Mechanical Properties of Concrete and Mortar Containing Low Density Polyethylene Waste Particles as Fine Aggregate

Iraq industrial activities related to huge amounts of solid, non-biodegradable waste, waste low density Polyethylene (LDPE) plastic being among the well-known. So in this study, the scarped LDPE food boxes were transformed into fine particles and used as a sand for cement mortar and concrete. LDPE wastes were utilized to alter 0 to 25% of fine aggregates in mortar mixtures and 0% to 30% in concrete mixes at an increment of 5%. Compressive strength and dry density were tested for all mortar and concrete specimens.  In addition, splitting tensile strength and ultrasonic pulse speed were tested for specimens of concrete.  Results show that mass, pulse speed of ultrasonic, splitting and compressive tensile strengths were lowered as the size of LDPE raised. The lowest value of dry density, compressive strength and splitting strength was 2240 kg/m3, 18.7 MPa and 1.68 MPa, respectively, for 15% replacement of sand by the LDPE waste in concrete specimens. Whilst, the value of ultrasonic pulse velocity of LDPE concrete mixtures tends to decline lower than the reference values, but it remains nearly to the stander concrete mixtures and can be classified as excellent quality concrete. The density and compressive strength were decreased by using LDPE waste in mortar mixes for all replacement ratios reaching 12% and 42% respectively for 25% substitute

Effect of reducing and acidifying anti-browning agents on fresh cut guava / Noor Suhaila Mohammed

Fresh cut products can be defined as any kinds of fruits or vegetables that have been processing to the end product that is ready to be eaten. The market for fresh cut products has grown rapidly due to the freshness and convenience. However, fresh cut products would undergo enzymatic browning as a result from wounding. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of reducing and acidifying anti-browning agents on fresh cut guava by delaying enzymatic browning. The fresh cut guava was treated by dipping into anti-browning agents with 1.8 % concentrations (w/v) for 8 minutes. The treated fresh cut guava were then transferred into polyethylene bags and stored in the chiller along 12 days at 4°C. The fresh cut guava also dipped into distilled water as control. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities in terms of percentage of inhibition and total phenolic contents (TPC) were evaluated every 4 days interval. The results obtained showed that citric acid treatment was more effectively inhibited PPO activity on fresh cut guava compared to ascorbic acid treatment during day 4, 8, and 12. This is because, citric acid treatment show the highest percentage inhibition of PPO up to 76.92% on day 4, 92.22% on day 8 and 89.60% on day 12. Moreover, TPC showed decrease in contents from day 4 to day 12 for all treatments while sharp reduction of phenolic contents obtained from control fresh cut guava from day 4 to day 8 and it may due to the reaction of phenol to PPO enzymes. It can be concluded that, the higher percentage of PPO inhibition, the lower PPO activity and the higher the total phenols

Study of The \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e = 77 Isotones Near The Proton-drip Line; Isomeric Decays of \u3csup\u3e140\u3c/sup\u3eEu, \u3csup\u3e142\u3c/sup\u3eTb, \u3csup\u3e144\u3c/sup\u3eHo, and \u3csup\u3e146\u3c/sup\u3eTm

In this dissertation, the systematics of the [pi]h₁₁/₂ [tensor] [nu]h₁₁/₂ and [pi]h₁₁/₂ [tensor] [nu]s₁/₂ isomeric configurations were studied for the odd-Z, N = 77 isotones near the proton drip line. The isomeric decays in ¹⁴⁰Eu, ¹⁴²Tb, ¹⁴⁴Ho and ¹⁴⁶Tm were measured by means of X-ray, [gamma]-ray and charged particle spectroscopy at the Recoil Mass Spectrometer at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The spin and parity of I[pi] = 8⁺ and 5⁻ were deduced for the isomers in ¹⁴⁰ Eu and ¹⁴²Tb. New decay schemes were established, and the half-lives of the 8⁺ isomers were measured to be 302(3) ns for ¹⁴⁰m²Eu and 25(1) [mu]s for ¹⁴²m²Tb. No evidence for the expected 1⁺ ground-state was found in the ¹⁴⁴Ho decay data. The proton emission from ¹⁴⁶Tm was restudied. Five proton transitions were assigned to two proton emitting states. The half-lives of 198(3) ms and 68(3) ms and the spin and parity values of I[pi] = 10⁺ and 5⁻ were established for ¹⁴⁶mTm and ¹⁴⁶gsTm, respectively. For the first time for an odd-odd nucleus, the interpretation of the observed decay properties and structure of the proton-emitting states was made by accounting the deformation and proton and neutron coupling to the core excitations. A complex wave function structure was obtained, with dominating components of [pi]h₁₁/₂ [tensor] [nu]h₁₁/₂ for the10⁺ isomer and [pi]h₁₁/₂ [tensor] [nu]s₁/₂ for the 5⁻ ground state. Details of the experimental setup and results as well as a brief description of the detectors used in the experiments and the HRIBF facility will be discussed in this dissertation

