One of the common geotechnical problems is the construction on soft soil and the improvement of its geotechnical properties to meet the design requirements. A stone column is one of the well-known techniques used to improve the geotechnical properties of soft soils. Sometimes thick layers of soft soil imposed the designer to use floating stone columns for improvement of such soil; in this case, the designer will be lost the end bearing of the stone column. In this study, the effects of several patterns of floating stone columns distribution under footing on the bearing capacity of soil and the distribution of excess porewater pressure are investigated. The soft soil used in this study has a very low undrained shear strength (cu) of

Substance use disorders are a widely recognized problem among hepatitis C-infected patients; moreover, substance abuse by intravenous injection is a common mode of transmission of the hepatitis C virus worldwide. The frequency of substance use disorders and their relation to hepatitis C infection are still unknown in Iraq. This cross-sectional study, conducted among a sample of hepatitis C- infected patients attending the Gastrointestinal Tract Center in Baghdad Medical City, aimed to examine the prevalence of substance use disorders, the sociodemographic characteristics of the abusers, and the relation between intravenous

     In this research, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were manufactured using aqueous extract of mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. Anticancer potential of AgNPs was investigated versus human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Cytotoxic response was assessed by MTT assay. AgNPs showed inhibition effect at the following concentrations 12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 µg/ml versus MCF-7 cell line, and all treatments had a positive result. The MCF-7 cells were inhibited up to 85.14 % at the concentration 200 μg/ml of AgNPs which reduced cells viability to 14.86%, while 12.5 μg/ml of AgNPs caused 24.23% cells inhibition with reduction of cells viability to 75.77%.

Trace Elements (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni) level were examined in hair of donors from industrial areas, cities and village, and in permanent contact with a polluted workplace environment in lattakia. Hair sample were analyzed for their contents of the trace elements by inductivity coupled plasma- mass spectrometer (ICP- MS). It was found that the contents of (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni) in the hair were significantly higher in the industrial areas and cities, while in the village had the lower concentration of elements. Correlation coefficients between the levels of the elements in hair found in this study showed that hair is a good indicator of Environmental Pollution.

Long-term organic amendments are a key strategy to build soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in semiarid agroecosystems, where low biomass inputs and calcareous parent material constrain carbon accumulation. This 14-year field experiment in central Iraq (2000–2014) evaluated how a gradient of organic matter (OM) additions (0, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 20%) affects SOC dynamics, nutrient availability, and soil organic matter composition in clay-dominated, semiarid soils. Surface and subsurface samples (0–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm) were analysed for SOC, nutrients, and mid-infrared Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, which were then integrated with Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression and RothC simulations. Moderate OM inputs (5

Flexible pavements are subjected to three main distress types: fatigue crack, thermal crack, and permanent deformation. Under severe climate conditions, thermal cracking particularly contributes largely to a considerable scale of premature deterioration of pavement infrastructure worldwide. This challenge is especially relevant for Europe, as weather conditions vary significantly throughout the year. Hydrated lime (HL) has been recognized as an effective additive to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete for pavement applications. Previous research has found that a replacement of conventional limestone dust filler using hydrated lime at 2.5% of the total weight of aggregates generated an optimum improvement in the mec

This work investigates the use of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) as a high-refractive-index material for quarter-wave distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) in photonic applications. In comparison to Si3N4, a-Si:H enables enhanced optical confinement, broader omnidirectional reflectance, and improved figures of merit, including higher Purcell and quality factors, while minimizing mirror complexity. To evaluate the practical impact of these advantages, a theoretical comparison is conducted between Fabry–Pérot cavities based on a-Si:H/SiO2 and Si3N4/SiO2 DBRs, examining resonance shifts as functions of cavity refractive index (1.0–3.0) and temperature (0–250 °C). The numerical results indicate that Si3N4/SiO2 planar Bragg caviti

Background: The size of the nasopharyngeal airway was believed to have an important role in the development of the dentofacial structure. This study was carried out to test the relation between the nasopharyngeal dimensions with some dento-cranial measurements in class I and II jaw relationship. Materials and Methods: This study was done on 60 subjects (30 males and 30 females) at age range 18-25 years. Cephalometric radiograph has been taken to each subject and the measurements were recorded. The sample was divided into two groups, class I skeletal relationship (15 males and 15 females) and class II skeletal relationship (15 males and 15 females). Comparisons between the different study groups were undertaken. Results: In class I skeletal

The study seeks to determine the levels of credit structure (independent variable) depending on its components (loans, credit disseminate, other facilities) To get the eight patterns of the structure of bank credit for the purpose of assessing the relationship between changes in levels of each style of structure credit (increase or decrease) and reflected in maximizing the value of the Bank(The adopted a measured variable depending on the approximate equation of simple Tobin's Q) to determine the style that achieves the highest value of the Bank, to take advantage of it in management, planning and control by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the historical distribution of the facilities . the sample of the

Objective: Comprehending microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance patterns is essential for efficient treatment protocols. This study sought to determine the incidence of bacterial and fungal pathogens responsible for burn and wound infections and their antibiotic susceptibility profiles. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 140 patients with burn or wound infections. Sterile swabs and pus aspiration were employed to collect samples, which were subsequently processed using standard microbiological procedures. Antibiotic resistance was determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, following Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 25.0, and the Chi-