This paper reports a comprehensive study on the behavior of concavely curved soffit reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened in flexure with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites under static loading. The main objective of this paper is to explore the effect of surface concavity on the bond performance of externally bonded wet layup CFRP sheets and laminates. An experimental program consisting of flexural strengthening of 24 RC beams with concavely curved soffits was carried out. All specimens were simply supported RC beams tested under three-point bending. Of the 24 beams, 6 beams were flat soffit RC beams, and the remainder were fabricated with concavely curved soffits with a degree of curvature that is ranging from 5 mm/m to 20 mm/m. All tested specimens were 2,700-mm long and had a constant cross section at midspan of 140-mm wide × 260-mm deep. The experiments showed that all strengthened beams failed by intermediate crack-induced (IC) debonding of the CFRP. The experimental results were then used, together with those for other specimens in the literature to set recommendations for strengthening concavely curved RC beams.
Background: Studies discussing the correlation between biochemical markers of bone turnover and the diagnosis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal Iraqi women are rare. This study is devoted to find out the significance of serum osteocalcin (OC) and osteopontin (OPN) levels with the incidence of osteoporosis and its major complication (fracture).Objectives: to investigate the significance of bone turnover biochemical markers; serum osteocalcin and serum osteopontin in evaluating osteoporosis for postmenopausal Iraqi women with and without history of vertebral fracture, as well as to explore the relationship of these markers with bone mineral density (BMD).Methods: Fifty seven postmenopausal women whose ages are fifty years old and over, cat
... Show MoreAbdominal fat synthesizes a variety of adipokines, including vaspin and chemerin, that affect the resistance to insulin. This research was conducted to demonstrate the effect of pioglitazone, one insulin sensitizer used to decrease insulin resistance, on these adipokines in obese patients with polycystic ovary (PCOS). Twenty-five obese women with PCOS were treated with pioglitazone 15mg/bid for 12 weeks. Modifications in fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum fasting insulin (FSI), chemerin and vaspin serum levels, follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), and in baseline and post-therapy were assessed. Body mass index decreased without any substantial variance after 12 weeks of piogl
... Show MoreBackground: Interleukine-2 is a multifunctional cytokine, considered a central regulator of host resistance against a variety of pathogens and has been recently demonstrated to exert an active role in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of scaling and root planning on level of IL-2 in serum and saliva of patients with chronic generalized periodontitis, in relation to clinical parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 subjects were enrolled, of which 25 had chronic generalized periodontitis and 25 periodontally healthy subjects as control. The clinical parameters included: gingival index, pocket probing depth, clinical attachment level and bleeding on probing. The level of
... Show MoreThe δ-mixing ratios have been calculated for several γ-transitions in 90Mo using the 𝛔 𝐉 method. The results are compared with other references the agreement is found to be very good .this confirms the validity of the 𝛔 𝐉 method as a tool for analyzing the angular distribution of γ-ray. Key word: population parameter, γ-ray transition, 𝛔 𝐉 method, multiple mixing ratios.
Excess alcohol consumption is associated with numerous metabolic changes and homeostasis disturbances of many macro- and micro-elements in the body. It has been associated with multiple pathologies at all levels. In the digestive apparatus, alcohol has generally been related to its toxic effects upon the liver. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α-1 AT or AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation, coagulation and repair mechanisms in the body and most α-1 AT in the body is produced by the liver; from the other hand, Intrinsic factor (IF), which is a glycoprotein produced by the parietal cells of the stomach is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine. This study was designed to assess serum levels of α-1 AT and
... Show MoreThis study was designed to evaluate the effect of anesthesia on thyroid hormones (T3, T4, rT3), thyrotropin(TSH), and cortisol levels in patients undergoing major urological surgery. The study included fifty patients scheduled for elective major urological surgery where 70% of the patients underwent general anesthesia, while30% underwent regional anesthesia. All patients were in stable control general conditions. The study showed that the thyroid hormones, thyrotropin and cortisol levels were affected with general anesthesia more than regional. The levels of these hormones responded to anesthetics and surgical stresses. This response was thought to be mainly mediated by afferent neurogenic impulses from the area of injury. Therefore, ab
... Show MoreThe Fauqi field is located about 50Km North-East Amara town in Missan providence in Iraq. Fauqi field has 1,640 MMbbl STOIIP, which lies partly in Iran. Oil is produced from both Mishrif and Asmari zones. Geologically, the Fauqi anticline straddles the Iraqi/Iranian border and is most probably segmented by several faults. There are several reasons leading to drilling horizontal wells rather than vertical wells. The most important parameter is increasing oil recovery, particularly from thin or tight reservoir permeability. The Fauqi oil field is regarded as a giant field with approximately more than 1 billion barrels of proven reserves, but it has recently experienced low production rate problems in many of its existing wells. This study
... Show MoreIn the present work the Buildup factor for gamma rays were studied in shields from epoxy reinforced by lead powder and by aluminum powder, for NaI(Tl) scintillation detector size ( ×? ), using two radioactive sources (Co-60 and Cs-137). The shields which are used (epoxy reinforced by lead powder with concentration (10-60)% and epoxy reinforced by aluminum powder with concentration (10-50)% by thick (6mm) and epoxy reinforced by lead powder with concentration (50%) with thick (2,4,6,8,10)mm. The experimental results show that: The linear absorption factor and Buildup factor increase with increase the concentration for the powders which used in reinforcement and high for aluminum powder than the lead powder and decrease with inc
... Show MoreGastritis can be defined as histological inflammation of the gastric mucosa. It can be classified according to the time course of the disease as acute or chronic, histological findings, anatomic location, and pathological mechanisms. The objective of this study was to evaluation of serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-8, IL-17 and IL-22 in Helicobacter pylori infection and their association with the degree of gastritis histopathology in a sample of Iraqi patients. The case-control prospective study consists of 60 patients who attended the Gastrointestinal Tract Center at Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital during the period from December 2019 to April 2020. In addition, the control group included 60 apparently healthy individuals. Bio
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