Polytechnic Journal

Epidemiological Study and Molecular-Based Identification of Enterobius vermicularis Among Qushtapa Refugee Camp Children

Nashmel H. Khaty, Karwan S. Najm Al marjan — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Two hundred and six (206) stool samples were taken from children aged 1 to 12 resident in Qushtapa refugee camp. Samples were collected from beginning of October 2019 until the end of February 2020. A questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic status. Result reveals an overall prevalence of infection was (33 %). Children aged between 6 to 12 have higher prevalence of infection (43.3%) in comparison with those aged less than 6 years (22.5%). Several factors have statistically significant differences in proportion related to enterobiasis infection. Factors are age (p-value=0.002), hand washing (p-value=0.039), mother education level (p-value=0.323), family size (p-value=0.424), nailed finger (p-value=0.57). Molecular analysis was carried out using 28S rDNA, isolated from adult female and primers targeting the area of 28S rDNA. Analysis of the original sequence using the universal primers of the sample of the study divulged that the parasite belonged to the species Enterobius vermicularis (sequence similarity was performed using BLAST from NCBI and pairwise alignment=%100).

Effect of Core Shape and its Side Slopes on Seepage Quantity of Zoned Earth Dam

yaseen aziz — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Seepage is the main problem of earth dams; most failures are occurred due to excessive amount of
seepage. In zoned earth dams clay core is provided to minimize seepage quantity and its dimensions and
shape has great influence on seepage quantity. In this study seepage through earth dam with vertical and
slanting core case were analyzed for different side slopes and top width. For vertical core cases different
side slopes ranges from 0H:1V to 2H:1V and different top width from (3-10) m were analyzed. Due to lower
permeability coefficient of core material seepage discharge reduced as side slopes and top width increase.
The seepage discharge for slanting core cases are more than vertical cases with similar area of core. The
results obtained in this study are agreed with the results of the other investigators However, in slanting core
cases the downstream part dry during steady state condition; this is helpful in improving downstream
stability.

SEE Transform Technique for Solving System of Linear Volterra Integro-Differential Equations of the Second Kind

Zainab R. Rustam, Nejmaddin A. Sulaiman — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There are many integral transforms that are widely used to solve numerous real-life, science, and engineering problems. In this article, we present SEE transform for determining the solution of the system of linear Volterra integro-differential equations of the second kind. Some applications have been given and solved by using the SEE transform for illustrating the applicability of the SEE transform. Results of the applications assert that the SEE transform is very effective for obtaining the exact solution of this equation.

Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness Among Pregnant Women Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Erbil City

jwan Rashid, Salih A. Abdulla — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and Objectives: Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) is a plan that helps women to consider all obtainable maternal health care services. The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge on key danger signs and components of BP/CR among pregnant women within 3rd trimester who attending primary health care centers in Erbil city.
Methods: A descriptive study was conducted on 300 pregnant women, during the period mid-March 2019 to the end of July 2019 in five primary health care centers in Erbil city. Data gathered through interview with study sample and using structured questionnaires and purposive sampling technique used to selected samples. Data were analyzed by using the social package of statistical science (SPSS version 23).
Results: Pregnant women were between the ages of 15 and 46 years, about 8% of the women aged less than 20 years, and 12.3% aged ≥ 35 years. About (93.7%)of the women thinks that planning for the place of delivery is important while only 1.3% thinks that it is important to identify skilled attendant. Also high knowledge about birth preparedness was associated significantly (p = 0.041) with age and the distance to the health care facility (p = 0.003) but there are not significant association with other socio-demographic factors.
Conclusion: Large proportion of pregnant women had good knowledge about some of key danger signs. Generally, majority of the respondents had increased awareness on most of components of BP/CR.

Treatment of Over Size Ratios Of Subbase Materials Used In Erbil Governorate Pavements, Kurdistan ,Iraq

Faris Jasim, Falah Hasan Ali , Mohammed Adam Mohammed — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Coordination with the directorate of geological survey and mineral investigation in Erbil governorate to select the quarries and all subbase layer materials that used in both flexible, and rigid pavements , are taken from natural sources, According to their recommendation, the quarry locations are (Shamamek (E2), Qushtapa (E5), Ashty/Koya (E7), Salahadeen (E8) /Shaqlawa and Rawandouz (E9)) were chosen in this study in Erbil governorate..

