Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the world. Compared to some other regions in the world, amount of information available about breast cancer epidemiology in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is scarce. This study is an attempt to enrich our knowledge about different epidemiological aspects of breast cancer in the region since epidemiological studies contribute quite significantly to the current knowledge of environmental and genetic risk factors and to the current treatment strategies for breast cancer. In addition, studies has shown that the past and ongoing research has a massive implication in improving the outcome of this common disease. This work takes all women diagnosed with breast cancer at Nanakaly Hospital in Erbil, Iraq as sample of the study. Patient characteristics were captured then statistical analysis was performed on these data sets. The majority of patients were found to be city dwellers and about 46% were diagnosed at stage II and 40% at stage III. The vast majority of cases tested positive for hormone receptors but negative for HER2.
The huge impact of COVID-19 worldwide led to the rapid development of vaccines with inadequate data about its longevity, effectivity, and safety. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines available in Iraq and to measure longevity of created antibody response among different time points of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm vaccines in Baghdad and Fallujah, Iraq. A two-axis method was used: the first was cross sectional study on the vaccination state for COVID-19 in Baghdad and Fallujah, using an online survey contained questions about city, vaccine type, side effect, pre and post infections, and chronic diseases. The second part involved a prospective observational study of the vaccine’s immunological effectiveness and stability in 60 serum samples from completely vaccinated individuals (second dose) of Pfizer or Sinopharm along different time points (1 - 6 months) by measuring the SARS-CoV-2 Anti-RBD-IgG concentration and evaluating its correlation with pre-infection with COVID-19. Among different types of vaccines available in Iraq, people in Baghdad and Fallujah preferred Pfizer vaccine over other available types, particularly those with chronic diseases. No statistically significant difference was noticed between IgG concentrations at different points of time, IgG concentrations in Pfizer vaccinated individuals were more elevated than Sinopharm, and all of Pfizer vaccinated people showed positive results. Our study established a synergistic impact between recent COVID-19 infection and vaccination, leading to increased levels of IgG antibodies, notably in individuals who received the Pfizer vaccine. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that IgG concentrations remained stable in vaccinated individuals even six months after completing the vaccination with second dose.
The 3-phase asynchronous squirrel cage motors (SCIM) are main competitor machines placed instead of other motors in the commercial and industrial fields. The stator and rotor material selection and construction topology influence the electrical machine design. The results illustrated with the motor of a 15 KW, variable controlled speed, for the constant frequency of 50 Hz or 60 Hz. The motor parameters created inside the simulation model must be matched with the value of a standard parameter for SCIM to achieve a high dynamic response. This work examines the effect of the parameters variation for synchronous motor on the performance characteristics at starting point and at a load change for different time and speed regions. Changing of the rotor power is taken into consideration, this occurs with dynamic change of the hydraulic pump load from the valve. In the industrial applications, production, and manufacturing, till present there are still struggles to find the most holistic environment of the SCIM to achieve its efficiency at the lowest cost and same time control the motor performance, so we predicted the method of reducing the most effective motor parameters to improve the efficiency. The offline method used the SCIM parameters to calculate the time-varying current, torque, and rotor speed. The results illustrated that this method was fully consistent with the experiment tests and the standard theoretical values. A MATLAB program is used to simulate this study. The simulation model proved the feasibility of the proposed method with encouraging performance.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has long proven to be a good method to mobilize the residual oil that is by passed and capillary trapped by secondary recovery methods. Chemical EOR methods enhance the microscopic and macroscopic efficiency, and ultimately the overall oil recovery is improved. However, the adsorption rate of the surfactant, low resistance to high temperature and salinity are some of the factors that would turn chemical flooding impractical and uneconomic in many cases. Lately, the application of nanotechnology in enhanced oil recovery has showcased some good and prolific results in terms of incremental oil recovery. In this study, the applicability of Nanoparticle flooding in carbonate rocks of Pilaspi formation was probed through a series of tests such as thin section analysis, x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, interfacial tension and contact angle measurements. The results showed that the composition of the carbonate rocks is predominantly calcite (CaCO3) with minor traces of quartz and dolomite. From the interfacial tension (IFT) measurements, it was figured out that the silica and alumina Nanofluids lowered the IFT by 27% and 42% with the light oil, and 43% and 49% with the heavy oil, respectively. The contact angle measurements revealed that the Alumina Nano-fluid at 0.25 wt. % reduced the contact angle on the surface of the light and heavy oil aged thin sections from 169◦ and 115◦ to nearly 119◦ and 78◦. On the other hand, the silica nanoparticle at 0.25 wt. % reduced the contact angles on both thin section types to around 129◦ and 80◦, respectively.
