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The present work was designed for a thorough investigation into the sperm morphology and morphometry of Kurdish stallions. The semen samples were collected from 10 Kurdish stallions. Three preparations from each ejaculate were stained with eosin–nigrosin (EN), Diff‐Quik (DQ) and Rose Bengal (RB). The area, perimeter, length and width of the sperm head as well as tail length and total sperm length were measured. The parameters ellipticity, elongation, roughness and regularity were calculated. The morphology of sperm was also investigated under scanning and transmission electron microscopes. DQ and RB provided more clarified images for examining sperm structures compared to the EN method. The head length, head width, area and perimeter in EN were significantly higher than those in DQ and RB (p ≤.05). Furthermore, the difference in head width, head area and head perimeter between DQ and RB was not significant (p ≥.05). The tail length and total sperm length in all methods were close together (p ≥.05). The highest percentage of normal sperm was seen in DQ and RB methods (82.55 ± 2.88 and 88.31 ± 5.19) respectively. The highest values for ellipticity, elongation and regularity were found in RB, whereas the highest value for roughness was measured in EN. Tail defects including coiled tails, and folded midpieces were the most frequent. Scanning electron microscope revealed two types of head shapes: heads with round anterior border, and heads with flat anterior border. The results indicated that despite the routine use of EN for morphological assessment of stallion sperm, RB and DQ can be considered for more clarified details of sperm structure including acrosome and midpiece. Furthermore, the Kurdish stallion sperm has morphometric traits in the normal range established for stallions; yet, some traits were larger than those reported for other breeds. It seems that the sperm of the Kurdish stallion has a longer head and tail in comparison with other horse breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the huge amount of annual non-renewable ceramic waste disposal, it is in favor of eco-system to reuse the ceramic waste in earthwork structures. Thus, among several different applications of ceramic components, they can also be used to replace aggregates in the core of embankment dams, waste disposal projects and to form subgrade of roads and railways. The main issues addressed in this study are the effect of the volumetric content and size of the ceramic inclusions on the mechanical properties of ceramic-clay mixtures. Using an experimental approach, strain-controlled monotonic, stress-controlled cyclic, and post-cyclic monotonic triaxial undrained tests were made. The innovation of this study is that sphere beads of ceramic with different diameters were added to low-plastic clay to explore the role of bead size on the mechanical properties of bead and clay mixtures under monotonic, cyclic and post-cyclic loadings. Thus, we tested four types of specimens consisting of merely pure clay, 80% clay–20% bead, 60% clay–40% bead, and 40% clay–60% bead. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were additionally used to investigate the fabric of the clay between the ceramic beads. Test results revealed, firstly, that effective friction angle and undrained shear strength increase with the bead content. Secondly, dilative behavior was captured in all the bead and clay mixtures. Further, both dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio increase with the bead content. Similarly, post-cyclic shear strength increases with the bead content. Finally, different bead diameters did not change the observed trend. • Iran is among top producers of ceramic tile in the world, with considerable amount of annual non-renewable ceramic waste accumulation. • It is in favor of eco-system to reuse the ceramic waste in earthwork structures. • This study shows that an addition of ceramic grains to low-plastic clay improves its mechanical specifications. • Effective friction angle, undrained shear strength, dynamic shear modulus, damping ratio and post-cyclic shear strength increase with the increase of bead content. • Results of the study show that the content of the bead significantly affects the behavior of the mixture of the bead and clay, regardless of the bead diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]