In recent decades, tremendous success has been achieved in the advancement of chemical admixtures for Portland cement concrete. Most efforts have concentrated on improving the properties of concrete and studying the factors that influence on these properties. Since the compressive strength is considered a valuable property and is invariably a vital element of the structural design, especially high early strength development which can be provide more benefits in concrete production, such as reducing construction time and labor and saving the formwork and energy. As a matter of fact, it is influenced as a most properties of concrete by several factors including water-cement ratio, cement type and curing methods employed.
Because of acce

The effect of considering the third dimension in mass concrete members on its cracking behavior is investigated in this study. The investigation includes thermal and structural analyses of mass concrete structures. From thermal analysis, the actual temperature distribution throughout the mass concrete body was obtained due to the generation of heat as a result of cement hydration in
addition to the ambient circumstances. This was performed via solving the differential equations of heat conduction and convection using the finite element method. The finite element method was also implemented in the structural analysis adopting the concept of initial strain problem. Drying shrinkage volume changes were calculated using the procedure sug

In this paper, third order non-polynomial spline function is used to solve 2nd kind Volterra integral equations. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the applications of this method, and to compare the computed results with other known methods.

In this paper, some estimators of the unknown shape parameter and reliability function  of Basic Gompertz distribution (BGD) have been obtained, such as MLE, UMVUE, and MINMSE, in addition to estimating Bayesian estimators under Scale invariant squared error loss function assuming informative prior represented by Gamma distribution and non-informative prior by using Jefferys prior. Using Monte Carlo simulation method, these estimators of the shape parameter and R(t), have been compared based on mean squared errors and integrated mean squared, respectively

In this study, the use of non-thermal plasma theory to remove toxic gases emitted from a vehicle was experimentally investigated. A non-thermal plasma reactor was constructed in the form of a cylindrical tube made of Pyrex glass. Two stainless steel rods were placed inside the tube to generate electric discharge and plasma condition, by connecting with a high voltage power supply (up to 40 kV). The reactor was used to remove the contaminants of a 1.25-liter 4-cylinder engine at ambient conditions. Several tests have been carried out for a ranging speed from 750 to 4,500 rpm of the engine and varying voltages from 0 to 32 kV. The gases entering the reactor were examined by a gas analyzer and the gases concentration ratio

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a synthetic fluor-surfactant chemical used widely in ‎products that resist oil, heat, grease, stains, and water. It is also used in producing other ‎fluoropolymers. The main sources of exposure to PFOA are water, soil, and animal-‎origin food (meat, fish, and dairy products). The aim of this study to evaluate the renal ‎function following oral gavage of sub-lethal dose of PFOA in diabetic and non-diabetic ‎guinea pigs. The experiment run for 4 weeks, total of 40 male guinea pigs, ‎‎(Cavia porcellus), were randomly selected and grouped into four equal groups. The first ‎group (G1) served as the negative control; 2nd group (G2) alloxan induced diabetic, 3rd ‎group (G3) non-diabeti

Rotaviruses, a major cause of gastroenteritis in children worldwide accounts for around half a million deaths annually. Vaccine against the virus has been recommended by the WHO to be involved in the national immunization program.To evaluate the genetic characterization of rotavirus among children with acute gastroenteritis in Babylon province is warranted. Children complained of diarrhea with rotavirus infection detected in their stool were involved in the study. The age range was 10 months to 60 months and with retrogradechecking of rotavirus vaccine history. Rotavirus genotypes were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).A total number of 40 children with rotavirus gastroenteritis were used to examine the

An experimental study was conducted with low cost natural waste adsorbent materials, barley husks and eggshells, for the removal of Levofloxacine (LEVX) antibacterial from synthetic waste water. Batch sorption tests were conducted to study their isothermal adsorption capacity and compared with conventional activated carbon which were, activated carbon > barley husks > eggshells with removal efficiencies 74, 71 and 42 % with adsorbents doses of 5, 5 and 50 g/L of activated carbon, barley husks, and eggshells respectively. The equilibrium sorption isotherms had been analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips models, and their parameters were evaluated. The experimental data were correlated well with the Langmuir model which gives the

Hashimoto Thyroiditis (HT) is the most common autoimmune thyroid disease and the commonest cause ofhypothyroidism. C-reactive protein (CRP) is synthesized in hepatocyte in response to autoimmune disorders;strongly induced by IL-6. This study aimed to estimate serum IL-6 and CRP levels in autoimmune and non-autoimmune hypothyroidism. The present study included 60 Iraqi female hypothyroid patients divided to 30autoimmune and 30 non-autoimmune, with age ranged between 24-50 years and 30 healthy controls withage ranged between 27-52 years. Serum samples were collected from study groups. The levels of thyroidhormones (TSH, T4 and T3) were determined by using automated Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (CLIA)analysis system. Detection the levels of t

Background: The surgical treatment of pilonidal sinus varies from wide excision and laying the wound open or excision with primary closure or excision with the use of skin graft in some special cases.
Objectives: The objectives of this study is to determine the efficacy of treating non complicated pilonidal sinus disease with minimal excision and primary closure technique, complications and recurrence rate.
Patients and methods: This is a prospective study conducted in shahid ahmed ismaiel hospital in rania – As sulaimania IRAQ during the period from December 2013 to January 2016 and was carried on one hundred (100) consecutive patients with non complicated non recurrent pilonidal sinus patients who were treated with minimal exci