Effect of thermo-mechanical processing on microstructure and electrochemical behavior of Ti-Nb-Zr-V new metastable β titanium biomedical alloy

The influence of thermo-mechanical processing (TMP) on the microstructure and the electrochemical behavior of new metastableβ alloy Ti?20.6Nb?13.6Zr?0.5V (TNZV) was investigated. The TMP included hot working in belowβ transus, solution heat treatments at the same temperature and different cooling rates in addition to aging. Depending upon the TMP conditions, a wide range of microstructures with varying spatial distributions and morphologies of equiaxed/elongatedα andβ phases were attained, allowing for a wide range of electrochemical properties to be achieved. The corrosion behavior of the studied alloy was evaluated in a Ringer’s solution at 37 °C via open circuit potential?time and potentiodynamic polarization measurements.

Automatic Detection of COVID-19 Using Chest X-Ray Images and Modified ResNet18-Based Convolution Neural Networks

The latest studies with radiological imaging techniques indicate that X-ray images provide valuable details on the Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).The usage of sophisticated artificial intelligence technology(AI)and the radiological images can help in diagnosing the disease reliably and addressing the problem of the shortage of trained doctors in remote villages.In this research,the automated diagnosis of Coronavirus disease was performed using a dataset of X-ray images of patients with severe bacterial pneumonia,reported COVID-19 disease,and normal cases.The goal of the study is to analyze the achievements for medical image recognition of state-of-the-art neural networking architectures.Transfer Learning technique has been implemented in this work.Transfer learning is an ambitious task,but it results in impressive outcomes for identifying distinct patterns in tiny datasets of medical images.The findings indicate that deep learning with X-ray imagery could retrieve important biomarkers relevant for COVID-19 disease detection.Since all diagnostic measures show failure levels that pose questions,the scientific profession should determine the probability of integration of X-rays with the clinical treatment,utilizing the results.The proposed model achieved 96.73%accuracy outperforming the ResNet50 and traditional Resnet18 models.Based on our findings,the proposed system can help the specialist doctors in making verdicts for COVID-19 detection.

The occurrence of Helicobacter pylori in hydatid liver disease

Objective:To detect the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) in hydatid liver disease. Methods:A lolal of 58 patients with hydatid liver disease attending AL-Sadder Teaching Hospital in Al-Najaf and Al-Basrah governorate from February to August,2008 were included in the study and served as group A.One hundred and twenty 1st degree relative patients(group B) and 20 normal persons including 10 male and 10 female(group C) as control were detected for the presence of H.pylori infection in general population.Chest X-ray was done for the above groups to exclude lung hydrated cyst.The patients were screened by ultrasound to obtain intra abdominal hydrated cyst and enzymc-linkcd immuno sorbcnt assay(ELISA) test was utilized to detect the H.pylori infection.Results:Fifty eight patients from group A with hydatid liver disease,30 male(51.7%) and 28 female(48.3%) were screened for the presence of H.pylori infection by using ELISA test.We found that 28 patients from group A had positive ELISA test including 19 male(32.8%) and 9 female(15.5%)(P<0.0l).However,there were no positive results of H.pylori infection in group B and C by chest X-ray,ultrasound and ELISA test.Conclusions:It can be concluded that there is a strong relationship between hydatid liver disease and presence of H.pylori.

Effects of Exogenous Putrescine Application on Hormone Content of Citrus aurantium L. Seedling under Salt Stress

A pot experiment was conducted in lath house to study the response of six month-old seedlings of sour orange （Citrus aurantium L.） irrigated with salinity water （1, 2 or 4 ds/m） for four month. The seedling was sprayed with putrescine at 0, 150 or 300 mg/L concentrations for three times with month interval, for investigation the effects of putrrescine spraying on hormonal changes in sour orange seedlings under salt stress. One month after the last putrescine application, the leaves of the vegetative shoots were picked for endogenous plant hormone determination. The results indicate that increasing level of irrigation water salinity to 4 ds/m significantly increased ABA, Put and SA; whereas, decreasing IAA and GA in leave. Spraying vegetative canopy with putreseine at 300 mg/L increased 1AA, SA, ABA and Put, while decreased GA. It can be concluded that the adverse effects of high salinity irrigated water on endogenous plant hormone can be ameliorated, to some extent, by exogenous application of Put at 150 mg/L or 300 mg/L concentration.