The correction method was conducted for MDD that had oversize practical’s on sieve (19 mm) less than 30%. Performing approach to obtain the correct and suitable procedure when retaining more than 30% of course aggregate for the types A or B Therefore, and Thus, to have a practical procedure that is more appropriate to site conditions and to obtain equivalent high laboratory densities within the field, the implementers of the contractors are obliged to observe the specifications of the compaction ratios, avoid any settlement or failures for pavement structure in close future, and thus increase the safety factor.This study attempts to establish a useful practical treatment and recommends, based on the reality of actual work, to correct the modified density (according to ASTM, and AASHTO specifications, less than 30%), when it is more than 30%, Using the method of multiplying the modified density by coefficient (1.0125) for every 1% greater than 30% and up to 35%, no more.

Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder among Peshmargas, Whom fought against ISIS War in Kurdistan Region Borders

Shireen J. Mohammed, Hoshyar A. Ahmed — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Psychological disturbance is one of the most significant feature amongst individuals who are served military tasks. This study presented the Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD) among the peshmargas (Kurdish military personnel) who joined in ISIS war. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among peshmargas returning from war and to identify the associated factors of PTSD among the study sample.

Methods: A purposive sample of 113 peshmargas had been studied during the period 1^st of January to 1^st of June 2018. The participants’ responses to the PTSD Checklist had been recorded by the researchers.

Results: The study revealed that 21.24% of peshmargas suffered from some symptoms of PTSD, more than half (52.21%) of them suffered from moderately to moderately high severity symptoms, and (26.55%) of them suffered from high severity of PTSD. It has been concluded that the high prevalence of PTSD among peshmargas needs attention from the concerned health institutions

Conclusions: Evidence based research on treatment of PTSD among combat soldiers is neglected internationally. Most studies are needed to diagnosis the PTSD and other Psychological and Psychiatric disorder among non-deployed and deployed Peshmargas. Further research is needed to study the impact of positive PTSD on the psychosocial aspect of Peshmargas

Gender-based differences of inflammatory, coagulation, and cardiac markers in COVID-19 patients in Erbil city

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In December 2019, a new coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) appeared in Wuhan city and quickly became a global health issue. COVID-19 causes various symptoms ranging from no symptoms to potentially deadly pneumonia. The study aimed to understand the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on immune response and the differences in inflammatory, coagulation, and cardiac biomarkers between male and female patients. Between June 1st and November 1st, 2020, 95 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were studied at Zanko Hospital. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed using the real-time RT-PCR technique. All cases were analyzed for clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory data. On average, the patients were 50.64 (SEM= 2.359) years old, with 61 males and 34 females. The patients had elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), which was 43.96 (SEM= 6.154), while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 50.50 (SEM= 5.498). The mean of D-Dimer, ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were 1.204 (SEM= 0.164), 534.7 (SEM= 61.48), and 366.6 (SEM= 36.81), respectively. There were no significant differences in the study's data mentioned above between male and female patients. In conclusion, inflammation is the most prominent symptom in COVID-19 patients, and males and females are nearly equally affected.

Performance of the Gomaspan Dam's Stepped Spillway Against Cavitation using CFDcity

Abo A. A — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This study aims to determine how well the stepped spillway at Gomaspan dam performs in terms of cavity index. For this purpose, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code called FLUENT is used. To begin, the code was validated by applying it to the experiments work of (Li et al. 2021), and the findings demonstrate great agreement between CFD and the aforementioned experimental data. Second, the algorithm is applied to the designed stepped spillway of the Gomaspan dam, and the cavity index is obtained at each step. The results show that the design is unsatisfactory, and the steps are particularly vulnerable to cavitation because the inception point located at step 19 and the velocity of water after inception point ranges between (22m/s-34.6m/s), it may also cause the cavitation after a long period of time.

The The Impact of Dapagliflozin on Aldosterone Hormone in Rats with Heart Failure

