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One of the most frequently acknowledged causes of premature cracking in Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) is moisture damage. Pavement tension caused by deteriorating moisture results in irreversible deformation, flaking, raveling, fatigue damage, and strength loss. This study investigated the impact of hydrated lime (HL) with the incorporation of zeolite, a foaming agent, on the moisture sensitivity of a Warm-Mix Asphalt (WMA) composition, considering both manufactured and natural formulations. Furthermore, hot mix asphalt is produced within three temperature ranges of 120, 130, and 140 degrees Celsius, including 160 degrees Celsius. WMA mixtures are manufactured with Iraqi resources in mind; one type of aggregate and one binder grade (40/50 pen) are obtained from Durah refinery plant. Specific evaluations were performed on every mixture, encompassing indirect tensile strength (ITS), Marshall characteristics, and moisture damage of bitumen mixtures as measured by tensile strength ratio (TSR). The experimental results demonstrated that the properties of the heated bitumen mixture were influenced by the type of zeolite incorporated. The combination of WMA and 5% fixed natural zeolite produced the highest Marshall stability, flow, ITS, and TSR values at all temperatures. The sample denoted as Hydrated Natural Zeolite (H-N-Z) exhibited the lowest Marshall Stiffness Index (MSI) values among all specimens, followed by Hydrated Synthetic Zeolite (H-S-Z) and WMA with added water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image steganography is a technique used to hide information within an ordinary image, creating a secret way for confidential communication. It is extensively utilized in the fields of cybersecurity, military intelligence, and digital rights management to protect confidential information in the cybersecurity sector and provide hidden communication in military activities. Traditional image steganography methods may have weaknesses due to predetermined algorithms, making them less adaptive to diverse image content and susceptible to detection by advanced steganalysis techniques. Therefore, new methods are required to tackle these weaknesses by providing deep learning-based techniques that are more efficient in identifying important features and extracting edges and are resistant to analytical processes. This paper presents a new image steganography system. The proposed system utilizes a Convolutional Neural Network-based encoder-decoder network architecture to assist the processes of concealing and extracting information. To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, several metrics such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio, concealing capacity, and imperceptibility, were performed on CelebA, COCO and CIFAR10 datasets. In terms of PSNR, the proposed method achieved 74.57, 72.64, and 74.57 respectively. Hence, the method illustrated that the suggested approach exhibits superior concealment capability, security, robustness, and imperceptibility as opposed to some selected methods from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Troubled projects are one of the most pressing tasks facing the construction industry due to the challenging sector and the interrelationship among the major causes of delays. The study aimed to identify the reasons for the delay of the stalled projects in Iraq. A literature review was conducted on troubled and delayed construction projects, and interviews were conducted with a group of experts in the construction environment sector in Iraq. As a result, a questionnaire has been prepared that includes (55) reasons for delays in construction projects in Iraq. The reasons were grouped into six categories: financial, technical, legal, managerial, political, economic, and external reasons. A field survey was conducted using the relative importance index (RII) to assess these reasons. 62 questionnaires are the total number of distributed questionnaires that are valid for analysis. The results concluded that the troubled and delayed projects related to financial, external, economic, and legal reasons were in the first three places, with a total rate of RII equal to 0.93, 0.91, and 0.89, respectively. The performance of the Iraqi construction sector can be improved by using these results, which can be useful to project managers in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A current study conducted in the quail house that affiliated of College of Agriculture in Tikrit University to know the effect of fed quail birds on Aloe vera on some qualities characteristics of stored eggs in refrigerator for three weeks. The first treatment was a control (without supplementation), but the second, third and fourth treatments, the aqueous extract of Aloe vera leaves gel was added to the drinking water at levels of 5, 10, and 15%, respectively. After two months of age, the eggs were collected and stored in the refrigerator for three weeks, then the qualities characteristics of eggs (external and internal) were measured. The results of the study showed a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in the mean of egg weight and shell weight for the fourth treatment compared with control treatment and an increase in the average shell thickness for the second treatment compared with control treatment. The treatments did not differ significantly (P≤0.05) among them in the egg shape, the mean diameter and albumin weight and the diameter of the yolk decreased for the third and fourth treatment compared with the control treatment and the treatments did not differ between them significantly (P≤0.05) in the height, index of albumin and yolk and Hugh unit. We concluded from the study that feeding quails on aqueous extract of Aloe vera gel kept the diameter of the yolk from expanding during the storage period, in addition to increasing the thickness of the eggshell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the medical effect