflux pump by which extrusion of antimicrobial agents usually occurs, this study aims to detect the presence of mexB multidrug efflux gene in some local isolates of this bacteria that show resistance towards three antibiotics, out of five. Sensitivity test to antibiotics was performed on all isolates by using meropenem (10μg/disc), imipenem (10μg/disc), amikacin (30 μg/disc), ciprofloxacin (5μg/disc) and ceftazidime (30 μg/disc). Conventional PCR results showed the presence of mexB gene (244bp) in four isolates out of ten (40%). In addition,25, 50μg/ml of cur

Objective: To assess the role of tumour necrosis factor alpha level and genotyping in susceptibility to leishmaniasis.Method: The case-control study was conducted from March to July 2021 at Baqubah Teaching Hospital, Diyala, Iraq,and comprised patients of cutaneous leishmaniasis in group A and healthy controls in group B. The serum level andsingle nucleotide polymorphisms of tumour necrosis factor-alpha rs41297589 and rs1800629 were compared betweenthe groups. Data was analysed using SPSS 28.Results: Of the 150 subjects, there were 75(50%) in group A; 39(52%) males and 36(48%) females with mean age23.91±13.14 years. The remaining 75(50%) subjects were in group B; 38(50.7%) males and 37(49.3%) females withmean age 22.84±4.35 years.

In this study, the dynamic modeling and step input tracking control of single flexible link is studied. The Lagrange-assumed modes approach is applied to get the dynamic model of a planner single link manipulator. A Step input tracking controller is suggested by utilizing the hybrid controller approach to overcome the problem of vibration of tip position through motion which is a characteristic of the flexible link system. The first controller is a modified version of the proportional-derivative (PD) rigid controller to track the hub position while sliding mode (SM) control is used for vibration damping. Also, a second controller (a fuzzy logic based proportional-integral plus derivative (PI+D) control scheme) is developed for both vibra

Bending effects on the transmission of optical signal are investigated on a single mode
optical fiber (SMOF) of 10 m length, core radius of 5 μm and optical refractive index difference
0.003. The bending radii (R) were between 0.08 and 0.0015 m. A great decrease in the amplitude is
shown for radii below 0.01 m. Sudden break down occurs for radii less than 0.0015 m. Birefringence
(B) is difficult to measure for long fibers. Meanwhile, B was found by comparing with calibrated
fiber of the same properties but of length of 0.075 m. The results show an increase in propagation
constant (Δβ) and the decrease in beat length (Lb), and show that bending decreases the critical radius
of curvature (Rc) related to B. The chang

Obesity is a risk factor for a number of chronic conditions. Obesity is clinically defined using the body mass index (BMI) as weight in kg divided by (height)² in m² correlated with obesity. Currently, genetic markers of obesity are being studied. This study focused on the association between the angiotensin II receptor AGTR1 gene (A1166C) and fat mass and obesity-associated protein also known as alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (FTO) (rs9939609) in obese children and adolescents patients in Rostov region, Russia.  Five-hundreds of Russian nationality child and adolescent were recruited for the obesity-control studies. The relationship between the A1166C polymorphism of the AGTR1 gene in

This study involves the investigation of the effect of nitrogen laser with 337.1 nm wavelength on the sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria by using local therapeutic due to burns. Thirty six isolate of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were isolated from 25 patients suffering from sever burns, each isolate of bacteria was irradiated with nitrogen laser at (5, 10, 15 and 30) pulses/second repetition rates for 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 minutes for each repetition rate. The effects of nitrogen laser on the local therapeutics sensitivity of bacteria were obtained using Kirby Baur method. Changes in the sensitivity of bacteria to local therapeutics (Tetracyclin, Chloramphenicol, Flumizin and Fucidin) occur at high repetition rate(30 pulses/seco