Porcelain is one of the most important ceramic materials with a wide range of traditional and technical applications. Since most mixtures of porcelain have a high sintering temperature, bentonite has been added in this research to improve the characteristics of sintering and burning. The porcelain mixture consisted of the following Iraqi raw materials: 30% wt kaolin, 30 wt% non-plastic clay (grog), 10% wt sodium feldspar, 10 wt% potassium feldspar and 20 wt% flint. After the mechanical mixing process and transfer the powder mixture to the slurry by adding distilled water, then different weight percentage of the sodium bentonite(0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10) wt% was added. The specimens were prepared by using the solid casting m

Alginate from Large brown seaweeds act as natural polymer has been investigated as polymer and has been added to concrete in different percentages ( 0% , 0.5% , 1% and 1.5% ) by the cement weight and the study show the effect of using alginate biopolymer admixtures on  some of the fresh properties of the concrete (slump &  the density  fresh) also in the hardened state (  Compressive strength , Splitting tensile strength  and Flexural strength ) at 28 days. The mix proportion was (1:2.26:2.26) (cement: sand: gravel) respectively and at constant w/c equal to 0.47. The results indicate that the use of alginate as a percent of the cement weight possess a positive effect on fresh properties of co

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) antagonists’ therapy are expensive and has a non-responsive rate between 30% to 40% in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Genetic variation plays a vital role in the responsiveness to this type of therapy.The aim of this study is to investigate if the presence of genetic polymorphism in the TNF-α gene promoter region at locations -376 G/A (rs1800750), -806 C/T (rs4248158), and -1031 T/C (rs1799964) affects rheumatoid arthritis patient's tendency to be a non-responder to etanercept.

Eighty RA patients on etanercept (ETN) for at least six months were recruited from the Rheumatology Unit at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Based on The European League Against Rheumatism response (EULAR) criteria, patient

Permanent deformation (rutting) of asphalt mixtures is one of the major forms of distress. Aggregate gradation is one of the most important factors affecting the permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures. Other variables are also important to understand their effects on the mixture such as temperature, binder content and compaction level. For this purpose 6 different aggregate gradations have been chosen and each one of them has been manufactured / tested with different variables. The results showed that at relatively low temperature there is little effect of aggregate packing on the permanent deformation. However, as the temperature increases the effect of gradation becomes apparent, in that the better the packing the better the resistance

The economical design of plate loaded by pressure can be obtained by using stiffeners instead of increasing the thickness of plate. The main subject of this work is to obtain the effect of stiffener height on the maximum stress in the plate subjected to pressure load. Different plate-stiffener sets are selected to find the effects of stiffener thickness, plate dimensions and pressure, on the optimum stiffener height. The models under consideration are square plates clamped rigidly from four edges. Finite Element method is used to analyze 160 different models by using the Finite Element software package ANSYS version 11. Another analysis method based on maximum stress equation is used to analyze 30 models. The graphical comparison of results

Human health can be negatively impacted by exposure to loud noise, which can harm the auditory system. Traffic noise is the leading cause of noise pollution. This paper studies the problem of noise pollution on the roads in Baghdad, Iraq. Due to the increase in vehicle numbers and road network modifications in Baghdad, noise levels became a serious topic to be studied. The aim of the paper was thus to study traffic noise levels and the effect of the traffic stream on noise levels and to formulate a prediction model that identified the guidelines used for designing or developing future roads in the city. Then, the noise levels were measured based on five variables: the functional classification of roads, traffic flow, vehicle speed,

Leishmania is auxotroph to folic acid,antifolates drug inhibit the synthesis and conversion of folate derivatives. In this study, cytotoxic effect of methotrexate was investigated on the procyclic promastigotes proliferation of L. donovani. The results showed a significant (p ≥ 0.05) difference in growth of treated groups at high concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125.5) μM after 24, 48 hrs., while at 72 hrs. significant difference was observed at all concentration. The IC50 values was measurable after 24, 48 and 72 hrs. and it was 174.238, 52.283 and 109.175 μM, respectively. The present study showed the cytotoxic effect of methotrexate on the proliferation of promastigotes of the visceral type of Leishmania.

This paper investigates the issue of surface-type effects on traffic noise in Baghdad. Since the raw materials for both flexible and rigid paving are available from local sources, the decision on selecting the type of paving which depends on the budget of the project and the road's importance and function. Knowing that for high traffic volumes and a high percentage of heavy vehicles, rigid pavement is more suitable compared to flexible pavement. In Baghdad, some highways consist of flexible pavement and others of combined pavement (flexible segments and rigid segments), so the study of the effect of surface type on traffic noise becomes an important matter. This study selected three highways: one with flexible pavement and two with combined

Laser beam has been widely used to improve the mechanical properties of the metals. It used for cutting, drilling, hardening, welding……etc. The use of Laser beam has many features in accuracy and speeding in work, also in the treatment of metals locally, and in the places that is hard to reach by traditional ways. In this research a surface treatment was done to medium carbon steel (0.4%C) which is common kind of steel that is used in industry. Pulsing Neodymium -YAG Laser has been used and 1.06 micrometer wave length and 5 msec and the distance is about 30 centimeter between the exit area of the Laser beam from the system and the piece that treated . We are going to check the fatigue resistance for samples that is

Widely present in the environment, arsenic trioxide has been identified as a genotoxic substance that poses a serious risk to public health. The genotoxic potential of arsenic at low allowable dosage levels is assessed in this study. Four groups of twelve adult rats each were created from the 48 total. Animals in Group I were used as controls Chromosome abnormalities found in bone marrow cells were used to assess the mutagenic potential of arsenic. Hematological parameters were also assessed. At 60 and 90 days, the percentage of microsomal degranulation in the hepatic fraction increased and the amounts of RNA and proteins considerably reduced (P < 0.01) in all three dosages given. was employed in order to assess hematological par