Nonlinear quasi complementarity problems

AbstractAn iterative algorithm is given to obtain the approximate solution of a new class of complementarity problems. It is shown that the approximate solution obtained by the iterative scheme converges to the exact solution. Several special cases are also discussed

The Patterns of Poisoning Exposure in Different Ages in Duhok Governate: A three Years Study (2016, 2017, 2018)

التسمم باحدى المواد السامة سواء بشكل  مباشر أو غير مباشر  يسبب تهديدا لحياة المريض، خاصة في بعض الدول التي تفتقر للمستلزمات والفحوصات اللازمة لتشخيص نوع وسبب التسمم.في العراق كباقي الدول الاخرى يعتبر التسمم من المشاكل الصحية المزمنة وعليه هناك قلة كبيرة (شحة) في المصادر التي تلخص نوع التسمم وحالاته واسبابه,والاعمار المعرضة للتسمم في محافظة دهوك ونواحيها .لذلك اجريت هذه الدراسة لتحديد أنماط التعرض للتسمم من خلال تحديد انواع السموم  والعمر والجنس الأكثر عرضة  للتسمم في محافظة دهوك لفترة زمنية مابين (2016-2018) والتي بدورها تساهم في عميلة تشخيص العلاج المبكر لحالات التسمم المحتملة.اجريت  الدراسة ابتداء من الاول من شهر كانون الثاني لسنة 2016 لغاية نهاية  شهر الكانون الاول من سنة (2018) تم جمع البيانات من مديرية صحة دهوك والتی بنیت على البیانات الماخوذة من المستشفیات والمراکز الصحیە التابعە لمدیریة صحة دهوک والتي تضمنت انواع التسمم والعمروالجنس لکل نوع. تم استخدام المقایس الوصفیة الممثلة بالتکرارات والنسب المئویە والاوساط الحسابیة في مناقشة نتائج التحلیل والرسوم البیانیة. سجلت2781 حالة تسمم في محافظة دهوك والاقضية التابعة لها.اظهرت نتائج البحث ان هناك اكثر من 13  نوعا من التسمم يتعرض لها سكان محافظة دهوك وأقضيتها . وان اكثر الانواع شيوعا هو (التسمم الغذائي) والذي بلغ 61% في عام 2016، 75% في عام 2017 , 48% في عام 2018. تلتها  انواع اخرى من التسمم مثل (الاعشاب،المواد المسببة للحساسية، المعادن، الفوسفات العضوي،سم الفئران،ومواد اخرى)، والتي بلغت 11.7% في عام2016, 4.8% عام 2017 و  19.7% في عام 2018وثالث اكثر نوع  تسمم كان التسمم بلدغة العقرب 5% في عام 2016و 5.7% عام 2017 و 11.5% في 2018. التسمم الناتج من الادوية  كان اعلى نسبة في عام 2018 (667 حالة 9.6%) مقارنة بلسنوات 2017 (574 حالة 5.7%) و 2016 (476 حالة 4.3%).جميع انواع التسمم الاخرى (لدغة الحشرات. مساحيق التنظيف،لدغة الحية،لدغة الحيوانات و المبيدات الحشرية) سجلت نسب ما يقارب او اقل من 1% .لم يتم تسجيل اي حالة تسمم بادوية الادمان خلال سنوات الدراسة. اظهرت الدراسة ايضا ان نسبة الاناث كانت اكثر من نسبة الذكور المعرضين للتسمم. خلال سنوات الدراسة. كما وجدت الدراسة ان نسبة الاناث التي تعرضت للتسمم الغذائي كانت 80% مقارنة بنسبة الذكور 70%. النتائج اظهرت انه الاعمار مابين 15 و 48 سنة هم اكثر فئة عمرية معرضة للتسمم مقارنة بالفئات العمرية الاخرى. بنسبة 43.8% من جميع الحالات.  نستنتج من الدراسة الحالية ان الاناث هم الاكثر عرضة للتسمم وأن التسمم الغذائي هو الاكثر شيوعا في محافظة دهوك ونواحيها. وقد يعزى سبب  ذلك الى قلة الرقابة الصحية وانعدام الوعي الصحي والثقافي لدى شريحة معينة من المجتمع ساهمت في زيادة معدلات التعرض للتسمم بكل أنواعه.Poisoning with toxic substances accidently or deliberately can be life threatening and especially in some countries that lack the essential tests and facilities to identify the types and causes of these toxic substances. In Iraq, as many other countries, poisoning is one of the chronic public health problems. However, very little literature about the pattern of poisoning cases, types and age is available in Duhok Governorate. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the most common patterns of poisoning and the related age and gender in Duhok Governorate from 2016-2018, which would possibly contribute to the early diagnosis and treatment of poisoning. The present study was conducted for three years, started from 1st of January 2016 until31st of December 2018. Data were collected from Duhok General Directorate of Health database, based on the data collected from all Duhok Governorate hospitals and health care centers concerning poisoning types, patient’s age and gender. Descriptive statistic was used to analyze the data including (frequency, mean and percentage). A total of 27831 poisoned patients admitted to Duhok city and their districts health centers. Thirteen separated pattern cases of poisoning were recorded. The most common pattern of poisoning cases was food poisoning (61%) in 2016, (75%) in 2017, and dropped to 48% in 2018. In addition to other types of poisoning such as (herbals, sagwa, allergies, metals, organophosphate, rat poising and others) (11.7% in 2016, 4.8% in 2017 and 19.7% in 2018) and scorpion bites (5% in 2016, 5.7% in 2017 and 11.5% in 2018). Poisoning by drugs was the highest in 2018 (667 cases 9.6%) compared to 2017 (574 cases 5.7%) and 2016 (476 cases 4.3%). All other poisoning pattern (insect bite, soaps and other detergents, snake bits, animal’s bits and insecticide) were about or less than 1%. No recorded cases were poisoned by illegal addictive drugs during the period of study. Out of 27831 cases of poisoning, females were much prone to be poisoned than males during the three years 2018, 2017 and 2016. Females were affected by food poisoning (80%) as compared to male (70%). The age between 15-48 years old composed about 43.8% of the total cases, which is the highest % ration among other age groups. In Duhok Governorate, patterns of poisoning in the present study were the first to be documented. The study concludes that the majority of victims were female and food poisons were the most common type. It also seems that less effort is taken from the Committee of Health and Safety Issues. Our study suggests that establishment of specialist poison health centers, and raising awareness among people help effectively to resolve this public problem

