Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are of potential interest because of their effective antibacterial and antiviral activities. Capping agents are used for exhibiting a better antibacterial activity than uncapped Ag NPs. There are very few reports that have shown the usage of AgNPs for in-vivo antibacterial therapy. Citrate-capped silver nanoparticles were synthesized chemically by citrate reduction method; the size of Cit-AgNPs was determined by an atomic force microscope (AFM) and was between 15-90 nm. Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) isolates were the only sensitive species to Cit-AgNPs. MICs and MBC of Cit-AgNPs were determined by using A. baumannii. The results showed an additive effect of Cit-AgNPs. Four mice groups were infected with a sub-lethal dose of A. baumannii intraperitoneally, IP. The single daily dose of Cit-AgNPs and imipenem plus Cit-AgNPs combination were administered IP. Imipenem and phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was used as positive control and negative control, respectively. Interestingly, only the PBS-treated group showed growth of A. baumannii in the liver and spleen of sacrificed mice. Histopathologically, Cit-AgNPs showed antibacterial activity and had an additive effect when combined with imipenem in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, the Cit-AgNPs showed dose-dependent activity and the organs differed in the illumination of the toxicity effect of Cit-AgNPs even after high dose administration. In conclusion, Cit-capped AgNPs had antibacterial activity against multiple drug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii but not against K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Cit-capped AgNPs increased the inhibition zone of imipenem in …
The absence of ecological perception in the local urbanization resulted in the lack of a clear conception of achieving sustainability in its simplest form in the urban reality and in the city of Baghdad in particular. The research assumes the possibility of achieving urban sustainability in Iraqi cities by applying the cities for the most effective methods to implemented ecological solutions and introducing appropriate urban planning tools and improve the living environment. The research focuses on the ability to define some aspects to achieve a sustainable local urban identity from global experiences. This was performed by proposing a scheduled theoretical framework, through which the features of sustainability can be extrapolated from the
... Show MoreThe effect of substitution of Ni on Cu in (Bi0.8Pb0.2)2(Sr0.9Ba0.1)2 Ca2Cu3-x Nix O10+? for (x=0,0.1….1,2,3) superconductor system and sintering time has been investigated .The samples were prepared by solid-state reaction methods. The results show that the optimum sintering temperature is equal to 850 ºC, and the sintering time is equal to 140 h. The highest transition temperature (Tc) obtained for (Bi0.8Pb0.2)2(Sr0.9Ba0.1)2 Ca2Cu3-x NixO10+? composition was 113 with x=0.8 Phase analyses of the samples by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed an orthorhombic structure with a high Tc phases (2223) as a dominant phase and low Tc phase (2212) in addition to some impurity phases.
Dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) can be described as the presence of contact with the discharge of one or more insulating layers located between two cylindrical or flat electrodes connected to an AC/pulse dc power supply. In this work, the properties of the plasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system without and with a glass insulator were studied. The plasma was generated at a constant voltage of 4 kV and fixed distance between the electrodes of 5 mm, and with a variable flow rate of argon gas (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5) L/min. The emission spectra of the DBD plasmas at different flow rates of argon gas have been recorded. Boltzmann plot method was used to calculate the plasma electron temperature (Te), and Stark broadeni
... Show MoreProductivity estimating of ready mixed concrete batch plant is an essential tool for the successful completion of the construction process. It is defined as the output of the system per unit of time. Usually, the actual productivity values of construction equipment in the site are not consistent with the nominal ones. Therefore, it is necessary to make a comprehensive evaluation of the nominal productivity of equipment concerning the effected factors and then re-evaluate them according to the actual values.
In this paper, the forecasting system was employed is an Artificial Intelligence technique (AI). It is represented by Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to establish the predicted model to estimate wet ready mixe
... Show MoreIn this paper, a new equivalent lumped parameter model is proposed for describing the vibration of beams under the moving load effect. Also, an analytical formula for calculating such vibration for low-speed loads is presented. Furthermore, a MATLAB/Simulink model is introduced to give a simple and accurate solution that can be used to design beams subjected to any moving loads, i.e., loads of any magnitude and speed. In general, the proposed Simulink model can be used much easier than the alternative FEM software, which is usually used in designing such beams. The obtained results from the analytical formula and the proposed Simulink model were compared with those obtained from Ansys R19.0, and very good agreement has been shown. I
... Show MoreThis investigation proposed an identification system of offline signature by utilizing rotation compensation depending on the features that were saved in the database. The proposed system contains five principle stages, they are: (1) data acquisition, (2) signature data file loading, (3) signature preprocessing, (4) feature extraction, and (5) feature matching. The feature extraction includes determination of the center point coordinates, and the angle for rotation compensation (θ), implementation of rotation compensation, determination of discriminating features and statistical condition. During this work seven essential collections of features are utilized to acquire the characteristics: (i) density (D), (ii) average (A), (iii) s
... Show MoreBackground: Calcaneus is a spongy cancellous bone with rich blood supply , its fracture heals more rapidly providing no occurrence of infection and soft tissue injury around ,no gross malposition of fragments. The associated pain leads to a major impairment in life quality. The aim of treatment for calcaneal fractures is the decrease of pain and rebuilding of walking ability for patients with normal foot shape and the ability to wear normal foot wear. To reduce complications, a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of displaced intra-articular fractures of the calcaneus was preferred to use. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the closed reduction and percutaneous K. wire fixation of displaced intra-art
... Show More<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
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