Skala Mamand, zana ahmed — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The latest anti-diabetic medication sodium-glucose co-transporter inhibitor along with the lowering of blood glucose has a cardioprotective and reno-protective effect, it has the ability to reduce the development of heart failure and decrease hospitalization in heart failure subjects with and without diabetes. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of sodium-glucose co-transporter inhibitor dapagliflozin alone and in combination with eplerenone on the aldosterone hormone in the treatment of rats with experimentally induced heart failure.
Method: Thirty Wister rats were randomly divided into five groups each of six rats, the first group served as a control group. The heart failure model was induced experimentally by intraperitoneal injection of isoprenaline 5mg/kg/day for one week for the rest of the experimental rat groups. The second group was a positive control. The third, fourth, and fifth groups received oral daily doses of dapagliflozin 10 mg/kg/day, eplerenone 100 mg/kg/day, and dapagliflozin-eplerenone 10,100 mg/kg/day respectively for four weeks.
Results: Induction of heart failure in rats has significantly raised circulating BNP, NT-Pro BNP, aldosterone, troponin I, serum urea, and creatinine. Rats treated with dapagliflozin showed statistically significant decreases in BNP, NT-Pro BNP, aldosterone, troponin I, blood urea nitrogen, and serum creatinine. Non significant changes are seen in decreasing mean blood pressure. Dapagliflozin-eplerenone administration produced a significant reduction in plasma aldosterone level, heart rate, and diastolic blood pressure.
Conclusion: The study demonstrates the cardiovascular benefit of sodium-glucose co transporter inhibitor dapagliflozin in rats with experimentally induced heart failure, reducing the myocardial stretch indicates the prominent role of dapagliflozin in reducing the development of heart failure and decreasing cardiovascular complications in subjects with and without diabetes. Moreover, the impact of dapagliflozin on renal function further contributes to cardiovascular benefits by reducing volume overload and neurohormonal activation which are features of cardiorenal syndrome.

Response of Some Sugar Beet Varieties to Different Sowing Dates Under Two Seasonal Conditions in Khabat

Bilal I. Mohammed, Xaraman N. Hamed — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The research was conducted in the field of Khabat Technical Institute / Erbil Polytechnic University during winter season of 2019-2020 and summer season of 2020. It shows the effect of planting date, varieties on growth and yield component of sugar beet under two different seasonal conditions. A factorial experimental design was applied in randomized complete block design with three replication; the first factor represents three planting dates (1^st October, 16^th October and 31^th October, 2019) in winter and (1^st March, 16^th March and 31^th March, 2020) in summer season, the second factor was three varieties of sugar beet (Germany, Turkish and Iranian), had been applied in both seasons. The combined effect of planting in 1^st October and the Turkish variety produced the highest value of all study traits; No. of leaf.plant^-1, leaf area (cm²), leaf area index (LAI), root length cm, root diameter cm, root weight kg.plant^-1, root yield t.ha^-1, sugar % and sugar yield t.ha^-1in winter season, but the Germany variety surpassed in length of root (cm) in summer season. The interaction between planting date from 1^st October with Turkish variety recorded the highest value of all study traits, in winter season achieved the lowest value in number of leaf.plant^-1, root length cm, root diameter cm, root weight kg.plant^-1, root yield t.ha^-1, sugar% and sugar yield, were recorded from the interaction between planting in 31^th March and Iranian variety in summer season. On the other hand, the interaction treatment 31^th March with Turkish variety recorded the lowest value in leaf area and leaf area index.

Effects of Subminimal Inhibitory Concentrations of Chlorhexidine on the Chlorhexidine Resistance and Biofilm Formation in Clinical Drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates

Hawkar S. Omer, Safaa T. Aka — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Multi-drug resistant microorganisms have caused a remarkable increase in hospital-acquired infections (HAI) during the previous few decades. Moreover, microbiological contamination of antiseptics and disinfectants has been recorded in medical settings.

Methods: A total of 61 clinically relevant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were collected from various clinical specimens in hospitals in Erbil city/Iraq between September 2021 and March 2022. The isolates were identified using VITEK-2 compact system. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out for a total of 16 different therapeutically relevant antibiotics in accordance with the criteria of the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) using the above mentioned system. A spectrophotometer was used to determine the optical density at 600 nm (OD_600nm) for biofilm evaluation. Wilcoxon signed ranks test used to determine the effect of sub-MIC of CHX on the CHX-MIC and biofilm formation.

Results: the study showed that there is a significant difference in CHX-MIC and biofilm formation before and after 7 days of incubation of Acinetobacter baumannii in sub-MIC of CHX (p<0.05). Exposure of Acinetobacter baumannii to sub-lethal CHX concentrations develops inducible resistance to lethal CHX doses. The biofilm formation ability of isolates also increased after using sub-lethal dose of CHX.

Molecular Comparative Study of Virulence Factors Produced by Gram-Negative Bacteria Isolated from Several Cancer Cases and NonCancer Patients in Erbil Governorate, Iraq

Saman I. Othman, Fattma A. Ali — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Gram-negative bacteria are one of the most prevalent complications among immunocompromised cancer sufferers and pose the greatest threat to these patients.

