Due to the energy crisis and the stringent environmental regulations, diesel engines are offering good hope for automotive vehicles. However, a lot of work is needed to reduce the diesel exhaust emissions and give the way for full utilization of the diesel fuel’s excellent characteristics.
A kind of cetane number improver has been proposed and tested to be used with diesel fuel as ameans of reducing exhaust emissions. The addition of (2-ethylhexyl nitrate) was designed to raise fuel cetane number to three stages, 50, 52 and 55 compared to the used conventional diesel fuel whose CN was 48.5. The addition of CN improver results in the decre
... Show MoreNowadays, energy demand continuously rises while energy stocks are dwindling. Using current resources more effectively is crucial for the world. A wide method to effectively utilize energy is to generate electricity using thermal gas turbines (GT). One of the most important problems that gas turbines suffer from is high ambient air temperature especially in summer. The current paper details the effects of ambient conditions on the performance of a gas turbine through energy audits taking into account the influence of ambient conditions on the specific heat capacity ( , isentropic exponent ( ) as well as the gas constant of air . A computer program was developed to examine the operation of a power plant at various ambient temperature
... Show MoreThe global rise in temperature and the desert climatic conditions prevalent in Middle Eastern countries have exacerbated rutting distress in heavily trafficked highways. Conventional asphalt binders with a high-temperature performance grade (PG 70) have proven inadequate under such extreme conditions, necessitating the development of modified binders with enhanced high-temperature performance. While polymer modification using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), an elastomeric polymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), a plastomeric polymer, has been widely studied, limited research provides a direct comparison of their effectiveness at both the binder and mixture levels under extremely high-temperature conditions. This study addresses this gap
... Show MoreTraditional volumetric asphalt mix design methods do not directly evaluate cracking and rutting resistance, which may result in mixtures with inadequate field performance despite satisfying conventional volumetric requirements. Balanced Mix Design (BMD) has been introduced to address this limitation by incorporating performance testing. However, it remains unclear whether additive modification alone can recover mixtures that do not satisfy BMD criteria, or whether volumetric redesign (binder content optimization) is necessary. Therefore, this study investigated the effectiveness of additive modification before and after BMD redesign using IDEAL-CT and IDEAL-RT performance indices. Three additive systems were evaluated: SBS polymer,
... Show MoreBackground: Cardiomyopathy (CM) is a cardiac muscle disorder that can lead to heart failure (HF). It has several phenotypes, including dilated, hypertrophic, and restricted. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a crucial part in the development and advancement of CM. Objective: This study aimed to measure the concentration of certain cytokines [Interleukin- 1β (IL-1β), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α)] in the serum of Iraqi patients with CM. Materials and Methods: Sixty CM patients and 30 healthy individuals with age ranged from 40 to 70 years old were enrolled in this study through their presence at Iraqi Center for Heart Diseases, Ghazy Al-Hariri Hospital for Surgical Specialties in the Medical City in Baghdad. The st
... Show MoreBackground: Liver metastasis significantly complicates cancer prognosis, yet easily accessible markers for its early detection and monitoring remain crucial. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate key hematological parameters as potential indicators for liver metastasis in Iraqi patients. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing hematological profiles between 90 patients (presumably with liver metastasis) and 30 healthy controls. White Blood Cell (WBC) count, Lymphocyte percentage, Neutrophil percentage, and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) were analyzed. Given non-normal data distributions (confirmed by the Shapiro-Wilk test), group comparisons were performed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test.
... Show MoreIn the last few years, there have been a lot of changes in the economy, society, and the environment. This has led to much competition between companies, directly and indirectly affecting production and marketing processes. Most companies are trying to cut production and manufacturing costs by using modern cost techniques such as product life cycle costing and Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) technology, in the method of measuring production costs or service costs, and the need for internal control to keep an eye on how these technologies are being used and how well they work. And to find out the effect of internal control on the implementation of costing techniques in Iraqi companies, 64 questionnaires were given to people who work in the i
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