Objective: The evaluation of serum osteocalcin (OSN) for Iraqi infertile patients to see the effect of osteocalcin insufficiency, which may lead to a decreased level of testosterone production in males that may cause infertility. Methods: Forty two newly diagnosed infertile males age range (24–47) years and thirty two apparently healthy males as controls age range (25–58) years. Serum levels of testosterone (TEST), stimulating follicle hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PROL), osteocalcin OSN, and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were performed in both patients and controls. Estimation of serum OSN by Immulite1000 auto-analyzer, TEST, FSH, LH, PROL, and FBS by Immulite2000 auto-analyzer. Results: Infertile patients

Rutting is a predominant distress in asphalt pavements, particularly in hot climatic regions. This study systematically investigated the high-temperature performance of hot mix asphalt modified with five nanomaterials, namely, nano-silica (NS), nano-alumina (NA), nano-titanium (NT), nano-zinc (NZ), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), under consistent laboratory conditions. Modification dosages were selected up to 10% for NS, NA, and NT, and up to 5% for NZ and CNTs. The experimental methodology comprised the following: (i) binder rheological characterization through rotational viscosity, G*/sinδ, and multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) to quantify rutting susceptibility; (ii) chemical and microstructural assessments using Fourier transf

In cognitive radio system, the spectrum sensing has a major challenge in needing a sensing method, which has a high detection capability with reduced complexity. In this paper, a low-cost hybrid spectrum sensing method with an optimized detection performance based on energy and cyclostationary detectors is proposed. The method is designed such that at high signal-to-noise ratio SNR values, energy detector is used alone to perform the detection. At low SNR values, cyclostationary detector with reduced complexity may be employed to support the accurate detection. The complexity reduction is done in two ways: through reducing the number of sensing samples used in the autocorrelation process in the time domain and through using the Slid

In this article, a continuous terminal sliding mode control algorithm is proposed for servo motor systems. A novel full-order terminal sliding mode surface is proposed based on the bilimit homogeneous property, such that the sliding motion is finite-time stable independent of the system’s initial condition. A new continuous terminal sliding mode control algorithm is proposed to guarantee that the system states reach the sliding surface in finitetime. Not only the robustness is guaranteed by the proposed controller but also the continuity makes the control algorithm more suitable for the servo mechanical systems. Finally, a numerical example is presented to depict the advantages of the proposed control algorithm. An application in the rota

The modernity of election practices of the elections in Iraq, according to the democratic approach, has led to a struggle between political rival forces reflecting a deep pressure on the tools involved in the management, marketing or control of these elections across the general social level. Hence the problem of research resides in answering the following question: What is the nature and size of the pressures affecting the media performance of Al-Iraqia News channel before the legislative elections of 2018 in Iraq?
      The objectives of the research were the following:
1. to identify the nature of the pressures that limit the Al-Iraqia News channel’s perfo

Interleukin-38 (IL-38), an inflammatory cytokine discovered in recent years, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). IL-38 is encoded by the IL1F10 (interleukin 1 family member 10) gene. Genetic variants of this gene have been associated with susceptibility to a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, while their association with SLE risk has not been explored. In this case–control study, two novel variants of the 5 prime untranslated region (5′UTR) of the IL1F10 gene, rs3811050 C/T and rs3811051 T/G, were investigated