The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of Nd:YAG laser shock processing (LSP) on micro-hardness and surface roughness of 86400Cu-Zn alloy. X-ray fluorescence technique was used to analyze the chemical composition of this alloy. LSP treatment was performed with a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm. The results show that laser shock processing can significantly increase. The micro-hardness and surface roughness of the LSP-treated sample. Vickers diamond indenter was used to measure the micro-hardness of all samples with different laser pulse energy and the different number of laser pulses. It is found that the metal hardness can be significantly increased to more than 80% by increasing the laser energy and t

Variation order plays an important role in calculating the final cost and time. The paper aims to determine the causes of variation orders in projects performed between 2007-2014 in Erbil governorate projects. Data was collected from contract documents. Performed in the Erbil governorate projects from 2007-2014. The study seeks to identify the most significant causes of delays by assessing the common causes of delays in terms of frequency, severity and 

important indices of owners, consultants and contractors related to&n

Cohesive soils present difficulties in construction projects because it usually contains expansive clay minerals. However, the engineering properties of cohesive soils can be stabilized by using various techniques. The research aims to elaborate on the influences of using hydrated lime on the consistency, compaction, and shear strength properties of clayey soil samples from Sulaimnai city, northern Iraq. The proportions of added hydrated lime are 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% to the natural soil sample. The results yielded considerable effects of hydrated lime on the engineering properties of the treated soil sample and enhancement its strength. The soil's liquid limit, plasticity index, and optimum moisture content were de

The possible effects of COVID-19 vaccines on reproductive health and male fertility in particular have been discussed intensely by the scientific community and the public since their introduction during the pandemic. On news outlets and social media platforms, many claims have been raised regarding the deleterious effects of COVID-19 vaccines on sperm quality without scientific evidence. In response to this emerging conflict, we designed this study to evaluate and assess the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility represented by the semen analysis parameters.

Variation in DNA, and genes to a lesser or greater extent, can play an important role in most diseases; that is because this variation in will reflect and affect the function of DNA, and genes (combined genes and DNA or separately). This can be affected by environment, life style, as well as the inheriting from parents and previous generations. All these factors can contribute in human diseases. There are different alterations in genes, like imbalance and inequality in chromosomes, disorder in gene (deficiency in gene, which could be complex or single disorder), and cancer. In the last decades, scientists were focus on medicine and genetics; they pay an extensive attention to reach better understanding about diseases and their cause

Pulsatile drug delivery systems (PDDS) are developed to deliver drug according to circadian behavior of diseases. They deliver the drug at the right time, action and in the right amount, which provides more benefit than conventional dosages and increased patient compliance. The drug is released rapidly and completely as a pulse after a lag time. These systems are beneficial for drugs with chrono-pharmacological behavior, where nighttime dosing is required and for the drugs having a high first-pass effect and having specific site of absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. This article covers methods and marketed technologies that have been developed to achieve pulsatile delivery. Diseases wherein PDDS are promising include asthma, peptic u

The study aimed at identifying the domains of abuse of the elderly (each field separately) of the research sample. The study sample consisted of (100) senior citizens residing in nursing homes in Baghdad and Kirkuk cities. They were selected in a simple random way. In order to achieve the research objectives, two scales were developed to measure the abuse of the elderly consisted of six domains: Neglection abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, social abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse), and the other to measure the life review. The results showed that the level of abuse of older people in the sample is higher than the average in the society they belong to, the level of life review was higher than the average they belong to, and the a

Buildings begin to deteriorate gradually over time due to several factors, including environmental influences, improper use of the building, and neglected repairs for damages during the building's life span. Effective maintenance practices can minimize operational costs, extend the life of building systems and components, improve energy efficiency, and maintain property value. This paper aims to review articles related to building maintenance to identify factors affecting maintenance practices. After conducting the review, the result was that there were 33 factors affecting building maintenance categorized into six groups: management-related factors, manpower-related factors, technical-related factors, financial-