Assessment of the knowledge and attitudes of preliminary school students toward smoking in Baghdad

Background: Early smoking considered as a major challenge for health promoters, as well it is socially not acceptable, thus interventions must tackle childhood starts of smoking. Aim: Assessing the knowledge and attitude of preliminary students towards tobacco use.  Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted among 2195, 5th grade students from 30 preliminary schools in Baghdad (15 from each side Karkh & Rusafa) during November 2014. They were selected by multistage sampling technique. Results:  Participated students age ranged between (10-13) years and (51.9%) of them were girls, (54.3%) of their parents were nonsmoker while the rest reported that both or one of them are smokers, direct and indirect risks of cigarette  smoking were known by (82.4%) and (66.2%) respectively, and (70.8%) of students’ families were found to wear their kids from smoking hazards, while more than (50%) of them have received health education massages from their teachers. Sitting near smoker person was not in favor of (86.2%) of the participants, as (51.4%) considered it religiously inconvenient and (34.6%) considered smoking as a sign of no self-confidence. At last, (73.7%) of the surveyed students agreed with smoking prohibition in public places while (25.8%) opposed that. Conclusion: In spite of the high percentage of students’ parents were smokers; nevertheless, risks of smoking are well known by the surveyed students and they showed positive attitudes toward smoking prohibition in public places. Parental advising for quit smoking and urging teachers to educate their students about smoking hazards are thought to be the right action

Enhancement of Pavement Condition and Its Impact on Pavement Sustainability: Environmental and Economic Assessments

The cost saving regarding vehicles operation, travel time and road maintenance has one eye-catching benefit via increasing pavement sustainability through maintaining the material sources and reducing the emissions of gases resulted from the processing of derivative products. Furthermore, the rate of increase of traffic on unpaved road is considered as a strong indicator to construct paved roads over this area.  In the present paper, the Nasiriya-Abu Ghar road was studied. It is one of the important unpaved roads. Its importance lies in the transport of construction materials from Abu Ghar quarries to the near provinces in Iraq, such as Dhi Qar Province. Abu Ghar quarries are considered as one of the most important quarries because it contains different construction materials such as gravel, limestone and sand. These materials have high engineering properties. Thus, the absence of a paved road linking Abu Ghar quarries with the surrounding areas, especially the province of Dhi Qar, encouraged to conduct a technical and economic feasibility study to highlight it and to help the decision-makers to implement the project. The present study contributes in statement of the economic and environmental feasibility of the construction of a new suggested road over the old unpaved one. The study depends on the hypothesis that the old road has a bad condition while the new one is an asphaltic concrete pavement with a good condition. The manual counting method of traffic volume was used from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm for 7 days to determine the peak hour volume and average daily traffic. Road's construction and maintenance costs were estimated. Saving in the road user costs for both existing (old) and new-suggested roads were calculated to be considered as benefits. The economic study is achieved by comparing the discounted total road costs and their benefits to the basic year (starting year of the project). In the present study, the adopted discount rate is 8%. To find the economic feasibility, some criteria were tested. These criteria are: Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit–Cost Ratio (B/C) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The results show that NPV has a positive value equals to 40,269,371 US$, which means that benefits are greater than costs. Furthermore, B/C ratio was 2.54; comparing with a value of 1.0, which is encouraging. Finally, the IRR was located between discount rates of 20% and 25 %, with a value of 22.9% which is higher than 8% "the recommended in the road projects". Keywords: Pavement Condition, Road User Costs, Economic Feasibility, Benefit –Cost Ratio (B/C), Pavement Sustainability

Evaluating the mechanical performance of hot asphalt mixtures modified with metakaolin as filler

Filler has an essential effect on the behavior of the hot asphalt pavement mixtures (HMA) through reducing the voids in the aggregate skeleton and reducing the temperature susceptibility of the asphalt binder layer. Recently the use of Metakaolin as a Pozzolanic admixture has been investigated to enhance the strength of cement concrete mixture. In this study, an experimental assessment of the mechanical properties of the HMA modified by Metakaolin as partial replacement of cement mineral filler was conducted. Five mixtures containing 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 Metakaolin replacements percentages of ordinary cement were prepared at their optimum asphalt content. The Marshall properties, temperature susceptibility, and moisture damage are investigated for these mixtures. It was found that the addition of different proportions of Metakaolin filler as replacement of cement has a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of the HMA. The result illustrated that The Marshall's Stability, Flow and, density grow as the Metakaolin content grows until 50%, then the value starts to decrease at 75 and 100%. The air voids and voids in mineral aggregate decrease with increase the Metakaolin content to the lowest value at 50% of Metakaolin. The indirect tensile strength increases continuously as the Metakaolin content increases at 25, 40, and 60 oC, while temperature susceptibility decreases as Metakaolin content increases. The resistance to moisture damage has been improved by adding Metakaolin filler. It is concluded that the hot asphalt mixture can be modified by using Metakaolin as partial replacement mineral filler at 50% and optimum asphalt content of 5.2 %

