Introduction The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) is being developed to enhance the localisation of radiopharmaceutical uptake in targeted tissues during surgical procedures such as sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Purpose To assess the capability of the HGC, a lymph-node-contrast (LNC) phantom was constructed for an evaluative study simulating medical scenarios of varying radioactivity concentration and SLN size. Materials and methods The phantom was constructed using two methyl methacrylate PMMA plates (8 mm thick). The SLNs were simulated by drilling circular wells of diameters ranging between 10 mm and 2.5 mm (16 wells in total) in one plate. These simulated SLNs were placed underneath scattering material with thicknesses ranging between 5 mm and 40 mm. The second plate contains four rectangular wells to simulate background activity uptake surrounding the SLNs. The activity used ranged between 4 MBq and 0.025 MBq for the SLNs. The background activity was 1/10 of the SLNs activity. The collimator to source distance was 120 mm. Results Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) analysis and spatial resolution measurements of the simulated SLN were used to compare the imaging sets over acquisition times ranging between 60s and 240s. The HGC successfully detected 87.5% to 100% of the SLNs through 20mm of scattering material, and it could detect 75% to 93.75% of the SLNs through 40mm of scattering material. Measurement of Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum (FWHM) for the detected SLNs ranged between 9.5 mm and 12 mm. Conclusion The HGC is capable of detecting low activity uptake in small SLNs indicating its usefulness as an intraoperative imaging system during surgical SLN procedures.
In this research, (MOORA) approach based– Taguchi design was used to convert the multi-performance problem into a single-performance problem for nine experiments which built (Taguchi (L9) orthogonal array) for carburization operation. The main variables that had a great effect on carburizing operation are carburization temperature (oC), carburization time (hrs.) and tempering temperature (oC). This study was also focused on calculating the amount of carbon penetration, the value of hardness and optimal values obtained during the optimization by Taguchi approach and MOORA method for multiple parameters. In this study, the carburization process was done in temperature between (850 to 950 ᵒC) for 2 to 6
... Show MoreThis paper deals with the nonlinear large-angle bending dynamic analysis of curved beams which investigated by modeling wave’s transmission along curved members. The approach depends on the wave propagation in one-dimensional structural element using the method of characteristics. The method of characteristics (MOC) is found to be a suitable method for idealizing the wave propagation inside structural systems. Timoshenko’s beam theory, which includes transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia effects, is adopted in the analysis. Only geometrical non-linearity is considered in this study and the material is assumed to be linearly elastic. Different boundary conditions and loading cases are examined.
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... Show MoreThe precipitation of calcite induced via microorganisms (MICP) is a technique that has been developed as an innovative sustainable ground improvement method utilizing ureolytic bacteria to soil strengthening and stabilization. Locally isolated Bacillus Sonorensis from Iraqi soil samples were found to have high abilities in producing urease. This study aims to use the MICP technique in improving the undrained shear strength of soft clay soil using two native urease producing bacteria that help in the precipitation of calcite to increase the cementation between soil particles. Three concentrations of each of the locally prepared Bacillus sonorensis are used in this study for cementation reagent (0.25M, 0.5M, and 1M) during
... Show MoreThe hydroisomerization of n-decane was studied on SAPO-11 catalyst. Catalyst of 0.25wt.%Pt/SAPO-11 was prepared locally and used in the present work. The hydroconversion performed in a continuous fixed-bed laboratory reaction unit. Experiments of n-decane isomerization were performed in a temperature range of 200 to 275°C,LHSV range of 0.5-2 h-1, and hydrogen to decane mole ratio of 2.1-8.2. The results show that the n-decane conversion increases with increasing temperature and decreasing LHSV , the maximum conversion 56.77 % was achieved at temperature 275°C and LHSV of 0.5 h-1. The kinetic of n-decane isomerization was also studied and the reaction was first order. The kinetic analysis also showed that the
... Show MoreThe shear strength of soil is one of the most important soil properties that should be identified before any foundation design. The presence of gypseous soil exacerbates foundation problems. In this research, an approach to forecasting shear strength parameters of gypseous soils based on basic soil properties was created using Artificial Neural Networks. Two models were built to forecast the cohesion and the angle of internal friction. Nine basic soil properties were used as inputs to both models for they were considered to have the most significant impact on soil shear strength, namely: depth, gypsum content, passing sieve no.200, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, water content, dry unit weight, and initial
... Show MoreThis research aims to investigate and evaluate a reactive powder concrete (RPC) cast using economical materials. Its mechanical properties were investigated and evaluated by studying the effects of using different cement and silica fume contents and locally steel fibers aspect ratios as reinforcement for this concrete. A compressive strength of about 155.2MPa, indirect tensile strength of 16.0MPa, modulus of elasticity of 48.7GPa, flexural strength of 43.5MPa, impact energy of 3294.4kN.m and abrasion loss 0.59% have been achieved for reinforced RPC contains 910 kg/m3 cement content, silica fume content 185 kg/m3 of cement weight and fiber volume fraction 2%. The water absorption values w
... Show MoreThe research aims to demonstrate the dual use of analysis to predict financial failure according to the Altman model and stress tests to achieve integration in banking risk management. On the bank’s ability to withstand crises, especially in light of its low rating according to the Altman model, and the possibility of its failure in the future, thus proving or denying the research hypothesis, the research reached a set of conclusions, the most important of which (the bank, according to the Altman model, is threatened with failure in the near future, as it is located within the red zone according to the model’s description, and will incur losses if it is exposed to crises in the future according to the analysis of stress tests
... Show MoreThis research aims to test the causal relationship long-and short-run between the price of gold the global crude oil price and the exchange rate of the dollar and how you can take advantage of the nature of this relationship, particularly in the Arab oil states that achieve huge surpluses, including Iraq and how to keep on the purchasing power of these surpluses or reduce the levels of risk.
The problem is that the Arab oil countries, adversely affected, as a result of that relationship, due to the fact that its role confined to the sale of crude oil only. They do not have control in the dollar, then they are not able to take advantage of its impact on the price of gold the fact that gold is effective pr
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