Background: The gene responsible for encoding the protein of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) has been found to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in different ethnic populations. But the association of +49A/G CTLA-4 polymorphism with susceptibility of RA among Iraqi Arab populations has not yet been determined. Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight patients were examined, 67 of them were males (mean age 54.71 ± 10.4 years), while 167 were examined for the control group, of whom 64 were males and the rest were females. CTLA-4 DNA genotyping was carried on to determine the +49 A/G (rs231775) polymorphism using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Enzyme-linked immuno

In recent years, the search for economic and environmentally friendly alternatives has become a global necessity to achieve sustainability and preserve raw materials. From this concept, natural bitumen (NB) derived from sulphur springs is now one of the most promising alternative energy resources for many applications, especially in asphalt pavement construction. Its low price and abundance characterise NB since sulphur springs produce thousands of tonnes of NB annually and are used in very limited fields. Two main objectives were adopted for this work. The first objective is to examine the virgin NB properties from five sulphur springs and compare them with petroleum asphalt. The second objective is to enhance NB properties by appl

There is an interesting potential for the use of GFRP-pultruded profiles in hybrid GFRP-concrete structural elements, either for new constructions or for the rehabilitation of existing structures. This paper provides experimental and numerical investigations on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) specimens composite with encased pultruded GFRP I-sections. Five simply supported composite beams were tested in this experimental program to investigate the static flexural behavior of encased GFRP beams with high-strength concrete. Besides, the effect of using shear studs to improve the composite interaction between the GFRP beam and concrete as well as the effect of web stiffeners of GFRP were explored. Encasing the GFRP

Purpose:  the purpose of study is estimate the Risk premium, Interest rate, Inflation and FDI in the through of Coronavirus in the MENA countries.   Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework included the study of the main variables, which are risk premium, interest rate, inflation, and foreign direct investment during the Corona virus pandemic.   Design/methodology/approach:  Concentrating on “COVID-19”, as an effective factor on the Foreign direct investment (FDI), I employ data of “MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa)” countries from 2000 to 2021 to investigate the impact of COVID-19, financial and macroeconomic indicators on FDI relying on the analytic research approach of Static panel data regression, includ

Precise forecasting of pore pressures is crucial for efficiently planning and drilling oil and gas wells. It reduces expenses and saves time while preventing drilling complications. Since direct measurement of pore pressure in wellbores is costly and time-intensive, the ability to estimate it using empirical or machine learning models is beneficial. The present study aims to predict pore pressure using artificial neural network. The building and testing of artificial neural network are based on the data from five oil fields and several formations. The artificial neural network model is built using a measured dataset consisting of 77 data points of Pore pressure obtained from the modular formation dynamics tester. The input variables

The aim of the research is to identify learning difficulties and their role in children's perception of self-concept. The researcher adopted the descriptive and analytical approach method in this study. A questionnaire was designed by the researcher to collect some related information such as biodata, family, health, diagnostic and behavioral patterns of the case. In addition, the researcher adopted the scale of learning difficulties for elementary school students prepared by Zaidan Ahmed Al-Sartawi (1995), the scale of student appreciation for the survey of learning difficulties for primary school students by Michael Best, which was translated to the Arabic language by (Saeed Abdullah Debis). The researcher adopted also the Self-Concept

In recent years, non-oil primary balance indicator has been given considerable financial important in rentier state. It highly depends on this indicator to afford a clear and proper picture of public finance situation in term of appropriate and sustainability in these countries, due to it excludes the effect of oil- rental from compound of financial accounts which provide sufficient information to economic policy makers of how economy is able to create potential added value and then changes by eliminating one sided shades of economy. In Iraq, since, 2004, the deficit in value of this indicator has increased, due to almost complete dependence on the revenues of the oil to finance the budget and the obvious decline of the non-oil s

     This research aims to shed light on the reality of the process of rehabilitation of human resources for the implementation of electronic management practice in the ministry, and availability requirements of the application of electronic management and diagnosis of the most important stages and steps that can be followed in the process of transition towards electronic management to keep abreast of developments in the field of information technology, has been the application of this research in the Ministry of science and technology on a group of heads of departments and directors of the people in the departments of the Ministry through the use of case study method, which includes cohabitation field intervi

Business organizations have faced many challenges in recent times, most important of which is information technology, because it is widely spread and easy to use. Its use has led to an increase in the amount of data that business organizations deal with an unprecedented manner. The amount of data available through the internet is a problem that many parties seek to find solutions for. Why is it available there in this huge amount randomly? Many expectations have revealed that in 2017, there will be devices connected to the internet estimated at three times the population of the Earth, and in 2015 more than one and a half billion gigabytes of data was transferred every minute globally. Thus, the so-called data mining emerged as a