Our study aimed to conduct research on Gram-negative bacteria isolated from various clinical samples among cancerous patients and non-cancerous patients in Erbil city to analyze and compare some virulence genes among them such as tuf, atpD1, atpD2, ms-1, ms-2 and ms-3.

Methods: The current study was carried out in Nanakaly hospital and other public health hospitals in Erbil- Kurdistan region at a period extending from August 2021 to March 2022. A total of 100 different clinical samples including urine, sputum, wound swab, stool, blood, have been collected from patients with different types of cancer (n=50) and non-cancerous patients (n=50), from both gender (male and female), without limited age group. Gram-negative bacterial isolates identified by microscopical, macroscopical analysis and Vitek II compact system.

Results: The results of amplification of tuf gene among the cancerous patients were (70%), while the results among the non-cancerous patients was (52%). The percentage of atpD1 from cancer patients were (52%), as well as the appearance among non-cancerous patients were (44%) isolates. The results of atpD2 among cancer patients were (52%). However, the average of atpD2 among patients without cancer were (48%). The results of agarose gel electrophoresis of amplicons appeared that (32%) samples possess ms-1 among cancer cases, while there have not any positive results for control patients. Also, the results of ms-2 gene were (28%) from cancer patients, whereas, the prevalence of ms-2 gene marker among patients without cancer was (6%). The distribution of ms-3 gene was (22%) among cancer patients. Otherwise, the prevalence from samples of patients other than cancer were (20%). According to the statistical tests, the results showed no significant association between genes and type of bacteria in cancerous patients as well as in non-cancerous patients.

Conclusions: tuf, atpD1 and atpD2 genes sealed a discriminated gene as a virulence factor encoding genes for identification of gram-negative bacteria. To the public health and especially from patients with cancer there is a main distribution of ms-1, ms-2 and ms-3 genes among gram-negative bacteria.

Anomaly-based Network Intrusion Detection System using Deep Intelligent Technique

Sardar KH. Hassan, Muhammadamin A. Daneshwar — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Computer systems and network infrastructures are still exposed to many security risks and cyber-attack vulnerabilities despite advancements of information security. Traditional signature-based intrusion detection systems and security solutions by matching rule-based mechanism and prior knowledge are insufficient of fully protecting computer networks against novel attacks. For this purpose, Anomaly-based Network Intrusion Detection System (A-NIDS) as cyber security tool is considered for identifying and detecting anomalous behavior in the flow-based network traffic alongside with firewalls and other security measures. The main objective of the research is to improve the detection rate and reduce false-positive rates of the classifier using anomaly-based technique.

Methods: an intelligent technique using deep learning algorithm and mutual information feature selection (MIFS) method to select optimal features on the benchmark datasets. Proposed method accurately capable of classifying normal and anomalous states of the data packets in a comprehensive way by combination of Long-Short term memory (LSTM) algorithm and MIFS method.

Results: The model achieved encouraging results in terms of accuracy 99.79%, 0.002 false-positive rate with minimum time compared to other models recorded only 81.75s on CSE-CIC-IDS2018 dataset. At the end of the study, comparative studies are conducted to verify the effectiveness of proposed method on three realistic and latest intrusion detection datasets, named CSE_CIC-IDS2018, CIC-IDS2017, and NF-CSE-CIC-IDS2018 dataset.

Conclusions: Proposed model in a combination of LSTM NN and Feature selection method (MIFS) increased detection rate and reduced false-positive alarms, also the model able to detect low frequent attacks while other existing models are suffering from.

Biocontrol Activities of Olive Endophytic Bacteria Isolates Against Pseudomonas savastanoi

Avin O. Ali , Tavga S. Rashid — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Olive knot disease caused by the phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas savastanoi affects olive cultivation in both quality and quantity. Endophytic bacteria are candidates for biocontrol agents according to previous research.

Methods: In this study we collected samples (leaves and galls) randomly for pathogen and endophytic bacteria isolation from the different olive growing areas around Erbil including (Qucha Blbas, Grdasor, Sami Abdulrahman Park, and College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences) on June - October 2021.