The ever-expanding urban architecture in developing areas requires more land space for construction purposes to be available. For this, utilizing the sub-surface areas through excavations in populous cities is now on the increasing trend. Two major concerns in such excavation projects are excavation-wall stability and the induced ground settlements which can be countered by a soil nailing-ground anchor system. In this regard, influential factors such as nail length and nail inclination angles can affect the overall performance of stabilized ground. Therefore, the focus of the present study is on how the aforementioned influence excavation-induced ground deformations. The numerical simulation is conducted using the software Plaxis 2D. The established numerical models help to explain how changes in the nails’ inclination angles and anchor lengths can change the observed behavior of the walls; from which helpful tips for practicing engineers are drawn accordingly. Such results could also be utilized for classroom presentations to aid students’ understanding of geotechnical engineering concepts.
Geotechnical engineering requires the use of ecologically acceptable, long-lasting, and effective solutions to fortify clayey soil. The mechanical behavior of clayey soil strengthened with carbon fibres (CFs) was studied in this work. Soil specimens were subjected to uniaxial compression strength tests at their optimal moisture content (OMC). The impacts of CFs length and percentage on the strengthened soil specimens' shear resistance, and stress-strain curve behavior were investigated. The effect of CFs on specimen cohesiveness and angles of internal friction was also investigated. The results showed that adding CFs to clayey soil can increase its shear resistance and cohesiveness greatly. Because the fibres can be spread easily in soil samples and had a suitable length that can generate an interlaced network among soil grains that restricted soil movement once exposed to external stresses, it is presumed that utilizing three percent of CFs weight content had six millimeters length could indeed give the highest impact on resistance development among all the specimens.
The Zagros Fold and Thrust belt is one of the world's most prolific petroleum provinces. Most hydrocarbon reserves are stored in naturally fractured reservoirs and such fracture systems can therefore have a significant impact on reservoir performance. Fractures are one of the most important paths for fluid flow in carbonate reservoirs. Fracture data were collected in the outcrops of the Kirkuk Group of Oligocene age around Qara Chauq South and Qara Chauq North anticlines located near the Kirkuk Oil Field. The studied formations outcropping in the Qara Chauq are the main reservoir units in the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields. In Kirkuk and surrounding fields, hydrocarbon production comes mainly from primary porosity with assistance from secondary porosity created by dolomitization, karstification, dissolution, vugs and fractures. Fracture attributes collected from outcrops are fracture orientation, density and length. The results show that fractures in the studied reservoir formation are not uniformly distributed due to massive lithologic nature and lack of well bedding. Furthermore, fracture orientations show a clear relationship to the local fold axis in the outcrops. NW-SE fracture set is perpendicular to the NW-SE fold axis. However, some fractures do not show any relation to the local folding. These fractures may have formed in a pre-folding or post folding stage. Other fracture orientations exhibit a symmetrical relation to the maximum horizontal stress direction. The comparative analysis of outcrop data underlines the importance of representative analogue data for reservoir modelling and production strategies.