Cost-effectiveness analysis of a road improvement proposal based on sustainability Indicators: Case study Al-Nebai-Baghdad highway

Involving the sustainability assessment in the phases of road development project has become necessary to avoid unforeseen consequences. In Iraq, there is a noticeable lack of the environmental and social assessment of the development project. The economic assessment also needs to consider the project life cycle. The unavailability of validated and comprehensive methodologies of assessment is the main obstacle. Therefore, this study aims to outline a methodology of environmental, social and economic (ESE) assessment during pre-construction stages. The rehabilitation and upgrading project of Al-Nebai-Baghdad Highway is selected for this study. The ESE indicators are selected based on the available data and techniques. The needed data; traffic volume, pavement condition, and geometric design characteristics; are collected to process the engineering and the ESE assessment through aggregating several methodologies and analyse the results using thr cost-effectiveness technique. The results of the engineering assessment showed upgrading the traffic level of service to D due to adding a lane when the pavement condition was upgraded to good condition due to a new overlay. The results of the environmental assessment in terms of vehicle emission stated that the new pavement reduced the emission by1831967 tons but the emission due to widening increased by 1046100 tons. The social assessment indicated that the road casualties reduced by 38.5% but it boosted over the service life. The economical assessment demonstrated the worthiness of the project; the Net Present Value is 76,153,580$, the B/C is 3.45 and the IRR is 35.04. It can be concluded that the ESE assessment is applicable and effective in figuring out the negative and positive consequences over the service life. However, improving the data collection system can enhance the comprehensiveness of the adopted methodologies and consider more indicators

A Phase Change Material Technology Review Paper in Solar Energy Uses and Storage

The rapidly rising issue of declining the non-renewable resources available has focused the world attention on how renewable resources can be better used and harvested. Solar energy is one of the essential sources of renewable energy. Solar energy is a source of renewable energy for various applications in the world today. The present study is regarded as a summary of early studies on utilizing phase-change material in the use and storage of solar power. Due to its high thermal density, the isothermal nature and the easy power, the late thermosetting with the material is an advantageous way to store thermal energy. This paper summarizes how thermal energy can be efficiently stored via PCM in thermal energy storage systems of solar collectors. PCMs are isothermal, have higher density energy storage and are capable of operating in varying temperature environments. Therefore, an attempt was made in this paper to summarize an analysis of the various applications of phase change material (PCM), even solar collection device integrating PCMs

Dynamic qualitative bolt force measurements for investigating influence factors on the pushout effect of small calibre ammunition

A small calibre weapon system consists of the weapon and the ammunition. In the case of bolt action rifles during the process of firing, the breech is a rigid bearing which prevents the casing from being pushed out. However, not the whole pushout force is taken by the bolt. Due to friction forces at the casing boundary, the chamber of the weapon can absorb a significant part of the pushout force. The duration of the pushout force is in the order of milliseconds. Piezoelectric strain gauges are capable of recording such short time events qualitatively. To increase the measurability of force obtained from raw signal, is filtered using a bandpass filter and applying a signal envelope. The results from the strain gauges are verified by a piezoelectric force washer. In this paper, two different lubrication states and two different casing materials are analysed to evaluate their influences on the force absorbed by the bolt. The analysis indicated that lubricated casings lead to bolt forces which are more than three times higher when compared unlubricated casings. The unlubricated steel casing also showed a significant lower bolt force when compared with the regular brass casing. However, this effect is reversed, if the casing is lubricated. This work demonstrates how to measure highly dynamic events. The acquired results can be directly applied to 5.56x45 bolt action rifles. These measurements may also have a significant influence on self-loading rifles, since the process of reloading is also dependent on the pushout force. The general application area is target competitive shooting and military purposes

Understanding Network Congestion Effects On Performance: Article Review

Networking communications have become popular worldwide in human daily services. Network Congestion (NC) happens whenever because nodes and links are overloaded. Such situations affect the network expected performance and its services quality. Congestion /NC occurs as a results of its subnets’ links overload, which gradually (overtime) affects the network performance with an increase of transmission delay, a slowdown of throughput as generally perceived by network’s users. NC is considerable as the basis problem in network performance quality acceptance; and most of its existing problem solutions are expected still playing a great role in the future networks model, which will be running mostly too many multimedia applications. However, various researches over past years have initiated the study on the causes leading to congestion and, different lessons can be learnt from NC situations analysis to understand its relationship with the future network’s performance. This paper presents an analytical review of NC occurrence causes and the fundamentals of the existing control solutions/frameworks as available and studied from some former and recent networks publications. A particular attention has been paid throughout this study to found out how NC may still affect the future networks performance (i.e. QoS in the world of multimedia networks). And the coverage/content of this paper is expected to serve as a quick access to the knowledge essentials for researchers on related subject as stated in this paper topic

Effect of Pregnancy Resulting from Hormonal Treatment for Estrus Synchronization in the Blood and Metabolic Changes in Local Ewes