Results: Forty-six isolates of endophytic bacteria were obtained and tested against P. savastanoi. The result indicated that five isolates showed growth inhibition of the pathogen among them two of the most effective isolates selected (Oq5 and Og2) with the pathogenic isolate molecularly identified using amplified 16S rDNA. The pathogenic isolate identified as P. savastanoi (Accession No. OP001734), isolate Oq5 P. fluorescens (Accession No. OP001733), and Og2 as Bacillus sp. (Accession No. OP001732). Also, their secondary metabolites extracted at different times of incubation and tested using the agar well diffusion method showed great inhibition of the pathogen. Both isolates showed the highest inhibition zone (25-26mm) after 10 days of incubation.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that both endophytic bacteria isolate effective biocontrol of olive knot disease.

Knowledge protocol of direct and indirect Veneers among dental practitioners - A case study

Sazan M. Azeez, Bassam K. Amin, Noor K. Hamid, Ali A. Saber — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Dental veneers are constructed from different materials such as porcelain, pressed ceramic, processed composite, or directly applied composite. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the preferred dental materials for veneers and the knowledge about its procedures by dentists in the Kurdistan region/Erbil city

Methods: To assess general dentists' knowledge and practical use of direct and indirect veneers, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken in March 2022 among all general dentists and different dental specialties in Erbil city. The questionnaire was composed of 16 questions and was organized into knowledge, attitude, and practice sections. Google forms were used to collect responses, which were then statistically examined.

Results: This study revealed respondents were having difficulty in veneer cementations followed by tooth preparations, P value=0.025, hence statistically significant. The most popular veneer among practitioners were EMAX press and EMAX CAD. In addition, veneer dislodgement was the most common problem faced by dentists followed by tooth sensitivity, p value 0.012 so statistically significant.

Conclusions: Given the study's limitations, it may be stated that dentists should get good expertise in case selection for veneers, shade matching, optimal preparation processes and designs, and current advancements in veneer materials and adhesive techniques.

Preparation of Curve Number Grid Map of Rawanduz River Basin in KRI Using GIS Techniques

Israa D. Ahmed, Jehan M. Fattah Sheikh Suleimany — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The study is being conducted with the goal of applying various models and techniques for catchment delineation and providing the opportunity to determine the Curve Numbers (CN) for the Rawanduz river basin (2956 Km²), which is located in the northeastern section of Iraq, Kurdistan region, by utilizing Geographic Information System (GIS). Satellite data (Landsat 8 OLI) for 2020 was utilized to build land cover classes, with a classification accuracy of 90% and a Kappa index of 86.18%. The hydrologic soil map for the region is digitized from the Iraqi soil map. In specifically, Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number (SCS-CN) is technique that will be utilized to predict direct surface runoff. This technique incorporates a range of significant watershed features, such as Hydrological Soil Groups (HSG) and land use/land cover (LU/LC), to be utilized as input variables for numerous hydrologic processes. In terms of land use and hydrologic soil group combination, the lowest CN value was found to be 58 in forest areas, which corresponds to an increased ability of the soil to retain rainfall and will produce much less runoff, and the highest CN value was found to be 92 in medium-residential areas, which causes most of the rainfall to appear as runoff, with minimal losses.

Drought vulnerability modeling over Mandawa watershed, northern Iraq, using GIS-AHP techniques

Zhyan A. Ahmed, Jehan M. Sheikh Suleimany — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Drought is among the most severe natural calamities induced by lack of water, having a negative implication on water resources and agriculture in the affected area. Drought types and severity vary by location, so understanding the spatial distribution can aid in developing measures to overcome this natural hazard. In this study, the areas vulnerable to droughts in the Mandawa watershed in the Kurdistan region of Iraq were determined by employing seven associated factors: rainfall, temperature, LULC, surface slope, soil texture, elevation, and distance to rivers. Satellite imagery of Landsat 8 OLI for 2021 was employed to create the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) and distance to rivers maps. The elevation and surface slope maps have been generated from the Digital Elevation Model at 30 m resolution, soil texture map was extracted from The FAO Digital Soil Map of the World and the inverse distance weighting method was utilized to interpolate the rainfall and temperature throughout the watershed. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to create a pairwise compression matrix to obtain the weight of each parameter. In the Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, the combined impact of affecting factors was utilized to create the area's drought zonation map. The results indicated that only 5.2% and 13.8% of the study area is vulnerable to extreme and severe droughts, respectively. While more than 35% of the watershed is hardly vulnerable to droughts.

Y-chromosomal Short Tandem Repeat Variation in Kurd, Assyrian, and Armenian populations in Iraq Kurdistan

Sabriya K. Khalid, Yousif M. Fattah — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background: North central Middle Eastern countries Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria all have persistent Kurdish regions. Over thousands of years, several ethnicities have immigrated, settled, or resided in the region, including Turks, Persians, Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Chechens, and Azeris.