Seepage Velocity of Dibdibba Formation in Karbala, Iraq

Iraq highly depends on its surface water resources. Now it is facing water shortage problems. For these reasons, the utilization of groundwater will be increasing with time. Karbala Governorate is located in the central part of Iraq. It covers an area of 5034 km2 and the population exceeds one million. It is characterized by an arid or semiarid environment. Karbala Governorate lack surface water resource and consequently, groundwater is the only available resource. The main groundwater aquifer within the area is Dibdibba formation. It is composed of poorly sorted sand and sand stone with gravel. In this research hydrological and hydrogeological information were used to find out the magnitude and the direction of groundwater seepage velocity. The results indicate that groundwater flow toward the flood plain to the east of the study region. The seepage velocity ranges from 0 to 0.18 m/d, with a general increase when moving from the west to the east.

Study of Symmetry Process Behavior in Fractal Gray Image Compression by Traditional Method

This paperstudiesthe effect of symmetry process on the compression parameters of thefractal image compression technique proposed by Jacquin.Two kinds of tests have been conducted. The first all kind of the symmetry operations [0-7] were taken;while the second tests were concentrated on studying the effect of the following parameters Block Size, Step Size, Domain Size on the probability distribution of symmetry operation. The results show that the higher value of PSNR and the lower value of ET occur atevensymmetry operation only, but compression ratio is not affected with symmetry process. Also the occurrence probability of even symmetry is more than odd symmetry for all compression parameters. This behaviour can be utilized to reducethe encoding time to 50% with preserving PSNR.

Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Gap Graded Cold Asphalt Containing Cement Utilising By-Product Material

The little stiffness modulus, high voidage and long curing time has limited the use of CBEM＇s （cold bituminous emulsion mixtures） in road and highways to pavement experiencing low traffic. The aim of this study is to improve the properties of gap graded CRA （cold rolled asphal0 containing OPC （ordinary portland cement） as filler by addition of a by-product material as an activator. OPC was added to the CRA as a replacement to the conventional mineral filler （0%-100%）, while LJMUA （Liverpool John Moores University Activator） was added as an additive in the range from 0%-3% by total mass of aggregate. Laboratory tests included stiffness modulus and uniaxial creep test to assess the mechanical properties. The results have shown a considerable improvement in the mechanical properties from the addition of LJMUA to the CRA containing OPC especially for the early life stiffness modulus that is the main disadvantage of the cold mixtures.

Psychological Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease and Hemodialysis: Narrative Review

Background:Chronic kidney disease(CKD)patients undergo hemodialysis to treat their condition.But this treatment comes with its own set of problems like psychiatric and mental disorders.Many of these patients experience low self-esteem,stress,depression,and anxiety,making it difficult to cope with their disease.CKD is a global general medical issue.Psychiatric disorders have been reported in more than 50% of end-stage kidney disease patients undergoing hemodialysis.Unfortunately,their attending doctors and nurses often overlook these psychological problems.Furthermore,the non-psychiatric medication prescribed may not help alleviate the symptoms of emotional distress.Objective:The article aimed to explore and review the literature concerning the psychological impact of CKD and hemodialysis on patients with CKD.Method:A literature review based on previous studies and assessments derived from international databases(PubMed,Medline and Scopus)related to people's psychological problems with CKD.The data collection was conducted from 24 November 2021 to 10 February 2022.Also,was used keywords such as hemodialysis,kidney failure,psychological disorders or factors,economic status,social status,and quality of life.Conclusion:Psychiatric disorders in patients with CKD and undergoing hemodialysis are ignored,negatively impacting their quality of life.Awareness of CKD is lacking among physicians and general public health because the worldwide burden increases.The disease's complexity and chronic nature affect patients'quality of life with CKD and their health.Therefore,nephrology nurses play an essential role in ensuring effective nursing intervention and psychological support of patients with CKD during hemodialysis therapy.

Assessment of Groundwater Vulnerability in Northern Babylon Governorate, Iraq

Groundwater is one of the main resources from the earth, especially for arid or semiarid countries. For this reason, it is very important to keep it unpolluted. Drastic Model is one of the widely used models to detect groundwater vulnerability to the contaminants that are found on ground surface. In this model, it is assumed that the vulnerability of the groundwater is affected by seven hydrological parameters. They are: depth from the surface ground to groundwater, net recharge into the aquifer from the surface, aquifer media, soil media, area topography, impact of vadose zone and aquifer hydraulic conductivity. In this study, the DRASTIC model was applied on the northern part of Babylon governorate in Iraq, to predict the vulnerability of Groundwater in that area. The results indicate that the vulnerability is very low to low grade.

