Volcaniclastic rocks of Al Muqdadiya Formation (Pliocene) in Injana area, southern Hemrin anticline, NE of Iraq, were studied ( petrographically, physically, mineralogically and geochemically , as well as the engineering properties) to assess the suitability of volcaniclastic rocks to use them in industry as refractories. The results show that the physical and engineering properties change with the temperature change. The bulk density and the specific gravity increase by increasing temperature while the apparent porosity, water sorption and the linear shrinkage decrease. On the other hand the compressive strength increase by increasing temperature. The volcaniclastics have very low thermal conductivi

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) create imitation photosynthesis by using chemical reactions to produce electricity from sunlight. DSSC has been pursued in numerous studies due to its capability to achieve efficiencies of up to 15% with artificial photosensitizer in diffuse light. However, artificial photosensitizers present a limitation because of the complex processing of metal compound. Therefore, various types of sensitizers were developed and synthesized to surpass the artificial sensitizer performances such as natural sensitizers from bio-based materials including plants, due to simple processing techniques and low environmental impact. Thus, this study examines the potential and properties of natural sensitizers from the was

A total of 150 deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with varying salt, hydrogen bond donor, and molar ratios were studied to develop a screening tool for separating toluene-heptane mixtures. The activity coefficient at infinite dilution (γ∞) of each DES was predicted using COSMO-RS, and selectivity (S∞), capacity (C∞), and performance index (PI) were calculated. Key DES properties, including density, viscosity, melting/freezing point, surface tension, and conductivity, were compiled from the literature to create a DES property library. A comprehensive screening tool with four evaluation criteria was developed, which identified ethyl triphenylphosphonium bromide:ZnCl2 (1:4) as the optimal solvent for toluene-heptane separation. Tetrabutyl- b

In this work, excess properties (eg excess molar volume (VE), excess viscosity (ȠE), excess Gibbs free energy of activation of viscos flow (ΔG* E) and molar refraction changes (ΔnD) of binary solvent mixtures of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) with aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene and p-xylene) have been calculated. This was achieved by determining the physical properties including density ρ, viscosity Ƞ and refraction index nD of liquid mixtures at 298.15 K. Results of the excess parameters and deviation functions for the binary solvent mixtures at 298.15 K have been discussed by molecular interactions that occur in these mixtures. Generally, parameters showed negative values and have been found to fit well to Redlich-Kister

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common entrapment neuropathy in humans today. For patients in whom conservative treatment fails, surgical decompression is indicated. Various surgical techniques are becoming increasingly popular. Due to the rapid postoperative recovery shown after endoscopic operations, proximal palmar mini-incision for carpal tunnel release is a comparative alternative. Methods: Ninety four patients [113 hands] with a carpal tunnel syndrome underwent carpal tunnel release through a 1-cm longitudinal incision made just over the distal flexor crease. The self- administered Boston Questionnaire was used to assess the severity of patients’ symptoms and their functional status, both before and after the surgical

The computer vision branch of the artificial intelligence field is concerned with developing algorithms for analyzing video image content. Extracting edge information, which is the essential process in most pictorial pattern recognition problems. A new method of edge detection technique has been introduces in this research, for detecting boundaries.

           Selection of typical lossy techniques for encoding edge video images are also discussed in this research. The concentration is devoted to discuss the Block-Truncation coding technique and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coding technique. In order to reduce the volume of pictorial data which one may need to store or transmit,

Medical image segmentation is one of the most actively studied fields in the past few decades, as the development of modern imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT), physicians and technicians nowadays have to process the increasing number and size of medical images. Therefore, efficient and accurate computational segmentation algorithms become necessary to extract the desired information from these large data sets. Moreover, sophisticated segmentation algorithms can help the physicians delineate better the anatomical structures presented in the input images, enhance the accuracy of medical diagnosis and facilitate the best treatment planning. Many of the proposed algorithms could perform w