RHLB: Improved Routing Load Balancing Algorithm Based on Hybrid Policy

يتم تعريف الشبكة على أنها مجموعة من العقد المرتبطة بطريقة للتعامل مع البيانات والرسائل ونقلها من المصدر إلى الوجهة. يحدث الازدحام في الشبكة عند حدوث الكثير من الزيارات، ويؤدي إلى التأخير، وفقدان الحزمة، وتدهور عرض النطاق الترددي، وارتفاع حمل الشبكة. تم تصميم خوارزميات موازنة التحميل لتقليل الازدحام في الشبكة. موازنة التحميل هي إعادة توزيع عبء العمل بين عقدتين أو أكثر ليتم تنفيذها في نفس الوقت. اثنين من السياسات من خوارزميات موازنة التحميل: موازنة تحميل ثابتة وديناميكية. تقترح هذه الورقة خوارزمية موازنة التحميل على أساس الهجين (سياسة ثابتة وديناميكية) باستخدام شبكة المحاكاة (الاصدار الثاني). يتم استخدام السياسة المختلطة لتحسين أداء الشبكة من خلال إعادة توزيع الحمل بين العقد الزائدة إلى العقد الأخرى التي يتم تحميلها عند حدوث الازدحام. وتبين نتائج المحاكاة أن الخوارزمية المقترحة تستخدم أداء الشبكة فيما يتعلق بالانتقال، ونسبة توصيل الرزم، وفقدان الرزم، والتأخر من طرف إلى آخر.A network is defined as a set of nodes that are associated with a way to handle and transfer data and messages from source to destination. The congestion in the network occurs when a lot of traffic occurs, leads to delay, packet loss, bandwidth degradation, and high network overhead. Load balancing algorithms have been designed to reduce congestion in the network. Load Balancing is the redistribution of workload between two or more nodes to be executed at the same time. Two policies of load balancing algorithms: static and dynamic load balancing. This paper proposes a load balancing algorithm based on the hybrid (static and dynamic) policy using Network Simulator (version 2). The hybrid policy is used to improve network performance by redistributing the load between overloaded nodes to other nodes that are under loaded when congestion occurs. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm used performance of the network with regard to throughput, packet delivery ratio, packet loss and the end-to-end delay