Methods: Eleven Y-chromosome STRs were evaluated in a total of 90 unrelated males from the Kurds, Armenians, and Assyrians populations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (DYS19, DYS390, DYS393, DYS426, DYS437, DYS439, DYS447, DYS460, DYS461, DYS481, and DYS576). Using a DNA extraction kit, total DNA was isolated from leukocytes. PCR products were run on 8% polyacrylamide gel with a 50bp ladder DNA marker to size the bands, and silver staining was used to identify the DNA bands. Power Marker V3.25 software was used to determine variety of genetic parameters, including total allele number, allele frequency, gene diversity, polymorphic information content (PIC), and phylogenetic tree was constructed by MEGA-X software.

Results: The total number of alleles identified in the three populations was 380. The sizes of the alleles ranged from 87bp to 275bp.The most diverse loci were DYS447 and DYS576 (GD: 0.949), whereas DYS426 showed the least diversity (GD:0.896). The Phylogenetic tree divided the populations into two main clusters: The Kurdish and Armenian clades in one cluster and the Assyrian in another cluster. Few of dendrogram leaves from the three examined groups were admixed with each other.

Conclusions: This study confirms the high-resolution Y-STR typing's ability to discriminate. We conclude that the genetic distance between Kurd and Armenians is less than the genetic distance between the Kurd and the Assyrians, meaning that the Armenians population are genetically closer to the Kurds population.

Moving Vehicle Method to Calculate Traffic Flow Characteristics for Erbil 60m Ring Road

Kamal Y. Abdulla, Bafrin Ch. Zero — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Traffic flow characteristics are important factors in the planning and management of highway facilities. Such information is not available in systematic form of the city of Erbil, so this study aims to obtain required data on flow, speed and density accordingly to find the relationship between these three parameters. Travel time, travel speed and flow due to traffic interaction data are also needed to evaluate the existing levels of service which is necessary for transportation planning and economic analysis, to be done in this field. This study uses the directional distribution of several selected road sections in the city of Erbil to give a complete picture of traffic flow in terms of size, daily and hourly variabilities. It was for this purpose that 60m ring road in Erbil city was chosen. To evaluate the data, software such as (Microsoft Excel, SPSS) were used in-order to develop relationships among each pair of flow type variables (density, speed and flow).

Measuring strength of the relationships between speed-density, flow-density and speed-flow should be done. The relation between traffic flows data was found by the R² is applied for all models. The strength of relationships among speed-density, flow-density and speed-flow should be measured. The relation between traffic flows data was found by the R² is applied for all modes.

The maximum flow rate in Section 9 is over 9000 pc/hr but range of flow is equal to 7605 pc/hr and range of space mean speed is it among 20 and 55 km/hr at peak hour and highest range of density is among 40 and 160 pc/km.

Investigation of Homocysteine, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin D among Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Fenik A. Nadir, Zeyan A. Ali — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a disease that begins exclusively in the colon or rectum and is caused by the abnormal growth of glandular epithelial cells within the colon. Homocysteine, vitamin B₆, and vitamin D are recognized to play a significant role in colorectal tumor pathogenesis. The aim of this study to investigate serum levels of Hcy, vitamin D and vitamin B₆ in colorectal cancer.

Methods: The current study investigated the vital roles of homocysteine, vitamin B₆ and vitamin D in cancer development by comparing serum levels of colorectal cancer patients with those of the healthy control group at Nanakaly hospital. The levels of serum homocysteine (Hcy), vitamin B₆ and vitamin D in 50 colorectal cancer patients and 50 from the healthy control group have been examined.

Results: The result shows significantly high values of serum homocysteine (p<0.0001) and significant decreases in values of vitamin B₆ and vitamin D (p<0.0001and 0.0010) respectively, in patients with CRC when compared with the healthy group.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that increased levels of homocysteine and decreased levels of vitamin B₆ and vitamin D could be associated with the pathogenesis and progression of colorectal cancer.

Hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of entecavir or probiotics on Oxaliplatin-Induced Liver Injury in the rats

Asem A. Askandar, Ansam N. Alhassani — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Oxaliplatin (OXA), a current cancer chemotherapeutic, has low efficacy and is linked to serious adverse effects, including liver damage. We anticipated that probiotics and entecavir would help reduce OXA-induced liver damage because the pathophysiology of drug-induced liver damage is thought to be related to the disordered gut microbiota. Twenty-four rats were used in this study and divided into 4 groups: control group (n=6), OXA group (n=6), entecavir (ENT) group (n=6), and probiotics (PRO) group (n=6). After 3 weeks, all rats were sacrificed, and blood samples were analyzed for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and IL-1. Serum measurement of biochemical parameters showed a significant increase in ALP in the OXA group compared to the control group (p<0.0001). The treatment with ENT or PRO along with OXA alleviated these changes. Significant elevation of serum ALT (p=0.041) and non-significant (p=0.210) increase of AST was observed in OXA-treated rats as compared with control rats. The administration of ENT or PRO along OXA restored these changes, but they did not reach the levels of control rats. Significant elevations of serum IL-1 (p=0.024) and a non-significant (p=0.114) increase of IL-6 were observed in OXA-treated rats compared to control rats. The administration of ENT or PRO along OXA reduced inflammatory cytokines' levels but they did not return to the baseline. The treatment with ENT or PRO was beneficial in reducing the severity of OXA-induced liver injury, likely by reducing inflammatory responses and liver function tests.

Flexural Behavior of Two-layers Reinforced Concrete Beams

Halmat B. Najm — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

High-strength concrete is used to reduce the size of the beams in addition to enhancing the strength, this leads to overestimated cost in comparison with normal-strength concrete while using normal-strength concrete leads to the overestimated amount of concrete (layer size) of the beam section. For balancing the condition between the cost and size of beams, the benefit of both materials is used, by using beams in two layers, high-strength concrete in the compression zone (top layer), which is more beneficial for beam strength, and normal strength concrete in tension zone (bottom layer), which is no need using high strength concrete the in-tension zone. This study investigates the flexural and shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams consisting of two layers with different concrete strengths (grades), for beams with and without shear reinforcement (stirrups), considering the effect of shear-span ratio, layer thickness, layer compressive strength, and the overlap time casting of the two layers. The experimental program consists of a total of nineteen reinforced concrete beams of dimension (125 mm x 250 mm) with a total length of 1200 mm, the beams are reinforced with longitudinal reinforcement (4Ø12mm) and using (Ø8mm) bar as transverse reinforcement (stirrups). The experimental results show that the crack pattern of the two-layer reinforced concrete is closer to the crack of the control beam with one layer. Increasing the compressive strength of the concrete of the top layer, the ultimate failure load increased by (8.35%, 15.6%, and 18.85%), with respect to the (control beam) with the full depth of normal concrete. By increasing the high-strength layer thickness, the value of shear strength (Vc) and ultimate shear strength (Vu) increased linearly. The casting overlap time of up to (60 min) can be used for casting two-layered reinforced concrete beams, which is recommended, beyond this time the strength of the shear strength (Vc) and, ultimate shear strength (Vu) decreases. With increasing the shear span ratio (a/d) from (1 to 1.5 and 2) the ultimate load failure decreased by (33% and 50%). The shear strength capacity decreases with increasing stirrup spacing.

Utilization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer for Strengthening of Structural Light-weight Reinforced Concrete One-way Slabs

Shvan M. Ahmed, Kamaran S. Ismail, Bahman O. Taha — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Among many manufacturing industries, civil engineering sectors have been more involved in incorporating fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. These composite materials have been selected as an appropriate solution for strengthening reinforced concrete structural elements because of their excellent tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, and simplicity of implementation. This experimental study aims to evaluate the flexural behaviors of structural light-weight reinforced concrete (SLWC) one-way slabs strengthened with different patterns of CFRP. The proposed material in the current study is using pumice aggregate as a full replacement of natural coarse aggregate. Four structural light-weight concrete (SLWC) slabs with the dimensions of 1200 mm long, 450 mm wide, and 80 mm thick were cast and tested to failure. One slab has been taken as a control and the other samples are strengthened with five strips in one layer, ten strips in two layers and full wrap CFRP. The samples are tested under a four-point load bending test setup until failure. Each of the ultimate loads, mid-span deflection, cracking loads, crack patterns, and failure modes were well evaluated. The results showed that, strengthening with CFRP composites significantly increases load-carrying capacity. Strengthening with five strips, ten strips, and full wrap with CFRP increased the ultimate capacity by 115%, 138%, and 170% respectively and decreased mid-span deflection by 43%, 58%, and 55% compared to the reference specimen respectively.

