Concrete structures are exposed to aggressive environmental conditions that lead to corrosion of the embedded reinforcement and pre-stressing steel. Consequently, the safety of concrete structures may be compromised, and this requires a significant budgets to repair and maintain critical infrastructure. Prediction of structural safety can lead to significant reductions in maintenance costs by maximizing the impact of investments. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework to assess the reliability of existing post-tensioned concrete bridges. A time-dependent reliability analysis of an existing post-tensioned involving the assessment of Ynys-y-Gwas bridge has been presented in this study. The main cause of failure of this bridge was c

A laboratory experiment was conducted in the labs of Seeds Testing and Certification Department, Ministry of Agriculture in 2017 to improve germination and seedling growth in primed sorghum seeds by different concentrations and soaking durations of acids of gibberellic (GA3)(distilled water, 75, 150 and 300 mg l-1), salicylic (SA)(distilled water, 40, 70 and 100 mg l-1) and soaking duration (SD)(12 and 24 h). Factorial experiment in completely randomized design was applied with four r replications. The results showed the superiority of the two soaking treatments with GA3 (300 mg l-1) and SA (70 mg l-1) at germination ratio, radicle and plumule lengths, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index (81.3%, 2.7 cm, 8.9 cm, 0.081 mg and 984) a

Background: Oral Lichen planus (OLP) is a T-cell mediated chronic inflammatory oral mucosal disease of unknown etiology. Recent studies have reported an increased oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in such patients. This suggests that reactive oxygen species may have a role in the pathogenesis of lichen planus. Oxidative stress in OLP release molecules consisting of granzymes resulting in local tissue damage in the effectors. Antioxidants that can defend against oxidative stress in the body cells include enzymes, as well as non- enzymatic antioxidants, such as melatonin, uric acid, vitamin A and E. Purpose: To study the level of salivary vitamin E and uric acid as antioxidant agents in patients with OLP and compared with healthy con

With the increasing rates of cancer worldwide, a great deal of scientific discourse is devoted to arguments and statements about cancer and its causes. Scientists from different fields try to seize any available chance to warn people of the risk of consuming and exposing to carcinogens that have, unfortunately, become essential parts of modern life. The present paper attempts to investigate the proximization strategy through which scientists construct carcinogen risk to enhance people’s preventive actions against these carcinogens. The paper targets the construction which depends on producing the conflict between the values of the people themselves and the contrasting values assigned to carcinogens. To achieve this aim, Cap’s (2

Urinary stones are one of the most common painful disorders of the urinary system. Four new technologies have transformed the treatment of urinary stones: Electrohydraulic lithotripsy, ultrasonic lithotripsy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, and laser lithotripsy.The purpose of this study is to determine whether pulsed holmium laser energy is an effective method for fragmenting urinary tract stones in vitro, and to determine whether stone composition affects the efficacy of holmium laser lithotripsy. Human urinary stones of known composition with different sizes, shapes and colors were used for this study. The weight and the size of each stone were measured. The surgical laser system which used in our study is Ho:YAG laser(2100nm)

Multilayer reservoirs are currently modeled as a single zone system by averaging the reservoir parameters associated with each reservoir zone. However, this type of modeling is rarely accurate because a single zone system does not account for the fact that each zone's pressure decreases independently. Pressure drop for each zone has an effect on the total output and would result in inter-flow and the premature depletion of one of the zones. Understanding reservoir performance requires a precise estimation of each layer's permeability and skin factor. The Multilayer Transient Analysis is a well-testing technique designed to determine formation properties in more than one layer, and its effectiveness over the past two decades has been

This study analyses six political cartoons selected based on their relevance to current Iraqi political issues, specifically the period between 2005 and 2015, from American online newspapers (calgecartooms.com). The selection criteria included the cartoons' satirical elements, visual rhetoric, and their ability to engage with themes such as power dynamics, social issues, and public opinion. It sheds light on how these cartoons can function as mediators of meanings between the cartoonists and the readers. The data is examined using multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), which combines language study with the analysis of other visual elements, like colors, gestures, and images, to understand meaning (O’Halloran et al., 2011). The Visual Socia

Background: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving  Rituximab intravenous i

It is found that hypersensitive teeth have a larger number and wider patent tubules than those of non-sensitive teeth. Objective: The aim of this study is to compare between the effects of diode laser at different power densities, with and without sodium fluoride on the sealing of exposed dentinal tubules and dentin permeability. Materials and methods: 118 teeth were used. Samples were divided into three major groups. The first consisted of 100 teeth used for permeability test. The second consisted of 16 teeth for measuring external surface temperature elevation while irradiation. The third, in turn, consisted of one pair of teeth observed under SEM for dentine surface morphology analysis. Results: For dentin permeability measurement, th

This paper predicts the resilient modulus (Mr) for warm mix asphalt (WMA) mixtures prepared using aspha-min. Various predictor variables were analyzed, including asphalt cement types, asphalt contents, nominal maximum aggregate sizes (NMAS), filler content, test temperatures, and loading times. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the behavior of each predictor variable individually and collectively. Through univariate analysis, it was observed that Mr exhibited an inverse trend with asphalt cement grade, NMAS, test temperature, and load duration. Although Mr increased slightly with higher filler and asphalt content, the magnitude of this increase was minimal. Multivariate analysis revealed that the rate of change