of walnut peel extract as an antimicrobial against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This study was carried out at the bacterial laboratory in the Department of Medical Laboratory Techniques/ College of Medical and Health Technology/ University of Kafeel in the province of Najaf. Bacteria isolate used in this study were collected from patients with tonsillitis at AlSader Medical City in Najaf Province. In this work, alcoholic extracts of walnut peels were extracted but use the Soxhlet extract equipment and their inhibitory impact on the aforementioned bacteria was examined. The present study aims to estimate of extraction of walnut shells as antibacterial and study it as alternative drugs. The results have shown that there was clear inhibition of walnut peels extract on P. aeruginosa with all concentration series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to estimate some haematology parameters and study their relationship with thalassemia, samples were collected from people with Thalassemia disease and healthy people of different ages ranging between (15-67 years), where blood was collected from the aforementioned people under the same conditions and controls, where blood was collected in tubes containing anticoagulants and then examined At Al-Zahraa Hospital Center for Thalassemia, where the infection was diagnosed and for all ages without exception, all hematological parameters, excluding MCHC, have been observed to be significantly (P 0.001, P 0.001, P 0.05, respectively) decrease in the patients than in the controls. lower than the controls, also we found the WBC and RBC except PLT (P>0.05, P<0.01, P>0.05 respectively). Show increase in the level of platelet in the patient compare with the control. Clinical evidence shows that the erythrocyte count and the values of their particular indices drop along with the haemoglobin feature reduction (MCV, MCH, HCT, etc.). This study found that thalassemia patients had higher serum levels of platelets and white blood cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste foil aluminium from water glass covers is one of the most common non-biodegradable solid wastes generated by human water consumption. An important issue that has a negative impact on ecosystems is solid waste generation due to its difficulty in recycling and the limitations of reusing. It's important to note that aluminium foil trash has a negative environmental impact. This study aims to assess the effects of partially substituting waste foil aluminium from water glass covers as fine aggregate in mortar. The influence of this substance on concrete's fresh, mechanical, and thermal conductivity qualities was examined. A total of six mortar mixtures were prepared to utilize waste foil aluminium as a partial replacement of river sand at various percentages of 0%, 1.50%, 2.50%, 3.50%, 4.50%, and 5%. The parameters of fresh and hardened concrete's slump, dry and fresh unit weight, thermal conductivity and compressive strength were measured. A drop in unit weight and compressive strength was observed as the replacement amount increased in the studies. The mix's thermal conductivity was reduced by 28.45 % due to the inclusion of 4.5% waste foil aluminium, which met the structural lower strength requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impact of the hydrological and the hydroclimate cycle is highly affected by sustainable water resources and water flow, which are accumulated from rains naturally in rivers, lakes or reservoirs. Climate change and the global warming have a significant impact on water level and quality which rise the importance of water management and water resources. Mosul Dam Lake is one of the vital lakes in Iraq on the Tigris River to manage its water resources. In the Mosul Dam Lake, sediment accumulation near the dam caused the lake's storage capacity to decrease, which had an effect on the dam's operation. In addition, the height of the bottom of the lake and the increase in the growth of plants at the top of the lake affected the lake's storage capacity and the amount of water storage. As a result of the turbines ceasing to operate, less hydroelectric power was generated, and the lake's environmental characteristics changed, with serious consequences for Iraq's water resources. Therefore, the study focused on the geological, hydrological, and climatic conditions of the dam and lake area and the nature of the relationship between these variables, and the results they left behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents waste eggshell material's reusing in cement mortar as fine aggregate. Waste eggshells were used as a partial replacement of natural sand and its influence on some properties was examined. The use of waste material like an eggshell as aggregate instead of natural sand help reduced cost, support sustainability, and help to keep the natural source. So this work studied the influence of sand by eggshells on fresh and hardened state properties. It was found that adding eggshells as fine aggregate reduced the flow of mortar. The density of the mortar was reduced by about 5% by replacing sand with 10% eggshell aggregate. Also, compressive and flexural strength were reduced by about 14% and 4.7% for 2.5% eggshell aggregate and 64% and 33% for 10% eggshell aggregate, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the number of lightning strikes in the rocky area tower on the 150 kV Payakumbuh-Koto Panjang transmission line. The intensity of the lightning trip-out on the 150kV transmission line is very high, amounting to 66%. The results showed a positive correlation between lightning trip-outs and the tower-footing resistance in rocky areas. The significant cause of trip-out is back-flashover. In addition, the results also show that the flashover in the forearm increases when the grounding resistance is high. A computer-based program is proposed to estimate the number of lightning trip-outs due to lightning strikes. The investigation results show good results with