When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs such a bee, the other defending bees will not attack the hornet to free that bee even when the latter is one centimeter from the others. The defending bees can capture the hornet only when the latter grabs one of them which stands very close to the others. The hornet seems very “aware” of such a situation; hence she seldom becomes a captive. On the other hand, hovering over the clump makes it easier for the hornet to grab a bee. The hovering puts all the clump, rather than part of it, on alert. If the hornet is persistent, which is not often the case, then the clump will no longer be dense. The bees will panicly disperse all over the flight board; hence the hornet can find a detached bee and grabs it easily. The hornet also waits on wing in front of the hive to capture an outgoing or incoming flying bee but the latter usually maneuver to escape. Also, foraging bees reduce their activity during main hours of hornet presence. Among the main factors reducing the hornet impact are the continuous chasing of hornets to each other and the non-persistent attempts of the hornets when they attack bee clumps.
Ricinus communis L. is an important medical plant hence it contains many active compounds. The aim of this research is to study the effect of plant growth regulators on callus induction and Rutin concentration. A combination of Benzyle adenine (BA) and Indol Acetic acid (IAA) at (0.0,1.0,2.0) mg/L was added to the media, the highest fresh weight of the induced callus from stem explant was (4.97) gr . at (1.0,1.0) mg/L BA and IAA consenquently the same combination gave the highest dry weight of callus (0.42) gr. while the combination at (2.0,1.0) mg/L BA and IAA gave the highest fresh weight of induced callus from Leaves explant (5.28) gr., then (2.0,1.0) mg/L BA and IAA gave the highest dry weight for callus induced from leaves at (0.55
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Anatomy studies were carried out in the experimental field, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad to have better understanding of the influence of mulching with black polyethylene sheets, organic manure and chemical fertilizer on the anatomy changes in potato shoot and leaves tissues. Results showed that leaves area, leaves area index and chlorophyll percentage were significantly increased by using mulching and chemical fertilizer by (7463.70 cm2, 3.97, 45.33 SPAD units) respectively. Also this treatment significantly increased total stomata number and in both lower and upper sides of the leaf by (957,721,176) stomata /mm2 respectively. But by using mulching treatment with organic manure significantly increased vessels and sieve t
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Granular Pile Anchor (GPA) is one of the innovative foundation techniques, devised for mitigating heave of footing resulting from the expansive soils. This research attempts to study the heave behavior of (GPA-Foundation System) in expansive soil. Laboratory tests have been conducted on an experimental model in addition to a series of numerical modeling and analysis using the finite element package PLAXIS software. The effects of different parameters, such as (GPA) length (L) and diameter (D), footing diameter (B), expansive clay layer thickness (H) and presence of non-expansive clay are studied. The results proved the efficiency of (GPA) in reducing the heave of exp
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Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most frequent endocrine illnesses affecting reproductive - age women. L-carnitine has important roles in oxidative stress, energy production and glucose metabolism. It affects insulin resistance as decreased plasma carnitine level has been well reported in type II diabetes mellitus. Hence, it means L-carnitine may reduce insulin resistance which is found in PCO disease. Objective: This study aims to measure the level of L-carnitine and insulin resistance in both obese and non- obese patients with PCOS. Patients and Methods: Sixty women within the reproductive age with PCOS (30 obese and 30 non- obese) were recruited from the Gynecology and Obstetrics Outpatient Clinic in Baghdad T
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Two new nonsymmetrical mesogenic homologous series of terminal substituent ether (series [Vn]) and carboxy (series [VIn]) incorporating azobenzene and 1,3,4-oxadiazole group were synthesized. Both series have been All compounds thus isolated were purified and characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, 1H NMR, along with thermal analysis and texture observation using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Polarizing Optical Microscopy (POM), respectively. All compounds of the first series exhibited liquid crystalline properties. The homologues [V1]-[V3] display a nematic mesophase, the compounds [V4]-[V7] exhibit a dimorphism behavior, nematic (N) and smectic A (SmA) mesophases, the compounds [V8] and
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This paper studies the behavior of axially loaded RC columns which are confined with carbon fiber reinforced polymers’ sheet (CFRP) and steel jackets (SJ). The study is based on twelve axially loaded RC columns tested up to failure. It is divided into three schemes based on its strengthening type; each scheme has four columns. The main parameters in this study were the compressive strength of the concrete and steel reinforcement ratio. Furthermore, the results of the experimental test showed a substantial enhancement in the column's load-carrying capacity. When compared to the original columns, the CFRP sheet had a significant effect on improving the ductility of the column by increasing the axial deformation by about 59.2 to 95.7
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In this study, the effect of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) section and compressive strength of concrete in composite beams under static and low velocity impact loads was examined. Modeling was performed and the obtained results were compared with the test results and their compatibility was evaluated. Experimental tests of four composite beams were carried out, where two of them are control specimen with 20 MPa compressive strength of concrete deck slab and 50 MPa for other. Bending characteristics were affected by the strength of concrete under impact loading case, as it increased maximum impact force and damping time at a ratio of 59% and reduced the damping ratio by 47% compared to the reference hybrid beam. Under stat
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This paper studies the behavior of reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static and repeated load. The experimental program included testing six simply supported RPC two-way slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. All the tested specimens were identical in their material properties, and reinforcement details except their steel fibers content. They were cast in three pairs, each one had a different steel fibers ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %) respectively. In each pair, one specimen was tested under static load and the other under five cycles of repeated load (loading-unloading). Static test results revealed that increasing steel fibres volume fraction from 0.5 % to 1 % and from 1% to 1.5%,
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