This work provides an explanatory analysis of the influence of input parameters on the performance of subspace-based Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimation algorithms. The objective of this work is twofold. First, to drive a Steering Vector (SV) that works for arbitrary array configuration rather than just Uniform Linear Array (ULA) geometry. Second, to identify how the performance of the subspace-based algorithms is affected by tuning the input parameters. The later objective is crucial as it allows optimizing the algorithm through selecting optimum parameters to set an appropriate tradeoff between complexity and performance based on the intended applications. Toward that end, we firstly drive an SV for arbitrary array configuration followed by revealing the working principle of subspace based DoA techniques. Secondly, we evaluate the impact of several parameters namely Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), number of snapshots, number of array elements, separation between array elements, number of available sources, and dependency between sources to conduct our analysis. Numerical simulations over a wide range of scenarios along with intensive Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to show the influence of these parameters on the resolution, accuracy, and complexity of the subspace based DoA estimation algorithm. As demonstrated by the obtained results, the performance of this class of DoA estimation method is determined mostly by the values of the input parameters. Furthermore, the simulation results show that tradeoff between performance and computational complexity needs to be considered when the system parameters are chosen for DoA estimation algorithms.
Geotechnical map is a vital guidance to visualize the behavior of soils. The objective of this paper is to present the geotechnical maps that can be used for preliminary investigation in Ranya city of northern Iraq. The study area is 13.02 km2 with latitude and longitude of 36°15'14" N 44°52'59" E, respectively. A total number of 116 boreholes with the depth up to 5.0 m were utilized to create allowable bearing capacity, particle size, and Atterberg limit maps. Kriging interpolation tool in the ArcGIS software was used to analyze the soil properties data and to achieve the maps. The appraisal study area was divided into three layers 0.5-1.5, 1.5-3.0, and 3.0-5.0 m and the results show the average bearing capacity of 112.2, 168.5, and 244.2 kN/m2 sequentially. Moreover, Particle size distribution’s results illustrate that gravel percentage increases in the deeper layers, while fines content decreases with no significant change of sand content. In addition, very high bearing capacity areas were mostly found in the southern and northern parts of the studied area. However, the eastern area represents the area with the minimum bearing capacity where it gradually increases toward the west. Furthermore, the liquid limit and plasticity index reduce from the north to south with an increase in depth of the layers from 3.0-5.0 m. The highest liquid limit value is observed in the depth of 1.5-3.0 m.
Long-distance energy pipelines are subject to risks of repeated hazards and posing pipeline safety problems. Hazards that may attack the pipelines are environmental and human activities. In this study, the risks of hazards on pipeline were assessed using Geographic Information System (GIS) as research on pipeline risk assessment using GIS is quite limited. Satellites help to monitor pipelines from space. The study spatially analyzes the risks that a pipeline encounters and the Kurdistan oil pipeline from Taq Taq oil field to Peshkhabur was used as a case study. Six criteria including distance to cities and villages, rivers, roads, slopes, and temperature in cold and hot weather were considered. Weight is given to each criterion; a maximum of 37.5% for human activities and a minimum weight of 12.5% for slope. The calculations were carried out spatially rather than through statistical operations. Three sets of maps were obtained for each criterion with different units. Then the maps were overlayed to represent a single map and the units were standardized using Fuzzy membership. The results show the risk level of each criterion along the 270 km length of the Kurdistan national pipeline.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) forms the northeastern part of the Arabian Plate that is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. Due to the ongoing collision, the whole KRI territory is folded; accordingly, long anticlines are developed in NW – SE trend, they change west wards to almost E – W. The Cretaceous carbonate rocks form the bulk of the anticlines; in the central part of KRG. North and northwest wards, rocks of Paleozoic, Triassic and Jurassic ages are exposed in the core of some anticlines. Whereas southwards, tertiary rocks are exposed in the core of anticlines. From tectonic point of view, the KRI territory is located in four tectonic zones; each has its own characteristics. Majority of the developed anticlines at the KRI are thrusted and exhibit lateral growth. We have presented many examples of laterally growing anticlines with clear indications for their growth.
