Land use change, particularly the expansion of urban areas and associated human activities at the expense of natural and semi-natural areas, is a major ecological issue in urban areas around the world. Climate change being a very strong additional driver for changing the temperature and habitat in the cities. This also applies to Baghdad, Iraq, where urbanisation and climate change exerts a major pressure on the natural habitats of the city, and thus may affect the ability of city planners to adapt to future climate change scenarios. Here we present evidence of substantial growth in urban areas, increases in temperature, and degradation of natural vegetation within Baghdad city by using Remote Sensing techniques and an assessment for the

In this work, electrochemical process was presented to polymerized eugenol on Gr.2 and Gr.5 titanium alloys before and after treated by Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), where Gr.2 is commercial pure titanium and Gr.5 is Ti-6Al-4V dental alloys. The deposited layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adhesion strength of polymeric thin-film was estimation by using pull-off adhesion test and the result was the adhesion strength of PE was (1.23 MPa) on Gr.2 before MAO and increase to (1.98 MPa) on Gr.2 after MAO treatment. The corrosion behavior of Gr.2 and Gr.5 alloy in artificial saliva environment at

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a frequent gram-negative bacterium that causes nosocomial infections, affecting more than 100 million patients annually worldwide. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from E. coli binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its co-receptor’s cluster of differentiation protein 14 (CD14) and myeloid differentiation factor 2 (MD2), collectively known as the LPS receptor complex. LPCAT2 participates in lipid-raft assembly by phospholipid remodelling. Previous research has proven that LPCAT2 co-localises in lipid rafts with TLR4 and regulates macrophage inflammatory response. However, no published evidence exists of the influence of LPCAT2 on the gene expression of the LPS receptor complex induced by smooth or rough b

The Paleocene benthic foraminiferal zonation of the Umm Er Rhadhuma Formation from the borehole (K.H 12/7), South Anah City (Western Iraq), has been re-studied and re-analyzed precisely based on the large benthic foraminifera (LBF). They are represented by two biozone Rotorbinella hensoni Partial Range Zone, recorded from the Lower and middle parts of the Umm Er Rhadhuma Formation and Lockhartia praehaimei Partial Range Zone determined Uppermost of this unit, and dated to be the Selandian – Thanetian stage. Almost all the biogenic (micro and macro) and non-biogenic constituents, including large benthic foraminifera, Algae, Echinoderm, Bryozoans, Oyster, Gastropod fragments, and peloids, in addition to lithofacies types, indicate t

This paper investigates the performance evaluation of two state feedback controllers, Pole Placement (PP) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). The two controllers are designed for a Mass-Spring-Damper (MSD) system found in numerous applications to stabilize the MSD system performance and minimize the position tracking error of the system output. The state space model of the MSD system is first developed. Then, two meta-heuristic optimizations, Simulated Annealing (SA) optimization and Ant Colony (AC) optimization are utilized to optimize feedback gains matrix K of the PP and the weighting matrices Q and R of the LQR to make the MSD system reach stabilization and reduce the oscillation of the response. The Matlab softwar

The purpose of this research is to identify heritage and highlight its value by drawing on its decorative vocabulary and integrating it with the Arabic calligraphy to revive the heritage in a contemporary style, and to create decorative design units inspired by Sadou and Arabic calligraphy and to employ them in the modern fashion designs. The applied descriptive approach has been used in this research, and the research community is made of women in Riyadh area. The tools used in this research were the questionnaire and the observation. The most important results of the research are: the design of decorative units from the integration of Arabic calligraphy and the decorations of the Saduo, and the use of these units in the design of the o

In this study, stabilization of expansive soils using waste materials namely; Cement Kiln Dust (CKD), and waste plastic bottles (WPB) was experimentally investigated. Using CKD and WPB are exponentially increasing day by day, due to their capability to solve both environmental and geotechnical problems successfully. Expansive soils were collected from locations with a wide range of plasticity index (PI) (15 - 27) and liquid limit (LL) (35% - 64%). Stabilizer percentages were varied from 0% to 20%, and curing durations for CKD cases were 7 and 28 days. Results showed the best percentages of CKD and WPB are 12% of each one respectively. LL, plastic limit (PL), and swelling percent (SP) loss were observed, which are 46%, 55%, and 96% respec