Arthropod-borne infections, known as vector-borne diseases, are a significant threat to both humans and animals. These diseases are transmitted to humans and animals through the bites of infected arthropods. In the last half century, there have been a number of unexpected viral outbreaks in Middle Eastern countries. Recently, Iraq has witnessed an outbreak of the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus with high morbidity and mortality rates in humans. However, very little is known about the prevalence and distribution of CCHFV in Iraq, and therefore, it is impossible to quantify the risk of infection. CCHFV is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected ticks. However, transmission can also occur through contact with the blood or ti

Background: This study compared in vitro the marginal adaptation of three different, low shrink, direct posterior composites Filtekâ„¢ P60 (packable composite), Filtekâ„¢ P90 (Silorane-based composite) and Sonic fillâ„¢ (nanohybrid composite) at three different composite/enamel interface regions (occlusal, proximal and gingival regions) of a standardized Class II MO cavity after thermal changes and mechanical load cycling by scanning electron microscopy. Materials and methods:Thirty six sound human maxillary first premolars of approximately comparable sizes were divided into three main groups of (12 teeth) in each according to the type of restorative material that was used: group (A) the teeth were restored with Filtekâ„¢ P6

A new tool geometry was used to achieve friction stir spot welding (FSSW) in which the shoulder was designed separately from the rotating pin, and in order to examine weldment strength through the modified tool, a lap joints of AA2024 aluminum alloy plate 1 mm thick were welded successfully by using 6 mm pin diameter and varying process parameters (rotational speeds, tool nose geometry, and depth of tool penetration in the lower welded plate). Experimental tests indicate that the maximum average tensile shear load was 3100 N at the best selected condition. Microstructure examination and micro hardness test along the spot zones were investigated as well as measuring pin penetration load. Visual inspection of the welded spot surface shows a g

The aim was to design a MATLAB program to calculate the phreatic surface of the multi-well system and present the graphical shape of the water table drawdown induced by water extraction. Dupuit’s assumption is the base for representing the dewatering curve. The program will offer the volume of water to be extracted, the total number of wells, and the spacing between them as well as the expected settlement of soil surrounding the dewatering foundation pit. The dewatering well arrangement is required in execution works, and it needs more attention due to the settlement produced from increasing effective stress.

MB Mahmood, BN Dhannoon

Background: The daily cleaning routine of the silicone maxillofacial prostheses by the patient may cause some alteration in the materials properties. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of different disinfection procedures on some properties of silicon dioxide reinforced Cosmesil M511 HTV maxillofacial silicone. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty (160) specimens were prepared by mixing 5% SiO2 nano particles and 0.5% intrinsic cream color into the silicone polymer according to manufacturer's instructions. Specimens were divided into 4 groups according to the performed test (tear strength, surface hardness, surface roughness and color) with 40 specimens each. Each group was further subdivided according to

A number of compression schemes were put forward to achieve high compression factors with high image quality at a low computational time. In this paper, a combined transform coding scheme is proposed which is based on discrete wavelet (DWT) and discrete cosine (DCT) transforms with an added new enhancement method, which is the sliding run length encoding (SRLE) technique, to further improve compression. The advantages of the wavelet and the discrete cosine transforms were utilized to encode the image. This first step involves transforming the color components of the image from RGB to YUV planes to acquire the advantage of the existing spectral correlation and consequently gaining more compression. DWT is then applied to the Y, U and V col