Alteration of repeat tract length within the SSR of phase variable genes may enhance the persistence of isolates within their host for a long time (a period of months) (Alamro et al.,2014). Alamro et al. (2014) showed there was trend towards selection for OFF state or low expression for five phase variable genes (opc, hmbr, nadA, nalP, hpuAB) in three carriers (V54, V124 and V64) within strains belonging into CC174 and CC167 in first, second and third time points. He concluded that the selection for low or OFF state helped N. meningitidis to persist for a long time (Alamro et al., 2014). The current study aimed to detect the alteration in the repeat tracts of the same five variable genes within the previous three carriers (V54, V124, and V64) but for other strains belonging to CC22, CC269, and CC198 at the fourth time point. There was also a trend towards selection for an OFF state or low expression for three genes which are (opc, hpuAb, nalP) with 2/3 (66.6%) carriers while hmbr gene showed ON state in all carriers (100%). This indicates that antibodies formed against (opc, HpuAb, nalP) genes in strains belonging to CC174 and CC167 in first, second and third time points were able to enhance immunization against the isolates in the current study for CC269 and CC22 resulting in the selection for the OFF state or low expression. Conversely, antibodies formed against hmbr gene in the previous time points on isolates within the CC167 may not show immunization against hmbr gene in the isolates of current study CC22, CC198 and CC269 and so the gene stayed in the ON state. Interestingly, the nadA gene was missing from isolates under the current study. These results may reflect important aspects in the vaccination program especially as nadA is one of the component of Bexsero vaccine.
Zernike Moments has been popularly used in many shape-based image retrieval studies due to its powerful shape representation. However its strength and weaknesses have not been clearly highlighted in the previous studies. Thus, its powerful shape representation could not be fully utilized. In this paper, a method to fully capture the shape representation properties of Zernike Moments is implemented and tested on a single object for binary and grey level images. The proposed method works by determining the boundary of the shape object and then resizing the object shape to the boundary of the image. Three case studies were made. Case 1 is the Zernike Moments implementation on the original shape object image. In Case 2, the centroid of the s
... Show MoreWar as a human phenomenon, has its own literature. Poetry is a major genre in this literature. This paper is an attempt to investigate and analyse some stylistic features in two selected, English and Arabic, war poems. These poems share the same theme.Both promote the principle of sacrificing one’s own life for the sake of homeland. This paper limits itself to analyse, thecontent words, tenses, semantic grouping of vocabulary and foregrounding in the two poems. The areas of analysis show great similarities in distributing the general content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs). In the analysis of the semantic areas of each content word, these poems reveal some similarities and some differences in their frequency rates.
... Show MoreDrilling deviated wells is a frequently used approach in the oil and gas industry to increase the productivity of wells in reservoirs with a small thickness. Drilling these wells has been a challenge due to the low rate of penetration (ROP) and severe wellbore instability issues. The objective of this research is to reach a better drilling performance by reducing drilling time and increasing wellbore stability.
In this work, the first step was to develop a model that predicts the ROP for deviated wells by applying Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). In the modeling, azimuth (AZI) and inclination (INC) of the wellbore trajectory, controllable drilling parameters, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), formation
... Show MoreA Novel artificial neural network (ANN) model was constructed for calibration of a multivariate model for simultaneously quantitative analysis of the quaternary mixture composed of carbamazepine, carvedilol, diazepam, and furosemide. An eighty-four mixing formula where prepared and analyzed spectrophotometrically. Each analyte was formulated in six samples at different concentrations thus twenty four samples for the four analytes were tested. A neural network of 10 hidden neurons was capable to fit data 100%. The suggested model can be applied for the quantitative chemical analysis for the proposed quaternary mixture.
A simple UV spectrophotometric differential derivatization method was performed for the simultaneous quantification of three aromatic amino acids of tryptophan, the polar tyrosine and phenylalanine TRP, TYR and PHE respectively. The avoidance of the time and reagents consuming steps of sample preparation or analyze separation from its bulk of interferences made the approach environmentally benign, sustainable and green. The linear calibration curves of differential second derivative were built at the optimum wavelength for each analyze (218.9, 236.1 and 222.5 nm) for PHE, TRP and TYR respectively. Quantification for each analyze was in the concentration range of (1.0– 45, 0.1–20.0 and 1.0– 50.0 μg/ml) at replicates of (n=3) with a re
... Show MoreThe Halabja earthquake occurred on 12/11/2017 in Iraq, with a magnitude of 7.3 Mw, which happened in the Iraqi-Iranian borders. This earthquake killed and injured many people in the Kurdish region in the north of the country. There is no natural disaster more dangerous than earthquake, especially it occurs without warning, great attention must be paid to the impact of earthquakes on the soil and preparing for a wave of earthquakes. Numerical modeling using specific elements is considered a powerful tool to investigate the required behavior of structures in Geotechnical engineering, and the main objective of this is to assess the response of the Al-Wand dam to the Halabja earthquake, as this dam is located in an area that has been su
... Show MoreFactor analysis is distinguished by its ability to shorten and arrange many variables in a small number of linear components. In this research, we will study the essential variables that affect the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is supposed to contribute to the diagnosis of each patient group based on linear measurements of the disease and determine the method of treatment with application data for (600) patients registered in General AL-KARAMA Hospital in Baghdad from 1/4/2020 to 15/7/2020. The explanation of the variances from the total variance of each factor separately was obtained with six elements, which together explained 69.266% of the measure's variability. The most important variable are cough, idleness, fever, headach
... Show MoreObjective of the study was to rate and analyze the physical fitness of female students from Iraq and Russia to find similarities, differences and regularities. Sampled for the study were 44 female non-sporting students: 20 students from Pedagogical University in Bagdad; and 24 students from Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism in Moscow. The study was designed to obtain the joints flexibility, coordination, speed-strength and static endurance rates. The Iraqi students were tested with higher coordination abilities than their Russian peers, whilst the latter were ranked higher in the speed-strength, shoulder joints and spine flexibility tests, albeit lower than their Iraqi peers in the hip flexibility test
... Show MoreIn this paper, the behavior of structural concrete linear bar members was studied using numerical model implemented in a computer program written in MATLAB. The numerical model is based on the modified version of the procedure developed by Oukaili. The model is based on real stress-strain diagrams of concrete and steel and their secant modulus of elasticity at different loading stages. The behavior presented by normal force-axial strain and bending moment-curvature relationships is studied by calculating the secant sectional stiffness of the member. Based on secant methods, this methodology can be easily implemented using an iterative procedure to solve non-linear equations. A comparison between numerical and experimental data, illustrated
... Show MoreThe experimental and numerical analysis was performed on pipes suffering large plastic deformation through expanding them using rigid conical shaped mandrels, with three different cone angles (15◦, 25◦, 35◦) and diameters (15, 17, 20) mm. The experimental test for the strain results investigated the expanded areas. A numerical solution of the pipes expansion process was also investigated using the commercial finite element software ANSYS. The strains were measured for each case experimentally by stamping the mesh on the pipe after expanding, then compared with Ansys results. No cracks were generated during the process with the selected angles. It can be concluded that the strain decreased with greater angles of con
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