Dna Barcoding Of The Family Scombridae In Malaysia And Phylogeography And Population Structure Of The Indian Mackerel, Rastrelliger Kanagurta For Sustainable Fisheries

This research was conducted to develop a molecular systematic identification of the commercially important family Scombridae as well as to understand the phylogeography and phylogenetics of a member species, the Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta for sustainable fisheries in Malaysian waters. DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene, widely known as the barcoding gene successfully identified and delineated 14 species of the family Scombridae sampled in Malaysian waters. The phylogeography and population structure of the pelagic Indian mackerel, R. kanagurta was also investigated among 19 Malaysian populations and one population each from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia (Southeast Asian region) and an Iranian population (West Indian Ocean-WIO) using mitochondrial cytochrome b gene analysis. A parallel investigation was conducted on 11 Malaysian populations and an Iranian population based on eight newly developed microsatellite markers. In this study, the next generation sequencing platform, Ion Torrent PGMTM was used to generate a partial genome survey sequence (GSS) dataset to develop microsatellite markers from R. kanagurta genomic DNA. The data generated included a total of 399,794 sequence reads (81.29 Mbp) of which 16,209 sequence reads were successfully assembled, producing 327 contigs averaging 677 bp in length in addition to the single sequence repeats (SSR) markers

Use of commercial gaming console WII for rehabilitation of hand impairments in young adults with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract The purpose of this study examined the feasibility of using a low-cost, commercially available gaming platform, the Wii® on improving the hand dexterity impairments in young adults with cerebral palsy. The study included 5 young adults with spastic cerebral palsy with a score of 1-3 on the GMFCS scale and a score of 1-2 on the MACS scale. The participants underwent an 8-week training intervention using the Wii™ for approximately 30 min/day 2 times a week. Training was performed using the Wii™ sports games software, including boxing, tennis, bowling, and archery. Three outcomes measures for hand impairments were used and tested during the study: such as the Hand dynamometer for the grip strength, Purdue peg board for the fine finger dexterity and the Box and Block test for the manual gross dexterity pre-and post- intervention as well as the family-reported activities of daily living before and after the interventions. A student’s t-test was used to analyse the pre- and the post-test results. The feasibility of using the virtual reality (Wii™) in the rehabilitation settings for young adults with CP showed positive outcomes in improving their hand impairments and manual ability. Additional hypotheses were proposed from the study for additional research

Survival of occlusal ART restorations in primary molars placed in school environment and hospital dental setup-one year follow-up study

Objective: The objectives of this clinical study were to: evaluate the survival of occlusal atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) restorations, on a longitudinal basis, in the primary molars of children; and compare the success rate of ART restorations placed in school environment and in hospital dental setup.Study design: One dentist placed 120 ART restorations in 60 five- to seven year-olds who had bilateral matched pairs of carious primary molars. A split-mouth design was used to place restorations in school and in hospital dental setup, which were assigned randomly to contralateral sides. Restorations were evaluated after 6 and 12 months using the ART criteria. Results: The survival rate of ART restorations placed in school environment was 82.2% at the 6-month assessment and 77.77% at the 12-month assessment. The success rates of ART restorations placed in hospital dental setup in the 2 assessments were 87.7% and 81.48%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the ART restorations placed in school environment and hospital dental setup in both assessments (P>O.05). The main cause of failure was the loss of restoration. Conclusions: The one year success rate of occlusal ART restorations in primary molars was moderately successful. The ART technique's done in hospital dental setup was not proven to be better than restorations placed in school environment. © Medicina Oral S. L