Response Characteristic of Cable Stayed Bridges under Static Loading and Due to the Earthquakes in Longitudinal Direction

This paper presents the dynamic (earthquake response) analysis of cable stayed bridges under different types of static loading and due to longitudinal directions of earthquake base excitations. The deck and the tower of the bridge were idealized by discrete element idealization scheme (space frame element) with warping considered as a seventh degree of freedom. For comparison purposes, the discrete element with six degrees of freedom (warping neglected) were also used to model the structure under investigation. The cables were modelled by the nonlinear truss elements. It was found that the warping becomes of significant influence on the behaviour of the bridge deck only if the deck is acted upon by loading that is coupled with initial torsional moment

Cache Coherence Protocol Design and Simulation Using IES (Invalid Exclusive read/write Shared) State

To improve the efficiency of a processor in recent multiprocessor systems to deal with data, cache memories are used to access data instead of main memory which reduces the latency of delay time. In such systems, when installing different caches in different processors in shared memory architecture, the difficulties appear when there is a need to maintain consistency between the cache memories of different processors. So, cache coherency protocol is very important in such kinds of system. MSI, MESI, MOSI, MOESI, etc. are the famous protocols to solve cache coherency problem. We have proposed in this research integrating two states of MESI's cache coherence protocol which are Exclusive and Modified, which responds to a request from reading and writing at the same time and that are exclusive to these requests. Also back to the main memory from one of the other processor that has a modified state is removed in using a proposed protocol when it is invalidated as a result of writing to that location that has the same address because in all cases it depends on the latest value written and if back to memory is used to protect data from loss; preprocessing steps to IES protocol is used to maintain and saving data in main memory when it evict from the cache. All of this leads to increased processor efficiency by reducing access to main memor

Detection of Cpegene in Stool Samples of Food Poisoning Patients in Mosul/Iraq

In this study, 27 stool samples  collected from food poisoning patients in Mosul city were analyzed by both  bacteriological standard methods and  molecular methods. The bacteriological methods  used for enumeration of C. perfringens while the  nested PCR technique was used for detection cpe gene directly in stool samples in a method consists of a combination of nested PCR reaction with enrichment of the sample. Two pairs of oligonucleotide primers were used: the first primer pair amplifies a 425-bp fragment and the second pair amplifiesa199-bp within the 425-bp.  Results showed that the number of C. perfringens were less than 103cell/g gave a 199-bp amplified fragment which indicated that those samples contain cpe gene. When we compared nested PCR result with the number of C. perfringens,7 out of 9 samples(77. 8%) which have greater than 103of C. perfringens per g were  positive for cpe gene and 8 out of 18 samples(44. 4%) which have less than 103 of C. perfringens per g also gave cpe gene positive result

Salivary microRNA 155, 146a/b and 203: A pilot study for potentially non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers of periodontitis and diabetes mellitus

Dysregulated expression of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) plays substantial role in the initiation and progression of both diabetes and periodontitis. The aim of the present study was to validate four miRNAs in saliva as potential predictive biomarkers of periodontal disease among patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). MiRNAs were extracted from the saliva of 24 adult subjects with DM and 29 healthy controls. Each group was subdivided into periodontally healthy or having periodontitis. In silico analysis identified 4 miRNAs (miRNA 155, 146 a/b and 203) as immune modulators. The expression of miRNAs-146a/b, 155, and 203 was tested using quantitative PCR. The expression levels in the study groups were compared to explore the effect of diabetes on periodontal status and vice versa. In our cohort, the four miRNAs expression were higher in patients with periodontitis and/or diabetes. miRNA-155 was the most reliable predictors of periodontitis among non-diabetics with an optimum cut-off value of < 8.97 with accuracy = 82.6%. MiRNA 146a, on the other hand, was the only reliable predictor of periodontitis among subjects with diabetes with optimum cut-off value of ≥11.04 with accuracy = 86.1%. The results of the present study concluded that MiRNA-146a and miRNA155 in saliva provide reliable, non-invasive, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers that can be used to monitor periodontal health status among diabetic and non-diabetic patients

The Overlooked Risk Behaviors of Hepatitis B Virus among Medical and Nonmedical Undergraduate Students

