Many waste materials can be repurposed effectively within asphalt concrete to enhance the performance and sustainability of pavement. One of these waste materials is sawdust ash (SDA). This study explores the beneficial use of SDA as a substitute for limestone dust (LD) mineral filler in asphalt concrete. The replacement rate was 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% by weight of total mineral filler. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to assess the surface morphology of Sawdust (SD), SDA, and LD. In addition, a series of tests, including Marshall stability and flow, indirect tensile strength,moisture susceptibility, and repeated uniaxial loading tests, were conducted to examine the performance characteristics of asphalt mixtures of different SDA content. As per Marshall mix design, a slightly higher binder content was required for the preparation of SDA mixes. The results reveal that the asphalt mixtures prepared using SDA attain a tensile strength ratio (TSR) greater than the critical threshold, i.e., 80%, indicating the feasibility of SDA against moisture- induced damage. The highest TSR value of 87% was obtained using 45% SDA as a replacement for LD. Compared to 0% SDA, there is a reduction of 12.08% in permanent deformation for asphalt mixtures produced with 60% SDA. Also, as the SDA content increases, there is a slight improvement in the resilient modulus values, with a peak improvement of 3% at 60% SDA. In addition, the cost of producing SDA mixes was relatively lower than the control mixes, indicating the cost-effectiveness of using SDA. Overall, the study found that SDA is a promising material that can improve the performance and durability of asphalt concrete at lower production costs.
Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma represents the vast majority of oral cancer it is a common malignant tumor with an increasing incidence. Around the world, the 5 year mortality rate of oral cancer is about 50%. Thus novel biomarkers for early detection oral squamous cell carcinoma are needed. The level of three salivary microRNAs namely hsa-miR-200a, hsa-miR-125a and hsa- miR-93 were measured in saliva of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and compared their levels in saliva of healthy control subjects to determine their potential as oral cancer biomarker. Materials and methods: The level of these three microRNAs was measured by using revers transcription, preamplification and quantitative PCR. Results: Only miR-200a presen
... Show MoreThis study aims to determine the reasons for the increase in the frequency of sand and dust storms in the Middle East and to identify their sources and mitigate them. A set of climatic data from 60 years (1960–2022) was analyzed. Sand storms in Iraq are a silty sand mature arkose composed of 72.7% sand, 25.1% silt, and 2.19% clay; the clay fraction in dust storms constitutes 70%, with a small amount of silt (20.6%) and sand (9.4%). Dust and sand storms (%) are composed of quartz (49.2, 67.1), feldspar (4.9, 20.9), calcite (38, 5), gypsum (4.8, 0.4), dolomite (0.8, 1.0), and heavy minerals (3.2, 6.6). Increasing temperatures in Iraq, by an average of 2 °C for sixty years, have contributed to an increase in the number of dust storm
... Show MoreProduction and characterization of methionine γ- lyase from Pseudomonas putida and its effect on cancer cell lines
Several toxigenic cyanobacteria produce the cyanotoxin (microcystin). Being a health and environmental hazard, screening of water sources for the presence of microcystin is increasingly becoming a recommended environmental procedure in many countries of the world. This study was conducted to assess the ability of freshwater cyanobacterial species Westiellopsis prolifica to produce microcystins in Iraqi freshwaters via using molecular and immunological tools. The toxigenicity of W. prolifica was compared via laboratory experiments with other dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria isolated from the Tigris River: Microcystis aeruginosa, Chroococcus turigidus, Nostoc carneum, and Lyngbya sp. signifi
... Show MoreBackground: Pumpkin seeds are a valuable source of high-quality protein and can be utilized as functional food ingredients due to their properties, such as solubility, foam formation, and stability. This study aims to produce protein isolate and its enzymatic hydrolysates from local pumpkin seeds to study their properties. Methodology: Preparing defatted pumpkin seeds for protein extraction, followed by the enzymes’ hydrolysis using Trypsin and Pepsin enzymes separately and together in two methods. The determination of amino acids and the degree of hydrolysis was conducted; moreover, protein properties were studied, including solubility, emulsifying activity, stability index, foaming capacity, and stability. Results: A protein sample was
... Show MoreThree hundred Iraqi people participated in demographic and attitudes study about red and white meat consumption. The mean age of the participants was 50 SD ± 11 years (mean 30-72); 51% were females and 49% males, mostly in forties who lived ≥ 5 years in Baghdad. The results showed that 80% of individuals prefer red meat. A 90% of people prefer fresh meat compared to frozen and processed meat. A 60% of people buy meat from popular markets. Nearly 87% of respondents believe the improving of livestock sector is essential and 80% of people confirmed there are obstacles to development this sector. An 80% of participates thought the reasons of the high prices of local fresh meat is the lack of plann
... Show MoreFiber Bragg Grating has many advantages where it can be used as a temperature sensor, pressure sensor or even as a refractive index sensor. Designing each of this fiber Bragg grating sensors should include some requirements. Fiber Bragg grating refractive index sensor is a very important application. In order to increase the sensing ability of fiber Bragg gratings, many methods were followed. In our proposed work, the fiber Bragg grating was written in a D-shaped optical fiber by using a phase mask method with KrFexcimer. The resultant fiber Bragg grating has a high reflectivity 99.99% with a Bragg wavelength of 1551.2 nm as a best result obtained from a phase mask with a grating period of 1057 nm. In this work it was found that the rota
... Show MoreWe propose an intraguild predation ecological system consisting of a tri-trophic food web with a fear response for the basal prey and a Lotka–Volterra functional response for predation by both a specialist predator (intraguild prey) and a generalist predator (intraguild predator), which we call the superpredator. We prove the positivity, existence, uniqueness, and boundedness of solutions, determine all equilibrium points, prove global stability, determine local bifurcations, and illustrate our results with numerical simulations. An unexpected outcome of the prey's fear of its specialist predator is the potential eradication of the superpredator.
Abstract:
The paper aims to measure an aggregated banking stability index reflecting the degree of stability of the banking system to help policy makers to take the necessary actions to avoid financial crises facing banks and to achieve a banking system with high efficiency in terms of banking risk.
Therefore, the problem of paper is that the Central Bank of Iraq did not seek until 2016 to build a aggregated index for the purpose of identifying the stability of the banking situation in Iraq, but rather on the adoption of scattered indicators, which depend on the mechanism of relative changes in those indicators for the purpose of identifying the situation of b
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