Screening for antibacterial activity in selected medicinal plant extracts against Xanthomonas euvesicatoria

Medya A. Salih, Tavga S. Rashid — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objectives: The environment and human health have fared badly from the use of ‎synthetic pesticides as a form of pest control. Plants are considered as an alternate pesticide for pest control ‎without sacrificing the environment and their potency on pests.‎

Methods: Aqueous extracts of (Lavender flower, olive leaves, thuja leaves and fruit, fig milk, clove flower buds, Arabic gum, Borage, Tarragon, Cress seed and Carob tree) were tested against newly isolated Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (Acc. No. OP115671) from symptomatic tomato plants.

Results: The in vitro results showed that clove extract is highly effective in inhibiting bacterium growth followed by borage, carob and tarragon respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration MIC and the minimum bactericidal concentration MBC of clove extract reached 3.125 and 6.25 mg/ml respectively.

Conclusions: This study indicated that aqueous extract of clove can potentially be used as a promising bactericide in the near future.

Key Words: Clove, borage, carob, tarragon, MIC and MBC.

Social Bot Detection using Machine Learning Algorithms: A Survey and Research Challenges

Kayhan Ghafoor — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the past decade social media platforms growing rapidly and they are part of our routine life. Each platform has its own specification which uses for specific purposes. After this widely spread, those SMPs were targeted by the cybercriminals to cast their malicious activities. There are many different malicious activities in SMPs such as spamming, phishing, fake account. In these papers, Bots activities in SMPs one of those threats which include fake accounts, fake friends/followers, spreading misinformation by purpose, and many more. At the beginning of our work, we explain all terminology related to this topic to have a clear understanding of what is going on now. Then we reviewed the recent papers about this topic. We found out different models suggested by the researchers for recognizing those malicious activities. Until now most of the work focusing on Twitter as a platform, English as a language, and machine learning as a detection method but there are many gaps in this research area because Twitter is the 17th most used SMPs in 2020, also there are many malicious actions in other languages, and detection method needs lots of improvement in reliability, accuracy, real-time detection, and performance area. As a result, we are at the beginning of the game and we need lots of improvement for controlling the bot’s activities. Besides all technical term also people awareness has a big impact on controlling a bot because most of the times the botmaster use people ignorance to make their actions easy.

REVIEW OF FEATURE SELECTION METHODS USING OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

Zana O. Hamad — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Many works have been done to reduce complexity in terms of time and memory space. The feature selection process is one of the strategies to reduce system complexity and can be defined as a process of selecting the most important feature among feature space. Therefore, the most useful features will be kept, and the less useful features will be eliminated. In the fault classification and diagnosis field, feature selection plays an important role in reducing dimensionality and sometimes might lead to having a high classification rate. In this paper, a comprehensive review is presented about feature selection processing and how it can be done. The primary goal of this research is to examine all of the strategies that have been used to highlight the (selection) selected process, including filter, wrapper, Meta-heuristic algorithm, and embedded. Review of Nature-inspired algorithms that have been used for features selection is more focused such as particle swarm, Grey Wolf, Bat, Genetic, wale, and ant colony algorithm. The overall results confirmed that the feature selection approach is important in reducing the complexity of any model-based machine learning algorithm and may sometimes result in improved performance of the simulated model.

Degradation Mechanisms and Residual Mechanical Properties of Reinforcing Steel Bars Exposed to Natural and Artificial Corrosion – Review & Analysis

Ghafur H. Ahmed, Ghazi B. Jumaa, Nasih H. Askandar — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Reinforcement corrosion is the most problematic phenomenon and one of the main sources for the degradation of structures and infrastructures all across the world, that leads to their premature deterioration before design life has been attained. Therefore, the structural effects of rebar corrosion are crucial in determining the structural performance and residual strength of impaired structures. In the present work, the corrosion initiation mechanisms, corrosion products, corrosion types, corrosion consequences on structural performance and detrimental factors related to corrosion were presented in brief. Moreover, the propagation period and the main consequences on mechanical properties of steel and concrete are analyzed. Analyses of the available statistical data collected from literature were performed for 443 specimens. The findings are further interpreted from structural point of view, and deterioration equations for the mechanical properties of the corroded reinforcements are developed. The relations are well analyzed, leading to the definition of decay equation for yielding and ultimate stresses, and ultimate strain. It was found that the mass loss of 1% due to the rebar corrosion can cause the strength loss of 1.34%, 1.30%, and 3.54% respectively for yield strength, ultimate strength, and elongation. The suggested formulas can be applied in analytical and numerical structural applications.