Hepatitis B is the liver tissue inflammation that caused by a viral infection. It causes chronic disease and can be fatal due to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Overlooking the risk behaviors can significantly contribute to the spread of HBV. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the risk-behaviors prevalence of HBV among undergraduate students and to examine its association among medical and nonmedical undergraduates. A questionnaire was randomly distributed to 200 students at Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq. Demographic and HBV risk-behavior data were collected and analyzed by Chi-square. Linear regression examined the relationship between medical, nonmedical, and HBV risk behaviors. The results revealed that the most common risk-behaviors for HBV among students were sharing nail cutters (79%), sharing razors (55.5%), body piercing (51%), and sharing toothbrushes (23%). However, those risk behaviors varied by gender. Unexpectedly, there was a significant association between some risk-behaviors for hepatitis B and medical students, particularly in pharmacy and nursing departments. Nonmedical students showed fewer risk behaviors than those in pharmacy and nursing departments. The behavioral risk incidence of pharmacy and nursing students was significant in sharing razors (p≤ 0.005) (p≤0.033) and sharing nail cutters (p≤0.000) (p≤0.000) respectively. This study concludes that the transmission of hepatitis B is most likely among undergraduate students due to the overlooked risk behaviors of HBV, and lack of knowledge or awareness. An awareness program is crucial particularly for those in the medical field who may have an impact on other people's lives. Additionally, vaccination against HBV infection is needed to control its transmission and reduce its spread

Tablets from the Sippar Library, XIII. Enuma Anu Ellil XX

The Sippar Library tablet IM 124485 is a new source for Tablet XX ofEnūma Anu Ellil (EAE), the great compilation of Babylonian celestial and meteorological omens. The twentieth tablet of the series, which deals principally with lunar eclipses on the fourteenth day of each month of the year, was edited by Francesca Rochberg in 1988 along with all the other tablets of lunar-eclipse omens inEAE(Rochberg-Halton 1988: Chapter 10). Rochberg was unable to report the whole text of her MS M = ND 4357, a Neo-Assyrian tablet from the library of the temple of Nabû at Kalaḫ; it can now be consulted asCTNIV 5 (Wiseman and Black 1996: Pls. 5–6, 145), though the copy of the reverse is inadequate. In addition a Late Babylonian exemplar of a further commentary, written in the time of Philip Arrhidaeus for the scholar Iqīša of Uruk, has come to light in W23300 (now IM 75990), published asUrukIV 162 (von Weiher 1993: 103–5, 186). Despite these additions to knowledge, some of the text ofEAEXX remained poorly enough preserved to make the discovery of a new manuscript very welcome.The new tablet allows seven sections of the text ofEAEXX to be reconstructed in full, and our understanding of the technical terminology refined as a consequence. The chief interest of this tablet ofEAEemerges more clearly than before. The common denominator of the twelve lunar-eclipse omens ofEAEXX is eclipses that, at least notionally, set in “above” and clear “below”, as observed in 1. 66 of the tablet published here. However, the observed phenomena that especially distinguish the protases ofEAEXX from those of other calendrical lunar-eclipse tablets appear to be particular to partial eclipses. The progress of the eclipse to a point at which the disk is half eclipsed (imšul) or more (eli mašāli illik) is explicitly recorded on six occasions (§§1.2, IV, V, VII, VIII, IX). The portents relate either to the moon's “emblem” (šurinnu), a term that signifies the moon in eclipse (§§1.1, IV), to its “horns” (qarnu), i.e. the cusps of the partially eclipsed disk (§§VIII, IX, X, XI, XII), or to both (§§V, VII). It seems that what the compiler ofEAEXX considered most portentous were the appearance, behaviour and other aspects of the lunar disk while the moon was half, or more than half, eclipsed.</jats:p

Tablets from the Sippar Library, VI. Atra-hasis

The Babylonian myth known to the ancients as Enūma ilū awëlum, “When the Gods Were Man”, and to modern scholarship as the Epic of Atra-ḫasīs, tells the wondrous story of the creation of mankind, of the attempts of the king of the gods, Enlil, to reduce the overpopulation that resulted from its unchecked reproduction — by plague, drought, famine and, most disastrously, the Deluge — and of the measures then taken by the gods to keep mankind's future numbers in check. Since its reconstruction some twenty-five years ago, by W. G. Lambert and A. R. Millard, there have come to light very few new sources for this composition. Several small additional fragments have been published by Lambert, and a further piece by Groneberg and Durand. The most significant discovery of new text has been the several tablets that were found in the library excavated by the late Dr Walid Al-Jadir of the University of Baghdad in the Neo-Babylonian temple of Šamaš at Sippar. This find led to a preliminary report in this journal that “there are tablets 1, 2, 3 and one other of the Standard Babylonian recension (as it must now be called) of Atra-hasis”.</jats:p