Up to April 9, 2020, 142490 cases have been confirmed as COVID-19 infection including 5705 associated deaths in the Middle East. Most of the countries, such as Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia have imported COVID-19 cases from Iran. Using the available data from WHO webpage, up to 9 April 2020, we traced epidemic curves and estimated the basic reproduction number ( ) of COVID-19 through the susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model for the Middle East countries. Epidemic curves for Middle East countries and territory show similar trend as Iran, with a couple of weeks’ delay in time. In SIR model, ranged between 7.41 as in Turkey to lowest as 2.60 for Oman whereas basic reproduction number for Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip territory, and Cyprus were 4.13, 2.71, 3.39, 4.18, 4.45, 2.75, 2.60, 3.52, 3.35, 3.16, 4.99, 4.08, 2.89, and 4.05, respectively. This study indicates an important trend on an early outbreak of COVID-19 based on estimated for the Middle East countries, mean 3.76 for COVID-19, with median and interquartile range (IQR) in the Middle East.
This study introduces the nature of electromagnetic bombs, how they work, the dangers, and how to deal with them. An electromagnetic bomb is a weapon that takes advantage of man's deep dependence on electricity and is designed accordingly. The purpose of this article is to design and fabricate Toyota 4.5F Tactical Vehicle ECU Electromagnetic Insulators. The design and construction of this device is also considered as vital and crucial equipment during electronic warfare and EMP attacks, so that it can be used as a reinforcement and vice versa, a weakening element or divider of the power of the enemy forces. The present study was performed as a numerical simulation in Comsol software environment. The results showed that the use of insulation is very effective in protecting the target systems against the damaging effects of electromagnetic waves. Additionally, the maximum amount of radiation to the ECU is at an angle of 0.25 radians and the minimum amount of radiation to ECU is recorded at an angle of 3.14 radians.
This paper investigates the flexural behavior of high-strength RC beams experimentally to assess the effect of Nano-silica (NS) and Macro-Synthetic High Strength Polypropylene Fiber (MPF). Ordinary Portland cement was partially replaced by the NS and MPF with different proportions to produce four concrete mixtures. Tests were conducted on the full-scale high-strength RC beams, including first crack load, failure load, deflection, concrete strain, steel strain, and mode failure, which were examined and compared. In addition, the tests on the mechanical properties of high-strength concrete mixtures were also conducted at the ages of 28 and 56 days. The test results concluded that the addition of NS and MPF significantly improved the first-cracking and failure loads and decreased deflection at levels of cracking and failure loads. Additionally, an increase in NS content resulted in a minor increase in the ultimate strain related to the failure loads. Furthermore, the mix of 3% NS with 0.5% MPF was found to lead to the highest mechanical characteristics of concrete. The improvements were the concrete compressive strength by 33.6%, split tensile strength by up to 54.1%, and flexural strength by up to 28.3% compared with control specimens.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that is developed to organize the structure of information in a text file. The data in XML formatted documents are represented by specifying a number of tags and determining the structural relationship between those tags. It has a simple structure and can be handled by any text editor. Therefore, XML formatted data is being commonly used to transfer and share data between different applications and organizations without having to convert the format of the data (Yang, 2019). In the XML world, “well-formed” and “valid” are the two most frequently used terms. A well-formed XML document is free from errors that can cause the document to not parse, such as: spelling, punctuation, grammar, and syntax errors. While in addition to having a well-formed markup, a valid XML must conform to a document type definition, this means the document must be semantically correct and matches a described standard of schemas and relationships (Appel, 2020).There are two standards of document type definition that can be used to validate an XML document, one is DTD or Document Type Definition which is used to identify the legal structure and names the legal elements of an XML document (Dykes and Tittel, 2011), and the other is XSD or XML Schema Definition. XSD is a diagrammatic representation that defines the valid structure of an XML document, it enables specifying the building blocks of an XML data set such as elements and attributes and their data types, number of child elements, fixed and default values of the elements and attributes that can appear in the documents (XML Schema Tutorial, 2020). In some applications the process of validating XML documents is combined with parsing the document. However, in some other cases the process of parsing and validating the XML documents need to be separated. This study focuses on constructing a separate XML document validator and validating XML documents against the defined XSD rules. A Java program is used to perform this experiment. Furthermore, the critical differences between XSD and DTD are also mentioned.
