Omentin (or intelectin) is a main visceral fat secretory adipokine.  There is a growing interest to link omentin, obesity and co-morbidity factors. The aim of the present study is to evaluate serum omentin and its association to insulin resistance biomarkers, lipid profile and atherogenic indies. This cross – sectional study was conducted in Obesity Research and Therapy Unit-Alkindy College of Medicine by recruiting (115) individuals; 49 males /66 females. Subjects between (20 to 60) years of age were selected and classified into two groups according to their Body mass index (BMI). Group1 involved healthy lean volunteers (25 male/ 36 female; BMI 18.5 - 24.9). Group2 involved obese subjects; (24 male / 36 female with BMI ≥ 30). The s

An adaptive nonlinear neural controller to reduce the nonlinear flutter in 2-D wing is proposed in the paper. The nonlinearities in the system come from the quasi steady aerodynamic model and torsional spring in pitch direction. Time domain simulations are used to examine the dynamic aero elastic instabilities of the system (e.g. the onset of flutter and limit cycle oscillation, LCO). The structure of the controller consists of two models :the modified Elman neural network (MENN) and the feed forward multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). The MENN model is trained with off-line and on-line stages to guarantee that the outputs of the model accurately represent the plunge and pitch motion of the wing and this neural model acts as the identifier. Th

    Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex Fr.) P. Kumm.) is involved in the destruction of dead wood which is the main place of settlement of several living organisms. After humification, dead wood also becomes an important component of forest soils.

    The purpose of the research is to study temperature and moisture conditions of extensive cultivation of oyster mushrooms on various wood substrates. To accomplish this goal, the following tasks were set: to determine the amount of effective stress temperatures and moisture content of substrates and their influence on the appearance of fruiting bodies of the oyster mushroom; to study the features of the extensive culti

The 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

Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) consist of hydrocarbons obtained by refining crude oil, either from propane or butane or a mixture of the two. There are often other components such as propylene, butylene or other hydrocarbons, but they are not the main component. The study aims to review previous studies dealing with designing an LPG system to deliver gas to residential campuses and buildings. LPG is extracted from natural gas NG by several processes, passing through fractionation towers and then pressuring into CNG storage tanks. Gas contains several problems, including gas leakage through the pipes and leads to fires or explosions in LPG storage and distribution tanks, so safety conditions were taken in the design and implementation. T

This study was designed to determine the colonization of the in-use hand washing soaps in hospital settings. It is a comparative cross-sectional research in a surgical specialties and Baghdad teaching hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. Swabs from surfaces of bar soaps and from liquid soaps via their applicator tips; at the sinks of toilets of hospital staff and working rooms of the wards were taken in January 2008. Conventional microbiologic methods were used for culture of the swabs and identification of the isolates. Colonization was detected 60% and 15.9% in bars and liquid forms respectively. And this lead to the conclusion that bar soaps could be colonized with microorganisms excessively. Liquid hand washing soaps are more appropriate in ho

This article studied some linear and nonlinear optical characteristics of different pH solutions from anthocyanin dye extract at 180 oC from red cabbage. First, the linear spectral characteristics, including absorption and transmittance in the range 400-800 nm for anthocyanin solution 5% v/v with different pHs, were achieved utilizing a UV/VIS spectrophotometer. The experimental results reveal a shift in the absorption toward the longer wavelength direction as pH values increment. Then, the nonlinear features were measured using the Z-scan technique with a CW 532 nm laser to measure the nonlinear absorption coefficient through an open aperture. A close aperture (diameter 2 mm) calculates the nonlinear refractive index. The open Z-scan sh