      أجريت الدراسة في الحقل الحيواني ومختبرات قسم تقنيات الإنتاج الحيواني الكلية التقنية /المسيب للمدة من 20/9/2018 لغاية 20/4/2019 لدراسة تاثير الحمل الناتج من المعاملات الهرمونية لتوحيد الشبق في التغيرات الدمية والأيضية في النعاج المحلية. استعملت في الدراسة 20 نعجة  تراوحت أعمارها مابين 2-4 سنوات، وزعت عشوائياً على مجموعتين 10 بواقع نعاج لكل مجموعة. ُوحد الشبق في المجموعة الأولى بحقن هرمون البروستوكلاندين (PGF2 α) بجرعة 500 وحدة دولية وبفارق زمني مقداره 10 أيام، بينما في المجموعة الثانية وضعت الاسفنجات المهبلية المشبعة ب10 ملغم من هرمون الحمل الصناعي  FGA Chronogest)), لمدة 12 يوماً. حقنت بعد سحب الاسفنجات المهبلية بجرعة 500 وحدة دولية من هرمون مصل الفرس الحامل. لُقحت النعاج باكباش عالية الخصوبة (كبش/10 نعاج). جٌمع الدم كل شهر وفصل المصل وحفظ بدرجة حرارة -20 درجة مئوية لحين التحليل. بينت النتائج ان لاشهر الحمل تأثيراً معنوياً ((p<0.05 في معدل تركيز الكلوكوز والبروتين الكلي والنسبة المئوية لحجم الخلايا المرصوصة وخضاب الدم  عند استعمال هرمون البروستوكلاندين لتوحيد الشبق، ولوحظ تأثير عالي المعنوية  (p<0.01) لاشهر الحمل في البروتين الكلي والكوليستيرول وحجم الخلايا المرصوصة وخضاب الدم عند استعمال الاسفنجات المهبلية لتوحيد الشبق.    This study was conducted in animal farm and laboratories of the  Technical Animal  Production Department of Al-Mussaib Technical College during period from 20/9/2018 to 20/4/2019 to investing the effect of pregnancy that resulting from hormonal treatments to estrus synchronization in the blood and metabolic changes in local ewes, the study include twenty ewes with age  ranged from 2-4 years, and randomly were  distributed in two groups sub groups 10 ewes for each group. for the first group, estrus synchronization  were done by injection of the Prostaglandin (PGF2α)  hormone  using 500 IU with 10 days time difference for. While for the second group intravaginal  progesterone sponges containing 10 mg of fluorogestone acetate (FGA) were putted  for 12 days period of  time , The ewes of the two groups were injected with 500 IU of equine chorionic gonadotropin(eCG)  after the sponges were removal. The ewes were naturally mated with high fertility (ram / 10 ewes). The blood samples were Collected for each month and stored at -20C° until assayed. The obtained  results indicated that  the months of pregnancy had significantly effect (p <0.05) in the  average concentration of glucose, total protein, packed cell volume (PCV), and hemoglobin when the hormone Prostaglandin is used as well as months of pregnancy had   a significant effect (p <0.01) for total protein, cholesterol, packed cell volume (PCV) and hemoglobin when  Vaginal sponges were used. &nbsp

Prevalence and family-related factors associated with suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-injury in children aged 9 to 10 years

Importance: Although suicide is a leading cause of death for children in the United States, and the rate of suicide in childhood has steadily increased, little is known about suicidal ideation and behaviors in children. Objective: To assess the overall prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury, as well as family-related factors associated with suicidality and self-injury among preadolescent children. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional study using retrospective analysis of the baseline sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. This multicenter investigation used an epidemiologically informed school-based recruitment strategy, with consideration of the demographic composition of the 21 ABCD sites and the United States as a whole. The sample included children aged 9 to 10 years and their caregivers. Main Outcomes and Measures: Lifetime suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury as reported by children and their caregivers in a computerized version of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Results: A total of 11 814 children aged 9 to 10 years (47.8% girls; 52.0% white) and their caregivers were included. After poststratification sociodemographic weighting, the approximate prevalence rates were 6.4% (95% CI, 5.7%-7.3%) for lifetime history of passive suicidal ideation; 4.4% (95% CI, 3.9%-5.0%) for nonspecific active suicidal ideation; 2.4% (95% CI, 2.1%-2.7%) for active ideation with method, intent, or plan; 1.3% (95% CI, 1.0%-1.6%) for suicide attempts; and 9.1% (95% CI, 8.1-10.3) for nonsuicidal self-injury. After covarying by sex, family history, internalizing and externalizing problems, and relevant psychosocial variables, high family conflict was significantly associated with suicidal ideation (odds ratio [OR], 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07-1.16) and nonsuicidal self-injury (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.05-1.14), and low parental monitoring was significantly associated with ideation (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.98), attempts (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.86-0.97), and nonsuicidal self-injury (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.93-0.98); these findings were consistent after internal replication. Most of children\u27s reports of suicidality and self-injury were either unknown or not reported by their caregivers. Conclusions and Relevance: This study demonstrates the association of family factors, including high family conflict and low parental monitoring, with suicidality and self-injury in children. Future research and ongoing prevention and intervention efforts may benefit from the examination of family factors