Performance of Unreinforced Hollow-Block Masonry Houses During 23 August 2017 Ranya Earthquake
Contemporary architecture exists in Nader Khalili’s creative designs, including house designs in the USA and Iran, combined with the traditional architecture of Iran. His designs are founded on four characteristics, first is the inspiration from nature, and the other three focuses on low-cost, self-help, and eco-friendliness. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate his architectural thinking and the design process that leads to a rapid and sustainable shelter. In addition, this shelter can be built-in critical conditions or can be long-lasting in any crucial situation. The methodology used in this study is analytical based on qualitative and quantitative approach. The method, which is used to collect the data, is based on literature review and observation. The study concludes that Khalili’s designs are reasonable at low prices and quickly built and sustainable.
Etoposide (ETP) is a topoisomerase Ⅱ (TOP Ⅱ) inhibitor and one of the leading chemotherapeutic drugs for treating a wide variety of tumors. However, ETP induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity limits its clinical use. This study aims to investigate the protective potential of taurine (Tau) to mitigated histopathological changes in the liver and kidneys of female albino rats treated with ETP. A total of 18 female rats were divided into three groups; control group, ETP-exposed group received intraperitoneal injection of ETP on the first 3 days of the study for a total cumulative dose of 44 mg/kg to induce hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity, ETP + Tau group received ETP as stated previously with 400 mg/kg/day of Tau via oral gavage for 15 days. Sections from the liver and kidney were evaluated under light microscope and ETP-exposed group revealed vascular congestion, chronic inflammatory cell infiltration predominantly lymphocytes, edema, vacuolar degeneration, atypical cells, pyknosis, and necrosis while liver and kidney sections of rats treated with combination of ETP + Tau group exhibited marked alleviation of the histopathological damage. The study concludes that treatment with ETP induced marked structural damages in the liver and kidney and such morphological damages are effectively diminished by administering Tau.
Having a good knowledge of the time and cost required to build a tunnel can be very important in reducing uncertainties related to the management of its construction. In this paper, using data obtained from the constructed parts of a tunnel, Gaussian process regression (GPR) method is developed to predict the time and cost of the non-constructed parts. Finally, by comparing the results predicted by the GPR model with the actual ones, it was concluded that the developed GPR model has a high potential to reduce uncertainties related to the time and cost of tunnel construction. Also, the ability of GPR model to predict time and cost of tunnel construction was compared with two other methods of support vector regression (SVR) and artificial neural networks (ANN). Finally, the GPR model was superior to the SVR and ANN methods in terms of prediction accuracy
Smartphones are used for many daily activities like tele-communication, gaming, web browsing, fitness and health monitoring and traditional office working. Smartphones are equipped with built-in sensors to be able to perform these activities. It is well known that the sensors affect the resolution of the smartphone applications which is very vital in life critical applications (LCA). In this paper, two main sensors, the gyroscope and accelerometer have been studied. All commercial smartphones contain these two sensors and support functions related to them. These two sensors have direct link with the physical measurements which feed the fitness and health applications. A fitness application has been selected and ran under Android and iOS operating systems in two different popular smartphones: Samsung Note5 and iPhone7s smartphones. Statistical methodology has been applied to analysis the data and evaluate the performance of the sensors. The results show that commercial smartphones are not reliable devices for motion-related measurements and they can only be used for general purpose monitoring but not in life critical applications.