Importance of teamwork communication in nursing practice

Dear editor:In today’s healthcare system,the delivery process includes many interfaces and patient handouts between several health professionals with further education and professional training levels.As a health care science,nursing focuses on serving the needs of humans as biopsychosocial and spiritual beings.Its practice requires scientific knowledge and interpersonal,intellectual,and technical abilities and skills.This means a composition of knowledge,clinical work,and interpersonal communication.Communication is an essential element of nursing in all fields of activity,including prevention,treatment,therapy,rehabilitation,education,and health promotion.Moreover,the nursing process as a scientific method of exercise and implementation of nursing is achieved through dialogue,interpersonal environment,and specific verbal communication skills.

Innovative strategies in nursing practice: new perspectives

Dear editor:Scientific knowledge is increasingly important today,and healthcare applications are changing rapidly.As the ageing population progresses,chronic treatment for acute disease depends on the treatment application that has changed the perspective of patient care and the quality of maintenance.Innovation is an important tool for improving the quality of life of the community.In general,innovations inthe health sector,especially in nursing,new methods,technologies,and working methods,are described as development processes.Innovation is vital for improving the quality of nursing care and its sustainability.Planning nursing practice submitting and assessing innovative strategies is one of the main factors that directly affect the quality of services.Based on all the reasons and literature,the paper is preparing to provide innovative information on nursing practice.

The Effect of the Industrial Activities on Air Pollution at Baiji and Its Surrounding Areas, Iraq

The polluters of total suspended particles (TSP) and some heavy metals (Cd, Co, and Ni) concentrations were studied in the areas of Al-Fatha, Al-Alam and Baiji, Iraq. These concentrations were measured for selected 22 sample locations for two periods, January and July 2013. The analyzed values of (TSP) and (Cd) exceeded the limits of Iraqi National and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the two periods. Also, (Ni) values exceeded the limits for July only, while (Co) values were under the limits for the two periods. The difference between the two periods reflects the effect of the wind speed and direction, rainfall, and the intensity of the dust storms during the two months, respectively. GIS technique makes optimal predictions possible by examining the relationships between all the sample points and producing a continuous surface of polluter’s concentration. Therefore, GIS was used to produce predictions and probabilities maps for the critical polluter values in the study area.

Well-Posedness and Exponential Estimates for the Solutions to Neutral Stochastic Functional Differential Equations with Infinite Delay

In this work,neutral stochastic functional differential equations with infinite delay(NSFDEw ID)have been addressed.By using the Euler-Maruyama scheme and a localization argument,the existence and uniqueness of solutions to NSFDEw ID at the state space Cr under the local weak monotone condition,the weak coercivity condition and the global condition on the neutral term have been investigated.In addition,the L2 and exponential estimates of NSFDEw ID have been studied.

Comparison of chest CT scan findings between COVID-19 and pulmonary contusion in trauma patients based on RSNA criteria:Established novel criteria for trauma victims

Propose:In this study,we re-assessed the criteria defined by the radiological society of North America(RSNA)to determine novel radiological findings helping the physicians differentiating COVID-19 from pulmonary contusion.Methods:All trauma patients with blunt chest wall trauma and subsequent pulmonary contusion,COVID-19-related signs and symptoms before the trauma were enrolled in this retrospective study from February to May 2020.Included patients(Group P)were then classified into two groups based on polymerase chain reaction tests(Group Pa for positive patients and Pb for negative ones).Moreover,44 patients from the prepandemic period(Group PP)were enrolled.They were matched to Group P regarding age,sex,and trauma-related scores.Two radiologists blindly reviewed the CT images of all enrolled patients according to criteria defined by the RSNA criteria.The radiological findings were compared between Group P and Group PP;statistically significant ones were re-evaluated between Group Pa and Group Pb thereafter.Finally,the sensitivity and specificity of each significant findings were calculated.The Chi-square test was used to compare the radiologica丨findings between Group P and Group PP.Results:In the Group PP,73.7%of all ground-glass opacities(GGOs)and 80%of all multiple bilateral GGOs were detected(p<0.001 and p=0.25,respectively).Single bilateral GGOs were only seen among the Group PP.The Chi-square tests showed that the prevalence of diffused GGOs,multiple unilateral GGOs,multiple consolidations,and multiple bilateral consolidations were significantly higher in the Group P(p=0.001,0.01,0.003,and 0.003,respectively).However,GGOs with irregular borders and single consolidations were more significant among the Group PP(p=0.01 and 0.003,respectively).Of note,reticular distortions and subpleural spares were exclusively detected in the Group PP.Conclusion:We concluded that the criteria set by RSNA for the diagnosis of COVID-19 are not appropriate in trauma patients.The clinical signs and symptoms are not always useful either.The presence of multiple unilateral GGOs,diffused GGOs,and multiple bilateral consolidations favor COVID-19 with 88%,97.62%,and 77.7%diagnostic accuracy.