numerical simulation results when using grounding resistance for towers that are frequently struck by lightning. The average resistance value of the tower that is frequently struck by lightning is called impulse resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 150 kV Payakumbuh – Koto Panjang Transmission Line is located in a lightning-prone area with an isokeraunic level (IKL) of 173 days/year. One way to minimize impulse voltage due to back flashover is to set a grounding system on the transmission line tower. For the Payakumbuh – Koto Panjang land system, as many as 79% of the transmission line are located in rocky areas, which means the system has high soil-type resistivity that is directly proportional to the value of land prisoners, resulting in a high back flashover in the area. The resistance value in tower No. 10 has a grounding value exceeding the PUIL standard (≤ 5 Ω), which is 30.2 Ω. Based on the land resistivity formula, the soil resistivity in tower No. 10 was 1638.98 Ωm. By the Anderson calculation method, tower No. 10 has a 25.1 100km/year back flashover value. Using ATP-Draw, we obtained the peak voltage of tower No. 10, which is 1.27 MV. By changing the length and radius of the electrode on tower No. 10, the resistance drops to 1.125 Ω, and the back flashover decrease to 0.02 100km/year, the peak voltage becomes 0.803 MV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conducting polymer Poly (o-toluidine) in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (POT(ES): NMP), and Dimethyl sulfoxide (POT(ES): DMSO) when blended with PEDOT: PSS which contains the amount of (5wt%) from MWCNT. Material blends with optimum mechanical properties are created by combining different weights of two conducting polymers. Field-emission scanning microscopy (FE-SEM) was being used to analyze nano blend morphology; The absorbance spectrum was measured by a UV- visible spectrometer. The electrical conductivity was measured using two probe methods (Lab View 2018) and use ITO glass as a substrate. The activation energy is calculated from the Arrhenius equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study consists of two parts; first part was conducted for the assessment of the treatability of dairy wastewater by using SBR technique. 2nd part was carried out for determining the biokinetic parameters. Whole experiments of 1st part were done using a 12 L reactor. It was divided into two stages; 1st stage investigated the effect of the cycle-time on the treatment efficacy, whereas 2nd stage investigated the effect of changing fill time to the total time of fill plus react time of the selected cycle time which was determined from 1st stage. SBR displayed a good removal of contaminates as well as producing sludge with good settling characteristics. Where the removal efficiency of total COD ranged from 81.1%∼89.1% and the removal efficiency of SS ranged from 76.5%∼98.4% for the stage one, the values of sludge volume index (SVI) were under 100 mL/g for all tracks of this part. 2nd part aimed to determine the biokinetic parameters of aerobic-suspended solids growth system. This objective was accomplished using a series of four batch reactors which were operated at different mixed-liquor suspended solids. Four biokinetic constants were obtained from this part, where the (Y=0.52 mg(MLVSS) /mg(FCOD)), kd=0.21 d-1, µmax=1.11 d−1 and KS=893 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study showed that all the fifteen isolates obtained were Shigella sonnei, meaning that the infection rate was 2.83% of the total number of patients (530 samples). The results of the virulence genes investigation showed that all Shigella sonnei isolates possessed the gene ipaBCD, that is, the appearance rate of 100%, but in contrast the results showed that all the isolates did not possess the set1A, ial genes. The other genes appeared in different rates, as the results showed that the rate of appearance of the genes ipaA, ipgA, and virA were 93.33%, 86.66%, 80%, respectively. As for, the less appearance genes, stx, sat, and set1B, they appeared at 13.3%, 20% and 6.66% respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted in the Najaf Governorate / Iraq, in the year (2020), some blood samples were used for cancer patients as a biomarkers of the presence or absence of environmental pollution by radon concentrations (222Rn) and radon daughters (218Po and 214Po) via using the nuclear track detector (CN-85, France) by a natural exposure method. Fifteen of blood samples were collected for cancer patients people, seven samples for male and eight for female in ages (20-70) year for all samples. The results show that, the average value of 222Rn concentrations in (Bq/m3) unit for male and female gender were (64.36±13.90) and (43.16±4.52) respectively. While the average value of 218Po, 214Po for male and female gender were (32.83±7.09) Bq/m3, (33.93±7.33) Bq/m3 and (21.93±2.28) Bq/m3, (22.67±2.36) Bq/m3, respectively. According to the results of the studied samples within the study area: radon concentrations was within the limits allowed globally (ICRP), and thus blood free from environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PT. Vale Indonesia has three hydropower plants (called PLTA). They have three dams cascaded in one river. The water sources from three lakes at around company operational area. The hydropower plants are main supporting units for Nickel production. Thus the hydropower plants must be have high performance and long live time. Here the preventive maintenance is needed. This paper discusses about study result of dam operating strategy of the hydropower plants in order to optimal water management during preventive maintenance period, by considering of power demand at the smelting furnace and the auxiliary power. Linear programming is used as an optimization method. It is proved that the electric energy of 15616.8 MW hours be obtained through water flow rate of 17625.6 m3/seconds, for 2015’s operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]