The bubbled slab, a type of reinforced concrete (RC) slab with plastic voids, is an innovative design that employs a biaxial distribution of voiding formers within the slab to reduce the slab’s self-weight while preserving a load-carrying capacity that is approximately comparable to that of solid slabs. This paper presents a new approach for figuring out the effective critical shear perimeter of voided slabs using the reduced-volume concept of concrete. This approach aims to reduce the coefficient of variation of the current design standards, namely the ACI 318-19 and Eurocode 2, for assessing the slabs’ resistance to punching shear. Our experimental program investigated the impact of voiding former patterns and the location of an opening near a column on the punching shear resistance of biaxial hollow slabs. The factors under consideration included the opening’s size, location, and distance from the loaded area, as well as the voiding formers’ placement concerning the critical shear boundaries. The results of experiments on 10 full-scale, 2000 × 2000 × 230 mm, reinforced concrete biaxial voided slabs with an opening are presented in this study. Two design expressions were used to estimate the biaxial hollow slabs’ shear strength. These expressions take into account the reduced volume of concrete and the distribution of voiding formers up to the section from the periphery of the column. The proposed approach to determine the effective punching shear perimeter has the lowest coefficient of variation among the methods suggested by these standards. This indicates the validity of our proposed expressions. The coefficient of variation of the proposed expressions does not exceed 0.057.
Severe periodontitis is ranked as the sixth most prevalent disease affecting humankind, with an estimated 740 million people affected worldwide. The diagnosis of periodontal diseases mainly relies upon assessment of conventional clinical parameters. However, these parameters reflect past, rather than current, clinical status or future disease progression and, likely, outcome of periodontal treatment. Specific and sensitive biomarkers for periodontal diseases have been examined widely to address these issues and some biomarkers have been translated as point-of-care (PoC) tests. The aim of this review was to provide an update on PoC tests for use in the diagnosis and management of periodontal diseases. Among the PoC tests developed so
... Show MoreThe primary goal of in-situ load testing is to evaluate the safety and performance of a structural system under particular loading conditions. Advancements in building techniques, analytical tools, and monitoring instruments are prompting the evaluation of the appropriate loading value, loading process, and examination criteria. The procedure for testing reinforced concrete (RC) structures on-site, as outlined in the ACI Building Code, involves conducting a 24-h load test and applying specific evaluation criteria. This article detailed a retrofitting project for an RC slab-beams system by utilizing carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets to strengthen the structure following a fire incident. The RC structure showed indicators of deter
... Show MorePurpose: To explore whether baseline matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8 level in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) (exposure) can predict the outcome (reduction in probing pocket depth (PPD) (outcome)) of nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) (manual or ultrasonic or both) in patients with periodontitis (population/problem) after 3 months. Methods: Six databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, ProQuest, Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO) were searched for relevant articles published until 30 July 2021. Retrieved articles were passed through a three-phase filtration process on the basis of the eligibility criteria. The primary outcome was the change in PPD after 3 months. Quality of the selected articles was assessed using Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB2
... Show MoreGas compressibility factor or z-factor plays an important role in many engineering applications related to oil and gas exploration and production, such as gas production, gas metering, pipeline design, estimation of gas initially in place (GIIP), and ultimate recovery (UR) of gas from a reservoir. There are many z-factor correlations which are either derived from Equation of State or empirically based on certain observation through regression analysis. However, the results of the z-factor obtained from different correlations have high level of variance for the same gas sample under the same pressure and temperature. It is quite challenging to determine the most accurate correlation which provides accurate estimate for a range of pressures,
... Show MoreThis study was conducted on Lake Hamrin situated in Diyala governorate, focal Iraq, between latitudes 44º 53ʹ 26.16 '- 45º 07 ʹ 28.03ʺ and 34º 04ʹ 24.75ʺ ــ 34º 19ʹ 12.74ʺ . As in this study, the surface area of Hamrin Lake was calculated from satellite images during the period from October 2019 to September 2020, with an average satellite image for each month, furthermore,by utilizing the Normalized Differences Water Index (NDWI), the largest surface area was 264,617 km2 for October and the lowest surface area 140.202 km2 for September. The surface temperature of the lake water was also calculated from satellite images of the Landsat 8 satellite, based on ban
... Show MoreThis study proposed using color components as artificial intelligence (AI) input to predict milk moisture and fat contents. In this sense, an adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was applied to milk processed by moderate electrical field‐based non‐thermal (NP) and conventional pasteurization (CP). The differences between predicted and experimental data were not significant (
To evaluate the shear bond strength and interfacial morphology of sound and caries-affected dentin (CAD) bonded to two resin-modified glass ionomer cements (RMGICs) after 24 hours and two months of storage in simulated body fluid at 37°C.
Sixty-four permanent human mandibular first molars (32 sound and 32 with occlusal caries, following the International Caries Detection and Assessment System) were selected. Each prepared substrate (sound and CAD) was co
The study objective was to conduct Pharmacoeconomics study (cost-effective analysis) between infliximab reference (Remicade) and its biosimilar (Remsima) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Iraqi hospitals.
This is a retrospective multicenter pharmacoeconomic analysis conducted at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq which provided infliximab to patients with RA. Data were collected from patient’s medical records and face-to-face interviews with the patients from December 2021 to April 2022.
The study included 57 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The patients were categorized into two groups according to the type of infliximab they received over 30 weeks: 27 patients received
... Show MoreAge, hypertension, and diabetes can cause significant alterations in arterial structure and function, including changes in lumen diameter (LD), intimal-medial thickness (IMT), flow velocities, and arterial compliance. These are also considered risk markers of atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular disease. A difference between right and left carotid artery blood flow and IMT has been reported by some researchers, and a difference in the incidence of nonlacunar stroke has been reported between the right and left brain hemispheres. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences between the right and left common carotid arteries and internal carotid arteries in patient